If you look up, you may notice that the URL for this blog is no longer owlssayhooot.blogspot.com, but rather kayleyhyde.blogspot.com. This is the second, first being my tumblr, change of this sort in my various social media outlets. I really like the video of consistency, I do, but in the past year or so, I've developed a bit of an issue with being constantly associated with owlssayhooot. Also, prepare for a rather humiliating amount of self-indulgence and rambling on something you probably don't care about, but something I want to address. Now let's go back a bit...
I created this username when I was twelve years old. I liked the idea of owls, mostly due to Harry Potter and thought owlssayhoot was cute and clever (twelve years old, remember), so I went to make my new AOL instant messenger screenname. To my distress, owlssayhoot was taken, so I just extended the hoot to have three o's and called it good. Always being a creature of consistency to a certain extent, when I went to make a YouTube username in 2006, I used the same one and it was fine. Now, as you probably know, sometime between 2006 and now, the username and the person behind it (that's me) developed a bit of an internet reputation of sorts. Reputation is not the right word. Perhaps, recognition? I don't know. I'm not too great at self-reflection when it comes to what's taken place in my internet life. At any rate, I now have thousands of people who know me on the internet as owlssayhooot and while it's great that thousands of people care about what I do in my life…I have a bit of a confession: I don't really care about owls. I think they're really pretty, they are fascinating, I appreciate their associations with Harry Potter, but that's about it. I'm not some owl fanatic. I don't buy everything I see with owls on it. However, over the past few years, owls have become my 'thing' and like…I don't really know why. I mean. It's not like I talk about owls in my videos or make it a big deal, but the amount of owl paraphernalia I have received from not just people who watch my videos, but my friends and family, is rather insane. I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I must reiterate. Oh, my life is so hard, people give me things. No. I'm just saying that I don't know why it's always in the form of a creature I almost never talk about and just happened to put in a username. I like owls. Theyare probably my third favourite animal (after orcas and domestic dogs), but just... I don't love them. It leaves me believing that people like Khyan1 should be given things in the shape of the numeral one or MorganPaigeLoves to get…I don't know, hearts? I'm getting off-topic here.
It's common YouTuber practice to resent their username. I can assure to you that I am neither the first nor last person to be super annoyed with the offhanded choice made five years previously. But the least I can do is try to separate myself from it in the outlets I can change. YouTube usernames are set in stone, but others are not and I am just using that to my advantage. I've made a name for myself online and I'd just really like that name to be, well, you know, my name.
And now that I sound thoroughly annoying, I'm going to end this. I will not apologize, because I didn't make you read this, but I will say that I'm really not as much of a dick as I sound like in this blog. I'm a relatively pleasant person, I think. Generally. Maybe. You'd have to ask my friends. Actually, don't. That could end poorly for me. Okay. Catch me on kayleyhyde on the internet. Bye.
10 comments:
I know how you feel with the name thing. I may not have interwebs "fame", but with my original YT username, people constantly bugged me about it because it said Twilight in it (DefinetheTwilight), and although I liked the Twilight series at the time, the name was no reference to it whatsoever. I just like the word twilight. After awhile I switched accounts, which was nice.
So I feel you, and think that your decision was definitely one for the better. :)
Totally makes sense!
I feel you on this. I used to be some weird username about lemons and one day I decided I needed to stop being associated with lemons so I changed almos everything to RyanLeys. Some sites already had that made (mainly YouTube but I'm pretty sure I made it and then forgot the password because my name isn't very common) so then I ended changing everything to HeyRyanLeys. I figured that was good enough and it's safe to say over a year later, no one remembers me as that lemon guy.
I hear ya - and I don't think people will mind, as I think we can all agree that usernames we picked when we were teenagers aren't names we would want to carry around with us in our 20s! Just look at my username... I'm not really a scumbag, but it was a nickname my work buddies gave me and it stuck... still, I don't have people yelling at me in the streets, or god forbid, sending me anything that could be 'scum' related, so I don't feel the need to change it just yet!
Good luck, Kayley Hyde, and farewell Owlssayhooot!
x
I totally get where you are coming from. And honestly, I don't think you sound like a whiner or a dick in this blog, it's a legit annoyance. I remember when i signed up for a LOTR forum in HS under the name "The Gardiner" after Sam Gamgee. The thing is, I hate gardining. Really hate it. And when people started askig me question regarding the actual act of gardening, I realised that maybe my name wasnt the smartest pick. I gotta say, I'm glad I never got enough internet prowess at that time to have people start sending me everything to do with gardening.
Also I love that you call them Orcas and not Killer Whales. Orcas are one of my favourite animals too and I think the word sounds so much nicer than Killer Whale
this makes sense... we all grow up! I still feel a bit embarassed when someone asks for my msn handle... I made it like 6 years ago!!
I admit, it was slightly disappointing to hear you don't love owls, just because owls is what I had always associated you with them. Which makes sense, considering your username. But it's quite humorous. It's like in Gilmore Girls, when Suki had told Jackson that she loved frogs, and ended up getting tons of frog trinkets and things.
Anyways, this blog post doesn't make you sound annoying at all. I know what you mean about usernames, though. I have a rather embarrassing email address. I could easily get a new one, of course, but it's the email I use for everything, plus I'm slightly attached to it...
I understand where you're coming from completely. I just don't understand why some people see others by just their username. You've never been owlssayhooot to me, you've I've always just thought of you as Kayley. Regardless of your usernames.
I understand. I made a youtube and twitter for my Pottermore username, and I got sorted into Slytherin so now I resent the name and got a new Pottermore. But i'm scared to change the twitter name because I already have a lot of followers. They might get confused!, :0 (I'm not popular, like you).
Haha, unfortunate that this kind of thing happened to you. Who knew that your so so cleverly made up name when your were young would become your trademark when you're older...
Interestingly enough, Kristina said in one of her videos that she disliked her username "italktosnakes" as well. Hm..
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