> Just as clarification, and since two people have asked me already, we did not actually call her Brunnen-G while we were in New Zealand, although that name was used a few times. We called her by her real name, the same as we called her boyfriend Puck by *his* real name the whole time.

I don't think I *could* call him "Puck", because in my mind I would always be finishing it off with "...the Magic Dragon". Don't ask me why. [/billyjoel]

> I've now met a bunch of Rinkies in person, and I find it strange how for some of them it feels most natural to use their real name in person and some it feels most natural to use their Rinkname. For instance, at the RinkUnion, I pretty much called everyone by their real names except for Darien and Issachar. Issachar was easier to explain, since his name is also David and having two David's made it only natural that one of us would need a different name--and since Issachar already had a handy one--"Issachar"--it was settled very easily.

Except that I kept forgetting to respond to my "Iss" handle. Since I also automatically filtered out "Dave" -- figuring that anyone who said "Dave" was talking to you -- I think we ended up using Jacqueline as an interpreter.

Rinkydink: "Hey Iss!"
Me: "..."
Rinkydink: "Iss!"
Other Rinkies: "Iss! Hey Iss!"
Me: "..."
Jacqueline: "Honey?"
Me: "Yes dear?"
Jacqueline: "They're trying to get your attention over here!"
Dave [to himself]: "Man, he is *whipped*." ;-)

> Darien was a little different--there were no others with his name there, but it just didn't seem right to call him anything *but* "Darien." His own FIANCE called him Darien pretty much the whole time, and even admitted to slipping up and calling him Darien when not around other Rinkies. The guy just LOOKS like a Darien, even though I've never in my life ever met a person *actually* named Darien.

Yup. Darien is Darien is Darien. (Except when he's BatDarien. Shhh!)

> Brunnen-G and Puck, however, were different. It seemed much more natural to use their real names, so we did. In a strange turn of events, however, THEY called US by our Rinknames.

Ha-yuck, ha-yuck! [slaps knee]

Iss "I yam what I yam" achar