<p>This is for Boston College's topic:</p>
<p>In his novel, Let the Great World Spin, Colum McCann writes:</p>
<p>We seldom know what we're hearing when we hear something for the first time, but one thing is certain: we hear it as we will never hear it again. We return to the moment to experience it, I suppose, but we can never really find it, only its memory, the faintest imprint of what it really was, what it meant.</p>
<p>Tell us about something you heard or experienced for the first time and how the years since have affected your perception of that moment.</p>
<p>--</p>
<p>I was thinking of discussing my email address/Internet alias. When I was rather young (I think 7 or 8ish?), my brother was helping me create an email address. I came up with a rather ridiculous name, and I stuck with it even when switching from AOL to Yahoo!. Preteen me, of course, thought it was too childish, so I came up with a slightly edited, more "mature" name when I switched to gmail (unfortunately, it wasn't mature so much as snobbish). </p>
<p>Now, I find the original name really adorable and, perhaps out of nostalgia, wish I had kept that one. I do still use the snobbish gmail account (I'm thinking of tying in something about how I don't feel it's necessary to hide embarrassing parts of my past, or how I take responsibility for stupid actions, even if they were from a while ago). The name I use on most sites now, flyingkitty, is a compromise between the two previous names (they were both flyingkitty+a word at the end). I like to imagine now that "flying" represents the freedom to reach for my dreams, no matter how high; "kitty" represents my childhood innocence and how I will always remain true to myself; and the blank where a word used to be represents what I can do or become in the future, open to anything.</p>
<p>Since this is more about a name or identity instead of a memory, I wasn't sure if it still fit the essay requirements. What do you guys think? Also, does the topic sound too trivial to you?</p>