The Night Stranger Fades

April 30, 2008

You may have noticed the disappearance of my alter ego, Night Stranger, and the profile that describes me as lurking in the darkness like that stranger in the old Sinatra song.

Truth is, I liked the idea of that moniker and persona more than I actually liked the words "Night Stranger" popping up every time I went to another blog -- mine and/or anyone else's. I liked that it placed me in Hoboken, but I didn't like that it made me sound like some kind of kooky stalker of nothing. When I came up with it, it worked, now it doesn't.

It's the blog management itself that thrust me into the anonymity I didn't particularly desire. When I started my first blog I was somewhat excited, and let's face it, usually Internet instructions are written by 12-year-old geniuses that don't necessarily know how to write clear English. I was not made aware that when I typed the name of that blog on a certain line I would personally carry that identity myself. Therefore, for about two years my Internet moniker was Finding Fair Hope, which made as little sense to me as it did anyone else. Regulars on that blog usually referred to me as the initials, FFH, or "Miss Finding."

This led me to create Night Stranger when I started this blog. I liked using it when I still lived in Fairhope and was commenting on Hoboken blogs such as Hobokeni and Hoboken Now and Mister Snitch. But everywhere else it just made me feel like a weirdo.

So a few days ago I went in and did the necessary surgery to replace the name with my real one and tweak the profile. I'm not lurking in the shadows like the stranger in Sinatra's song any more -- in fact, I never was -- and when I appear on another's blog the name "Mary Lois" will pop up. Just in case you were wondering.