Here We Shall Begin

To those who might be reading this, let me start with an apology.  I am horrible at starting new habits.  So, if you are expecting some sort of regularity when it comes to posting here, that is where the apology comes in.


For today,  let us talk of names.  We'll start with "Toni With An I".  My name is Toni. No, it is not short for anything like Antoinette or Antonia.  It is just Toni. Yes, it is a girl's name.  Yes,  I am a girl.  No, I do not enjoy being told "Tony, Toni, Tone has done it again".  You know that guy in Office Space named Michael Bolton, insists on being called Mike and he absolutely loathes the singer Michael Bolton?  Yeah, that's how I feel about Tony Toni Tone.  I don't like their music, I have never referred to myself in the triple person, and I don't randomly spell my name different ways.  Furthermore,  my name is spelled T-O-N-I.  I. I cannot stress to you how much it irritates me when I'm at work, having a computer generated conversation via IMs or E-mail where my correctly spelled name is in your face from start to finish and then you go and spell my name with a "y".  Multiple times.  Come on people. I have enough respect to spell your name correctly, how about you give it a go with mine.   Now,  when I tell people my name face to face,  I have come to grips with the fact that they have NO way to tell how I spell it and I just let it go.  


I've always had issues about people getting my name wrong.  When I was in first or second grade, I actually got held after school because one of the teachers called me "Joey" (My older sister's name).  It took every inch of my little might to correct that woman.  It went something like, "My NAME is TONI." with my little finger as close to in her face as I could get it considering she was more than two feet taller than me at the time.   There was a similar situation in high school with one of my math teachers, but it was far less amusing and I wasn't nearly as adoring and forgivable then. 


Spell my name right and don't call me Joey and we'll be off to a fantastic start.


Moving on,  lets talk about the title of the blog, "They All Start Out As Toads".  This is a call back to a Once Upon A Time storyline.  I've always liked the idea that witches would turn people into toads if they were bad.  And it was an idea that we, as a group of roleplayers and writers carried on into this fairytale world we built.  All princes started out as toads and got turned into princes by the Fairy Godmother.  She could just as easily turn them back to toads if they proved unsatisfactory.  The threat of Toadery was strong.  There are days I wish I could apply the threat of toadery to real life fools.  On occasion, I've been known to spat out "They all start out as toads." when someone is acting a fool.  Anyone who really knows me will tell you that I do not suffer fools gladly.  


So, to sum up, spell my name right, don't get me confused with my sister and you'll avoid being labeled a candidate for immediate toadery.