Online user names are interesting things. We pick them, by definition, at the beginning of our relationship with an online community, when we first choose to become an active member of that community. Ofttimes, like preschoolers quickly passing through sizes 2 4 and 6, we may find that we've outgrown them; that what was once a timely reference to an event or a person is now a historic reference; that what was once a clever entendre is now a stale joke; that was once a white-hot fire is now a comfortably warming fireplace.
In short, time moves on and people change.
So, VeganMilitia (uid 120207) ends with this diary.
Shuksan Tahoma (uid 307681) takes over after this.
Vegan, yes, I continue to practice a vegan diet; militant I never have been. Vegan Militia was a inside joke all along. Unbeknownst to myself at least, there was once a hard-core punk band of this name in I believe, Germany; But to me it was just the name of a deep-fried tofu dish not-on-the-menu of a friend's otherwise meat-heavy restaurant. A couple of us would arrive and the wait staff would tell the kitchen staff that the vegan militia was present, as a signal to break out the tofu.
But as a user name, the joke never translated well. Sometimes, not very often, it seemed to define the way other users related to me.... Occasionally, I used the user name to define my relationship with others' diaries - only once it became a bit dicey, but never did it stray too far from civility (I hope).
So, that's why VM goes away at this time.
Now, Shuksan Tahoma, there is a lofty user name. Actually it is two lofty words, representing two lofty mountains in Washington's Cascades.
Mount Shuksan apparently derives it's name from the language of the people of the Skagit, and means, 'Rocky and Precipitous.' Unlike the nearby volcanic Komo Kulshan (Mount Baker)
The mountain is composed of Shuksan greenschist, oceanic basalt that was metamorphosed when the Easton terrane collided with the west coast of North America, approximately 120 million years ago.[6] The mountain is an eroded remnant of a thrust plate formed by the Easton collision.[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Tahoma (I like pronouncing it as a three-sylable song, with the final 'a' lingering and fading: Tahomaaaaah) is better known in the current era as Mount Rainier. Tahoma, is I believe a name in the language of the Yakama nation, to the east, while the Nisqually and other peoples to the west named it differently. [I'll be corrected if in error].
I grew up with a sea-level to summit view of Mount Tahoma, similar to this one over the city of Tacoma (itself a variation of Tahoma) but from a few miles further away and a few hundred feet of elevation.
I've hand the honor to stand on top of each once, the honor to live below both on their rivers, the Nooksack and the Nisqually, and the honor to walk in their foothills so many times.
As an ironic coda, I've now moved west from the cascades to the olympics, and now live below the mountain known as Dos-wail-opsh.
ps in a loving nod to a classic hatemail let me end by paraphrase by saying, 'Kos-delete my flipping account.'