...getting to know...me?...

Steve aka The Quilled One, The King of Quill, Quill, Muffin Man, Sonic, Shockman, Clydesdale, The Crippler, Goku

Thought I would take a moment to inform about the many nicknames I have had over the years. Not that any of you care, mind you, I just thought it’d be a neat post, informative and fun.

My first nickname was Sonic. Reason? Because I like Sonic the Hedgehog, so much that at one time I was a collector of Sonic merchandise and collectibles. And I always drew Sonic and Sonic-like characters.

From Sonic came my next nickname. Scott always used to do variations of it, calling me “spiky-haired friend” and “porcupine.” Well, one day he calls me up, and as soon as I say hello, Scott says, “King of Quill, what’s up?” Needless to say, I liked that. A lot. And so did Scott and just about everyone else. It was certainly better than “Sonic.” So, the name stuck, and it’s been said to stand for many things. One is because my hair was porcupine-like. Another is because I am a smart-ass, and we just dubbed the word ‘quill’ to mean ‘to insult or to crack jokes’ (see the Bug Juice dictionary: www.geocities.com/bugjuice001/). And there’s also that it’s just a play on words that sounds better than Sonic. The name has three variations to it, and I use all three: King of Quill, Quill, and The Quilled One.

Now on to those other nicknames…ugh…

Shockman: A guy named Joe Murphy called me this every day he saw me in high school. It was because my hair “looked like I got electrocuted.”

Clydesdale: This one I’m actually kind of proud of. I worked for three summers with Mehlville School District, and I gained a reputation for working my ass off and lifting incredibly heavy objects. Also because I would work harder than other college guys, and I usually liked to keep working instead of taking a million breaks. One guy I worked for started calling me Clydesdale because he said "I was like a work horse." He also said I was a beast lifting all that stuff like I did, and I guess Clydesdale is the biggest horse he could think of.

The Crippler: This is actually a wrestling inside joke too, given by my friends Tom and Jon at SMS. I do swords, and I would often accidentally…um…hurt people in duels. Some are that I gave one guy a concussion on two different occasions, delivered countless unintended nut shots, and broke another guys hand. (I swear none of it was intentional.)

Goku: Well, I like DBZ. And I have been known to eat a lot; I like working out (training) and sparring around; I can be a tad slow sometimes; I went through a rapid increase in physical strength between when I left for college and when I returned; and some of my training included wearing really heavy weights, including a vest, during swords and workouts. These are all qualities that remind of the character Goku from the Dragonball series.

Muffin Man: Long story short – I tried to bake muffins in my sleep. I know what you’re thinking, “wtf?!”, believe me, that’s how I feel, too. It’s a funny nickname, Scott’s girlfriend Amanda uses it the most.

Now you know…and knowing is half the battle. GO JOE…uh, yeah.