Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Farewell, Dear Friend

A couple of weeks ago, I logged into Blogger and found a notification waiting for me about the option to link this blog to my Google+ profile.

Used to be, all of the posts here were automatically filtered through Google Buzz, which was a handy way of getting new entries out to subscribers.  Of course, the mere fact that it was a useful and efficient tool meant that Buzz was doomed; predictably, Google chucked it not long after unrolling its Google+ platform.

Linking this blog (and my others) to Google+ seemed like a reasonable way to consolidate my online profiles and get my entries out into the world again.  But there was a downside:  going to Google+ meant I had to sacrifice my Blogger profile.

Seems silly, I know - especially since I swapped out the name "Prophecy Girl" for "Becky" months ago - but I put off the switch until now because something about it made me sad.

There it goes:  the last place online where I wasn't known by my full name.  Even on Jake Watch, all the old entries that used to be signed "Prophecy Girl" are now attributed to "Becky Heineke."

I'm guilty of waxing nostalgic far too often, I know; I annoy even myself at times.  But there are a lot of reasons why I really, truly miss the internet of six years ago.  When it was a wilderness.  When most adults were scared of it.  When the aim of being online wasn't to duplicate yourself in digital form...the point was to be somebody else.

I sit here, typing this into my clean white template, Blogger autosaving my draft every two to three seconds, and I know that I am looking at the face of progress.  I remember the first several years of my blogging career quite well...losing entries to error messages and fumbling my way through clunky composition pages and frustrating HTML code...   

Somehow, those days were the most fun I've ever had on the internet...

Prophecy Girl wrote a hell of a lot of blogs in her lifetime, a good thousand of which were right here on Blogger.  And now, with a single click of a mouse, I have eradicated her entirely to put my real name on her work.  

I know that we all must change and move with the times, but I don't know that "Becky Heineke" will ever capture the same spirit of enthusiasm that PG did.  She was the best alter-ego a girl could ask for, and for that, I thank her.

Farewell, Prophecy Girl!  You will be missed, and may you at least live eternally on MySpace...

Posted by at 3:09 PM

12 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 10, 2012 at 3:24 PM

    first *g* ...........


    Sasha

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    1. AnonymousApril 10, 2012 at 3:29 PM

      sorry I just wanted to do this one time in my entire life ;)

      I actually was browsing thru ISJ today and wondered about the fact that there suddenly it said "written by B.H." ...and couldn't make up my mind if you always signed with that or if it was PG before.

      It IS kinda said that they swapped the names. I can't put my finger on how I feel to it - now that I actually am sure, as you said it, that PG wrote the entries about JG. Probably I feel sad about it because I got to know you as PG (if that makes any sense *g* )

      And again I'm happy for being someone else on the net, in terms of full name *ggg* And nothing could ever change that - I think.

      Sasha

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    2. Becky HeinekeApril 10, 2012 at 4:58 PM

      I must say, I feel kinda privileged that someone has written "first" on one of my posts. :D

      So the e-mail subscription worked! Yay! And on the subject of this post, it definitely is strange to go back, especially to Jake Watch, and see my real name there. I'm sure it'll be a shock to anyone who goes back and visits that site for the nostalgia factor. Like, who is this Becky Heineke person?! :)

      You are much more discrete than I am, and have far less of an online presence, so you will likely always be fine in maintaining your anonymity. In a way, I envy you that. But I also realize that I have to adapt in order to keep up, and so here I am, for all the world to see! And maybe in the long run, there will be some advantages. Just yesterday (as I wrote about in one of the blog entries I wrote but didn't publish), I ran across an online retailer who was selling my gay cowboy shirt without my permission, clearly in copyright infringement. Maybe if my real name is all over the place, people will be less likely to steal my ideas (?). Well, we can hope...

      Delete
  2. AnonymousApril 11, 2012 at 7:00 AM

    hehe :)

    Yep, I do my very best to be anonymous on the net - but on the other hand, there is also no need for me to step out there. Whilst for you, there is some kind of "must have online presence" as an author.

    I'm sure it will also help with those copyright things. I honestly think that with some kind of "fame" (aka google-able personality) people are a bit more careful what they do with stuff that it isn't theirs.

    On another subject: Is that you on that b/w picture??? Or PG ;) ? *ggg*

    Sasha

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    1. Becky HeinekeApril 11, 2012 at 8:49 AM

      It's actually Jane Asher, Paul McCartney's girlfriend through much of the 1960s. :) I used that picture as my original profile picture for "Prophecy Girl," and then switched to the purple-haired girl (who's from an old James Bond poster) after britpopbaby sent her to me during my Jake Watch days. I've had several other pictures over the years, but those are the two I most strongly associate with PG's "identity." :)

      And now it's just boring old regular me in the picture! The internet's just not as fun as it used to be... ;D

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    2. AnonymousApril 11, 2012 at 9:33 AM

      LOL - I was sooooooooo sure it is you, in b/w (maybe a teenage pic) as much as the lilac girl (a nice fantasy portrait) ........... #StupidBlonde .........but really to me both pictures look very much like the "real" you.

      Naaah now you are fishing for compliments - I can't see anything boring or regular with you ;)

      Maybe you need to build a second you, but I think that is more work than fun o.0

      Sasha

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    3. Becky HeinekeApril 12, 2012 at 9:12 AM

      :D Well, I'm flattered you'd think either of those pics were really me! On MySpace, I used a picture of Susan Dey from The Partridge Family, and several people thought that picture was really of me, too... I think it's all the mascara and blue eye shadow I wear that makes it possible for people to mistake me for 60s icons. ;D

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  3. ღ ℓoreℓαi ღApril 12, 2012 at 9:09 AM

    Sad. :( I met you as PG and now I know you as Becky, but this new crap sucks. There's no way to undo it now, huh? Stupid Google+.

    X♥X♥,
    Lorelai
    aka: BeautifulMess74

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    1. Becky HeinekeApril 12, 2012 at 9:15 AM

      Unfortunately no. :( I don't mind having "Becky" over here or anywhere going forward, but I really, really wish there'd been a way to preserve "Prophecy Girl" on all the blogs I've written on in the past. It's just wrong to have her name completely erased from the record. :(

      (By the way, nice to see you again!!! It's been awhile! Hope all is well. :))

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    2. Becky HeinekeApril 12, 2012 at 9:17 AM

      P.S. I just realized that every place I've commented over the years still has the name/profile I commented under. That makes it a little better!

      Delete
  4. MalinApril 21, 2012 at 1:34 PM

    No matter the name, we will always love you :)

    <3

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