What's In A Name? Cheese.

"I hate it when people call you Mouse, don't introduce yourself like that."

Perhaps, but not really. You see, the origin of this name isn't because I'm short and like chesse. It's not because I'm "mousy" or anything.

It has to do with a conversation I had very long ago with friends. As in, almost 10 years ago long ago. We've long moved on to other bars, lives, genders, but at the time we were sitting around and talking. And when you engage in such endevors among friends, you end up with strange topics of conversations such as "If you were named after a cartoon character, who would it be?"

Now for some bit of background. When I was a child, I had a fascination with all things Cartoon Mouse. From Disney's Cinderella to Tom and Jerry and anything that had a Cartoon Mouse. Since I was a child, I was rather annoying about it. I made my parents hold the door open for all 27 of my Imaginary Cartoon Mice Friends. My mother thought that maybe a dose of reality would quell my fascination with Cartoon Mice by making me check the pantry for dead mice in the mouse traps that we set. Unfortunatly, my imagination is stronger and more stubborn than mere reality. When I checked the traps, there wasn't any mice...until one jumped out from behind the cans. Because I was 5 and startled, I slammed the pantry door shut...on the the mouse's tail. It was stuck trying to scurry away and I was glued to the wall screaming in terror. After my mother's eyes rolled straight out of her head, she went and got my father to get rid of the mouse. He came back in, bitten and annoyed, and said that he'd killed it. Cue an overdramatic 5 year old wailing over a dead mouse. And it was another year or two that they had to hold the door open for the 27 Imaginary Cartoon Mice Friends.

Mouse. It's my thing.

My second favorite cartoon ever is this one:

I LOVED that episode. I don't think of myself as a mouse, per se, but The White Mouse. The Explosive Mouse. So when I say "I'm Mouse", I'm saying that I'll blow you up if you try to hurt me. And there's nothing mousy about that bit of badassery.

Bring it, motherfuckers, I'm Mouse.