I just got off the phone with Christine, and I’m tired as hell. I wanted to write about my day and tell a wee tale before I retired for the evening though.

I don’t think I can get to sleep until I do. It’s just something that I feel compelled to finally tell.

It is the origin of the name Critus.

Now I realize that many of you know this tale, and those of you that don’t may be in for some disappointment. It’s not a terribly exciting tale. I don’t even know that it’s all that interesting. The reason I want to tell it, though, is because I have had yet another bizarre day.

I got two emails today from two different individuals who I have not heard from in many, many years. At least 10, I would imagine. The first was from a man named Kyle. I met Kyle right about the time I was graduating from high school, and he was the person who introduced me to Zappa’s Place, which was the first bulletin board I was ever a member of. Thus, he is the man who is responsible for my introduction to the Internet.

The other email was from a man named David Baker.

David went to high school with me at Gibbs. At one point during our time together there, he was trying to get me interested in Wicca. Not surprisingly, I never took hold of the religion. As with every other religion I’ve encountered, I was never able to detach myself from the “this is utterly silly” aspect of it. During that period, however, he told me that my middle name, Curtis, was actually a misspelling of my real name…Critus.

I liked the name. I thought it had a nice ring to it. So I kept it. At first, it became the name of one of my Dungeons and Dragons characters (hey! keep the snide comments to yourself!), and then…when Kyle introduced me to the Internet…it became my screen name.

It was originally Critus Nightshade.

Then it became Critus Nightshade, The Neon Samurai.

I, of course, eventually shortened it to the now infamous Critus. But I still use Neon Samurai. It’s the name of my web production company.

So there it is. The origin of Critus, and thoughts on how my life just continues to be stranger and stranger.