Hello, other people. This is still the homepage of me, and it is still rather unrevealing about its creator. There's no real reason I should talk about myself here, because it's doubtful that anyone else will ever read it, but it's still interesting that so little of the stuff on my "personal" home page has anything to do with me. I find this surprising, because I generally spend a good deal of time talking about myself. It's quite common for people to know me before I know them, at least beyond the level of "acquaintance", because my entire life history seems to find its way into any conversation that I am attempting to dominate.

This tendency of mine reflects some level of self-centrism, or at least of self-esteem. Despite common arguments to the contrary, neither of those qualities seems that negative. After all, we have to be a little self-centered if we want to survive, right? And it's commonly stated that you must love yourself before you can love others. So rather than reflecting my arrogance, the pleasure I take from my own existence can just be seen as an ongoing effort to increase my capacity for love and compassion.

Yep. I could debate the advantages and disadvantages of pride, but the side against it has the entire history of literature on its side. The Tower of Babel, the Greek concept of hubris, Milton's Paradise Lost, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, etc. (In this case, "etc." means that I'm sure there are other examples, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.) However, these classics now find opposition in the modern supermarket psychology books which tout the merits of feeling good and ignoring bad stuff. So the world of today is fighting the world of yesterday over this issue, and though I'm rooting for the world of yesterday I'm unfortunately stuck as the perfect example of the modern young man.

Perhaps I am actually a product of the Stuart Smalley movement. Or perhaps I am what it is, a reaction to the depression and hatred of modern times as represented by angry music, popular self-deprecation, and every girl in the world who complains about being fat. I am not just an annoying kid who sings songs about himself. I am Johnny O'Neal, rebel and teen idol, lashing out against the evil forces of low self-esteem!

Whatever I am, I'm darn cool. Sometimes I'm worried that there really is balance in this world, so that someday my life is going to turn around, push me down, and start kicking me vigorously. Because of this "balance" theory, I've tried to convince myself that my childhood was really bad, so that I can be more comfortable in my current happiness. But I see right through that little ruse, so the future still scares me a little bit.

Despite all that typing, I've still failed to say something really concrete about myself. This is the "me" page, and it should have some hard facts. To appease the people who are dying for some unabridged info about the real me, here's the skinny on my nickname:

My given name is John Walter O'Neal. I think that's a good name, if a rather uninteresting one. (My middle name is the first name of my paternal grandfather, which is a tradition in my family.) Note that my legal name is not Jonathan or Johnathan, so don't call me that. My name is John, and some people call me John. However, my dad's name is also John. (I am not a "Junior", because his middle name is the first name of his grandfather. And my son's first name had better not be John, or by the tradition he would be John John O'Neal.) To distinguish me from my father, I have been called "Johnny" for as long as I can remember. That is therefore what I consider myself to be. I do not think "Johnny" sounds diminutive or childish, and so I have not given that name up. (Then again, I still go to a pediatrician, but I don't think there's too much shame in that. In both cases it's an issue of familiarity.) Some people, despite my assurances to the contrary, refuse to call me Johnny. Others refuse to call me John, because they know my dad. Other people call me John because that's how they've always known me. (Such people are usually from Michigan, where I decided in sixth grade to become "John", as one step towards "changing my image".) I actually have friends who get in arguments over this issue. The bottom line for me is that, in all honesty, I don't give a hoot. People will continue to call me different things, and I will continue to not notice. My birth certificate will always say John, and my signature will always say Johnny.

There you go, everybody. That's some good solid information you can use.

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