Went to the mall. I must have not received the memo which says that everybody should dress like a redneck on laundry day.

Later Peggy and I were walking past the Scientology shop, and I paused to mock the enlightenment scale where they've covered up everything underneath 'Body Death' with a piece of paper so as not to freak out the passersby. Did you know that Charles Manson was a Scientologist? (it doesn't say that on the poster)

I noticed one of the stages is called 'Covert Hostility,' and I announced to Peggy that this was my middle name.

"Ashtoreth 'Covert' Haas?" she asked?

"No. Yeah. Ashtoreth 'Covert' Haastility." I thought about it a minute. "That's a great name. Ashtoreth Hostility."

I'd never been entirely happy with 'Ashtoreth Karnayim.' It's basically a joke name, and it's not entirely relevant to the image I want... it's a town mentioned in the Bible, and it can translate to 'Ashtoreth of the two peaks.' Hilarious. But I'm not sure I want it to be my legal name. It just doesn't kick, it doesn't stick in people's heads.

When I had my name changed I really just wanted to be 'Ashtoreth.' But having one name creates unbelievable problems. It's assumed by everyone that everybody has a first and last name. Unless you're Prince, or somebody who hangs around with Prince, and then you're not filling out your own paperwork anyway. I could have just filled in the last name space with 'X', but then I'd be 'Ashtoreth X,' which makes me sound like a black activist, and while that's a fine thing to be, it isn't what I am. So I stuck with the last name I was given at birth. Less trouble that way.

The root of 'hostile' is 'hostis,' which is Latin for 'enemy.' 'Haas' is Dutch for 'hare,' which is much less interesting, although when I was in school, it was regularly misspelled as 'hass,' German for 'hate.' Maybe they were on to something.

Anyway, I'm trying on this name for a while. I may have to go back to school so I can be called 'Doctor Hostility.'