'Everybody lies', Dr. House

Back during my school days, I used to write my English for Science and Technology under the pseudonym, Jack Garbeth. At the time, all of friends laughed at me as if I was some sort of a fool for using such name. Given how naïve I was at the time, I succumbed to peer pressure and put the name to rest.

And I thought that was the end of all these made-up names…

At least it was, until I sat for my Physics paper during my SPM trial.

It was Physics paper 2. As always, I got confused with certain concepts and formulas. As soon as my attempt to force my head to churn out some any memories that could be in any way useful failed me, my mind began to wander. If you must know one thing about me, it is this; my head likes to wander, a lot. With a pen in hand, I began to scribble down my own name and started to write anagrams of it.

Unfortunately because of the way my name is spelled, I could not get much out of it. By the time the exam was over, the best name I’ve got was Faw Dudini. Now Faw Dudini does not sound too bad, I suppose. One thing for sure though, it does have close resemblance to Harry Houdini, the infamous escape artist. 

So yes, as you could probably guessed by now, I am obsessed with the idea of reinventing myself. My idea is to create a new identity for myself so that the world will no longer see me the way they used to.

But that was then. Like I said, I was naïve.

Over time, as I grew older I began to realize something: to create a new identity does not necessarily mean that you need a new face or a new name. All you ever need is a mask.

Well, not literally though.

You see, all you have to do is: 

1. Create an image, a projection of yourself that you are comfortable sharing with the world. Any image would do just fine. 
2. Sell it as your own. This is the hardest part, you got to be really convincing. What you are looking to do is to stamp an association of that image with the real you. 
3. As the crowd hangs on to it. You’re set to live the way you want.

By this time, some of you might think that I am trying to teach you to be a con artist. But the truth is, I’m not. The fact of the matter is, we already did it. I need not tell you how to do all of this, because in one way or another, that is exactly how we behave in reality.

Then again, perhaps you have already mastered it.

(The writer thought of all this while pondering on a problem in contract theory; how to prevent the good-type from pretending to be low-type.)

I leave the rest to you…….