Hushicho's Hidden Shrine

What’s in a Name?

So today I was going through my convention supplies. I cleaned out my tote (which hadn’t been cleaned out since I got it, five years ago!) and then went through the single long container that houses all of my table setup, books, prints, and everything else that goes on or gets sold at my appearances.

I found a couple of empty containers recently and thought I might be better off just dividing things into them instead of having that single larger container, which I always have to remove boxes from to carry anyway; it’s long and unwieldy and too heavy and eh. So I went to do that.

A couple of hours later, I’m finally done. Everything fits much more nicely in their new spots! But one thing that amused me endlessly was that…well, I’m the kind of person who takes different sorts of souvenirs from things. My first souvenir from any appearance is usually the little piece of paper or card that numbers the table and has my name on it. They usually put those down so that you’ll be able to know where you’re going to be for the show.

I chose my name, ‘Hushicho’, as my professional pen name because it was given to me by a friend, and it marked a new part of my life. It has profound meaning to me, and the spelling is also my choice — stylised, and not the more technically detail-correct ‘fushichou’. So for years I’ve been known as just Hushicho to the people who know me, or ‘Hushicho Phoenix’ by some. I’m not too picky, really. I’ll answer to just about anything.

However, the reason why I started collecting the place cards from conventions is because they’re often so funny. Despite my name being on all my correspondence, it is amusingly difficult for people to get right on the place cards.

The most common one is ‘Hushico’, which is fine, that’s close enough. But a couple of the ones I found cleaning out my container today made me chuckle in remembrance: not one, but two read ‘Huskseko’, which was pretty interesting in and of itself. And then, there was the prize, the one that I looked at the day of that show and just could not stop myself from grinning the whole time.

‘Hurishco’.

I love it. I love it so much.

I feel almost entirely sure I am the only person who has this singularly bizarre side hobby, but it’s in a strange way something to look forward to, no matter what the show.

Just a little peek into the odd workings of my mind!