take a picture, it'll last longer

I've been accessing the internet for years and it never occurred to me to do this before this morning: type "viz." into dictionary.com and see what it actually stands for.

So:

vi·del·i·cet (vĭ-děl'ĭ-sět', vī-, wĭ-dā'lĭ-kět') Pronunciation Key
adv. Abbr. viz.
That is; namely. Used to introduce examples, lists, or items.


[Latin vidēlicet, contraction of vidēre licet, "it is permitted to see" : vidēre, to see; see vide + licet, third person sing. present tense of licēre, to be permitted.]

It is permitted to see. Whoof, that's a doozy.

I was just explaining to Myke yesterday about magical names. The point of life--the point of your own life, for sure--is whatever you say it is. The existentialists were right about that. So, something that expresses what you know to be the point of your life should be what you choose as your mage-name. Or names, if like me you need to put labels on many aspects.

Names and their uses and deployments and constructions are the quintessential thing within the ambit of my gift. I don't want to give a name to the gift, because of all the many good reasons of mental hygiene why you don't want to name spiritual things too specifically. But if I gave it one it would be the gift of names. Because that's what it does. Somebody displays for me a thing that can be thought, and I reach back and there its names are, and I don't even know how I came to know where to look for them.

Viz being the first of the names I chose for myself, its meaning is of great importance to me. I already knew it meant "namely" and "that is" and was used to introduce examples. That was quite rich enough a word freight for me! But the Latin derivation is even better. Much, much better. Fits right in there with my other mage names. Makes me feel warm and happy in my solar plexus.


In other news. Things that are broken or mostly broken: my laptop internet card, CD drive, and the DVD player Meg gave us for Xmas. Very saddening. Me and Dave may have to start conversing with each other or something.
And I sent my resume to the Onion this morning because they need an "accounting assistant." According to the print issue that came out yesterday, not the website. Who knows. Not me. It sounds from the description almost exactly like my job here, except at a newspaper instead of a restaurant. I have finally gotten to the point where I actually like my job because I can do it well and its challenges are familiar to me. But the thought of working at a place that prints words on paper for a living is exciting. And I love the Onion generally and support its works of merriment. So who knows. I suspect the position has already been filled, which would be a bit of a relief actually. We'll see. After all, it's permitted. ^_^