I joined the GRMzoomchat today, and got asked if I'd explained my username in here. And, no, I hadn't yet.
It's a bit of tale, and non-zero amount of it involves the forum; and should be broken into two parts. Sleepyhead being what I used here for the first ~4 years.
I finally joined the forums 'for reals' back in May 2015.
See, I'd come back from Germany, and tried to help out a buddy achieve a goal of bringing their miata to OneLap (for my 3rd time there). There's a lot of sturm-und-drang about that, which I've inundated Sonic and few others with, but it's not really fit for here. The basics are, we got the miata to South Bend for tech/sticker day, but it was slightly 'bumblegum, duct tape, and half a prayer'. As it happens, this super nice redheaded Lap Puppy in a black Cadi V-wagon was parked behind us. I helped that team out, a bit with 'first time nerves' and 'how things go here'... general 'Welcome to the Circus' stuff... and joked-off hand that they probably had room to fit a wayward OneLapper, what with a wagon and only 2 team members.
Come the next day, and the first event... wet skidpad. And the miata is sorting through another unexpected problem... I come back from checking the brakes... only to find that it's leaking concerning amounts of oil. So, the owner pulls the plug, and I stuck out my thumb. Which is how I came to spend 2/3rds of OneLap 2015 from the back seat of mazdeuce's Cadi.
Unbeknownst to me, my 'late night photo editing' and my general 'Need 20mintues to be awake in the morning' was bothering Seth and codriver... who were in a completely different sync.
Also, Seth sidewize let me know that the top of my head was now internet famous:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mazdeuce-does-one-lap/97935/page13/
Well, now I needed to sign up for the forum... to defend my baldness. But what name to sign up with? Then I read about how my sleeping antics were affecting the team dynamic.
Which leaned on this Anime I'd enjoyed called 'Last Exile' back in the before-sleepykids days. And the antagonist is ribbed throughout for similar slumber issues, and is as such called 'sleepyhead'...
(side note: that's a good series... steampunk anime. you should watch, but probably not with 13 and under)
sleepyhead it was
--- ----
now, let's fastforward to May 2019, and I'm with Seth again on a OneLap...
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/mazdeuce-seth-does-one-lap-2019/143176/page15/
you see, we'd stopped somewhere for gas and food with a lame not-actually a food court. And we all ended up deciding to get stuff from the mexican place, the kind of place where you tell them your order... then either stand up and wait for your food, or go sit down at one of the tables. I really don't like these setups... Tim sounds too much like a bunch of other names... Tim, Slim, Ben, Jim.... basically anything that's two syllables and ends with an 'n' or an 'm'. Additionally, between race cars and screaming sleepykids, my hearings not what it used to be.... or maybe it's the genetics? I'd ask my dad, but he's got the same problem. 
"huh, what?"
Lo and behold... "was that my order?" "I dunno?" wait a bit. "I think that was it, they called it again, must be." Get up, take the bag, look inside... that's not right. Look at the tag, E36 M3 you not, guy behind me in line was named "Jim". I work it out with the crew sling the tortillas, and go sit down and wait a bit more. "I think I need to start using a different name for ordering food." Mazdeuce and Pete sling out a couple of options, but they don't seem right. Maybe it's being a Poland, and the lack of good wings. Maybe it's ancient memories of Buffalo Tacos from working at Chili's. Who knows. Whatever reason, 'Buffalo' popped in my head. It's multi-syllable, it's common, but not as a name... and doesn't sounds like any name I could think of right-off.
So, I used it the next night at the Arby's at our Pilot gas stop, and a couple other times. Patrick threw down a gauntlet, and so I eventually relented... and added it to my screen name.
It's actually become handy around the house, now. Sleepywife can throw it at me when I'm being stubborn about something. "Stopping being a Buffalo", among other uses. The more I interact with it, the more I've come to identify with it. Which is all kind of crazy to me. I've been on the internet for 20 years, and have been bashing around looking for an identity... when it all came to others relatively easily.
A bit like my life. Over-long, meandering, and ending up in places I never would have thought it would have. It's been good, and thank y'all for helping me along on this journey!
[/end book]
