Sky, Lance, and Paul Douglas

I read a blog post on Meteorologist Paul Douglas and it provoked me to write this story.

Last summer I worked on a condo project set to be built downtown right next to WCCO-TV. Paul Douglas and his wife stopped into our grand opening event and I had the pleasure of speaking with them about buying opportunities, all the while trying to be professional and treat him as a normal human being by not really acknowleding that he is a local celebrity. We corresponded through a couple of emails regarding the building afterwards. I noticed that his email was listed under the name Doug Kruehoffer (yet his emails were signed "Paul Douglas"). I quickly realized that "Paul" was actually his TV name, so I politely inquired in one email what he would prefer me to call him, Doug or Paul? I figured this was the right thing to do, being that we were working in a professional setting and "Doug" was really his name.

Skip to another story. My dad, who's a complete character, was a theater major in college. At some point when he was a young man, he gave himself a stage name, being that he was an actor of sorts. My entire life my dad's alias has been "Lance Sterling." Growing up, we never once had a dinner reservation under our real last name. It was always under the "Sterling Party" or "Lance S." My friends have even resorted to calling him "Lance." Since I share my dad's strange sense of amusement, I decided that I needed a stage name as well and assumed the name Sky Mackay. I use this name most often when random dudes try to pick me up. If I'm not interested, they don't get my real name. Or, if I am traveling, meet people along the way that I know I am never going to see again...why not be "Sky"? Since my dad actually performed in the theater, he referred to his alias as his "stage name." I did the same.

Back to Paul Douglas. While I believe it was the right etiquette to ask what he preferred to be called, my statements after that question were probably not. You see, I thought it would be good to build rapport with Paul/Doug by letting him know that we have something in common. After all, he was thinking of buying a condo from me. I wish I still had the email I sent so I could copy and paste it here, but I wrote something like, "I have a stage name too. I sometimes go by Sky Mackay." Now, Sky isn't a trampy name by any means. It's not like I called myself "Alotta Fagina" or anything. But in hindsight, I question whether I should have used the phrase "stage name" since that might imply that I actually use it on stage. And, um, I guess there are other forms of entertainment performed by women on stage that aren't theatrical. You get my drift. Afterall, who would really mention having a stage name if it was just for fun? Me. Yep. Me. Real professional, Ashley.

Paul/Doug never did reply to that email. I like to pretend that it was just because he was not that interested in living in a condo that overlooked his work building...but it could've been because he got a little freaked out that the young woman realtor he talked to decided to mention that she had a STAGE NAME...and he didn't really know how to interpret that. There are a lot of wackos out there afterall. And I'm afraid he thinks I'm one of them!