The combination of an online byline and a distinctive first name (it's the Gaelic form of Mary and hence a nice Irish name; also has Greek origins and originally meant "fate"; pronounced moy-ruh, not morra; named after an aunt and not the star of "The Red Shoes," though I might pretend otherwise) brings a nice bonus: I'm constantly hearing from people I knew long ago, for whom my name rings a bell -- former colleagues (one just this week) from previous workplaces, classmates, even an old boyfriend a few years back. (No, we didn't rekindle anything, though that might have made a cute romantic comedy, wouldn't it?)

Some of those voices, though, aren't from my past, but from somebody else's. I keep expecting to hear from people who've mixed me up with this lady, who seems like a lot of fun but who isn't me (though I might someday borrow the fruit-on-the-head Carmen Miranda notion). But I do hear, on a very regular basis, from the friends of a Moira Macdonald (McDonald? MacDonald?) from Sitka, Alaska, and I've gotten so many messages for her I've put together a bit of a bio: her parents owned a clothing store, she starred in "Annie" in high school, she sang in a rock band, she introduced at least one person to his spouse, she went to college somewhere back East. In fact I got a call from a professor last summer, who was visiting Seattle and was thrilled that his favorite student had landed a newspaper job, and wanted to take me out to lunch. Since I never attended the college he named, I had to reluctantly decline, though it would have made for a better story if I'd shown up. (Another rom-com idea?)

Someday I hope to hear from Moira-from-Sitka; I think we'd have a lot to talk about.

(Movies? You want movies? Yes, a more on-topic post will soon follow.)