I really am Katy Perry.
"Nah, you're not the real Katy Perry."
I hear this at least once a week now, usually from people I meet online or customers at my website. It never ceases to amaze me, in fact, just how hard it is for people to suspend their disbelief when they find out my name is Katy Perry. Is it really so hard to believe? It's not exactly an uncommon name, although I have to admit untill a few years ago, I had never heard of anyone else named Katy Perry. As far as I knew, I was the only one in the whole wide world. But when the popstar exploded onto the scene with songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold", sporting the name Katy Perry, I didn't really think much of it. "Hey, that's my name, cool" is about all I thought at the time. If only I'd known.
When my friends started listening to her music, it was kind of an inside joke we all shared. They'd say things like "Nice song, Katy!" etc. At first I thought it was funny. Then it started getting a little embarrassing. Even people that had known me for years began to see me in a new way. I wasn't the girl who loved dogs anymore, or the girl who had worked all senior year for an internship at the biggest veterinary hospital in town. I wasn't even Katy Perry anymore. I was that girl with the same name as Katy Perry. Talk about giving a girl an identity complex.
But it didn't really bother me so much, at least not compared to my relationships with strangers, and people I met online. I'm a firm believer in the idea that the world is a huge place, made almost infinitely smaller in our modern age thanks to that beautiful invention called the interwebs. It's made it so much easier to make friends, and enemies to, but for me, it's indispensable to my livelihood. My online business, http://www.dog-grooming-va.net78.net and its sister site http://www.dog-groomers-new-york.comze.com/ is a forum that allows pet lovers, groomers, caregivers, and veterinarians to come together to share advice, information, and pet stories. This online business is a compliment (and often a major supplement) to the income I earn from grooming pets (mostly dogs) and working part time as a veterinary assistant.
There's where I get the most trouble from my name, when I have to interract with customers and establish contacts on a daily basis. Whenever someone learns my name their first reaction is to laugh. When they see they're the only ones laughing, the push back with "Oh, but you're not the real Katy Perry." And that's the worst. Am I not standing right here in front of you? I assure you, I'm not an illusion, and my name is Katy Perry. And the kicker? Unlike the popstar, my name always was Katy Perry. Her name before she changed it was Katheryn Hudson. If anything, she's not the real Katy Perry! But I do love her music, so I don't complain too much. I just hope it dosn't get between us when we're trying to do business together. And don't ask for my autograph.
"Nah, you're not the real Katy Perry."
I hear this at least once a week now, usually from people I meet online or customers at my website. It never ceases to amaze me, in fact, just how hard it is for people to suspend their disbelief when they find out my name is Katy Perry. Is it really so hard to believe? It's not exactly an uncommon name, although I have to admit untill a few years ago, I had never heard of anyone else named Katy Perry. As far as I knew, I was the only one in the whole wide world. But when the popstar exploded onto the scene with songs like "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot n Cold", sporting the name Katy Perry, I didn't really think much of it. "Hey, that's my name, cool" is about all I thought at the time. If only I'd known.
When my friends started listening to her music, it was kind of an inside joke we all shared. They'd say things like "Nice song, Katy!" etc. At first I thought it was funny. Then it started getting a little embarrassing. Even people that had known me for years began to see me in a new way. I wasn't the girl who loved dogs anymore, or the girl who had worked all senior year for an internship at the biggest veterinary hospital in town. I wasn't even Katy Perry anymore. I was that girl with the same name as Katy Perry. Talk about giving a girl an identity complex.
But it didn't really bother me so much, at least not compared to my relationships with strangers, and people I met online. I'm a firm believer in the idea that the world is a huge place, made almost infinitely smaller in our modern age thanks to that beautiful invention called the interwebs. It's made it so much easier to make friends, and enemies to, but for me, it's indispensable to my livelihood. My online business, http://www.dog-grooming-va.net78.net and its sister site http://www.dog-groomers-new-york.comze.com/ is a forum that allows pet lovers, groomers, caregivers, and veterinarians to come together to share advice, information, and pet stories. This online business is a compliment (and often a major supplement) to the income I earn from grooming pets (mostly dogs) and working part time as a veterinary assistant.
There's where I get the most trouble from my name, when I have to interract with customers and establish contacts on a daily basis. Whenever someone learns my name their first reaction is to laugh. When they see they're the only ones laughing, the push back with "Oh, but you're not the real Katy Perry." And that's the worst. Am I not standing right here in front of you? I assure you, I'm not an illusion, and my name is Katy Perry. And the kicker? Unlike the popstar, my name always was Katy Perry. Her name before she changed it was Katheryn Hudson. If anything, she's not the real Katy Perry! But I do love her music, so I don't complain too much. I just hope it dosn't get between us when we're trying to do business together. And don't ask for my autograph.
