Mine, My Precious, My Own

Today my boss said:"Lei, you should get a name for your mutant."

That's right. I had made the mutation for several months now and it hadn't got a name yet. I kept calling it "my mutant". It was like calling a two month-old baby just "my baby".

Not that I didn't want to name it, but that it was my first "baby" and, like all parents, I wanted to give it a good name.

Fruitfly people are known for their freedom of naming genes/mutants whatever they like, which is an advantage over yeast people and worm people, who have relatively stricter naming systems. Some fruitfly gene names are really cool, imaginative, and funny. Quite a comic relief if you encounter one in a generally boring scientific paper.

I wanted my baby to have that kind of names.

Apparently, my boss already had an idea. He suggested:"Why not call it lz? You know, your initials."

I hesitated. It didn't sound like an ideal name. First of all, it was a little bit vain. Plus it was uncool.

But after a while, when this "initials" idea sank deeper into my brain and hit my vanity nerve, I began to like this name.

Why not? I made this mutant, after all the doubts, obstacles and mistakes. It was mine, my precious, my own. I personally felt in my heart that I deserved it. And this time, there was no controversy involved.

Of course, I am not that vain, So if I have other options, I would be glad to give it up.

But for now, meet lz.