Alter Ego

Alter Ego
alter ego
n.
Another side of oneself; a second self.
An intimate friend or a constant companion

was reading the featured question of the day on my Xanga site, it made me think about alter egos. I mean, that is basically what the question was asking: "Does your Internet persona differ much from you in real life? Why or why not? Now, in my mind, most of the time things happen in chain reactions. Alternate persona sparked me to think about alter egos, which made me think about Beyonce's alter ego Sasha. So, I started reading up on "her", and how she is supposed to be the sexier, stronger sassier version of herself that she uses strictly for her stage persona. As with anything on google, it brought up more than what I asked for, and in doing this I was introduced to Madonna's spiritual consultant Esther, Mariah Carey's soul emancipating alter ego Mimi, and Janet Jackson, always one to exceede expectations, has TWO alter ego's. Damita Jo, who is the harsher of the duo, and Strawberry, the one that helps her live out all of her sexual fantasies.
Comic book characters have possesed this quality for years. Catwoman, Poison Ivy, Superman, Spiderman, all good examples of people using an alternate personality, and a mask, to allow them to become someone thay felt like they couldn't become just as they were.
I have also seen comical examples of people creating completely new versions of themselves, past the point of an alter ego, in real life. Many of my friends who went off to college from our small town in the middle of no where became completely different people, and if you're Greek, I'm sure you have seen many times how the pledging, O, I'm sorry, Intake process can completely metamorphasize someone into a total reinvention of who you thought they were.
Be the change good... or bad
So, the actual question at hand is, do I have an alter ego when I am on here spilling all the thoughts in my head to the World Wide Web.
Yea, I kinda do
But, it isn't quite what you probably think.
I can get on Xanga, and feel completely comfortable in saying exactly how I feel and being completely honest. I don't feel judged for being me. This is like having a diary that talks back. And I guess you all actually get to experience the REAL me. I can't say I am comfortable enough, or care or like many others enough, for them to see who I really am. That's kinda private, you know?
Although, I did have a little scare a couple weeks ago when a friend told me they discovered my blog...
But hey, it's cool

Anyway, I am curious to know how it would actually feel to have a real life alter ego? I have a little one I guess. When I am with my friends, I cut loose a little more and have more fun than I do if I am with my family. They are really reserved and prefer me to be that way. Since that isn't who I am, sometimes we don't quite get along or understand each other, but I try to keep my real self hog tied and penned up as often as I can around them to keep all involved parties happy. But I am still the same me. From what I am reading and seeing, when people have these "out of body experiences", they completely loose themselves for a moment. I am really curious to see how that would feel. But honestly, I don't even know where to begin with that little experiment.
So, my question to everyone else is, do you have an alter ego? When do you let them out to play? Do you think haing an alter ego makes you a fake person, or is it more of a safety precaution to shield you from the outside world?
I'm just curious to know, that's all.