Permanent email address?

[rhkramer@gmail.com]

 I would like to have an email address that will be permanent, in that, for 
example, I can move it from provider to provider as I desire or need (if, for 
example, a provider goes out of business).  (And that gets my email out of 
google's control / reach.)

(Aside: this is not specifically in response to the changes that google is 
making effective May 30 -- I plan to use an application specific password to (I 
hope) keep kmail working after that date -- the desire for a permanent email 
address out of google's control is a longer term goal -- I'm not in a big 
hurry.)

My understanding is that the (only?) way to do get such a permanent address is 
to have my own domain and assign an email address in that domain to me?

Also, iiuc, I cannot move my gmail address to some other provider?

(I have done a fair amount of digging into this point -- gmail addressed to me 
(eventually) gets to google, and then google sends it on to me via my ISP -- I 
could change my ISP but gmail will still go through google.)

I'm also aware that there are some, iiuc, "free" top level domains -- I 
vaguely remember an announcement some years ago, .xxx sticks in my mind as one 
of them -- ahh, maybe not, but I can't remember the others -- is .name one of 
them?  If so, that sounds like the appropriate TLD for my email address.  (I 
realize that even if free in some respects, there may be other fees involved.)

I have done some googling, reading, and experimentation on these questions, 
and had drafted a much longer post on these questions, but (fortunately for 
you ;-), I've drafted this much shorter post that I think covers the critical 
(to me) questions without a lot of detail.  

(I was going to send that longer post to the list seeking confirmation on the 
various things I think I learned (or assumed), and I may do that later (and 
consider adding it to my wiki) just for education and posterity.)