Photo by Andif. Title: "Retirement. For katiebird."
I've never felt like a "Nancy." If I could change my name, I'd be Elizabeth. Even now, sitting here at this computer, that feels like my real name. I'm not sure who this other Nancy person is. She slipped in here somehow and stole my identity. This name thing has been true for me since I was a child. My choice has always been Elizabeth. And I wouldn't go by Liz, or any other shortening, because I don't "feel like" any of those nicknames, perfectly fine though they are for other people. It would be Elizabeth, or nothing. I wonder if it's because "Elephant Walk," starring E. Taylor, was the first movie I ever saw.
Do you "feel like" your name? If you're not really who your parents named you, who are you?
36 comments:
Andi, do you have a spare photo that I may post today? I can't get to my Andi library.
Maybe her name isn`t Andi, Elizabeth.
Maybe it`s Adrienne.
Greetings from Emporia, Nancy! Nice to see your blog is up and running again!
I totally feel like a "Diana," but it was a close call - my mother wanted to name me Suzi. FORTUNATELY, the neighbor's dog was named Suzi, and my mother hated the idea of the DOG answering if she called my name ("Suzi! Time to come inside!"), so she settled on Diana. THANK GOD. I am so definitely NOT a Suzi.
Of course I do. In fact, I have two specially selected by Giddy and Sniff in honor of katiebird's retirement. They are suggestions about great things to do when you are retired.
Retirement activity 1 [LINK]
Retirement activity 2 [LINK]
Happy retirement, kb!!!!
No knucklehead, what I wasn't was an Andrea -- that's someone tall, willowly, and graceful. But abrupt, short, slightly clunky Andi was perfect.
In my family we're named after relatives. So consequently I got three last names. I never really thought of other name I would like to be called, but I do wish my nickname didn't rhyme to sh*t. ;)
Hola, folks!
Nancy, how funny your "want" name is Elizabeth. When I was a kid, that's the name I wanted, too. :)
Somehow, though it really didn't fit as I got older.
I do like my name, as I've pretty much been the only Maria Lima wherever I go. Now that my cousin is in the states, though, we're both Maria Lima, except her middle name is Eugenia and mine is Yolanda. So, like in many Cuban families, I'm MariYoli and she's MariaEugenia (said all together).
That said...TGIfreakinF!!!! What a crazy week it's been. Today, I get to go back to Big!Client for another rousing day of meeting. (yes, one meeting...all day).
But, tonight I've got dinner plans with a friend and this weekend: nothing, nada, zip, sleeping. ::g::
Cheers and happy Friday to all!
KB, happy retirement!
Good Morning! Andi I think you must have found photos of me practicing. Because they look JUST like me.
I've got splitting headache (I think from the thunder storm that's raging) so I'll be back in a bit....
(sorry for the abrupt departure)
I never liked my name either and I did change it. Have I told you guys this story already? In my slide into geezerhood (I get bonus geezer points for retiring at age 29), I don't remember, but it's the sort of story Nancy likes so please forgive if I'm repeating myself and causing unnecessary mouse scrolling.
I legally changed my middle and surnames when I was 28. My first name has always been Jennifer, but I seriously considered changing it to Genevieve after my great-grandmother. But then after lots of pondering I decided that I would not personally be able to get used to a brand new first name (even if I'd still be Gen), and the idea of changing all three of my names at once was making my identity feel too fuzzy. I was a little stressed about it because I felt like I was blowing off my great-grandmother (who was a VIP in my life until she passed away when I was 2 1/2) while I was honoring two dear friends with the other two new names I chose. I was really worried about how she'd feel about the whole thing even after I decided to go ahead with it.
For a couple of months I'd been carrying around the completed paperwork in my bag, waiting until I felt right about filing it, and then one overcast day in October, I decided to go downtown and do it. While I was walking across a very windy parking lot on campus toward my car, one of the brisk gusts pitched a small plastic object at me, which hit me in my midsection and then fell to the pavement with a small clatter. I bent over, picked it up, and saw that it was a plastic pin-nametag of the sort that they give out at academic schmooze events. The nametag read: Genevieve. It'll be 10 years this October, and I still have the nametag.
lol, Knuck! or whoever you are.
lol to you, to Diana, and hi!
Andi, thanks. I'll go post one right now.
xxoo
Elizabeth
family man man man, aw, at least your name's not Smuckers. :)
Maria, MariYoli is very sweet when said fast and all run together. I can imagine your aunts calling you, 'MARIYOLI!'
Oh, poor katiebird, and it's not even because of champagne.
Jen/Gen, omg. That is the most amazing story, and you're so right--it's exactly the kind I love best.
Wow. Love that.
Great story, Jen! Gives you chills.
Morning, all! Especially our host, Elizabeth. I always wished I was Elizabeth instead of Beth, but my parents didn't want to teach me to spell Elizabeth AND Hanggeli, so settled on Beth Ann instead. Sigh.
When I was considering pen names, I picked Elizabeth Burns (my mom's maiden name). But when a friend checked to see if elizabethburns.com was available, a price list came up. Apparently the current E.B. offers - uh - spanking services - in the privacy of your home....no, not for your children...
I decided to stick with what I've got, for now. :-) (Sound familiar, Kimber?)
TGIF indeed to all. Sorry about the headache, KB. Big pats to Sniff and Giddy. Waving as I head off to parts known and unknown. Have a great weekend!
I was not terribly happy with Kelly as a kid. Too many rhymes and too many people assumed I was a girl. As I got older I grew into it, and now I can't imagine being anything else. I like that I can rhyme it easily if I want and I find the fact that my name is gender neutral to be a professional asset.
Besides, why would it upset me to have people missasume my
gender? I can look back and understand in an intellectual way why the young me and the adolescent me were irritated but I really have to work at it. Also, being a relatively athletic big bald guy, I often find that FTF meetings with people who assumed I was a woman to be hilarious. It can be a great icebreaker.
I suppose part of coming to like my name was getting to find out just how close I came to being a "Pippin." If I'd been a few weeks early, "Pip." (shudders)
Jen, very cool story and I don't think I've seen you tell it anywhere else.
KB, happy retirement!
Elizabeth, hi.
Everybody, (waves). I'll just be in the corner here with my nice hot cuppa.
Hey all!
Elizabeth is soooo easy to pronounce "Lizard Breath," so why set yourself up for that grief? Srsly, "Nancy Pickard" is a great name for a mystery writer. I've never really given much thought to a different first name, although I did come up with a pen name if I ever felt like I needed it: my (formal) first and middle names, in reverse order.
I got up earlier than usual this morning & spun some video off my camera: The Boy's concert from two weeks ago. I managed to get a DVD built for him, and started uploading an MPEG4 to ourmedia before saying, "eh, I gotta GO!" If it uploaded OK (can't check because of filters at work), it'll be on Weekend Cinema.
Andi, I know an Andrea. She's willowy but a bit klutzy.
I suppose part of coming to like my name was getting to find out just how close I came to being a "Pippin." If I'd been a few weeks early, "Pip." (shudders)
lol. Fwiw, I think "Kelly" suits you.
My mother came thisclose to naming me "Prudence", and if she hadn't just spent 48+ hours in a terrible labor my father would never have won that argument either. Somewhere in an alternate universe, I suspect, Pip and Pru are having quite a morning bitch session over their coffee.
Beth, that is hilarious, about the home spanking services. How fun it would be to write that on the occupation line of one's 1040: Spanking Specialist. Or maybe: Booty Wrangler.
kb, Sniff and Giddy say that their retirement suggestions work well for headaches too.
Great story, Jen. (Would this be a good time to mention how much I like Geneviève Bujold?)
Beth, Sniff and Giddy miss your fingers very much and hope you bring them back very soon.
Far, whenever I'm getting started with a new customer I always use Andrea -- I figure I can plant the image before they actually meet me and find out the truth (plus I've been told I "talk tall").
(Would this be a good time to mention how much I like Geneviève Bujold?)
::img googles::
Oh my. Always a good time to mention her!
Beth and Kimber. . .you're not fooling us. :)
Far, lol. But, hey, Lizard Breath is memorable. My "maiden" name was Wolfe, which might have been good for a mystery writer. Elizabeth Wolfe. I like it.
Hello, everybody. Meet the twins, Pip and Prudence.
::boggles at that::
andif, you *do* talk tall. You talk at least five foot 8.
Jen, has your googling/goggling told you whatever happened to Genevieve Bujold?
Still no word on computer.
ARGH on the computer, Nancy. We have a saying in my household - NBAT. Which translates into: NEVER BUY A TOSHIBA. You might recall all of the problems I had with mine - and hence, my switching to the Dark Side. It's exiled in the closet, until I find a shooting range, so I can use it for target practice. Hope the Geek Squad shows up soon!
lol, Beth.
I was actually a Dark Side fanatic for years, but they gave us three lemons in a row so I ran off in a huff to Windows. Maybe I'll go back into the shadows, though. Dunno. I had an HP that I loved, but I dropped it once too often.
Off to write in longhand. What will future generations do when they don't know how to do that? :)
Nancy,
Do you want me to come out "after work" to look at it?
Kb, how's your head?
Thank you for your generous offer, but my puter isn't here. It's at the puter guys' place in Westport. He has been there a long time and he's good and reliable, so I have hope.
Are you at "work" today, or is this actually your first official day of ret?
I'm at work... (more later)
Interesting post for me, Elizabeth (I'm using my mom's spelling) as I was named after my mom with my first name and so used my middle name until she passed away. But growing up I never felt like the shortened versions of my middle name: Vicky or God Forbid Tory. And people insist on using the short version.
And I always loved my first name. Conda fits me fine.
Jen, has your googling/goggling told you whatever happened to Genevieve Bujold?
I am clueless. Perhaps Andi knows?
Hello to our one visitor today from outside of North America. I can't remember when we've had just one before. There should be a prize. :)
What happened to Geneviève Bujold is that she got older, which I count as a good thing, and she's kept right on making movies -- so sayeth ImDb [LINK].
I feel so, so, so.....
Retired!
Hooray for Katiebird!
Congrats, kb! It's official! You're retired!
I think I'd like to be Angelina (if I could look like her) and of course, I'd like to be married to Johnnie Depp. (drool)
Jen, what a cool story about your name/grandma's name.
Oh, and I just remembered. I like the name Starbuck. 'Course just maybe it's cause I like the character so much. Hmmm, maybe I could sign in as Starbuck? (once I figure out how to do it!)
Starbuck, previously known as anonymous!
lol
(Bowing) Thank you -- Everyone for your wonderful encouragement all week. I'm honestly not sure I could have gotten through it without you!
Oh, and on the name thing. I've always loved my name, Catharine -- but it lead me to believe that I'd be much closer to 6 feet tall. When it turned out I was a short, fat, slug-lipped girl it was quite a shock.
I think Katiebird probably fits me better.
Those are some hardworking puppies.
I definitely don't feel like my name. It's a name given to nerdy guys on sitcoms. I'd prefer just about anything else except perhaps Seymour. But these days I think that I'd go with an unpronouncable symbol a la Prince. ;-)
-The blogger formerly known as boran2
You are the envy of all, KB. Congratulations!
lol to the bloggers formerly known as anonymous and boran2. hee
Katiebird! First, yippee. Second, you are a petite, beautiful way-too-young-to-be-retired woman, and don't you forget it.
(blushing)
Post a Comment