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Rambly Bits
Oct. 31st, 2002 12:37 pmI haven't done a rambly bits post in a while. Here's just some random things on my mind right now (and I warn you now - some of them are extremely random):
-- I have the best friends in the universe. They're eager to offer help and happy to just lend an ear when I want to ramble or whinge or whatever at them. And I try to be the same for them.
-- My middle name is the only one I've never mucked with. I'm using neither the first name nor the last name on my birth certificate (I changed my first name when I was 14; I changed my last name when I got married and took MAB's name). And it's not like I have any particular attachment to my middle name - it's a nice, generic middle name, and I neither love it or hate it (for the record, the name in question is Susan).
-- While on the topic of names, I must ramble for a bit about my Hebrew name. Most Jewish children in the US are given not only a "secular" name - that which goes on your birth certificate, even if it's a Hebrew name, I consider a secular name - but also a religious name. There are two main naming paradigms: completely separate secular and religious name sets, though they might match in initials or meaning (for instance, someone being given the secular name Jennifer Rose and the religious name Yonina Rachel); and matching secular and religious names (for instance, someone named Aaron David being given the religious name Aharon David). And sometimes these are mixed and matched (for instance, someone named Daniel Mark and having the religious name Daniel Moshe). But my parents? They started with the religious name, choosing to name me Esther Miriam in memory of my great-grandmother Esther and my great-grandfather Mayer. But they didn't know anyone under the age of 50 named Esther, and they didn't want to saddle me with an old-fashioned name, so they chose to give me the secular name Naomi Susan (I removed the "a" from my name when I was 14; all my legal documents now have "Nomi" as my official name). The secular name, I firmly believe, was randomly picked out of a hat. So what, I hear you saying. So, the problem arises from the fact that Naomi is a perfectly wonderful biblical name. Most people assume that my religious name is Nomi Shoshana and then they look at me funny when I say that, no, it's Esther Miriam. My mom says that, if she knew when I was born what she knows now, my name both secularly and religiously would be Me'ira Esther (Me'ira being the feminine form of Mayer). But meanwhile I used Nomi all through my year in Israel, as it was easier to explain than to do the name-swap thing. And I don't tend to remember to answer to Esther except in religious contexts (such as asking for a misheberach (a prayer for good health) or on my ketubah (marriage contract)).
-- One last thing about names: my parents say that, had I be born male, they would've named me Adam Michael (though I don't know who those names map to in the family). My father, ever the joker, says that I would've been Justin Case, as they chose a male name just in case.
-- All of the docs that were due at work yesterday released on time. This was a major accomplishment on the parts of many, many overworked writers. Yay us!
-- I have the best friends in the universe. They're eager to offer help and happy to just lend an ear when I want to ramble or whinge or whatever at them. And I try to be the same for them.
-- My middle name is the only one I've never mucked with. I'm using neither the first name nor the last name on my birth certificate (I changed my first name when I was 14; I changed my last name when I got married and took MAB's name). And it's not like I have any particular attachment to my middle name - it's a nice, generic middle name, and I neither love it or hate it (for the record, the name in question is Susan).
-- While on the topic of names, I must ramble for a bit about my Hebrew name. Most Jewish children in the US are given not only a "secular" name - that which goes on your birth certificate, even if it's a Hebrew name, I consider a secular name - but also a religious name. There are two main naming paradigms: completely separate secular and religious name sets, though they might match in initials or meaning (for instance, someone being given the secular name Jennifer Rose and the religious name Yonina Rachel); and matching secular and religious names (for instance, someone named Aaron David being given the religious name Aharon David). And sometimes these are mixed and matched (for instance, someone named Daniel Mark and having the religious name Daniel Moshe). But my parents? They started with the religious name, choosing to name me Esther Miriam in memory of my great-grandmother Esther and my great-grandfather Mayer. But they didn't know anyone under the age of 50 named Esther, and they didn't want to saddle me with an old-fashioned name, so they chose to give me the secular name Naomi Susan (I removed the "a" from my name when I was 14; all my legal documents now have "Nomi" as my official name). The secular name, I firmly believe, was randomly picked out of a hat. So what, I hear you saying. So, the problem arises from the fact that Naomi is a perfectly wonderful biblical name. Most people assume that my religious name is Nomi Shoshana and then they look at me funny when I say that, no, it's Esther Miriam. My mom says that, if she knew when I was born what she knows now, my name both secularly and religiously would be Me'ira Esther (Me'ira being the feminine form of Mayer). But meanwhile I used Nomi all through my year in Israel, as it was easier to explain than to do the name-swap thing. And I don't tend to remember to answer to Esther except in religious contexts (such as asking for a misheberach (a prayer for good health) or on my ketubah (marriage contract)).
-- One last thing about names: my parents say that, had I be born male, they would've named me Adam Michael (though I don't know who those names map to in the family). My father, ever the joker, says that I would've been Justin Case, as they chose a male name just in case.
-- All of the docs that were due at work yesterday released on time. This was a major accomplishment on the parts of many, many overworked writers. Yay us!
