Thursday, March 19, 2009

They Call Her Valerie

When I read Ginger’s post about her name, I thought, “Oh, that’s nice. Her name is so entertaining. But I don’t have any thing really to say on the topic. No one wants to read about the name Valerie. BORING.” Well guess what, blog readers. You don’t have a choice in the matter! I write it, you read it; that’s the deal we made. Ha!

I love the shortened “Val,” because most all of the people closest to me call me that. I don’t introduce myself as Val, because it sounds weird and fake and...you obviously don’t know me well enough to call me that. I’m okay with you calling me Val when you get there on your own.

Several people call me V, which probably seems weird and not like a name or nickname or anything AT ALL, but sounds very natural when certain people do it. V-Baby, however, can only be pulled off by a very select few....

People in my parents' generation like to sing me a random song that NO ONE ELSE has EVER heard of. It goes "Valereeee, Valeraaaah, Valerah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!" Or something like that. A lot a lot of older people sing me that song. Good one.

If someone can’t quite remember my name, they will usually at least remember that it starts with a V. Victoria? Not quite. Vanessa? Eck. Do I look like a Cosby to you? And I used to really hate the Veronica guess too, but now I’m very okay with that. Anything that gets me one step closer to V. Mars....

I have never ever never seen my name spelled with a “Y.” Ever. Why do people attempt to spell my name this way? Valery? What? VALLERY?? Even weirder. Did you even try at all? You just spelled “valley” and threw an R in there, didn’t you? Fail.

“Your song’s on the radio!” Dad would tell me. And sure enough, those guys would all be singing “Valerie! I love her....” I would get all squirrely and embarrassed but totally love it all at the same time. Indeed, it has always been “My Song.”

When I was little, I always felt very limited when it came to games involving what words started with the same letter as the first letter in your name. “I’m going on a picnic and I’m bringing... a vest? Vultures? A violin?” So not creative/fun/glamorous.

The name Valerie means “determined.” For me that apparently translates to: “Determined to not doing ANYTHING until the dang LAST POSSIBLE SECOND because why not? Determined to LOSE things and BREAK things and WHAT THE CRAP? Determined to ALWAYS FORGET EVERYTHING because what was I talking about?” Yes, I am very determined.

6 comments:

dc said...

Determined to make Dani laugh for several minutes while she is driving down the freeway and listening to voicemail and totally not watching the road, because why would you do that when you have a recorded Roommate?

I love your name. It makes me happy.

Katie said...

Determined to evangelize everyone she knows about the things she loves, e.g. Harry Potter, Gilmore Girls, LOST, Traveling Pants, Veronica Mars and the O'Malley series. And determined to throw uniquely awesome parties.

Your name makes me happy, too.

Stevox said...

I have the microphone. And you will listen to every d--- work I have to say.

from the author said...

i would just like to say that 'V' sounds like someone who would be played by Susan Sarandon.

And Valery sounds like something knights have. Perhaps when they have both valor and bravery. They have Valery. Aaaaah...

~lady j said...

Yes. What he ^ said. :) About Valery, anyway.

Determined to get dressed in four minutes (including cute earrings) and drive 20ish minutes across town to meet her roommate at the RaceTrac even if its only for 15 minutes?

Yes. That makes me happy. Still. :)

Lara said...

You forgot Fetusface, Uteruscakes.
PS This blog's bookmark name on my firefox is V-Baby. Because you're a V-Baby.