"Subject lines are hard": my most frequently used subject line
My life is nuts but writing about it ends up being highly emotionally draining, SO instead I'm stealing this meme from ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
misbegotten!
What do you prefer to be called by folks reading the entry? Who named you that and why? Where did it come from?
Well, my name is Rue, and I'm fine with you calling me that; my dad's family named me it and it is after a plant. The short version of the long story is that my parents named me Rebecca when I was born, only for them to contact my dad's mom, tell her the name, and have her freak out: "THAT IS MY SISTER'S NAME."
News flash for my parents: Aunt Betty's name was a strange nickname for Rebecca.
They had to brainstorm fast, because while we are Sephardim and the naming-after-the-living thing isn't as bad, it was still pretty taboo and awkward. But these had been growing around the Franklin, MI house where my mom spent half her pregnancy seemingly out of nowhere, and they didn't want to change my initials, so Rebecca got shoved to the end (I now have two middle names, since they also kept the first one) and Rue moved to the beginning. As a result when I'm not using Opal/Opalite as a username, I use some variant on thalictrum or thalictroides (or if I'm tryng to be different, graveolens, which is an entirely different plant also called rue).
It does N O T have anything to do with the French language or being a regretted baby, and those jokes are rly old, thanks.
My Hebrew name is Rivkaleh, or "little Rivka," in honor of Aunt Betty without being weird. I have never stopped being very small, and have never tried to get anyone to change it to just Rivka. I still answer to and appreciate Rivkaleh as me, I don't care that it's technically a diminuitive. It has been my name and anyone who wants to call me that can.
My roleplaying game name has long been Opal for places that need player usernames, 'cause it's my birthstone and I'm boring. I use Citrine on one forum as a change. And when I actually write fiction, or when I participated in PBeMs where people used real names, I write under Kit Greenhouse, which has its own story behind it that might make this post too long & I have a meeting approaching. But safe to say that those are both family names too -- "Kit" is related to small foxes and comes from my aunt, Greenhouse is my dad's mom's maiden name and the actual New York-since-the-1800s part of my family are the Greenhouses. To this day most of the Pern fandom either thinks my real name is Kit, or knows it isn't but doesn't bother trying to learn to call me anything other than Kit anyway. My Dragon*Con badges have said Kit.
So I mean: you can call me Rue, Kit, Rivkaleh, Opal, variants on Opal (Opalite is my discord name, Opalescent was an old email) ... I'll assume all these are me. delight is fine too.
The other questions in case you, too, want to meme pilfer:
Talk about something interesting in your neighborhood.
Five topics/skills you'd like to download into your brain and why.
What do you think is the most defining fact/s about your identity?
Do you do any crafts? Talk about what you do and you enjoy it.
Post pictures of something you're in the middle of and talk about it.
Do you have pets? Introduce them! Or talk about past pets, or why they aren't for you.
Do you collect anything? What is it? Why?
What are your goals at the moment?
Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? How do you define/practice it?
What are your feelings on condiments? Do you have a favourite?
Is there a moment that you remember as perfect? What made it that way?
What media are you into at the moment? What do you love about it?
Who's your favourite artist?
What are your five favourite visual art pieces? (Painting, sculpture, etc.)
Are you in fandom? What fandoms have you travelled through?
What are the favourite tropes where every time you see it, you're delighted.
What's your favourite book? Why?
Post a photo-essay about your day.
Write a character portrait of someone who annoys you.
Look to your left. Pick an object. Free-associate and write stream of consciousness for 20 minutes.
What's your involvement in politics at the moment?
If you could change one thing in the world, what would it be?
What do you think the most important lesson you've learned in your life is?
Do you exercise? If so, what do you do?
Write a review of the last book you enjoyed.
What's your favourite band or album? Take us on a tour of why they're awesome.
How does a rainy day make you feel?
Have you travelled anywhere? If you had unlimited money where would you go?
Photo-essay: what jewellery do you have or want that you think is cool.
Talk about your chosen community or friends.
My Other News is really mostly that I don't have Other News because everything is depression, but that I need to be grateful for friends: BFF Sarah (who has an old DW but she doesn't use it and I don't know if I should even link to it) was here for Rosh Hashanah/Medievalfest, and just as I was stressing about how I didn't have another thing to look forward to until February 2021 (my depression coping mechanism is to line up things to be excited about) I was reminded that ursula will be in town this weekend. Other people's travel schedules are filling in those gaps at least briefly!
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