Monday, July 30, 2012

What's in a Name?

Despite what Shakespeare says, I believe a name holds a lot of weight. A rose would simply not smell as sweet if it swapped names with a skunkweed; or, at least, you wouldn't see people so eagerly sticking their noses towards it. But, then again, if in the beginning Adam had named the unfortunate namesake a rose, instead, we would avoid the roseweed and prefer the skunk. And that's just plain confusing, because we've been conditioned to think of a specific thing when we hear a name.

{via}

In my case, I've got a ton of names. Each one inspires a different image.

(By the way, I totally meant to attach a deeper meaning to this, but I couldn't come up with one. If you do, feel free to leave it in the comments. I'm just going to resign myself to the fact that this blog is purely quirky.)

Charlene.
The given name. While it's not exactly a secret, not everybody knows it, and it receives interesting reactions. I've heard often "That's a pretty name", commonly "Oh, I thought it was Charlotte", and not a few times "Your real name is Charlene?" It's an elegant name that I've never thought really suits me. But it makes for a bunch of interesting nicknames. ;)

Charli.
The name. The one I use to introduce myself. The one all my friends know me by. The one that gets the coolest comments ever. The one that, apparently, is impossible to spell. Tack on my middle name, Rae, and you've got my pen name.

Charlenie, Char, & Char-Char.
The common pet names. The first one is my title among my cousins, the second is used by my friends, and the last only (hopefully) by my sister. I'm not particularly fond of any of them, but they don't embarrass the heck out of me. Well, except maybe the first one.

Charcoal & Chuckle-doodle-doo.
The cringe names. The first I absolutely despised until I met Ashley, or Ashes, and realized what a hypocrite I am. The second one I didn't plan on sharing, 'cause when people call me that I turn into Godzilla, but I smile like an idiot when I think of it, 'cause that's what my daddy calls me. And no, that doesn't mean I don't turn into Godzilla when he calls me that.


~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

I Have Kidnapped My Cousin.

Okay, two statements to make - 1) I have the coolest friends ever, and 2) I am officially a geek.

From left to right: "Adorable Medieval Gal" - Lilly, "Katniss Everdeen" - Breanna, "Merida" - me, "Pocahontas" - Danielle, "Zelda" - Katie, "Susan Pevensie" - Alyx, and "No-one-cool-to-dress-up-as-'sides-it's-too-late-anyway" - Ashley

Saturday afternoon, we went and saw Brave. Awesome movie. Not the best on a Pixar-standard, but still awesome. But, since I refuse to do anything like a normal person, I suggested we dress up. It's kinda freaky that they all listened.

From left to right: "Hawkeye" - Noah, "Robin Hood" - Josh, "Legolas" - Ben

Oh, and another thing - Bethanie says hi. :D

She also says (after giving me a weird look and an "I don't know" and a rather painful headbonk with a book and a "NOO!!!" and another weird look and a bunch of pokes and being temporarily distracted by Alyx's poofy hair), "I loved being Charlenie's surprise! I miss my family, but I like being with the Swansons in Florida. And meeting their hyper and... 'interesting' friends."


~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|

Friday, July 6, 2012

Hi! Random Spaz-Attack, Here!

Again, I must apologize in advance for the picture-less post. Not that text-only is a bad thing, but it can be a little hard on the eyes, so I'm sorry. :(

So... what was I gonna write again...?

Oh. Right. What y'all have missed.

~June 30th, Saturday. 100+ degrees. Paintballing for a buddy's birthday.
It's just as painful as your brothers have told you, people. Or a lot worse, if your brothers pretend to enjoy it. Or, for those of you without brothers, if someone ever tells you, "It's just like a bee sting - you rub it and it's gone" - stare at them long and hard. If they look easy-going, mark them as a liar and be wary. If they're leaning forward eagerly and truly believe what they're saying, mark them as insane and be very wary.
Anyway, it was fun, don't get me wrong. Ignoring the bruises the size of baseballs.

~July 4th, Wednesday. 90-100 degrees. Beach.
Happy belated 4th, by the way! I totally meant to post and plum forgot. Which is normal. *cough*.
Yeah, anyhoo, we went to the beach with friends. The waves were great until we went back for the boogie boards (yes, I'm aware normal people don't call them that) and then, of course ('cause the ocean hates me), the waves went flat. So we tossed around a half-full water bottle, until somebody decided to fill it all the way up and then somebody else grabbed it, with "no idea", and chucked it. Bye-bye water bottle.
And because the ocean hates me, it decided to knock me over and fill my bad ear with water. Which it still has. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever hear out of this thing again.

~July 6th, Friday. Pleasantly air-conditioned. Home.
Absolutely nothing. :D

~Charli Rae |Job 39:19-25|
{oh, just thought i'd letchya know - there're 'like' buttons now, for those of you who don't comment. :)}