Keladry

My feelings about my name are actually pretty similar to what Sarah said about hers yesterday.  My name is so darn common.  I know so many Katies it's just ridiculous.  I can remember wanting to change my name as far back as grade 6.  Oddly, though, most of the names I've wanted to change to over the years have been derivatives of my full name, Kathleen.

In grade 6 I secretly wished my name was Kitty, and at some point during junior high I remember thinking the name Leeny would be cool... in retrospect, that would have been a bad plan.  That's not even a name.  I guess that's probably why it appealed to me at the time, because I knew no one else would have the same name.

Once I reached high school the number of Katies got diluted a bit, so I lost interest in changing my name, but at some point one of my friends decided to start an initiative to get everyone to call me Kathy.  He actually managed to keep it up for about a week, but it didn't catch on with anyone else, so he gave it up.

I guess so far this has mostly been "Things I used to want to change my name to" rather than "what I would change my name to if I had to," but oh well.  There are lots of names that I like, but most of them are things that I've thought about in the mindset of potential future baby names, so it would seem weird to pick on of those, even though I think Ayla and Kaya are some of the prettiest names ever.

I think if I had to change my name I'd want to choose something symbolically important to me; a name that I associate with something that I want to be.  I think I would choose Keladry, after the protagonist of  Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series, because Kel is so strong and brave and everything I've always wished I was but have never been.

Smith

So I was thinking about the name theme and I realized just how hard it actually was even though I think about different names everyday.

I think about what I would want to change my name to a lot actually, I was never fond of the name Sarah. I think it has a little to do with how common the name is and there being four in my class alone. I've also heard people say that names can define where you end up in life (not that I believe this) and with Sarah being so common, it makes me want to have been named something else.

I'd change my name to something uncommon but not so uncommon that it's ridiculous, I'd also want to avoid something that would make me sound vain. For a while I thought about Eliza, when I realized I'd just be using the first half of my mother's name, Elizabeth, and since she goes by Beth I thought choosing Eliza would lead to bad jokes.

I think I'd change my name to Avera Smith. I like the name Avera, it sounds nice to me. And because I don't believe names can define who you are I'll ignore it means 'transgressor'. Actually, I think this one might be "so uncommon that it's ridiculous". And the last name Smith because I'm too lazy to think of a real one, but also because Smith is a common name I can deal with.

In conclusion, that's the name I'd choose if I ever had to change my name.

Some R & R

What I do to recover after something stressful or tiring depends on the duration of it. If it's just been a long day, I'll spend some extra time looking at funny things on the internet, and/or let myself have a free day off from going to the gym. Both of those are enough of a treat to get me to cheer up usually.

If it's been more than just a day or two, I start progressing down my "spectrum of stress", beginning to eat worse and worse food, sleep more, and spend more time alone. If I've just had a long week or so, that might look like baking more than usual, spending more time with just one or two people, and taking some naps, but if it extends too long I end up sleeping a ton, becoming kind of a loner, and eating far too much junk food.

Hey, I didn't say these were all healthy habits :P

They make sense though, since when I'm stressed out sleep helps me take my mind off whatever the stressor is, comfort food is, well, comforting, and I recharge best when I'm alone or only around a couple people.

While I'm not particularly socially awkward, social interactions take effort for me, and when I'm already tired I just don't feel up for having to keep up chit chat, crack jokes, and make sure I don't say anything too blunt or awkward. (though it should be noted that I have a close circle of people where social interactions almost never feel like work, so if I need to relax I gravitate toward these people).

Time to relax

There are a few things a like to do to relax and recharge after a hard or stressful day but my favourite is nap. I like to come home and get my ipod, pick my favourite album and just curl up in bed. It's great way to relax and just block out the world. It's also even better if it's winter and it's really cold outside, it makes everything so much better. That's pretty much my go to way to relax.

Another way I like to relax is just to watch DVDs or TV. The best kind of movies to watch are ones which are so bad they're funny or just funny ones. It's also great to watch these with friends, particularly the ones that don't care if you haven't made an effort to look good. The really bad movies are the best to watch with friends because they give you something you can all laugh and make fun of.

Also, a combination of both these is a particularly great way to recharge, watch a movie in bed and then sleep.

Going on walks, I find is also pretty relaxing. I had a stressful time recently, so I took my aunt's dog (Because I don't have dog of my own) and I went on a walk around the farm type part round the back of my house. It was good. Partly because dogs will always love you and partly because even though I don't really go out much, I like being outside. Fresh air is good.

Recharging

My method of recharging depends on how much I need to recharge.

If it's just been a long day of class or work or whatever, and I'm feeling generally tired and stressed out, I curl up with a book or an episode of TV so I can let my brain shut down a bit and take a break for a while.  Plus it usually means sitting or laying down, but being comfortable and relaxed and is refreshing physically as well as mentally.

If I'm feeling emotionally drained, then usually a square or two of dark chocolate will work wonders.  If that doesn't do the trick then usually I listen to sad music and look at funny things on the internet (sad music and funny things, they don't really go together, but they work!)

If I'm really especially exhausted or stressed, I have a hot shower until I regain enough function to be able to decide what to wear when I get out and I feel like I could probably carry on a civil conversation with someone for at least a few minutes.

I also nap when I'm especially tired, but usually that's not a planned method of relaxing, I'll just fall asleep in the middle of doing homework or something.

Tea and hot chocolate are also sometimes included as supplement to one of these methods.  Warm drinks are always relaxing!

Rest and Relaxation

I think the best part about any tough activity, trip or situation is after it all ends and you get to finally relax.

I don't do a lot to recharge myself, really just two things, shower and nap. Except my shower is the most expensive one of the month and my nap is more like a bear's winter hibernation.

I particularly remember coming back home after a week long surf trip tired, dirty and covered in bruises from the board and I don't think I came out of the shower for a good four hours. It just feels so good to wash everything out in the hot water and relax. We were covered in salt, sand and sunscreen most of the time anyways during our trip, so I was happy to have a shower in my own home again.

I ended up falling asleep right after and did not get out of bed until late the next day and then dosed for most of what remained. I love my sleep, especially after traveling anywhere since trips tire me out so much. After I wake up from long naps like that I end up back to my normal self feeling clean and recharged.

I use the long shower and nap for almost everything, trips, bad days at school, tough skating lessons, anxiety, anything that leaves me exhausted after wards.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

This is an interesting post for me because I use nerd and geek almost interchangeably. Usually the word I use varies by context - if I'm around a Nerdfighter, I tend to use nerd more frequently, and if I'm around someone who aggressively dislikes one of the words, I'll use the word they prefer (i.e. I have a friend who actively rallies against the label of geek, so I use nerd around him).

I agree with the definition of nerd as someone with varied interests and geek as someone with a passion for one subject, with it being possible to be both; under this definition I'd be a nerd, but also a Doctor Who geek.

The funny thing is, that definition is not how I actually use the words. In everyday usage, I completely swap the nerd definition for the geek one, with it being common for nerd to be used in more language focused or mainstream/more accepted areas (i.e. book nerd, Firefly nerd, politics nerd). I tend to use geek in the situations that, even if accepted now, used to be the hallmark of a social outcast or were deemed weird - for instance a Dungeons and Dragons geek, a model painting geek, or a video game geek.

Did any of that make sense? So I say that a nerd is someone with varied interests who probably is more well-read and pursues intelligence, and a geek is someone with a passion. But what I usually end up meaning is that a nerd has a couple of passions but is more accepted for them, while a geek can have one or many hobbies but they're a little more off-the-wall and might get some weird looks for them.