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That is cool. Like the hat went on a little adventure without you.

Quite independent, that hat.

Another crazy coincidence!

Coincidentally my scbwi LA query
sent 1/31 (too late perhaps?)
A HAT LIKE THAT was in response to the bluerosegirls comments about new twists in holiday tales which it is but specifically a hat catastrophe/adventure no less...

cool! looks like we're lucky with the cabdrivers we had. Not like my friend, where the cab driver used his phone that was left in the cab to make International calls for hours, amounting in a $1000 phone bill.

Alvina, I find the topic of names and how they affect our personalities fascinating. For me, "what's your name?" has always been a multiple choice question. I grew up with four possible and distinct choices that people called me. It's a long story, but suffice it to say I'm the same person no matter what you call me. But it sure gets confusing for everyone else!
Annie Donwerth

Great post! And thanks for the link to mine as well.

My name means "grace" or "graceful" which is the funniest joke of all. I trip over my own shadow. And fall out of chairs without warning. And am generally an oaf. I get this un-graceful quality from my mother, whose name is also Nancy.

But I do think names fit people by and large. And when they don't people adjust. People around me adjust by calling me Karen, for no apparent reason. Maybe Karen means clumsy? Anyhow, when people get my name wrong, they almost always call me Karen.

My brothers had a friend named Steve, but they decided he didn't look or act like a Steve, so he became "Bill." And somehow, Bill was a good fit.

A post that really resonates with me Alvina!
I discussed this with a friend just recently. As a young girl, I dreaded the first day of school and the reading of roll.

I'll never forget the insensitive fourth-grade teacher who looked at my name and in front of the entire class announced, "What are you?"
Giggles and chirps of "alien" and "freak" echoed behind my back. I often heard, "But you look really American, or maybe Swedish."

I was born in this country but my father was not. My buxom high school advisor could never pronounce my name. "Don't worry, doll," she said as she painted her nails, "You can always change it. That's what everyone in Hollywood does."

I once left a guy sitting at a restaurant when he asked if I would consider going by my middle name because my first name sounded "too ethnic."

Okay, my name is ethnic. I am not Swedish. Maybe I should have tried to explain. But can you imagine if a fourth-grader in pony tails stood up and said,

My family was on the Soviet extermination list. They escaped from Lithuania and lived in refugee camps for nine years, surviving on rotten potato peels until the United States recognized my grandfather and brought our family to the States. I am named after my Aunt who was born in a bomb shelter. My name means "truth."

My name is Ruta. Having that particular name shaped my identity. I think it's a blessing. I had cousins with the exact same name. They did not survive the Soviet terror. I wear it in their honor and as a constant reminder that we can never take our freedom for granted.
- Ruta Sepetys
(sepetys at aol dot com)

This conversation bleeds into one that has fascinated me for a long time: the use of aliases and personas on the internet. Am I different as blogger Gregory K. than I am to the people who have met me in person? People who come to know me from online encounters... do they treat me differently because of that when we meet in the real world? Do I act differently if someone is expecting Gregory K.? And I say this even though I don't view my online persona as different than my offline. But the questions remain.

I mean, even leaving this comment Blogger says "Choose an identity" as if it's only tied to the name you log in under.

More grist for the mill, as if yours didn't create enough questions to answers!

Greg(ory K.) -- that's a fascinating topic for me too! It was strange for me to have started my blog as nrkii and then after a couple of months, decide to change to Nancy, and then finally to put my full name there. I've just always been nrkii online, and to some extent, nrkii is a different person than Nancy.

Yes, your name is unusual and unique; so when people shouted your name in your marathon last your, you are sure it is for you.
Also your name starts wit "A" and ends with "A", it can be shouted much louder than most other names.
Try "AAL-vin-AAH" and compare with Amy, Grace, and Nancy, you will see the differences. So when you are on stage you can hear your name been shouted not only laud and also with resonance from your fans. Finally, the sound of AAH is related with divinity such as God, Amen, Budda..etc according Weyne Dyer. We are proud that we gave you this wonderful name.

I really found this post interesting. I believe people do have an image in mind when they hear a name. Try being named after the actress who played Scarlett O'Hara because your Korean parents loved Gone With The Wind. Now that I'm married, I have an Irish last name. The look when people finally meet me, especially after talking on the phone with me....priceless.

Um, your dad posted a comment on how you got your name. That is the coolest of the cool.

hipwritermama, your situation is also the coolest of the cool.

rita (crayon huang)

wow... great post Alvina.

i guess this is long, but here goes

I can relate a great deal to what you said, I don't think I had ever thought of my name, Alejandro, until my first day in a new school in 2nd grade at my all boys (and pretty much all white) catholic school. The teacher saw my name and said, "we're gonna call you Alex" and that was that.

Right then, i was robbed of my name
and perhaps true identity...

But a terrified little big headed Colombian boy was not going to disagree so from that day on, until after college I was Alex.

Probably to my benefit, as I was also conscious of my "differentness" and resented it, and wanted to be like everyone else and not feel diffferent.

You'd think I outgrew that fast, but apparently not and not until my first job after college (at the book group with alvina and eveline)
did I start going more by Alejandro
but still it feels weird speaking in english and saying Alejandro, it feels like those Old SNL skits where you over-emphasize ethnic sounding things...

Now that I'm in Colombia it's not a factor, but it will be funny if upon my return I don't hesitate with my ALEJANDRO!!!

A-(as in Ah)
Le (as in Let)
Jan (as in Hahn)
Dro (Dr with spanish O, not oh)

Hi, Alvina, I love the idea here! What's in a name?

My mother often asked if I liked my name. I didn't think much about it as a child, even though some kids called me "wretched Gretched." In fact, I was rather proud that many people mistakened my name for "Gretel", referring to the famous lost girl in that creepy fairy tale. As I got older, however, I wasn't as pleased when people would comment, "Oh that's my dog's name." (Usually a German Shepherd or St. Bernard)

Now, as an author, I often wonder if I'm taken seriously with such a sweet name. In German, Gretchen means "Little Margaret." And, I'm occasionally called "Heidi" so I know people think of my name in connection with little Alpine girls in cute dresses, hair in braids, serving coffee cake) I've even considered adding my middle initial: "Gretchen H. Olson" -- with hopes that I'd appear more intelligent, more worldly, but so far that hasn't happened.

So, call me Gretchen (Gretch is okay, too)

Oh, don't get me going on names, Alvina. It brings out the curmudgeon in me. At least you haven't been mistakenly (?) called "Tamale" and "Attila." And as for the coffeeshop experience of attaching our handles to our orders, here's my rant about that.

I love stories about coincidences! Yours are awesome! (And I think Rita is great - I met her at the same conference!)

Okay, but I do have to swoon - you saw Hugh Grant! *envy* ;)

Ah, I wish. No, my roommate Rose saw the real Hugh Grant, I only met the copy. But according to Rose, the copy looked better than the real thing.

Oh my goodness, you guys. My ears are burning.

But, that aside, GREAT POST! Seriously, great post. I love the chatty tone.

And, back to the ears burning:
Damon loves it when I tell band stories. He loves to roll his eyes.

So this was a great coincidence for me. I got to go, "YAHHH! ALVINA MARCHED IN THE FIESTA BOWL PARADE, TOO!! SHE WAS CLARINET SECTION LEADER, TOO!! YOU LOVE IT!!"

But what I wanted to say about Leno is:

How great is it you appeared in stock footage? That's not just representing your own band. You've now become the face of high school marching bands everywhere.

Everyone loves that.

r

nodding off?! i resemble that remark

Here's a coincidence story. Mom is at some meeting, and an acquaintance (some lady) comes up to ask her if Dad still works at "X company." And Mom replies yes, so the acquaintance asks, "Oh, does he happen to know a Ben? Apparently he is my friend's daughter's new boyfriend and he works there too, so I'm curious if your husband happens to know him."

So coincidentally it happened that the one person that the lady thought to ask, not only does Mom of course know them personally, and not only does her husband also know who I am, but she just asked the Mother of the person in question, about their own son, trying to find out if her husband, our dad, would know ME!

haha--that was confusing, but funny.

And Calvin, see you at the next Change Governance Meeting for Pub Track. Even the title of the meeting makes me nod off.

Um, I think I need to be introduced to the Hugh Grant lookalike! Is he young, British, and single? Bring it.

I love this stuff too, Alvina! I seem to be one of those bridesmaids kind of thing and there are so many of them, I may just bore you to tears (means I probably should put it on my neglected blog, eh?) but here's a few, I've been assaulted by a serial killer, have a strange in-out dance with the King of Horror.

I had two longterm boyfriends, one's great-great-great was the founder of Akron Ohio and nearly ruined by by his friendship with John Brown and the other's grandfather was President of Arizona's Mormon temple, stepfather a renegade government protester. The first I loved because he was quirky and interesting-- a machinist by trade and a supreme expert on Watches, Clocks and other antiques. I learned so much with him. The second a wonderful sculptor, I ended up working at foundries, living on the side of a mountain for four and a half months while being a docent for Sedona Arts Center, and finding myself in the desert.

I went to school with Corey Allen (of Chuck Mangione/jazz music fame), Greg Stump(originator of the atheletic hotdog snow movies), a survivor of the Pinochet coup (she was an AFS student at the time of Allende's fall), to name a few. And I'm just a podunk from Maine, though a few of my forbears have done noteworthy-- good and bad-- things. Will and Ariel Durant and Cecil Maxam, which explains my cantankerous soul.

Even my husband story is one of those coincidencental thangs. At one point we lived three doors away from each other for nearly a year and never met. I had been friends with his sister, though not close (he was much younger then, lol), and he dated a friend of mine the night before she left Portland to move to Arizona as my roommate. We didn't meet until both of us were humbled a bit by life and a lot more understanding of human foibles. It's been a truly interesting challenge and a bit of a crucible.

I have an OT question, Alvina, do you take unsolicited queries? You can answer me privately if you'd like (or not at all, if I'm being too bold, in which case, forgive me). My email is [email protected]. I understand if you don't or won't.

Thanks for the stories!

Jenny, I wish I could introduce you to the Hugh Grant lookalike, but I don't have his contact info and he didn't express any interest to meet again. He was a friend of a friend of a friend.

Agy, I love your story about your husband! And I'm sorry, but I don't take queries via this blog. I'm buried right now at work, and still have mss from over six months ago, which I know is unacceptable, so I need to get caught up before I request new stuff.

no problem, Alvina, just wanted to know if I could snail mail you a query. Understand perfectly (Verla and a few others have shared pictures of the slush piles, so you get little envy from me, unless some of it involves pizza and massive amounts of Coca Cola). The older I get the more I believe there are no coincedences (it's late, did I spell that correctly? Geh).
Thank you for answering, though! P.S. you new line up from the BRG looks wonderful! Can't wait to see them in print!

Hello Alvina,
I come in a little late, BUT I just have to share my coincidence story, because I do think you'll like it. It happened at the SCBWI Los Angeles conference, last August. I did exchange a few words with you, at the very end, and I'm positive you do not remember me, but that's not what this is about. On the second evening of peer critique sessions, I went down to the room a little late and approached one of the two tables shown to me. I sat there, took out the manuscript I wanted to read, and tried to blend in as quickly as I could. At some stage, I noticed the woman sitting next to me giving me strange looks. She had been reading the name and address on top of the manuscript. Now, I live in Hyderabad, South India. So, she gives me a suspicious look, and says: You live in Hyderabad? Yes, I answer. That's my hometown, she says. REALLY ? Now, what were the odds of my sitting next to a person who grew up in Hyderabad, India, that very evening, during a 4-day conference that attracted some 600 people ??? Her mother still lives in Hyderabad, and my new friend came to visit her for Christmas and we met, I met her mom and her brother, and we went to see a 500 year old baobad tree outside a 14th Century fort at sunrise, spending four hours climbing old fortification walls AND the baobab tree, and taking fantastic early morning pictures. Isn't that a wonderful story? AND she writes for children. I simply still haven't gotten over that one :-)
Katia