Making It Up As I Go Along #569

What's in a Name

When I was young, I often thought about and pitied those people who shared names with celebrities. For instance, I always said that if my name was Michael Jackson, I'd for sure be telling people to call me Mike. Anything to separate from the embarrassment of the famous. 

And so it came to be... There appeared a singer with a temper. Why hello Chris Brown. 

I've had a few crank calls. Teenage girls giggling as they start and unable to get through their rehearsed speel without bursting into fits of laughter. 

I've even had a couple of work calls where detectives or airport workers pause and take a moment from the business at hand to ask me how Rihanna (the beaten girlfriend) is doing.

And I'm left remembering my youth... Wondering if I should follow my Michael Jackson advice. Should I be Christopher? Or borrow from the actor and become Topher? And then I think and realize that very few people actually even call me Chris. 

I think I can count a total of eight people in my life who actually address me as Chris. And one of those eight would be my mother... While six others would all come from the one family (my uncle Bert and his girls... One of their husbands). 

Not even my father calls me Chris. I'm... Son, or My Dear Boy or, when things get silly and mushy, Dad's Man. 

I think about as many people call me Christopher as do Chris. Mostly family friends who have known me since birth or a few other uncles and aunts. I believe Melissa would be my only Ottawa friend who calls me by the long version. And I've an uncle or two that will go by the Pooh Bear stories and call me Christopher Robin, from time to time. 

Being on sports teams, over the years, my last name gets quite a lot of play. And I have lived with the sports typical adding of an "er" to things. Browner has been a popular one and, possibly the most common name I've been called since day one. The sporting world has also given me Brownie, of course... But that isn't as common. And I sometimes gain the nickname of a more famous ball playing Brown. Having some softball teammates calling me Three Fingers (after the old time baseball pitcher, Mordecai Brown). 

There have been other variations on my last name as well. Browner Von Brownser, The Brown, Brun. I've gotten each of them over the years. 

Many people will also play off he who is perhaps the most famous Brown of them all. And they will call me either Charlie or, if feeling spunky... Chuck. 

From good friend, Del, I often get called Apu. He must, in turn be called Nelson by me (this all coming from an old softball team we played on where each member of the team got a Simpson's character name. He being Nelson for his sauciness. And I being Apu for my imitation of the convienience store clerk). 

I get quite a few friends who call me both names. As in "why hello there Chris Brown". And it's somewhat surprising to me that there are lots of people at work who call me Mr. Brown. Even those ten years my senior will call me this. It must come from my sophisticated air... I suppose. 

In the movie, Back to the Future, the actor, Christopher Lloyd (Lloyd being my middle name) plays Doc Brown. And now, because of this, I'm occasionally also addressed as Doc. Though that is more of a rare greeting I probably hear only two or three times through the year. 

My sister always called me Chrissy. Sometimes lengthening it out to Chrissy Brown in a tone that is more singing to me than addressing me in conversation. I've an aunt or two who have copied Edena in that. And my nieces always used to call me Chrissy when they were not far into talking ages. They later switched to Turkey... In keeping with the long time joking and teasing that we've had. Where I began calling the oldest, Fraser, Turkey. And she would laugh and tell me that she's not a turkey... "You're the turkey!"  

So, in the end, with me now sharing my name with a famous meat head, I guess I've never seriously considered switching things up because, over the years, I've been addressed by so many different names that the switching never seemed necessary. 

I guess I'll need to get it put in my will, as to what I'm to be called at the end of my days. Otherwise, the headstone may have to be enormous. 

FRIDAY...

--- Work alone. Pretty busy day. Left me pretty tired afterwards. 

SATURDAY...

--- Quiet day in the office. 

SUNDAY...

--- Lots of snow. I'm left with a pretty boring day. Up. Breakfast... Shovel for half an hour... Afternoon nap... Softball... Nightshift at work. Get a Shwarma on the way in. 

MONDAY...

--- Take the night off work. I only had about three hours sleep prior to shift and my stomach is touchy today. So hang around the house and catch up on tv. 

TUESDAY...

--- Almost in trouble sleep wise again. Awake at 5:50 and stay awake about a half hour. But get back to sleep until 10:00. So that helps. 

--- Too cold for a walk. -17 feeling like -25. Ugh. I stay in and lounge. 

WEDNESDAY...

--- Bit of a drive in the country. Do a walk also, expecting that the temp warming by a good ten degrees over yesterday would make it nice. But I cut things short as jeans aren't good enough on their own, I'm getting cold, and only last about a half hour. 

THURSDAY...

--- Out walking for almost an hour and a half. Brought the camera with me so it was a slow pace. Got some squirrels and a few small woodpeckers. 

--- Getting fed up with my neck. A week or two ago, the right side was tight and sore. Now tonight, the left side flares. I suppose it's all from poor posture on the sofa during tv watching but I know sleeping on my stomach doesn't help. 

FRIDAY...

--- On a day I planned to clean around the house, I'm spending most of the day with a hot pack on the side of my neck. Conserving things for the shovelling of the driveway... As the snow falls all day.