Do you know what it means...

United tried really hard to get my trip to New Orleans off to a bad start -- 2 hour flight delay, meaning I got in at about 2 in the morning. Somehow, this turned out not to be a problem. I watched a bad but enjoyable movie on the flight -- Beastly, which I'll give 2 1/2 stars. (It's not actually *good*, but it's enjoyable despite itself. Or maybe that's just because it's Beauty and the Beast, and I have a hard time not liking that story.) Also finished a cover letter (for a position which, unfortunately, no longer existed when I went to submit my application). And, best of all, was picked up from the airport by friends old and new, and taken straight to Cafe du Monde for beignets. Spent the next day hanging with friends and eating lots of tasty things. Brunch omelette involved alligator sausage, but I was more excited about the crawfish and crabs we had later -- fantastic! How good was this day? We were, at one point, literally sitting at the end of a rainbow. No, really!

See?!

Have been enjoying spending time with my best friend, M.. Have seen my brother and future sister-in-law mostly in the evenings -- they're busy with last-minute wedding prep, which I've been happy to eavesdrop on, and to lend an opinion when asked.

In other news:

It *really* hurt to do this --
I do not bruise easily.

This is the very sexy bruise I gave myself on my first morning here, climbing into the tub/shower at my brother's house. It's a beautiful, huge, claw-foot tub. A bigger step than I realized, and slippery. I'd have fallen in completely if the side of my knee hadn't broken my momentum...

Much more fun: here's a fabulous present, given to me by M.M., a friend of M.'s with whom I should totally hang out.

Awesome.

Speaking of people with whom I should hang out: here's M.'s 2-yr-old son, J., having fun wearing my shoes:

And this fantastic sign is at "The Joint," where we went for very tasty BBQ:

"This is not fast food

Our kind of flava takes time, y'heard?

So cool your jets l'il piggies. We move at the speed of real BBQ."

Me, me, me

Good read over at the NYTimes, though I'm actually not sure I'd agree with his formulation. I agree that the messaging current students receive is off, and I certainly agree that self-centeredness and the illusion of absolute freedom are bad things to try to center a life on. This way of thinking reminds me of something a student once wrote to me:

I think the point of English is not at all about the text or what the text is saying or what the author is trying to say. If I wanted that, I'd take a history class where my goal was to learn facts and people's opinions of the time period.

But, I think I disagree with what seems to me to be the conflation of "having/building a self" and "being self-centered." If I had to reformulate on the fly, I'd say that the only way to develop a truly worthwhile self is to spend the time, effort, experience, etc. that it takes to know what you can and should lose yourself in, and to see how, in those places of devotion, attention, practice, etc, you express what is best and worst in the self. Or something.

name game

Recently, someone I know mentioned that she was trying to come up with names for a baby girl. The first few I thought of were Caroline, Charlotte, and Darcy. Can you tell I've seen Pride and Prejudice lately?

Others that I suggested were Amanda, Arielle/Ariella, Daniella, Davina, Emily, Lily/Lilia, Marcella, Nina, and Tessa. But this got me thinking about my perennial problem with names, especially for girls: if you're not naming after someone, how do you pick? Do you go with the way it sounds? What it means? I'm always torn with girls' names, because I like the sound of a lot of them, but don't like the meaning. And there's the problem of association. Sadly, one of my favorite girl names to suggest to people has been tainted by Twilight. No one should be named Isabella for the next century or so, as far as I'm concerned. Too bad, because it's a beautiful name.

So what's in a name?

Meanings from Think Baby Names (1)

• Amanda - lovable, fit to be loved
• Arielle/Ariella - lion of God
• Caroline - unclear. Got everything from "feminine of carolus, free/adult man" to song of joy. Also a major bi-yatch in Pride and Prejudice
• Charlotte - feminine form of Charles, free man. Also Pride and Prejudice's resident pragmatist
• Daniella - from Daniel, God is my judge
• Darcy - dark, also the man himself in Pride and Prejudice
• Davina - beloved
• Emily - rival, laborious, eager
• Lily/Lilia - like the flower
• Marcella - dedicated to mars, war-like
• Nina - little girl
• Tessa - diminutive of Teresa, late summer
• Isabella/Isabel/Elizabeth - God's promise. Also a highly problematic character in a highly problematic series of poorly written books.

In an unrelated email, my brother and I had cause to talk about names. This time, I was put in mind of one of my favorite websites, The Utah Baby Namer. They claim not to feature any names without corroborating evidence. My faves from that site:

Most names taken from main list, others only on "The Cream of the Crop."

BOYS

Azer Baloo

Bridger A-10 (breaker 1-9er)

El Myrrh (be vewy qwuiet -- I'm hunting baby Jesus)

Friends Forsaken (uh...ok)

Halloween

Hummingbird

Iron Rod (snicker)

Knight Train (not to be confused with Nightrain Lane, which is also on there)

Leviathan (That's gonna suck as a kid, though it might get ok in college, if he plays it right)

Marvelous Man (awesome)

Slaughter

Tugdick (I can't even comment on this one)

Girls

Alpha Mae (HBIC?)

Apathy (whatever)

BeDae (sigh)

Cajun RayneChinchilla Zest (That sounds both cruel and illegal.)

Clitoris (?!)

Confederate America (No.)

Delightra

Desdedididawn (Did I stutter?)

Elevena

Hallah Lujah (Amen)

Hereditary (No, you picked that voluntarily.)

Ixchelle

Jennyfivetina (I don't know why I love this one so much.)

Jeopardee

Justa Cowgirl

K-8 (Because Kate was too normal.)

Pork Chop (OH MY GOD, PEOPLE!)

Sin'D (heh heh heh)

Southern Justice (I'm afraid)

Trauma Ann (tough delivery?)

Treasure Cocaine (Wow. OK, do you want your daughter to be a stripper/junkie? Is that what you're trying to tell me?)

Truthanne (Keepin' it real)

VulvaMae (HOLYSHITPEOPLEWHYWOULDYOUDOTHIS?!)

Vyquetoriya Walkasheaqua

and, last of all -- X Y Zella

Both

anything starting with an X or a Z, like Xtlyn (boy) or Zzkora (girl).

Here's the thing. I want to say that there's room for names that don't sounds "normal" to me. I don't mean foreign -- obviously, I've got no problem with names that are just unfamiliar to me. But is there any culture in which it is a good idea to name your daughter after a part of the reproductive system? (The correct answer is no.)