what's in a name

yesterday i went to the ENLI building in fort bonifacio for the EN07 auditions. performers and production staff were needed for this july's world conference, and as usual, i was excited as all heck.

after a short wait i was interviewed by darlene, one of the directors. upon introducing myself she laughingly informed me that there was a volunteer who had the same name as mine, only spelled with a C.

of course, that got me really intrigued!  it's not every day that i meet someone with the same--or at least similar--name as mine. growing up i've always been associated with either the nail polish or the soap, which of course i royally hated to bits!

i even hated my name for so many reasons: aside from the previous, it was too uncommon, and too short. i remember asking my mom to have my name changed to "kim." mom laughed at me and told me that "kim" was a name for goats (i apologize to the kims who might read this. it was my mom's way of, you know, convincing me otherwise). unfortunately, my then four-year-old mind refused to accept that!

of course i learned to live with, and LOVE my name. daddy once told me that "karess" was a variation of the greek "karis," which meant graceful (click here). also, i learned to love its uniqueness and shortness. the one-of-a-kindness got to me, especially when signing up for log-in names. i didn't need to think too hard about what to use, hahaha!  

i lived with the jokes, too. ever wondered why my name is so long on your multiply contact list?