This is a little blurry because it was taken (via a side mirror) while the car was in motion, but I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.
This week was the anniversary week of bringing Sheba home from the shelter. I checked my personal journal to confirm this, and ran into the list of names we were considering for her.
One option I'd considered privately, but didn't include in the poll, was "Pandora," after the contestant from Season 2 of RuPaul's Drag Race, and I kinda wish I'd gone with that now, since it's nicely symmetrical with Nina (also a RPDR contestant name) and Pandora is my favorite from that season, like Nina was my favorite from the first season.
This would have obligated us to get a third pet a year later, who we would have had to name Yara, and then a fourth pet this year named Chad, Sharon, or Latrice,1 so it's probably all for the best that I never got started down this particular road. We only have just so much in the budget for pet food. (Though the idea of a pet guinea pig named Yara is surprisingly compelling. . . .)
But.
I am occasionally still bothered by the name "Sheba." It's not that I find it objectionable on its own; it's just that we didn't pick it out, so there's no personal significance to her name; it doesn't reflect our tastes or whatever. And then sometimes I'm concerned when we're telling someone else her name, that they'll think we picked it out, and I want to make sure they know we didn't, which doesn't even make sense because it's not like Fervor wouldn't come across as way more off-putting and harder to explain.2 In any case, I'd wondered whether going with the shelter-assigned name would bother me, back when we were making the decision, and it turns out that yes, it does. Lesson learned.
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1 I can't decide on a favorite this year! On the one hand, Sharon Needles is originally Iowan, and very weird and creative (I'm particularly fond of her plastic surgery and pea-green/coral glam outfits.), and has the best name.
But Latrice, though not quite as fabulous with the outfits (check out her Ursula hair and makeup, though), is still a lot of fun to watch, and it would be awfully nice for a big girl to win a season, especially after stick-thin Raja won last year.
Chad Michaels has done the most outfits I've found jaw-dropping (the gold/hologram dress, the Florence Welch dress, and most recently an AMAZING green 50s politician's-wife number (full view, close-up).
I don't ordinarily give a damn about fashion, but it seems like there's always one runway outfit every week that I find fascinating, and I've become mildly obsessed with the show this year, which is new. The point being that I have no idea who is my favorite for Season 4. I'd be happy with Chad, Sharon, or Latrice as winner, though I think if I were forced to choose one, I'd pick Chad.
Which would make a terrible pet name.
2 Our next dog will of course be named "Rural Juror."
A Sheba by any other name would still play fetch with the glowy ball. :-) Gorgeous shot.
ReplyDeleteYou could have Urban Fervor and Rural Juror running around the yard together!! That would be outstanding, and quite confusing to non-fans of 30 Rock.
ReplyDeleteI didn't like our greyhound Foley's name at all when we got her, and objectively I still think it's silly and inappropriate. But the name inspired so many nicknames that now I can't imagine her being named anything else. If I want to use an awesome name on something, I create a video game character.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't fond of the name Sheba either -- it's a cat's name! -- but now it's stuck and I can't imagine her being called anything else.
ReplyDeleteI guess you could say you're being ironic, like how some people name their cats Rover.
Call her "Sheba Pandora" for a couple of months and then you can drop the "Sheba" and she'll understand you perfectly.
ReplyDeleteHa! When my buddy and I started our podcast (paradoxalpterodactyl.podbean.com cough, cough) he wanted us to use pseudonyms. He picked "Chad" because of a conversation he'd had where it was determined that Chad is the whitest name possible. I thought it was dumb to use fake names, so I picked "Dingus".
ReplyDeleteMy Boston Terrier got stuck with his rescue name too (Tucker). Wouldn't have been our first choice, and we considered changing it, but I guess we just got used to saying it.
What a creative idea for a pic! I think it turned out well :) You should get Sheba some doggles so the dust doesn't irritate her eyes when enjoying the car rides. Plus, doggles make dogs look hysterically cute.
ReplyDeleteWe got our dog Abby from a shelter and didn't like the name she'd been given. We spent three months kicking around names, only to settle on keeping Abby as our dog's name because nothing else fit. We did change the spelling from Abbie to Abby though.