What's in a Name?

I've had a few names over the past year and a bit, spanning my stint on Macquarie Island and my time here at a Casey. The stand out Macca name was "Gunter" and you can read all about how I got that one in the other blog and laugh your way through that story.

This time around, I've already ended up with two names: "The Greek" and "Anchovy". Before departing Hobart we were discussing having some t-shirts made up for use around station or in the gym, something for to have a bit of a laugh about. The shirts we ended up with had our names, plus an extra name on the back and the nickname given to me was "The Greek" in honour of my Italian heritage. I shake my head with a wry smile thinking about it.

The other name came along from all because of a beach party and a snake/fish skin printed leotard. For our New Years' Eve party we had a beach theme and I guess the expectation was for boardshorts, hawaiian shirts, thongs (flip flops or jandals for those from other parts of the world) and straw hats to be the prevalent sort of get up. Little did everyone else know, a lobster from the deep would come along with this leotard out of the dress-ups store and with very little effort convince me to put it on. Initially I had my t-shirt on to hide the fact that I'm a rather hairy person, but I chose to take the t-shirt off because there's no shame in being this hairy... And being a hairy fish, the most logical choice for a name is Anchovy.

The interesting thing about nicknames is that they've never really stuck. Certain groups of people may call me something, but in the end, I always end up with my given name.

Look at that amazing belly! Later in the night I may have ended up with a strategically placed sock...