What's in a name?

I never liked my name when I was younger... I don't know why. As I got older, I liked it more. My first name is misspelled and I like it because it makes me unique. People misspell and mispronounce it all the time, but I don't care anymore. Plus I like dotting my i's with little circles.
My middle name is Yuk Kwan. It's not the nicest sounding, but I like the meaning. In Chinese, Yuk, means jade and Kwan, means lord. The Kwan part is usually a boy's name. When my parents first named me, I had a different Kwan (I don't know the meaning of that one). My grandma in China went to the Buddhist temple and got a fortune for me. It said that the Kwan I had in my name wasn't strong enough. I don't know if it means I needed a better name to make me stronger, or that I'm already strong and therefore the first meaning was too wimpy or something. Anyway, that is how I ended up with a boy's name. I guess it could mean Jade Lordess instead.
My name just can't really be made into something cutesy or be shortened, so no one gave me a nickname until recently. Brett's nephew was about 1 and a half and it was the first time I saw him since his first birthday. Everyone tried to tell him my name, but he was too young to pronounce it. He ran around for a few hours yelling RERA. We had no clue what he was saying. We thought he was just making noises. We somehow realized that he was trying to say my name. That's how ReRa got started, by a cute little boy.
A game of King's Cup gave me ChirpyChirp. We had to make a rule with one of the cards, so we had to give people nicknames when we referred to someone. I gave my friend AfroTurf. LOL! I thought it was a good one. He in turn called me ChirpyChirp. Like most small Asian girls, I have a high pitched voice. And apparently, I chirp.
And of course, the best one that has no creativity what so ever. Brettterisa. I think it was from a typo on a SF Giants ticket. Or one of my friends trying to combine me and Brett's name.

New Chapter

I've been wanting to start a blog for a while, had this account for a few months, and thought that today would be a good day to get it going. I started a new job today, and I'm very excited about it. It's more of what I want to be doing so I'm happy that I'm taking a step forward in my career. Right off the bat, there are 2 other reasons why I love this job already:
1. I get to wear jeans to work.
2. I don't have to stay with Kaiser Permanente.

Even though it's 3 months into the new year, I thought I should let everyone know what my New Year's Resolution is (besides the usual exercising and saving money thing). I will accept that I'm "cute". I know it's a compliment, but I used to dislike it and flinch when people said it. I will now happily smile and say "thank you" when someone tells me that. I have accepted that being cute is a good thing and will use it to my advantage MUHAHAHA!!!