D-I-A-N-A

Whenever someone asks for my name, I have a standard way of telling them. It goes like this:

"Diana D-I-A-N-A, [pause], Davis."

I always spell my name, because if I don't, too often they will say "what?" or spell it with two n's or write Diane instead. I never spell Davis. Come on.

So anyway, today I went to the pool. When you go to the pool, you have to write your name down in the book. It doesn't matter if it's legible; it doesn't matter if it's wet; you just do it. There's a student sitting at the table reading, and all they do is call you over if you don't write your name down.

Today, it was different. There was an old woman sitting at the table. As I approached, she announced cheerily, "Name please." What? She's going to write down my name for me? Uh... okay. So I did my normal thing.

"Diana D-I-A-N-A, [pause], Davis."
"Oh, I know how to spell 'Diana'," she said.
"Well, sometimes people put two n's in it or they put an "e" at the end."
"No, it only has one 'n.' Once I see something once, I know how to spell it. Now, some people's names are Diane, but that's different."

And then she kept talking about it.

This is the oddest experience I have had yet at the pool.

Back when I was applying to colleges, I had a standard way of giving all of my information. It went like this:

"Name?"
"Lastname Davis, [pause]... Diana, D-I-A-N-A."

"High school?"
"Phillips Exeter Academy, three zero zero one eight five."

"Birthday?"
"Zero-seven two-seven eight-five."

Yup, it was pretty intense.