This is actually the second time I was nominated for the #steemitnamechallenge! I bailed hard when @celestal nominated me the other month. I hit the ground running, when it came to the idea of revealing my vulnerabilities. @solarsupermama also wanted to hear my secrets as well... I'm going to oblige, thank you for the nomination for the 2 part conquest!

My signs and traits are; Year of the SNAKE, month of SCORPIO... Did I need to mention the my MBTI is INTJ? I'm a fireball of sheer ridiculousness. I used to hate that wherever I went, it seemed that I may just be cursed for being easily misunderstood. That's probably not the case at all, but I might be a little weird.

The Power of a Name

My real name is Sheryl Kona, and if you went to look me up, my name is one in 7.4 billion. This is pretty awesome, yet possibly tragic at the same time. My first name is something that is common among older generations, and not at all common in this day and age. This is due to my parents being born in 1932, and 1956. My surname is of Hawiian origin as there are not many Native Hawaiians left, I might have to keep it when I eventually get married.

What makes this a predicament for me is that anything I'll ever do is tied to my name itself. I can't actually vanish unless I get a legal name change. I made it a goal earlier in life to make sure that anything that could be linked back to me reflected my vision of who I wanted to be. If I already have such a strange name, then why even have a nickname?

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Being Memorable and Gaining Strength

A nightclub may not be the best place to receive your new name, but nonetheless this is the truth of where it came from. I was managing a place called Alter Solum, which is latin for "Second Floor". In 2008, it was one of the most notorious EDM venues in Honolulu. I had many Japanese friends who literally couldn't pronounce Sheryl, so for some time I was called Sheriru.

It wasn't until a girl with an equally strange name joined our staff. Michele Slosek joined us, and we hung out a lot. I didn't ever see the resemblance, but even Facebook's face recognition have mistakened one of us for the other. No, I will not post what she looks like. We both had extreme personalities, and it soon went from no one saying our names right, to mixing them up entirely. This coincidence had us both bummed out.

She came up to me as my junior and made a brilliant suggestion. Since her name is Michele (Mee shell ee), she would be called Shelly, and since I was Sheryl (shey roll), I would be Shello. Apparently shello was such a cheesy way to say hello, that the name died with the 90's meme, so no one else wanted it. I used to hate it, and thought it was super lame.

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To The Gamer Tag

After Alter Solum closed in 2009, everything with it also died. I never needed more than my real name, or so I thought. A good friend of mine got me to make a League of Legends account, and of course Sheryl was already taken. I went with shelloftw (shello for the win), but what made it too ironic was that I couldn't win games! I eventually waited for the name Shello to become available again which took a couple of years, and renamed my account.

A lot of my friends that I played with started calling me Shello in person, so my nickname picked back up. It was meant affectionately, and I was told it was hard to forget. I began to really like my name, as a form a stronger alter ego so I decided to name all my accounts the same name.

When we think of a unique name, it's usually too long, or bizarre to remember clearly. I began to realize that I could actually make my own name have meaning. I use it for all of my accounts, and when I think of what my ideal self would be like, her name is Shello.

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Part II : 5 Secrets About Me

This might be the real challenge. I will tell 5 secrets that most people won't know period, I think that this will make it more fun.

1. I'm a second degree black belt in Shotokan Karate. I went for 10 years, and most of my self-dicipline is a result of it. I ended up leaving when my sensei died. My first real mentor. I cried so hard at her funeral and decided that I didn't want another treacher.

2. I PUBLISHED my first manga (comic) when I was 17. I drew 70 pages by hand, and had it sold at an anime convention that happens yearly in Hawaii called Kawaii-Kon. It's called; "Pay! 2 Play" and was about video games coming to life and skilled gamers having to fight them. I'm secretly embarassed people I know will find it.

3. Along with being a first chair violinsist in middle school, I was also a cello player. I've always loved music and I feel the strongest emotions from violin and piano.

4. I went to college twice. The first time I was a double major student for Computer Electronics and Japanese. I also had a fulltime job, and I was 15.

5. I'm extremely sensitive to others, because of this I try to stay isolated as much as possible. I can feel the pain of those around me as my own and it terrifies me. I have the ability to percieve others in first-person and I try to hide it to not be taken advantage of. I wear my heart on my sleeve and treat others as if they were me, but sometimes it gets me into some shit.

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Exposed

I feel better being able to get the things I never talk about off my chest. Hope you enjoyed what you learned about me today! I'm going to nominate @puddinpaws, @clayboyn, @jyoti-thelight, @hardaeborla, and @apsu up next. I want to learn your secrets c;

And a big ups to @bollutech for surprising me with this sick banner!





"It's all in the name." —Wendy Caroll