I swear I'm not crazy...

... but I name inanimate objects.  Most notably, my car.  Her name is Ruby Lou.

Since my RA has gotten a lot worse in recent times, I was really struggling to get in and out of my old car, not to mention operate the clutch.  So I splashed out and bought this higher, safer, automatic Subaru XV - and quite frankly, it was money very well spent.

I also name other things.  My RA is (mostly un-)affectionately referred to as Arthur.  My nodules (the ones I have so far) are Nigel, Norman and Norbert.  Horatio and Hagrid are my hips.  Bert is my moon-face (anyone who's Australian and knows the side-effects of prednisolone will understand that one - I have more hair than the 'other' Bert though!).  Notice they're all male names - men are problematic at the best of times! - and I should point out, they're just RA, nodules and hips when they're not playing up.  When they're inflamed and angry, however... that's when their names are muttered through gritted teeth and usually with a side-serving of vitriol.

We name the things we love so we can talk about them.  Naming the things that hurt allows us to lay blame, and while I'm no psychologist, I'd say it's a reasonably sound coping mechanism.  It allows me to be angry with 'someone', when there's nobody to blame for what I'm going through.

And today, Norbert is being a right pain in the nodule.