I don't like `var self` at all and I find there are vanishingly few places where you can't just bind a function appropriately, but one important thing to note, if you do go down this route, is that `self` is an alias for the `window` object, so if you happen to miss out that `var self` assignment at some point, you may get unexpected results.

On that basis, if you must do this, I would suggest `var _this`, `var scope` (though that would probably be confusing if you had the misfortune to be using Angular), `var me` (unless you happen to find anthropomorphism distasteful) or... well, anything other than `var self`, really.