Cognitive quicky

My therapist (yes, you read this correctly-I think it's a good exercise for anyone to speak to a therapist, especially since I am one) says that I am a "classic NT". Kind of fun! I have been accused of "thinking like a boy" before and making decisions consistent with that gender expression. This all makes sense to me, especially the part about sharing the NT label with Einstein. :) My therapist also said that I am in a career that is dominated by SP's and that this could be a major source of conflict for me. Interesting.

Evidently being an NT means:

NT Temperament - The "Intellectuals"

NTs are introspective, logical and on a constant quest for knowledge. They are practical and unsentimental in their approach to problem solving. The actions of an NT are precise and follow a systematic course. Abstract, theoretical and technically adept, NTs are naturally inventive. They can also be described as being analytical, intellectual, inquisitive, independent and complex. Famous NT People Alexander the Great - king, military commander Albert Einstein - inventor Alfred Hitchcock - filmmaker (The Birds) Carl Jung - psychologist General Colin Powell - military figure Celine Dion - singer David Spade - actor, comedian George Carlin - comedian, actor, author James A. Garfield - American President John Adams - American President John Candy - comedian, actor Julia Child - chef, author, TV personality Lewis Carroll - author (Alice in Wonderland) Marilyn Vos Savant - author, lecturer, playwright Matthew Perry - actor (Friends) Nikola Tesla - inventor, physicist, engineer Richard Feynman - physicist Rodney Dangerfield - comedian, actor Rutherford B. Hayes - American President Sir Walter Raleigh - writer, poet, explorer Suzanne Pleshette - actress Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt - American President Thomas Edison - inventor Tom Hanks - actor Valerie Harper - actress Walt Disney - filmmaker, entrepreneur Weird Al Yankovic - musician (satire/parody) NT Population 12.5% of all people 18% of males 7% of females -this explains a lot to me NT Career Matches Systems Analyst Teacher/Professor Scientist Judge Psychologist Computer Programmer Lawyer/Attorney Engineer Entrepreneur And finally... About the ENTP Expert Quotes & Links "ENTPs are idea people. Their perceptive abilities cause them to see possibilities everywhere. They get excited andenthusiastic about their ideas, and are able to spread their enthusiasm to others. In this way, they get the support that they need to fulfill their visions" - Portrait of an ENTP (The Personality Page) "It is so natural for these individuals to practice devising gadgets and mechanisms, that they start doing it even as young children. And they get such a kick out of it that they really never stop exercising their inventive bent" - The Portrait of the Inventor Rational (Keirsey) "ENTPs are usually verbally as well as cerebrally quick, and generally love to argue--both for its own sake, and to show off their often-impressive skills... argument as a sport." - ENTP Profile (TypeLogic) "ENTPs contribute an innovative, versatile, and enterprising approach to work. They view limitations as challenges to be overcome and look for new ways to do things. They need to find a niche for themselves in order to be free to maneuver. They prefer the start-up phase of a project rather than the followthrough or maintenance phase. Once the project is designed, they prefer to turn it over to someone else." - ENTP - The Innovator (Lifexplore) "...attention seeking, experience junky, insensitive, adaptable,not easily offended, messy, carefree, dangerous, fearless, careless..." None of this is me. :) - Jung Type Descriptions (ENTP) (similarminds.com)

I heart weekends!

Enjoying the second of two birthday weekends.

Friday

Thai Passion for dinner and game night with the roomies.

Saturday

Started off with some taco Deli breakfast tacos (thanks, Bryan)

Next, we went to the Alamo Drafthouse and saw The King's Speech on Saturday. For those you don't know, the 'Mo is a movie theater/dining/drinking experience. As such, we had: chips, queso and avocado; Mexican tofu salad, fried pickles and ranch, bleu cheese burger (Bobby) and chili queso fries, Fireman's 4 beer and Riesling. We are never eating again. Until tomorrow.

We met some friends at 219 and Fado to celebrate a friend's birthday. January is a serious birthday month! Mexican martinis are a serious drink.

Sunday

9:00 am Headache, Advil, back to sleep.

10:30 am Bobby and I took our inaugural ride on my FANCY NEW bike! I bequeathed my old bike to Bobby because it's too tall for me. I We had a blast! We explored some country roads behind our house, but due to our inexperience with bike riding, we neglected to consider that we might be thirsty on this uncharacteristically warm winter day. Or get lost. Or hungry. Or wonder what time it is. Live and learn! In any event, we are super duper excited about future Sunday bike rides and adventures.

Now we're watching our current favorite show Pushing Daisies and eating blue razz poprocks. Feeling more like 12 and less like 31. :) Since we rode our tails off earlier today, we're headed to Cannoli Joe's, an Italian place Bobby's been talking about for a year. Yum, yum, yum, yum.

As you can see, I just learned how to embed links into my sweet, tech-novice blog.

Field of Dreams

This will be a brief share, but since I use this blog as a forum for rants and satire, I think it's okay to get personal every once and a while.

Ever since I lost Sky I have been wishing to see her in a dream. I have incredibly vivid dreams and can often recall a lot of details about them. Not only do I dream vividly but I am very much connected to my dreams. That is, I will wake up emoting in response to my dreams. I think, as many psychoanalysts do, that dreams are windows to your subconscious and if people learned to pay attention to their dreams they would be privy to valuable information about themselves often masked in dreams as something far-fetched and nonsensical. I digress.

Even though I asked Bobby to wake me up early this morning, I elected to sleep in. I felt alert at 7:30, but I wasn't quite ready to get out of bed. I woke back up at 9:30 crying and elated! Here's what happened: in my dream I was living in my current house, though the backyard looked a little different. I saw there were some people (handymen I've known since I've lived in Austin) and they were fixing up a shed that isn't actually in my backyard. Anyhow, when I returned to my house after greeting them, I noticed a new kitten was running around. She sort of looked like Tabby, but not quite. I went back outside to determine how this kitten entered our home when I noticed the fence gates were left open. I went to close them and saw Sky curled up in the corner taking a nap! I slowly moved towards her because I was nervous I was making her up (which, of course, I was but in dreamland that didn't matter). She picked her head up, saw me, and walked towards me. She looked at me and started a low howl. The tone of it was longing and kind of sad. I threw my arms around her and began to nuzzle her the way we used to. Interestingly, as I am hugging her, I notice the men are in earshot but can't see her because we're on the side of the house. I asked them, "Did you hear that??" referring to her howl. They said they couldn't. She got up and walked near them, sniffing the perimeter of the yard as she used to. I asked, "Well, do you see her?" They didn't. She sort of sniffed herself to the other side of the yard and disappeared.

I am considering this dream a little victory of sorts. I have been really concerned that Sky hadn't made my dreams but I finally dreamt about her and it was under happy circumstances. I hope this is the first of many because seeing her healthy and happy was wonderful.

We Didn't Start the Fire

You should already be laughing. Because it's true. But here's how it didn't start...

Casa de Dry Tortugas housed the Stano family this past week and in response to our "hospitality", they gifted us a fire pit. Thanks, Stanos!!

According to Webster:

hospitality |ˌhäspiˈtalitē| (noun) the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers.

According to Jaimie:

hospitality: a) when you expose a friend's parents to a grossly inappropriate movie featuring porn, masturbation, sex, genitalia, feces, autoerotic asphyxiation and so forth; b) when you come home at 4:00 in the morning on New Years Eve and bump into every wall in your home and speak in 6 foot voices so that your guests are roused from their sweet slumber.

While the Stanos have safely returned to their home state of Michigan, the fire pit remains safely on my back porch. It's 53 degrees outside on this fine evening so we decided to test out this pit of ours.

Attempt #1: Bobby purchased logs in advance and I picked up a copy of the Austin Chronicle that I never read, and it met its undue demise for attempt #1. While the Chronicle caught fire, the logs taunted us. We poured some vodka on it because it seemed like a good idea. Bobby remarks "Homeless people can do it! This is ridiculous."

Attempt #2: Bobby went to the corner store to get lighter fluid. Now we're cooking with oil (so we thought). The rest of the Chronicle was sacrificed along with 2 paint stirrers I planned to use to touch up the walls and several pairs of chopsticks from old Chinese take-out. The tip of one of the logs thought about catching fire. The cats sat at our back window and were mesmerized by the dancing flame which slowly petered out to a burning chopstick. In defiance, I mounted a 'mallow on another chopstick and forced it into the minuscule orange element. Nothing doing.

Attempt #3: I turned on the gas stove and made four toasted marshmallows effortlessly. Success.

Moral of the story: Buy a house with a fireplace. We couldn't have started a fire if we were in standing in one.

Also, Bryan didn't help. By that we mean, he and Bobby tried together and they (we) were still unsuccessful. The man cave loses its man cave card tonight.

This is not our fire.