music
OK OK I'm 27. No need to be all dramatic about it. It won't shock me, I guess, to look up and see that I'm 46, or 97. That's coming soon too.
Remember when I was 2 or 3 and learning nursery rhymes from my uncle B "my head, my shoulders, my knees, my toes, they all belong to Jesus" and watching TV in 1985 when Nigeria was 25
...or in the car moving to TinCan at 5 and reading out loud EVERY sign on the way. I can still hear myself: "Snake Island Dockyard. TinCan Island Port. Bush." Over and over
...the night before Queen's College with mum writing my name - in Kandahar ink AND oil-based indelible marker - on all my new things while our neighbour who had been to boarding school advised on what to take and I was too excited all night to finish my dinner of yam pottage.
I remember almost everything in between too.
Anyhoo, same kid.
Being grown up ROCKS.
Happy birthday to all you May 1st kids.
Happy Worker's Day too to everyone. Be FREE.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Checking Stats
music
I'm getting older. Very soon I'll understand my mother, that's what they say.
In her office, my mother has calendars with pictures of the African Nobel Prize winners. Well, today I checked online and here are the Africans awarded Nobel Prizes in the last eight years.
2005: Mohammed ElBaradei of Egypt/ The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
2004: Wangari Maathai of Kenya
2003: John Maxwell Coetzee of South Africa
2001: Kofi Annan of Ghana/ The United Nations
If you go as far back as the 1990s, then you find
Egyptian Ahmed Zewail for Chemistry
South Africans F. W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela for Peace
South African Nadine Gordimer in Literature
Zewail is a Caltech prof., and there's a street named for him near my work in Cairo.
Before that, there were Naguib Mahfouz, Wole Soyinka, Desmond Tutu, and Anwar El-Sadat. KhalaS. I think that's it.
There have been more USA Nobel prize winners in Economics alone from 2000-2007, or in Physics alone in the same period.
I do understand my father. When I was a kid, he loved being a fan - of Sugar Ray Leonard and black boxers, of his daughters, of Nigerian football. My father believes that, in competition, there should be a hefty ass-whooping, and YOU should be the one giving it - end of story.
(Love you dad, sorry I haven't called. It's been quiet time around here.)
It's birthday season again and I wonder if my busy little friend - the one I was in love with circa January 2005 - will win the physics prize someday. While I can attest that winning a Nobel Prize is far from "the measure of a man" it's still really cool, you know? Me, I'll get a few. Girls would win more if they cared to.
I'm getting older. Very soon I'll understand my mother, that's what they say.
In her office, my mother has calendars with pictures of the African Nobel Prize winners. Well, today I checked online and here are the Africans awarded Nobel Prizes in the last eight years.
2005: Mohammed ElBaradei of Egypt/ The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
2004: Wangari Maathai of Kenya
2003: John Maxwell Coetzee of South Africa
2001: Kofi Annan of Ghana/ The United Nations
If you go as far back as the 1990s, then you find
Egyptian Ahmed Zewail for Chemistry
South Africans F. W. de Klerk / Nelson Mandela for Peace
South African Nadine Gordimer in Literature
Zewail is a Caltech prof., and there's a street named for him near my work in Cairo.
Before that, there were Naguib Mahfouz, Wole Soyinka, Desmond Tutu, and Anwar El-Sadat. KhalaS. I think that's it.
There have been more USA Nobel prize winners in Economics alone from 2000-2007, or in Physics alone in the same period.
I do understand my father. When I was a kid, he loved being a fan - of Sugar Ray Leonard and black boxers, of his daughters, of Nigerian football. My father believes that, in competition, there should be a hefty ass-whooping, and YOU should be the one giving it - end of story.
(Love you dad, sorry I haven't called. It's been quiet time around here.)
It's birthday season again and I wonder if my busy little friend - the one I was in love with circa January 2005 - will win the physics prize someday. While I can attest that winning a Nobel Prize is far from "the measure of a man" it's still really cool, you know? Me, I'll get a few. Girls would win more if they cared to.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Watching Al-Jazeera in Arabic
music
This guy just came on. He's Tariq Al-Nasir.
Yikes, it's hard not to write an Egyptian spelling like Tarek El-Nasir.
He's in Oman on an Al-Jazeera video-conference interview. He's wearing a beard and a black turtleneck.
I surmise that he's a terrorist, or at least someone unfriendly to the US.
Yes, I've been programmed to think sober-faced bearded men only go on TV to speak their resolve to take on the West.
It turns out he's a composer, ta'alif musiqa. Also on the screen the words musiqiya taSwiiriya - photographic music? I don't understand.
He's speaking now, he says something about Gustavo Santaolalla. Says something about the sounds of the music, says it's great music. Whatever else he's saying, it sounds so beautiful and I lost myself in the sound of it.
This guy just came on. He's Tariq Al-Nasir.
Yikes, it's hard not to write an Egyptian spelling like Tarek El-Nasir.
He's in Oman on an Al-Jazeera video-conference interview. He's wearing a beard and a black turtleneck.
I surmise that he's a terrorist, or at least someone unfriendly to the US.
Yes, I've been programmed to think sober-faced bearded men only go on TV to speak their resolve to take on the West.
It turns out he's a composer, ta'alif musiqa. Also on the screen the words musiqiya taSwiiriya - photographic music? I don't understand.
He's speaking now, he says something about Gustavo Santaolalla. Says something about the sounds of the music, says it's great music. Whatever else he's saying, it sounds so beautiful and I lost myself in the sound of it.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Things I've learned in Egypt
music
Vitamin C
When you feel the first symptoms of a cold, get a very high dose of Vitamin C. I don't mean a few oranges or a multivitamin tablet, I mean 30 times the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C, like in these 1g Ascorbic Acid effervescent tablets. It's magic.
Clocks
Don't use a tick-tock clock in your bedroom, get a digital one. The noise can be annoying when all else is silent at night.
Egyptians need to raise their African cred
Sure, they're really African - beautiful people with that regal carriage who love football. But they don't like messy, peppery food and they worry the sun will make their skin dark. Also, they don't dance enough.
Vitamin C
When you feel the first symptoms of a cold, get a very high dose of Vitamin C. I don't mean a few oranges or a multivitamin tablet, I mean 30 times the recommended daily intake of Vitamin C, like in these 1g Ascorbic Acid effervescent tablets. It's magic.
Clocks
Don't use a tick-tock clock in your bedroom, get a digital one. The noise can be annoying when all else is silent at night.
Egyptians need to raise their African cred
Sure, they're really African - beautiful people with that regal carriage who love football. But they don't like messy, peppery food and they worry the sun will make their skin dark. Also, they don't dance enough.
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Monday, March 17, 2008
Am I missing something?
music
My take on the Spitzer case? He's guilty of breaking a law when he persecuted lawbreakers with great vigour. He's an ambitious guy who did great at his job, and now is the best time for political opponents to beat the crap out of him.
But on the personal level, though, what's the big trauma in him having paid for sex with a professional in a clean and controlled environment? Can someone remind me why prostitution isn't legal in the US?
My take on the Spitzer case? He's guilty of breaking a law when he persecuted lawbreakers with great vigour. He's an ambitious guy who did great at his job, and now is the best time for political opponents to beat the crap out of him.
But on the personal level, though, what's the big trauma in him having paid for sex with a professional in a clean and controlled environment? Can someone remind me why prostitution isn't legal in the US?
Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Potpourri
music
Rajon
Raj wrote about me, again, on his blog at rajonsprithvi. The guy knows me.
Ah, God!
I loved that gay cowboy movie.
But Heath's dead.
What's awesome in Cairo life?
Tennis in Arabic on cable channels ADSport, DubaiSport...
Rajon
Raj wrote about me, again, on his blog at rajonsprithvi. The guy knows me.
Ah, God!
I loved that gay cowboy movie.
But Heath's dead.
What's awesome in Cairo life?
Tennis in Arabic on cable channels ADSport, DubaiSport...
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
How many times have you walked across the Nile?
music
The answer here is three, so far. I can imagine the Nile bridge and banks will be crowded tomorrow with Cairene blokes showing their ladies gorgeous low-cost dates.
Happy Valentine's day, y'all.
The answer here is three, so far. I can imagine the Nile bridge and banks will be crowded tomorrow with Cairene blokes showing their ladies gorgeous low-cost dates.
Happy Valentine's day, y'all.
Sunday, February 03, 2008
The other side of Cairo
music
I had just noted how "there's no rhyme or reason" to the architecture in Cairo when I started seeing the beauty in all the tall buildings. They may not be designed to harmonize with the neighbouring buildings, but individually many of them are in grand style with ornate detailing, especially on the balconies.
My first weeks in Cairo have suffered in that I compare with Sana'a and find it a little less - less clean, less harmonious, less serene, less simple, oh and let's not forget: less warm. Much less. Today it's warmed to a high around 20 degrees Celcius (sixty-something Fahrenheit) and I call it a taste of the beautiful things to come.
I'm usually terrible with pictures...
I had just noted how "there's no rhyme or reason" to the architecture in Cairo when I started seeing the beauty in all the tall buildings. They may not be designed to harmonize with the neighbouring buildings, but individually many of them are in grand style with ornate detailing, especially on the balconies.
My first weeks in Cairo have suffered in that I compare with Sana'a and find it a little less - less clean, less harmonious, less serene, less simple, oh and let's not forget: less warm. Much less. Today it's warmed to a high around 20 degrees Celcius (sixty-something Fahrenheit) and I call it a taste of the beautiful things to come.
I'm usually terrible with pictures...
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Holy Cow
music
You know those times when everybody you meet falls in love with you (and vice-versa, to be honest) like you're a cow in heat or something? I wonder why that happens: maybe it happens when you're really happy, like in the past week in Lagos and now Cairo.
Guess what astrology has to say about this?
Wow, I could never get married - except to you, Rafito.
You know those times when everybody you meet falls in love with you (and vice-versa, to be honest) like you're a cow in heat or something? I wonder why that happens: maybe it happens when you're really happy, like in the past week in Lagos and now Cairo.
Guess what astrology has to say about this?
Wow, I could never get married - except to you, Rafito.
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
Munchkin Land
music
Dispatch from Lagos where the weather is Puerto Rico warm and the mosquitoes have evolved into weapon-resistant giant mutants of the 20th century species. They've also evolved to not itch while they bite, a development I appreciate.
The internet is pay-as-you-go so I have to hurry. Liked arriving in Lagos, it reminds me a bit of Sana'a, though the latter is simpler, more serene. I'm enjoying it - the food, my brother and family, the flight...Looking forward to Cairo.
I'm to "do something" with my hair tomorrow, because my folks can't stand it not done in some fancy way. Better than last time, when I had to get it done within 24hrs of arrival; next time I won't oblige at all.
Happy New Year.
Dispatch from Lagos where the weather is Puerto Rico warm and the mosquitoes have evolved into weapon-resistant giant mutants of the 20th century species. They've also evolved to not itch while they bite, a development I appreciate.
The internet is pay-as-you-go so I have to hurry. Liked arriving in Lagos, it reminds me a bit of Sana'a, though the latter is simpler, more serene. I'm enjoying it - the food, my brother and family, the flight...Looking forward to Cairo.
I'm to "do something" with my hair tomorrow, because my folks can't stand it not done in some fancy way. Better than last time, when I had to get it done within 24hrs of arrival; next time I won't oblige at all.
Happy New Year.
Monday, December 24, 2007
Friday, December 14, 2007
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Truth be told
music
I'm wearing a bra today. A real, heavy, American, Victoria's Secret best-selling bra. I mean, I own many bras and wear them about half the times I go out in public, but I favour comfortable faux-bras. The most abandoned of my bras have been the pair of padding, lifting, veritable braces I purchased from VS years ago: this orange one, and a green one.
Ladies in America, I don't understand what all the fighting is with the breasteses. Let them be.
The same goes for panty hose/tights. I own a few of those too. I wore them about nine years ago, once this year for an interview, and a few times in between. The decision process for buying those is either buy thin, so you can breathe, or buy thick so it can last more than one day before getting snagged. Once I had the good fortune to buy thick and over-sized, with them I can breathe AND re-use. It has also proved a welcome added layer of clothing in the cold weather.
I assume women wear tights to "control-top" as much as to appear formal, otherwise panty hoses would be designed as true hoses without tops or feet. You want proof? Recently, one woman invented "spanx," which I'm very sorry to advertise since it's useless to cut out the foot of the panty hose when the main pain center is around the tummy. I saw they market a pregnant spanx too, which looks criminal: you're pregnant and squashing your mid-section? Why?
Anyway, about the bras, the last time I wore one was weeks ago to go to the movies. Raj took me to see that sappy dribble about 53 years of solitude or something. Yes, it was Love in the Time of Cholera. By the way, that was probably the last time I stepped outside the house too, because it has since become really cold out there.
The bra in question was relatively light, yet before the movie theater filled for the movie, I took the stupid thing off in the darkness. In case you were wondering how one removes a bra without taking off shirt and jacket, that's one of the Houdini-esque skills girls have, especially girls who attended a boarding school without private corners.
Today I'm wearing the big one, haven't tried it in years, wonder how long it will last before I take it off since it hurts already. This is the one that I've heard from girls and advertising is the most comfortable bra - as comfortable as what? A boot on your throat? - that's the only reason I gave it a shot against all visual evidence. Well, it's a piece of junk.
Meeting with a friend from out of town today, and lest you think I'm trying to impress her with boobs that have lift, point, immobility, and control of roll, pitch, and yaw, I'm not. There'll be layers of clothing over it and I might as well not wear it. Actually, I won't wear it. End of experiment. Less than five minutes.
Aaah that feeling - I just unhooked the bra - the blood flows again, I started breathing and stopped pouring sweat in my tender armpits.
I'm wearing a bra today. A real, heavy, American, Victoria's Secret best-selling bra. I mean, I own many bras and wear them about half the times I go out in public, but I favour comfortable faux-bras. The most abandoned of my bras have been the pair of padding, lifting, veritable braces I purchased from VS years ago: this orange one, and a green one.
Ladies in America, I don't understand what all the fighting is with the breasteses. Let them be.
The same goes for panty hose/tights. I own a few of those too. I wore them about nine years ago, once this year for an interview, and a few times in between. The decision process for buying those is either buy thin, so you can breathe, or buy thick so it can last more than one day before getting snagged. Once I had the good fortune to buy thick and over-sized, with them I can breathe AND re-use. It has also proved a welcome added layer of clothing in the cold weather.
I assume women wear tights to "control-top" as much as to appear formal, otherwise panty hoses would be designed as true hoses without tops or feet. You want proof? Recently, one woman invented "spanx," which I'm very sorry to advertise since it's useless to cut out the foot of the panty hose when the main pain center is around the tummy. I saw they market a pregnant spanx too, which looks criminal: you're pregnant and squashing your mid-section? Why?
Anyway, about the bras, the last time I wore one was weeks ago to go to the movies. Raj took me to see that sappy dribble about 53 years of solitude or something. Yes, it was Love in the Time of Cholera. By the way, that was probably the last time I stepped outside the house too, because it has since become really cold out there.
The bra in question was relatively light, yet before the movie theater filled for the movie, I took the stupid thing off in the darkness. In case you were wondering how one removes a bra without taking off shirt and jacket, that's one of the Houdini-esque skills girls have, especially girls who attended a boarding school without private corners.
Today I'm wearing the big one, haven't tried it in years, wonder how long it will last before I take it off since it hurts already. This is the one that I've heard from girls and advertising is the most comfortable bra - as comfortable as what? A boot on your throat? - that's the only reason I gave it a shot against all visual evidence. Well, it's a piece of junk.
Meeting with a friend from out of town today, and lest you think I'm trying to impress her with boobs that have lift, point, immobility, and control of roll, pitch, and yaw, I'm not. There'll be layers of clothing over it and I might as well not wear it. Actually, I won't wear it. End of experiment. Less than five minutes.
Aaah that feeling - I just unhooked the bra - the blood flows again, I started breathing and stopped pouring sweat in my tender armpits.
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Advice
Follow your heart.
If you are on a quest to find yourself, continue. It's a pleasurable thing to learn the answers to the questions of you.
What's the big deal about failure?
If you ever find yourself failing, fail, fail, fail. And survive, smile on your face. It sucks, I know.
Don't hate. Emulate.
This goes for "love" as well as "success" - rather than be jealous of something beautiful, find your own something beautiful.
If you are on a quest to find yourself, continue. It's a pleasurable thing to learn the answers to the questions of you.
What's the big deal about failure?
If you ever find yourself failing, fail, fail, fail. And survive, smile on your face. It sucks, I know.
Wanda Sykes on Gay Marriage
Don't hate. Emulate.
This goes for "love" as well as "success" - rather than be jealous of something beautiful, find your own something beautiful.
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Flattery from my friends
music
Ran into a friend last week, clean-cut black guy, native Arabic speaker. He told Raj in the introductions that I speak Arabic. Yes, he did. Liam, I will love you forever for saying that. Thank you. I try to live up to it.
A month ago I met another clean-cut black guy, family migrated to the US from Liberia during the war in the 1980s I suppose. We talked the entire 4000 kilometers from Dulles Virginia to Oakland California. Joe, dude, you were supposed to email me. I know the chic for you, you've got to meet her, y'all will be going happily ever after in no time.
My old friend, who has been (very) black all his life, and who I can only suspect is still clean-cut, may go the way of happily ever after one of these years soon. I think it'll hurt when he does. It's usually a little sad when my gorgeous boy friends off-n-marry like that.
Last night I went to a Nigerian restaurant and was around gaggles of nice-looking Nigerian blokes. They were sorely in need of a center of attention and were Raj not there I'd have inserted myself in their happy conversations. My wonder was "where are the girls" when boys assemble like that? I mean the girls want to marry these guys, so how come they're not hanging out together? Manners, maybe?
Ran into a friend last week, clean-cut black guy, native Arabic speaker. He told Raj in the introductions that I speak Arabic. Yes, he did. Liam, I will love you forever for saying that. Thank you. I try to live up to it.
A month ago I met another clean-cut black guy, family migrated to the US from Liberia during the war in the 1980s I suppose. We talked the entire 4000 kilometers from Dulles Virginia to Oakland California. Joe, dude, you were supposed to email me. I know the chic for you, you've got to meet her, y'all will be going happily ever after in no time.
My old friend, who has been (very) black all his life, and who I can only suspect is still clean-cut, may go the way of happily ever after one of these years soon. I think it'll hurt when he does. It's usually a little sad when my gorgeous boy friends off-n-marry like that.
Last night I went to a Nigerian restaurant and was around gaggles of nice-looking Nigerian blokes. They were sorely in need of a center of attention and were Raj not there I'd have inserted myself in their happy conversations. My wonder was "where are the girls" when boys assemble like that? I mean the girls want to marry these guys, so how come they're not hanging out together? Manners, maybe?
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Happy Thanksgiving
Your assignment is to jijo Shina Peters!
That means DANCE to the music. Dance dance dance and forget your sorrows. Please clear the floor.
In grad school, I always wanted to have a dance party with all the best of Shina playing and the videos projected on the screen. The music video with the opulently-figured dancers would push us all to go for it, shake that body, shake that everything. I looked and found the video for sale, but never digital, so no Shina party. Today, with youtube, well:
THE SIDE A of ACE by Sir Shina Peters.
SIDE A continued, ends at 7:50.
SIDE B is slow at first so you can catch your breath
Bobo mi Americano...Afro Juju lo gbode
This was the official Health Plan for Lagosians. After chopping jollof rice, fried chicken, dodo, moin-moin elemimeje and salaad, followed by iyan and edikaikong and egusi and "assorted" and goat and snail and pomo and liver and isi ewu pepper soup and drinking coke, fanta, and malt (and small beer/stout/wine/palmwine/imported shak for the older ones) for weddings, naming ceremonies, people's birthdays, thanksgiving and memorials, Jesus' birthday...then you get up and dance Shina, which as you've noticed is no 3-minute dance number. Then you do a set of disco, then repeat the Shina...
My goal is to practice and get the shoulder flap dance going again. My dance skills have gone soft, y'all.
More Shina and more party gist after you've digested this.
That means DANCE to the music. Dance dance dance and forget your sorrows. Please clear the floor.
In grad school, I always wanted to have a dance party with all the best of Shina playing and the videos projected on the screen. The music video with the opulently-figured dancers would push us all to go for it, shake that body, shake that everything. I looked and found the video for sale, but never digital, so no Shina party. Today, with youtube, well:
THE SIDE A of ACE by Sir Shina Peters.
SIDE A continued, ends at 7:50.
SIDE B is slow at first so you can catch your breath
Bobo mi Americano...Afro Juju lo gbode
This was the official Health Plan for Lagosians. After chopping jollof rice, fried chicken, dodo, moin-moin elemimeje and salaad, followed by iyan and edikaikong and egusi and "assorted" and goat and snail and pomo and liver and isi ewu pepper soup and drinking coke, fanta, and malt (and small beer/stout/wine/palmwine/imported shak for the older ones) for weddings, naming ceremonies, people's birthdays, thanksgiving and memorials, Jesus' birthday...then you get up and dance Shina, which as you've noticed is no 3-minute dance number. Then you do a set of disco, then repeat the Shina...
My goal is to practice and get the shoulder flap dance going again. My dance skills have gone soft, y'all.
More Shina and more party gist after you've digested this.
Sunday, November 04, 2007
Sociable? Test yourself.
music
MBTI
On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I scored -1 on a -30 to +30 Introversion scale. Today, I took a different extroversion test at Queendom.com and scored 51%.
So basically, both times (four years apart) I was judged to be on the knife edge between introverted and not...and placed in the Extrovert bin - phew.
In Myers Briggs, the only significant signal is that I'm "Perceiving" not "Judging": +12 out of 30. Makes sense: Biologists bug me. Super-organized folks too. My mother is a J - trust me. Hillary Clinton? Give me a little flava.
Similarly, I was judged a moderate N, with Intuition score of +8 out of 30.
I'm barely an F on the Feeling-Perceiving scale, with a +1 score there.
So I'm an ENFP, but really a ?N?P.
LSI
I re-take the Learning Style Inventory (info) once or twice every year.
It's cool to watch how life events change my orientation. Like how my AC (Abstract Conceptualization, or Thinking) score was off the charts at the start of grad school - highs above 95th percentile in the second year, and how though still dominant, it stopped being hyper-dominant by the third year or so.
The CE (Concrete Experience, or Feeling) score has darted between 60th and 90th percentile with no particular pattern. My AE (Active Experimentation, or Doing) score has always been miniscule - often in the single-digit percentile rank - and even now at its height is under the 40th percentile score.
The surge in RO (Reflective Observation, or Watching) around the third year of grad school, probably one of the most pensive periods I've known. In these six years, it went from below the 20th percentile to 90th and steadily back to below 20th today.
Another cool story is how my first foray out of the "Assimilator" quadrant came in my fifth year, upon my return from Yemen. I had become clearly a Diverger, your ideal actress-ideator. Half a year later, I had bounced back to "Assimilator" only to return the next year to Diverger land.
Divergers are the artists, creatives, and touchy-feelies mostly. I usually lived near this quadrant yet squarely in the neighbouring Assimilator quadrant of theories, models and plans, and abode of teachers, researchers, religious ministers, and (oddly enough) financiers.
Now I'm completely lost to dorkiness it would seem...classed an "Accommodator." Accomodators are like salespeople, managers and politicians - the all-too-boring, get-it-done people-people.
I never visited the Converger quadrant, home of engineers/technologists. It makes sense, although I am an engineer.
I like astrology too, think it's pretty fun and useful for learning about people - self and others. Birthday astrology is really cool too, like sun sign astrology, but with more detail. I like.
MBTI
On the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I scored -1 on a -30 to +30 Introversion scale. Today, I took a different extroversion test at Queendom.com and scored 51%.
So basically, both times (four years apart) I was judged to be on the knife edge between introverted and not...and placed in the Extrovert bin - phew.
In Myers Briggs, the only significant signal is that I'm "Perceiving" not "Judging": +12 out of 30. Makes sense: Biologists bug me. Super-organized folks too. My mother is a J - trust me. Hillary Clinton? Give me a little flava.
Similarly, I was judged a moderate N, with Intuition score of +8 out of 30.
I'm barely an F on the Feeling-Perceiving scale, with a +1 score there.
So I'm an ENFP, but really a ?N?P.
LSI
I re-take the Learning Style Inventory (info) once or twice every year.
It's cool to watch how life events change my orientation. Like how my AC (Abstract Conceptualization, or Thinking) score was off the charts at the start of grad school - highs above 95th percentile in the second year, and how though still dominant, it stopped being hyper-dominant by the third year or so.
The CE (Concrete Experience, or Feeling) score has darted between 60th and 90th percentile with no particular pattern. My AE (Active Experimentation, or Doing) score has always been miniscule - often in the single-digit percentile rank - and even now at its height is under the 40th percentile score.
The surge in RO (Reflective Observation, or Watching) around the third year of grad school, probably one of the most pensive periods I've known. In these six years, it went from below the 20th percentile to 90th and steadily back to below 20th today.
Another cool story is how my first foray out of the "Assimilator" quadrant came in my fifth year, upon my return from Yemen. I had become clearly a Diverger, your ideal actress-ideator. Half a year later, I had bounced back to "Assimilator" only to return the next year to Diverger land.
Divergers are the artists, creatives, and touchy-feelies mostly. I usually lived near this quadrant yet squarely in the neighbouring Assimilator quadrant of theories, models and plans, and abode of teachers, researchers, religious ministers, and (oddly enough) financiers.
Now I'm completely lost to dorkiness it would seem...classed an "Accommodator." Accomodators are like salespeople, managers and politicians - the all-too-boring, get-it-done people-people.
I never visited the Converger quadrant, home of engineers/technologists. It makes sense, although I am an engineer.
I like astrology too, think it's pretty fun and useful for learning about people - self and others. Birthday astrology is really cool too, like sun sign astrology, but with more detail. I like.
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