Pleas(e)

Please, women, don't vote for Sarah Palin just because she's a woman (find a good, credible news source or two...or more).

Please, bikers in my 'hood, slow down at crosswalks so you don't hit me or scare me senseless. I promise not to jaywalk. Deal?

Please, pals, take a listen to Ani DiFranco's new album streaming here: www.imeem.com/anidifranco. It's fabulous.

Ber

This week we went from highs in the upper 80s to highs in the low to mid 70s. While most people I know thought this was a step down, to me, it's the best news I've heard in a long time. The "ber" months are the best time of the year for me, and I love the first hint of fall's arrival. There are apples at the farmer's market, football season is kicking off tomorrow, and I'm in the mood to bake and knit again. Now I'm biding my time until apple cider and pumpkins arrive...

Vaguely Determined

I've been pretty keenly interested in personality type for the past year or two, particularly the Myers-Briggs types. When I first took the type test and read about the INTJ, I was like, "Holy crap! They're psychics." Since I bring up personality and the interactions between types so much, my friend Erin was sweet enough to pick me up the Myers-Briggs Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type book. In it, while discussing the IN_J types, they quote J.H. Van der Hoop, who I'd never heard of until now, but part of what she or he said really hit home with me, so I thought I'd share:

"In later life, also, it is a persistent characteristic of people of this type, that while on the one hand they possess great determination, on the other hand they find it very difficult to express what they want. Although they may have only a vague feeling about the way they want to go, and of the meaning of their life, they will nevertheless reject with great stubbornness anything that does not fit in with this. They fear lest external influences or circumstances should drive them in a wrong direction, and they resist on principle." [from Concious Orientation, 1939]

When I read this, I had a Charlie Brown moment inside, where I thought, "That's it!!!" I have really been struggling over the past few years to put my finger on what it is that I really want in life. It's frustrating, because it ends up looking like I'm wishy-washy, when in reality I know that if I found what I wanted to do, I'd be eager to get up and do it. It's just that I know a lot more about what I don't want than what I do want. In a way, it's affirming to know that this is something that other people experience, but then again it's frustrating to think that this could be a lifelong issue...