Entries Tagged 'Uncategorized' ↓

Comcast has been flaky lately.

Makes me grumpy.

And now the weather’s gone and gotten chillyish again.

Someone turn up the thermostat, please?

I like working where I do. Except when the printers get hungry…

(Happy April Fool’s!)

It’s review time at work again!
We get graded somewhat on the basis of exceeding/meeting/falling short of expectations.
I would argue that really…meeting expectations is pretty much missing them.

It’s been a sad habit of mine to set artificially low bars for myself, that I could either hop, leap, or skip over with ease.
Take this morning, for instance. After waking up ridiculously early due to jet lag (I mean ridiculously,) I decided to go for a 6am swim with the local master’s swim group. Master’s swimming means that there’s a coach at the pool, giving you a workout, and different lanes with different speeds of swimmers. Now, it’s been a while since I’ve been swimming, so I decided to be conservative and jump into the 3rd fastest lane (of 7). Which turned out to be perfect, actually. Except that I eventually realized that I was really in the 3rd slowest lane. A small distinction, but it still made me sad, and feeling very very slow and out of shape.

Alas. Sad that I met the bar I set myself

I’ve been busy and completely off the grid for the past four days~! An amazing feat…my keyboard fingers fwere itching almost as much as my mosquito bites. All four of ‘em. I’ve actually doubled that number since arriving in Cape Town, but that’s what the malaria meds are for, right?

There’s a lot to say about Kruger - it was quite awe-inspiring to see serious African plains, complete with azure sky, golden brush, green trees, and skipping quadrupeds. We went on 4 game drives: two at sunrise, two during the day. The way Kruger Park is set up, these drives are are essentially people driving around in a safari vehicle, hoping for random encounters with wildlife. (Apparently in private game reserves, there’s actual tracking of animals offroad that’s permitted). To give you an idea of the diversity we saw, here are the animals we saw (or at least those whose names I remember).

impala zebra hippo elephant giraffe lion hyena warthog steenbok impala jennacat kudu crocodile wildebeest waterbuck buffalo rabbit leopardtortoise monitorlizard blacksnakeeagle weaverbird baboon vervetmonkey whitebackedvulture beeeaters beardedvulture hornbeak plover

Alas, no rhino/cheetah/leopard. TONS upon TONS of impala, zebra, elephant, giraffe, hyena though.
Enjoy the pics! I’ll write in more detail later.

Today I was thinking to write some emails that need writing.
Particularly, some “hey, I know I suck for not writing this sooner, but THANKS” kinda stuff.

But then I thought that an email was a bit too heavy seeming for that.
Naturally, I tabbed over to facebook for a facebook message. But then I thought of how THAT seemed kinda heavy too.
Everything about communication’s just so darned hard! It requires action and thought. Egads.

So now I’m at a loss.
Mebbe I busts out the notecards.
Probably not.

Laziness-imposed muteness.

Make videos.

I dunno how I’m voting, but the fact that there are people I respect (a lot of ‘em) sticking this all over their status messages, and the fact that it’s a pretty decent speech too (if largely meaningless) is kinda nice.

Clinton doesn’t have anything quite so cool.
I’m a stupid American, it’s true.
Just check out the results for “Clinton music video” (Bimbo #5) vs. “Obama music video.” (Yes We Can).

http://www.yeswecansong.com

Says to me, just by virtue of media and such, that as a gal in Silicon Valley, I should be voting for the candidate who knows how to reach people like me.

See so now - I’m going to go look stuff up and see what people actually stand for. Not bad, eh? Considering I’m Grade A 100% Apathetic Asian American.

Ya know how sometimes, when traffic backs up, and everyone’s in a bad mood, and someone signals and you think…hm…I’m in a crappy mood and this all sucks but I guess I’ll be nice so you slow down to let them in, but they totally don’t do anything?

So you’re like, well…screw YOU jerk. And you’re in an even worse mood than before, so you pull back your generous offering of road space and don’t let ANYONE, even BUGS in, for the next 10 miles.

People really really REALLY need to learn to communicate and learn basic social awareness when driving. Would alleviate so many things. Or maybe most (stupid) people are just incapable of receiving such information. Too much going on to fit in their pea brains.

And decided that this year is not the year of learning to surf. We’ll save that for next year.
A decision arrived upon as a result of already-allocated vacation time, and some really good snow last weekend. (Think I’ve scratched my sliding on a board fix for a bit).
This year can be the year of more land-based modes of transportation! (Once things get warmer, and I stop chickening out).

As I was falling asleep and using my computer last night (simultaneously, as usual), I decided to try to remember what myers-briggs person I was. Rather than retake the stupid thing, I decided to read some profiles and see which ones sounded familiar.
So I think I’m an INFP, mostly because of this paragraph: INTP because oops, infp.org doesn’t exist, and intp.org does. Heh. See the problem here? I remember getting hung up on the T vs. F thing before, but reading the super long profile made me settle on the T bit. Bear with me for a few excerpts, and I promise - no more navel gazing for a while. Which is to say, the first bit her is vaguely related to NOT surfing this year, but the rest is just affirmation for things I think I knew, but really…they ring pretty true.

This bit verifies that yes, I’m interested in tons of things, and also why I’m not seriously good at any of them. But why I stick with them until I feel like I can hold my own. (Snowboarding, carrying on conversations in other languages, ME stuff…)

Dominant Function: Introverted Thinking

While proficiency may not be a central goal, competence always is. Refined competency requires too much effort and has little attraction. It would require practice and that usually bores an INTP. Hence, it is common to see INTPs dabbling at many things, achieving competency, just enough to prove to themselves that they could become more proficient if they wished, but rarely actually bothering to refine their skills further.

This next bit resonates with my “humanity sucks and maybe I thought everyone else was an alien when I was little” side.
Also, my “people, PLEASE learn to DRIVE” thoughts.

INTP’s put great weight on being individuals and essentially different from other people, who they often view as being too alike and too interdependent. Independence touches on many aspects. One is the competency aspect above. When he is interested in something, then the INTP must be competent in it. But there are many things which don’t interest him, and some of these will be things that others may be very competent in and where it may be assumed that everyone should be competent in them.

This bit just says that I’m lazy, and that I think more than I execute on things. A known issue.

Also that I dislike people on the grounds of pretentious fakeness and stupidity. But the fake is much worse than the stupid, because you must be trying to be that way. I guess my pride is rooted here - in finding all those people annoying, I implicitly think they’re more stupid than I am. The part that doesn’t line up, is the lack of mockery…some people (only some, mind you) seem to make fun of me quite a bit. I suppose when it’s serious mockery, and I’m seriously feeling the disdain, it’s true - I have to thrown in the veiled insult. So really, thank you, sucky stupid people. You give me a chance to hone an edge I wouldn’t otherwise get to. And if I’m right, you’re too dense to realize you’re being insulted in the meantime! So fun.

Where they differ from other temperaments (especially from SP types) is that a large gap may exist between knowing and doing. To know is everything, to do is a lower order necessity, if it is necessary at all. This breeds the potential for lazy aloofness. The INTP is often satisfied simply by knowing that he could do something if he wished.

INTPs detest facades and particulary dislike people who exhibit them. Equally, those kind of people also dislike INTPs and avoid them at all cost, for they know that the INTP will see right through them. The INTP’s serious nature also makes them almost immune to mockery and being made fun of, at least when face to face with their mocker. The INTPs defence usually also contains a subtle but biting attack thrown back in the mocker’s face, chiefly because the INTP cannot entirely hide the fact that he believes his opponent to be stupid.

And finally, the explanation for the only mundane thing that stresses me out…schedules. (Yes, I was an administrative assistant for a while. But that was other peoples’ schedules, not mine!) I can be traveling and semi sick with chaos swirling around me, and be totally fine. If I’m supposed to be meeting someone, and I have to make a certain train by a certain time, with a certain transfer, then I seriously get sick to my stomach and grumpily stressed out. Weird. And I always think your social event is gonna suck, but usually have fun when I actually go.

The preference for intuitive perception means that INTPs dislike having their lives planned. They feel a distinct unease before most fixed appointments and cannot fully relax until the scheduled event is over, or at least in progress. However, the dreaded event is usually far less of a problem than had been imagined and usually brings with it a sense of satisfaction.

All done! Back to work…

For the first time, ever (at least that I can remember), semi-new year’s resolutions!

Or just resolutions, or things that have been floating about the brain wanting to get pinned down.
(Incidentally, anyone else feel like there’s a stigma attached to resolutions now? It’s like, if you’ve made it a resolution, everyone around you takes your statement an order of mag. less seriously.)
Or maybe, since I’m not making it “measurable” or anything like that…it’s more a list of stuff that I want to do.
Anywho, here goes with the resolutions to supplement my resolution to make resolutions.

• Watch TED talks. http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks
• Write a short story and hide it from the world.
• Dance more!

(No, you don’t want to see it. But Funks SF is having south bay classes now, and I still know people who do the social dance rounds…gotta milk it before I’m beyond shamefully sketchy/old.)

• Consistently exercise more days than not, and do strength training in addition to cardio.

And the real goal here is to be in shape such that it’s my skill level and not fatigue/wimpy body that stops me from snowboarding/surfing/bike riding.

• Make some jewelry. Actually, make anything that involves a propane torch + metal.

These are all pretty self-serving. No volunteering, no “plant 10 trees.” Someday…And I suspect some of these (say, write short story) might have to move to the “before I die” list. Which currently only has one entry.

I’m flying to the east coast tonight, and haven’t packed a thing yet.

And yet, all day (not quite ALL day), I’ve been thinking…
“Must be sure to clean up the mp3 player!”
See, I have the Christmas playlist still on. And I’ve found some new muzak to play with in the meantime.

Jackets? Scarf? Computer?
Nah…apparently the brain thinks music will keep me warm. Or something.
I’ve noticed that my travel kit has become decreasingly techie over time…wonder what that means. Oh well. I think it means that laptops through security is a pain, and that they’re heavy. Maybe that’s all it means.

Brr. Bring it on, Boston!