Thursday, February 28, 2008

Let there be light.

Was skipping around the internet on Myers Briggs pages and found a funny site asking what each of the 16 types would say when asked how many of them it would take to change a lightbulb. What would your answer be? ;)


ISTJ
One worked in the past, so one will work now!


ISFJ
Only one, me, as long as it is OK with everyone else.


INFJ
Does the light bulb really want to be changed?


INTJ
Could you please define change? And what exactly do you mean by a light bulb?


ISTP
1


ISFP
O, the ISFP is happy just sitting there and experiencing the dark


INFP
2, one to change it and one for support


INTP
Hmm...light..., illuminate..., I=10.76LT(I/4f)(F/V)² Hcos40+If


ESTP
None, till I check the breaker.


ESFP
Who cares - the important thing is that it would be fun!


ENFP
Well let's see, there's one to notice the bulb is out, and one to make a new lampshade, and one to read a magazine article on alternative lighting means, and one to draw a picture of a candle, and...


ENTP
One, but only after tightening, wiggling, shaking, testing, etc. to make sure it's not something else


ESTJ
The cost/benefit ratio would dictate only one.


ESFJ
At least 2 - let me get on the phone and call someone to come over...


ENFJ
But that was my favorite light bulb!


ENTJ
YOU!!! CHANGE THAT DAMN BULB!!!


(...so funny to me that some of these answers like "check the breaker" are so practical, I never would have thought of them! Or so simple and straighforward, just like their type. I do identify with the INFP answer, but I thought the ENFJ answer sounded a lot like me too, as Zac pointed out!)

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Lifestream

life-stream v.

To make a thorough, continuous digital record of your life in video, sound, pictures and print.

This is one of the new "buzzwords" of our English language as of 2007, so said this NY Times article. First off, what a great word... it sounds lovely and is perfectly descriptive.

I love the history of other people made up in visuals, writing, or other media. Things like wedding slideshows, yearbooks, scrapbooks... anything that can add to a more complete idea of who a person is other than what you can talk to them about face-to-face. Our facebook and myspace pages are now one of the most common and easiest places to contain our lifestreams (at least for my generation, which is basically the first to be presented with such technology).

I have a few thoughts about the growing and ever more present concept of one's lifestream...

In some ways, it is easier than ever to control your image. You can put out anything for anyone else to see, post only the good photos of yourself, "untag" yourself from bad ones, write anything you want on a blog or under your "favorite books" section, make certain conversations with others visible to everyone.

Also, it is easier than ever to get your ideas out, albeit maybe more with more competition since it's also easier for everyone else. I wonder how quickly Leonardo da Vinci would have gained fame if he'd been able to scan his sketches and post them in an album on his facebook and blog about his ideas and art and promote his talent in an online community.

In other ways, it's harder to hide ourselves if we want to. With technology, information clueing others in to who you are is available to almost anyone. Your name can be googled. The time and location of your cell phone calls can be traced. Someone can share anything they hear or make up about you with any and everyone else by a simple mass text message (maybe most of us know a junior higher this has happened to). If you participate in a sprint triathlon everyone can look up your final time in relation to all the other way more in shape people than you. Ha. Anyway, this concept can be scary; our having less privacy, but also, there seems to be more accountability. If you live truthfully, there is nothing to hide. Or if you don't live truthfully, at least be cautious of who can figure that out, unlike the third grade teacher of a friend's daughter, whose public myspace was found by a parent and had many photos of her smoking weed, and evidence of constant partying til the early dawn hours on school nights. Oops.

One more idea... I think in some circles the idea of one's lifestream is getting taken a little too far. As in, the attempt to record and share what you're doing, how you're feeling, who you're talking to, and the song you're listening to at any given moment. Twitter is an example of that... you can sign up and program your page to share those things with anyone else who is connected, and even receive text message updates whenever those peoples' Twitter pages are added to. So if your friend is "heading out to Paseo Nuevo!" or "enjoying their new Alicia Keys album" or "feeling tired after breaking in their new nikes on the city college track " you'll be sure to know. Does this seem like madness to anyone else? Do we want to know what others are doing and feeling at all times and to share the same about ourselves...it seems to arise from a desire to feel affirmed, that what I'm doing is of note to someone, that I'm being thought of... within this family of oversharing also lie the email alerts to anything happening on your facebook, the friend count on myspace, certain uses of webcams, etc. Maybe it's the introvert in me, but I don't like broadcasting constantly what I'm doing and how I'm feeling. And I can't think it's healthy that the generation just below me is growing up seeing that it's normal to want and seek constant acknowledgment and feedback on every single thing that they do.

I'm happy that circumstances have created a need for a word such as lifestream. And I like the opportunity for online sharing and virtual feedback and instant communication gratification as much as any of you, I'd say. But all things in moderation right?

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Let's Dance.

"Talking about love is like dancing about architecture."


Just heard that line the other day. Angelina Jolie was quoting someone else when she said it in an older movie of hers called "Playing By Heart". I love a good quote, and this one got me thinking a little bit more than your average fun or inspiring quote.
Putting love into words is hard. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a moment of experiencing deep resounding love is worth ten thousand pictures. But we all try to use words for it anyway. And though it's hard, I think sometimes people do it pretty well. In the same way, I don't doubt that there are dancers out there who could create a dance about architecture. We would watch them and think collectively, "Oh that's it. They've done it. How beautiful."

Some songwriters are pretty good at it. I could list some of my favorite lyrics here that give a brief and eloquent window into the experience of love, but then I might never stop... studying song lyrics is a small obsession of mine.

For many people there need be no talking about love. They know they love and are loved, and past hearing and saying I love you occasionally, that's it. I don't know why I've always craved more... like, why do you love? How wide and how deep is it? Will you express it and accept my expression of it? Maybe it has to do with love languages... and if you give and receive love best with verbal affirmation, you will identify with me more strongly.

If I've been given the gift of love expressed well verbally, I'll likely never forget it. I have a year old voicemail saved on my phone from my dad telling me about a conversation he had with someone about me and how my being born changed his life. I listen to it every once in a while... it is love. On my desk I have a little piece of torn paper that Zac sent me in a letter from when he was in Sri Lanka almost five years ago with a little drawing and some words on there about how what he seen and then tried to draw had reminded him of me. I hope I never lose that little thing.

Actions usually speak louder than words, and I'm sure we all have countless stories of how someone showed us their love. But how have you experienced love expressed successfully to you in words? Do you care about the why and how? Tell me.

Happy Valentine's Day, to all of you that I love.