Enneagram

My friend PMP turned me onto the Enneagram, a personality index which I find much more complete than the MBTI. Here's what we came up with for me:

free enneagram test

I'm not so sure the free, abbreviated test gives accurate results. I suggest you look through the types and read up on how they react under stress to find your type.

I find it helpful to see myself at my best and worst and be aware of how certain things are triggered. Certainly, my perfectionistic and need to be right impulses are the darker side of Type One. See my post on neighbors if you have any doubts on that!

Can't We All Just Get Along?

In a word, "No." We humans disagree on everything. Even those of us who agree!

For my final post of the day, I'd like to refer you, gentle reader, to Brave Humans, where some really excellent posts have gone up in the last month.

Of special note is the recent post on Ithaca Hours (pun intended). Being a resident of Ithaca, I am embarrassed to say that I haven't yet participated in this local currency program. The main reason, I suppose, is that I don't know much about it. I know it exists, have known about it since I lived in nearby Elmira many years ago. But it's not so well advertised. If I didn't already know about it from my years in Elmira, I'm not sure that I'd know anything about it at all as a relatively new resident here. However, after reading the post on Brave Humans, I am motivated to learn more about Ithaca Hours and start using them where applicable.

Brave Humans, in case you haven't checked it out yet, is a blog whose intentions are to bring important issues past the partisan-locked approach that much of America seems so bogged down in. I'd like to make a comment here about how important this non-partisan approach is.

I have been frustrated in many a debate that quickly devolved into using tired catch phrases and empty cliches. Examples that immediately come to mind: "guns don't kill people, people kill people," "warmongers," "bleeding heart liberals," "conservative redneck." These are just a few instances of non-thinking that has permeated our national dialogue. The truths to be found are set deeply within our thoughts, ideas, feelings, experiences and human processes. Truths will not be found in trite expressions, sound bites or inflammatory gibes. Truth is never easy to pinpoint, because there are many paths and many interpretations. But coming together to find mutual points of reference will allow us to access the best of who we are, to find ways of problem-solving. This will never happen if we view each other as somehow duped, misled or downright stupid, because we hold differing viewpoints.

And so, I am issuing a challenge here to all those who participate in any political discussions. Whether it's a few words over breakfast, or an on-line forum, or a formal debate, I challenge you to think about what you say before you say it. Ask yourself whether calling your discussion partner(s) a "pinko hippy" or a "facist pig" is really doing do any good. And imagine that everyone in the country used the same language, including our representatives in government. How would that work, exactly? It wouldn't. So think about what you say. That's step number one.

Warmishness

Well today the high temp is supposed to actually get above the freezing mark for the first time in weeks. I am very excited. I can hear snow melting and dripping off the roof. Of course, there are no gutters on my building so the water comes straight down into a pool of slush outside our windows.

Yesterday was productive, but I still don't feel like I got anything done. Funny how that happens. I still have a bunch of my students' papers to read, and I haven't done any writing since the weekend. That is the #1 priority for today. I've already done the busy-work for the morning, so I'll be able to focus on the screenplay for a good chunk of time.

I have my Korean lesson at 3:30 today so I also need to review before I go to that.

I have just about completed my demo reel to send to the Korean recruiter. I had a helluva time getting all the source material on a usable format, and then of course a transformer blew and knocked the power out while I was in the middle of an editing session on Sunday. I found out that iMovie saves footage into the trash when that happens, so all I had to do was move it out of the trash back into the clip bin. I'm only using iMovie because I need this done quickly. One of my next projects is to teach myself Final Cut, which shouldn't be too difficult because I've used other editing programs like Media 100 and Avid. But it has been awhile. Anyway, I need to finalize the demo today and burn the DVD so I can send it off to Korea. Exciting, eh?

I realized yesterday that I've been feeling really antsy about this summer because I don't know yet when or for what program I am going to Korea. I know I'll get there one way or another, but I've never been good with limbo. I have to remain focused on what I can accomplish right now and not worry about June and July just yet.

Speaking of limbo, I haven't heard a peep about that full time job I applied for. Not even a postcard in the mail saying "Thanks for your stuff; don't call us, we'll call you." Maybe I'll give them a call on Thursday or Friday to follow up. It's been well over two weeks since I sent in all my application materials. That's enough time, right?

In the Neighborhood

Since moving to our current apartment in 2005, we've had a few situations that have warranted calls to the po-pos (namely, domestic violence next door), as well as friendly "can you please turn your goddam music down because the bass is rattling the fillings in my teeth" visits to people on all sides of us. I have nick-named the person upstairs "Stompy McBoots" because he comes in and out at all hours and is a heavy-footed person who happens to have really creaky floors. Last summer we found beer bottles left outside our patio, a computer that had been hurled out a window and sat in the grass outside our office for a month, and an occasional piece of trash left near the front door.

I have plenty of complaints about living here, aside from the neighbors. It's really frakking cold in the winter and the bedroom window may as well be a gaping hole the way it lets in rain and cold air.

But what I'm focusing on here today is the issue of neighbors. The domestic violence-neighbor and her live-in BF are prone to screaming and hurling obsenities at her 3-year-old child (which I can hear as plain as day due to the lovely thin walls that separates her apartment from our bedroom).

I have struggled between white-hot anger and complete compassion for this woman and her child. Finally, I had to come to a realization - this woman, her plight in life, whatever's made her who she is, is beyond my control.

I know, you're saying "Well, DUH, Bizarro!"

But it's recently come to me that there is SO MUCH about my living space that is out of my control. There are things that are IN my control, too, and those are the things I need to attend to. Now if I think someone's getting the snot beat out of them, I will call the cops. But noise - the biggest disturbance for me, personally - is not something I can control. I need to just get over it, IOW.

The other day I had a really awful day, which didn't go away once the sun set. I ended up breaking the lid of a sugar bowl that's older than I am, and then jammed my knuckle between the bathroom door and the door to the hot water tank. That was about 11:00 pm and dude, I went OFF. I hollared and banged around for a good 5 minutes. And then I went to bed.

Apparently my husband overheard the domestic violence diva next door say something about "oh, it's okay for HER to..." which I'm assuming was a reference to me and my outburst. Maybe it wasn't, in fact. But even so, the point was well-taken. How can I complain about her behavior when I allowed myself to go unhinged?

So, to sum up. Surviving the neighborhood requires one to mind one's Ps & Qs as much if not more so than those around one (even if they are breaking the lease by making too much noise or trashing their own space). Remember only to "own" that which can be changed, that which is in one's sphere of control.

Aftermath

The sun is shining, the sky is blue. The apartment guys didn't come by to dig us out until around 11:30 this morning. I wasn't able to get to campus to sub for my colleague this morning, but what could I do? When they finally got here with the plows, snow blowers and shovels, I paid one of the guys to shovel out my car. These are before & after and during & after photos.

The first pair is of the Buddha statue on my patio. The next two are of the chair on the patio. The last photos are of my car and the spot after I dug out. Notice the imprint of the license plate in the snow!

Snow It Up

That was the subject line in an email from PMP last night.

This morning I awoke to find we'd already got about a foot of snow last night and it hasn't let up. I also awoke to find we had no coffee. Imagine the horror! Bizarro swears he told me yesterday morning that we had run out, but I must have been half-asleep with my earplugs still in because I had no idea. If I HAD known, I would certainly have made a point to stop at the store yesterday. I think I'll walk down to the Ithaca Coffee Company and pick up some beans and a hot cuppa. Maybe hang out there and read in their little cafe. Oh yeah, the reason I can do this is that I.C. closed down. I don't think Big Red did, although Bizarro would have to go anyway as he's considered "essential personnel." Lucky him. Poor guy didn't even have any coffee this morning!

I watched the latest episode of Battlestar Galactica this morning while I was waiting for the internet to be up again (I swear it's down more than it's up). It was a nice character piece.

Well I think I'm going to bundle up and head to the coffee shop pretty soon. Hope everyone's keeping warm.

Jack Frost Can Kiss My Ass pt. II

It's snowing like a muther out there. Here are some pictures from my trip to the homeland (Rockland, MASS) in October to remember warmer days:

Jack Frost Can Kiss My Ass

We're in the midst of a storm warning. We're supposed to get something like two feet of snow. Frak! Getting to campus is gonna suck ass tomorrow morning. I was cruisin' around after my Korean lesson today, stopped at Big Lots to buy some stupid shit and just as I pulled into the parking lot at home I heard on the radio about the impending snow crisis, and I then realized I should have been stocking up on groceries and making sure there was gas in the tank rather than buying plastic drawers for my computer junk.

Well at least my side of the office is organized, now. I'm forever trying to find ways to keep things from exploding. The plastic drawers do help (little ones, to hold pieces parts and all the extra USB cables that seem to have made their way to my desk).

My Korean lessons are going well. My tutor is an undergrad linguistics major at the Big Red School. Since we both speak the meta-language of linguistics, it makes learning so much easier. She's a lot of fun, too, and I think we'll hang out. I need friends here. We've been in Ithaca for a year and a half and I have one good friend, and one friend who hasn't kept in touch and who is moving away soon.

This Friday I am determined to check out the open meditation session at the local Tibetan monastary. That's Namgyal, the North American Seat of HH Dalai Lama. I've been through all this before, but essentially there are no Karma Kagyu groups in town, so it would seem the Nyingma/Gelukpas are the only game in town. That's okay. It's all good. It's not like the Buddha would care.

I also have a tuttee of my own. That is, I am tutoring a Big Red student in English. She came yesterday for her first session and it went well. I gotta pay for Korean lessons somehow!

This week is also quite busy because I'm subbing for the other screenwriting teacher at the college. She's out on family emergency, so I'm taking her Tues-Thurs class. I don't mind at all. She's been so good to me and the classes are easy enough to teach because it's another section of the class I'm already teaching.

I've started getting a demo reel put together to send to the recruiter in Korea who is interested in supporting my doco project. Unfortunately, I've already run into technical snafus, and now I remember why I'm a writer. All this technical shit drives me nuts. "Well, the miniDV tapes were dubbed on a DV deck that will record miniDV but does so at a faster rate than an actual miniDV recorder or camera, so that's why you couldn't use the footage we dubbed for you."

Tomorrow I have to go in with my camera and have them dub it directly. At least there's a way to do it so I can actually use the footage. Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick.

I need to order the Chinese food for tonight's dinner. Since I neglected to go to the grocery store and I've been too busy with my plastic drawers to cook anything, it's what's for dinner tonight.

Oh, one last thing: Bizarro and I went to see a showing of independent Korean short films on Saturday and they were mind-blowingly (is that a word? it is now) well made. I am inspired.

Personal Development

Yesterday I started my Pilates class here on campus. I definitely feel it today! Funny that as I was doing it, I really didn't feel like I was doing it all right. There are so many parts of your body to think about for every move, and the instructor went throug it really quickly. I guess I must have done something(s) right! She assured us that it would take a few classes to feel like we were getting everything together.

I also went up to the exercise room and sauna with PMP last night. Just did 25 minutes on the treadmill but at least I got my heart rate up for a bit and stretched out my legs.

Next week starts T'ai Chi on Wed. afternoon, so between that, Pilates, and a couple trips to the exercise room every week, I think I'll be doing okay.

I think I've finally tapped into the world of the screenplay I'm writing. It's been a struggle to sit down and write it, I think because part of me still "misses" the characers and world of the screenplay I just finished last month. It's like starting over again, getting to know these new people and the world they live in. Yesterday I feel like I had a breakthrough. I also have to constantly remind myself that this is just a first draft. I can't compare it to the screenplay I just finished because that was an umteenth draft. And as I tell my students, the first draft always sucks. That's okay, because as they say, all writing is rewriting (I prefer the term revising).

In Other News...

She's only been dead a day and I'm already sick of hearing about it. R.I.P. and all, but you'd think she was a head of state or a Nobel Peace Prize winner or the first woman into space the way every news outlet has fixated on her. Sadly, even CNN ran her as the lead story on their website.

I haven't even said her name but you know exactly who I'm talking about, don't you? See what I mean?

Maybe people just want a break from Iraq and the budget and the freakin' snow and cold. They need a diversion, so they're glued to their news outlet of choice to get the latest scoop. To them I will quote William Shatner from an SNL skit years ago: "Get a life, people!"

So while her autopsy is in full swing, N. Korea nuke talks are underway (and looking pretty good so far, supposedly), Jerusalem worshippers try to maim each other, and so on and so forth. But is any of that front page news? Nope.

Full Moon Punxsutawny Phil

Supposedly we'll have an early spring. We can only hope.

Some good news, though nothing definite: There will probably be more than enough students signed up for the Korean documentary program this summer to allow I.C. to hire me as an additional section teacher. The dates are June 21-July 21, with an optional trip to China for students afterward. I'm not sure if I want to do the China thing again (it's friggin' hot there at the end of July).

I'd be teaching M-F 9-11:30 and then students shoot in the afternoon. I'd be around for some of that, as well. There are also field trips and day trips to other cities. I'd have plenty of time to do some shooting for my own teacher training project, and I'd be getting as stipend, which is awesome (don't know how much but I'd imagine it would be consistent with teaching a section for a month). All expenses paid, except for my spending money and the expenses I incur to stay an extra week and visit my friends in Ulsan.

Not counting any chickens until the contract is signed and they are fully hatched, but things are looking pretty good so far.

Tomorrow I'm on a shoot for the Global Nomads project, will probably visit mom on Sunday.

Oh, today I got back my script that I paid someone to type into Final Draft. It was my MFA thesis, which I'd typed in MS Word, if you can believe that, and had no existing electronic copy. Now I do, and will probably tweak it a bit, get it ready to send out to competitions this year.

Winter Images

I took these pictures about a week and a half ago.

Any Office Fans?

If you are a fan of The Office, you will appreciate this:

My friend PMP loaned her Season One DVD to a coworker, and this morning, she (PMP) found this on her desk:



It's not the real DVD, but a fake. Because, as the coworker pointed out, you just don't know what Jello will do to a DVD.

The Mooninites Rock Boston

I am with this guy Braniac.

A number of questions arise:

1. Didn't Turner or the marketing company Interference, Inc. have to get permits to hang advertising? Someone from the city should have known this was going on.
2. As the story broke all over Boston, why the hell didn't someone from Turner or Interference call it in? They waited until 4:30 to make a statement yesterday.
3. Why didn't any of the other major cities that were covered in this marketing ploy have issues?

I don't think it reflects badly on the populace of Boston. I think it reflects poorly on the idiots who thought it was a good idea to hang electronic devices under bridges in the age of terrorism, in the city where terrorists got on planes and flew them into the Towers. At the least, there should have been some identifying tag on the devices - even a sticker on the back "Property of Interference, Inc." with a phone number.

As my friend JEB pointed out, after the devices were known to be harmless, the bomb squads still had to check every single one of them out, because it would have been too easy for a real terrorist to think "I'll just plant a real bomb over here and they'll think it's Er." (The name of the Mooninite pictured.)

Ah, the modern world in which we live.