I’m a sucker for those books, websites and things that have different personality types or “archetypes” (“In Jungian psychology, an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery derived from the past collective experience and present in the individual unconscious.” – Free Dictionary). I think its fun and it helps you figure yourself out by seeing yourself in a different perspective than what you might normally. Of course, people are complex and you can’t “categorize” people, but its crazy how on-the-dot some things are. Sometimes its just fun and you shouldn’t take it too seriously!

Of course, astrology. I don’t put too much stock in my daily horoscope (in newspapers, the best free ones are on Astro.com), most of the things I read about my sun sign (Cancer), moon sign (Sagittarius–the sign the moon was in when I was born) and rising sign (Leo) are pretty dead-on. I loved this book: The Only Astrology Book You’ll Ever Needbecause it goes pretty in-depth with it, but when it starts going into aspects, houses and whatnot, I bow out and leave that to the pros!

“Cancerians are doers. They set out to accomplish things and, one way or another, they want to obtain their goals. In spite of their emotional sensitivity, they are strong-willed and have no trouble expressing what they want, then finding a way to get it.”

Aura colors. Out of all the personality assessment dooboppers I’ve read and tests that I’ve taken, this one described me the best. I took the little test in the front of the book Life Colors: What the Colors in Your Aura Reveal and came up with a Violet/Yellow combo. This was actually back in 2004 and, of course, in 6 years I’ve changed a little. I recently read the chapter about Yellows again and a million bells rang out in my head. I felt like I was reading about me. All my issues, weaknesses and everything else. In the book it even says that your “life colors” can shift as you get older.

“Yellows can either be very shy and sensitive, or they can be the life of the party. These playful characters have a great sense of humor. They love to laugh and to make others laugh. Yellows believe life is to be enjoyed. They like to live life freely and spontaneously.” From here.

Myers-Briggs. I’ve taken the Jung Typology Test a few times and it always gives me INFP, so I guess that’s what I am! Reading this description of an INFP personality almost makes me feel a little uncomfortable.

“INFPs are usually talented writers. They may be awkard and uncomfortable with expressing themselves verbally, but have a wonderful ability to define and express what they’re feeling on paper. INFPs also appear frequently in social service professions, such as counselling or teaching. They are at their best in situations where they’re working towards the public good, and in which they don’t need to use hard logic.”

Enneagram. This goes from 1 to 9 with the personality types and I’m a 5, “The Investigator”. On one website that talked about 5′s, it seemed to only focus on the negative aspects, but all the cool people that are 5′s made me feel better: Tim Burton, Steven King, Björk and John Lennon. <3

“Knowledge, understanding, and insight are thus highly valued by Fives, because their identity is built around “having ideas” and being someone who has something unusual and insightful to say. For this reason, Fives are not interested in exploring what is already familiar and well-established; rather, their attention is drawn to the unusual, the overlooked, the secret, the occult, the bizarre, the fantastic, the “unthinkable.” Investigating “unknown territory”—knowing something that others do not know, or creating something that no one has ever experienced—allows Fives to have a niche for themselves that no one else occupies.”

There is even a book about dating archetypes based on mythical creatures, which I had to get because its such a cute idea. It actually helped me understand myself and other people better, in a whimsical way. The book is “Wood Nymph Seeks Centaur: A Mythological Dating Guide” by Francesca Lia Block. At first I thought I was a Banshee, but I went back and reread the part about Wood Nymphs, and that actually sounded more like me.

So to boil it down: I’m sensitive, bizarre, awkward, yet playful, spontaneous and creative.

Yep, that’s me in a nutshell.

Share with me your astros, Myers-Briggs, enneagrams and aura colors (if you know them)!

“Mmm, I’m tellin’ you now
the greatest thing you ever can do, now
is trade a smile with someone who’s blue, now
It’s very easy, just-a…

Met a man on the roadside cryin’
Without a friend, there’s no denyin’
you’re incomplete, there’ll be no findin’
lookin’ for what you knew.

So anytime somebody needs ya
don’t let them down, although it grieves ya
Someday you’ll need someone like they do
lookin’ for what you knew.”

Led Zeppelin “Friends”

Owlie says grr.

I spread my love like a fever, I ain’t ever coming down. ~ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club “Spread Your Love”

I’ve been hearing all my old favorite songs from when I was a teenager and falling in love with them all over again AND finding new bands and songs that I end up adoring. The lyrics above are from a band that broke up in 2003, but I’ve never even heard of them until now (surprised, I am not). Right now I’m addicted to “Thank You” by Led Zeppelin (actually, re-addicted…), “The Big Three Killed My Baby” by The White Stripes and Beck, especially from the “Odelay” days. I’ve realized there isn’t a Rolling Stones song that I don’t like.

I’m sitting here listening to that right now and nibbling some dark chocolate, which I swear to God, it doesn’t take much to get me high. I’m high on dark chocolate and the fact that I’ve been jogging 5 days a week for the past 2 weeks now! I’m proud of myself, bitches. I used to not be able to do this, or I thought I couldn’t because of my asthma. My asthma isn’t as bad as it used to be, so I tried jogging and went for about a mile without dying. I says to myself, “Holy ashdgqhd3, I can jog!”

I mainly do it for the endorphins rush and the fact that it just makes me feel better overall. I can think clearer and I’m just happier. Its nuts! I’ll probably die when winter gets here because there’s no way I’m jogging in the cold. Or maybe I will…

On the vein of being healthier, I’ve gone about 5 days now without any pop. Ladies and gentlemen, no more Diet Pepsi for me. Let’s see if my skin clears up because of it (and consequently, from drinking more water).

My day was completed by another “adventure walk” with my kid. He likes to pick up sticks, carry them around and bang on things. He doesn’t talk very clearly yet, so I can just imagine that he thinks he’s either a caveman or a drummer, maybe a wizard. He also discovered the joys of playing in mud puddles. Where is my camera when these things happen?!

“The best is yet to come, and babe won’t that be fine…”

Disclaimermabob: This is just why I love being a mom. I’m not saying you should go out and get yourself knocked-up and I’m not going to preach to you about why you should bear children–that’s not my style. There are many valid reasons to not become a parent. Its a very personal life-changing event that lasts a life-time. Its up to you and you alone.

Just getting that out there.

I always knew, at some point, that I wanted to have at least one kid. I had it all planned out: I wanted it to be when I was at least 26, after college, plenty of partying, travelling, financial security and marriage.

Here is the order in which things actually took place:

1. Falls in love (Summer 2005, age 20)
2. Parties
3. Gets engaged (Summer 2006, age 21)
4. Planning wedding
5. Parties
6. Get preggo (Summer 2007, age 22)
7. Get married (Summer 2007)
8. Go to college (Fall 2007)
9. Baby pops out (Spring 2008)
10. Working and going to school, graduate with Associates degree (July 2009, age 24)
11. Still working toward financial independence, career goals and travelling (July 2010, age 25)

I was am a very fickle person who has a tendency to leap before she looks. I was never one to do anything “by the book” or take the road most traveled. Your own plans are subject to change when you want them to. Know yourself, and when something feels 100% real and right, I think you should jump at those things.

I’m not going to pretend like being a parent isn’t the most physically, mentally and emotionally taxing job there is (I have the gray hairs to prove it). Your heart and soul has to be in it. But one important thing I’ve learned is, you have much more room in your brain and your heart than you think. Parenthood has taught me how to summon up the energy, patience and imagination that I didn’t realize were there until I needed them. I had to become more resourceful and learn how to manage my time better so I could do other things (like writing) and still raise a happy, healthy kid.

Right after I gave birth, I was on a natural high. I guess you could say it was the remainders of drugs in my system, but dammit I WAS HAPPY. I had a healthy, strong, beautiful baby boy, and he came out of me. I felt like superwoman.

I don’t always feel like superwoman. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with life and I feel like lame cakes. That’s a given. But one of the constants in my life is how much pure joy his existence gives me. I feel a kind of love that I’ve never felt before. I get to teach him things that I wish I’d known growing up, and hopefully keep him from making the same mistakes I made. I’m afraid though, if he’s anything like me, he’ll insist on learning the hard way. I get to show him everything and watch him learn. He helps me to see the world through fresh eyes and to appreciate the little things. My husband and I brought a little person into the world and he brought the world to us.

Miss MikShorty was kind enough to award me! She is a sweetie! Thanks for the love and for giving me an excuse to pimp 7 of my most loved bloggers (this won’t be easy…).

“Pass the award to seven bloggers who inspire you, make you laugh, make you think or a combination of all. Make sure you include a link to the person who gave you the award and that’s about it. Quite simple, fun and an easy way to brighten someone’s day.”

In no particular order…

Krissy @ ShimmerLikeGold.org – She jogs my creative imagination in pretty much every post.

Ariel @ The Forest – She also jogs my imagination and her outfits are very creative and cute!

Ashley @ Iron-Glass.org – We’ve been blog affies for a while now, and I LOVE her photography.

LiLu @ LivitLuvit.com – She’s a sweetie, hilarious and apparently has really good taste in music. She’s competing to be the first MTV “Twitter jockey” and of course I voted for her.

Allie @ Little-Skeleton.com – Her blog posts really make me think and she has a wicked sense of humor.

Kitty @ Underjoyed.org – This girl is a sweetie and I’m predicting she will have her own famous line of clothing one day. I can’t wait ’till her online shop opens.

Angelica @ Whirlwind.nu – She has some great fashion sense and she’s a cool chick! She’s also talented with web design and sent me some delicious Swedish chocolate.

As for the rest of you, you better not feel left out! There’s a reason you’re linked on the sidebar at all times…

I finally got around to it and set up my all-fiction blog! I was thinking about writing some flash fiction and posting it here, but it seemed more fitting to make a whole different sub-domain for it since I plan on writing again more often. If I make a whole other blog for it I’ll feel more inclined to sit down and write on a semi-regular basis.

I was more encouraged after seeing other people post flash fiction on their blogs and even dedicate whole blogs to short stories. I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while but I didn’t want start something and never get back to it (we know how I am), but writing is embedded in my soul, so we’ll see where this goes!

I think I’ll write a new one every Sunday night, because this seems like the time that I get the most peace and quiet. I’ll shoot for about 1,000 words-per-post so its nice and meaty, but not too long. I’ll probably end up doing a 2-or-3 parter a lot.

ƒιctισηαℓ ★

So I think Twitter is my main social network site these days. Myspace feels like a ghost town, so I begrudgingly set up a new Facebook so I can get back in touch with my friends from school. Facebook has its usefulness, I’ll give it that. But there are some things that I will say on Twitter (and blog posts that I tweet) that I wouldn’t say on Facebook… to a lot of the people who knew me from before I had a blog. I know that sounds kinda dumb, but some of things I do just don’t make sense.

Some day soon I’ll work on getting over that fear. I don’t think I’m alone in this either. Are there some people that you just don’t really want reading your blog or your tweets?

Another silly thing I do: I don’t follow people who aren’t following me unless I either a.) worship them, or b.) am interested in the subject they tweet about. Like @Cleveland_Ohio, updated local weather every hour. I follow all four members of System of a Down (@officialserj, @officialShavo, @johnmayan, and @officialdaronm) even though they hardly ever tweet because *shocker* I worship them. I usually don’t follow someone unless they’ve followed me first, or I’ll read someone’s blog first and see that I like them, then I’ll follow them. If they don’t follow me back after a week or so, out they go. At first glance this might seem kinda petty, but if somebody didn’t want to be your friend or listen to what you had to say offline, why would you bother with them online? I have to say, however, that my mutual followers/followees are pretty awesome people. Friend or Follow is an easy way to see if the people you follow are also following you, and I put it to good use.

My tweeting is pretty erratic because… I don’t have internet on the phone. *can hear children screaming somewhere* I’m the only person left alive that doesn’t have a smart phone or even internet service on their phone because I’m a cheapo! It would cost me $30 extra a month and I view that as an unnecessary luxury. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but if it was less, you better believe I’d be hauling my happy ass down to the nearest Verizon store. For now I’ll just have to live with updating whenever I’m on my laptop, which definitely isn’t all day. When I’m done working, I can’t even look at the computer screen anymore.

I try to only tweet interesting things (my idea of interesting anyway) and I try to keep it light. Sometimes a mundane or pissy one slips in there every now and then, but that’s just a true taste of life–its not always sweet.

Now that I’ve examined my Twitter usage, I’m curious. Is there a rhyme and reason to yours? Any policies?