Monday, March 17, 2008

who the heck...?!

my roommate holli gave me the link to this personality test, so i took it because they tend to be interesting and amusing. here's the link if you feel so inclined...

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

anyhoo, i took the test but i'm not so sure my results really apply to me. apparently i'm an ISTP personality type: Introverted Sensing Thinking Perceiving. i had to do some wikipedia searching to get a better description of what that means. here are a few excerpts:


According to Myers-Briggs, ISTPs excel at analyzing situations to reach the heart of a problem so that they can swiftly implement a functional repair, making them ideally suited to the field of engineering. Naturally quiet people, they are interested in understanding how systems operate, focusing on efficient operation and structure. They are open to new information and approaches. But contrary to their seemingly detached natures, ISTPs are often capable of humorously insightful observations about the world around them, and can be closet "daredevils" who gravitate toward fast-moving and/or risky hobbies (such as bungee jumping, hang gliding, motorcycling, parachuting, SCUBA diving, etc.), recreational sports (such as downhill skiing, ice hockey, racing, etc.), and careers (such as aviation, firefighting, etc.).

According to Keirsey, ISTPs, or "Crafter Artisans", are masters at using tools of every type—artistic, technological, martial. Although they are introverts, they are authoritarian in their interactions with others and can be forceful at influencing people. They focus on accomplishing tasks efficiently and skillfully.

To master the tool of their interest, ISTPs require a certain degree of seclusion in which to practice. The result is often a virtuosity that other types find difficult to match.

The attributes of each personality form a hierarchy. This represents the person's "default" pattern of behavior in their day to day life. The Dominant is the personality type's preferred role, the task they feel most comfortable with. The auxiliary function is the role they feel the next most comfortable with. It serves to support and expand on the dominant function. One of these first two will always be an information gathering function (sensing or intuition) and the other will be a decision making function(thinking or feeling) in some order. The tertiary function is less developed than the Dominant and Auxiliary functions, but develops as the person matures and provides roundness of ability. The inferior function is the personality types Achilles heel. This is the function they are least comfortable with. Like the tertiary function, this function strengthens with maturity.[1]


  • Dominant Introverted Thinking (Ti) - The ISTP lives a world of logic, basing any decision on logic. They process information from their auxiliary function to create strategies for action at a moment's notice. They love to examine complicated systems.
  • Auxiliary Extroverted Sensing (Se) - This function gives the ISTP an element of spontaneity, embracing chances to plunge headfirst into experiences. It also gives them a keen insight into situations similar to that of the ISTJ. Their occasionally tunnel-visioned curiosity for the world around them gives them a "leap before you look" tendency. They are notorious for taking apart devices to "see what makes them tick", before consideration as to whether they can put them back together.
  • Tertiary Introverted iNtuition (Ni) - Never as open in their theorizing as the INTP, the ISTP prefers to keep themselves grounded in the situation at hand, using their intuition to visualize components and concepts that they cannot see and touch firsthand, such as the wiring in a circuit board.
  • Inferior Extroverted Feeling (Fe) - The weak point of the ISTP, they may interpret criticisms of their ideas as criticisms of their competence. While they strive to follow the edicts of logic, this can also lead them to ironically and illogically stubbornly cling to their own ideas even when proven wrong

so. apparently these characteristics apply to me, but i'm not so sure. some of them i can identify with, but others i'm just like uh...no. i even took the test twice to make sure nothing sketchy was going on. guess it just goes to show you don't really know yourself until a personality test tells you who you are.

kiddddding.

Monday, March 10, 2008

me and the punkin

first, some background. when my lovely parents came to visit me last october for general conference weekend (approximately the 5-8 of october), they bought me a pumpkin in the spirit of halloween and all things fall. generous, yes? yes. anyway, as time went on and the pumpkin maintained a more permanent position on our kitchen table, i decided to spice things up a little. so naturally i drew a face on the pumpkin with a sharpie, and from then on she became (first of all a she) Silvia Trevors Cunningham. (Trevors is her maiden name of course.)
Silvia Trevors Cunningham and i have had a wonderful 5 months together. she's held up like a champ- not even a hint of mushiness, she's still as firm and pumpkin-y as the day she came into my life that wonderful day last october. obviously, this period of happiness deserves to be recognized. through thick and thin, Silvia Trevors Cunningham has been there for me, always waiting on the kitchen table to lend a pumpkin ear whenever it's needed.
megan, silvia's godmother
(it doesn't matter if we're not catholic)

So here's to you Silvia- may our time together continue to be unnaturally lengthened by whatever freak of nature fertilizer the farmer used to grow you.

Sunday, March 9, 2008

we're ready for spring.


dear utah,

i'm not sure if you're aware of this, but it's march. march 9th to be exact. i thought i would take this moment to let you know that it's ok to stop being cold all the time. we had our fun with the snow and bitterly cold wind, really we did. but i've had my fill of all the joy getting my faced burned off by ice and northerly gusts can bring. so please take my personal suggestion to keep the warmer temperatures coming. everyone will love you so much more for it. don't worry- we have our bikes ready.

love,
amy

Friday, March 7, 2008

because provo is boring.

do you ever have those nights where you've just eaten way too much sugar and decide that you can't possibly sit home any longer without setting something on fire? it's called the "provo effect," combined with the "no spring break effect." photo documentation is provided to illustrate the behavior inspired by these dangerous effects.
1. taking pictures with religious statues

2. possible stone animal cruelty

3. awkwardly climbing trees

4. theft of lunch trays

5. subsequently using stolen lunch trays to slide down steep hills of snow-turned-rock solid ice

as you can see, the "provo effect" combined with the "no spring break effect" can lead to utterly random nights.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

evidences of the bubble

so i was reading "the daily universe" (byu's newspaper) today and every week there are updates in the police beat. just to give you a little taste of the criminal world of the Y, i thought i'd share some of the best ones.

"March 1: A student called BYU police when she observed four individuals at the duck pond attempting to catch ducks in a net. The officer who responded saw the individuals leaving the duck pond and ran after them. After being questioned the students said they were simply hanging out and did not know that they should not tamper with the ducks..." [A LIKELY STORY! HA!]

"Feb. 28: BYU custodians called police when they discovered pink ink marks written on the walls in the Joseph F. Smith Building. The individual who wrote on the walls was caught on camera but was not identifiable. Police will clean up the image and investigate further." [Gosh I hope they catch the guy...what a menace!]

"Feb. 29: BYU police received a call reporting a white male wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt walking around Maeser Hill hitting people. When officers responded, the suspicious male was not on the premises." [Or perhaps the criminal mastermind packed a different colored hooded sweatshirt and quickly changed at the first sign of the cops! That would fool them...]

i sleep in fear each and every night.

was pizza really invented in italy?

(somehow i doubt it.)
so i made pizza last night for the very first time. and not just one pizza...but 2 (and a half kind of)! it was my turn for dinner group and i thought i'd do something kind of fun and chill. and i actually did enjoy making it- from the dough to the decoration. pepperoni, ham and pineapple, and half of a veggie (because i ran out of dough). deeeeeeelish! next time i make it i want to track down some round pans...just so it's more pizza-y. an extremely purple onion.

an extremely awesome pizza.