Another Perfect Note from the Universe

Today's Note from the Universe via www.tut.com:

It's not from the known, but the unknown, QoS, that creativity and inventiveness are born.

Turn away from the predictable, clichéd, and reliable. Brave the void where the darkness is greatest. Trust the quiet, find the stillness, feel the calm. Then, steadily, think, speak and move as if you were led. Behave as if your vision were clear. Anticipate the emotional rush that will come with your triumph. And as if by magic, as you raise your pen to write, you'll find the words have already been summoned, flooded in light that was there all along, in a world that had just as anxiously anticipated your arrival.

Just don't let them worship you, QoS.

The Universe

Enneagram Test

This is so true. . . especially the pet peeves.

BTW: I strongly recommend learning more about the enneagram for self-awareness and for understanding people around you. Like the Meyers-Briggs, it can really help illuminate the vastly different -- but often invisible -- ways people approach the world.

(And now I have to laugh, because the above statement was classically "5" -- all about wanting to understand.)

the Observer Test finished!

you chose BZ - your Enneagram type is FIVE. "I need to understand the world" Observers have a need for knowledge and are introverted, curious, analytical, and insightful. How to Get Along with Me Be independent, not clingy. Speak in a straightforward and brief manner. I need time alone to process my feelings and thoughts. Remember that If I seem aloof, distant, or arrogant, it may be that I am feeling uncomfortable. Make me feel welcome, but not too intensely, or I might doubt your sincerity. If I become irritated when I have to repeat things, it may be because it was such an effort to get my thoughts out in the first place. don't come on like a bulldozer. Help me to avoid my pet peeves: big parties, other people's loud music, overdone emotions, and intrusions on my privacy. What I Like About Being a Five standing back and viewing life objectively coming to a thorough understanding; perceiving causes and effects my sense of integrity: doing what I think is right and not being influenced by social pressure not being caught up in material possessions and status being calm in a crisis What's Hard About Being a Five being slow to put my knowledge and insights out in the world feeling bad when I act defensive or like a know-it-all being pressured to be with people when I don't want to be watching others with better social skills, but less intelligence or technical skill, do better professionally Fives as Children Often spend a lot of time alone reading, making collections, and so on have a few special friends rather than many are very bright and curious and do well in school have independent minds and often question their parents and teachers watch events from a detached point of view, gathering information assume a poker face in order not to look afraid are sensitive; avoid interpersonal conflict feel intruded upon and controlled and/or ignored and neglected Fives as Parents are often kind, perceptive, and devoted are sometimes authoritarian and demanding may expect more intellectual achievement than is developmentally appropriate may be intolerant of their children expressing strong emotions Renee Baron & Elizabeth Wagele The Enneagram Made Easy Discover the 9 Types of People HarperSanFrancisco, 1994, 161 pages You are not completely happy with the result?! You chose BZ Would you rather have chosen: AZ (THREE) CZ (ONE) BX (NINE) BY (FOUR)

My test tracked 2 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 23% on ABC You scored higher than 0% on XYZ

Link: The Quick and Painless ENNEAGRAM Test written by felk on Ok Cupid, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

And With My Next Bonus Check. . . .

The Tarot of Dreams: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/tarot-of-dreams/

Very pricey. . . but gorgeous!

Boston Marriage and Nanny McPhee

I was so tired on Sunday afternoon that I almost did not go to see Boston Marriage, but tickets to plays are non-refundable, and going to the theater is not so common an experience for me that I can miss a performance without feeling a sense of loss.

As I mentioned earlier, Boston Marriage is the latest play by David Mamet. It has three characters, all of them women: two ladies who have been living together for many years, and their new servant Catherine, a recent immigrant from Scotland. One of the ladies has just acquired a male protector, who has given her a gorgeous emerald necklace, and a monthly income which will support the household comfortably. The other lady has just returned from a trip with news that she is in love with a young woman and wants her friend's help in setting up a separate household -- or at least her assistance in meeting her young paramour in their existing establishment. Sparks fly from there.

As always, I went in predisposed to enjoy the play, the performances, the entire experience. I was disappointed. After a day or so of reflection, the best explanation I can come up with is that the entire production felt mechanical. The key to the conflict -- and the resolution -- of the story is the many-year relationship of the two ladies. And I just didn't believe it as I watched the performances. It was all too polished. I didn't believe in the passion which supposedly underscored it all: either the passion (now-dimmed) of the two women, or the passion of the one for the younger woman. At the end of Act One the lady being left for the younger woman indicates interest in the maid, who suggests she might be interested in returning the overture, but when the lights come up on Act Two, it is as if the exchange never happened.

Their language was alternately precise and educated and then deliberately vulgar and insulting. But there seemed no motivation for it beyond shock value to amuse the audience.

I didn't feel affection or sympathy for either of the ladies, perhaps because there didn't seem to be real feeling in either of them. And for me to truly enjoy a performance, I need to feel something in response to what's happening in front of me.

In complete contrast, I took my daughter to see Nanny McPhee today, expecting a mildly amusing trifle, and found myself moved by the story, the characters, and the magic. It's hard to go wrong when you mix Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Derek Jacobi, Imelda Staunton, and Angela Lansbury, no matter how trifling the story -- and this story was a very sweet fairy tale with real emotions driving it: a father's lonely helplessness and desperation after the death of his wife and the financial difficulties of having seven children, a young servant girl in love and yearning to better herself, the children's sense of loss and their efforts to regain their father's attention (yes, there's more than a little of The Sound of Music in this one) and Nanny McPhee's stern and loving presence acting as a catalyst for transformation of everyone.

I had tears in my eyes during the final scene -- which is more than the film version of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe did for me.