the ladylike project

lora and i decided, last weekend, that something had to be done about our level of ladylike behaviour.

it was way, way below the pioneer/victiorian standard.

our main reproachable behaviours? less-than-lovely language, occasional slips in terms of using the Lord's name in vain, and less than grateful expressions about our appearances. added to that, we won't stand for certain things in visitors to our apartment, such as misogynstic comments.

we devised a series of fines (some things are weightier fines than others) and we have been duly paying up, and occasionally forcing others to do the same. it's a bit of a tyrant move, but hey--it's improvement. we are very dedicated, and we hold each other to the honor system when we're not around each other. it's both amusing and highly annoying, since we are neither of us abundantly rich at the moment.


i owe a good deal of money already...but it's already improving my language!

and doesn't lora make the PRETTIEST tissue paper flowers??? such a talented girl.

-papermoon

Myers Brigg

i am an INFJ. i woke up to see lora off to class today and she had me take a myers brigg because she thought hers was very accurate. i laughed the whole time because every question pointed to how introverted and pig-headed i am!

and the result? it sounds pretty accurate.

INFJ

• slightly expressed introvert
  
• moderately expressed intuitive personality
  
• moderately expressed feeling personality
  
• very expressed judging personality

this part i excerpted is most interesting to me, because people have often described their confusion about this aspect of my personality to me:

INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world. On the contrary, INFJs are true introverts, who can only be emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few from among their long-term friends, family, or obvious "soul mates." While instinctively courting the personal and organizational demands continually made upon them by others, at intervals INFJs will suddenly withdraw into themselves, sometimes shutting out even their intimates. This apparent paradox is a necessary escape valve for them, providing both time to rebuild their depleted resources and a filter to prevent the emotional overload to which they are so susceptible as inherent "givers." As a pattern of behavior, it is perhaps the most confusing aspect of the enigmatic INFJ character to outsiders, and hence the most often misunderstood -- particularly by those who have little experience with this rare type.

interesting! i was also glad to find out that michael landon was also an INFJ.

it was also nice to hear that my 'type' almost always has problems deciding what to pursue as a career because while we are very human empathy/'inspiration' oriented careers seem like a natural career, we are often such compulsive system builders so darn full of judgement that we wish we could pursue more logic-based jobs... but we almost always find hard logic highly confusing.

very amusing. i recommend everyone take it.

-papermoon

delicious caramels and a really fun game idea.

first of all, my friend norah gave me three neat boxes of japanese candy for christmas, and these morinaga's milk caramels are rocking my world. i may or may not have eaten half of them in two days. (the link is another blogger's very good description of them.) the box looks like a 1920's cigarette box or something, but opens like a matchbox to reveal the delicious little guys. i am going to save it, obviously. the japanese really do milky candy awesomely, which is odd because as a child i really hated the milk there. maybe it's better for candy than straight-up consumption.
second reason for posting: guess who?
yesterday lora had been diligently studying for most of the day, so she was ready for an evening break. we had already decided to make some vodka sauce and have a little dinner together, and we really wanted to play a game. we only have dice/cards/scrabble here, and none of the above were really appealling to our desire for a relaxing game. i trekked out into the snow to walk to borders and see what they had to offer, which wasn't much. i was pretty disappointed and spent an hour searching the internet for creative game-making ideas online while sipping a beer. (delicious thing: black toad dark ale, brewed for trader joe's. a.maz.ing.)

remember these?

i was getting a bit exasperated with the options, and then guess who? came to mind. remember that game, from kindergarten? "does your person have a mustache?" etc? well we realized we could make our own version!!!! i wasn't initially as creative as lora, and i was thinking i could just do a funny image search and get a mix of random people, celebrities, and cartoons...but lora realized that we could use our friends! much more fun! we just used thirty mutual friends, and used their facebook pictures to keep it easy.

if we were planning on making it look good, i would have standardized the size and used photoshop to add nice, clear text, but as it was we were getting hungry, so i just globbed a bunch of photos on a document and got them around the same height, and then printed three sheets: one set for each player, and one set we could draw from to guess who? about. i cut them up into little cards, and we would just flip them over when ruling out possibilities. we used the coffee table as a divider and just layed everything out on the floor.

it was HYSTERICAL. we decided to nix the questions about physical appearances and gender, and the results were very funny. questions ranged from "does your person subscribe to a monotheistic religion?" to "would your person be described as metro?" to "does your person appreciate chill fashion shows?" etc, etc. it was very funny. i very nearly demolished an entire bottle of wine. i hope we play again soon!

you should try and make one... i think it would actually make a very funny gift if it were made with relatives or family friends in mind. or, for your girlfriends, if it featured past love interests. very amusing. book characters would be really adorable... i might do that for my kid someday. the possibilities are pretty endless... babies could have an animal version...

-papermoon

morning goodness.

my roomie made me the cutest birthday banner as a belated party decoration:



i got some eucalan knit wash in the mail and it smells great:



it's snowing and gloomy-pretty and i am glad to be back in my suitably grey city:



off to work work work work work work on things.

-papermoon

last day at home

well... i love chicago, but it sure seems odd to be headed back.

it's been nice to be here at home, seeing my enormous family and my puppy dog, eating meat (who knew... i currently enjoy it), watching movies on a big screen, and seeing friends who reside east of the west. last night maggie and katie and i watched 'the secret of roan inish' and i was PERFECT as usual. i haven't gotten that lovely, muted mood out of my system yet. i need to order that on dvd, stat. it's nice to have ample excuses to watch kids' movies.

sometimes chicago really pulls at me when i'm away, but it didn't this last month-and-some. i am sure that once i land that familiar feeling will hit me again, though, and i will wonder at how i wasn't dying to return. not to mention, i will get to see the lovely roomie once more.

it was a good thanksgiving, a great christmas and a good first few days of 2009. my family does what a good family should... they build me up. i will miss the activity and all the good debate!

off to treasure today!

-papermoon

15. my roomie

the fifteenth thing i am thankful for: my roomie
she looks like belle...

-papermoon

candy!

my roommate is the best.
she brought me a piece of awesome candy from some brunch place she went to today.
it's by some italian confectioner and it was a pastel pink mildly sticky hard candy in the awesome flavor of PLUM!!!
she inspired me to write this poem...it's very original, if i do say so myself.

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the candy

and which
you were probably
saving
from breakfast.

you're awesome!
they were delicious
so sweet
of you, lora.