30 November 2006

Inquisitivity

58% inquisitive. I cheated by doing one of those personality tests. FYI, Google is my current favored mechanism of learning. But i found the site for this personality test from Sherpa's blog.

Big Five Test Results
Extroversion (46%) medium which suggests you average somewhere in between being assertive and social and being withdrawn and solitary.
Accommodation (58%) moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly kind natured, trusting, and helpful at the expense of your own individual development (martyr complex).
Orderliness (44%) moderately low which suggests you are, at times, overly flexible, random, scattered, and fun seeking at the expense of structure, reliability, work ethic, and long term accomplishment.
Emotional Stability (62%) moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Inquisitiveness (58%) moderately high which suggests you are intellectual, curious, imaginative but possibly not very practical.
Take Free Big Five Personality Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

15 November 2006

Tailor-Made


Later, I'm going to write a post entitled: "Pop goes the cranberry" and it will be about when I get my bridesmaid's dress altered for what'sherface's wedding. Therefore this post has to be about cranberries.

So, I bought cranberries at a certain hipster meets organic meets cheapskate grocery heaven and I decided I love cranberry season. I am a cooking nerd in this post. I made cranberry cream pie and cranberry sauce so far. The pie was fantastic and the sauce good clean yummy fun. You see, fresh cranberries, for those of you that don't know, are horrifying to eat as is. But if you simmer them in water they POP and let out their juicy goodness and the water slowly turns this gorgeous color somewhat reminiscent of blood but with more pink. You also generally need to add some sugar to make them delicious. I personally enjoy being festive, less by decorating and more by an appropriate activity. Like when we went to see the Al Gore movie on the hottest day of the year (not that it isn't also serious, but hey--festive). Why not be festive about cranberry harvesttime?

I feel like I am in an episode of either Reading Rainbow or Mr. Rogers. You tell me why.

09 November 2006

Savory Nuggets


This title comes from the phrase used to describe the cat food we used to feed my cat Fiona. Since then, the cat has moved on and so have I. She was a good cat for a time. I realize a lot of people have no love for cats, but I'm actually not that interested in what they have to say--I've heard it plenty. Nor am I terribly interested in espousing the virtues of cats in general and collecting figurines--except when it's just plain funny. I'm just not that interested in generalizations about entire species. I like specifics. I liked Fi, anyhow. And she did send her spirit out to us so we had to go find her at the Humane Society. It's not like it was a random decision born of cat love. It was just something that happened.

The following may or may not be savory but it is a nugget. You see, I am a fiction writer. But I am way out of practice. So I am going to force myself to write story ideas and plots every day. OK, every chance I get. Here's what I've done so far:

How do I write a story? I need a character, I need a something like a problem, I need a setting, I need a beginning middle and end, I need a rhythm and a voice and "the love." And kick-A dialogue.

Character: the boyfriend. Why the heck not? Not mine or anything.
A Something: He has to take his girlfriend's cat to the vet, but he secretly hates the cat.
A setting: They live in the exurbs. He lives in a condo, she lives an apartment her parents are paying for.
The beginning: In the vet's room waiting for the vet, the cat on the table.
Middle: something is wrong with the cat and he has to decide what to tell his girlfriend OR the cat pees on him OR the vet asks him if he's been abusing the cat
End: He realizes why he resents the cat so much, because it symbolizes the loss of his autonomy or something, but this realization probably propels him to a new awareness of l-ove.
A rhythm: Jazz, the cat's name
A voice: a man that is trying very hard to not throw a cat off a bridge
The love: What is it about this man???

Feel free to answer my last question or suggest some more details.