Now, with 20% more of the 100 things about me.

Actually it's 100% more things about me, since I've only done twenty. 

21. I hate when people say "it's 10% more," when they really mean that it's 10 PERCENTAGE POINTS more, which, depending on how big your original percentage was, could be a lot more than 10%.

22. I'm fun at parties, as I'm sure you can tell from the above.

23. My Myers-Briggs type is ENTP, aka "the inventor" (aka "the visionary" in some descriptions).  In one book, it talks about how ENTPs will approach a task, like, say, taking the garbage out, from a creative, systems perspective.  They will examine the problem and try to come up with a complex and fascinating solution to the Big Issue of Taking Out the Garbage, perhaps working on a Garbage-Taking-Outing-Machine.  The book points out that sometimes the ENTPs JUST NEED TO TAKE OUT THE GARBAGE.

24. Ahem.

25. I actually *consistently* score at exactly the midpoint on the Introvert/Extrovert scale, so I suppose that makes me an E/INTP.  I've taken the Myers-Briggs test quite a few times now, and each time I find myself exactly even on this measure.

26.  For a while I thought that was a good deal--hey, I can understand both perspectives!

27.  But I finally realized that it's actually kind of hard.  Introverts need to recharge by being alone.  Extroverts need to recharge by being with people.  I need to do both.  It's quite time-consuming to be me.

28. On the other hand, I'm about as much of a P as you can get.  That means "perceiving" as opposed to "judging."

29. Rhys is a total J.

30. This basically comes out in decision-making style.  Js spend a lot of time weighing and obsessing about considering decisions ahead of time.  Ps feel their way through decisions.  However, once the decision is made, Js are DONE.  You hear me?  DONE.  Ps are never done with a decision--they're always collecting information and reconsidering.

31. Rhys took a class about the MBTI thing once where they said that if you have to tell a J that the plan has changed, you should walk up to them, tell them very quickly AND THEN RUN AWAY so as not to be present for the J-style freakout they will inevitably have when they realize that someone has fucked with stuff that they thought was all set, finito, DONE.  Then, after the freakout, they'll be fine, but for about 5 minutes, it's not pretty.  I am here to tell you that this is a Very Good Strategy, except for the part about how the J will FOLLOW YOU into the other room in order to bring the freakout to you.  I may need to learn to run faster.

32. As you may have inferred from the above, the P/J dynamic is especially interesting when one is doing something, like, say, home renovation.  And when one is making decisions, about, say, maple vs. oak flooring.  As a random example.  The extreme P thing isn't so great either, since despite the decision already having been made (twice!), I'm going to keep questioning it until the new floors are in, and then I'll spend the next 10 years thinking maybe I should have lobbied harder for oak. 

33. Basically we're a lot of fun to live with,  is what I'm saying.

34. So that's a lot about the MBTI, which I've found to be a very useful tool for understanding and valuing personality differences, but I also have a healthy skepticism about anything that reduces human difference to simple categories (remember the part about the SAT being On Notice?).

35. That said, I do like having a variety of lenses to look through.  I used to be pretty good at reading Tarot cards, which may sound like a non-sequitur to some, but I actually find a great deal of similarity between the MBTI and Tarot cards.  Tarot cards are just a lot more mysterious.

36. I haven't read Tarot cards in a really long time, though.  I wonder if I'd remember anything.

37. I found that it was quite easy and interesting to read people's Tarot cards if I didn't know them at all, or if I knew them really well.  If I didn't know them at all, I could just follow the meanings of the cards and not make any connections to what I knew about the person.  If I knew the person really well, I could interpret the cards in relation to the people and situations in their lives, and do a pretty good job of it.  If I knew a person a little bit, I found that I tended to jump to conclusions, and it was very hard not to use the little (and usually inaccurate) knowledge I had of their life to interpret the cards.  I remember reading a friend's mom's cards and really screwing up because all I knew about her was what her daughter had told me.  And she kind of inferred some of that.  And it wasn't all good.  Oops.

38. I don't think Tarot cards can predict the future, I think they're a good tool for helping you look at your life through a different kind of lens: one that might offer a fresh perspective.  There's something about the randomness of the order of the cards that adds to it, but I don't think it's supernatural.

39. I just think randomness is more complicated than we sometimes give it credit for.  Not supernatural, in fact, completely natural.  That's why I'm not clear on why anyone would want to argue with science to prove the existence of god.

40. But whatever.  Those people are the part of the random that I'm just a little less fond of.  You get snowflakes; I suppose you gotta have crazy fundies too.  Whatcha gonna do?

I think I'm not too good at this whole 100 things about me business.  I'll have to find some sort of MBTI attribute that causes me to be that way.  It'll make me feel better.

Now, I wonder if we can still change back to oak floors.  And about that garbage-removal machine...

Comments

[Juno]

Maple is better. Unless you can find really old amazing oak, which I bet you are not talking about because if you had 12 million dollars for antique floor boards you would have a LOT more wool in your life.

Where was I?

Oh, yeah, maple. So pretty, warm and lovely and fine grained under your children's feet. Good. Very good. It will be excellent. Promise.

I did the Johnson O'Conner aptitude testing thing after college, right? And the guy told me lots of interesting things - but the one that sticks with me is that I am a Problem Solver. So much so that he pretty much told me to be sure I had an interesting life with lots things that required my Official Professional Problem Solving Services, unless I wanted to turn into a giant train wreck making Issues for herself to Fix.
I think of that at the oddest times.....

[The Feminist Mafia]

Sounds like my house. I'm a portable freak-out.
And I'm consistently an ENTJ. Not surprised, are you?

[JoVE]

I like contemplating these things too. I think I come out near the middle on the PJ thing but am more extrovert than 97% of anyone who has ever taken those tests. I bet no one is surprised at that. And I notice that you are good at making decisions for other people and getting them past the dithering. I think there is a spinning wheel in my living room as evidence.

Also, the SAT job. I think that is just a take the garbage out thing, maybe.

[Kellee]

You are cracking my shit up. #'23 and 25-27? Ditto.

But go with the Maple. It really is better.

[Sara]

I can never remember my letter soup, but pretty darned I on the E/I part. (Terry's an E. We knew that.) The rest, I waffle and say "yeah, that" "um, no, maybe that". You know.

ROFL re Jo and the SAT/Garbage thing.

[Katy]

INF(J/P) here. Definite on the I, very far over on the F, solid midline on the J/P. So I decide things, and I'm done, until I start thinking about them, and then I change my mind, and I'm not done. 20,000 times in a row. ;) I like to think I'm spontaneous but really I'm a totally rigid over-planner who just likes to THINK she's spontaneous.
Whew!
And I'm totally with you on #21.

[Judi]

I think you have been wandering around in my brain. I don't remember anything about my BMTI except that I am very very very I and that surprises everyone but me. However I/E we might be though, we are J twins for sure.

Judi

[Lee Ann]

Once upon a time, an ENTJ married an INFP.

Turns out, neither one of them wanted to take out the garbage.

I'm actually on the fence between INTJ and INFP. Which makes me an absolute ball to live with, because I'm also a Gemini.

Clearly, you are not the only one who needs to learn to run faster. How DO they manage that portable freakout thing?

[Katherine]

I'm an INFP/borderline with INTJ. Funny, I read tarot cards too, and I think of them working in about the same way. I love comparing the personality types and court cards. I do think it's hard to classify people into "types," even as many as sixteen.

Whatever the type, I think your opinions are pretty awesome!

[Stephanie]

Enfp here. But I bet everybody knew that.

[Carolyn]

I vote for maple. But oak is nice too. As for us, we did cherry. Got a good price at lumberliquidators.com -- same price as oak, but cherry is a bit more brittle.

[CarolineF]

Bwahaha, I'm such a J too, and everything you said about Rhys describes me to a T! Decision made, done, I feel great, don't ask me questions. Change the plan I just built an entire afternoon on? My day is ruined! And I'm a total N. I think that NJ combination leads to an intuitive making of decisions that I cannot explain but do not want to re-evaluate...

I have your E/I problem and I find that it will oscillate depending upon what I happen to be surrounded by. Emily is a tremendous extrovert, so when I get her to bed or off with a friend I just want to do a Garbo. But if I'm getting to be alone all the time I get all desperate for people. I am pretty much in the center on T/F too which can be inconvenient because I can never predict which one I'll act like at any given moment.... Isn't this fun.

[S.Kate]

INTJ. But one who would stubbornly cling to the idea of oak floors. I do feel your pain on that one.
Perhaps an oak wheel would be a suitable compromise? ;- )

[Rachel H]

We've talked about this. Leave The Oak Behind. Maple is better. Much better. Oak will make you stodgy and old. Maple will give you cool, modern with an appreciation for classic architectural style. And will make your home feel brighter. You'll like brighter. Let the oak go.

Don't know what my Myers-Briggs score is. I think I'm happier that way.

[Laurie]

The floor? It really doesn't matter. They are both hard and durable. Just depends on what color you want to see when you put one foot in front of the other.

I forgot my Myers-Briggs score. Introvert, yes. Judging, yes. Whatever. I yam what I yam.

[Martha]

I don't remember where I scored on the Meyers Briggs, although I remember being told I was a problem solver. No one warned me about the possibility of creating my own problems to solve them, but now that I think about it, I see that ALL OVER my decision to make almost all my Christmas gifts this year. Based on your description of a J, I must be one of those. It's one reason I disliked being a realtor--when I make my schedule for the day, that baby's set in stone. (I don't freak out, but I do become peevish).

I know nothing about replacement flooring, except that maple and oak are generally different colors and it might factor into your ultimate color scheme. Oh, and as Rachel mentioned, maple has a more modern, streamlined look (like your Lendrum) and oak has a more old-fashioned look (like a Canadian production wheel).

[Susanne]

Trust me the Maple is MUCH better! You WILL be happy with it! :)

[Liz]

INFJ here. Once something's done, leave it done. Don't derail my plans.

Funny, though -- on those career lists, the last thing I should be is an attorney. Yet, I find myself incredibly happy being . . . an attorney. Just goes to show: pigeon-holing ain't as reliable as it oughtta be.

[jennifer]

Maple, oak, who cares? You're going to have hardwood floors which are beautiful and a lot easier to clean kool-aid off of than carpet. Rejoice!

I think I was...definitely a J. I can't remember the rest.

[Riin]

Ok, I'm an introvert, but I couldn't remember the rest, so I went and took one of the tests. Came out INFP, but S/N and J/P are each 52%. Yeesh. No wonder I drive myself crazy. I was driving myself nuts answering half the questions. "Uh...it depends!"

[moiraeknits]

Like Katy, I'm also an INF(J/P). Weird.

And your mention of tarot prompted me to go and sort through my decks to see if any of them "feel" right at this time. I'd sort of abandonded them all for a few months when I moved (OK, that was back in November) and haven't really gotten around to working with them again. I got sucked into astrology...anyway. None of them felt right, so what's a girl to do but order a new deck?
http://www.ciromarchetti.com/ciro/tod_new/index.html

I use them as...guideposts for meditations? As a way to prompt some examination of my life as it is now. Like you, I don't really use them in any predictive sense. I do, however, think that many who have tight bonds with their guides can use them as a channeling tool. Use can run the gamut from psychic to psychology to all points in between. But that's just me. :)

BTW, Blessed Lammas tomorrow if you mark the day!

[Melinda]

This struck close to home with me being an INFJ married to an ENTP. Too funny.

[amysue]

On the other hand, Bamboo is nice and a renewable resource....

[Beth S.]

What if you freak out both before AND after the decision? That's me. Terrible time arriving at a decision, and then endless second-guessing afterwards. ;-)

[--Deb]

You know, I've taken those tests any number of times and can never remember (1) what I actually am, although the description is always uncannily accurate, and (2) what the letters mean!

But, yeah, it must be wearying to be both an introvert AND an extrovert!

Oh, and I used to be pretty good with Tarot cards, too, but I never could memorize all the cards and would have to sit there with the book . . . tedious, no?