My Enneagram Personality

I was vague on some of the answers in this test and the result did not turn out accurately. It is recommended, on the test website, that this test be taken a few times in order to get a better result. Well, here is my present result anyway.

Main Type	Overall Self

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Enneagram Test Results Type 1 Perfectionism |||||||||||||||||||| 81% Type 2 Helpfulness |||||||||||||||| 61% Type 3 Image Focus |||||||||||||||| 62% Type 4 Hypersensitivity |||||| 29% Type 5 Detachment |||||||||||||||| 68% Type 6 Anxiety |||||||||||||||||| 73% Type 7 Adventurousness |||||||||||| 41% Type 8 Aggressiveness |||||||||||||||| 66% Type 9 Calmness |||||||||||||||| 69% Your main type is 1 Your variant is social

Take Free Enneagram Personality Test

Common Latin Terms

Quick reminder of i.e., e.g., viz., vs., and of course etc. Good to read because the punctuation is often used incorrectly. Thanks for pointing this to me Raji.

More Coffee: Milk Frothing & Latte Art

I always trip on Latte art! I love strong coffee with a delicious dose of milk and this guide to Milk Frothing and Latte Art had me in unblinking attention.

I need Coffee!

After a terribly sleepy morning, with the lethargy spilling over generously into the afternoon, I was so annoyed at my yawning frequency that I typed out, 'I need Coffee' in my Google toolbar. And bingo. I was zapped :)

Funny facts

-A drop of liquor can make a scorpion go mad and die almost instantly
-On average, 12 newborns are given to the wrong parents daily
-The average human will eat eight spiders while asleep in their lifetime (yuck!)
-On average men spend 51 minutes a day grooming themselves
-Human thigh bones are stronger than concrete!

Here's more

Life Stories

Sometimes, I suppose a lot more times as one gets considerably older, there is a strong urge to tell the story of our life. And, not all of us are writers. Atleast, most of us do not think so. Even then, we all have a story to tell. If there are hours to spend then writing your life story is not such a bad idea. You may not get published; you may not even want to get published. Nevertheless, it will still be your special and unique story. Something that someone who loves you will always love to read.

What Men Watch

I have been watching men watch. On the roads. And in random order, these are what they like to watch

-Women (city roads, peak hour and all those bike-dudes seldom look at the road)
-Bikes (there is this Chennai dude who is a frequent sight on his Kawasaki ZX series and he ALWAYS gets envious stares)
-Cars
-Reflections (theirs. On any reflective surface they chance upon)
-Smart Men (this happens with a greenish pallor. It would probably qualify better for 'sizing' rather than 'watching')
-Buildings (if it is a macho building then the look offers appreciation. If it is a purplish orange or some other such gaudily created building, the look mocks. Along with the mocking look, I actually heard one guy say, "Must have been designed by a woman")
-Traffic Lights (not much choice on this one!)

The more evolved ones also take a look at the sky, the greenery and even pavements (I actually mean the pavement and not the bipeds on the pavement).

Those would be the top ones, qualified so, on the basis of sheer frequency of occurence. Now, if I were to name the top one, I would have to give it to the bikes. Pretty women, step aside please. Bikes are hotter.

And I bequeath my data to...

When the time comes for you to draw up a will or maybe update it, will you decide to leave your electronic data to someone? This question took me by surprise in Dave Birch's
Second sight. What a thought! And how very right to clear the cobwebs on old ways of thinking because we do not live in those old times anymore. So much of our dealings are in the virtual world and these virtual transactions are getting to be largely financial or some other thing equally critical to one's legacy. We really need to rethink what we own.

I have washed your shirt 119 times

And 120 is a little too many times to wash a shirt. Plus who knows how many times you wore it before washing it each time :)

TB - Trouble Brewing

While we get smarter at finding drugs, the bacteria are getting smarter too - TB May Be Global Threat Again.

The Know-It-All

Very funny! A.J.Jacobs' quest to become the smartest man in the world, by reading the Encyclopedia Britannica cover-to-cover, is very hilariously narrated in the book The Know-it-All. I read the excerpt on BookBrowse. As Davina's review suggests, it is indeed a nice book to dip into. On my wish list already.

Popular Misconceptions about Oscar Wilde

The 10 most popular misconceptions about Oscar Wilde is an interesting article by Merlin Holland, Oscar Wilde's grandson. For most readers of great English writing, Oscar Wilde occupies a fascinating place in the mind. His name immediately conjures images of powerful words with a generous dash of colour. What comes to mind along with that is the number of scandalous information associated with him.

BTW, on my reading list this month are
Oscar Wilde - A Certain Genius by Barbara Belford, Oscar Wilde - Complete Poetry published by OUP and Selected Letters of Oscar Wilde edited by Rupert Hart-Davis

Books this week

Eleven books is my reading target for this week. I picked them all up in one morning trip to two libraries on Saturday. Talk about adding pressure to pleasure :) 

How much of Left is Right?

I am a left-brained dominant person. There goes another illusion about being creative and not-so-normal :)

Brain Lateralization Test Results

Right Brain (32%) The right hemisphere is the visual, figurative, artistic, and intuitive side of the brain. Left Brain (74%) The left hemisphere is the logical, articulate, assertive, and practical side of the brain

Are You Right or Left Brained?
personality tests by similarminds.com

You call yourself a bookworm?

That is what grandpa asked me this morning - "You call yourself a bookworm?". He said it so many times with emphasis on different words each time. It all started when he asked me if I had read A King's Story. I had not heard of this book and said so to him. He then proceeded to ask if I had heard of King Edward VIII. I said yes. He wanted to know if I had heard of Wallis Simpson. I said that the name sounded familiar so it was probably connected to King Edward's abdication. This answer would have been enough for a Gen X person. But I was talking to a Gen V (hmm...I think I probably just coined this!) person who revelled in biographies and intimate association with historical details. Alas! He remarked that I had definitely not heard of The Heart has its Reasons. Of course I said yes.

Grandpa sighed and asked me, "So what exactly are you doing during your reading hours? Stop reading junk and read stuff that really matters. You don't know anything". Indeed!

You are my honey but the money is still my money

Marriage vows profess commitment to each other and lifelong togetherness but do they talk about the money? The past, with its male provider and female nurturer roles, did not throw up issues of money in every marriage. The man made the money and the woman took care of spending it for the family. Today, the women earn aplenty and are causing roles to be redefined in all spheres of life. Women have a completely different attitude to money than the men. Women have been working for money for a lesser period of time, usually earn lesser because of breaks in work and are therefore more possessive of the money that they earn. Women and Money have an Uneasy Relationship indeed.

So is it really surprising that the modern marriage vow is 'to have and to hold ... in separate accounts'?

Ten unusual places to live

These are 10 really unusual places to live. My personal favorite is the giant barrel. When you need to move, you can just roll your home :) What's yours?

Napnasiums and The Art of Napping at Work

There is this co-worker of mine who naps to perfection every afternoon. He is so good at it that it took me a while to figure out that his focused looking post-lunch posture was actually a camouflage for a nice quick nap. Though most people feel dull during the afternoon, it is not something that made organizations sit up and take notice of. However, napping is indeed the newest productivity booster in the scene and
sleeping on the job is finally fashionable.

The great teacher's home is now a lonely place

September 5th was Teacher's Day (Aside: Is it Teacher's Day or Teachers' Day? I suppose both will hold true --> Teacher's Day because it is Dr.Radhakrishnan's birthday and he was a Teacher. Teachers' Day because it is the day that has been chosen to remember and honour the entire teaching community in India). This day used to mean a great deal to me when I was at school and college and I used to diligently send out cards to all my teachers. However, time and my own diverted mind have dampened that enthusiasm in the recent years.

I came across The great teacher's home is now a lonely place - Newindpress.com in the New Indian Express this morning and it saddended me to think that such a great teacher is slowly vanishing from the memory of people. I have passed by the house 'Girija' several times without realizing that this was once the home of one of India's greatest sons. Is this what happens to even great people over time? Nothing, absolutely nothing, is permanent and that is probably why it is 'Sands of Time'?

General rules for living - in 1881

The General rules for living in 1881 were different indeed! Any Gen X or > person who said yes to more than one rule? I definitely want to compose a paean in your honour, so please let me know who you are :)

The ABCs of Paper Management

Voila! Finally an idea that seems workable for managing the papers and documents that get on my nerves. In spite of filing them often, it does get irritating when things like bi-monthly bills are changed to monthly ones. There is always more paper to manage than one expects. This article titled
The ABCs of Household Paper Management in OrganizedHome talks about this ABC idea which is Action / Basic / Classic filing. Three types of files that hold documents depending upon the nature of action required. I am trying it rightaway!

Jane Austen

One of the rare Jane Austen portraits that claims to achieve the nearest likeness to the original person. There are several botched pictures of her that I completely ignored. I am just wishful that this is how she looked. This image suits my idea of an extremely perceptive woman 

PS: I am just testing Hello btw

Krishna Jayanti

Today is Krishna Jayanti, one of my favourite Hindu festivals in childhood as it meant that a bunch of us kids would dress up like Lord Krishna and visit the neighbours and be treated to loads and loads of sweets and other delicious savouries. The evening would be packed with pampering and entertainment.

From such fond memories of this festival, there came a time when I had to actually take up the adult role in this festival, that of preparing sweets, decorating the house with tiny Krishna footprints and inviting neighbours over. The first time I had to do the preparations for this festival, I was a little overwhelmed at the effort involved in making the evening a delightful food fest. As a starter, I called up my mom and offered extremely belated appreciation for her successful execution of several such festivals over the years. I always had good memories of my childhood festivals and it was only when I had to create the memories that I became aware of her phenomenal effort in making everything flow seamlessly.

I am a good three years ahead of those first overwhelming moments and today, yet another Krishna Jayanti is here. As I scour the Net for ideas to make this Gokulashtami a slightly different and memorable one, I am tempted to spend a few precious hours brushing up on the mythological significance of the Krishna Avatar. And what better resource can there be to do that other than the Srimad Bhagavatam

Difficult Daughters

Virmati must have been a fascinating woman. Her picture that graces the cover of Difficult Daughters by Manju Kapur is such a striking one. The face shows so much of determination that I could not help but take frequent looks at it while I was reading Difficult Daughters a couple of months ago.

This is Manju Kapur's first book and it is autobiographical in the sense that Virmati's story is more or less Manju's mother's story. Set in the time of the Partition, it takes a nice deep look at the life of a woman who wanted more than just to marry and procreate. Virmati's life is a constant struggle with aspirations that conflict with the social order of those times. A part of her is rebellious and wants to break free while another part of her that is conditioned by her upbringing does not allow her to cross many boundaries. I enjoyed this book.

Whither Thou O Thought?

It did not take a second to figure out that I was talking about my mental block right? Well, take another second now and scratch your head to show appreciation to your smartness and to my simple title. In the last couple of weeks, I have been involved in some serious stuff that did not have anything to do with a computer. So I realized that there is indeed life outside the Electrically stimulated environment that I inhabit often. And that life outside involves living and dying, laughing and crying, fear of the dark, hatred of fellowmen and overflowing love for friends and what have you? And I was in that world for a while and during that time, I did think a lot but those thoughts are just refusing to come out at this moment. So we shall be a little gentle with them shall we?

On the books thing, I am reading Italo Calvino's The Literature Machine. I delightfully lapped up one particular essay in that collection and have read it over and over many times in the past few days. It is titled Why Read The Classics? and it is such a gem. I sometimes wonder why reading is such a fascinating interest for most of us. Is it because reading satisfies man's primal need for social contact by allowing the reader to get to know very different people (through their writing) without actually "knowing" them?