This photo was taken at the San Francisco LGBT Pride Celebration on Sunday.
Me: Hey, so how’s it look? Did it turn out okay?
Photographer: [looking at the photo] I guess this works.
He never showed it to us until now. It made my sister and I laugh and cry for 5+ minutes. It was awesome.
She’s okay now. It was just a scare.
So a family emergency this morning is throwing the weekend off balance. Something happened in the early morning with the mom. While it was lucky that both my sister and I were at home, we were asleep and basically unaware until within the same house, I received a phone call from her. It’s not even that big of a house, but my bedroom is in the very front of the house while hers is in the very back. My sister is in the next room, but sleeps like a log.
Nothing serious, thankfully. We visited the ER just in case.
We have to face reality. We’re not children anymore. Our parents are not staying young forever. People get old, as do their bodies. We need to be prepared for this.
My latest obsession is with Katy Perry. She has an incredible voice, and her songs crack me up. The only bit that throws me off is all the Youtube videos of little girls and boys lip synching to her songs… Not exactly appropriate.
I Kissed A Girl
Ur So Gay
It was beautiful out last weekend. Now it’s a little bit of gray… This photo was taken at the Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building by the Embarcadero. It was a beautiful, lazy day.
The other day, a friend of mine linked to an Enneagram test online. I ended up with results for a 4w5. From Enneagram.Net: If you are the Enneagram Type 4 with the 5 Wing, you desire to be avant-garde. You see yourself as original, sincere, mysterious, subtle, artistic and independent.
Enneagram Type 4: Individualist, Artist, Over-Analyzer, Mystic or Melodramatic Elitist
Overview
You want to be gifted, intuitive, original and unique. More importantly, you want to be passionate, true to your feelings and uniquely authentic. You see yourself as sensitive, expressive and spiritual. You would like others to see you as idealistic, emotionally deep and compassionate. Your idealized image is that you are accomplished and special.
Motivated by the need to understand and to be understood, you desire experiences that are rich with feeling and meaning. You may find it easier to deal with painful emotions than to deal with the tedium of daily routine. You have the temperament of an artist and long to freely express yourself. You feel your emotions deeply and are not afraid to go emotionally where others fear to tread. This includes having an exquisite, intuitive ability to distinguish between subtle emotions that others often miss. Painfully self-conscious, you are often overly focused on how different you are from others. A true humanitarian, you have a natural passion for protest. At times intense and contrary, you are not afraid to think for yourself and voice your point of view.
Nostalgic by nature, you often focus on past experiences. This can lead you to deeper insights or to downward spirals of melancholy and/or painful unresolved feelings. Craving ideal circumstances or love, you often ruminate on what is missing and perceived to be important. Your tendency towards self-absorption is both an asset and liability. It can lead you to deep personal insights that can benefit everyone while feeding your self-deprecating sense of humor; but it can also make you appear to be self centered and disinterested in others. Feeling your own inner world so powerfully, it is good to remember that others’ experiences are just as real for them as yours are for you.
When you step out of the river of your emotions, you can bring forth your many talents into the world and express them in a way that is extraordinary and original. You are like the lotus flower growing in the mud that is able to transform emotionally painful experiences into fertilizer for personal growth. Attuned to feelings, you have an uncommon sensitivity when it comes to dealing with suffering. You are not afraid to hear about someone else’s troubles, and you can be a great friend to anyone in emotional pain.
Need
You need be seen as artistic, gifted and accomplished. You focus on your individuality and on carving your own distinct image. You need to express your deep feelings and want others to validate your emotions. Whether you are organizing your living space to reflect your refined tastes or engaging in an artistic pursuit, it is essential for your sense of well being that you express your creativity.
Avoid
You avoid feeling lost, disorientated and without personal significance, meaning or direction. You also avoid appearing inadequate, defective or flawed. Most importantly, you have a hidden fear of being emotionally cut off and abandoned. You avoid affectation and anything dull, ordinary, ugly, vulgar, inauthentic or distasteful.
Virtue
Your greatest strengths are your deep intuition, creativity and ability to transform painful life experiences into opportunities for profound growth and healing. This enables you to identify what is missing, and like a knight on a quest, you search until you find it or create it. Astute about human nature, you believe that everyone is an individual and that all emotions have value. Profound and insightful, you have an uncanny knack for transforming the dull and the ordinary into the exciting and extraordinary. You are able to see and appreciate what is truly unique, special and rare.
Vice
Your vice is envy. You’re always worrying that others may have gotten a better deal than you or are being recognized while your talents are being overlooked. Hyper-sensitive, you can be moody, haughty and overly emotional, always seeing the grass as greener and the glass half empty. You can be self-absorbed and temperamental, and tend to over-personalize all life experiences and interactions with others. Capable of being emotionally manipulating or overly critical, you are often unaware of the impact your emotional nature has on others. Remember, that you are like a mystic who sees “the river beneath the river” and are not just the swamp of your emotions.
Attention
Your attention goes to searching for meaning, noticing what is missing, feelings of melancholy and nostalgia, and longing for the unavailable. You appreciate the special, the humane and the beautiful. You like to put your personal signature on everything that you do. Your refined tastes make you a great critic and someone who appreciates the truly exceptional.
Spiritual Path
Your spiritual journey is to connect to original source and create true meaning. Spiritual growth will come to you when you are able to balance your emotional nature with temperance and equanimity. Keep your powerful emotions in check, and you can create the kind of life that you want.
Mantra
Don’t dwell on the past, and remember to enjoy the pleasure that can be found in each moment. When you have gratitude and the courage to move through your fear of rejection and share your talents, others will honor your original and creative contributions.
Just a reminder for myself. From Zen Habits on living a life of gratitude:
* Spend three minutes every morning writing down a few things you are grateful for that day. [If I remember to update my planner on a daily basis, I could easily incorporate this into my day. Now to actually use the planner, instead of just carrying it around.]
* Devote a full morning or afternoon to composing a more detailed gratefulness list. (One tip: think both about what you are grateful for and also how you can show that gratitude). [If the first is accomplished, this should not be a problem.]
* Make it a habit to encourage at least one person every day. [I'd really love to be able to do this. It might be the same person each day, considering I don't run into very many people on a daily basis.]
* Review your finances to make sure they are in order and aligned with your values. [Uh oh, totally HAVE to do this. Recently, I've become a big spender, spending mostly on booze, food, and entertainment. Not good.]
* Plan something fun, like a trip to somewhere you’ve never been. [In time!]
* For one day (or more), say something positive to every person you meet. [I would really love to do this also.]
From Freewill Astrology:
Welcome to Part Two of your outlook for the second half of 2008, Libra. We’re checking up on how you’re progressing with the challenges you were given near the end of last year. I trust that by now you have begun to make major renovations in the foundations of your world. I hope you have been carrying out brave changes that will anchor and stabilize your efforts for years to come. By January 1, 2009, I expect that you will be standing in your place of power and fighting for your dreams with more suppleness and stamina than you’ve ever summoned.
I really hope so.
My biggest challenge this year has been the CPA exams. It has been a challenge for the last few years, but the pressure is really on now. Promotions and so forth. It seems like once I get myself over this particular hump, everything else will fall into place.
Priorities.
Priorities.
Happiness.
I have been working out of coffee shops for the last few weeks, off and on. I think they are ruining my perspective on work. I guess I’d like to someday find a job that I can telecommute from. That would be lovely. Some day. Not today.
We went to a house party the other night. The guy throwing the party rolls around in $$ at the age of just 27. He owns his own business, and it is all well-deserved. Apparently, he decided to go into consulting one day, offering to work for free when they laughed at him for not having enough experience. He made his way up the ladder and then ran off and started his own business. The rest is history, and I think he’s looking to retire at the ripe age of 30-something.
I often wonder why I don’t have that entrepreneurial spirit in me. I meet enough folks who do. Is it the distractions in my life? Is it just not me? I know that whatever the case may be, I’ll one day realize that I’m exactly where I was intended to be. And if there was something else, something more, it would come along too… With a bit of effort.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep taking my baby steps. *sigh*
