+1

I think Christoph Niemann needs to be added to my list of people who inspire me. He sketched his NY Marathon experience while he ran it. 


His I Lego NY book is awe-inspiring.


And he did an illustration for the last page of the NY Times Magazine back in 2000 that I have kept for 11 years. It currently graces my refrigerator. I really loved it as a college freshman but it took on another level of poignancy once the twin towers fell down. 


Love that guy.

Testing Testing 1-2-3

Do you know your Kolbe Score? It's a kind of personality test based on your instincts. I'm a fact-finding quick-start. Or a quick-starting fact-finder. Probably neither of those are the appropriate nomenclature. Anyway, it's a fascinating and useful personality test. Will totally explain a lot of the reasons why you work well with certain people, why others frustrate the heck out of you. My sister-in-law is a Kolbe expert which is so cool because sometimes I'll tell her a story and she can just nod knowingly. My dad is a crazy fact-finder like me. My husband, mom, and brother are crazy quick-starts. They like to tease me because I am such a predictable fact-finder. Example: when I wanted to start playing soccer in middle school I went to Barnes & Noble and bought a book about it. That's just how I roll. I just came across a quotation by Dave Eggers that sums up my driving, unconscious principle: "All I ever wanted was to know what to do."


Where my quick-starting comes in: I have an overactive mind that overproduces ideas and I excite easily, so I tend to get a lot of things going (see Pop Ups, Full Time Job, Motherhood, Running, Craft pursuits, Blog Posting, etc). Before I take action I do tons of research, but once I get started I throw it all out the window and improvise. I am the worst person in the world at following directions. I swear I become illiterate when following directions. I can't see them. It's bizarre.


I also like the Carl Jung typology test (condensed Meyers-Briggs). The minister who married us had us take it before we went to our pre-marriage counselling. It was a really great way to get the conversations going about what will keep tripping us, and conversely, where our magic lives. I'm a ENFJ - Extroverted Intuitive Feeling Judger AKA The Benevelont Pedagogue. (Seriously, who makes these names up?!) Basically I have instinctual spidey senses, I like to stay late at parties (which will forever annoy the introverted Mr. SevPrez) and I only play to win (that's the J). People who play for fun make me CRAZY! I am a get to the point type of gal. But enough about me. What about you? Go take the tests and we'll talk.