me

Advanced Global Personality Test Results Extraversion |||||||||||| 50% Stability |||||| 30% Orderliness |||||||||||||| 56% Accommodation |||||||||||||||| 70% Interdependence |||||||||||||| 56% Intellectual |||||||||||| 50% Mystical |||||||||||||| 56% Artistic |||||| 23% Religious |||||||||||||||| 63% Hedonism |||||||||| 36% Materialism |||||||||||||||| 63% Narcissism |||||||||||||||| 70% Adventurousness |||||||||||||||||| 76% Work ethic |||||||||||||||| 70% Self absorbed |||||||||||| 50% Conflict seeking |||||| 30% Need to dominate |||||||||||||||||| 76% Romantic |||||||||||||||| 63% Avoidant |||||| 30% Anti-authority |||||||||||||| 56% Wealth |||||||||||||| 56% Dependency |||||||||||||||| 70% Change averse |||||||||||| 50% Cautiousness |||||||||||||||| 70% Individuality |||||||||||| 43% Sexuality |||||||||||||| 56% Peter pan complex |||||||||||||||| 63% Physical security |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Physical Fitness |||||||||||| 44% Histrionic |||||||||||||| 56% Paranoia |||||||||||||||||| 76% Vanity |||||||||||||||||| 76% Hypersensitivity |||||||||||||||||||| 90% Female cliche |||||||||||||||| 70%

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Stability results were low which suggests you are very worrying, insecure, emotional, and anxious.

Orderliness results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly organized, reliable, neat, and hard working at the expense of flexibility, efficiency, spontaneity, and fun.

Extraversion results were medium which suggests you are moderately talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting.

trait snapshot:
paranoid tendencies, irritable, anxious, fidgety, dependent, worrying, emotionally sensitive, prone to regret, depressed, second guesses self, somewhat fragile, dislikes change, prefers organized to unpredictable, suspicious, phobic, craves attention, not a risk taker, low self control, very sensitive to criticism, unadventurous, does not make friends easily, defensive, obsessive, low self esteem

thanksgiving, parts 1 and 2

guddu and i celebrated thanksgiving in two parts: day and night.

day thanksgiving: we went to c'ville and were welcomed by holly and deepak and a traditional turkey feast (see the turkey!)-- mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, corn pudding, a big ol' turkey neck, pumpkin pie, green beans, salad, corn muffins, jello and cool whip, stuffing... and i think that was it. after lunch we played a mean game of scrabble (no Hindi words allowed! so, guddu, you can't spell "bangla"...), and i lost by one point despite 59-pt "query" i had laid down. holly was the true winner that day-- of both the kitchen and the scrabble. besides holly and deepak, we also lunched with sibi and pushpa (seated above).

at night we headed to my aunt's house for thanksgiving part 2. my uncle ned was in a talkative mood and told some entertaining stories about his dating years. he dated my aunt for only 6 months or so before marrying, and they will celebrate 38 years this weekend.

my cousin thomas, a rat at VMI, also shared all the rules and regulations of how he has to live. VMI is pretty strict and they only get 6-7 hrs of sleep a night. my uncles, VMI alumni, also shared their stories of "break out" (when the rats fight their way to the 4th floor of the barracks) and of "bloody sunday" (paddling rats until they bleed-- this is no longer practiced i am told).

i woke up this morning and when i went outside, it was instantly christmastime-- christmas music, christmas scents, shopping, etc. i blew $35 at bath & body works, but it was all stuff i REALLY NEEDED.

one awesome weekend

well, my mood is closely tied to my blood sugar. now knowing this, hopefully future mood swings can be averted.

saturday was my 25th. themes were thai and coldstone creamery. here's a list of some of my cool birthday gifts (not in any particular order):

1. a Sikh Kirpan
2. a black iPod nano
3. a squishy pillow that is very hard to let go
4. roses- orange and yellow
5. crab cake brunch
6. cash
7. munich pants
8. drunken noodles
9. cookies and cream
10. a viewing of the 40-yr-old virgin
    

one awful week

this has been a trying week:

1. major body aches
2. blood sugar woes
3. too tight pants
4. deadlines upon deadlines
5. TWO presentations to classes

tomorrow is my 25th birthday. this morning i forgot about that.

sub 40

no, that is not a reference to this mornings temperature, but to my race time!
NTELOS 8K-- i ran 39:47, not too shabby? that's about 8 min miles. i am very surprised considering the shape i am in. lucy beat me by 16 seconds, coming in at 39:31.

today, regis & kelley, ellen, dr. phil, oprah, ent. 2nite...

i have not been able to pull myself away from the TV this past week. i have so much work to do, so i really shouldn't be watching anything. but i feel a lot less stressed than i normally would, so i think the TV is the way to put the work out of my mind and relax a bit. today, however, i need to make sure the TV stays OFF. it is saturday, and i'm not into sports, so i should be ok.

i have to leave in an hour to go meet lucy for the NTELOS 8K. i have barely been able to run regularly since coming back from india because of my hip and then i pulled a muscle in my calf. i have very low expectations for this race also bc it is 40 degrees outside-- a bit too chilly for me. i think i will wear running tights and a long sleeve cotton t-shirt. i'm also worried i did not eat a good breakfast: pumpkin bread, soy milk, blueberries and cottage cheese.

i'd really like to do some more races this year. but it is such a fine balance between running and injury lately. i might shell out a few bucks and go to a sports medicine clinic to finally get this hip issue corrected. after this race i am going to get on track with a steady program-- i'm turning into a couch/cubicle potato.

i voted touch screen

i could live with this weather year-round. i was driving home today, and feeling quite crushed by the massive amount of work i must complete in the next 2 weeks, and then i felt how warm the sun was and saw all the beautiful leaves on the ride home. so, for an hour, all was ok.

guddu says he saw a mouse in our computer room. i thought the mouse would have been in the kitchen, seeing that is the room with the most food on the floor. another alternative-- he might just be trying to pull a desperate housewives trick, like how lynette planted a rat in their kitchen so the husband would take more responisibility cleaning.

last weekend guddu and i saw "beauty shop" and "guess who?". guddu's favorite actors are cedric the entertainer, ice cube, bernie mac, anyone on seinfeld, and anyone impersonating a politician (especially whoever does bush on SNL).

on the injury report-- i am getting old and STIFF. i think hours in the car and at the computer are to blame. i pulled a muscle saturday, and it is finally starting to feel ok (thank god bc the NTELOS 8K is saturday).

oh, and i voted today. mainly democratic. i'll be interested to see how this one turns out.

crash course in Pakistan

correction on yesterday's announcement: bowa's good name does not include "gerald"

i am getting kind of worried about the next month... i have a lot of schoolwork to do, and then i found out yesterday that i have a telephone interview to assess my urdu capabilities before the 30th. i mean, its good they want to interview me, but now i need to prepare.

my problem is not that i can not speak, it is that i too often use a sanskrit based word instead of the urdu word. see, urdu and hindi are basically the same language at the low proficiency, but once you start talking about fancy topics, there are fancy urdu words. soooooo, i will prepare by listening to bbcUrdu everyday to increase my listening comprehension, talking to Guddu only in Hindi to build up my "flow", and by reviewing common Urdu words. I will say "talim" instead of "padhai", "walid" instead of "pita" etc. i need to beef up my knowledge of current events in Pakistan-- earthquake, "dictatorship", Kashmir, f-16 purchases, hunt for osama, women's rights, capsized ferries, etc.

Pakistan is developing some posh areas. How about a flat at the CreekMarina?

south asia is a very interesting place, linguistically speaking. the majority of the population is tri-lingual, knowing some English, their mother-tongue, and Hindi/urdu. the result is that no one has a high proficiency in any language. even in the US, most americans probably barely reach the level 4 out of 5 on the government's scale. to reach a 5, you need to be able to speak confidently, using SAT words, and maintaining a constant stream of thought. people shouldn't feel too bad, i suppose. President Bush, afterall, probably would only score a 3+ in English.

It's a boy!

Natalie called us at barely 6am this morning, sounding her usual, energetic self. Confused, I thought, "she couldn't have just had the baby," but she had given birth 3 hours before. the baby came so quick there was no time for meds and the doctor almost didn't make it!

in india, people are rarely called by their names. we will call the baby "bowa" (pronounced like boa constrictor but with more "w") or "beta"-- words meaning "son" in bhojpuri and hindi, respectively. but the kids name is a mouthful: Arjun Michael Gerald. 11:52pm Nov 3rd, 6lbs 11oz. very "long feet" and dangerously long nails that need to be clipped.

We were so excited so early in the morning-- it was like Christmas kind of.

i think i'll go surf the babyGap website.

dark and then light

wow, the past few days have been quite festive.

Saturday afternoon my 2nd cousin (?) got married at a gorgeous house about an hour into the country. Guddu got tipsy off of one screwdriver, and we danced until the band had to quit. I am still quite sore.

Sunday we went to an informal BBQ in charlottesville. I guess you could say it was an Indian BBQ. This one Indian guy there ate 2 large chicken legs and AT LEAST 3 BIG SAUSAGES. i was kind of amazed to see an Indian eating pork, especially that much. After grilling and eating dinner we retreated to Holly and Deepak's apt for chai and conversation before returning home. I miss charlottesville a lot.

And then Halloween came and went. We carved a pumpkin. I was quite proud of it until I saw how all the other neighbors each had 3 or 4 very elaborately carved jack-o-lanterns (they must've all cheated and used kits). The best costume I saw: Napolean Dynamite. This kid was so happy that I instantly recognized who he was dressed as.

So then Diwali happened. I wanted to make this holiday special-- I drew rangoli designs in chalk on our walkway, lit tea lights for diyas, made mushroom and onion pakoras and aloo dum, bought laddoos and did puja, cleaned the house, etc. This would have been so much more fun if there had been a lot of family present-- it was kind of like celebrating Christmas in isolation. but it was better than not celebrating at all. hopefully, the goddess of wealth laxmi-ji, will visit our home this year.

so i was gonna make puris (deep fried bread) last night, but some bugs decided to take residence in the aata (flour). We have a lot of bugs in our rice, but I usually just wash them out. it is good i didn't make puris because after the pakoras and aloo dum, we did not need any more super-heavy food.