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Didn't I tell you I have all the answers?

If I receive one more email about my September 8th post (INTP personality type, or more interestingly, Architect Rational) about how a person in my position couldn't or shouldn't be an introvert . . .

Introverts have a bad rap and are assumed anti-social and unhappy. This is no truer than for extroverts. I do prefer smaller groups of people I know or one-on-one interactions. I value time alone and have never felt lonely on a quiet Friday or Saturday night by myself. However, I am social and maintain a large network of friends and past colleagues and don't consider myself particularly shy or uncomfortable around strangers. I am not bothered much by new situations with new people or public speaking (as long as I know my subject inside and out). But, I do need plenty of time to collect my thoughts and recharge between social engagements. We are a thoughtful bunch, afterall.

There are qualities in an introvert when it comes to courtesanship (if you can think of a better word, please let me know):

• While introverts avoid social situations with large numbers of people, they tend to enjoy intense, one-to-one or one-to-few social interactions.
• Extroverts may talk in a confused manner as they are always emotional and their emotion never being controlled. At the same time the introverts communication will be more clear and in polite manner.
• There's always something to talk about as 60 percent of the world’s best minds have been introverts,
• We're good listeners and we think before we speak.

Like much of the population I am most likely somewhere in the middle (an ambivert) but lean toward an introvert. An ambivert is someone normally comfortable with groups and enjoys social interaction, but also relishes time alone and away from the crowd.

Sorry, but I am not seeing new gentlemen until my move is complete. Though I might be able to squeeze in an old friend or two, my dance card is full!

Kate

I never know how to behave on this poignant day. If I don't laugh, indulge in guilty pleasures, tell a joke, go about my life as normal, I'm allowing "them" to win. But if I do these things, I have somehow forgotten what happened on this day five years ago, I'm not remembering those who have died or the survivors and I am not paying homage to the firefighters and police who lost their lives trying to save others. I feel guilty.

I am on the cusp of Gen X and Gen Y. I remember the Challenger and though it was a tragedy, it was not violence. The First Gulf War took place while I was in high school. I remember it, but not for what it really was. My memories are the memories of a mellow-dramatic teen, someone not taking into account the big picture, only worrying about the yellow ribbons and the musical tributes between classes, sports, boys and a part-time job. Growing up in an area far away from any major city and in a family where the television was not a focal point, I was generally sheltered from the woes of the world. Until 9/11 happened, wars and violence were history and what movies were made of.

I'm not going to write about remembering today or how we should never forget. Like a Hallmark condolences card, this sounds like something that should be said but in reality it's a mockery. Who could ever forget? I remember the weather, what I was wearing, what I was doing, the songs on the radio on the way to work that day, the confusion, the chaos, the days, weeks and months following. I lost co-workers and neighbors and I lost the ability to feel safe and secure. I now know that tragedy can strike at any moment and there is no such thing as job security. When I hear a plane flying too low or loudly over my head, I worry and remember the nights following the attack, the strange silence in the sky with the occasional boom of fighter jets. When I fly, I watch my surroundings and confidently pre-plan an intervention, if needed. When I hear the emergency broadcast system alarm, a fire alarm, a public announcement, I no longer ignore it. If I see or hear the date in any capacity, I feel solemn. I feel solemn for what I've lost, for what others have lost, for the victims and how they felt during the event or right before they died, for the changes in the world, for the future, for what might happen next. I wish a name had been created for the day instead of using the date.

In all honesty, besides a tinge of discomfort in not knowing how to react, I don't feel any different today than any day. I'm not sure if I haven't moved on, if it's effects will last a lifetime or if the media has kept that day in the forefront of my mind all this time. Time will tell. It's not as if I don't laugh or live my life, but I can't say there has been a day I haven't remembered September 11. Even though I'm supposed to be rah-rahing New York as one of the greatest cities in the world (and it truly is), I am looking forward to being in a completely different place where reminders aren't around every corner. My friends and family in other timezones don't seem to remember it like those of us over here. For many, it was a distant event, memorable for sure but not like here. Maybe I'm still naive in thinking that it won't happen elsewhere or that I will feel different, but somehow it still feels comforting.

I took the test twice, so it must be correct. Actually, I've taken it before but don't remember the outcome. For jobs, I've taken similar tests, apparently always passing with flying colors. They tell you there is no right or wrong answer, but I don't know . . . The math part is quite a bit off though. It's my worst subject. Now that I think about it, the reason I was never successful in mathematics (while in school) was because I was lazy. Most subjects came to me without effort and when I had to try, I was thrown off.

Your Type is INTP

Introverted
iNtuitive
Thinking
Perceiving

You are:
- slightly expressed introvert
- moderately expressed intuitive personality
- moderately expressed thinking personality
- moderately expressed perceiving personality

Introverted iNtuitive Thinking Perceiving by Joe Butt

INTPs are pensive, analytical folks. They may venture so deeply into thought as to seem detached, and often actually are oblivious to the world around them.

Precise about their descriptions, INTPs will often correct others (or be sorely tempted to) if the shade of meaning is a bit off. While annoying to the less concise, this fine discrimination ability gives INTPs so inclined a natural advantage as, for example, grammarians and linguists.

INTPs are relatively easy-going and amenable to most anything until their principles are violated, about which they may become outspoken and inflexible. They prefer to return, however, to a reserved albeit benign ambiance, not wishing to make spectacles of themselves.

A major concern for INTPs is the haunting sense of impending failure. They spend considerable time second-guessing themselves. The open-endedness (from Perceiving) conjoined with the need for competence (NT) is expressed in a sense that one's conclusion may well be met by an equally plausible alternative solution, and that, after all, one may very well have overlooked some critical bit of data. An INTP arguing a point may very well be trying to convince himself as much as his opposition. In this way INTPs are markedly different from INTJs, who are much more confident in their competence and willing to act on their convictions.

Mathematics is a system where many INTPs love to play, similarly languages, computer systems--potentially any complex system. INTPs thrive on systems. Understanding, exploring, mastering, and manipulating systems can overtake the INTP's conscious thought. This fascination for logical wholes and their inner workings is often expressed in a detachment from the environment, a concentration where time is forgotten and extraneous stimuli are held at bay. Accomplishing a task or goal with this knowledge is secondary.

INTPs and Logic -- One of the tipoffs that a person is an INTP is her obsession with logical correctness. Errors are not often due to poor logic -- apparent faux pas in reasoning are usually a result of overlooking details or of incorrect context.

Games NTs seem to especially enjoy include Risk, Bridge, Stratego, Chess, Go, and word games of all sorts. (I have an ENTP friend that loves Boggle and its variations. We've been known to sit in public places and pick a word off a menu or mayonnaise jar to see who can make the most words from its letters on a napkin in two minutes.) The INTP mailing list has enjoyed a round of Metaphore, virtual volleyball, and a few 'finish the series' brain teasers.

INTPs in the main are not clannish. The INTP mailing list, with a readership now in triple figures, was in its incipience fraught with all the difficulties of the Panama canal: we had trouble deciding on:

1) whether or not there should be such a group,
2) exactly what such a group should be called, and
3) which of us would have to take the responsibility for organization and maintenance of the aforesaid group/club/whatever.

A Functional Analysis by Joe Butt

Introverted Thinking

Introverted Thinking strives to extract the essence of the Idea from various externals that express it. In the extreme, this conceptual essence wants no form or substance to verify its reality. Knowing the Truth is enough for INTPs; the knowledge that this truth can (or could) be demonstrated is sufficient to satisfy the knower. "Cogito, ergo sum" expresses this prime directive quite succinctly.

In seasons of low energy level, or moments of single-minded concentration, the INTP is aloof and detached in a way that might even offend more relational or extraverted individuals.

Extraverted iNtuition

Intuition softens and socializes Thinking, fleshing out the brittle bones of truths formed in the dominant inner world. That which is is not negotiable; yet actual application diffuses knowledge to the extent that knowledge needs qualification and context to be of any consequence in this foreign world of substance.

If Thinking can desist, the INTP is free to brainstorm, calling up the perceptions of the unconscious (i.e., intuition) which are mirrored in patterns in the realm of matter, time and space. These perceptions, in the form of theories or hunches, must ultimately defer to the inner principles, or at least they must not negate them.

Intuition unchained gives birth to play. INTPs enjoy games, formal or impromptu, which coax analogies, patterns and theories from the unseen into spontaneous expression in a way that defies their own comprehension.

Introverted Sensing

Sensing is of a subjective, inner nature similar to that of the SJs. It supplies awareness of the forms of senses rather than the raw, analogic stimuli. Facts and figures seek to be cleaned up for comparison with an ever growing range of previously experienced input. Sensing assists intuition in sorting out and arranging information into the building blocks for Thinking's elaborate systems.

The internalizing nature of the INTP's Sensing function leaves a relative absence of environmental awareness (i.e., Extraverted Sensing), except when the environment is the current focus. Consciousness of such conditions is at best a sometime thing.

Extraverted Feeling

Feeling tends to be all or none. When present, the INTP's concern for others is intense, albeit naive. In a crisis, this feeling judgement is often silenced by the emergence of Thinking, who rushes in to avert chaos and destruction. In the absence of a clear principle, however, INTPs have been known to defer judgement and to allow decisions about interpersonal matters to be left hanging lest someone be offended or somehow injured. INTPs are at risk of being swept away by the shadow in the form of their own strong emotional impulses.

Famous INTPs: Socrates, Rene Descartes, Blaise Pascal, Sir Isaac Newton, William Harvey (pioneer in human physiology), C. G. Jung (Freudian defector, author of Psychological Types, etc.), William James, Albert Einstein, Tom Foley (Speaker of the House--U.S. House of Representatives), Henri Mancini, Bob Newhart, Jeff Bingaman, U.S. Senator (D.--NM), Rick Moranis (Honey, I Shrunk The Kids), Midori Ito (ice skater, Olympic silver medalist), Tiger Woods

U.S. Presidents: James Madison, John Quincy Adams, John Tyler, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford

Fictional INTPs: Tom and Fiona (Four Weddings and a Funeral), Dr. Susan Lewis (ER), Filburt (Rocko's Modern Life)

What are you?

A bit about me . . .

I am unafraid of pitbulls and rottweilers.
But cats freak me out.

I don't really like to shop for clothes.
But I love to shop for food.

My biggest vice: I am a beauty product junkie.

When I was 19 I obtained a fake ID.
I was hardly ever carded.
Now I'm carded most of the time.

I don't think Jon Stewart is all that funny.
But I think he's hot.

I secretly watch South Park.
And 7th Heaven.

One drink will give me a little hangover.
So I rarely drink.
One piece of chocolate molten lava cake with vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream will make me ill for two days.
I think it's totally worth it.

People tell me I drive like a maniac.
My driving record is spotless.
So there.

I was the tallest kid in my class until junior high.
Because of this, I have always felt tall, even though I'm not.
Still, I'm reluctant to shop in the petite section.

I think wine is overrated.

I hate to fly.
I think it's insane.
But I do it anyway.
With a smile.

Sometimes I think I can really sing.
Until I turn down the volume.

I eat asparagus with my fingers.
Emily Post says it's perfectly acceptable.

I won a big spelling bee when I was 12.
I'm not sure what happened since then.

I made out with a celebrity once.
Before he was much of a celebrity.
He was drunk.
I won't tell you who it was.
But you would be impressed.

I've been told several times that I remind people of Natalie Maines (the newer, thinner version -- I've been reminded to say), the lead singer of The Dixie Chicks. They say we look alike in many ways, at least resembling one another. I'm also told our personalities seem similar, we're both vertically challenged, a little fiesty and unafraid of the truth.

I'll take it as a compliment.

Their Bush-Bashing was such a joke. I won't go into it because I'm not in the mood for a political debate. I'll just say that if you're going to support the president and the current government, then you should probably go ahead and support The First Amendment of the United States Constitution, too.

I happen to adore The Dixie Chicks, I always have. They are fine musicians, excellent song writers, are genuinely talented and not afraid to step outside the box. Their albums are hardly edited and they play their own musical instruments. They've withstood the test of time, crossed musical borders from folk, to country, to pop and rock. Though they probably won't have NASCAR, Wal-Mart or Entemans as concert sponsors anytime soon, I think they'll be just fine.

This video is excellent (just hit the play button on the left). It reminds me of the pages of Highlight Magazine where as a kid I had to find all of the different objects hidden in the picture. Note the use of color (black and white and occasionally, red), the reference to The Salem Witch Trials, the paint on the hands, etc.