my new favorite song and why I am like a puppy dog

So, a couple of my classmates were talking about their Myers-Briggs profiles this summer, and I took a test. Apparently I am slightly extroverted (which explains a lot and gives me an excuse for my excessive talking and facebook-status-updating); but several of my friends were introverted. In this article: 'Caring for Your Introvert', a rather non-flattering view was given of extroverts:

Extroverts are easy to understand, because extroverts spend so much of their time working out who they are in voluable, and frequently inescapable, interaction with other people. They are as inscrutable as puppy dogs....

(Extroverts don't understand introverts as well as introverts understand extroverts, because introverts keep it to themselves.)

Ok so sometimes I actually do feel like a puppy dog. Again, it is not flattering to think of myself as tirelessly yapping on and on while my introverted friends listen. But the lack of mystery is only one of my shared puppy dog characteristics.

I am like a puppy dog because I feel like everybody should like me. I remember being in college, and meeting a girl in my speech class that had so much in common with me, but who shut herself off to me. And I didn't know why. Was it how I dressed, or how I acted? I don't know.

I also feel like everybody will like me in the future. Do you have a disagreement with me? Well, if we talk it over extensively, we will agree in the end. Or we will become friends again after I ask forgiveness for something.

But I have to learn that I can't come up to just anyone and 'wag my tail' and be 'man/woman's best friend.' There are some people that I won't understand why they are closed to me, or I will understand and I will be sad, because it is sin that I or they won't get rid of.

All this to say, that maybe in this life I won't be able to connect in the way I want to with all the Christians that I love and minister to. And Rich Mullins has a song about that.

Though we're strangers still I love you,

I love you more than the mask...

And Rich goes on to talk about the 'mystic sweet communion' held by believers.

I love Christians.

Disclaimer for this blog: I do listen to other music besides Rich. I just have bad luck w/ Indie music, popular music is all about love and sex and stuff which I have nothing intelligent to say about, and Christian music, well, ok. I gave Christian radio a chance this summer and it was pretty edifying to hear praise to God on my commute. But the only lyric I remember is "I'm not cool but that's ok, my God loves me anyway." As much as that speaks to me personally...

Oh, and "God bless the broken road..." in which I cried one day; but it must have been for an unrelated reason because I'm single and my "broken road" hasn't led me straight to "you" yet.

Back to Rich. Here is my new favorite song.

Leaving the Twin Cities

I'm going to get out some random journaling here, and maybe then I will be able to focus on my assignments.

Here are just a few recent summer discoveries sans music, grad school, or spiritual journey.

I love the treadmill.

I might, just might, have a flair for decorating. My friend Caroline took me to IKEA with her to pick out curtains, and I was just going along for the ride. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, I was asking her a million questions about her living room and creating different color schemes and talking about accent colors showing up in pottery. It was an experience that I will never forget. So far Caroline likes what we picked out but we will see.

Parks are cool. The twin cities have a lot of them, and I am sad to leave soon without having visited more of them.

Lakes are cool. The twin cities have a lot of them... etc. Last night some friends of my cousin took me sightseeing. Apparently there are four lakes in the actual city of Minneapolis. One of them had sailboats on it; the scene was beautiful. And there are biking and walking/jogging trails all around. This discovery on top of the fact that I've already had an incredibly beautiful experience visiting Lake Superior and sitting on a dock stargazing at Caroline's uncle's lake.

I love the treadmill. Somewhat contradictory to the 'parks are cool' statement, but that's why I'm kinda sad to leave. I want more chance to explore now that I'm a little more in shape thanks in part to, yes, the treadmill.

I am an ENFP. Never took the Myers-Briggs until my classmates were talking about it last week. The E is my excuse for even writing this dumb blog post.

I love my family. This is not really a discovery but it is the one good side to leaving the twin cities. I'm going on a mini vacation with my brothers, sisters-in-laws, and hopefully mom and sisters next week.

The 'Kardashians' are NOT cool. This is the one down side to the treadmill at my gym: E Entertainment. Why do we program celebrities acting hopelessly immature, and expect people to live nicely together? However:

I love the treadmill. The end.