things to make you feel smart

i'm interested in psychology.  sometimes i just don't understand people (thanks to being an intj), but i WANT to understand.  so i read a lot of books and articles on psychology and try to understand better.  i read this book called 'games people play' to help understand people (and myself) better.  its actually a REALLY difficult read, imho, but these videos do a really good job of summarizing it.



and video 2 is here



and finally this is a summary of what to do / how to change



so what do you think of these videos?  are they interesting to you?  not?  can you see how you may be playing these games in your real life?

dream apartment

we all know i love bright pink.  i'm not really a pale pink person.  anyway, i LOVE this room.  how cool is it??  i wonder if i would ever have guts to do that... i bet that would secure my lifelong singledom if i did.  ha

found here in this cool post about color.  i'm not a huge yellow fan, BUT i love the layout and the "bookshelf" of this room.  imagine it in PINK.  how cool would that be??

things that are making me happy

while i was home, i went to a blenders concert.  i can't even begin to explain everything about the blenders. they are a group from fargo.  they were originally a cappella.  acapela.  no.  acappella?  you get what i'm saying.  back in the day when where in the world was carmen san diego rockapella was big, they were big in the midwest.  one of them (ryan) was my dance teacher in 4th grade and i would go see them wherever i could.  i LOVED them.  anyway, when i was home i saw them.  it was cool.  it was a bit more religious than my preference.  but it brought back a lot of memories and was fun.  i went with my parents and we had a nice date.

here is a video of them:


what is actually making me happy, though, is that my little brother went, too.  (with someone else) and he then sent them an email and they wrote back!  both emails are making me super happy.  so here they are:

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: The Blenders <mail@theblenders.com>
Date: Tue, Dec 27, 2011 at 8:33 AM
Subject: Re: Hey fellas
To:

Hey,

Thanks so much for the kind words. We glad you enjoyed the show. And all of those songs you mentioned have a very special place on our hearts. Don't know if we'll be performing them anytime soon, but nice to know people are still enjoying them.

Thanks again and happy new year!

The Blenders

On Dec 15, 2011, at 11:26 PM, wrote:

Dear Blenders,

I literally just got home from your Chirstmas show over at the Fargo Theater. It was fantastic!

I'm writing you because I started listening to you guys back when i was 8 or so (maybe I was 10). You guys are an absolutely amazing harmonizing group and I love it. BUT.... I've never had the opportunity to see a concert of yours where you played all your old songs that I thought were (and still are) amazing; You, The Girl was Mine, Gray Matters, Don't Worry, Be Happy, Charlie Anyboy, Summer Sounds, Tasty Tasty Tasty, 60 Minute Man, Get Ready, Together, Drive By... I mean all of these are just awesome.

If you guys are ever going to do a concert featuring songs from your first couple albums, I will do anything I can do to see it. I think it could be a great show to have in Fargo somewhere.
(I hope it happens soon because you guys had mentioned that you almost didn't do the Christmas show this year)

Happy Holidays,

i love this picture

from here.

BREAKING NEWS

this just in  at 7:25pm ET in the city of Boston, MA, *I* have changed the path of my life forever!

its official!  i am a minister.  no joke.

Click here to get ordained.

i am a minister in the Universal Life Church which has two tenets:

To promote freedom of religion
To do what is right.

i like those!

i may have to rethink my thoughts on religion.  this is great!

two times the fun

this story on npr was really really interesting for me today.  check it out here.  its about how 45% of our day is completed out of habit (i'm totally paraphrasing) and if you change your environment or the way you do something, it should help to change the habit (and thereby help you to keep new year's resolutions).  thats a link to the written story, but you can also listen to it from that link...

the more you know....

ding ding dong diiiing...

so this is really interesting to me.  i am the first to admit - FIRST - that i don't get religion.  it just makes no sense to me.  people who believe in things that they cannot see and touch and prove scientifically... i just can't do it.  i guess i dont have faith.  there is not a part of my being that can think "THEORETICALLY" such and such... and sometimes that sucks.  because a lot of people get comfort out of religion.  believing there is something higher or more important.  i never see it.  it just makes no sense to me.  IF there is a higher being, then WHY do bad things happen?  WHY this? WHY that?  it just makes no sense.  and the whole "he's trying to test you" argument... really?  really?  REALLY??  i mean... if thats the answer, then i dont want to believe in someone/thing/whatever who/that WON'T make things right for good people.  THAT actually gives me comfort and because of that i am confident and secure in my beliefs.  anyway, this was not meant to be a religious rant.  all i wanted to say was i just don't get it.  its a character flaw.  i'm sorry (not really).  it's also one i'm not going to be working on anytime soon.

in any case, this video is REALLY INTERESTING to me.  like i said, i don't understand religion.  i have never read the bible or the koran or whatever else there is out there.  i don't care to.  but when i hear things like this, it makes me think.



what did you think of that?

follow up

player you were right - apparently fargo WAS on the list last year (at #2).  see here for an article about fargo not being on the list anymore.  but i dont understand why fargo fell completely off the list...

things that are making me happy

i'll just make a list.

1. portlandia is coming back!!!  this show is so subtle with their humor - i love it.  and if you ever want to make fun of me or other left-leaning people, you should totally watch this show.  on ifc.
2. i loved this article about love actually. it made me laugh. i love humorous writing.
3. and i love christmas movies.
4. obviously everything rg related
5. which leads you to this 
6. this little girl is so cute.  from here.  i'm sure all my friends raising kids who are fearful of them being "boxed" into a sex will love this.

1. motivation for me to keep going in yoga
2. i was very happy (/sad) to see jonathan brandis on this.  the rest were good old fun of 90s heartthrobs.  is that one word?  heart throb.  heartthrob. found here 
3. and here is a video my brothers made

dead tired

wasted day.  pity to start the new year like this.  oops!  its 730pm and i have done a whole lot of nothing today.  well, i did go out for brunch at metropolis (never been - pretty good, actually) with kc and their friends.  that was nice.  prior to that, i was in bed until 1130 or something.  elaine called and we chatted for a while.  i played some settlers on my ipad.  a whole lot of nothing, like i said.  after that, i came home and was supposed to meet my friend emily on her way to the airport, but she ended up not having time, so i have basically been half sleeping / half watching tv for the last few hours.  i need to get off my ass and do some things.  there are actually a lot of things to do.  i have to clean my closet and unpack (how long have i been saying this?? at least a month) and do expense reports and finish watching the increasingly bad decisions of todd margaret.  and i think i'll do some yoga since i'm supposed to do that basically every day.

sigh.  tomorrow i'm going to a massage at 8am - woo hoo!  and then i think i'll do my expense reports because a and d come over at 3 to hang with me.  woo hoo.  so thats the day tomorrow.  then this week will be super busy at work.  i have all day meetings multiple days and then events in the evening.  it will be exhausting.

i'm already tired.

this is an interesting story.  i dont think i am counted.