Off The Map

"Blogthings" Chimes In

2006-09-02T17:02:00.000-04:00

From games played at Blogthings:

You Are An ISFJ - The Nurturer
You have a strong need to belong, and you very loyal.A good listener, you excell at helping others in practical ways.In your spare time, you enjoy engaging your senses through art, cooking, and music.You find it easy to be devoted to one person, who you do special things for.You would make a good interior designer, chef, or child psychologist.

In other news: I am also, apparently, a VW Bug Convertible. Which, okay. Maybe for a day.

Your Element Is Water
A bit of a contradiction, you can seem both lighthearted and serious. (Which, in my case, usually results in overwhelming bouts of sarcasm.) That's because you're good at going with the flow - but you also are deep.Highly intuitive, you tune in to people's emotions and moods easily.You are able to tap into deep emotional connections and connect with others.You prefer a smooth, harmonious life - but you can navigate your way around waves.You have a knack for getting people to get along and making life a little more peaceful.

None of which I'll disagree with, but what the hell is an ISFJ?

A little about me...

2006-09-02T13:14:00.000-04:00

I’m organized to a fault
And frankly, I’d like the rest of the world to be organized in exactly my way. :-P

I’m the most subtle control freak you’ll ever meet
But will avoid confrontations at all costs.

I am spiritual
But not particularly religious.

I think there are many paths to one God
And if everyone practiced the truest tenants at the heart of their religion, the world would be a much kinder place.

I grew up at the shore.
I still love to hear the ice cream truck bells ringing down the beach.

I live in the mountains.
I love to watch the storms scream across the valley.

I’m a mother
wife
daughter
granddaughter
sister
aunt
godmother

I’m a homebody and very territorial.
I’m shy but not unsociable.
I’m pretty opinionated but will typically defer rather than argue.
I'm generally a good mom, but some days I suck none-the-less.
I tend to put everyone else’s needs before my own.

I love the different moods of light.
I hate the chaos of noise.
I hate cold.
I am always cold.
I talk too much.
I pick up accents much more quickly than is reasonable.
I hate making phone calls.
I'm lazy.
I like cars more than I wish I did.
I love music.
I’m a mediocre pianist.
I’m a fair photographer.
I'm a compulsive cleaner.
I'm a good friend.
I will always pick chocolate.
I acquiesce far too easily.
I love to sleep.
I love to be so wrapped up in a book that I fight sleep.
I wish I loved to get up in the morning.
I am a sucker for baby animals.
I love the rain, in reasonable increments.
I love my kitchen more than anyone should love a room.

Favorite winter day: snowy with a get-out-of-school-free pass, kids and sleds on the hill in back, hot chocolate waiting, pot of soup simmering and loaf of bread rising.
Favorite summer day: poolside, iced tea, good book, kids splashing, winding down w/ margaritas & tapas by the grill.
Favorite thing to do with A: Explore. Consumate hiker.
Favorite thing to do with T: Talk. Amazing kid.
Favorite thing to do with G: Disappear on the motorcycle for awhile.
Favorite thing ever: The sound of my family laughing.

NEW ADDICTIONS

2006-08-31T12:09:00.000-04:00

I'll confess that I've started writing here for K. I enjoy her blog and the streams of banter in the comments. I've even started to venture into others that she recommends. "Write your own!" she encourages. She swears it'll be my new addiction, but I pray she's wrong. (She's already the catalyst for my dependence on email and more TV shows than I'll confess and frankly, I don't have brain cells for one more.) Yet somehow... I already feel the space calling my name. Blank pages to be filled with detailed accounts of daily musings that are suddenly post topics. Another way to organize my head, to breathe life into wisps of thought that would die quietly in the back corners of my mind simply for lack of anyone to share them with. (Which is probably what some of them should be allowed to do.) An invitation for banter of my own.

It's odd, the randomness of the thoughts you pull from an endless stream of consciousness and deem note worthy. What makes one more significant than the rest? I also find this to be true with Text Messaging, which K has just discovered (and has very quickly made me recant every threat I've issued to my teenage children about running up text charges on their cell phones). "Call them!" I tell the kids. But I finally understand that not all comments are call worthy, but some need sharing none-the-less. How lovely to share a very precise moment or thought as it unfolds, rather than wrapping it up and hoping you'll remember to open it later. How fun to be connected even when you've unplugged.

How addicting!

K, I suspect I'm LOST. :-P

AND SO IT BEGINS

2006-08-29T18:06:00.000-04:00

This site is born at the urging of a friend who, in a master stroke of self preservation, has decided I have too much time on my hands and need a broader outlet for my mindless meandering than her inbox will accommodate. You know who you are. :-P

Aside from being another way to keep in touch with clever friends, it is also possible that this site is born simply of the need for another audience to provide witness to my life. It is, at the very least, an acknowledgement that some of the most special relationships in my life exist in spaces “off the map”. They took on life in a space that transcends physical presence, and are therefore creative in the ways they find to stay connected. They live and breathe on their own terms; in some ways more intimate and daring than those influenced by interpreted expression and body language. I also like to believe that they are somewhat untouchable by events that might change them if they were born and raised in the physical world.

(Like moving my life four squares over on the US chess board. My local friends are staggering with the implication of such a move, but those who live with me here in words and snapshots are unphased. I need the steady image of heads nodding in unison as I reel off all the reasons such a move is, of course, THE thing to do. Not the horror in eyes of people who doubt I have a clue. My digital world is a much softer place than my real world, I think.)

Perhaps it is the very thought that some of my life will remain intact, completely unchanged by such an upheaval, that make these connections so powerful. This space is another way to connect and honor the ties to those that are not affected by the detours in the road. I can also dare to hope it will help heal those that are affected most.

Perhaps this is a way to build something that will not need to be dismantled, something not tied to a time and place.

Perhaps it’s simply a hiding place.

And perhaps it’s just another way to clog K’s inbox.