Busy, Busy Busy and My Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Personality test results

Do you blog as things happen, do you wait till the end of the day or do you wait a couple of days to summarise things in your head before writing it.
I guess I don't do any of the above. It's been very busy round here, so I am going to summarise in this post and hopefully elaborate in posts to come:

1) My Paper is getting published! In the Journal of Electrostatics 2009, entitled The effects of electrostatically charged particles on RFID tags.

2) I am now going to Germany over the summer to carry out my Master's thesis/Project. This will be at Nuremberg where I will be working on a project involving a control system for a self balancing vehicle.

3) I figured I needed a laptop for use in Germany would come in handy and was, after much research, about to buy a used Dell D420 off ebay. Would have paid less than £200 and I had a slim DVD Combo drive around so I bought an enclosure which would have gone well with it. However my mum convinced me to buy a new laptop (with the help of some cash). I received my new Toshiba Satellite Pro U400-15l yesterday. Review to come soon. Thanks mum.

And now to the heart of this post.
Last Friday I took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (mbti) at the University's Careers Services. This is a psychometric assessment which is more commonly known as a personality test. I do not really understand how they work - I'm no psychologist.
The workshop involved completing the mbti questionnaire; using a worksheet to determine my best fit and finally comparing the two and a short paragraph on each describing characteristics frequently associated with each type.

And now straight to the results:

My Initial self-assessment of Type: ISFP
Description from given sheet: Quiet, friendly, sensitive and kind. Enjoy the here and now, what's going on around them. Like to have their own space and to work within their own time. Loyal and committed to their values and to people who are important to them. Dislike disagreements and conflicts, do not force their opinions or values on others.

My reported Indicator type: ENFJ
Description from given sheet: Warm, empathetic, responsive and responsible. Highly attuned to emotions, needs and motivation of others. Find potential in everyone, want to help others fulfil their potential. May act as catalysts for individual and group growth. Loyal, responsive to praise and criticism. Sociable, facilitated others in a group and provide inspiring leadership.

Ah, but which one is it? As you can see I only have one letter in common between the self assessed and reported types - F.
From the short description of the two types I could see parts from both which apply to me.
The first course of advice in this case is to seek out a more in depth analysis of the types. These are easily found online from a search of the letters.
For example personalitypage.com is the first google result and provides descriptors in a concise manner.
So for ISFP : http://www.personalitypage.com/ISFP.html
and for ENFJ: http://www.personalitypage.com/ENFJ.html

While reading the two more in depth analyses, I found it very eerie how one definitely applied more, it was like it knew me and that was ENFJ. There were things like:
They get under people's skins and get the reactions that they are seeking
ENFJ's are so externally focused that it's especially important for them to spend time alone
ENFJs tend to define their life's direction and priorities according to other people's needs
etc etc
There are so many situations and aspects of my life where these apply. personalitypage.com also provided other aspects such as careers and love etc in relation to the type. Worth a visit.

I realise this is a newish blog and anybody who probably stumbles across it won't know me and won't be able to see if this ENFJ applies and maybe even those who do know me won't see the ENFJ, but this is mostly a self assessed Best-Fit type, you decide which type fits you. For those who want to do a self assessment try http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html
However, I know a certain Miss Kashmiri who would be interested in this, this post is for her.

This lazy feeling...

I am in this unbearable lazy mood today.
I came home early from university to take Molly out as Mum's not home and Arti is too lazy and with her Molly would only be out for five minutes.
I had all the good intentions of doing my French homework, for this evening. I recently started a French evening class to regain my competitiveness in the language. It's amazing how much you forget when you don't actually apply the language at all.
I did no homework and did not go. I did not cook either and ended up eating filled wraps. Now I bring myself to write a bit and then I think I'll watch a movie before bed. Been so lazy this week.
After my good stint at the gym on Monday, I had a good feeling for this week. True enough, yesterday we had a surprise visit from Sheila, Hema, Allan and co from Glasgow. Even though they only live close, I had not seen them in over a year. This would normally be the point where I would post a picture but sadly I don't have any. The closest I can come to is from Diwali, two years ago, which was probably the last time they I saw Ameeta as well. First up we have Ameeta and Alan, its cliche but a great couple:
Yes I do still wear my bandannas every so often, only when I've left it late to get a haircut - which is every month really.

One plus - I find I really like taking photographs. There's this thrill you get because you don't really know how the photo is going to turnout and then the really good ones give you this warm pleasing glow and you want to show the photos off. I only have a cheapo digital camera and not much time or locations, you should recognise these next scenes;


I love this view. It's slightly different everyday and I have been looking out on it for over six years.
Now take Molly out, movie, bed. Bliss.

Gym and Steve Williams and Daniel Sloss, Comedy at the Union

I finally managed to go to the gym today. No excuses even if it was pretty busy, I went in and spent about an hour. It was good, the adrenaline rush from a good workout is something I forgot the feel of.
However I'm still slightly jealous of my cousin and bro in Mauritius who apparently attend a gym for about Rs500 (About £10) a month which includes a trainer, diet plans and build up drinks. Sure the surroundings are probably not great and you won't get the TVs on every inch and all equipments like you do here but the service should be good. And seeing how skinny they both are, they'll need the diet plan and build up drinks.

I'm also just back from the comedy night (Laughter Lounge) at the union (Dundee University Students' Union). This is a fortnightly affair which I always try to make (I've only missed four shows in the last three years). I love stand up comedy and comedy shows in general. This week we had Daniel Sloss and Steve Williams.

Daniel, as I have now learned, only started gigging last year, as part of a gap year. You can tell. I don't think he has even started to shave yet (He is only just 18). However his confidence on the stage is astounding. His jokes were not the best but they did bring enough laughs. Delivery was excellent and nothing seemed to faze him and he interacted well with the young university audience at a level which older comedians sometime fail miserably. Being so young he may not have the repertoire and experience of older comedians to bring out a plethora of jokes at different levels and his typical teenage trouble type jokes may seem repetitive but in this case I think it helped build up a rapport with the younger audience. His confidence, delivery were a good compensation to the lack of variety. A couple years and some new experiences will make him a prime comedian. No wonder he's not likely to go to University after all, he has a future as a comedian.

This was the second time I had seen Steve Williams at Laughter Lounge. He started off with the usual audience interaction before launching into a few jokes which he did last year. Maybe I was just tired but most of the rest of his set was mediocre. The jokes were there but the punchlines were lacking in impact. The last time I saw him at a gig he actually made his show through audience fed material which is always hilarious. He did try this this time but as for a while now the turnout at Laughter Lounge was poor and there were even moments of total silence! Laughter Lounge has always been hugely popular and packed full, at times with many people having to stand. Audience participating in the shows have always been memorable. This has been falling off for a few gigs now. At this rate the Lounge might fizzle out which would definitely ruin one of the best events at the union.

Steve's set was not all poor, he went on for ages and all of the jokes got laughs. His finish made up for the mediocre middle part and he came back with style soliciting big laughs and applause. However I still think this performance pales to his previous one.

Snow and Nostalgia

We finally got some decent snow in Dundee yesterday, some time after most of the rest of the isles had been covered. I thought we would escape it being sheltered by the Sidlaws on one side and the sea on the other.

Molly, my Black Labrador loves the snow. I'm not so keen myself. Seeing all the kids with their sledges brought back memories of my first snow. I have been living in Scotland for just over 10 years now (Since I was twelve) and I can still remember it quite clearly. The huge expanses of white, the sledging down the slope near the house which terminated on a busy road and even trying to build up enough momentum to actually fly straight down the slope and across the road...
I wonder if I asked to have a shot on one of the kids' sledges if it would bring back the fun and magic. Well I couldn't bring myself to, the closest I came was slipping while walking Molly and sliding down the hill one my ass (with several kids laughing at me - well it was funny.) After the walk I decided to grab the camera and take a couple of photos. Unfortunately the batteries died but there's a couple of good ones:


I could not bring myself to ask for a shot because yesterday while dozens of kids invaded the park, I was having a lazy afternoon and feeling nostalgic. I was thinking of the friends I used to go sledging with and how we used to also play video games. There was one in particular we played on my friend's PC. All I could remember however was a Clown with a van, A character on some sort of mono wheel called Axel and that you went round with your vehicles shooting each other down.Great fun.

So I spent a good bit of yesterday tracking the game down with google and keywords: clown, van, Axel, mono wheel. It took a fair while and I always liked to think I could fine anything with google and the vaguest keywords.
I finally tracked it down on wikipedia's list of Evil Clowns. Turns out that the Clown was called Sweet Tooth and he actually drove an Ice Cream Truck (American of course). The game of course is Twisted Metal and the PC version was Twisted Metal 2 and Axel actually had a "Two-wheeled contraption".

I spend the rest of the evening trying to download a copy of the game, even wading through sponsored type download sites, resorting to torrents and finally even contemplating getting a PSone and the game as the PC version is nearly impossible to find. Finally I stumble across Squakenet.com which directs me to AbandonWare Utopia.com. The site is in french but that's no problem, just another chance to practise my french! A clean download and ten minutes later I'm playing the game inside my XP virtual machine on my Ubuntu rig, no emulator needed.

And here it begins to go wrong, the magic, exhilaration and fun I remember was not there. I play one level as Axel and quit the game.
That was the reason I did not want to have a shot at sledging, just in case the magic was not there. I wanted to preserve the memory.
No, I begin to question that thought, surely this would not apply to all my memories. Are all these things better as a memory and will you always be disappointed when you re-experience them. Surely not!
Well there's only one way to find out, I not missing the next chance I get to sledging.
And I saved Twisted Metal 2 to my USB Portable Drive to play whenever I get a chance and downloaded Golden Axe, and maybe later Streets of Rage...

Ganesh Chaturthi 2008, Glen-Park, Mauritius - A Series in Pictures

I feel that bloggers who are serious about this culture seem to blog at least everyday.
Am I not serious? Well not as much to blogging as I mainly intended to use this blog as a personal site type thing but that's probably not a feasible option. Instead I should really turn it into a blog that is a bit more diversified and have at least one post everyday...Starting today.

First off I am going to put up a couple of pictures.
These are from my last visit to Mauritius where I took part in the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival. This post is dedicated to Hans who was very adversed to getting his picture taken, that's him below (gotcha):

Ganesh Chaturthi is one of the prominent festivals for the Mauritian Marathi. I had not taken part in the festival since 1998 and when I visited Mauritius in 2008, I mad sure I would be there for the festival. I am not going to bore anybody with ramblings about the significance, meaning and other religious dogma around the festival. It's about time I came clean and admit I am very inclined towards atheism. However I believe faith is a necessity and if faith is religion and tradition, so be it. I will follow on the basis that I believe in many traditional values. For me traditions bring the family and the community together and that is something very important to me.

The start of the festival. The above picture shows the Murti covered before the beginning of the prayers. Also we have Akheelesh, Sandeep and Vidisha before the ceremony.
Various prayers and rites performed. Here the Murthi is being draped.

The occasion also incorporated the inauguration of the Mandir's Hall which included a programme of dance and song,
below we have the entrance and welcome by two beautiful ladies:
Sorry I think I only have videos of the programme.
And here we have me wearing what we call a "langouti". Thanks again to Ravi for lending me one. This is traditional dress and I wore it on the day we went for "Kouler" (Translation, Mauritian Creole :Sink / Immersion) or the day when the Murthi is immersed.
This day also involves a procession with singing and dancing in the streets on the way to the river for the immersion.
A big crowd always gathers at the river sometimes hours before to get a good spot to watch the ceremony. We also usually have members of the community from different religious backgrounds attending. The area by the river is always prepared and cleaned for this ceremony although it is allowed to remain wild for the rest of the year.
Further prayers are carried out at the river bank.

And we would then have the immersion with resonant sounds of Ganpati Papa , Moriya:

Of course the festival is not complete without "Jakri". Dancing for all but usually in gender groups (because the girls dance so much better and don't want to be held back by the guys):
I had a wonderful time at Ganesh Chaturthi and I'm glad I participated.

Now I end this post on a less positive note. I feel that the occasion was slightly marred by the fact that the Glen-Park Marathi Community is served by two Mandirs, the MCC Bhawani Mandir and Vigneshwar Mandir. These are offshoots from the original mandir and as such splits the community and even family members which are affiliated to different mandirs. It is not a wide gulf yet and as far as I can see there is no bitterness on the whole. However the divide poses a bad influence on the younger members which view the mandirs as clubs and compete against each other, even at religious festivals! Bhawani has a mandir in a street, Vigneshwar is just a hundred meters away in the same street. The Mayor, Ministers and various others when attending festivals through making speeches at the mandirs always include the hope that one day these two mandirs will be one. I think that if it does not happen this generation, it never will. This is quite sad as everybody are friends in some way. Disagreements over, as far as I can see, trivial matters or even personal matters or even managerial ones should not affect the community, the children or even the faith. You still need to work together as a whole rather than saying no I want to do it my way, who's gonna join my club? Isn't one big club better and aren't the views of religion universal?

All I can say is:
"Dan en ti moris coumsa, dan en ti glen park coumsa, dan en sel chemin kave ena de mandir pour en sel religion, en sel famil, ki pe faire division dan en comunaute?"
"In this small Mauritius, in this small glen-park, in one street (why is there) should there be two mandirs for one religion, one family which is causing a divide in the community?"

What divide you say? A growing divide! You are turning your mandirs into personal clubs which are in several ways competing against each other. This carries over to your children affecting their views. You have outings for your club but how about their friends which are in the other club. They are not invited. Then youngsters as is normal would be bragging to their friends. The other children would now plead for an outing which is one better and so forth. You have religious festivals: my cultural programme is going to be better than yours, we are going to have this and that important personage attending ours. And many other examples which I picked up on, however subtle they may seem to some, they were screaming out to me. This was not how I remember things when I was younger although I remember the two different mandirs I used to go with my uncle and aunty to one and with my mami and papi to the other. This divide had not seemed so bad to me at the time. But now I feel these thoughts of "my club is better than yours" have passed on most keenly to the younger members. The divide grows further.

I am speaking relatively from an outsider's point of view, but then you don't even listen to the local people, what chance do I have?