Curiosity

Growing up, I remember countless times when doing homework I would ask some question and my mother would go look up the answer. She would look it up even when I begged her not to and she would just say "I won't tell you what I find." It drove me nuts. She was obviously putting far too much effort into an annoying, stupid homework assignment. I thought she was far too curious.
As I've gone back to school in a field I am unfamiliar with I find myself wanting to do well. Thus, when I learn a new word, or come across one in my readings (some required some not) I've been looking them up and then defining them on a spreadsheet. Yes I could just google them again later but it seems helpful to redefine it in my own words and type it myself. Suddenly I seem to have become my Mom, looking up everything and asking questions. And its kind of fun. I also find it exciting when I then hear the word or principle I looked up a couple of days before and say "I know that now!" But at times it also seems kind of exhausting. You have to take the time to look it up.
But the question that I do not have the answer to is: Is this curiosity just tied to my desire to do well in school? Or is it something that I will be able to continue?
Primarily so I can annoy my own kids

Types of People

Two posts ago I did a terrible job arguing that there were two types of people. Here I will not do the same but I do think it is interesting how many studies and books there are that come out about types of people.
The Color Test that matches a personality type to a color.
Introverts v. extroverts.
Another one that shows how different people see the world and remember it using different parts of their brain and senses (audio, visual, kinetic).
The Five Love Languages that point out what you and those around you will most appreciate and how you feel the most loved.
I was recently introduced to another one that is based on children and starts with some basic descriptions of four types of children that can be described in four ways:

• Animated, fun, bright, light-hearted, and friendly
• Tender, gentle, kind, and thoughtful
• Strong, active, persistent, and energetic
• Thorough, efficient, responsible and analytical.

Even the school houses from Harry Potter (Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and Gryffindor) has almost become a personality analysis.

I don't think I have ever read a self-help book and probably never will but things like the stuff above I find fascinating. They aren't really self-help books more of a self-awareness books.

In one of my classes we talk about different theories quite a bit and which ones we prefer to adhere to. One of the arguments my Professor, Stephen Yanchar, makes, is that critical flexibility should be used, meaning that you don't have to choose just one theory, but you should also not just use all of them all at once. Instead think through what each theory implies and see how they can work together. One of my previous theory teachers would also talk about how theories are tools we can add to our tool boxes and we can use different tools for different situations. 

For my conclusions I will just say this: I am a person observer (some people talk about people watching and that can be interesting but I prefer observing the people I know better than those I don't) and I like to use all the tools in my tool box to understand people.

Firehydrants

I noticed that I haven't posted any pictures in a long time so I thought I would add a few.
Here are some from my fire hydrant collection.
While I was on my mission in Indiana I realized for the first time that fire hydrants aren't always just the typical red, and they aren't all the same shape or size either. So ever since I have been collecting fire hydrant pictures of different sorts and in different places. Honestly I'm surprised I haven't already posted about them.
I have almost 90 pictures from 25 cities or towns in 10 states and Washington DC. And if you think the ones below are a lot, just be lucky I limited myself to 10.

Nauvoo, Illinois. I love how the house and the firehydrant match.

Springfield, Illinois. This was President Lincoln's home. I love the colors.

Bloomington, Indiana. 

Bloomington, Indiana. I just wish the dog had been repainted.

Indianapolis, Indiana. My first fire hydrant.

Zionsville, Indiana. I just love the contrasts.

Zionsville, Indiana. It's kind of cute.

Omaha, Nebraska. 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It's a cool old fire hydrant in a cool old city.

Draper, Utah. I like the perspective on this one.

If I want to read meaning into this odd obsession/quirk/whatever I would say it is about actually seeing the normal things around us and appreciating it. Seeing old things with new eyes. And really in able to still take pictures of them I have to find a reason to do so by matching colors or seeing the fire hydrant in the bigger picture or whatever.... so the next time you see a fire hydrant think of me. . . or at least just notice it.

Nicknames

I feel like there are three types of people.

Full name people: Those who go by their fullname and always call others by their full names.

Short name people: Those who shorten their own name and everyone around them.

Nickname people: Those who lengthen or completely make up other names that don't really relate to the original name.

Now, I have no idea which type I am. So you know I am super confident in my initial categorizations...

I almost always introduce myself with my full name and I always write it out full on everything, but when people ask me what I want to be called I always say Rebecca or Becca. They ask which I prefer and I say I don't care. And I really don't. Sometimes I notice what they call me and it does seem more personal somehow when they call me Becca. That's what my whole family calls me. That's even what I call myself when I talk to myself. But it still seems wrong somehow to introduce myself as Becca.

Then there is how I address others. I tend to call people by the name they introduce themselves as (I would call myself Rebecca if I met me) and yet all my family I seem to have shortened even when most people call them by their full name.

In the book I wrote and the one I'm writing the main characters both go primarily by their nicknames. For Audrey she is almost insulted when people call her that (her fullname). And I end up giving most of my characters either really short names or nicknames that are one syllable: Oon, Hak, Will, Cor. Because apparently two syllables is just too long for me to write. 

So basically, I am a full name person because I introduce myself with my full name, and I'm a short name person because I shorten my families and characters names.... and I guess I'm even a nickname person because there is a character in my book who renames people random things.

Maybe there are more types of people than just three... 

Front Seat Responsibility

When I was little maybe 7 or 8 I remember sitting in the front passenger's seat of the van late at night.  I had specifically been chosen for passenger duty. My mom was driving, and we were somewhere between Massachusetts and Utah. I was chattering away and my mom, her voice tired, said "I've got to stop I'm getting too sleepy."
"But," I said, "wasn't I doing a good job talking."
"Oh it's not your fault. It's just too late."
That allayed my fears somewhat but I was still kind of sad that I hadn't been able to keep my mom awake.

This week I went on a long car trip. Two days one way. I was in the front seat the first day and felt an obligation to converse with the driver. I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation but I know I talked more and shared more than I normally would have if I hadn't felt that duty to entertain the driver. The next day and the two coming back I was sitting in the back and I didn't feel that responsibility so keenly, although I have to admit I was a little disturbed how little the passenger seat occupants didn't seem to worry about it at all.
At first I was really confused how this almost inherent feeling of duty could be apparently nonexistent in so many others but then I realized a couple of things:
1) I've probably done a lot more long road trips than most people.
2) I was taught about it explicitly when I was little.
3) The others in the car that did understand passenger duty choose not to sit in the front because they wanted to avoid the responsibility.

Polishing Shoes

I was just polishing my shoes and my roommate asked "Is that how you polish shoes like in real life?"

"Yes, yes it is."

I polish my leather shoes the old school way with a rag and shoe polish that comes in a tin and a brush (except I don't have one). I know most people now don't use shoe polish anymore. They either have shoes that don't need shoe polish or they use the "fake" version or they just don't polish their shoes, not bothering to put in the effort.

My dad taught me how to polish shoes. I remember as a little girl following him excitedly to his bedroom where we would spread newspapers around us as we sat crosslegged on the floor. I remember putting my hand in his big shoe and lifting it up. Getting the crumbling black polish all over my hands and watching with excitement as he buffed the polished shoe and the matte black suddenly became glossy. 

My mom tells stories about how when she was a girl it was her chore every Saturday to line up her families Sunday shoes and polishing them all, all ten pairs.

I have also heard quite a few talks and thoughts that tie in spiritual ideas to polishing shoes. 

I like how peaceful it is to sit there and rub the polish into the leather and put that little effort into maintaining something that has served me well. 

So to me polishing shoes is tied up with a bunch of seemingly unrelated ideas and thoughts:

• Quality time with my Dad
• Peace
• Service
• Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
• Heritage
• Renewal

How often do we end up associating menial tasks with deeper feelings, emotions, stories, etc.

Being Prepared

I started a master's program this week. A masters program in a subject I don't have much of a background in. In fact I have three main classes: GIS for engineers, Principles of Learning and Vertebrate Paleontology. All three of them are based in different departments: Civil Engineering, Informational Psychology and Technology (whatever that means) and Geology. Out of those three I've only taken classes in geology and they were fairly basic.
At first all I could think was "I have no background in any of these how am I going to survive." As I went through this first week I found it interesting how often I remembered things from other experiences I've had. I was more prepared than I thought.
Here are a few examples:
Working with GIS. 
I met a couple of time with a group after classes to discuss GIS in my senior year at college.
Working with GIS layers.
Working with layers in Gimp and other art programs.
Understanding Vector and Raster data.
Doing pixel and vector art and understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each.
Being in a class that discusses psychology and learning philosophies.
Attending a histories and theories class in anthropology.
Talking about dinosaurs and geologic time depth.
Reading a dinosaur text book to be ready for the class I'm TAing.

Anyway. I just found it fascinating how I was fairly prepared despite not having the background in the specific departments.
Perhaps it isn't that surprising but all the same it is interesting how things that don't at first seem like they would be relevant can be. Maybe that's why a holistic view of life makes so much sense. Just because we pigeonhole ideas it doesn't mean that they really are entirely separate. I mean who thought doing art would prepare me for an engineering class.