Passing the time

Thus after closing out my check at Cafe Nicole – I took my last glass of wine back upstairs with me and as I’m writing this blog, sipping my wine, looking out the window at the neon lights of Times Square I took a personality test. My resolution this time was to answer it absolutely honestly. Cause most personality tests are relatively simple to figure out and thus to skewer to the response types which an individual desires. The test I chose that the Jung typology test which is based upon the Meyers/Briggs test. The Meyers/Briggs test I had taken 10+ years ago and had came out an INFJ (Introvert, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging) personality type. This was actually a pretty good assessment at that time and led to several corresponding book purchases so I could figure out what I should be when I grew up. Well, I have grown up and nowhere in the information did it say that I should have anything to do with Accounting/Internal Audit.  So I thought I would retake the test this evening and seek if my personality had changed in the intervening years, as certainly my life experiences have changed me from who I originally was all those years ago.

So as I was saying I took the Jung personality test http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm, answering it perfectly honestly as to what I like and dislike and wouldn’t you know it I come up an INFJ again.  So here is what it says about me…  

The Portrait of the Counselor (INFJ)

The Counselor Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in reaching their goals, and enterprising and attentive in their interpersonal roles. Counselors focus on human potentials, think in terms of ethical values, and come easily to decisions. The small number of this type (little more than 2 percent) is regrettable, since Counselors have an unusually strong desire to contribute to the welfare of others and genuinely enjoy helping their companions. Although Counsleors tend to be private, sensitive people, and are not generally visible leaders, they nevertheless work quite intensely with those close to them, quietly exerting their influence behind the scenes with their families, friends, and colleagues. This type has great depth of personality; they are themselves complicated, and can understand and deal with complex issues and people.

Counselors can be hard to get to know. They have an unusually rich inner life, but they are reserved and tend not to share their reactions except with those they trust. With their loved ones, certainly, Counselors are not reluctant to express their feelings, their face lighting up with the positive emotions, but darkening like a thunderhead with the negative. Indeed, because of their strong ability to take into themselves the feelings of others, Counselors can be hurt rather easily by those around them, which, perhaps, is one reason why they tend to be private people, mutely withdrawing from human contact. At the same time, friends who have known a Counselor for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that they are inconsistent; Counselors value their integrity a great deal, but they have intricately woven, mysterious personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors have strong empathic abilities and can become aware of another’s emotions or intentions — good or evil — even before that person is conscious of them. This “mind-reading” can take the form of feeling the hidden distress or illnesses of others to an extent which is difficult for other types to comprehend. Even Counselors can seldom tell how they came to penetrate others’ feelings so keenly. Furthermore, the Counselor is most likely of all the types to demonstrate an ability to understand psychic phenomena and to have visions of human events, past, present, or future. What is known as ESP may well be exceptional intuitive ability-in both its forms, projection and introspection. Such supernormal intuition is found frequently in the Counselor, and can extend to people, things, and often events, taking the form of visions, episodes of foreknowledge, premonitions, auditory and visual images of things to come, as well as uncanny communications with certain individuals at a distance.

Mohandas Gandhi, Sidney Poitier, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jane Goodall, Emily Bronte, Sir Alec Guiness, Carl Jung, Mary Baker Eddy, Queen Noor are examples of the Counselor Idealist (INFJ). 

http://keirsey.com/handler.aspx?s=keirsey&f=fourtemps&tab=3&c=counselor

So I guess I’m curious to what others think, thus those of you who know me, know of this blog etc – if you don’t mind, take a moment, think of what you know about me and drop a  comment or two in resonse to the above description – do you think it reflects who I am. I know my own thoughts concerning this and would be very curious to hear others perceptions of me based upon this description. So take a moment a let me know, I would appreciate it! Also if you take the quiz – the link is above, let me know what your personality type is – I think it is fairly self-revealing.

Now I just need to figure out how to transition from my current career into that which I really should be doing!

I have arrived.

Following an eventful flight, delay, change of flight gates, delay, delay, delay and sitting on the tarmac for an hour I did indeed arrive in New York yesterday evening at roughly 1am. Needless to say I was tired but thrilled to have arrived at my destination.

This trip I am staying at the Novotel New York – while not quite the same as the Sofitel still has an amazing charm and life of its own.   After catching up on some much needed sleep not only from the lengthy time spent at O’Hare but also from the long hours spend with the Paris Auditors this week, I ventured out and re-visited Times Square, checked out TKTS for any cheap theater tickets (there were none), and just soaked up the sights and sounds of the city.  My room has a fantastic view of Times Square and even now at 9:30pm the traffic is still heavy and the tourist crowds are hustling and busting from one store to another.

I enjoyed a delightful dinner at Cafe Nicole which offered an even better view of Times Square than the one from my room (which I didn’t think was possible) and while there fell to pondering a few things. Just the comfortable, general pondering which accompany the pleasure of a good (although not amazing meal), a glass of nice wine, a wonderful view, a good book (so a person doesn’t look like a fool for eating alone) and most importantly the advantage of time. No appointments, no colleagues to impress - console – make genial small talk - or to endure hour 14, 15 or 16 of their continued company. Just the value of quiet. No one to whom you are obligated to speak with aside from the waitstaff, and to them only as much as you desire in the course of ordering the wine, appetizer, main course and coffee and dessert. It was such a wonderful, relaxing time away from the pressures of the week. But I digress. So I was shamelessly eavesdropping on the conversations going on around me (of which there were a few but not very many as the restaurant was quiet due to January being their low season), and as I was listening to the ebb and flow of the conversations going on around me I realized that one of the absolute best highlights of my position was that which I was experiencing right at that moment. And that was the blending of so many languages – There was a lovely family from India who were enjoying the last course of their meal and talking in beautifully accented English of family concerns, a pair of young Asian girls who were giggling together as while they waited for their food to come they reviewed the pictures they had taken from their adventures in New York that day, a table containing a husband, wife and friend/family memeber (?) who appeared to be from South America (all parties at that table were very handsome, with beautiful tans, dark hair and amazing eyes) who were passionately talking away in a blend of languages – this moment in time was one of those moments that you want to wrap up in bubble wrap so that it will never fade from memory. This is what keeps me coming back again and again – the knowledge that there is so much out there to see, hear, smell, taste and experience. The sound of those muted voices coming together, the blending of the accents, the laughter, the musical clink and clank of silver upon china and the faint ring of glassware as it is removed from the tables and raised to the lips of the recipient – this is what I enjoy. The sounds of those voices truly create their own symphony of sound. That symphony when paired with the amazing view created a perfect moment in time.

The table from South America (and I’m going to guess Buenos Aries – just because I think that is where they were from) was by far the most interesting table of the evening.  And no its not because they were in the restaurant just as long as I was! But they were fascinating to watch. The energy in their voices, the beautiful lilting of the accent as they spoke in a mixture of Spanish (? I could be wrong here) and English, the expansive gestures, the casual elegance of their movements and the unapologetic manner in which two members of the party periodically went out to the terrace to smoke - they just seemed so very cosmopolitan, European, suave and sophisticated. Yet not stuck up or snobby in the slightest.

A friend (ok acquaintance) once told me that there was just something about South American men. It didn’t matter if the female was young, old, beautiful, ugly or average – when they looked at a women they appreciated her just for being female. She based this on fact as she at that time had recently completed a trip to Brazil. She also stated that no matter who you were when a South American man looked at you there was just something in their eyes that said you were beautiful to them at that moment. I have always thought that statement to be an amazingly interesting statement. Is it possible that there is a group of heterosexual males out there who do not expect women to conform to the anorexic standards of a fictitious Barbie doll? Anyhow, that question aside, and back to what I was talking about – this table from Buenos Aries were amazing to watch and in part my friend was correct. One of the gentlemen (the smoker), who was quiet handsome in his own way was passing by my table on his way out for his first cigarette (I had arrived, been seated and was already finished with my appetizer at this time)  and as he passed he just gave me that look. No I don’t know precisely how to describe that look it was just a look – a nice look, it was very quick as I hadn’t looked up from my book until he was almost past but it was a brief meeting of the eyes.  But then when he came back in from the terrace as he passed by he did the half turn and met my gaze full on and gave a wonderful half smile as he continued on to his table.  Now I don’t know if this is making any sense at all, but to those few female readers out there I think it should make sense. It wasn’t a “I’m interested” smile, or a lecherous leer, or the nasty I’m married but on the prowl once over, it was an look that made you (me in this case) feel good, pretty, beautiful, desirable all at once. Was he married, single, divorced, nice, intelligent, honest – none of those things mattered or had any relevance to the moment. The look was just an appreciative look for a pretty woman sitting by herself at dinner. I really don’t think I’m doing a good job of describing it here – it was just a moment in time, an affirmation that some men can still appreciate women in all their various forms, no matter the height, weight, hair color or hair length, skin color – tone and age. It just made me feel good. Less than 2 seconds in time, was the length of the glance and then he had returned to his table and I continued to enjoy my wine and read my book.  There is nothing else I can say about it aside than it was just one of those nice moments that reminds a person of why it is a good thing to be a woman.

And that was it. I finished my dessert, coffee with tia maria, ordered a glass of pinot noir to take back to the room and closed out the check. It was wonderful.  And as such it led to more thinking. What type of person is it who enjoys having diner on the 7th floor overlooking Times Square, watching the traffic below, the people rushing here and there, the lights, the noise of the cabs, voices and pan pipes – but all of which have been quieted down to a faint murmer by the time they filter the glass windows of the restaurant? I absolutely loved being in the restaurant, having my wine and watching what was happening below but under no circumstance did I really want to be out there in the cold, pushing against the press of all those people and watching out for the everpresent, pushy yellow cabs, Lincoln town cars and other vehicles which clog the streets.  I loved being able to watch it all, but I really didn’t want to be a part of it.