Relay for Life

My cousin Kathleen, whose mother passed away last year from osteosarcoma, is participating in the American Cancer Society's "Relay for Life" to raise money for cancer research and awareness. It's her 3rd year involved, and last year she raised about $500. She'd like to surpass that amount this year.

If you'd like to participate, please click on this link to go to her donation page. From there you'll find different donation options. Donations need to be in before October 5, 2005.

blogging and personality

My Bloginality is INFJ.

It's been awhile since I put in one of these personality tests, so here's another one. A rather oversimplified version of the classic Myers-Briggs personality test, this one's amusing because it's used to predict what kind of a blogger you are. According to my test results, I am a perfectionistic blogger, inclined to change the design of my website frequently.

In the bigger scheme of things, the INFJ may be described as a "counselor" personality type, or "cold on the outside, warm and fuzzy on the inside". We also apparently don't make good bluffers. So much for my trying to get better at Texas Hold'em.

Devil's Playground

I've been on a DVD-watching binge this past week. Tonight I watched a documentary called Devil's Playground. It's about rumspringa, the period in an Amish person's life that begins at age 16, during which they are supposed to try out the "English" world, and at the end of which they are supposed to make their choice about whether or not to commit to the Amish church for the rest of their lives. It was worth watching (though I always find it somewhat frustrating to watch teenagers doing stupid things) and I found myself wondering what happened to the kids they filmed after the documentary was complete, so I found this followup article, in case you see the film and are curious too.

two birthdays with one dance

At the Jersey Jumpers dance tonight we had birthday cakes for both Mike and Leo, whose birthdays both fall on August 20th. Since Pia and I were delivering the cakes to the birthday boys, I handed my camera to Joting, who got a few nice snapshots with it during the birthday jam dance (that's when everyone in the room dances with the people who have birthdays, or as many as can get in during the course of a song).

Anyway, I had a really fantastic time tonight--lots of friendly faces there, lots of new people, and lots of great dances.

dinner with la familia

We had a nice birthday dinner for Siak Ling at Pasta Pomodoro. Unfortunately the waitress who took the photo cut Uncle Ely out of the group shot below (I didn't do it!)

mom's 60th birthday celebration

Last night I hosted a birthday party for my mother with the help of my extended family. There was singing and dancing, a tiara for the birthday girl, a very large cake, and lots and lots of family in attendance. Snapshots follow...

psychosocial stress

From the NY Times:

Robert Sapolsky, a professor of neuroscience at Stanford University who has studied primate behavior, said bumper sticker one-upmanship is similar to behavior he has witnessed in baboons. Baboons spend only about three hours of the day foraging for food; the remaining 21 hours of free time, he said, are a kind of behavioral vacuum - not unlike three days in the Hamptons - which baboons pass by annoying and harassing one another to no particular end, creating what scientists call psychosocial stress.

"If you're a baboon on the Serengeti, and you're miserable," Mr. Sapolsky said, "it's almost certainly because some other baboon has had the free time and energy to devote to making you miserable."