So I’ve gone through all kinds of career assessment testing. First was CAPS (Career ability placement survey) which tested mechanical reasoning, spatial relations, verbal reasoning, numerical ability, language usage, word knowledge, perceptual speed & accuracy and manual speed & dexterity. I scored high in language usage, word knowledge, perceptual speed & accuracy, and manual speed & dexterity, and from that, results say I have a high level for job success in Communication, Business skilled, Technology skilled, Consumer economics, Clerical, Service professional, Service skilled, & a surprise, Outdoor.

Wonderlic tested abilities & aptitudes. CDI (Career directions inventory) looked at basic interests, occupational themes & job clusters. My top three job clusters are in communication arts, social science, and performing arts.

Personality dimensions, also known as True Colours in the US, showed (again) that I’m a resourceful Orange. It was a tie between Green & Blue for my second most dominant colour(s). Orange jobs are most often in technical/trade, educational/social service, crafts/artisan and entertainment/sports.

Who am I? is done in Toronto high schools, & it determined my main group is Helper, second Creator, & third Doer. Skill Scan looked at personal skills. My major ones are communication, mental/creative, Leadership/management and Mental/Analytical. In a work values assessment, values most important to me are variety, freedom/independence, creativity/innovation & cooperation/harmony. Top three occupation areas based on that are in social science, education and arts & culture, recreation & sport, and natural & applied sciences.

Myery-Briggs is the most common personality test that assesses job families & occupations that are a good fit for your type. It was indicated my type is ESTJ (extraversion, sensing, thinking & judging), and occupations ranked by their popularity & most attractive among ESTJs included protective services positions and production & manufacturing jobs, and being a top executive, in the infantry & a civil engineering technician.

Not a surprise, reporter, journalist, broadcaster, editor, columnist, writer, and photographer came up repeatedly as careers for me to consider based on all the test results. Careers that made me think hmmmm? included psychologist, counselor, social worker, & English teacher. Something I learned was, I’ve never worked outdoors or thought of any of those types of jobs, but it came up as a theme, my enjoyment of being outside & loving nature. Out & out surprises were police officer, paramedic, electrcian, & pilot. I’m puzzled that the least popular/attractive jobs for my type with Myers-Briggs were writer & reporter.

What does all this mean? I’m not positive. I did it in the first place bc I’m in the midst of trying to decide if I should return to non-profit, or go back to journalism… or, try something new, yet again? I’ve never had such indepth testing before, maybe a bit in high school, but never as much as all these tests looked at. I did True Colours & similar personality tests 3 years ago. I am feeling reaffirmed that my dream job, reporter, is recognized as a strong career choice for me. Maybe that’s what I was looking for, to have proof that I should get back to writing. I first thought seriously about teaching English as a second language 2 years ago, so it’s interesting to see teaching come up as strong as it has through this testing. I also am intrigued with the counselling & social work coming up. Some Orange jobs listed I’ve volunteered doing were crisis telephone counsellor for 5 years, & even cat groomer. I suppose everything has a connection.

HR, recruitment, & volunteer management, all of which I’ve been doing the past 4+ years, were also amongst the careers to consider. But the last few years I’ve felt unsatisfied doing that, & wondered why I got so far away from my dream, & just figured it was too late… but it doesn’t have to be.

Did you have career testing in high school or after? Are you working in the career you’ve always wanted?

They say us generation xers will go though three career changes in our working life, & that’s certainly the case for me, being on my third now.

I started my holiday baking with my friend yesterday. We always intend on baking many recipes, but just end up spending the afternoon blabbing & baking 2 recipes. And this is with her bringing over her cookie dough which she’s already pre-mixed to save time! She’s the Martha type, tries to achieve perfectly formed magazine quality cookies. Plus her recipes are from Martha Stewart Living. I choose my recipes often from the Kraft magazine based on what ingredients I already have at home. I substitute as well - I like to find creative solutions to not having say, white chocolate, (oxymoron!) & pleased if it turns out well. So if I have everything except 2 things, I’m in!

Last year she pre-mixed sugar cookie dough & rolled out the dough into 6 sheets at her place & when she came over, those sheets had to be cold before you could cut the shapes, so some went in my freezer & when there was no more room, the rest went on the porch, bc it was that cold. (This year, it’s so mild, I went for a run today without a coat!) We rolled the dough out more, it had to be thin, & her cookie cutters were quite tiny, so we made what must have been 12 dozen snowmen, jingle bells, stars, trees & stockings. Once cooled, we then decorated them with silver balls, chocolate sprinkles, red & green sprinkles, white icing &/or multicoloured sugar crystals. But it was hard to keep track of which ones got which decorations - the silver balls went on the jingle bells or the trees, but never along with red or green sprinkles, that’s tacky, & the snowmen could not have chocolate sprinkles, he’d look dirty. The intent was to finish them by cutting a hole, & putting a ribbon through them to hang on gifts as a tag. We didn’t get that far. Her cookies took 4.5 hours. I made one bowl chocolate raspberry jam oatmeal squares that took 8 minutes to prepare, 20 minutes to bake, & were eaten immediately.

This time, she was happy to tell me she’s still making Martha cookies, but chocolate chip, so I’m thinking, phew!, how difficult can they be? She even still pre-mixed them. But we used a teaspoon to spoon them out, not a tablespoon, she wanted them small, & she preferred to use just my 1 air bake sheet which never burns. They cook in just 8 minutes, but they are the world’s thinnest cookies, you can see through them, I swear, more like candy. They didn’t burn, but they stuck to the sheet. So we sprayed it, but still, they stuck. So we figured we may as well use a regular sheet too with foil & spray, to get this going. So it was an assembly line of her scraping them off the sheets while watching the next ones don’t burn (I have an ancient oven that gets way too hot) & me spooning more on. Ended up with quite a massive batch, had to be 72 cookies. They took 3.5 hours. I made butterscotch nut bars in one bowl, prep time 5 minutes, cook time 25 minutes, & they tasted so good out of the oven, sweet enough that they didn’t even need the chocolate drizzle.

Besides, we ran out of time.

Here’s a laugh, turn up your volume.

http://mocagyrl.homestead.com/files/Yuhkickmehduck.mp3

I’m reading Willi Chen’s King of the Carnival and other stories. At first I thought, what?, is it going to be all stories about graphic fighting, women beaters, killings, & rum drinking? (But No Pork, Cheese is a riot!) So I skipped to the last story, King of the Carnival. Santo’s story really ties into recent chat on carnival blogs about the history of Carnival, it’s traditions, modernization vs old school, and classism.

The way Chen describes the costumes in such detail, I can picture them as if I’m there. I can also feel Santo’s pride and love for Carnival. Then, the big let down, he is not the hero, & I can sense his disapointment and humiliation. I imagine how it must be for back-in-the-day costume designers to see technology take over their Carnival, & to add insult to injury, by a white man. He describes the white judges looking upon this favorably, which makes him fearful.

I imagine this story is required reading in T’Dad schools & in university English lit courses (since 1988). Here’s an excerpt.

And Santo, peeping through the holes of his scaly costume, heard the approval of the audience, saw the nodding heads of the white-faced judges and, relishing the ovations, bowed and retreated, making room for the others to come on stage.

They too, danced in their glory, chipping away before the judges, covered with feathers and silk, bobbing and weaving in the gorgeous display of tinsel and paint and foil and lame. For them the applause was loud, also, as each one paraded: Atilla the Hun, Genghis Khan, the copper toned Montezuma, Chief Great Hunting Bear, Waxatalabah burly as a bison under the brilliant canopy of mirrors, beads and white bones, his headpiece so large it tore down the overhead wires. But it was the last masquerader that caused him to turn his head as he rested backstage. It was the white man again - last year’s winner. Santo recognized the walk, the delayed gait, the stooped shoulders, and immediately his forehead became cold beaded.

Now the white man moved on stage alone. But his costume was neither large or billowing. It lacked bulk, weight, without the pastiche of laboured details, taking up a smaller space. But its magnificence was in its modern, technological revelations. It came on stage, part man, part robot, its co-ordinating movements mechanized, the eyes sparkled, it spoke, it buzzed, sang, emitting clouds of tinted smoke, a perfumed spray. Then from under it, wheels came out as they rolled across the stage, coloured lights appeared in clusters, brightening the whole stand in a strong incandescence, whirling around to the musical sounds coming out now from its mid section. And the crowd was stunned, taken aghast by the scientific display. Hysteria. It stood up before the antics of this masquerader, this new invention, his novel interpretation of mas.

So the second round of parade came one hour later, when judges had exchanged their score sheets with one another between drinks and the interval allowed fidgety movements between the seats of the audience enthralled by the last moving spectacle t had just witnessed.

And then the final moment arrived. All were to parade once more. Atilla the Hun appeared hoary, mustachioed, powerful in his gilded boar-skin cape, pelted pouches dangling at his side and the bronze epaullettes hugging his shoulders. King ABUBAKARI II the black Muslim looked ferocious, indigo-blue under the spotlight in leather trappings, filigreed coat, his broad silver shield embossed like his breast plate over which his yardbroom beard hung, unkept, frazzled. Then his turn came. Once. Twice. His name was called - “Santo Lovelace and his dancing dragon.”

But he just stood there silent and alone, among the stage hands, unmoving, leaning against his dragon, idle and grotesque, the heaving expanse of his chest now subsided, and beaded brow frowned to quietude. And in his eyes, the cold stares of the vanquished fanatic or genius, lost in some soporific trance in which sacrifice, devotion and long seasons of rehearsals were now laid waste.

He still heard his name being called through the microphone when he left, as he quietly pushed his dragon head low, through the flats on to the grass outside, and he never forgot the fearful vision of the white-faced judges, pencils on their lips, and the white masquerader prancing and jiving in his robot contraption under confetti and streamers, with his ostentatious performance and the popping noises, and the battery of lights that stuttered exploding around him.

So Kramer is the next celebrity to make a big “oops”, with his racial tirade during a comedy performance. Like all comedians, he got heckled, but brilliantly shot back with the n word. He even yelled out “Shut up! Fifty years ago we’d have you upside down with a fucken fork up your ass”.

He apparently apologized off stage, and then said he was sorry and tried to explain himself on the Late Show. His handlers must have told him he needs to do damage control, so he went on about racial tensions between blacks & whites after Hurricane Katrina. Um, a l r i g h t. Other comedians called it a horrible mistake (Jerry Seinfeld) & that he has a lot of explaining to do (Paul Rodriguez).

Since people tend to look up to celebrities, I guess it’s shocking when they utter something amazingly asinine, something unscripted. It’s like they can’t be left to their own devices. (Imagine Tom Cruise’s agent from his mental illness debacle.) Arnold Schw, who really should wear a muzzle for all the moronic things he’s said, called Cubans and Puerto Ricans naturally fiesty & tempermental bc of their mix of black & Latino blood. Some people are good at only one thing - for him, it was being a crazed robot killer. But bc he did that so well, Californians deduced well, he must be our governor! We can now put Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat in Marlon Brando & Mel Gibson’s anti-semitic school.

Are we finally getting to the day when it’s not acceptable for anyone to use the n word? It was clearly wrong when Paris Hilton was heard on tape saying it. And remember when J’Lo said it in her I’m Real song & she was criticized? But here’s where it gets dicey… it was part of the act for Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy & Chris Rock, but will there be such an uproar if any Mayans brothers or Dave Chapelle use it now?

How could I or anyone doubt that Daniel Craig can bring it as a big bad Bond??!! The boy was sensational!

His portrayal of Bond was different than any of the others, gone is the suave poised gentleman - he played him like a video game assassin. In other Bond movies, they never really emphasized Bond as a killer as much as they do in this one. He’s also more contemporary, and truly tough. None of that schmaltzy stuff - even when he delivers a few of the typical clichés, he does it almost sarcastically. (when he orderes his martini after a bad night at the casino, LMfreakinAO!)

To be expected, some stunts were far fetched, but what was realistic was he didn’t nail every landing. His Bond was not perfect, he got cut up & bashed around a lot, and caught. Daniel really got in shape for this role, as you notice in one particular bittersweet scene… oh man……!!! But he also cleans up quite well, looks amazing in a tux & in beach resort clothes…

Casino Royale was 007’s first assignment, so the movie was about his character, why he became the way he is. There were telling scenes that provided some insight, another change from the other Bond movies. His one true love was even flawed, which was a nice switch to see. Overall, I’m very impressed with the new rough & tough Bond - he may be lighter, but he’s actually darker. I’ll look forward to him as Bond many more times.

Men Confess the 10 Annoying Things Women Do

from askmen.com

10. Pretend to be virtuous

A recurring theme among many women is that they try to place themselves under a “holier than thou” light, never admitting that they fooled around or dividing their number of boyfriends by five. Now, we applaud those ladies who truly are innocent and pure, but the rest should stop trying to water down their past. Women are allowed to have just as much fun as guys, and they should find a man who can appreciate that.

9. Criticize other women

Why is it that many women can’t make a simple compliment toward another woman? They love to nitpick about everything from weight to hairstyle and everything in between. Only a woman will notice if another woman’s shoes don’t match her purse and turn it into a calamity.

Granted there are some women who are readily willing to admit when another woman is hot (and hopefully invite her over for a ménage à trois), but most don’t want to distract their men with any competition. Nevertheless, we spot the hot ones anyway.

8. Act jealous

Oftentimes, just mentioning another woman’s name can spell the end of your existence. Imagine, then, the warfare you’ll have to endure if she finds out you were at a gentleman’s club.

Call it what you will, but a lot of women have this thing that causes them to second-guess everything, especially their man’s loyalty. That’s why when another female enters the equation in any way, shape or form, she tenses up. If you’ve given her reason to doubt you, then her paranoia is likely justified. Otherwise, you shouldn’t have to pay the price because she’s feeling insecure.

7. Become needy

Some women have some serious security issues. They need their men to hold them, rub them and tell them how special they are. They turn men into their emotional crutch and look to us for moral, mental and emotional support.

There’s a real irony here when you think of all the women who go out of their way to show us how independent they are. These are usually the same women who become extremely insecure once they finally fall in love. Of course, as tempting as it may be to use this to our advantage, I think most men would prefer the tougher version. This way, they’d at least retain some peace of mind.

6. Speak in code

The old “What are you thinking?” question is a timeless example of how women love to test their men and search for our true feelings about them. They hurtle obscure, theoretical questions at us that, according to them, we’re supposed to know the answers to if we’re really their soul mates.

What a pitiful sight it is, seeing a guy tense up as his mind goes into overdrive, looking for the right answer, while his lady looks on from a distance with her arms folded and foot tapping. At this point, there’s nothing left to do except throw an answer out there and hope we don’t end up in the doghouse.

5. Invade our personal space

Women have this instinctive tic that makes them want to groom us anytime they want and make our personal belongings theirs.

In other words, when they’re not adjusting our tie for the umpteenth time, they’re rummaging through our drawers, looking for a sweatshirt to change into. Am I the only one who sees a problem here? We all know that there would be hell to pay if we so much as thought about giving them a haircut or sorting through their stuff, so why is it that our turf is fair game?

4. Become too emotional

They cry over anything: a sad movie (or even a happy one), a broken nail or a haircut gone awry. What’s worse, they expect us to clean up the emotional mess. And if there’s one thing we suck at, it’s dealing with a crying woman on our shoulder.

It’s not that we’re insensitive, but aside from saying, “There there, sweetie,” we don’t know the first thing about comforting a woman. The fact that women are usually more delicate and vulnerable is great; we just don’t want the steady stream of tears for every minor setback.

3. Shop till they drop

When it comes to shopping, there just aren’t enough hours in the day for most women. Whether it’s browsing, window-shopping or an all-out spending spree, they can spend hours on end in a shoe store, among others, without even thinking about food, water or any of their responsibilities.

But what’s worse is that they have to take us along for the ride. So there we go, from store to store, wandering aimlessly back and forth while they inspect every article of clothing by its respective price tag.

2. Talk incessantly

Chris Rock nailed it when he said that asking how her day went renders a 45-minute conversation. Most women love to talk, and if you give them the ammo, they won’t stop. It’s not that we don’t care about what they have to say; it’s just that we don’t need to hear every minute detail.

1. Use sex as a weapon

In the war of the sexes, it’s all about who wears the pants in the relationship. Oftentimes most women, in an effort to show their superiority, will attack men’s universal weak spot: sex.

And while I applaud them for this gutsy tactic, they really should leave the basic human needs alone, don’t you think?

What do you think? It’s interesting 9. is on the list. I have always noticed that about women. There’s a lot of women who easily criticize other women, yet they can’t for the life of them pay them a compliment. Even when they sometimes manage to get one out, it’s backhanded, like “Love your red dress, you bitch.” I make it a point to compliment other women on their appearance or anything else I notice that deserves praise. When I admire a total strangers shoes or manicure, I’ll tell her, & they often smile & you can see it makes their day. A lot of women dress to impress other women, just look at a lot of offices made up of mainly females. Sometimes though I’ll get a “huh?” look, probably  not used to women flattering them & assuming I’m trying to pick them up. *Sigh*. I have no issue with saying something flattering about a woman, like describing her as beautiful, in front of my man either, it’s not like I’m gonna lie & say she’s ugly, what would that tell him about me if I did? I guess it’s hard for some women to compliment bc they feel they are in constant competition with other women.

4. is interesting to hear because I didn’t realize that this was a common feeling for men to feel that way about women crying. I once heard a guy comment that a woman crying is blackmail. I truly don’t see it (crying in front of a man) that way whatsoever, & it’s quite telling that the man who wrote this is so ill equipped in dealing with an emotional (crying) woman that he would exaggerate like that.

The list gives some food for thought.

UPDATE:  The book & tv special are cancelled by News Corp. The publisher ReganBooks (division of HarperCollins) said it was an ill-considered project & they are sorry for any pain caused to the Goldman & Brown families. The books already sent to stores will be recalled & destroyed. Simpson said he had wanted to straighten out mischaracterizations, but he’s legally muzzled. Aw, poor murderer, can’t force the public to feel sorry for him.

Sadly, pre-sales of the book were strong (in the top 20 on Amazon.) That figures. *Sigh*

OJ Simpson back again in the familiar spotlight he loves. It’s beyond disgusting his “If I Did it” book is being published. But of course, the publisher is simply giving the public what they ask for, the down & dirty details, the inner thoughts of a free murderer. He already established he’s a psychopath, but he just can’t leave well enough alone, it’s not good enough for him to move on, he has to continue on with his legacy & show how immoral he truly is by further sticking it to the victims families. Gotta make some cash, have no money making abilities otherwise, may as well capitalize on my murders.

He knows he can get away with saying things like if I killed Nicole, it’s because I loved her bc he’s clever, or had clever advice - he knows double jeopardy comes into play here. Making him all the more an evil psychopath society should be ashamed they let go. Apparently he’s not paid the Goldman’s the $33.5 million judgement from the wrongful death lawsuit. Would it be too obvious for the judge, some judge, to insist all sales from this piece of trash go to them?

Along with this comes naturally, tv interviews. This is another case of if people are so disgusted & don’t approve, just boycott his blasted book & don’t watch his friggin interviews! But I realize it’s a sick rubber necker scenario - many ppl can’t help but listen to him.

This is as sick as the movie made from serial killer Paul Bernardo.

It’s good to read some long-term studies on low carb diets, particularly Atkins, which hubby & I did successfully 3 years ago. There’s a lot of misunderstanding out there about low carb eating, especially Atkins. I’ll never forget attending a workplace workshop held by a dietician. She talked about different diets, and asked who followed what - I raised my hand for Atkins. She was against the Atkins lifestyle, and handed out her beliefs that it’s wrong to eat no carbs. First piece of wrong information. She even said yes, people do have success with Atkins, but you’ll die skinny from it! Um, excuse you!! Talk about incorrect information, not to mention extremely rude!! Not only am I not skinny from Atkins, but I’m nowhere near dying, thank you very much. Grrrrrr…… I found it incredibly unprofessional of her to base her lecture on her bias, and to be handing out incorrect information! As a dietician, she should know better, and I told her so in the evaluation she provided. Of course, she then became defensive in an email to the person who organized the workshop, and tried to backtrack… but it was too late, her credibility was already ruined. What was ironic was that she was quite overweight. Not to say an overweight person can’t study nutrition and be an authority, but I’m not going to get marriage counseling from someone divorced a few times, y’know?

They nay sayers negativity comes from ignorance - they mistakenly believe low carb means no carb. It’s virtually impossible to eat a 0 carb diet & that would be quite unhealthy. Of course you need carbs - veggies especially - for a healthy life.

By AP Monday, November 13, 2006

Low-carb diet doesn’t raise heart risk in women: Latest study

Eating a low-carb, high-fat diet for years doesn’t raise the risk of heart disease, a long-term study suggests, easing fears that the popular Atkins diet and similar regimens might set people up for eventual heart attacks.

The study of thousands of women over two decades found that those who got lots of their carbohydrates from refined sugars and highly processed foods nearly doubled their risk of heart disease.

At the same time, those who ate a low-carb diet but got more of their protein and fat from vegetables rather than animal sources cut their heart disease risk by 30 per cent on average, compared with those who ate more animal fats.

The findings came from researchers at Harvard University’s schools of medicine and public health who reviewed records of 82,802 women in the ongoing Nurses’ Health Study over 20 years. The women were not dieting to lose weight. In fact, on average they were slightly overweight.

Tips from AP interviews:

- Avoid saturated and trans fats; instead use canola and olive oils.

- Get as much protein and fat as you can from vegetable sources. Stick to lean meats and fish.

- Eat more high-quality carbohydrates: Whole grains, oatmeal, fresh fruit and vegetables

- Limit sugary beverages.