A Glimpse at the Real Kim

Well, I'm home. I returned from the Center for Career Development and Ministry having been picked apart, prodded, and poked with sticks. It was an emotionally and mentally draining experience but it did yield some insights which I'll share with you in a minute. First, however, I want to tell you what happens when you don't follow directions.

Before I left for CCDM, I was told to plan for some down time afterward, time away from kids, work, home, etc. Those "in the know" recommended I give myself an opportunity to process and reflect on all l I learned, as well as time to recover from the emotional and mental battering. I, however, decided to go home. And that's when the trouble started.

When Rob picked me up at the train station on Friday night, Ian and Abby were with him. They had just eaten at Max Brenner's. The chocolate restaurant. I think the kids would have been less hopped up if he'd given them each 16 ounces of Red Bull. The were entertaining, but exhausting. And of course Abby had made me a cake saying "Welcome Home, Mom!" And it was chocolate. And we all had a piece around 10 p.m. Suprisingly, the kids didn't get to bed at a reasonable hour on Friday night.

On Saturday things really got ugly.



The schnoz

I cut my nose while shaving my legs in the shower at the gym. As I posted on Facebook, I may be the first person in history to have done this. I don't know how it happened. I must have been day dreaming or had an itch or something. It hurt and I bled like a stuck pig and I had to somehow get out of the gym without leaving a trail of blood behind me.
Later on Saturday, when taking off my socks while simultaneously using the bathroom (I'm always multi-tasking), I dropped a sock in the toilet.

And on Sunday during dinner I bumped my plate and voila!

Hot dog and baked bean remnants

I think I should have taken some time off, as directed.

Now, because you all desperately want to learn more about my internal wiring, here are some highlights from the substantial number of things I learned while at CCDM:

• I am an ISTJ: Introvert, Sensing (vs. Intuition), Thinking (vs. Feeling), Judging (vs. Perceiving)
• Being an introvert justifies my going to bed before my party guests leave.
• Though I am an introvert, I'm off the charts in the Expressive category. This means I will gladly share my entire life story, but then I need to be alone for a while.
• Under "Thinking" I am a 5 out of 5 in the Critical category. I know everyone is surprised to hear this.
• I am highly sensitive to being left-out, left-behind, or ignored (like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction)
• I want to receive love and affection more than I want to give it.
• I don't tell others what to do (at the workplace, anyway), but I don't want to be told what to do either.
• I use passive-aggressive methods of rebelling, rather than openly hostile ones.
• My current job uses about about 95% of my strongest skills and 90% of my motivating values.
• But Marketing Manager is really, really low on the list of careers best-suited for me.
• Speaking of best careers for me:
• Paralegal
• Broadcast Journalist (ironic since this was my career goal until my junior year of college)
• Librarian
• Parks & Recreation Manager (???)
• Least appropriate careers for me:
• Architect
• Mathematician
• Religous/Spiritual Leader (and to think I briefly considered seminary)

The really good news is that I'm neither psychotic, schizophrenic, or bi-polar.  And according to the myriad of tests I took, I am living up to my potential.

So that's that. My future's clear as mud. Time to get back to work!