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phoenix
10-04-2007, 10:31 PM
Hi there!

I'm a 35-year old INTJ, degrees in physics and astronomy, now working as an engineer at NASA. I grew up in a household where my mother was the primary breadwinner, and one of the first females in her field (newspaper publishing). I always attributed my willingness to take on male-dominated discplines to her influence. However, looking at it through the INTJ prism, I think I would be doing what I do now even with a different upbringing.

My family is made up of my daughter (extreme extrovert ACK!), my partner (tested as ISFJ...not quite sure how that happened), and our four cats. We do gardening, quilting, online gaming, and sometimes medieval reenactment for fun. Typically, I do the designs (landscaping, quilt design, costumes, etc.) and we both work together to make them a reality. She has the green thumb...not I.

Throughout my life, my analytical nature has been both a blessing and a curse. It gave me the ability to perservere through grad school while also raising a young daughter. It destroyed my marriage due to my inability to understand his unwillingness act rationally. It helps me excel in the demanding world of real-time satellite operations. And as I continue to learn from past mistakes, I think it's helping me learn to not sweat the small stuff in my relationships.

I definitely look forward to having others like me to talk to...especially women. I have always been the only female ... in the class, on the project, or doing whatever it is I am doing. I'm especially interested in how other INTJs handle non-rational children. I love her dearly, but I do wonder if my mother cursed me *;)

Nice to be here!
phoenix


Edited: She's ISFJ,not ENTJ....I stand corrected

Jezebel
10-04-2007, 10:59 PM
Hi phoenix, welcome to the forum! Glad to have another female INTJ on board, we have several here. I don't have any children myself, but just to gain perspective of your situation, how old is your daughter?

phoenix
10-04-2007, 11:11 PM
She's 13, plays the cello and is into Wicca. She only has had one 'boyfriend' and he's very ADHD. She's always been the kind of person that takes care of others...to the point that I had to complain to a teacher to get him to stop shoving his problem kids off on her (in 4th grade!).

She's an amazing kid! But...(there's always a but...) she's not really very good at the whole school thing. She thinks handing in homework is optional, as is studying for tests. She doesn't seem to be at all concerned that her grades affect her future....very much an 'in the moment' person. And I just don't get that.

Oh well...I keep trying!

Firelie
10-04-2007, 11:57 PM
"non-rational children" made me laugh at first.

phoenix
10-05-2007, 11:56 AM
"non-rational children" made me laugh at first. *

But they're soooooooooo frustrating!

Firelie
10-05-2007, 01:51 PM
"non-rational children" made me laugh at first. *

But they're soooooooooo frustrating!



Oh, I can imagine. I have a non-rational brother who drives me nuts if I hang out with him for too long.

Unknown
10-05-2007, 06:18 PM
I so jealous!! In my dream world I studied astromony and physics...but in reality, I've ended up in management. At least I'm in higher education and get to teach. At my age, I'll have to settle for having astronomy and physics as a hobby.

phoenix
10-05-2007, 06:53 PM
I so jealous!! *In my dream world I studied astromony and physics...but in reality, I've ended up in management. *At least I'm in higher education and get to teach. *At my age, I'll have to settle for having astronomy and physics as a hobby.

And I chose to move away from it! LOL

To be honest, I loved Astronomy, and would happily have stayed with it my whole life if I didn't have to publish and could have actually afforded to eat. My daughter was six when I got my PhD, and another 6-8 years of post-doc positions was simply not acceptable to me. So I turned to systems engineering....a bit of a stretch, but it seems to have worked out.

Luckily I still get to enjoy astronomy peripherally through my work, and as an 'amateur.' I'm about to move to an area with dark skies! I've already got my scope picked out. :thumbsup:

Unknown
10-05-2007, 11:22 PM
I've lived in Kansas City for a while and couldn't see a thing (I hate light pollution!!). Then spent a few months in Wyoming...OMG!! I've never seen so many stars!! And then was a year in Iceland where I got to see the aurora in person.

phoenix
10-05-2007, 11:43 PM
I did some observing in Australia for my dissertation. Everyone says you should see the southern cross and the Magellenic clouds. Heck no, I was flabbergasted by Saggitarius! It actually looks like you're looking into the center of a galaxy! The bulge, the dust lanes...everything!

Absolutely mezmersizing. . . humbling. . . awe-inspiring.

Pictures cannot do it justice.

Unknown
10-06-2007, 09:37 AM
You mentioned online gaming. Is that a "common hobby among INTJs? I've gotten into DDO...love it!

I've got 3 children - an ENTJ son (a lot like me but the extroverted version), an ISTJ son and an E/ISFP son.

I've been working with the MBTI for years, so it helped me understand my non-rational children a lot better. My kids have grown up hearing that it's ok to whatever they are (introvert/extrovert, etc.) and that it's ok for others be who they are. Not sure how much has actually sunk in, but they seem to be pretty accepting.

I could go on and on with stories of differences. The ENTJ and ISTJ are only a year apart (now 21 and 20). When they were younger, the ENTJ would with a toy truck...but it was a submarine or a space ship, anything but a truck; however for the ISTJ, it was a truck...and that's all that it was.