An Exercise in Self

I mentioned a few days ago that I thought this exercise was interesting, so here we go...

Scraps' intro: I just read a great post by Princess of JustAnotherSternGirl. In it, she tells of an episode of one of her favorite TV shows in which a teacher has her class do the following exercise:

...After this short exercise, the class is divided into pairs, and each group is given a digital camera and a set of instructions to follow. At the end of the class period, each student is supposed to take a picture that shows how they see their partner.

This is obviously going to be done a bit differently; me sharing with the readers my own thoughts.

• 1. Share something personal with your partner.

  I feel emotion about things that have nothing to do with me better than emotions that have everything to do with me.
  

• 2. Lighten up. Do an impression of a celebrity or famous character.

  As everyone else who has done this said, that's tough to do on a computer.

• 3. Admit something that worries you or something you're afraid of.

  That I can never live up to the expectations that have always surrounded me. That in my quest to lower those expectations, I've ensured that I won't.
  

• 4. What do you want to be in ten years?

  Happy. Successful in all the things I'd like to do, without having sacrificed too much, including: Changing the Jewish community culture through education so that people really understand economics, and through that, changing [and making transparent] the Jewish educational system so it is fiscally sound. Helping Jewish homes become fiscally sound, which will help in so many other ways. Helping young couples get off on the right foot, so that they don't blow their own chances at truly accomplishing and contributing, while simultaneously helping themselves. And all of this while being successful in my own rite, taking good care of my family, moving out of New York, and eventually to Israel - all within that span.
  

• 5. Tell your partner a secret.

  Almost everything I say and do - including, if not especially, that which seems impulsive or contradictory - is intensely calculated in my mind. And I often let people know this in advance. V'hamyvin yavin. Interestingly, I can't do this to my mother; and rarely to my sister, Serach, and sometimes SIL. There are also a handful of people I know who can sometimes realize it as well - Shragi, Bones, Groovin', Moshe, Toast, Doc... maybe others.
  

• Take a picture of yourself.

  This one's easy. There would be other people in the middle of the photo, clearly happy and content; excited about the present and future. I'd be off on the side in the background, looking at them, with a smile on my face, barely noticeable even to them, that says: "My work here is done."