i love, love, love the Phantom of the Opera. i'm such a sap for the romance, the mystery, the tragedy. Just finished up a quick layout from Tara's birthday gift to me of the musical earlier this year (as i frantically try to finish up stories from 2010 before the year is gone).

But this made me want to watch the film version (which

i realize is not the same quality or charm of the theatrical version, but it's ready at hand and does show off the finer points of one of my guilty pleasures, who i also happen to think would be an excellent match for Tara. i mean really, this is a beautiful man.).

Anyway, back to my pitiful enamorment (newly created word, please use widely) of the mysterious, fantabulous Phantom. Well, really, most any dark, mystic, passionate, fictionate (another one we should Websterize) alpha-type male character will do. It's sad. Really it is.

as i endeavor to learn more about myself, i realize that encouraging my psyche to embrace more realistic thoughts is quite futile. My Myers-Briggs type (personality assessment based on the work of Jung) is INFP. The Kiersey Temperament analysis of this type is that i'm an Idealist (uh, well, sure), and by nature a hopeless romantic.

Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the "not visible" or the "not yet" that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

At times, it would be nice to be firmly rooted in the here and now. Luckily i also have NT tendencies, which makes me partially Rational.

Rationals have an insatiable hunger to accomplish their goals and will work tirelessly on any project they have set their mind to. They are rigorously logical and fiercely independent in their thinking -- are indeed skeptical of all ideas, even their own -- and they believe they can overcome any obstacle with their will power.

Let's analyze this combo: Idealist + Rational = i'll hang on tirelessly to possibilities waiting to be realized. Fabulous. And i wonder at the never-ending commentary happening up top.