While listening to a heath and wellness podcast on my way to work on Tuesday, I learned about Swiss psychologist Carl Jung and his myriad of ideas regarding personality traits.

One of Jung’s biggest contributions to the study of people’s temperament was his Color Theory. According to Jungian Color Theory, the classification of personality traits can be linked to four colors: red, blue, green, and yellow.

If that method of categorizing human nature sounds much too simplistic at first glance, it’s because it definitely is: Carl Jung himself admitted to such in his early writings. Nevertheless, the color personality test still reigns supreme in college freshman orientations and workforce development meetings alike.

I took the test online and found that I most closely align with the color blue; in Jungian terms, that means I am “cautious”, “precise”, “ deliberate”, and “formal”. Or in other words, a real party pooper. If I wanted to take a test that told me I was boring, I could’ve gone back to high school and re-do my SAT.

Rice Rice Baby

While doing a bit of spring cleaning around the house, I found an item in the kitchen that greatly fascinated me: my dad’s old Sanyo rice cooker.

Back when my dad was a bachelor in the 1980s, he quickly came to realize that gyros and New York-style pizza was not the foundation for healthy eating. Plus, he got tired of the same takeout places anyhow. So, my dad resolved to cook his own food himself in his apartment–a revolutionary act for a man who always relied and depended on his older sister to do everything for him at home, to the point of ‘exaggeration’ and ‘negligence’ (my mom’s words, not mine…).

And so the Sanyo rice cooker was purchased. I didn’t even know Sanyo sold rice cookers, but apparently they did. Japanese companies were everywhere in the 80s, as part of the economic ‘miracle’ that saw Japan rise from the ruins of World War II to become the world’s second-biggest economy after the United States. Brands like Sanyo, Sony, JVC, Toshiba and Panasonic became household names for eager consumers looking for the best and latest technologies.

A relic older than ‘Seinfeld’, my dad’s Sanyo rice cooker is tiny, but mighty. And it still works like a charm today: I used it on Monday to cook some vegetable rice to go with my chicken, which I prepared with a new-fangled air fryer. (I wonder if Sanyo makes air fryers….?)

Things Can Only Get Better™

Many things in this world confuse me. They include, but are not limited to: roundabouts, artificial intelligence, non-alcoholic beers, Malaysia Airlines’ Flight MH370, and people who preferred Little Mix over Fifth Harmony. (7/27 was the studio album of summer 2016!).

However, as I am growing older and (hopefully) wiser, I am trying my best to not get so caught up in all the minor and major stuff that frustrates me and instead focus on the things I can control. I am also trying to focus on life’s positives: one big plus I’ve noticed this week is the lack of school traffic in the mornings, since all the schools in both Chatham and Bryan County are currently on their summer breaks.

This means that I can sleep in on weekdays for approximately 30 extra minutes--or at least until my brother furiously texts me to move my car out of the driveway because he’s late for work again.

Andrea Gutierrez is the editor of the Bryan County News.