Dec 12 2007

Personal

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Companions whom I loved, and still do love;

Tell them, my song.”

– Michael Crichton, Timeline

Polarwolf

(Canis lupus arctos. Picture taken at the Adler- und Wolfspark Kasselburg, Germany.)

Me, myself and I

My full name is Winfried Edmund Stephan Maus and I am 54 years old. I am a native German and Europe is my home. I am a writer at heart.

As far as labels and cataloged personality archetypes go, according to Myers-Briggs I am an INFJ personality type. As far as as the nowadays quite popular wolf pack archetypes go, related tests confirmed that I am a Sigma male. In a test specifically developed to determine Carl Jungian archetypes, I fully – 30 out of 30 – matched The Warrior.  So, in summary, it seems that I am allowed to put an INFJ Ʃ Warrior label on myself – which I find quite amusing.

I work best alone and I follow my own set of values. I have always questioned authority and social conventions. I can think for myself and bypass or ignore useless hierarchies and arbitrary rules. I don’t need handholding and do not let someone else (micro-)manage me. I think things through, but ultimately I only make decisions that my heart also accepts – and I accept the consequences of my decisions and take full responsibility.

I love spending quality time with select people – and I am very picky with who I spend such time. At the same time, I find social interactions in larger gatherings of people strenuous and only bearable with loud rock music and alcohol to numb my empathy to tolerable levels. Metal bars are the only places that I can enjoy for more than just a few minutes. I don’t like being in cities for too long and I need a quiet, private space to retreat to.

Unless you’re my partner in life or otherwise important for me on a deeply personal level, I don’t care for anybody’s validation or what somebody thinks about me or what I’m doing. It is perfectly fine for me if “you do you”, but you must live with the fact that I do me.

I love my dogs, movies, books, writing, computer games, soundtracks, Heavy Metal, digital photography, driving my GT86, and the English language.

When it comes to food, I live in Central Europe and have the luxury of choice. I have chosen to become a vegetarian because I can no longer look into the eyes of an animal and then later see meat on my plate and not make that association in my mind anymore. Truth be told, I am borderline vegan; but even though I have learned how to bake a mean vegan cheesecake, I still eat real cheese.

I am a night person, through and through, and I love thunderstorms. Stormy weather inspires me and fills me with energy, and that’s when I can work best.

I enjoy listening to the voice of Strix aluco, especially in my refugium next to the woods; there is also a fully grown, plain white barn owl, Tyto alba alba (yes, two times the word alba), living near my place; I once saw her flying at daybreak and I can sometimes also hear her voice.

I have a strong sense for justice and beauty. Injustice infuriates me, but I can find beauty in the tiniest details, even in the worst of places.

I don’t get bored and I do not need employment to stay busy – I have enough interests and personal projects that I can pursue for the rest of my life. But since I still need a steady income, I work in a regular job.

I make my living in IT – not because I love it so much, but because it is so much easier for me to earn my money in that industry than it is with writing or doing other supposedly unprofitable things, better known as “brotlose Kunst” in the worker class that I was born into. (Literal translation: “breadless art” – working in an area that will never support you enough to make a living in it.)

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