Hey, munchkins. Well, I'm feeling a mite calmer today (yesterday's entry was a little frantic, no?). I've left Kev sleeping and come in to use the computer in his office; the plan is to work some here, go get some lunch, work some at the cafe, try to finish a story, stop at a bookstore and pick up Kev's last present, and head back around dinner time.
I forgot that I was supposed to bring in a disk and disk drive so I could send this story to my writing group. I'm not sure what I should do now -- I think I may actually just retype it in. A bit tedious, but it's not that long a story, and I don't want to delay another day. I'll send it out to y'all as well -- it's called "Esthely Blue". I don't know what to classify it as -- mainstream or erotica or sf or magical realism or what. Something.
Todd (aka columbine) wrote a rant on the Myers-Briggs tests recently over at Alewife Bayou. I don't know if y'all are familiar with them, but I'm going to just proceed as if you are, since it's easy enough to dig up info on them on the net. Now, I've never taken the test -- as Todd points out, the full one is expensive. But I did take a sort of quick 'n dirty version that Kevin had, a shortened form that was supposedly less reliable, but a vague indicator. I'm not sure, thinking back, what my actual result was, or Kevin's. I think I'm an ENT/FJ (the t/f is 'cause I scored exactly in the middle. I'm not sure about that last one, though. And Kev was a INTP, I think. What's funnier to me than the actual meanings of the sections was our prescribed positions in life -- the jobs we'd be best suited for. They nailed Kevin dead on -- mathematician was top of the list for his category. And while writers are supposed to be I (introverted) rather than E, I am sufficiently amused by my prescribed career that I'm somewhat fond of the test as a result. They told me I should be a leader of some kind. What kind depended on whether I was more T or F - the 'thinking' type of leader would rule by hierarchy, a general-type. The 'feeling' type would rule by persuasion -- more of a charismatic preacher. I always thought I'd do a good job as benevolent dictator -- and it's certainly true that I have a habit of starting to take over organizations that I join. I hate seeing jobs done badly, and so I tend to do my best to fix that...and it's easier to fix from the top. :-)
Anyway, all silliness. As Todd points out, the tests are like Tarot cards, or the Zodiac (and did you know that I, born July 26th, am a perfect example of a Leo? That weirded me out the first time I realized that, since I don't believe in astrology even a little bit) -- you can really make them say whatever you want them to say. Slight correlations don't really mean much in the grand scheme of things. But they *are* fun, and relatively harmless, I think. I'm not sorry I took the test. I'd probably take the longer version if it was offered to me free.
On the other hand, keep in mind that I *like* standardized tests -- they invariably say that I'm smarter than my grades say I am, so they're kind of reassuring. What can I say? -- I'm a geek from way back...