Learning Something New About Myself (probably)

Today while I was studying for Management (urgh) at work, I came across the Myers-Briggs Personality Test in my notes. It occurred to me that I have never taken a satisfactory personality test--I never even got the results of my job aptitude tests in high school. And while I don't necessarily trust these types of things as all-encompassing truth, it's still interesting. So I decided to give it a try and hit up the internet.

After taking several tests, me results came back pretty consistent:

INTJ

61% Introverted (versus Extroverted)
55% Intuitive (versus Sensing)
63% Thinking (versus Feeling)
71% Judging (versus Perceiving)

Eeeeeenteresting.

Apparently only 1-4% of the population fall into this category. Wikipedia says INTJs are "most comfortable working alone and tend to be less sociable than other types. Nevertheless, INTJs are prepared to lead if no one else seems up to the task, or if they see a major weakness in the current leadership. They tend to be pragmatic, logical, and creative. They have a low tolerance for spin or rampant emotionalism. They are not generally susceptible to catchphrases and do not readily accept authority based on tradition, rank, or title."

Most of what the Wikipedia article has to say resonates with me, in fact. Psychology! But, as my coworker Lex remarked, "It's like a horoscope, only a little bit more real."

Indeed.

If you want to take the test, here's one that I did:

http://similarminds.com/jung.html 

Goodbye, World.

This is my farewell to you all. You probably won't see me for the next few months. In the last five days, my life has gone from depressingly empty (school + nothing = boredom) to oh-my-god-what-am-I-going-to-do full (school + new job + Phi Sigma Pi + Sigma Tau Delta + College of Arts and Sciences Ambassador = AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH).

So yes. Let me explain.

Other than the receptionist position I mentioned in my previous post, I have made a few decisions that will henceforth make me a more involved human. The first is that I decided to join UNT's chapter of the co-ed honors fraternity Phi Sigma Pi. After visiting a few information meetings, a couple of friends and I decided that the people are awesome and the "fraternity" part is really more of a formality than a lifestyle, so I applied. And now for the next six weeks I'm going to be going to Rush class every Sunday and doing service projects/events with all these lovely new smart people.

Secondly, I am applying to Sigma Tau Delta, the fancy-schmancy English major honor society (another fake-Greek organization), which does cool things like have visiting authors speak and go to English conferences. Luckily, this is a relatively minor commitment with monthly or bi-monthly meetings, so this might not be the death of me.

Thirdly, my English major adviser (Dr. Penner's-mother Lyke lolololol) asked me to be an English major College of Arts and Sciences Ambassador, which sounds awesome to me -- talking to incoming freshmen interested in English and basically convincing them that the English program rocks. Right now it doesn't seem like too big of a commitment, just a few evenings here and there, but we will see if I actually have time for it. I really hope I do.

All of these things excite and interest me. I just hope I'm not taking on too much. But either way--wow. A week and a half ago I was spending three-quarters of my day staring at the Internet and halfheartedly flipping through my agenda to see when things were happening (or more likely, not happening). Now I'm employed and a prospective member of multiple organizations and potentially friends with ALL THE PEOPLE! :D

So farewell. I will see you in the summer. If I make it that far.

General Life Announcement.

So yep. It's official. I got a job! I'm going to be a receptionist at the Gateway Center, which I can see from my window (as pictured). Woohoo! Employment! Money! Etcetera!

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

I'm convinced. Hank Green is a genius. 

When Hank first announced his side-project, a modern adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as a YouTube video blog, my first reaction was, "Oh, that's cute." Loyal nerdfighter that I am, I subscribed to Lizzie Bennet's fictional YouTube channel and occasionally took six or seven minutes out of my week to watch Ashley Clements as Lizzie rant about her silly parents, her sister, her grad school, and this jerk she met at a wedding called William Darcy. 

It was fun. It was cool. It was new. And it soon became a fully-fledged fandom, with all the trappings of yet another collective obsession belonging to thousands and thousands of bored internet-lurkers. People like me -- young, outspoken, and always looking for something new. 

Now, I'm not as intense of an internetter as some. I'm afraid of twitter and tumblr, and I'm only slowly acclimating to such big forces of the virtual world as Reddit and Imgur. But I follow YouTube religiously. I Facebook. I even Pinterest from time to time, and obviously I have a blog. So I'm not ignorant of these things. Maybe just a little late to the party, but I'm getting there. 

Still, this project, LBD, took me by surprise. As the story progressed, I became more and more engrossed, and so did the rest of the internet. The geniuses behind the project branched out into other areas, giving their characters fictitious twitters and tumblr accounts, facebook pages, company websites and email addresses. Other characters began to vlog, including Lydia, Charlotte, and Darcy's sister. These actors took on alternate identities almost as real as their own, in the virtual world at least. Now you could be browsing around on Pinterest and come across some of Jane Bennet's fashion pictures or Lydia Bennet's not-so-sound partying advice. 

It's all amazingly three-dimensional, a story experience unlike anything the world has ever seen, to be overly dramatic. The extremely broad fan-base experiences the misadventures of the Bennet sisters in real-time, in real-life detail. And yes, there are some campy bits, like the fake demonstrations of "Pemberly Digital's new video-chatting technology" that are obviously contrived, but the scope of the project is so huge that things like that are added bonuses rather than unconvincing plot complicators. 

I fully expect to see more of these in the future, a whole new genre of internet storytelling. And I welcome it, giving life to these old stories, making them relevant to young people today who may love or hate them. This is the future! Huzzah! 

Anyway, go watch them if you haven't already. Start from the beginning. 

www.lizziebennet.com