War Is NOT Over. Give E-N-T-Ps A Chance

So; last week, as part of my revision for a professional exam I was sitting the next day, I explained to the group that I was with, that - unlike them - (a bunch of I-S-somethings, or 'GEEKS' as we should learn to call them) my own learning style (a consequence of my Myers-Briggs Type Indicator), requires conversation; and so as a result I was looking forward to spending the full day discussing the revision subject with them all.

They voted to end the revision day early, and break up after lunch.

So they could all go back to their rooms and "reflect" and "cram".

WARNING - An expletive is about to appear. Maybe two.

The fucking bastards!!

I get all this stuff about how I'm supposed to manage my personality type, especially where it impacts on introverts, so I'm open and honest - and I get shafted by them. The fucking bastards.

And then, of course, the next day I get dragged into introvert (died and gone to) Heaven - the examination. That's three hours of solitary effort; timed to the second; overseen by some stony-faced, silent gauleiter and designed to demonstrate isolated knowledge, without interaction with any other human being, from within the confines of the brain and how much of the "facts and data and process and systems" has been "crammed".



No interaction; no ideas; no creativity...

Go on. Tell me exams were designed by an extravert... Go on! You can't, can you? Because they bloody weren't. If they'd let us design that sort of thing it would have meant everybody down the pub; loads to drink; loads of laughing and talking; big arguments and no fallings out, and top marks to the person who said the one thing you might remember through your hangover the next morning. Everyone else gets a pass mark anyway, for being a good egg.

Introversion tyranny, that's what it is. Insularity fascism.

Let's be honest. It is becoming clearer by the day that the real divisions in this world are not between sexes, races, religions, political beliefs, straight and gay, blah blah blah... They're between us - the talkative, sociable, imaginative... hang on what was it... "energetic, brash, witty and original" (especially original) and them. The accountants.

Bloody accountants. And 'systems analysts'. And 'operations managers'. Bastards. And 'invigilators'.

And these very real divisions need to explained in the starkest possible terms;

In short: it's War.

It's My(ers-Briggs) Party and I'll Cry If I-(S-F-Js) Want Me To...

This 'first and right' thing actually happens beacause of my personality type.

I am forgetful too. It's not a age thing. I always have been. I have a scatter-brained approach to life.

Both are explained wholly by my personality type which is (in Myers-Briggs terms) E-N-T-P.

That means I am, apparently "energetic, brash, witty and original; wanting to be where the action is but on my terms. I may need to be aware of unintentionally bruising the feelings of others through my love of argument and of having the last word".

In a recent assessment I was described, by a colleague, as "cultivating that somewhat ramshackle persona as a way of disarming people".

Up to that point I hadn't been aware that I had a ramshackle persona.

So what was I talking about? Oh, yeah. Being forgetful. And needing to have the last word on everything in an argumentative kind of way.

It's probably true.

But I am trying really hard to do the self-improvement thing.

/mantra: I recognise that my Myers-Briggs type indicator is an explanation for my behaviour, and not an excuse for it. /exit: mantra. Sigh.

I am trying to moderate what others believe to be my worst personality excesses. Apparently I can do this, "through prioritising time"; "through practising and improving listening skills"; "through realising that competence at absolutely everything is impossible"; "through getting enough rest and exercise"; "through getting in closer touch with feelings and learning to express them"; "through being sensitive to impact on others, holding back from abrasive comments"; amongst other things. The Myers-Briggs people recommend these changes.

Fuckin' ell. That sounds like torture.

They were a US mother and daughter team, were Myers and Briggs.

They claim that - apart from needing the last word (ridiculous) and being abrasive (AS IF!! ) - at my very worst, I may "be argumentative, (nope) succumb to hypochondria, (never) have tantrums, (unknown) feel unloved and unlovable, (preposterous) withdraw from others and neglect self." (poppycock)

Well at least I remember that there's an 'H' in yoghurt you patronising, new-world wankers!!!

You people make me bloody sick.

I won't bother even eating one tomorrow. And then I'll die and you'd be sorry if anybody actually even cared about me, which they don't.