And then they're going to pile it. Better enjoy this while I can.
So, I was reading Jeremy's blog... and whaddya know? A quiz. Because I enjoy doing these internet survey thingies, I decided to try it out. Here's what I got:
Your view on yourself:
You are down-to-earth and people like you because you are so straightforward. You are an efficient problem solver because you will listen to both sides of an argument before making a decision that usually appeals to both parties.
The type of girlfriend/boyfriend you are looking for:
You are a true romantic. When you are in love, you will do anything and everything to keep your love true.
Your readiness to commit to a relationship:
You are ready to commit as soon as you meet the right person. And you believe you will pretty much know as soon as you might that person.
The seriousness of your love:
Your have very sensible tactics when approaching the opposite sex. In many ways people find your straightforwardness attractive, so you will find yourself with plenty of dates.
Your views on education
Education is very important in life. You want to study hard and learn as much as you can.
The right job for you:
You have plenty of dream jobs but have little chance of doing any of them if you don't focus on something in particular. You need to choose something and go for it to be happy and achieve success.
How do you view success:
You are confident that you will be successful in your chosen career and nothing will stop you from trying.
What are you most afraid of:
You are afraid of things that you cannot control. Sometimes you show your anger to cover up how you feel.
Who is your true self:
You like privacy very much because you enjoy spending time with your own thoughts. You like to disappear when you cannot find solutions to your own problems, but you would feel better if you learned to share your thoughts with a person you trust.
Like what?
Minus the stuff about romance and whatever... I found myself concurring.
And the thing is, none of the questions they asked had anything to do with their answers at all.
Okay, here's their list of questions.
1
Imagine that you are walking along a path. What do you see around you? please answer
Forest, so much forest that you can hardly see the sky.
A yellow corn field against a brilliant blue sky.
Softly sloping green hills, with a view of mountains in the distance.
2
What do you see near your feet? please answer
A mirror
A ring
A bottle
3
Will you pick it up? please answer
Yes
No
4
You walk along and find water. In what form is the water? please answer
A lake
A waterfall
A river
5
You see a key in the water and you pick it up. What does it look like? please answer
An ordinary house key
A beautiful antique key
A small silver locker key
6
Next you stumble across a house. What type of house is it? please answer
A spacious Hollywood mansion
A hut with a garden full of flowers
A beautiful old stone castle
7
What do you do next? please answer
Look into the window
Walk right on inside and explore
Walk away. You're not that interested.
8
Suddenly, something jumps out at you. What is it? please answer
A bear
A wizard
A spider
9
Because you are so scared you run until you see a wall blocking the path in front of you. There is a door, but it's locked, so you look through the key hole. What do you see? please answer
A beautiful house with a vast garden.
A pond in the middle of a desert.
A beach with waves crashing onto the sand.
I don't get it. How do they determine the reason a person chooses any particular option? Take that last one for example. I chose a pond in the middle of a desert, because it's the sort of weird thing I'd really love to see in real life. I really doubt that can give a freaking computer program insight into my personality. Yet they hit me right on. Likes privacy. Check. Thinks education is important. Check. Plenty of ambitions. Check. Confidence in my career. Check.
But then again, those aren't exactly rare qualities, now are they?
If you think about it, there are probably many, many people who think similarly in such scenarios. The question then really is, whether or not people with similar thinking in such areas to me, would also think similarly when presented with the quiz questions.
Let's assume so. Let's say that each person's fundamental thinking causes him to view things in a certain way. Since humans(contrary to what we like to believe) are actually not so different in fundamentals, it's highly possible that there is a group of people with similar fundamental thinking processes. Of course there will be variation, since we were not all raised by a pre-programmed schedule.
Thus the main concern is what the options to the questions represent. What does it mean if I choose to find a ring on the ground? What does it mean if I take it? The first thought that struck me on those questions was that rings were worth a lot of money. The second answer was thus obvious to me.
And then with the bear, spider, or wizard. If a bear jumps out at you, does it mean that you are afraid of bears? The next question seems to suggest so. However, how does one come to be afraid of wizards? Ignoring the elaborations and modifications of modern wizard tales, don't we all know that in traditional stories, wizards are generally the benign versions of the evil witches? They represent wisdom, power and fragility all at once. I picked a wizard, simply because it's cooler to meet a real wizard than get mauled by a bear or bitten by a spider. As far as I can tell, it doesn't say much about me that could relate to any of that.
Oh, wait. I just looked at the questions and answers again.
Green hills and mountains bears connotations of being "down to earth". Okay...
The ring and whether or not I would pick it up is supposed to refer to my attitude towards romance. Way off, man. I was just going "ka-ching!" in my mind when I chose those options...
And so on.
Now that I've looked at it again. It's not so strange. It's just clever. A very well thought out quiz. Objects represent character traits, and correspond to your analysis. Even though you pick your answers not according to how they would expect, they give you an answer. Their answers are written well enough to pass off as an actual analysis for just about anyone. Like I said, people aren't that much different.
Well, that might have taken the fun out of online quizzes... But now I've got a new hobby. Figuring out how they work. Problem is, I probably won't have time to do that much more for a while now.
Oh, and K.I lessons are a real relief. There are only 10 other students, and it's great to finally be able to talk after sitting through a few lectures in a row.
And I love it when they get blue screens of death during the presentations.
-Joe