So I've pretty much done nothing this week. Well, I have, but not much of what I intended (I guess).
Went to work on Solo's car. Not much seemed to get done, but most of the bodywork is finished.
Did a lot of
work on
Wikipedia. Seriously, hours. If you don't use it, you should. I've studied for exams from it, and learned more than in class. You obviously need to check sources, but it tends to be a good reference.
Still need to put in job applications. I hate doing that. It always feels like I'm being rude and saying "Give me a job! I just need the money, I don't care about your crappy company, just hand over the cash." Maybe it's because that's what I'm thinking.
Took an IQ test the other night, just to see how bad it was. Just about what I expected, the usual mix of word, pattern and math puzzles. Of course, IQ has nothing to do with intelligence, just how good you are at solving the kinds of questions on the "IQ test". What I found hilarious was the sites reference to "Frames of Mind: A Theory of Multiple Inteligences". This book basically said "IQ is a crock, don't listen to it. Any number you try to put on intelligence is pointless." Yet this somehow made it into their test? The only people who really care about IQ are the Mensas who make it. Of course you can only join their "genius club" if you score high enough on the test. They're not really geniuses, just puzzle masters who enjoy looking down on others with their snobby, thick-rimmed glasses. "Look at me, I made a test that I can score better than you on! I'm special!"
If you don't believe me, explain how a university class which is intelligent enough to discuss the nature of intelligence can have an average "IQ" of 95. Explain how a person can get a 70 one week and a 120 the next. Explain how the IQ test has anything to do with anything.
And the jewel of it all:
The word "Mensa" means "table" in Latin. The name stands for a round-table society, where race, color, creed, national origin, age, politics, educational or social background are irrelevant.
Of course if you're "stupid", you have to sit at the kid's table.
"Later you can venture on what may be called the Generous Conflict Illusion. This game is best played with more than two players, in a family with grown up children for example. Something quite trivial, like having tea in the garden, is proposed. On member takes care to make it quite clear (though not in so many words) that he would rather not but is, of course, prepared to do so out of 'Unselfishness'. The others instantly withdraw their proposal, ostensibly through their 'Unselfishness', but really because they don't want to be used as a sort of lay figure on which the first speaker practises petty altruisms... He insists on doing 'what the others want'. They insist on doing what he wants. Passions are roused. Soon someone is saying 'Very well then, I won't have any tea at all!', and a real quarrel ensues with bitter resentment on both sides. You see how this is done? If each side had been frankly contending for his own real wish, they would all have kept within the bounds of reason and courtesy..."
-The Screwtape Letters #26
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Now I just wish I could be consistent and finish what I start. I'll never get where I'm going if I keep going back.
