Catagorize me

For someone that’s so interested in personality, cognition and himself, I really have a hard time pegging down my actual personality type.

I usually think of myself as a very type B person. I’m very casual and relaxed. I don’t tend to get stressed out. I don’t fight for points at our exam review sessions. I feel zero compunction to provide answers or exert leadership over class discussions, whether at school or church. I drive places without maps. I prefer to be late than early. I have no idea how much money is in my bank account. Et cetera, et cetera.

But then I go and exhibit some very type A traits. Last week I decided to go to the ballet, which I don’t think particularly labels me as A or B, though certainly a less manly version of either. When I discovered the tickets I had planned on purchasing were sold out and I must rely on rush tickets, I immediately came up with several alternate plans. I looked into how much each set of tickets would cost. I ordered the film version of the ballet (Dracula, incidentally, which made it a bit more macho) from Blockbuster online. Because I wasn’t sure if the film would arrive by the day of my date, I looked into all the public and university libraries in Columbus. I spent a trip home from a friends house stopping at each store which might conceivably have this DVD (Borders, Barnes and Nobles, Circuit City, Hollywood Video, Target and Walmart, which all happened to be on the same road.) With no luck I went to the ballet box office a couple hours before I was to meet my date in order to be there before rush tickets were sold. Point being I ended up acting in a very anal manner, making me question if I am in fact a type A. In the end I both received my DVD on the day of the show and got my rush tickets so we were able to see the show, and had a good time.

Now type A versus type B is hardly tried and true psychiatry. It’s everyman psychobabble. And even using this generic system, there’s a continuum involving type AB. Which I guess defines me, as well as 90% of the population.