More quizzical looks

I figured I better take this quiz myself, since I just made fun of my boyfriend for being a dork. I'm not really sure how I became a Pure Nerd, because I am pretty sure at some point I was just as much a Geek. Perhaps it's just that I have gotten lazy in my Geek tendencies. I dunno.

Pure Nerd 82 % Nerd, 30% Geek, 17% Dork

For The Record: A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia. A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one. A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions. You scored better than half in Nerd, earning you the title of: Pure Nerd. The times, they are a-changing. It used to be that being exceptionally smart led to being unpopular, which would ultimately lead to picking up all of the traits and tendences associated with the "dork." No-longer. Being smart isn't as socially crippling as it once was, and even more so as you get older: eventually being a Pure Nerd will likely be replaced with the following label: Purely Successful. Congratulations!

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 92% on nerdiness You scored higher than 35% on geekosity You scored higher than 16% on dork points

Link: The Nerd? Geek? or Dork? Test written by donathos on Ok Cupid

Accio Readers

I figured now that I have my new wand I would summon people to start reading my blog. Now that I've got you be sure to return, after all at some point I might have something interesting to talk about, like my obsession with SuDoku.

11", Ash, Phoenix You scored 26 wisdom, 44 bravery, 21 emotional, and 22 martyrdom!

An ash wand signifies growth, balance, and protection. The phoenix tail feather as your core means that you have the capability to be an extremely powerful wizard or witch and that you will defend those you love at all costs.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 4% on wisdom You scored higher than 75% on bravery You scored higher than 47% on emotional You scored higher than 51% on martyrdom

Link: The Harry Potter Wand Test written by sputnik845 on Ok Cupid

The Sorting Hat

In honor of my recent Harry Potter binge I took this test to find out which house I would be sorted into.

GRYFFINDOR! You scored 16% Slytherin, 40% Ravenclaw, 60% Gryffindor, and 24% Hufflepuff!

You might belong in Gryffindor, Where dwell the brave at heart, Their daring, nerve, and chivalry Set Gryffindors apart. Gryffindors are known for their courage, audacity, and devotion to what is good and honest.

My test tracked 4 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 22% on Slytherin You scored higher than 69% on Ravenclaw You scored higher than 73% on Gryffindor You scored higher than 16% on Hufflepuff

Link: The Sorting Hat Test written by leeannslytherin on Ok Cupid

some bloggy thoughts

For a long time I was turned off to the idea of creating a blog or livejournal. Part of the reason is because I don't particularly feel I ever have anything interesting to say. And, for a long time, I misled myself into thinking people who have nothing interesting to say end up talking about other people, usually in a negative way. But I finally realized that mainly applies to people who feel the need to speak despite having nothing to say. There are some other character traits I think go along with those factors, but I will refrain from delving into those opinions, because honestly, I have better things to do like learning about Vin Diesel. For instance, did you know that he once challenged the bones of Bruce Lee to a fistfight, and lost.

Knowing I rarely feel the need to speak I finally decided it was safe in here. I figured that I would not succumb to frustrations and use my blog as a venue for complaint or lower myself by boring people with pettiness of my social life. I also had no intentions of talking s#@% about the graduate program I am in, neither the program itself nor the people in it, as some of my classmates seem to do. But then a couple of hours ago I was directed to a classmate's blog that mentioned me, not by name, but anyone who was in the class would know I was the person of whom the blogger was speaking. The blogger's words are not exactly vicious, but they were not all that kind either. I am sure that to some degree I care that I was mentioned, after all I am writing about it. And in doing so I suppose I have, by default, broken the promises I made to myself when starting this blog. Still, it's kind of like the way I care that because today's mail had not yet arrived when I got back from the beach, that I will have to go back downstairs later and check it. I'm not annoyed or insulted, just surprised. And actually a little glad, because it made me remember why I am here, in Chicago, working on my MFA, and how happy I am. And despite my post earlier today which may have implied I am not looking forward to school itself all that much, I really am looking forward to being back in school. (It's just when one is free from any responsibility and gets to spend days going to the beach, parks, museums, or by biking, reading, writing, playing video games, watching movies, calling and/or writing letters to old friends, and just having the luxury of wasting time watching daytime television it's hard to get too hyped up about going back to classes, work, and teaching). The main reason I decided to write about this was because as mentioned before, it actually sparked thoughts which reminded me how very happy I am with my life, as a whole. I know there were a few other things I had wanted to address--not completely related, just sort of indirectly inspired by all of the strange-warm feelings I had after reading about my work--that I will get around to later, maybe.

In the meantime, consider the following:
Adderall is actually made from grinding up Vin Diesel's teeth, which have magic, cocaine-like chemicals in them to help keep Vin kicking ass 24/7. Vin Deisel doesn't mind giving up his teeth because, as it has been well documented, his father was 1/2 shark so Vin grows approximately 200 new teeth a day.

I am SO post-hipster

A good friend just sent this link to me. Is it a bad sign that one of the very few things I am looking forward to when school starts is the amusement that comes from overhearing conversations on the Red Line?

By the way, when you see dots next to the subject line of one of my posts, that apparently indicates a link in the title. I did not know that.

I've been tagged

In his quest to get me to create a blog Aaron tagged me with a quiz. In response I did not create a blog. Still trying, he tagged me yet again with another quiz. I gave in and the following is the result.

Number of books I own
700+
(Don't be fooled into thinking I am literate. Most of them are coloring books.)

Last book I bought:
E.E. Cummings Complete Poems--suggested reading by my hero Stephanie Strickland

Latest books I am reading:
While in Des Moines last week I read the fourth Harry Potter book, just wanted to get it out of the way before the movie came out. . . Now I am reading the fifth, I mean, now I have to know what happens.
Other summer reading: Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino, In Evil Hour by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, True North by Stephanie Strickland, Pale Fire by Nabokov, The Overcoat and Other Short Stories by Nikolai Gogol (despite the fact that a couple days after I picked it up it was at the top of the list on the Onion's trends that shape our world as "what we're not reading this summer") Oh and Sesame Street's Kooky, Spooky, Halloween! JUMBO Coloring & Activity Book.

Last book I read (and have finished):
Oops, I already answered that: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
And before that I finished three of the four Gogol stories. I think I am finished with that one for now. . .

Five Books that mean a lot to me: I really tried but I can't only do five, plus since my blog is new I am doing what I want. And it's a good way to get to know me, err my reading habits anyway. . . So I broke it down into genres.

Novels:
Cat's Cradle, my first Vonnegut
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut
If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino

Short Story Collections:
Lizard by Banana Yoshimoto
The Roald Dahl Omnibus
Cosmicomics, Calvino
Welcome to the Monkey House, Vonnegut

Poetry:
Wallace Stevens Collected Poetry & Prose
Selected Poems by Robert Creeley
George Oppen's New Collected Poems
Lorine Niedecker's Collected Works

Children's Books:
Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Witches by Roald Dahl (for anyone who is a fan of Dahl's children books I recommend checking out his adult fiction, it's swell.)
A Light In the Attic by Shel Silverstein

Nonfiction:
Six Memos for the Next Millennium by Calvino
Edith Hamilton's Mythology
Field Guide to Birds of North America

Graphic Novels:
Goodbye Chunky Rice by Craig Thompson
Maus (I & II) by Art Spiegelman

Tag Five People:
hmm I am new to this thing, I don't know how to do the fancy link trick like Aaron did, so if these five people read my blog they can do the quiz in their blogs--but don't cheat like I did.
Kay
Sean
John
Jeauxoxox

p.s. actually I just figured out the fancy link trick as you can see at the top of this post, but I am far too lazy to link everyone right now.

Humor

If anyone is actually reading my blog by now, they know what this is. . . here are my results:

the Wit (71% dark, 30% spontaneous, 26% vulgar)

your humor style: CLEAN | COMPLEX | DARK You like things edgy, subtle, and smart. I guess that means you're probably an intellectual, but don't take that to mean pretentious. You realize 'dumb' can be witty--after all isn't that the Simpsons' philosophy?--but rudeness for its own sake, 'gross-out' humor and most other things found in a fraternity leave you totally flat. I guess you just have a more cerebral approach than most. You have the perfect mindset for a joke writer or staff writer. Your sense of humor takes the most thought to appreciate, but it's also the best, in my opinion. You probably loved the Office. If you don't know what I'm talking about, check it out here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/theoffice/. PEOPLE LIKE YOU: Jon Stewart - Woody Allen - Ricky Gervais

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 88% on dark You scored higher than 41% on spontaneous You scored higher than 47% on vulgar

Link: The 3 Variable Funny Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating

ta-dah!!

Well, it's finally happened. I've created a blog. Will I ever post? I don't know. Why have I done this? Because I am exhausted and I should be sleeping; however, blogging is apparently way more important. AND as I got into bed to fall asleep to a Seinfeld rerun on Fox, I was surprised to see Arrested Development instead. This made me excited because despite being one of my favorite shows I have only seen the first season. So deciding I would watch it, I ran to the kitchen to get a drink to stay awake. . . along the way I decided to check my email, my friendster profile, thefacebook, myspace, my school email, and to see whether my brother has started posting on his blog again. He had, and he tagged me with a quiz. . . which I will respond to soon. Well, Arrested Development is over now. And so is my first post.