h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I bumped into your posts on a couple of other threads and am curious about a couple of things. If you don't mind my asking, where do you go to school? And what do you mean when you say you have an unusual personality type? I couldn't tell you what my personality type is, although I do know my Myers-Briggs type if that's what you're referring to. Just wondering.

No, I don't mind your asking. (After all, my Personal Space entry isn't wildly informative.) I'm not at school anymore; I'm a first year Single Honours Philosophy student at the University of Durham.

As for my personality type, I wasn't actually intending to give the impression of using the term in a technical sense; sorry for any confusion caused. I just meant that I fall into that loose category of people who share the distinction of being in some sense 'different' from how the social/cultural mainstream (if there really is such a thing) seems to view itself, in terms of what is generally considered 'normal', or the type of behaviour that most people find comprehensible.

I don't mean by that that I'm some sort of bohemian goth/punk/anarchist, or anything like that; I'm actually rather conservative in many ways, and tend to come across as such. I'm bookish to the point of having read Fowler's Modern English Usage for pleasure, and an introvert who has never entered the college bar, and finds the idea of going out and consuming alcohol in the evenings both unnerving and incomprehensible. You can probably tell from this posting that my written style is rather unconventional (or rather, as I like to think of it, sophisticated) for a nineteen-year-old.

On the other hand, I have some character traits that move away from the mainstream in the other direction. Some people have trouble merely with the fact that I'm an anime fan (although the mainstream is gradually waking up to anime, and I managed to silence one critic by persuading him to watch 'Voices of a Distant Star'); I think the idea of any form of fandom that derives its terminology from a foreign language is seen as somehow excessive or alien. People who have formed their opinions of me based on the knowledge that I've read Fowler would be surprised, I think, to learn how many books I have on sadomasochism. So I can sometimes seem to people to be acting in completely out-of-character ways, because they've formed an impression of me to which I simply don't adhere all the time.

I have some difficulty with some of the stock getting-to-know-you questions; when I'm asked what sort of music I listen to, for example, I _could_ give the easily comprehensible answer that I like The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel -- but that wouldn't tell the complete story. Most people could probably appreciate my fondness for Tom Lehrer; fewer would understand my listening to One-Winged Angel (the theme from the battle against Safer Sephiroth in Final Fantasy VII; yes, I'm one of those who counts the death of Aeris Gainsborough as an essential element of his emotional development during adolescence) and the opening theme from Excel Saga (itself one of the most insane anime in existence) while eschewing fashionable, mainstream music (not on principle; it just tends to be the case that I don't care for what's on offer, and I certainly don't care for the industry). Oh, and I also listen to clasical music sometimes. Now there are, of course, people who can comprehend these choices; but only a limited number of them would be likely to retain their comprehension of me when, asked what I like to watch on television, I began to eulogise P.M.Q.s.

I'm not sure this post has fully explained why my personality is that 'unusual'; quite possibly you have encountered other people with apparently contradictory characteristics. I think of myself as unusual because I confuse 'normal' people when they learn more than a bit about me. People who had over several years come to think of me as extremely nervous and eccentric were apparently very surprised when, in Sixth Form debating, I demonstrated that I could in fact deliver speeches using humour to which they could respond; they had had no idea that such an aspect of my personality existed, because it was one I hadn't previously opted to show them. One person in college began calling me (not very seriously) a fascist, then read an article I'd written for a student magazine and decided I was an anarchist; he now refuses to believe me when I describe myself as a right-winger.

I'm still unsure that this post is a really successful explanation; ultimately, all I can really say is that there is some sense in which I don't really 'fit in' with any group I've yet discovered because I seem always to have a contradictory characteristic, or that there is some sense in which my world view isn't in tune with that of the majority. Whether this post communicates that is another matter.

Addendum: judging by your Peronal Space (your spelling, and the fact that the only place I know of called St. Paul is in the U.S.) I assume that you are American, so, just in case, I thought I'd better clarify a few points. Firstly, the U.K. anime market is much smaller than the U.S. one, public awareness and acceptance are correspondingly limited, and consequently U.K. fandom really is a niche. Secondly, it seems to me that U.S. writers tend to use the term 'right wing' largely to refer to laissez faire policies (and a few other things, such as a partiality towards the military). In the U.K., however, the term is also very frequently used to denote support for tradition, and that is chiefly the sense in which I use it; when I write that I'm a right-winger, what I essentially mean is that I'm a monarchist who finds the parliament-like atmosphere of the Durham Union Society's debating chamber (President: "This is a meeting of the Durham Union Society!" All: "HEAR HEAR!") perfectly comprehensible. Oh, and 'P.M.Q.s' refers to Prime Minister's Questions, or Prime Minister's Question Time, the weekly parliamentary spectacle in which Honourable Members of the House of Commons spend half an hour putting questions to the P.M.; he and the Leader of the Opposition have a six-question duel as the latter tries to ask questions that the P.M. can't, or won't, answer; and people like me watch the whole thing on television. (You have to see the Commons in action to understand why its appeal is somewhat less than universal.) Sixth Form refers to the two years of Anglo-Welsh schooling undergone by those who intend to go on to higher education rather than leave school at sixteen.

Apologies if you already knew most, or indeed all, of that; I just thought it would be best to make sure, rather than risk misunderstanding.

Your response was very informative. You know yourself well. I thought you must be in college or university and that is what I meant when I asked what school. I guess here we say we are "in school" as long as we can say we are a student.

I would agree your writing style is sophisticated, actually. The american public (meaning government supported) education system is lacking such that we can easily complete 16 or more years of school and unable to write very well. I have always had a phobia about writing myself. I am trying to use this site to help myself get over that. I find it intimidating sometimes, however.

I can certainly relate to feeling like you fall outside the mainstream or don't fit in. I have been very fortunate to have found friends over the years who can understand or at least tolerate my idiosyncracies. I often feel like my likes and dislikes are too complicated to explain to persons trying to make small talk at parties or gatherings.

Thanks for the addendum. It was very helpful. I do live in St. Paul, MN and I did not know what most of those things were. Anime is very popular here but I am not too familiar with it. I have several friends and family members who are fans. "Right-wing" here also refers to social and religious conservatives. It is not, generally, how they would choose to describe themselves. It is not a neutral term. I associate it with persons who seek to impose their world view on others in particular their religion.

I have heard bits of the QPM on the BBC World Service which is played overnight here in our public radio station. I didn't know what it was called.

Thanks for the compliment. Much as I'd like to glorify the Anglo-Welsh education system, though, I must note that there are plenty of people in this country who can't write as proficiently as they might like, and quite a number whose competence is limited to the point of being quite alarming. I did have the good fortune to go to good schools (my secondary school being a 'foundation school', meaning that the county council has only limited control of it); also, my parents were librarians, my father had a degree in English, and I grew up surrounded by books. Consequently I've always been comfortable with the written word; it's the spoken word that's always given me trouble, although debating in Sixth Form helped me a lot, and so I don't usually stammer now. I must say that I'd never have suspected that you had 'a phobia about writing' had you not told me; your style strikes me as giving the impression of being perfectly confident.

I know exactly what you mean about likes and dislikes too complicated to make small talk about; the atmospheres of social groupings tend not to favour complexity of character. Which is probably why I'm typing this instead of talking to people.

We do use the term 'right-wing' in the U.K. to refer to conservatism in general, but to say that someone is right- or left- leaning doesn't necessarily imply that that person seeks to 'impose' his or her world view on anyone; it can simply refer to the sort of political inclinations a person has. However, it often does carry that additional sense, probably because it's frequently used in reference to politicians.

I wish you the best of luck with both the writing and the not fitting in.

"your style strikes me as giving the impression of being perfectly confident"

Well, bless your heart, that is so sweet!

Haven't talked to you in a while. Hope you are having a good break!

It was a very pleasant break, thanks. (I'm afraid I couldn't reply to this before now, since I don't have internet access at home; I just got back to Durham today, ready for the first lecture of the Easter term tomorrow.) It's good to know people were thnking about me in my absence.

Hey, nice page! And it does look better in Brunel, which is saying something cause I don't usually like Brunel. But it really doesn't work in Goo.

Cheers for that! A pity about the Goo problem; maybe cell borders would help. Or putting the entire thing inside a giant white cell to force a white background. I'll try some experiments later.

Okay. I've given the whole thing a white background, irrespective of the skin, and I've used a pale blue border to soften the blue/white contrast in Goo; conveniently, pale blue also goes quite well with my Brunel borders. How does that look?

That works much better in Goo than the previous.

It looks really good in alabaster too.

Nice to see you back!

Hiya!

I've been buried in PhD research for a while... and am now about a week and a half from my viva voce... which is of course the optimal time to risk getting drawn back into h2g2.

Oh wow! I don't know what viva voce is. Is it like where you have to defend your thesis?

Yup, that's it: a vocal examination. Details vary between countries; the British version is a secretive affair in which you get locked in a room with two examiners for what I'm told is *usually* a pleasant intellectual chat about your research. Usually.

Locked in a room? Sounds really ! How soon is this coming up?

Oooh, in about nine days... I'm revising for it at the moment.

Whether I pass or not is largely down to the quality of the thesis, and my supervisor woudn't have given it the for submission if he didn't think it would pass, so it *should* go okay; failing a PhD is actually a rare occurrence. It's just that occasionally someone gets an examiner who turns out to have radically different ideas about how something should have been done, and demands massive rewrites.