Fake!

You know those test they have where you answer loads of questions, the answers to which are meant to indicate your personality? Well, as I go through life, I seek out information that tells me which answers tell the story that I want in my life and then I answer accordingly.

For example, I just read, in Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides, the following:

That was how it went. Every day for an hour I sat in Luce’s office and talked about my life, my feelings, my likes and dislikes. Luce asked all kinds of questions. The answers I gave were sometimes not as important as the way I answered them. He watched my facial expressions; he noted my style of argument. Females tend to smile at their interlocutors more than males do. Females pause and look for signs of agreement before continuing. Males just look into the middle distance and hold forth. Women prefer the anecdotal, men the deductive. It was impossible to be in Luce’s line of work without falling back on such stereotypes. He knew their limitations. But they were clinically useful.

All this is evidence to (and for) me; information on which to base my responses to tests and to life as it happens.

So, yeah, in other words: I’m a fake.