ADD, Chai, and Padthai

It had been about a month and a half since I went to the initial career testing session. My dad decided it was high time that we make the trek up to Glen Ellyn for the second time during one of my school breaks, so before we headed to Florida for spring break, we stopped by for my analysis session. Following much of the same procedure we followed the first time, we got up early in the morning and I watched Arrested Development on the way up, and when we arrived in Glen Ellyn, I got another chai tea latte.

When we walked into the career center, I was the only person there. The secretary greeted my dad as though he was an old friend. I suppose after three children through their program, he kind of was. A lady I recognized from the first visit led us into a small office with a table and comfy spin chairs. Me, my dad, and the lady all sat around the table while the lady pulled out the thick folder of my results. She started by showing us the statistics of the results of the tests of how they measured up to other people's results. I did pretty high in most, but a few were REALLY low. One of them was left hand dexterity, which wasn't a huge surprise, I know the left side of my body is  practically useless. Another one was grip strength which was a little unexpected, since we do grip strength testing for P.E. and I'm usually around the average if not a little above. Now for the analysis of these results and what they say about my personality. With my curiosity piqued, the lady started to go through each test and tell me things about myself.

Right off the bat she goes right in and asks if I'm ADD. Feeling sightly shocked, annoyed, and amused by this question I told her I didn't think so. My dad immediately said, slightly defensively, "No. No, we don't think she is".  The lady smiled, nodded, and continued. She then outlines my statistics pointing out how high I scored with some and saying how great that was, before she went on to the lower ones. She told us the low grip strength score told her that I didn't have very high endurance, so I needed to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. This was dead on, I've always highly valued my sleep. i don't think I've ever stayed up past 11 doing homework. I wasn't entirely sure how one could determine that from a grip strength test, but I didn't have time to question because we moved right along.

The rest of the session she merely told me things about myself, and most were dead on. From my answers from one of tests she determined that I have the type of personality where I look at the pros and cons of things and tend to focus on the cons, which I could see evidence of. I also apparently really value my work and when people critique my work I take it more personally than some. Again, some truth to it. She applauded me for my ability to type well on the computer, of which I told her I type with one hand mainly, and I accidentally used both on the test. She said that was fine, but highly recommended a typing program. Whatever. My typing is fine, woman.

Right before she was going to suggest possible jobs for me, she had one more aspect of my personality to reveal to me. Through one test she was able to determine that I really didn't like to work hard if someone else could do the job. Bulls eye. I couldn't have said it better myself. I'm sure it's probably true of a lot of people, but the fact that it's built into my personality explains a lot to me. I've always been a big fan of shortcuts and cutting down my workload. It also slightly explains why cross country season was such an internal struggle. Though I'm sure it was for everyone else, they somehow managed to keep their complaints during races nonverbal.

 I wasn't so excited about the jobs she outlined for me. She insisted that they were high paying jobs that had flexible hours (so I could get sleep), and they wouldn't take a ridiculous amount of time in school to get (perhaps satisfying her notion that I was ADD). She put down three different engineering careers, optometrist, and zoo keeper.  Engineering I already decided I wasn't into, I had no interest in eyes or cutting into them, and I actually wouldn't mind being a zoo keeper since I'd get to work with animals, but I'm not so sure that's all that high paying. When I told all of this she said triumphantly, perceiving that her analysis of me was true,  "See! You automatically focus on what you don't like about the jobs. You aren't going to find a job that you like everything about". I was annoyed at her for no real reason, but throughout the last half hour of the session I was less than engaged in her little lecture.

When we finally got out of the career center, we stopped by Noodles and Company for a quick lunch since I was really craving some padthai. While munching on my noodles, I contemplated all that the session had brought to light. The session had left me with a couple job possibilities, but more than that, it taught me something about myself, and affirmed things I already suspected. As we headed home, my dad asked me how I thought it went. I said it was good, but expressed my surprise in her assumption I was ADD. He agreed and let me be for the next two and a half hours as I watched more Arrested Development. I still don't think I'm ADD, but there sure are times I wonder.

SQUIRREL!