The new and improved Myers-Briggs test

I blogged about this long ago on me olde LJ, but thought I'd resurrect it for my, you know, much larger reading audience over here. A Twitter exchange I had last night with @rustytanton made me think of this ...

An old editor of mine once told me a theory that people can be divided into the following personality types: Beatles/Elvis, Cat/Dog. I am (duh) Beatles/Cat. My inlaws are staunchly Elvis/Dog. My dad is Beatles/Dog, my mom is Elvis/Dog. Now, it doesn't matter if you don't actually like EITHER the Beatles or Elvis, you need to dig a little deeper and look at this on an aesthetic level as well.

I guess if you wanted to get persnickety we could throw in a "z" axis here of Who/Stones, of which I would be staunchly Who, though I lean Stones on Their Satanic Majesties Request, Flowers and Aftermath. And I don't like the Who all that much after Tommy, though Who's Next and Quadrophenia are alright.

Then, of course, for people who don't like cats or dogs, we'd have to throw in an axis of bird/fish or something. Though I would pretty much consider all pets but dogs in the "cat" category, b/c dogs are the most high-maintenance, drooly/slobbery/destructive of all pets. You don't have to "fly" a bird or "swim" a fish. Just as you don't need to "walk" a cat. Cats, like birds/fish/amphibians/reptiles, can all be kept in contained spaces and aren't used as guard animals. Now, is this reasoning making any more sense? No? Ha ha ...

But anyway, with (B)eatles/(E)lvis, (D)og/(C)at we only have two-lettered types, me being a BC. I think the next best indicator categories we could throw in are (T)arget/(W)al-Mart and (M)ac/(P)C. This would make my inlaws EDWM, though I'm not sure how often they shop at Wal-Mart. My mother in law really likes mall stores better, so I guess we could throw in a z-axis of JC Penney/Neiman Marcus? Ha ha. My folks, god bless em, are EDWP. My husband, then, is a BCWM.

I'm a BCWP. FUCK YOU! Oooh, I'm getting defensive. Why am I admitting this? I guess a lifetime of brokeness. I'm a (P) b/c I learned computers on the PC and used them at my first news reporting job and learned all the text hotkeys. Plus, the PC does everything I want or need it to, at 1/2 or less the cost of a Mac. My husband is a (M) b/c he edits film. You can't really do that stuff on the PC. I'm a (W) b/c I have no soul, I guess. Well, lemme explain. About 8 years ago I bought a skirt at Wal-Mart (and I grew up shopping at Wal-Mart, mind you). I was shopping at Rich's or Macy's or some store like that a few days later, and saw the *exact same skirt* hanging on the rack for $40 or so, when I gave, like, $10 for it at Wal-Mart. I have a sneaking suspicion that all the "made in China" stuff sold at Target, Macy's, JC Penney, Goody's, Ross, wherever, all comes out of the same factories anyway. The freegans are onto this too ("We came to realize that the problem isn't just a few bad corporations but the entire system itself"). I'm cheap like a freegan, and honestly have bought most of my clothes at Goodwill for the past two years anyway. And I like dumpster diving like a freegan. Never got my *food* there, but I would if I knew where I could get some non-rotten goodies. But unlike the freegans, I like capitalism. (Remind me to post about the "communal" living situation I found myself in about four years ago. There is NO SUCH THING as a kind, sharing society without competition -- not as long as there are humans with EGOS in it).

Yes, Target is better for the community b/c they appear to give more back, in charity dollars, while the Walton kids keep it all for themselves. But, my problem with Target is that they have most of the exact same Chinese goods as the evil smiley-face store, but often for 30% to 50% more. So if it's sweatshops you're worried about, why pay more for the same crap at the "nice" retailer? I applaud the freegans for at least not being hypocrites.