Wow. This card was really something

[Elessar]

I know! horrible!

[Distracted]

But that's the nature of conversations with friends. One thing leads to another, and pretty soon, there you are again, talking politics, religion or some other touchy subject! Sticking to one "safe" subject is so BORING.

And discussions about the state of the US educational system and how we measure intelligence ARE at least peripherally related to the topic of graduating from college, don't you think?

[CX]

Well, I took an IQ test yesterday, and it came out at 123. It was really brought down by the memory portion of the test though, because I have a horrible memory.

[Alelou]

I don't want to voluntarily take any IQ test at this point in my life. The kindergarten one was fun. I remember the little puzzle pieces. Nowadays it would no doubt have math and other things I suck at just as badly on it.

My mother refused to tell me what my score was because she said she didn't want me to get a swelled head. That's a nice vague answer that allows me to have a slightly swelled head anyway. Good job, Mom!

[Asso]

Mind is a strange thing! I don't believe we can measure anything but what appears.

[Elessar]

Mind is a strange thing! I don't believe we can measure anything but what appears.

That's true. I mean what good is it to be a genius if you never use it? I knew this guy in highschool named Yang who was quite intelligent but also worked his ass off. He, I and our friend Corey were always on the same page w/ everything... math, physics, engineering, philosophy, whatever it was, so we all considered ourselves about of equal intelligence. It was actually the three of us that won 3rd in a national NASA student competition senior yr for designing a mission to Mars. It was a robotic mission to land on the Tharsis bulge and drop little sub-landers into the caldera of Arsia Mons (volcano) to drill into the substrata looking for water. We called it "MARVEL" - MARtian Volcanology Exploration Lander... and like a year later they used that acronym for something else! Corey won the Math Dept. Award, Yang won the Science Dept. Award, and... well, I got the chicks . Oh and I was the 1st place spot on our varsity scholar bowl team . Man we were like, our school's Triad . Anyway, he always did better in school than me b/c he applied himself more. So he was my example for working harder, like how intellect will only get you so far if you don't apply yourself.

Incidentally, he just graduated w/ an MS in mechanical eng. from Stanford. He's starting a job at Western Digital in San Jose, CA.

[blacknblue]

Yeah. I had several friends in high school who were loaded with potential. Then they loaded up on pot and booze. I don't need to tell you the rest.

[JadziaKathryn]

Unfortunately, it's a common occurrence, people wasting their potential.

Happily, Elessar is getting ready for great things.