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[desparux.livejournal.com]

The Basics:

Name: Stephen
Age: 19
Location: Guyana
Occupation: University Computer Science Student
How did you find out about this community? From her -> plastic_vinyl



Personality Questions:

1) List and expand upon your three best traits / strengths. (These should be personality-related, not physical.)

Resourceful; Lacking the materials needed to finish difficult a task? There are times when I tend to improvise depending on the situation. Not to say the results are always the best, but at the end of the day projects are submitted and deadlines are met.

Persistent; This I consider to be one of my best qualities. Sure when your out and down for the count it can be depressing, however try and try again and you will succeed. This is particularly true when dealing with some of these projects I'm assigned to! Constant code debugging, rehash of an entire project. Annoying little things like that!

Assertive; A double edged sword. I like to voice my opinions and views on situations or events. Most of the time I do it a calm way, where I make my statements clear and to the point. Point to note that I'm assertive only around my friends; just a friendly handful of people!

2) List and expand upon your three worst traits / weaknesses.

Indecisive; This plagues me most of time. Decisions on simple things, to complex issues. Whether it be what to eat, or what elective to take at university. I fear this trait will continue to stay with me as I grow older.

Reserved; "It's not good to be reserved", my friends told me. I have this growing fear that the more people know about the issues that plague you, the more they look down at you. I despise that sense of pity from others. This is why I tend to keep most of my emotions (be them positive or negative), to myself. It's not as bad as it sounds though!

Ambitious; Friends have bought this issue up. They claim that being ambitious is illogical. Given the downfalls of this year, I admit with great disdain that they are 'right'! I now look at this as my worst trait.

3) Rate yourself on the following traits by putting an 'X' in the box you think fits best. (E.g. if you are slightly more introverted than extroverted, put an 'X' in the second box.) Explain your choice as well.

Introverted [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Extroverted
Explain: Yes, it's true. I am very much ok with being alone. At times I even prefer it. Sitting alone on a bench with nothing but your thoughts. Once again not as bad is it may sound! But, I'd welcome the company of only a handful of friends (The handful of friends is getting a bit repetitive isn't it?)

Cheerful [ ] [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] Gloomy
Explain: Somewhere in the middle seemed just right. Sure I walk around and dish out smiles at most of the people I interact with. But there's always that one worry nagging on my emotions!

Leader [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Supportive
Explain: Personally I think I lack leadership qualities. I tend to prefer the supportive role. Despite my preference, I've been forced into the leadership seat for my of my presentation projects - and I must say things turned out quite well! That's why this will be an in between choice here.

Confident [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Modest
Explain: There are times when I'm more confident than modest. I rarely show arrogance though! For the most part I'm confident in the actions that I decide on (and you know me, being indecisive and everything).
Then again I have no one to really verify this answer at the moment. But for the most part I'm confident with a shade of modesty. I won't necessarily admit that I'm the knight in shining armor who saved the students from the clutches of our Statistics lecturuer's final exam by reminding them of variance.

Reserved [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Impulsive
Explain: As mentioned before, I am reserved for the most part. But not to an extremity. I know for sure that if by some miracle a problem arises and I can't deal with it - there is one person whom I share this problem with.

Energetic [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] [ ] Calm
Explain: Well I'll gauge this from the interactions I have with the handful of friends I mentioned earlier. I'm mostly energetic around them. It helps the conversations, leads to humorous activities etc.

Feminine [ ] [ ] [x] [ ] [ ] Masculine/Tomboyish
Explain: I'm NOT feminine! Really! I seriously doubt this answer! However the fact that I find the plot of twilight New Moon strangely interesting does make me wonder. Granted there are certain anime/manga I read and watch as well. But all In all I consider myself masculine, but not tomboyish. The feminine aspect could be from the interest in intricate plots etc.

4) Describe how you typically work in teams. Is it generally a good experience, or do you prefer working by yourself? Do you like to lead and make decisions or do you prefer to let others make decisions so that you can do the legwork? You may find it helpful to give an example of a team you worked on recently and how that went.

I work well in teams when I'm familiar with the members; remember the handful of friends, I work well with those guys! However teams with strangers tend to be a bit of a challenging. Coping with their personalities and unwillingness to get the job done can prove difficult!
The leadership position, as mentioned earlier is one I'm usually forced to take up, despite my objections! I don't like to take leadership, but once again I fear for the outcome of the project. Though I have no problem doing legwork!

A recent example of a team?
The most recent would be last year, October 1st. It was a Data Structures Project where we would be required to work in Groups of three (3) or four (4). The Project was to develop an existing game or create our own (with all the necessary documentation of course). Given the deadline (December 21st), we had to quickly decide on what type of game to create; whether it be a 3 Dimensional game like Chess, or 2 Dimensional like a card game etc.
Luckily one of the members had an excellent idea to create a simple game based off of 'Russian Roulette'. Sadly, this was the limit to my team's creativity and effort. They were so disorganized in their planning. While not officially, I did take the leader's position. I assigned tasks to each member. While I assigned one to work on a possible Flow Chart, another would research a brief history on Russian Roulette, the other would work on coding a deck - leaving me to write the documentation for the game we were about to create. The game was called roulette 5 by the way! We got a brilliant 14/15 for that project and I must say I'm proud of my team of strangers!

With that said, I guess I can say that working in teams is generally not a good experience from the beginning, but if the end result remains positive, then why not?

5) What interests/hobbies do you have? How do you like to spend your free time?

Wushu; I am a Wushu practitioner. You could call it exercising as well, but Wushu is a more exact way of defining what I do for an hour to three every two days. I love being able to learn each of the forms and styles. Wushu leaves me with a refreshed feel!

Gaming; Video games to MMORPGS (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games)! These are incredible. Not only have I found them to be a great stress relief, but they are enjoyable! Sometimes even competitive! I find myself playing online multiplayer FPS games the most. Too bad the CoDMW 1 online was hacked by those cheeky PS3 owners. (Not that I have anything against hackers or anything but cmon! They are ruining our online experience!)

Reading: I do reading and research in my free time as well. Knowledge of today's events are key if you are to survive in the modern world! Also I do light reading; Star Trek novels! -> This in now way makes me a nerd!

6) Describe one to three careers you would find ideal, with a little explanation of why it appeals to you.

1. Competitive Gaming; This is one, and most likely my backup career choice. It's fun, and when you do something fun, while making money - I say why not!

2. Software engineer; One of my goals! I hope to reach it one day. Developing software, lighting effects, graphics, motions - it's pretty fulfilling. Though it's proving to be hard!

3. Red-Hat certified technician and advisor; Red-Hat or Red-Hot is a networking Operating System from Linux. Also very difficult to use and master. I'm planning to do the exam from Microsoft to be certified in windows, then I can move unto linux certifications. It's challenging yes, but I like this challenge!


FF Questions:

7) List one to three favorite Final Fantasy games and why you like them. Sequels/spin-offs/non-numbered/KH/Dissidia games are okay.

Final Fantasy 1; This was the game that introduced it all. The base concept where the other tales may be derived from. It clearly deserves respect from my point of view.

Final Fantasy VII (7); My first final fantasy game actually. Given to me by a distant relative. I hated the game at first! I even died in the reactor explosion; Left Jessie behind, 15 minutes later the explosion followed. However FFVII grew on me. I found myself plagued with anxiety to find out what would happen next. Then the Aerith died, my glorified party healer. Forcing me to change my strategies in battle. I could go on for ages about this game, but all in all it's a great game.

Sadly the FFVII fan base is not what it use to be. I fear people may have flocked to this game only after watching Advent Children - and thus have come into this game with misconceptions about the characters and the plot.

Final Fantasy IX (9); This game is by far the most true to its name. Fantasy! I have not played any Final Fantasy game that comes close to this game's sheer diversity. That alone deserves recognition. Mind you the plot is nothing to make fun about either!

8) List one to three of your favorite Final Fantasy characters and why:

Tidus; Hated him at first. But watching him grow and his personality transform throughout the course of FFX was really something. I developed a kind of respect for him. His resolve makes him all the more likable. As a friend mentioned his statement, 'screw the rules'.


Snow; Not getting all the Snow hate from the FF community lately. Is it because he talks big but never follows through? Is it because of his rugged appearance? Maybe it's his clothing! But personally I like Snow. The fact that he stayed trying to dig out the crystallized Serah only proves (to me) that he's willing to put his life on the line for what he believes in.

Cloud; I love to see characters grow, and throughout FFVII - I've seen Cloud's persona reborn from his past ashes. From his vegetable personality to one of pride and full of resolve.


9) One to three characters you relate to (you may reuse answers from #8 if applicable) and why:

Lightning; She's strong, firm, and throughout half of FFXIII, she's been wrong about giving up. I hate admitting that I'm wrong. In fact I'm terrible at apologies as well. Coping and getting along with strangers was never my strong point. Even with the handful of friends I have now (the people I trust), it's hard to admit defeat with them. Sometimes they tend to annoy me. Sometimes they try to help me, but I would refuse to listen. Though when I do listen things do turn out better.

Rude; So silent at times. I wonder what he's thinking. Maybe he's worried about something, or just doesn't have great people skills? I could relate to that silence.


10) The FF game you liked playing least:
FINAL FANTASY 4! Freaking monsters petrify you at the beginning of the game! REALLY? Still a great game though~
11) One to three FF characters you dislike and why:

Vanille; Why? Her personality literally makes no sense! (To me!)

Sephiroth; I do NOT understand why he ran mad in the first place- and I'm one who played FFVII before the advent of that gravity defying angst of a movie Advent Children! At least it was GREAT eye candy.

Hope; All he had to was talk to Snow about his mom in a clear straight out way. Would've saved them a lot of trouble in that town Palumpolum.

12) Favorite weapon in a Final Fantasy game (either the name if you liked the name, or a picture if you liked the look of it, or a description if it had awesome stats/abilities):

Cloud's Ultima weapon; It's the sheer definition of power based on your character's HP. The fact that it manifests into a huge sword and does more damage when your HP is full is pretty incredible.

13) Your favorite Final Fantasy summon (e.g. Ifrit, Carbuncle, Bahamut, etc.):

Eden from FFVII. Though Bahamut Zero (FFVII) and Alexander (FFIX) come pretty close. You get a sense of fright when you summon Eden for the first time. Or that could probably just be me. .

14) Your favorite spell/ability/technique that can be learned in a Final Fantasy game (e.g. Esuna, Steal, special finishes/overdrives such as Tifa's Final Heaven limit break, etc.):

Quadra Magic Materia (FFVII); Gives the user the ability to cast what ever spell or summon FOUR times. While the damage may be cut in half, possessing the ability to cast 4 spells at the cost of one is incredible! Knights of the Rounds 4 times?

15) A Final Fantasy mini-game/sidequest you invested entirely too much time into:

Chocobo Breeding; GOD! This is incredibly hard to do. Hats off the everyone who managed to attain a gold Chocobo.

16) Your favorite Cid:

Well in terms of appearance, FFVIII's CID; the headmaster who looks like Hugh Jackman?
And in terms of sheer humor and combat ability, FFVII's Cid; the fact that he's a dragoon class makes it all the better.

All in all I prefer FFVII's Cid the most.

17) Optional: Up to one class you think does not fit you, with reasoning why.

The Healer!
Healing! Now I've tried this one out, this could also be one of the reason's I despise FFIV. I just can't get use to the idea of not doing damage to an enemy. Then again when you face zombie types a good Curaga never ceases to amaze - but these opportunities are so rare!

Comments

[breyzyyin.livejournal.com]

Well, at this point there's not too much I can really offer in way of an explanation that would be original...but I think I'm leaning more towards the Soldier group as well (some of your responses had me thinking of either the Black Mage or a Dragoon at times, but in the end I kept going back to Soldier with other ones). Your strengths and weaknesses in particular remind me a lot of the characters who I tend to associate with that Job Class. They're pretty versatile in their mannerisms and thoughts towards things, which is something I was picking up quite a bit in your "rate yourself" section. I think at this point I'm basically just going to be reiterating what everyone else has already said in their explanations, so I suppose there isn't too much for me to add here. Soldiers tend to be pretty balanced in terms of their personality, and I could even see quite a few of the characters who could possibly fall into this group (Marche, Tidus, Cloud, Paine, Squall, Cecil, Luneth, Bartz, etc.) sharing your thoughts on interests, group work, and ideal careers in a way too. :)

...I actually really liked reading your thoughts in the FF section too, by the way (I agree with you: FFI should have a lot of respect for being the game that started it all, and I'm not really sure the FFVII fan-base is what it used to be either sadly). And I agree a lot on what you said about Sephiroth too, and Hope as well--I rather like Hope, but you're right...he could've saved everyone a WHOLE lot of time if he'd been more direct with Snow about things earlier on.