For the most part, my analytical brain helps me out, but from time to time it gets in the way. I am very bad at the “what would you do with 1 million dollars” sorts of questions, because even though I know the real question is “what are your most prominent superficial desires,” I cannot seem to answer as such.

Growing up, I believe I missed the point of the “is the glass half empty or half full” question. When proposed, I simply thought, “Well, how did it start off? If it started as a full glass and half was removed, then it is half empty. If it started empty and was filled halfway, then it is half full. Duh!!” I couldn’t answer the question without knowing the previous state of the glass and where the state was going. If the person asking refused to tell me these things, I would simply refrain from answering the question due to insufficient data. I did know what they were really trying to get out of me, but for some reason I couldn’t answer the implied question, only the literal one. Honestly, they should have just asked me if I was an optimist or a pessimist and been done with it.*

I am thinking this fond analytical memory should teach me something about myself and how I work, but I can’t put my finger on it.

* I do recall one instance where we were all asked about this, and someone who thought they were very clever puffed up and said they were a realist in a very smug way. I followed up saying I was a surrealist and that the glass was melting all over.