Asher Aw

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. Paul Scanlon. King David, King Saul.

My brother’s a crazy fan of the Silent Hill series, a horror game, and the latest one… Shattered Memories. Is the only one I’ve ever played.

Well… semi-played. My brother wanted me in so I indulged him, he did all of the gameplay while I made the personal choices. Why so? At the end of the game, there’s a psychological profiling of the player.

Every player gets a different profile and if a player tries to do something different in the game, make different choices… the profiling is almost always the same.

Which was what he wanted me to see. The game was finished real quick because he knew how and where to go. But when it came to the profiling, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was quite apt.

(Except for the bit that says “Lousy in bed?” – I reject in the name of Christ – I make my own bed every day when I wake up!)

So, what happened this week was Paul Scanlon – a 1st generation Christian pastor from England, visited our church for the 2nd time.

He shared a good message and I think most people enjoyed it at the very last bit (for service 1, anyway) when he linked the offering with season ticket holders of the English Premier League.

One thing that stuck to my head, however, was something he preached.

“Every journey is made up of stages. Every stage has a lesson.”

He mentioned something about recording the stages in life – either metaphorically speaking with memory or recording it down via some other means.

My mind quickly linked to a previous lesson I learned about one difference between King David and King Saul.

King Saul was the first King Israel ever had and King David was the second. Saul, however, went to the “dark side“. King David had the habit of recording down his time, psalms, revelations with God.

Today, we’ve got the ability to record down our thoughts onto digital format where it virtually lasts forever – unaffected by time, wear and tear… save for the occasional hack attempts.

Some people have the habit of recording down every boring nook and cranny of their lives. Others, would only record down significant events in their life… which is rather unlikely as we, being creatures of habit, without regularly posting won’t record down something significant [/tangent]

Now, if we made it a habit to record each stage in life, the little parts going on in our lives… the good, the bad, the ugly and it happens to be an open blog… what would a psychologist say about you?

How would you feel if you blogged regularly, being your true self… and you get psychologically profiled?

It could be interesting – but it could also be terrifying.

Interesting for those who accept everything about themselves. Terrifying for those that don’t.

Everyone only wants to hear what is good to them, nobody wants to hear the truth. You know – “You can’t handle the truth“. (The bit about lousy in bed is not the truth. It’s a lie.)

So, if I happened to be profiled… What would it say? Interestingly enough, Chinese New Year is edging close and I actually found a personality-based analysis of mine whilst spring cleaning. It’s done way back in 12 June 2007. I won’t state it all here (and bore you to death) but here’s a gist of it…

Style Name: COMMUNICATING PLANNER
Primary Traits: Passive and Open

A steady, amiable type of person, relating to the DISC factor of Steadiness, can be described as a Planner. People of this kind are patient and persistent, dislike change, and like to take time to plan carefully before acting (hence the name of the style)

• Overview: Patient, Steady, Amiable, Sociable
• Values: Support (and Attention)
• Seeks: Time (and Approval)
• Avoids: Change (and Isolation)
• Under Pressure: Compromises (may also attack)
• Best Approach: Patient, Supportive
• Strategy: Promise (also responds to People)

Overview:
Asher enjoys the positive attention of others and is very much at ease when meeting with new people. Extrovert and outgoing, he places happiness and personal fulfilment above purely material considerations, and works at his best on a social level, rather than in a position where accuracy and precision are required.

In his general dealings with other people, he will prefer to avoid conflict, but when placed under pressure (especially if his social standing is threatened) he will react intensively.

Personality Adaption:
An examination of the changes in Asher’s personality profile shows that he is making quite a large adaptation to meet the needs of his current working environment (or, at least, his personal understanding of those needs).

Advantages:
The factors of Asher’s personality are, in strict terms, too close together to make definitive statements about his approach.

Disadvantages:
While he operates effectively on a social level, this sociability will tend to detract from the effectiveness of Asher in a practical sense.

Communication Style:
Friendly and open to others, Asher’s highly communicative profile means that he values positive relations with other people for their own sake, and is genuinely concerned with others’ feelings, especially in relation to himself.

Decision Making:
Asher sees decision-making as a matter of careful consideration of possible effects.

Organisation and Planning:
Asher’s patient, quiet style can often lead others to overestimate his organisational and planning abilities.

Motivation:
This extremely outgoing personality likes to be the centre of attention; Asher must feel that his colleagues, and others, both like and respect him if he is to feel comfortable in a situation.

Managing Style:
Because of his general lack of assertiveness, Asher will often find management positions difficult.

Style of Management Required:
Asher thrives on excitement and new experiences, and will soon lose motivation if placed in undemanding or repetitive work.

Sexuality:
Excellent in bed as Asher makes his own bed.

Okay, so I made the last one up. But the rest are all true. Of course, I’m not typing out the whole report here. That’s for me to know!