Predators (or, Are you Type A or B?)

Not long ago a friend sent me a link to the "What Star Trek Character Are You?" website.

You answer some questions and then it produces a picture of the character you most identify with. The friend who sent it to me turned out to be Worf. I was Captain Kirk. Seemed to make sense at the time.

I started thinking about different personality types after seeing this clip on YouTube. What are some real-life equivalents for this?

The animal equivalents of the personality types for me are Great White Sharks (Type A) and Pythons and/or Boas (Type B). We'll get to Orcas later.

Great white sharks are always moving, always doing something, always on the lookout, voracious, fearless, confident. The snakes are more reflective, take time to do things, then act quickly (but briefly), then back to being reflective.

There are several people in my close group of friends and family who fall into the more active category (you know who you are). Some days they scare my last meal out of me, the way they devour information, process it, and are tireless on stage while spewing out an incredible amount of energy. Me, I'm one of the snakes. I'll think about it for a while, then I'll go swallow a pig or small rhinocerous, and then rest while reflecting on this recent acquisition of knowledge. Ever eat a rhino? It takes quite a bit of energy and you don't feel like doing much else afterwards.

When I get together with some of the GWS folks, it seems we upgrade as a group to Orca status, the top of the food chain in the ocean. And orcas work together to achieve their goal, whether it is to feed from a school of cod or mackerel, stray seals, a shark who wandered into the wrong barrio, or just to play a concert.

Let's hear it for a good ensemble dynamic.