Going by bus

[altariel]

"INFJs, making up an estimated 1% of all people, are the most rare type (males even more so). They are introspective, caring, sensitive, gentle and complex people that strive for peace and derive satisfaction from helping others."

I always think this never quite gets the blind rage and fury that accompanies knowing exactly how the universe does and should work, and then being faced with the unalterable fact of other people.

INFJs are highly intuitive, empathetic and dedicated listeners. These traits tend to act as a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead, hence the nicknames Confidant, Counselor or Empath."

Deanna Troi, eat your heart out. "Pain! Pain! Bottomless despair and anguish!"

"INFJs are intensely private and deeply committed to their beliefs."

Right up to and then just past the point where they're forced to strangle you.

On the good listener thing - often, when I'm on the bus, I get someone's life story (there seems to be just enough time between the Bingo Hall and Chesterton High Street). I often wonder what this is all about. Is it really a function of the INFJ "tell me what's wrong" sign? Or does it happen to everyone? Or are there only INFJs on buses? The last two people with whom I travelled on a bus are both INFJs. "INFJs: Confidant, Visionary, On The Bus."

Comments

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

I always think this never quite gets the blind rage and fury that accompanies knowing exactly how the universe does and should work, and then being faced with the unalterable fact of other people.

Seething cauldrons. Or possibly vast whirlpools.

Right up to and then just past the point where they're forced to strangle you.

Hee!

I, too, travel by bus! I tend not to get life stories, as it's a short journey, and I'm most frequently on it at commuting times, so I just look at the people locked in their own private worlds of pain and despair, possibly aggravated by reading the Metro paper, but I have received life stories at bus stops while waiting for buses which never come.

[kerravonsen]

Is your icon saying what I think it is saying? -- that the TARDIS is INFJ?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

You were one of my fellow most recent INFJ bus-travellers (Mr A. is the other)! Once I struck up a conversation on the bus with someone who turned out to be a counsellor (and so had a good fairly chance of also being INFJ). We did amiable battle over who could get the other to reveal most. It passed the time pleasantly.

[metamorphosa.livejournal.com]

knowing exactly how the universe does and should work, and then being faced with the unalterable fact of other people.
Hmm, 99% of the population is an awful lot to come up against! :)

I'm afraid I can't offer an insight to the bus issue: we don't have buses in the villages here. Well, not unless you count the Post Bus that sometimes let's one or two people hitch a lift...

And it was very lovely to finally meet you on Saturday! I'm sorry it was very brief, and that I was rather stressed, but it was lovely nontheless. :)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It was lovely to meet you at last too! And you did a good job of not stressed at all. I hope the evening went well.

[iainjcoleman.livejournal.com]

The bus thing never happens to me. I am INTJ. These pieces of data may be related.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Do you get buses?

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I'm the ENFP who's just missed the bus because I got chatting to someone on the way to the bus stop. Though if the bus driver happens to see it's me he'll wait.

Where did that icon come from and where can I get one like it?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I made the icon all by my very own self. Well, I found the picture online and the quotation comes from somebody who was a member of an INFJ mailing list I used to read.

[aervir.livejournal.com]

I'm still an ISTJ all the way, which, according to that site, makes me like Darth Vader. As no one in their right mind would tell their life story to a Sith Lord, I always take books with me to pass the time on buses.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'd talk to you. I'd ask you about your book and whether you were enjoying it. And then we would discuss your career choices, and whether Sith Lord was sufficiently fulfilling.

[gair.livejournal.com]

Which type did you say you thought I was? Because this:

the blind rage and fury that accompanies knowing exactly how the universe does and should work, and then being faced with the unalterable fact of other people.

is a fantastic phrasing of something I've been inchoately turning over in my mind re: Harry Potter and the Cognitive Dissonance (These books are artistically, politically, and ethically indefensible and anyone who doesn't agree 100% is... is... probably on my flist and someone whose judgement and intuition I highly respect ::head explodes::)

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I think you might be INTJ. Because you have the dedication to your fields of study and expertise and the extreme competence in them that I associate with INTJs. INTJ competence is generally scientific (but not exclusively).

Meanwhile, INFJs are a tiny bit flaky...

What's a good comparison? Gandalf the Grey is INFJ. Gandalf the White is INTJ. INFJs sacrifice themselves for hopeless causes. INTJs strategize hopeless causes into successful outcomes. Hmm.

[applegnat.livejournal.com]

I am INFP. Perhaps it's no surprise that I want a change of personality?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Every INFP I know is dearly, greatly loved.

[ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com]

sensitive, gentle

... not so much. "Hard-bitten and cynical" is closer to the mark...

a "tell me what's wrong" sign on their forehead

Also nope. I have a three-foot "fuck off" field around me that stops *anyone* sitting next to me on buses. The seat next to mine is the last one to go. I've only recently learnt how to switch it off...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

a three-foot "fuck off" field

I have one of those too, for when I'm on the tube.

[six-old-cars.livejournal.com]

Not that I ever travel by bus (or train), but when I have done I've never had life stories dumped on me. Mind you, I'm INTP (or, very occasionally, ISTP) so my forehead sign is probably "don't even think about talking to me".

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I like to listen in to other people's conversation on the bus, if they won't talk to me.

[communicator.livejournal.com]

This may be my most ENTP icon. That or 'not safe for work'. It would be interesting to get people to post the icon they think most represent their personality.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

The default Little My one best represents my personality, I think. Or else this one.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

Wave

Just wanted to let you know that I'm getting there on my Gregor's Roman Holiday, but it's not finished yet. I'm going to try and finish tonight and then get my betas to have a look at it, so any dire crap I've written can be edited out!

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Oh, how wonderful, I'm delighted you picked that prompt! I thought it would be a real wild card - thank you! Looking forward to seeing it :-)

*goes back to her own story, currently stalled because of work*

[altariel.livejournal.com]

I'm like that on the tube. It's too busy there.

[glitterboy1.livejournal.com]

I'm very rarely on the bus, but I do get it sometimes on the train. I know from experience that you can fit an awful lot of story into the journey from here to London...

But apart from on the train, the strangers who talk to me about what's wrong are generally men who unwisely assume that I'll want to talk about whatever sport England are losing at the time.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Once on a train down from Durham to Peterborough, we were sitting in front of someone who told their entire life story (v. dull and in a loud voice) to the person next to her. He got off at York, someone else got on... whereupon we got it a second time. Grr, argh.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Well, now that I'm apparently an INFP, I don't know how to explain my own bus rides, which are uniformly conversation-free, even though I should be a sympathetic listener. As I, for my part, almost never initiate a converation with a fellow commuter, I can't offer any insight about why anyone does that.

I think the very Introverted noise-dampening earphones, the crazy-lady mouth moving as I silently repeat my Mandarin lesson, probably help keep the life stories at bay.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

My defense mechanism (for when I really don't want to talk to anyone) is an open book and the occasional cackle. Seems to work.

[mikekellner.livejournal.com]

the blind rage and fury that accompanies knowing exactly how the universe does and should work, and then being faced with the unalterable fact of other people.

Don't you just hate those moments. It is hard being born to rule with no fief. That is when you begin to understand Lord Voldemort's frustrations. Just remember, if they weren't so dumb, we wouldn't seem so smart.

I forget what I am, I can never keep those letters straight. I am quite sure there were four. I think I was of the Megalomaniac - Dictator - Tyrant class or something like that. Anyway, when I take over, I'll hire stooges to remember the small details.

mk

[altariel.livejournal.com]

It is hard being born to rule with no fief.

You said it sir. I don't blame Galadriel heading back to Middle-earth at all.

Anyway, when I take over, I'll hire stooges to remember the small details.

What's the point of power if there are no minions?

[katlinel.livejournal.com]

faced with the unalterable fact of other people.

May I nick this text for an icon?

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Of course!

[toft-froggy.livejournal.com]

I got INFJ too, but I don't know, it doesn't sound very much like me. I'm too impatient and bad-tempered for all that counselling rubbish. Although less in a bottomless pit of fury kind of way, more in an impatient, 'Oh, for god's sake, pull yourself together' kind of way. I do sometimes get people's life stories on the bus, though. I mostly don't travel by bus, because I feel sick, although that's not to do with people's life stories.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Mr A. and I were just talking about how "gentle" doesn't really work (he's an INFJ too), and how "brutally compassionate" is closer.

There's a rather better description here.

[edge-of-ruin.livejournal.com]

"INFJs: Confidant, Visionary, On The Bus."

Now why do I have this vision of the "INFJ Bus" trundling round the villages, a bit like the Play Bus or the Library Bus or better still the Ice-cream Van. "Bring out your distressed and dysfunctional ..."

I seem to be more INFP (with the emphasis on the P) than ever. Maybe it's because I've done more writing than bookkeeping for a bit ...

[altariel.livejournal.com]

the "INFJ Bus" trundling round the villages, a bit like the Play Bus or the Library Bus or better still the Ice-cream Van. "Bring out your distressed and dysfunctional ..."

LOL!! Now, that is the TARDIS!

[lizblackdog.livejournal.com]

I saw this elsewhere on LJ and thought of you.

[altariel.livejournal.com]

Brilliant!