Was reading the posts on the wall of the group that says 'Don't hate me because I'm Gifted' in facebook. haha. facebook tends to trigger off interesting comments:) I'm amused/surprised that people are still discussing about it after all these years. Actually, identifying with what one of them said 'I haven't thought of myself as a gepper for a very long time'. Yes, i know what you mean.
i think the thing about once being a gepper (it was just a programme in secondary school, to me at least) is that people assume that you're smart. I don't know how they define this. I'll much like to say that gep people tend to be off tangent in their own ways. hahaha. to some teachers, we were obnoxious, loud, rude and disrespectful. To others, they probably know us more as a fun-loving bunch of students who were encouraged to voice their views (amidst doing funny things in class). I guess along the way, the misconceived notions get wiped out, (or reinforced, depending on which batch of students you're looking at. and which teacher you talk to.)
Maybe that's when I started to feel strongly against discrimination. I remember explaining to some of the rest of the population that 'no, not all geppers are snobbish' and 'we're just normal people' and 'we study the same things... just that we have some stuff like IRS' and so on and so forth.
but other than that, we're pretty the same bunch of people as everyone else:) just nurtured in a slightly different style during the years when we were trying to form our identity. we had our share of problems (i don't know if they're exactly classified as normal.. ) and our share of fun times (e.g. soccer, basketball..). we formed groups and subsequently the groups dissolved after 4 years together.. we laugh, cry, hug, play, eat, bleed, breathe, live. and we don't study from 7am to 7pm (of which i've seen other students doing before O.o)
i think i quite enjoyed those years:) though for me, it was really a period of storm and stress (imagine my surprise when i learned that most adolescents don't have this period!), thinking back, i'm glad i went through it. being with the same 35 people from 4 years mean that you get the chance to know at least half of them pretty well.
seriously speaking, i don't think i'm gifted. i may be able to read faster, retain faster... but previous years of laziness has caused an effect on me psychologically and mentally. i've got gifted friends though:) not just in the area of study, but in the various areas they dabble in.. people who are successful in the eyes of the world. half of them are somewhere around the world. half of them in singapore. quite cool. hahaa. i'm friends with future lawyers, politicians, lots of psychologists and many people in their various areas of study.
yupyup. that's my little contribution on a long-forgotten topic.
oh!
and i've pretty much ascertained that my interest is in the field of psycholinguistics, particularly that dealing with disorders (e.g. SLI). or else i'm interested in disorders per se (e.g. down syndrome, williams syndrome). anything out of the norm interests me... especially when it affects the cognitive and behavioural component. how did i ascertain this? through my perpectually combined interest in languages, linguistics (wanting to do an english studies minor) and biology. hahaha. how do i know i'm not interested in other fields? primarily through my response towards certain modules. for e.g, i've always thought i had an interest in the clinical field of psychology.. but no.. trauma puts me to sleep. adolescent psych bores me slightly. social psych doesn't even prick my interest much. biological psych is fun, but i don't know how to expand on it.
i've not done cognitive psych.. so that'll probably be a good gauge of whether i'm really interested in psycholinguistics or not. interest does not indicate flair. let's see how it goes.
(and even as i type this, there's a part of me that's going : i wish i can just watch anime for a job. i don't mind writing up summaries for every episode and give comments and what-nots. lol)