Ignorance is bliss

I've never considered myself that special when it comes to brains. Yes, I know a lot of useless trivia that helps when playing quiz machines, I can successfully put flatpacked furniture together and I reckon I could at least chin three of the eggheads - but none of those things really make you Einstein material.

Then someone invited me to do an online IQ test and I got a shock. I scored something that marks me around "Highly gifted intelligence to genius." I was a little perturbed. So I did the 'advanced' version to see if was wrong. It was wrong. Apparantly my IQ was actually higher, making me a fully fledged genius.

Whilst these are silly online tests, with no probably basis in scientific fact, just a product of the internet. Except it's bugging me. Now I don't know what to do and I'm faced with a number of options. I could do nothing, have the intelligence to ignore the silly thing and forget all about it. Or I could try and find out if it's real. Or I could sit here smugly claiming I am the best whilst people curse at me on their computers.

So I sent off for a Mensa test. It took about half an hour. Lots of word games/picture puzzles, no 'pin the tail on Sir Clive Sinclair' but quite enjoyable. I finished it and sent it off.

Anyway, I got a letter back that scored me again in the same bracket and asked me to come for a formal test - admittedly costing £20 - but just to verify.

And now I worry, what if I am a genius? Shouldn't that mean I have a bigger role in the world to play. I don't understand medecine, technology, engineering etc so I don't think that I can play that big a role in the world. Surely I should now be inventing things, wind up robots, hover cats, anti-aging trousers?

Will knowing make me feel worse, or will it spur me on to try and do something bigger, something that makes a real difference. Will I have to give up all the silly things that I love to do that probably waste a lot of my time and devote myself like a monk to a higher ideal.

I really don't know.