CIVILIAN LIFE:
Q1. Name: Ameya
Q2. How did you find out about Elite of the Fleet? I wandered over to
rotae's profile (due to awesome icon-age) after seeing her on
ontd_startrek .
Q3. When did you first become interested in Star Trek? I watched random late night syndication episodes as an insomniac child, but the love came after the reboot, which inspired me to watch my now-one true love, TNG.
Q4. Why have you decided to join Elite of the Fleet? I'm a very lonely trekkie. When I love something, I love something HARD, and my only other Trek-loving friend is my husband, and he doesn't quite share the passion... and my kid is still too young to pretend to discover new planets with me. :( Relatedly, my life seems to revolve only around my baby, even on LJ and I AM LOSING MY MIND! Need... to think...about...things.... besides poop... @_@
Q5. Who is your favourite Star Trek character? Jean-Luc Picard, my captain/Philosopher King. He's a man of great honor, a love of learning & selflessness, yet he knows when the rules do more harm than good. I have very high standards for my commanding officers and he is about as good as they come.
Q6. And the least? I would honestly have to stretch the truth if i claimed to dislike one character in particular, though I have absolutely no love for the selfish and creepy Firengi and I find myself being disappointed in an episode if one shows up. Klingons (other than Worf & his family) come in a close second. I have no love for the battle hungry.
Q7. Which television (or film) series is your favourite? The Next Generation, and I'm pretty sure it would be impossible for another series to beat it out in my heart. Though I will be watching all of them anyway, of course!
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STARFLEET LIFE:
Q8. What do you hope to gain from your service in Starfleet? Friends, an outlet for my over-analyzing of the Star Trek universe, new experiences, learning from those with star trek fan seniority, non-poop discussions in general.
Q9. Is there any occupation in Starfleet you feel you would be particularly unsuited for? Most things battle related. I'm a pacifist at heart, though I'd also be able to go on the defensive easily if need be.
Q10. The four current Academic Tracks at the Academy are Tactics, Operations, Exploratory Sciences and Medical Sciences. Describe how you could be an asset to each of these departments.
Tactical: I do exceedingly well in spacial awareness and directions. I'm relatively certain I've never gotten lost in my life, as I always have a map in my head of where I am in relation to everything else. In fact, I just love maps in general, and my home has always been plastered with them. I've also always been interested in leadership, and I attended several leadership conferences as a youth. In group situations people tend to default to me as the leader.
Operations: Diplomacy is a speciality of mine, having been involved as a peer mediator from elementary school on. I pride myself on a the ability to put myself in others shoes, even on multiple sides of a conflict, which allows me to discover the misunderstandings, fears and concerns any party may have in regards to the other, and to help them find a peaceful resolution. Though my communication structure tends to be somewhat unorthodox for formal uses on most occasions, i find that it also lends an air of relatability to me in most diplomatic and inter-personal situations. I have a deep love for other languages, and am currently learning two earth languages (Mandarin and Hindi,) and I have a budding interest in xenolinguistics. As for engineering, I love putting basic things together and if need be that could be molded into a skill in engineering.
Exploratory Sciences: Science is a great love of mine. I always must know how and why everything works, down to the atomic levels and beyond. This obsession leads me to watch programs on string theory during dinner while all my friends occupy themselves with Idols and Runways. I have always excelled in all forms of biology and astronomy during my schooling, and I study those things along with some basic Physics for fun in my spare time. Math doesn't come naturally to me, but if I am able to study hard, I often recieve top marks.
Medical: While my stomach is too weak for the physical forms of medical practice, I do have a very intuitive knowledge of psychology (supported by many college classes,) and it is of great interest to me. I'm by nature a very compassionate and caring person and I will always do whatever I can to help another in need.
Q11. What are your top five strengths?
01. I am an Idea person. I can think outside of boxes that most people don't even realize are there to find tools and solutions for problems great or small.
02. Inter-personal skills. I excel at working with others and making everyone feel happy, appreciated and inspired to give their best.
03. Intellegence. I have a deep love of learning and so I tend to know more random information than most, which I am usually able to put to use in finding solutions and answers to any sort of questions that come up- or at least I understand where to search for the answers.
04. Bravery. I'm not afraid to take risks, follow my gut, or to experience the unknown. In fact, I always crave new experiences and the opportunity to challenge my mind. My life's motto is from an old Pre-Warp book, Dune: "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
05. Positive. Like a great man before me, I don't believe in no-win scenarios. I firmly believe in the abundance of silver linings and turning negative situations into positive ones.
Q12. What are your top five weaknesses?
01. While I am an idea person, I'm not very good at follow through. Mostly because while I'm working on the monotonous parts of one project, I get inspired and distracted by new ideas.
02. I am stubborn. I do things or think certain ways after much thought, research & deliberation, and I have the utmost faith in my ability to do those things, so unless I am presented with research or otherwise extremely persuasive arguing to the contrary, I am pretty impossible to convince I am wrong.
03. Arrogance. My stubborn streak really isn't a problem because I am almost never wrong... ;) If I don't know something, I have no problems saying so, however, and I love to figure out things I don't know, so that I may learn something new.
04. Fear of confrontation. Even if I know I'm right, I rarely will argue with people, as it will shake me up and have physical responses that take over my body for a full day. I'm always afraid of suddenly forgetting my points and looking dumb, or hurting another, which I very rarely want to do.
05. I tend to bite off more than I can chew & then become overwhelmed and paralyzed by all that I need to do. I am getting better at this, however.
Q13. What is your biggest fear? Something happening to my husband or son. I honestly am not afraid of my own death ("To die would be a great adventure.") I only fear living a life stuck in the memory of something so powerful that I am unable to return to. What I fear the most is that sense of hopelessness and regret.
Q14. Do you consider yourself to be a leader, or a follower? I have high standards for who I can respect as a leader, but if those standards are met, I'm more than happy to follow them and help them in any way. If I, or my teammates, are not happy with the leadership, I tend to take up those leadership reigns.
Q15. What do you admire the most in your peers? I admire those that can get things done. It's something I struggle with, so I look at incredible driven and successful people with great awe. I also love being around those who are willing to forgo the "supposed to"s (within reason, of course) for the sake of experience.
Q16. You are stranded on a Class M planet that has not been mapped by The Federation. You are only allowed to choose two of the following items to keep with you: a phaser, a tricorder or a communicator. Which two would you choose to have? Tricorder & communicator. I would find it so exciting to be the one to discover new things, and I would need the tricorder to investigate everything I find, and determine what things I could eat, and a communicator to share my findings and call for back up in an emergency.
Q17. Please describe your understanding of the Federation’s Prime Directive. The Prime Directive is what keeps explorers and peacemakers from playing God. All societies have the right to develop their own mindsets, belief systems, technologies and cultures. They even have the right to make their own mistakes to learn from. If we were to find new, young societies and impose any form of ourselves on them, we are assuming that our way is better than what they might eventually discover on their own, and we would be robbing them and the rest of the universe of their unique contributions when they are ready to interact with other planets.
Q18. The United Federation of Planets includes more than 150 member planets, and the galaxy has many more besides. Which planet do you most want to visit? Vulcan. Being from such a superstitious place on earth, I would be so fascinated to see a culture not based on fear or ignorance, but on fact, science and logic. It would be interesting to see how my own personality would change in such a place, I'm sure It would help me discover the parts of my adult personality which are influenced by the belief systems that surrounded me while growing up.
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KOBAYASHI MARU:
The following questions describe situations you may commonly find yourself in as a member of Starfleet. You will be read the scenario, and then given two options to choose from. You may expand upon the reasons for your choice, but you must indicate one of the two that you feel best describes your likely response to the situation provided.
Q19. Service in the Fleet can be draining at the best of times, and on one particular day everything seems to have gone wrong. You’re exhausted, but your shift is finally over and it’s time to unwind. Your roommate is already on their bed when you get back to your quarters. Do you:
a. Settle in for a lengthy chat with them - you’d really like to vent about your day and you’d quite like to hear about theirs too. It’s a bit of a ritual by this point anyway. Maybe you’ll even head out to the Rec Hall together to unwind over a card game with the others.
By talking with friends I am able to purge the negativity and think more clearly for a solution or other way of seeing the situation. If I do not talk things out I tend to remain frazzled, unfocused and unbalanced.
Q20. You’ve intercepted what sounds like a pretty important transmission - you feel like the Captain needs to know. When you report, do you:
a. Give them all the facts: what it said, what the voice sounded like, where the inflection was, the language it was in, and so on. Details and facts are the important part, everything else is subjective.
If I had a captain who I admired, I would assume that he would come to the same conclusions (or better) as i could, so I would respect him/her enough to keep my personal opinions out of the report to the best of my ability.
Q21. There are many decisions to be made in Starfleet, and some are harder than others. Faced with a decision where things could go wrong in any number of ways, do you:
a. Stay impersonal and objective. Weigh up the pros and cons, think out all the possibilities, and focus on the basic truths. A careful analysis of the situation will reveal the best possible choice, even though some may not approve of it.
This one was hard because I would truly do both. I think objectivity won because I know that people don't always want what is best, they usually want things to stay the same as much as possible, even if it is causing harm. There is a fine line between taking a risk for the greater good or imposing yourself on others out of arrogance, and It is something I am careful of. I do think there would be situations sometimes where taking the completely objective position would be inappropriate to the mission goals or the Prime Directive, however. The methods must cater to any particular mission and not be set in stone for the officer.
Q22. The day-to-day life of Starfleet can be quite arduous at times, and quite exciting at others. Everyone has their own way of approaching everyday work, but would others see your approach as:
b. Flexible and spontaneous. Others think you prefer to adapt to the world around you rather than organise it. You seem to be more comfortable staying open to information and experiences rather than making decisions immediately. You appear fairly casual, working in bursts and motivated by deadlines.
I am excited by new experiences and new information, so I work in a manner that invites newness. For the most part I love spontaneous opportunities and the time where I gather as much information as possible before arriving at a conclusion. Very rigid deadlines, rules, systems and so forth tend to numb my mind and they do not bring out my best.
Q23. You can earn 5 points for your future Track by promoting the community in your Journal. Please link the post here if you wish to do so:
Anything for my future Treck Track!