Proust Questionnaire

I'm away from home and my usual collection of distractions and find myself between social obligations and a bit bored. To aleviate that boredom a take a page from the most fun group of people I can think of, the wealthy English of the nineteenth century. It was a fad at the time to answer lists of questions to reveal something about the person's personality. This set of questions was popularized by Marcel Proust because he was apparently exceptionally clever in his answers. I make no claim to cleverness, I'll be pleased enough to discover that I do, in fact, have a personality.

The principal aspect of my personality
Crippling insecurity.

The quality that I desire in a man.
Whoa, buddy, what are you trying to say? I don't swing that way, 'kay. More to the point, I'm not nearly secure enough in my masculinity (see the first question) to want to answer this. That said, I suppose loyalty and good humor are good qualities in anyone.

The quality that I desire in a woman.
A willingness to put up with me.

What I appreciate most about my friends.
The ways in which they are different from me.

My main fault
I can only pick one? Indecisiveness, definitely. Or maybe laziness, that's a good one, too.

My favorite occupation.
Assuming we're using occupation to mean "thing with which to occupy myself", I'll say reading. If we're talking jobs, then what's that one where you get paid to sit around and do nothing? That one, I like that one.

My dream of happiness.

Inspiration, flowing freely and continuously without interruption.

What would be my greatest misfortune?

To lose my family and friends.

What I should like to be.

To be funny. Everything else will take care of itself as long as I can laugh.

The country where I should like to live.

I've got a pretty strong affinity to my country of origin. For all it's faults and all the times it fails to live up to its ideals, there's something special about a country built around an idea rather than ethnic identity or geographical necessity.

My favourite colour.

Blue. Not sure why, though I think I remember reading somewhere that it's the color picked most often as favorite. Not sure what that means. And I only think I remember reading it, so maybe I'm just making it up.

The flower that I like.

Hm. Flowers are nice, I suppose. Can't say I'm enough of a coinissuer to have a favorite.

My favorite prose authors.

Hey, "authors" plural, that's nice of them to not make me choose one. Douglas Adams, Mark Twain, Neil Gaiman, Terry Prachett, Raymond Chandler, and probably one or two others I'm forgetting.

My favorite poets.

Sad to say, I'm not really enough of a poetry buff to pick a favorite.

My heroes in fiction.
Arthur Dent, Hal Jordan (Green Lantern, and yes, I'm picking a comic book superhero, if you have a problem with it you can bite me), Indiana Jones, Atticus Finch, the Doctor. Oh, and of course, Jack Knight (Starman, yes another superhero...again, bite me).

My favorite heroines in fiction.

Hmm. Strong female characters. Is it wrong that I'm having a hard time coming up with one. Oh, wait, there's Buffy, of course. Oh, and Francine Peters and Katchoo from Strangers In Paradise. Who else. Okay, in my defense, the whole of fiction (movies, television, books, comics, etc.) is pretty big and I can't be expected to remember it all, so I'm sure I'm missing some obvious choices. I still feel like I should at least be able to get someone from a novel, though.

My favorite composers.

I suppose I could pretend I was knowledgeable enough about composers to answer this and then just crib someone else's answers, but I won't. Instead, I'm changing it to favorite musicians. That would be U2, Elvis Costello, the Pixies, and Men At Work.

My favorite painters.

Da Vinci, though that's largely on the basis of him just being a really facsinating person more than his work. Again, not a huge art expert, but I'm kind of fond of Monet.

My heroes in real life.
Franklin Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, Douglas Adams

My heroines in history.
Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosa Parks, Queen Elizabeth I

My favorite names
I've always liked Gwendolyn for some reason, though I've never met anyone with that name.

What I hate most of all.
Wilfull stupidity.

Historical figures that I despise the most.
I could think of any number of awful acts people have commited that I hate, but I tend to think hating individual people is a waste of time and energy.

The military event that I admire most.
The Normandy invasion (D-Day).

The reform which I admire the most.
Universal sufferage

The gift of nature that I would like to have.
I wish I were musical. Deep down inside I have the frustrated soul of a rock star.

How I want to die.
Peacefully, in my sleep, at a startlingly old age. Unless living forever is an option, I might have to consider that one. Well, maybe not forever; it'd be awfully lonely, not to mention boring if I outlived the universe.

My present state of mind.
Reflective with a touch of sillyness thrown in.

Faults for which I have the most indulgence.
I'll echo Proust's answer on this one, "Those that I understand."

My motto.
Never really thought of a motto before. Not sure I can sum myself up in a single memorable phrase. Not sure I'm clever enough to come up with a good one anyway. How about we just say "Watch This Space" and leave it at that.