This morning, my friend Irene shared something very amusing on Facebook: David Bowie (one of my all-time favorite artists), answering the “Proust Questionnaire”. Excellent questionnaire, and excellent answers (imho). And while reading through it, I thought to myself that it might be interesting to answer these questions myself.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being held by my hubby.
Smelling the ocean.
And some other things.
What is your most marked characteristic?
On the positive side: My reliability.
And on the other side: My grumpy, gloomy attitude.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Getting up every day.
What is your greatest fear?
Losing someone I love.
Spiders.
Having to eat celery with absolutely NO chance to prevent it.
What historical figure do you most identify with?
Is Peppermint Patty historical?
Which living person do you most admire?
Have to pass this one.
Who are your heroes in real life?
People who are true to themselves.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My grumpiness.
And sometimes my naïveté.
(I really believe that there’s something good in everyone, so it’s super easy to lie to me and to give me the runaround.)
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Dishonesty. And sometimes cheerfulness. 🙂
What is your favorite journey?
The trip to the ice cream shop.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Courage. Often leads to trouble.
Which word or phrases do you most overuse?
…like…
What is your greatest regret?
That I did not attend my grandmother’s funeral.
What is your current state of mind?
Spinning in circles.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Exchange some existing family members for people I actually like.
What is your most treasured possession?
See here.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Losing self-respect and the ability to laugh about yourself.
Where would you like to live?
Right here, right now.
What is your favorite occupation?
Reading, cooking, reading about cooking.
Or binge-watching some crime-related TV fiction.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
The ability to help me with power tools (as in “explain to me how to use them without chopping an arm off”).
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Straightforwardness (I have a dislike for sneaky bitches).
And the ability to apply make-up correctly without overusing it.
What are your favorite names?
Deirdre. Jean. Maria.
What is your motto?
No idea… Have to think about that one.
So – do you still like me after reading all this? 🙂
Don’t know a thing about Marcel Proust? He apparently is one of the greatest authors of all times. The questionnaire though was filled out before that, some time in the 1880s. More on Proust can be found here.
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[…] answers: https://hubilicious.wordpress.com/2014/07/10/happy-birthday-proust/ Please, dear readers, give them some comment love. I always enjoy writing prompts that reveal more […]
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Here by way of Tempest Rose and Kitt O’ Malley.
Yep, I’ve been reading a little bit about Proust. Here’s a version of the questionnaire I did five years ago: http://jaklumen.wordpress.com/2009/08/04/the-proust-questionnaire-makes-the-rounds/
Evidently, this questionnaire style has been around online for a handful of years! I like doing them because they are good “getting to know you” writing prompts, and they allow for really thoughtful answers. It sure beats the quizzes and dreck that has filled LiveJournal, MySpace, and Facebook the past 10 years.
Thank you so much for some fascinating answers, and sparking some nice memories.
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I will definitely check out your answers to the questionnaire, jaklumen! Currently, I’m a little behind on reading and writing, but it is already added to my “catch up list”!
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Fair enough. Thanks again for the trip down memory lane, and your thoughts on this questionnaire.
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Thank Tempest Rose for referring me to your Proust questionnaire post.
Perfect happiness? ~ Loving and loved by my husband and son. (I am blessed.)
Deplorable trait? ~ I love that you said sometimes cheerfulness.
I can be annoyingly cheerful, as well as cynicical and depressing. Guess I’m a skeptical believer. Hopeful, yet realizing those hopes may never come true.
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Hey Kitt, thanks for your comment, and thanks for stopping by. I’m sure we’d get along just fine, even if you are “annoyingly cheerful”. Cynical and depressing, I can definitely handle these two. 🙂 Usually (well, at least for me), cheerfulness is often followed by being a little depressive and/or cynical. But hey: Mood swings are our friends (and keep live interesting)! 🙂
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Exactly ~ the yin and yang of our lives.
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[…] this while scrolling through my reader. hubilicious gives us a little insight and then decides to answer the questions for herself. You should definitely give her some love before you continue here — sharing is […]
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I might get behind in my stack of back issues of Vanity Fair, but the Proust Questionnaire is one of my favourite features after Graydon Carter’s letter at the beginning – somehow they are the polar opposite twins that bookend the magazine, and introduced the questions to me. I never have the guts to answer them myself, but I am always interested in how others do.
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Then I hope I didn’t “disappoint” you. 🙂
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no no not at all. Just the opposite. My own problem in answering questionaires is overthinking my own responses and prejudging myself. Self-censorship can be a bit of a demon 😉
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I think I’m going to have to do this as well. Answering questions is one of my favorite things ever. I should be one of those celebrities who no one really knows why they’re famous, just so I can do interviews all day every day.
Love your answers, by the way.
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Mine too, Tempest. I can hardly find my way around all those “What animal/color/country/food/rockstar/drink/… would you be?” quizzes, and also questionnaires are pretty hard. This one even hard kind of intelligent and some challenging questions, so it was even more worth the while. Let me know if you answer it, then I’ll post a link under my questionnaire to yours! Let’s work together on making you famous. 🙂
And thanks for your compliment on my answers. *blush*
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Thank you! Have you participated in Cee’s Photography Share Your World challenge? She posts four questions every Monday for us to answer — I really enjoy them. There should be a badge on my sidebar that links right to her page, if you’re interested.
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Not yet, but I will check it out for sure. Thanks for the pointer!
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Now I know You some more!
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I hope so – and I hope it was interesting and not too boring. 🙂
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