The Proust Questionnaire October 23, 2009
The Proust Questionnaire was a parlour game popularized y Marcel Proust who believed that the answers to the questions revealed a person’s true nature. These questions are intended to be answered in the moment.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness? Right now I would be perfectly happy lounging around the house with my family. In general, perfect happiness is feeling successful in life; feeling balanced and content in the moment.
2. What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear right now is becoming disconnected or from or losing my family in any way. A close second is not succeeding with my Master’s. In general I tend to fear the unknown or fear itself I guess.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I don’t like my anxiety which limits the things I can do. I also don’t like my laziness.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Selfishness and intolerance.
5. Which living person do you most admire? This is a real toughie. I don’t really have a definite answer. I admire traits in many people.
6. What is your greatest extravagance? Right now it would have to be movies, or maybe food. But I guess in terms of really expensive things it would be plane tickets.
7. What is your current state of mind? Anxious, tentative, hopeful, homesick, academic.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Obedience and chastity.
9. On what occasion do you lie? I lie a lot when I am worried the person I am talking to will be disappointed in me. I also lie in an attempt to get out of doing something or if I think the truth will hurt. Wow, I guess I’m a big liar!
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance? My weight.
11. Which living person do you most despise? Uncle Bob and generally people who have a callous disregard for human life.
12. What is the quality you most like in a man? Humour, gentleness
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman? Humour, kindness
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Like, um,
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life? My family
16. When and where were you happiest? The happiest times I can remember are all to do with hanging out with my family. Long summer days outside with my siblings, evening barbecues where we talk into the night, reminiscing that gets so hilarious everyone’s cheeks hurt from laughing.
17. Which talent would you most like to have? I wish I was more athletic
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I would be less nervous about everything anf just go with the flow more. I wouldn’t take everything so seriously.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement? Probably getting here. In the grand scheme of things though I would say my greatest achievement is never giving in, which has led me here.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? Wow, tough question. I guess I have two answers. If I were to come back as a person I think I would want to come back as myself but with a few modifications, to see if my life would be any different than it is now. If I were to come back as a thing, I might come back as some type of animal, maybe a wolf or an owl.
21. Where would you most like to live? Now that I know what it is like to live in a foreign country I appreciate my own home more, and that is where I want to live.
22. What is your most treasured possession? I have a couple of treasures. My mom’s sapphire ring that my dad gave her, my library and my memory box.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Intense fear is misery. I would also be miserable if I couldn’t see my family again.
24. What is your favorite occupation? Forensic anthropology! Working with bones, getting dirty.
25. What is your most marked characteristic? I think when people first meet me it would be my standoffishness.
26. What do you most value in your friends? I don’t really have good friends, I’m more of a loner, but I guess I appreciate their understanding.
27. Who are your favorite writers? Jane Austen, Samuel L. Coleridge, Laurell K. Hamilton, Anne Michaels, Christina Rossetti.
28. Who is your hero of fiction? Anita Blake. I like how she doesn’t really care what people think of her. She’s strong and she doesn’t fit into societal norms but she doesn’t care.
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with? I don’t really know. I identify with people who may appear weak but are inwardly strong, or those that work from the sidelines.
30. Who are your heroes in real life? My family
31. What are your favorite names? Liam, Finnegan, Harper, Avery, Quinn, Emma, Linden
32. What is it that you most dislike? I hate how some people believe they have the god-given right to hurt other people in any way.
33. What is your greatest regret? That I didn’t enjoy my life as much as I could have, I was so preoccupied with worrying or seeing the negatives.
34. How would you like to die? Of old age, preferably before I lose my mental and physical faculties.
35. What is your motto? I can do it.
