Proust Questionnaire

After scouring the internet, and finding at least 3 versions of the questionnaire in addition to the varying mix of queries presented at the back of Vanity Fair each month, I finally just broke down and bought Assouline's Proust Questionnaire book, which reproduces the two original questionnaires.  What I discovered is that most of the questions overlap, so I didn't have as much work ahead of me as I had previously surmised.  Nonetheless, it was a fun exercise.  What follows is a mash-up of the two questionnaires, with each question answered only once.

Your favorite virtue: trustworthiness

Your favorite qualities in a  man: strength of character, steadfastness, and humor

Your favorite qualities in a woman: similarity to myself

Your favorite qualities in friends: trustworthiness, faithfulness, humor, and curiosity

Your biggest flaw: impatience and stubbornness

Your favorite occupation: enjoying a delicious evening meal with family and friends, after having woken up late and spent a lazy, sunny afternoon reading, gadding about, and primping

Your chief characteristic: stubbornness/determination, jaded optimism, and my hair

Your idea of happiness: being with people I love and who love me, while doing all the things I love to do

Your idea of misery: being completely forgotten

Your favorite color and flower: all shades of blue; honeysuckle

If not yourself, who would you be? a mermaid

Where would you like to live? Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens, London, Edgartown, and Dallas

Your favorite prose authors: Evelyn Waugh, Patrick Hamilton, Philip Pullman, Jack Kerouac, Patricia Highsmith, Dawn Powell, and F. Scott Fitzgerald

Your favorite poets: Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, John Keats, and ee cummings

Your favorite composers: Tchaikovsky, Holst, Puccini, Prokofiev, Dave Grusin, and Michael Giancchino

Your favorite painters: Vermeer, Magritte, Seurat, and Margo Datz

Your favorite heroes in real life: my parents, my grandparents, my godmother, Steve Wynn, Conan O'Brien, Clint Eastwood, and Jim Morrison

Your favorite heroine in history: Elizabeth I

Your favorite heroes in fiction: Charles Ryder, Sebastian Flyte, Jay Gatsby, Thomas Crown, James Bond, James T. Kirk, Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, Han Solo, and Indiana Jones

Your favorite heroines in fiction: Lyra Belacqua, Catherine Banning, Beatrice (from Much Ado About Nothing), Kara "Starbuck" Thrace

Your favorite food and drink: Maltesers, Fruit Pastilles, cheese, cereal, fried okra; diet Dr. Pepper Cherry, diet Polar Orange Dry, Starbucks soy latte, Champagne

Your favorite names: Ryder, Sky, Ben, Luke, Calvin, Fletcher, Harrison, Jasper

What characters in History do you most dislike? Hilter, Stalin, Mao, Hillary Clinton

The military deed that you admire most: the establishment and spread of the Roman Empire

The reform that you appreciate: women's suffrage

What gift from nature would you like to have? the ability to truly relax

How would you like to die? after having lived a long, full life that I have enjoyed and am proud of

What is your present state of mind? vaguely stressed, but also upbeat, excited, and energized

For what fault do you have the most toleration? people's not keeping up their end of the bargain

Your favorite motto: "Every now and then say, 'What the fuck.'"