Ellemental

I don’t read Vanity Fair, but apparently every issue features a celebrity-answered questionnaire.  Somehow I envision these the questionnaires to include the same questions as the memes that go around blogs and email (and I have to admit, I cannot help myself from filling them out and sending them along EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.), and I smile when I think that maybe right now, somewhere, Angelina Jolie is sitting at her desk, Vanity Fair Questionnaire in front of her, tapping the pencil to her lips trying to remember if she ever TPed a house.

I came across this link somewhere, which is about the Proust Questionnaire, and the parlor game of answering a list of questions.  What?  I thought the meme was a Digital Age creation.

Anyhow, the article includes 2 questionnaires which were completed by Proust at two different ages.  Since I’ve already said that I can’t pass up a good questionnaire, here are my replies to one of them:

*ed note – in the end, I took out some of the questions because other than “WTF?” I HAVE no answer to “What is your favorite reform?”

• Your most marked characteristic?:  I’m really short and look young for my age.  I guess that’s what most people notice about me first.
• The quality you most like in a man?:  Intelligent humor.
• The quality you most like in a woman?:  The ability to use her intellect AND feminine charm, and not feel that she has to apologize for either one.
• What do you most value in your friends?:   Consistency.  Even if everything else in my world (or theirs) is crazy and upside down, I know I can reach out and touch base and the time and situations that had separated us will fade away.
• What is your principle defect? Although I hate buzzwords and phrases, I have to admit my biggest defect can be summed up by one:  Analysis Paralysis
• What is your favorite occupation?  ? I’m not sure what this means.. Occupation that I’ve held would be Employee Relations Manager.  Favorite occupation in general (what would I like to be when I grow up?) – either an Employment Law attorney or Peace Corps volunteer.  Favorite way to just occupy time? – mini road trips with the VIM.
• What is your dream of happiness?:  Surrounded by people I love and who love me, and the time to enjoy that closeness.
• What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?:  Personally?  Never finding an outlet for creativeness and frustration.  Universally?  The tendency of people to chose fighting over listening.
• What would you like to be?: Right now I’d like to be warm.  And independently wealthy.
• In what country would you like to live?:  Although I’d like to visit LOTS of countries, I still think I’m already where I want to live.
• What is your favorite color:  It’s constantly changing.  Today, Spring Green.
• What is your favorite flower?: Tulips (glorious Spring!), Gerbera Daisies (sturdy, vibrant, the everyman’s flower).
• What is your favorite bird?: Pileated Woodpeckers are pretty cool, but I still get more excited about robins than any other bird.
• Who are your favorite writers?: Stephen King and David McCullough
• Who are your favoite poets?:  Although the Almost-English-Major VIM will gasp in dismay at this answer, the truth is that I have never enjoyed poetry (perhaps have never given it a chance, but whatever…).
  Wait…that’s not quite true…whoever the guy is who wrote “Candy is dandy but liquor is quicker.” …I like him.  The little short funny ditties amuse me.
• Who is your favorite hero of fiction?:  I don’t have a ready answer, although I will no doubt think about this question on and off for weeks.
• Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?  Not so much heroine as just favorite female fictional character – Norma Desmond in “Sunset Boulevard.”
• Who are your favorite composers?:  I’m a big fan of JS Bach.
• Who are your favorite painters?:  Matisse, Andy Warhol (does silk screening count as painting?)
• Who are your heroes in real life?:  People who, either through necessity or choice, do more with less – people who harvest large gardens, people who compost.  
• What are your favorite names? I’d like to give a little superior-sounding laugh and say, “What a strange question,” but the truth is that I’ve had names for my babies picked out since I was, oh, 10 or so.  Isn’t that what little girls do?  The names have changed throughout the years (Thank God I didn’t have a baby girl when I was 12…her name would have been Leighaurora Tiffany.)  The current names-in-waiting (“and waiting, and waiting, and waiting”, my grandmother would say), are Bryn for a girl and perhaps Brady for a boy (I’ve always had more problems deciding on boy names.)    
• What is it you most dislike?: Feeling out of control
• What natural gift would you most like to possess?:  Undeniable charisma
• How would you like to die?: with no forewarning or knowledge of the impending event.
• What is your present state of mind?: Contentment.  It’s Sunday morning, it’s sunny, and the VIM is puttering around somewhere behind me.  It’s my favorite scenario.
• What is your motto?: I question everything.  So it would be either, “Yes, but….” or “But what if….?”