proust questionnaire

My favorite magazine, Vanity Fair, has a feature every issue called the Proust Questionnaire. You can look at some of the archives here. I decided to fill one out myself while waiting for my last client of the night.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being off work for several days, a clean house, a stocked kitchen, and low maintenance people to spend time with.

What is your greatest fear?
Whales in the ocean, someone I love dying. (not in that order)

Which living person do you most admire?
Obama!

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Not speaking up when I should.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Constant drama, one-upmanship.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Magazines! I buy 10,000 a month.

What is your favorite journey?
Driving to Nebraska to see my family.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Trendiness

On what occasion do you lie?
To spare someone’s feelings. Or to get out of trouble.

What do you dislike most about your appearance?
Well, I hate it when my brother calls me “Cheeks”. And he is talking about the ones on my face.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
All the bad ones…

What is your greatest regret?
Not having more confidence in myself in high school and college.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Nicholas. And diet coke.

Which talent would you most like to have?
To play the piano extroidanarily well.

What is your current state of mind?
I’m on vacation mode all the way.

If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
Not as much distance. Also maybe make some of them less funny than me.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Passing my LMFT exam, after taking it 8 days before my wedding and was stressed to the max.

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be?
A writer.

If you could choose what to come back as, what would it be?
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt. That kid’s living the life.

What is your most treasured possession?
My engagement ring.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Being alone when you REALLY don’t want to be.

What is your favorite occupation?
I always like the idea of teaching, but in the end couldn’t imagine myself doing it.

What is your most marked characteristic?
Red hair.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Will laugh at my jokes.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Bad language.

What do you most value in your friends?
Sense of humor

Who are your favorite writers?
Irwin Shaw, Marian Keyes, Chaim Potok, Larry McMurtry, JK Rowling

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Thomas Jordache from Rich Man, Poor Man or Lee from East of Eden.

What is it that you most dislike?
People who scoop the punchline.

How would you like to die?
When I’m feeling selfish – before any of my friends and family so I don’t have to endure their deaths. When I’m feeling generous – pulling children out of a burning building.

What is your motto?
I’ll borrow one from my hero, Mary Pipher: “Get more rest, do good work, take things a day at a time, and find some people to love.”