Friday, December 11, 2009

Proust Questionnaire

I was tagged to do this questionnaire by Rosemary MacCabe. I love reading these kind of questionnaires and blog entries. Its really fun to find out more about the bloggers you read every day. But I don't like filling them out at all and this one was particularly hard. Military history is just not my area of expertise! Still I hope you feel like you know me a little better after reading this.


Your most marked characteristic? My height (or lack of it!) I’m 5 foot nothing.

The quality you most like in a man? Hmm, difficult one…Kindness I think

The quality you most like in a woman? Kindness, thoughtfulness

What do you value most in your friends? Sticking with me through the hard times, staying in contact with me even when I’m to sick to get in contact or meet up for weeks or months at a time.

What is your principle defect? My illness, M.E./CFS & Fibromyalgia. So complete lack of energy, exhaustion & pain. My body tends to let me down when I want to do things!

What is your favourite occupation? Photography, art, making things.

What is your dream of happiness? Being healthy, being in love & having someone to love me, and having a job/career that I love & enjoy.

What to your mind would be the greatest misfortunes? Being alone. Not having my family to love & support me.

What would you like to be? Healthy & happy.

In what country would you like to live? I think I’ll always come back to Ireland & consider it my real home but I’d love to live in London for a while.

What is your favourite colour? Purple

What is your favourite flower? I don’t think I have one, a rose maybe

What is your favourite bird? A Hummingbird

Who are your favourite writers? I tend to have favourite books more easily than favourite writers so I’ll tell you both. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, Heidi by Johann Spyri, Anne of Green Gables ( the whole series) by L.M. Montgomery, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks and its hard to pick one specific book but I like a lot of books by Paul Auster & Nick Hornby. I also love finding new favourite authors and new favourite books.

Who are your favourite poets? Rives and my sister.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction? Eh that’s a really hard one I want to say Constantine Levin from Anna Karenina but he’s not really a hero just a very flawed very human character. Does Superman count?

Who are your favourite heroines of fiction? Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables & Heidi, both little orphan girls.

Who are your favourite composers? No idea! Its pretty bad when I tell you I spent about 8 years learning piano and a few more on flute, you’ll probably guess I wasn’t much good!

Who are your favourite painters? That’s a pretty old-fashioned question. Why painter & not artist? Is the medium important? But I’ll play along! If I was sticking strictly with painters I would say Louis Le Brocquy, Jack B. Yeats, Ed Ruscha, Rothko, Edward Hopper, Conor Harrington, Heather Smith Jones. It’s a pretty random selection and it changes constantly depending on what I’m looking at or reading or thinking about.

Who are your heroes in real life? I suppose people like Aimee Mullins or Joni Eareckson Tada who overcome disabilities or serious illness to lead a meaningful life.

Who are your favourite heroines of history? Mother Theresa, Amy Carmichael.

What are your favourite names? Lila, Leyla,Lola. I don’t know anyone of those names but I just like the sound of them when you say it.

What is it you most dislike? Cruelty

What historical figures do you most despise? The baddies. Can you tell I don’t think about history that much?

What event in military history do you most admire?...And I know absolutely nothing about military history! But I guess it has to be a good thing that we aren’t all speaking German now.

What reform do you most admire? Abolishing slavery. The end of child labour and the provision of free schooling (in the first world anyway, wouldn’t it be great if it was worldwide?)

What natural gift would you most like to possess? Confidence

How would you like to die? Peacefully, without pain and without a long drawn out illness, with my family around me.

What is your present state of mind? Tired – this was a hard questionnaire!

To what faults do you feel most indulgent? Overspending, having too much ‘stuff’.

What is your motto? “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

-Howard Thurman

I know its a tough one but I'm still going to tag a few people because I'm curious, and want to know a bit more about you. Little Monarch, A Chick Named Hermia, Diamond Canopy, 2 or 3 Things I Know & Jazz Loves You More.

I'd also like to remind you that there's a few days left to enter the Act of Random Kindness Challenge and Giveaway. So go on, do lots of kind things over the weekend and email me about them!

4 comments:

SabinePsynopsis said...

It was lovely to read your answers and yes, we can be soooo glad we're not all speaking German now (not only because of the dreadful Nazis, but also because it's not that great a language, except for philosophy maybe). Sabine x

Winnie said...

Oh I will try and do this!

GraceGal said...

What? Amy Carmichael? She has been a favorite of mine for years. I recently purchased a collection compiled by David Hazard of her writings. It's a small book, easy to read a selection each day. I bought it on Amazon.com. I also bought a children's falnnelgraph story about her life which I am going to teach next month. Tell me more. :)

Jazz said...

Oooh..It is quite a hard one :p
I will try and answer the questions very very soon :D

xxx