PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE TIME! What is your idea of perfect happiness? Perfection and happiness are two ideas when coupled I do not grasp. Nevertheless, perfect happiness would be silence with light. Which historical figure do you most identify with? Joan of Arc or Albert Schweitzer Which living person do you most admire? Nelson Mandela What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Weariness What is your greatest extravagance? Eating Jim’s frozen cookie dough. What is your favorite journey? The one between the lines. On what occasion do you lie? “Yes Dental Hygienist, I have been flossing regularly.” Which living person do you most despise? George W. Bush What or who is the greatest love of your life? Writing When and where were you happiest? Glass Beach, Fort Bragg on the Mendocino Coast, August of 1997 Charity and Andy sat with one another on the log, his hand on her lap both of them laughing. Tonianne was gathering bits of colored glass on the beach, pieces of blue and green. Michael was surveying the scene while I fed vanilla wafers to the gulls. The sun dipped into the ocean and we gathered on the log. We observed the day come to an end, the sounds of waves and gulls bidding us bon nuit. Which talent would you most like to have? Singing What is your current state of mind? Flummoxed What do you consider your greatest achievement? Living past 25 years of age If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? Whatever the most deplorable incarnation there can possibly be; this apparently in my mind is a politician. What is your most treasured possession? I do not treasure the material, though I am fond of my children story book collection. I treasure friendships though they are not tangible. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Disgrace What is your favorite occupation? Naming and Branding Architecture Services or Ice Cream Man. What is the quality you most like in a man? Honor What is the quality you most like in a woman? Ballsiness Who are your favorite writers? Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Michelle Tea, Peter Orner, Mark Helprin, Amy Tan What is your motto? Ille Caelum Fremitus