As you read my blog, you’ll get to know me pretty well, so I won’t trouble you with my various titles and accomplishments.  If you really want to learn about the mundane me, check out my professional bio here.  And sign up for piano lessons while you’re at it. But check back here regularly, because each day I’m going to add a little tidbit about the meatier, juicier me.  Ever hear of the Proust Questionnaire? It’s kind of like a 19th Century twitterfeed of questions about the inner life.  I’m going to answer them here, one by one, until you have a bio of my brain.

  1. The principle aspect of my personality: Creative angst
  2. My favourite qualities in a man: Kindness and trustworthiness, followed closely by purity of heart, depth of spirit, agility of mind, a fine sense of humour, and simple common sense.  Intrigue and devotedness welcome.  Material attributes to be discussed elsewhere.  
  3. My favourite qualities in a woman: Perceptiveness and openness, followed closely by intelligence, artistic sensibility, compassion and humour.  Material qualities immaterial.
  4. What I appreciate most about my friends: Stimulating conversation
  5. My main fault: Indecisiveness
  6. My favourite occupation: Ideation
  7. My dream of happiness: Doing what I love, with the people I love
  8. My idea of misery: Cannot be spoken here
  9. What I should like to be, if I were not myself: An orthoptist; or, more existentially, a person at ease with myself, whoever I am
  10. The country where I should like to live: I think I would like to live in all of them, one at a time, starting with the nicest and going down from there.  Or maybe starting in the middle and working my way up.  I’m flexible.
  11. My favourite colour and flower: Today? Blue and its derivatives: sunlit lilacs, distant mountain ranges, Mazda’s 2007 electric blue, and delphiniums (now why don’t I grow delphiniums?).
  12. My favourite bird: Well, let’s see.  NOT pigeons, seagulls, Canada geese, or whatever kind of bird it is that sits in my trees and poops on my hammock.  Indoor birds freak me out, and I’m a little afraid of large birds.  But I do enjoy a nice chicken dinner.
  13. My favourite author: I am discovering the world of French literature! Erik Orsenna gives me goosebumps.  And I like to think I like reading Camus and Molière, in manageable portions.
  14. My favourite poet: It’s been too long since I’ve read poetry.  The last collection I read was Gordon Johnston’s “But for Now” (my favourite reference was to Bach, Handel and debauchery).
  15. My favourite hero in fiction: I’m going to have to go with Detective William Murdock: handsome, clever, utterly reliable, insufferably polite.  Levity provided by his faithful sidekick, Constable Crabtree.  Other notable runners-up: Chuck (endearingly genuine), and Jean-Luc Picard (the ever-sage, enterprising father of us all).
  16. My favourite heroines in fiction: Alison in Sarah Dunn’s unknown gem, “The Big Love”; and, you know, Hermoine.  Because I’ve only just now discovered Harry Potter, decades after all the fuss.
  17. My favourite composer: Well, I can’t not say Bach.
  18. My favourite painters: Zenia Krasniak, Emily Carr, Vincent Van Gogh, and a sprinkling of Rembrandt
  19. My favourite heroes in real life: I’m sorry, but I’m not feeling very worshipful today.
  20. My favourite heroines in real life: Pretty much everyone, self excluded.
  21. The characters in history I most dislike: Let’s just conflate all of the world’s evil, genocidal dictators into one generic bad guy.  I also dislike good guys who say mean things, but are still considered generically good.
  22. My favourite food and drink: Pockets.  Pocket gravy.  Easy.
  23. My favourite names: I rather like my own, thank-you very much.  I think “Solace” is also very pretty, thanks to my latest audiobook.
  24. What I hate the most: Misused apostrophes.  Exploitation.  Loud noises.  Disrespect.  Injustice.  Beets.  Cruelty.  Kimchi.  Being early.  Being late.  Other people being early.  Other people being late.  Celebrities.  Reality television.  Jargon.  Aging.  Students who don’t practice.  Commando-style plank exercises.  Running. Waking up.  Rejection.  Extreme heat.  Extreme cold.  Extreme stupidity.  Weeds.  Unemployment.  Car trouble.  Poverty.  Insurmountable obstacles.  Peanut butter without Nutella.  War.  City driving.  Conceit.  Cleaning.  Filth.  Anxiety.  Unrecognized potential.  Odorous neighbours.  Barking dogs.  Bossiness.  Indecisiveness.  Squirrels.  Migraines.  Bills.  Boredom.  Guilt trips.  Pain.  Not travelling.  Introversion.  Extroversion.  GROCERY SHOPPING.  Pop music.  Bats.  The Blue Danube.  Feliz Navidad.  Mice.  Chronic illness.  Unreliability.  Snakes.  Electric lawnmowers.  Losing things.  Stinky lost and found boxes.  Mouldy bread.  Scotch.  Hovering salespeople.  Big decisions.  Little decisions.  Waste.  Despair.  Itchy sweaters.  Skunks.  Faulty plumbing.  Ignorance.  Not being able to dance.  Peeling potatoes.
  25. Historical figures that I despise the most: This question has been duplicated elsewhere.  To my previous list, I will add Lot, Amnon, and a good many of the most highly esteemed Patriarchs.
  26. The military event that I admire most: Gee, can you tell that this questionnaire originates during the height of British Colonialism? For shame! I admire all that has been won and sacrificed for the greater good, and loathe all that has been destroyed out of hatred and greed; and I fear that much of the time the two are indistinguishable.
  27. The reform which I admire the most: My own.
  28. The natural talent I’d like to be gifted with: Extroversion.
  29. How I wish to die: Fulfilling and fulfilled.