An Introduction to Me
“There is an amazing power getting to know your inner self and learning how to use it and not fight with the world. If you know what makes you happy, your personality, interests and capabilities, just use them, and everything else flows beautifully.”
— Juhi Chawla
The Proust Questionnaire is a series of thirty five questions developed around the end of the 19th century by Marcel Proust. It is meant to reveal information about who you are as a person. Here is my personal questionnaire.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To love and to be loved. To come to terms with the fragility and insignificance of your life, but to find importance and beauty in everything you do. To become part of something bigger and more important than yourself.
What is your greatest fear?
Being unable to find enjoyment in the little things in life anymore, such as eating good food, riding in a car with the windows down, or hearing a good song.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Excessive pride. Being unable to admit when I am wrong and wanting to gloat when I am right. Thinking that I am somehow more important than someone else.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Not thinking for themselves; letting others dictate their opinions.
Which living person do you most admire?
LeBron James for being the best in the world in what he does while still being a good father, husband, and citizen.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Shoes of any kind. Tennis shoes, basketball shoes (I’m a Nike guy), loafers, wingtips, etc. I particularly love boots. I would buy a pair of shoes for every day of the month if I could.
What is your current state of mind?
Determined and at peace.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Loyalty, but not because it isn’t important. In fact, I think it is one of the most important virtues. However, I think that loyalty should be inherently programmed into any decent person’s personality, especially when it comes to relationships. When people brag about being loyal, all I can think is, “Duh, I would hope you are.”
On what occasion do you lie?
To avoid causing someone to worry about something minor.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
I wish I weighed a bit more to match my height.
Which living person do you most despise?
Vladimir Putin, for actively trying to hold society back from progressing and for undermining the principals of democracy.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Being free thinking, not getting his world view from what other people tell him to believe, and being curious about the world.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Being good at conversation. Being easy to talk to, but not overpowering or over-talkative.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse,” from The Godfather.
What or who is the greatest love of your life?
As of this point, sports. Particularly baseball.
When and where were you happiest?
When I was on a field or on a court, letting my muscle memory and instincts take over, and competing with my teammates at my side.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Any sort of musical talent. Unfortunately, that part of my genetics definitely skipped me.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I wish I was more engaging with people I don’t know, especially people my own age.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My senior year of high school, I won the region player of the year for baseball, only the third person in my school’s history to win that award for any sport.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A leather baseball glove.
Where would you most like to live?
An apartment in the San Remo, overlooking the lake in Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.
What is your most treasured possession?
A Breitling Wings A10350 that was given to my dad by my mother and eventually passed down to me.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Loving someone that will never love you back.
What is your favorite occupation?
In terms of leisure: shooting around in an empty gym, hitting baseballs in a batting cage, and driving on an empty road with music playing and nowhere to be. In terms of a job: anything where you can best use your talents to help other people.
What is your most marked characteristic?
The first thing people notice about me is that I’m tall.
What do you most value in your friends?
Being able to enjoy each others company without having to do “something fun.”
Who are your favorite writers?
I will always love J.K. Rowling for writing Harry Potter, but I would also like to add Ken Kesey and Quentin Tarantino.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Atticus Finch for being the model of how a man should strive to be and how a father should raise his kids.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Albert Einstein because I, too, am fascinated with how the world and the universe works.
Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother for always being loving to everyone around her, and for always doing everything she can for me.
What are your favorite names?
I am quite partial to the name Booker.
What is it that you most dislike?
When people pronounce espresso as “expresso.”
What is your greatest regret?
Letting the fact that my life has not gone exactly how I planned it make me afraid to try something different. Feeling sorry for myself has not and will never benefit me.
How would you like to die?
Having come to terms with my life ending and with dignity; having seen some form of my legacy live on in something or someone else.
What is your motto?
Everything in moderation, including moderation.
