proust questionnaire

have you heard of the proust questionnaire? if you like "inside the actor's studio" then you're familiar. they also run it in vanity fair. here's the description from vanity fair's website:

Since July 1993, the back page of Vanity Fair has been devoted to the Proust Questionnaire, in which a noteworthy person answers a series of personal questions. The questionnaire has its origins in a parlor game popularized (though not devised) by Marcel Proust (1871–1922), the French essayist and novelist, who believed that, in answering these questions, an individual reveals his or her true nature.

and here are some of my favorite answers that various celebrities have given

-which living person do you most despise?
generally, i tend to despise human behavior rather than human creatures. -sidney poitier
-what do you consider the most overrated virtue?
no real virtue, if such, can be overrated. - umberto eco
-what are your favorite names?
aureolus theophrastus bombastus, and jim. -umberto eco
-what is your greatest fear?
finding a panther in my bathroom. -ellen degeneres
-what is the quality you most like in a man?
uxoriousness. -emma thompson (uxoriousness is defined as having or showing an excessive or submissive fondness for one's wife.)
-how would you like to die?
improved--and loved. -marcel proust
-what is your greatest regret?
not telling my husband I loved him 20 times a day. - katie couric
-how would you like to die?
i would not like to die. -david mamet
-what is your motto?
my motto is “be prepared.” I am told this is also the motto of the boy scouts, but, if so, this only proves that they were acting according to my motto earlier than i. -david mamet
-which historical figure do you most identify with?
columbus—if it’s true that he knew where he was going, got lost, and found a place that was better. -dustin hoffman


and here is the basic questionnaire so you can play along! if you want, leave some of your answers in the comments. i think it's a fascinating way to get to know someone...
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
2. What is your greatest fear?
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
5. Which living person do you most admire?
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
7. What is your current state of mind?
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
9. On what occasion do you lie?
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
11. Which living person do you most despise?
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
16. When and where were you happiest?
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
21. Where would you most like to live?
22. What is your most treasured possession?
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
24. What is your favorite occupation?
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
26. What do you most value in your friends?
27. Who are your favorite writers?
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
31. What are your favorite names?
32. What is it that you most dislike?
33. What is your greatest regret?
34. How would you like to die?
35. What is your motto?

you and i

today, may 16th, nate and i have been married for seven years. this is our favorite engagement picture--  the one we keep on our wall to remind us that we were once blissfully, can't-keep-hands-off-each-other, enchantedly in love with each other. 

of course seven years, two kids, and tons of problems later, we are different people. and we love each other differently now. neither one of us could've guessed that the shadow of depression was already falling over our lives, or how that would affect the next seven years. it's been a tremendous seven years, full of many hard, hard times, and i'm glad that he stuck with me.

i guess jeff tweedy kind of summed up the way i feel about how we stand now,

you and i, we might be strangers

however close we get sometimes

it's like we never met.

but you and i, i think we can take it

all the good with the bad,

make something that no one else has

but you and i

from song "you and i" on the new wilco album

happy anniversary, honey. however hard it's been, i'm glad you chose me and i chose you on that day. i can't imagine a better father for my kids, or a more patient and hardworking husband. and let's face it, sometimes you just crack me up. let's keep choosing each other, ok?

to my not-so-little-anymore c.

so, you've been two for a while now. the last couple months you've finally started sharing your thoughts with us verbally, and it's been so much fun. i knew you would start talking when you wanted/needed to, and you did!
i love it when you say, "knock knock" and when i say, "who's there?" you just say "knock knock" again.
i love it that when you see the scab on my knee you say, "kiss?" and then you kiss my knee to make it better. and when we were reading tonight, and you saw a picture of a girl with a frown, you said, "sad?" and then you gave her a kiss, too.
you love having books read to you. you love to go outside whenever anyone will take you. you love "yo gabba gabba." you love mandarin oranges (and especially the juicy syrup they come in.) you love toast for breakfast. you still love snuggling with me in the morning and you better bet that i'm going to encourage that for as long as i can.
i love you little man!

no blue sky

today is a grey, windy day. i woke up sad. do you ever have a day like that? sad for no reason kind of days? it definitely makes me feel like listening to the weepies.

especially this song, "can't go back now" from their album hideaway. it's a little sappy, but for some reason it really works for me. especially today.
anyway, i l like the song better than the video, but the video is extremely cute:
enjoy!

everything's amazing, nobody's happy

found this clip via swissmiss, another amazing blog. i saw it a while ago and i keep watching it; i wasn't going to share it here but i just think it's so true.
just so you know, his language isn't always the best.

now, voyager

i've always been interested in transformations: makeover shows, movies about people who drastically change their lives, etc. 

if you ever get a chance, watch this movie with bette davis

she plays a woman who is sad, who feels locked in by her life, who still lives with her controlling mother and has some kind of nervous condition. a friendly psychiatrist treats her kindly and helps her to change her life. when he's getting ready to send her off on her own and she's nervous, he reads some lines from a walt whitman poem to her.
"The untold want by life and land ne'er granted,
Now voyager sail thou forth to seek and find."

those are lines that i keep coming back to in my own life. they run through my head now and then. i feel lost and stuck sometimes, and i have to remind myself that i'm the only one who can get myself unstuck, and that now is the time to do it. now, voyager.

northern exposure favorite moments, pt. 1

hi everyone. sorry for the long absence. another computer crash and some never-say-die stomach bugs are to blame. it went around the whole family, more than once.

northern exposure was my very favorite tv show when i was in high school. i don't think i ever even saw it in its prime time slot, just in reruns. but there was something about it that just stirred my soul, y'know? i wanted to marry chris when i grew up, and listening to his philosophizing made me want to read more and get smarter.
i don't know if i would like the show as much now. i've been out of high school for eleven years now and i'm a lot more cynical and a lot more demanding in what i'm willing to call good t.v. but here is a moment from northern exposure that i still think is really wonderful, and reminds me why i loved this show in the first place. yes it's cheesy, and yes there is an enya song playing (double cheese!) but it's lovely.


what t.v. shows have been influential in your life?


p.s. nene had her baby on monday, march 2. but i'll let her tell you all about it! i can tell you mom and baby girl s. are both doing well, and our parents are down under for a month to help her adjust.

as promised...

as my twin asked me to list some good music i've discovered...here, for your convenience, is a list and as much info as i have about the best bands and musicians i've recently come across. delightful and tingly to the eardrums.

where to start, where to start? well, first of all i'd like to explain that i owe my survival this year completely to itunes. i recently moved to idaho where i have been unable to discover anything remotely resembling a decent radio station. the closest one to bearable plays something decent, say, damien rice or u2, followed up by KELLY CLARKSON, or even worse HILLARY DUFF. and by the way, how in the h-e-double hockeysticks did lindsey lohan get a recording contract? i am scared, people, positively wetting myself, about the state of the music industry today. i don't want to be one of those past-their-prime people who sits around in a rocking chair and screeches about "what them kids are calling music these days" but puh-lease. britney spears? ASHLEE SIMPSON on snl? that is IT! SOMETHING HAS GOT TO BE DONE.

the more i listen to music, the more i appreciate the "indie" artists, and those who aren't on the top 40 charts, who aren't really considered mainstream.

for support i turn to the lyrics of a recently released album by william shatner. yes, you read correctly, william shatner. i was actually surprised that i liked what i heard of his latest release. perhaps this also has a lot to do with ben folds producing the album and participating a lot musically on it. the song is called "i can't get behind that."

anyway, he says, "i can't get behind so-called singers that can't carry a tune, get paid for talking, how easy is that?... If you have to fix it with a computer: quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected, then you can't do it, and I can't get behind that!"
you said it will.
so whaddya say? will you join in my crusade? who will be strong and stand with me?
now that i shot my mouth off for twenty minutes on that subject, i'm too tired to devote the time needed to fairly and adequately represent these extremely talented musicians. i'll leave off till tomorrow, perhaps.
cheers.

is anyone out there?

i really consider this quite pointless because the only person who will read this besides myself is my twin sister...but there's something about putting your thoughts out there in public, isn't there?
well, i think there is.
i was browsing through some of the other blogs and saw people from india, mexico, singapore, thailand, and even more exotic, canada. it's so cool to me that all these different people are in the same place in a way...
so...
if you're browsing and end up reading this, greetings.