Answering the ‘Proust Questionnaire’

The ‘Proust Questionnaire’ is one of my favorite sections in Vanity Fair. Here’s how I would answer if they asked me.

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Travelling to a new place.

What is your greatest fear?
Not being able to find my Santa Claus

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My impulsiveness

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Greediness.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Food.

What is your favorite journey?
Life itself with its never-ending ups and downs

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Virginity

On what occasion do you lie?
In the face of extreme danger, I would

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Sorry, I deem them not fit to print.

When and where were you happiest?
Growing up in our province (Southern Leyte) amid the mountains and the sea

Which talent would you like to have?
Singing. In public.

What is your current state of mind?
Que sera que sera. Whatever will be, will be

If you’d change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
To be a better, more devoted mother

What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being independent since 18

What is your most treasured possession?
Except for my kids, nothing. I’ve learned to let go of material things ever since I discovered that I have a penchant for losing them.

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Sleeping in the streets and rummaging in the garbage for food

Where would you like to live?
In the Philippines still. But with much-improved conditions

What is your most marked characteristic?
Externally, my loud laugh
Internally, my resilience

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Being able to live by certain principles and not compromising them

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Her ability to multi-task and attend to the demands of work and home

What do you most value in your friends?
Their capacity to reciprocate, as friendship is give and take

What is it that you most dislike?
Lying and deceiving others

How would you like to die?
Quick.

What is your motto?
Don’t look back. Whatever life has dealt you, just move on and never look back.

Btw, author Norman Mailer answers the questionnaire this month. Also, take a look at the photos of Suri Cruise which for a very rare moment left me star-struck. Here’s one kid who can take away the limelight from her very famous parents.