Since I'm in a confiding sort of mood these days, here are my answers to one version of the famous questionnaire (found here):
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being able to use my time as I please (hint: it involves reading).
What is your greatest fear?
Fire; one of my aunts went through multiple apartment fires when I was younger, and it completely traumatised me.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Relying on other people's judgment.
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hypocrisy.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Tea (since books couldn't possibly be seen as an extravagance!).
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Extroversion.
What is the quality you most like in a man?
Intelligence.
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Intelligence.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
"There's only way to find out", "idiot", "seriously?"
Which talent would you most like to have?
Being able to draw.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Becoming my own person.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A cat.
Where would you most like to live?
In an isolated little cabin in the woods, near a river.
What is your most treasured possession?
My mind.
What is your most marked characteristic?
My short stature.
What do you most value in your friends?
Genuineness.
Who are your favourite writers?
Jane Austen, Patrick O'Brian, David Mitchell, Simone de Beauvoir, Ian Rankin.
Who is your hero of fiction?
Jane Eyre.
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Winston Churchill. But seriously, I have no idea.
What is it that you most dislike?
Lack of consideration from people who live as though they were alone in the middle of nowhere.
What is your greatest regret?
Not continuing to write as I did in high school.
How would you like to die?
Sitting in a comfortable chair, under a tree, just after reading the last line from David Mitchell's Cloud Atlas.
What is your motto?
Professionally, it's :"Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine." Personally, I don't have one... yet.
Here are my answers: http://wp.me/pLbJ2-9c
ReplyDeleteThanks for answering the questionnaire!
DeleteWhat is your idea of perfect happiness?
ReplyDeletesitting by the sea with the girls and a book on the first day of the summer holidays and all that free time stretching ahead
What is your greatest fear?
something happening to my children
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
procrastination!
What is the trait you most deplore in others?
ignorance/lack of thought
What is your greatest extravagance?
iphone
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
fame (I know, but so many of my pupils see it as a virtue)
What is the quality you most like in a man?
humour (and height!)
What is the quality you most like in a woman?
humour
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
'Right!'
'I am definitely going to start exercising, just as soon as...'
Which talent would you most like to have?
diy
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
continuing to raise my wonderful children after my husband died
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
education secretary - I have lots of good ideas!
Where would you most like to live?
in a cottage in the Lake District
What is your most treasured possession?
photo albums
What is your most marked characteristic?
my curly hair
What do you most value in your friends?
strength
Who are your favourite writers?
Jane Austen, AS Byatt, Barbara Pym, Agatha Christie
Who is your hero of fiction?
Flora Poste
Which historical figure do you most identify with?
errrr...an unnamed teacher who inspired???
What is it that you most dislike?
reality tv
What is your greatest regret?
thankfully none really
How would you like to die?
Can I pinch your chair under that tree? Is it sunny? I would be reading Cold Comfort Farm
What is your motto?
'Enjoy the little things in life, for some day you will realise they were the big things'
'Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I will try again tomorrow'
Thanks for your answers!
DeleteYes, it's a sunny day, with a slight breeze rustling the pages, and you're more than welcome to the chair in the shade of that tree.
I'm completely with you on "reality" TV, and your second motto is so very wise.
Super ! On te découvre une peu plus en effet. Mais à te fréquenter depuis quelques années maintenant, je pense que je m'étais faite une assez bonne idée déjà. J'adore ta devise et l'adopte à 100 miles à l'heure !
ReplyDeleteContente de savoir que je suis assez constante dans ce que je projette de ma personalité! (C'est surtout mon obsession pour les livres, hein?)
Deleteça, mais aussi ton intégrité.
DeleteC'est un très beau compliment que tu me fais là, Nathalie. Merci!
DeletePlusieurs de tes réponses seraient aussi les miennes... Pas étonnant qu'on s'entende bien, toutes les deux! :)
ReplyDeleteCeci explique cela! :-)
DeleteThe more I know about you, the more I like you Danielle. Also, we have yet another thing in common: short stature. I'm tiny, in every physical way. My nickname in my family is 'little one'. There, I've shared something about myself!
ReplyDeleteP.S. I so agree: the best quality in either a man or a woman is intelligence (quickly followed by empathy, kindness and honesty).
I like you too, Hila! :-) I remember you mentioning you're petite, but I'm curious to know how tall you are... I'm exactly 5' (1.5 m), which can be very handy for measuring!
DeleteIt was difficult to choose the single quality I like best in people; compassion, a sense of humour, and bibliophilia were all close contenders, but without intelligence (and I don't mean MENSA-level), there's not much to attract me to someone.
I think I'm about the same as you Danielle (at least the last time I measured, which was a while ago). Maybe a teeny bit taller, but not much. I'm also a little bit smaller than a size 0 in the US (I'm not kidding). It's genetic, my great-grandmother, who had baby after baby throughout her life, was tiny till the day she died. Very fine-boned too, and I inherited that. I used to get teased in school mercilessly! But, we're in good company as Charlotte Brontë was likewise short and small :) I actually put my hand up to one of her gloves (behind glass, of course), at the Brontë Parsonage Museum, and our hands size matched!
DeleteIt must have been such a thrill to see your hands are the same size as Charlotte's! (Can you imagine if you'd been allowed to try them on? *swoon*)
DeleteI loved reading this. Nodding along to some, and finding fascinating others. I will try to answer these in a post sometime very soon. Under a tree with a good book in hand sounds like the very best of deaths to me.
ReplyDeleteFascinating, really? I'm puzzled! I look forward to your replies, and have no doubt I'll find them fascinating, too!
Delete