A slightly-modified Proust Questionnaire - The Fenspace Edition

[robkelk]

It's far too late to make this part of the standard character description, so let's just do this for fun: Get into character, and answer this modified version of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proust_Questionnaire]the Proust Questionnaire. Which character is up to you, but it should be one (or more) of the characters you control, or an open character that you created.

This post has the list of just the questions so that we have them available for easy copy-and-paste. Yes, it is intentionally Twenty Questions. Yes, they're intentionally not in question form, just like the originals...

(Edit: Maybe this could be an in-universe part of Maico Tange's website, where she asks these of people both famous and unknown and posts the replies...)

Your favorite virtue
The quality that you most admire in a man
The quality that you most admire in a woman
What you appreciate the most in your friends
Your main fault
Your favourite occupation
Your dream of happiness
Your idea of misery
If not yourself, what you should like to be
Where you would like to live
Your favorite authors
Your favorite composers
Your favorite artists
Your favorite fictional heroes
Your heroes in real life
What you hate most of all
Historical figures that you despise the most
How you wish to die
Your present state of mind
Faults for which you have the most toleration
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[robkelk]

Twenty Questions: Noah Scott (as of late-Season-2)

Your favorite virtue
Perseverance, or I suppose you could call it stubbornness if you wanted to be unkind.

The quality that you most admire in a man
The ability to take a stand for what he knows is right, even if he's wrong.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
Their willingness to put up with men!

What you appreciate the most in your friends
They aren't afraid to tell me when they think I've made a mistake, and they're willing to listen to why it isn't a mistake.

Your main fault
I spend too much time working and not enough time with my family.

Your favourite occupation
Raising my daughters. I hope I've been doing a good job of it.

Your dream of happiness
Doing what I'm doing now, where I am now.

Your idea of misery
My wife and daughters being unable to support themselves when I'm gone.

If not yourself, what you should like to be
Sometimes I've wondered what it would be like to run a restaurant. Not the family-friendly places that are part of my space stations, but a fancy, Michelin-three-star establishment.

Where you would like to live
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history. Seriously, I have a happy home that I built with my family; why would I want to live anywhere else?

Your favorite authors
Robert A. Heinlein, Ian Fleming, Patrick O'Brian, "Doc" Smith, Spider Robinson, Kosuke Fujishima, Douglas Adams.

Your favorite composers
John Philip Souza, John Lennon (an odd choice for a magnate, but The Beatles had a huge influence on my childhood), Dr. John (there are a lot of Johns on this list), Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Yoko Kanno.

Your favorite artists
Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas, Andy Warhol, Kosuke Fujishima.

Your favorite fictional heroes
Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin, James Kirk (the original version, not the one from the reboot), Podkayne, Ahiru/Tutu.

Your heroes in real life
Neil Armstrong, John D. Rockefeller, James Watson and Francis Crick, Blackstone.

What you hate most of all
In my personal life, alienating two people who I could have been close to, if I wasn't blinded by my relationship with someone else. In general, the idea of the negative-sum and zero-sum situations - people shouldn't gain at the expense of other people losing.

Historical figures that you despise the most
There's the obvious mid-20th-century fascists, of course. But I don't have much good to say about Thomas Edison. He was everything a leader shouldn't be - hungry for the spotlight, dismissive of the people he hired, and desirous of taking all the credit for himself. And how he treated Tesla should have been a crime.

How you wish to die
Saving someone else's life.

Your present state of mind
Reflective, because I'm answering all these questions about myself.

Faults for which you have the most toleration
The ones I have myself: stubbornness and working too hard.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Dartz]

Posting in 2023

Your favorite virtue
- The ability to think on your feet.

The quality that you most admire in a man
- Trustworthiness.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
- Patience.

What you appreciate the most in your friends
- The fact that they still stay with me, inspite of everything. Maybe a dozen or so people who don't really realise they're the reason I amn't a villain.

Your main fault
- I leap before I look. I lack forethought. The fact that I keep going anyway, inspite of knowing this. I've paid the price.

Your favourite occupation
- Martial Artist. It's peaceful.

Your dream of happiness
- Helping a student find their feet and find themselves and grow to accept themselves - especially if they're having a difficult transition. Doing more interesting things, while having people around me to share it with and feel human with. Maybe being able to share a bed with my partner for real....

Your idea of misery
- Life alone. Having nothing to do but wait.

If not yourself, what you should like to be
- I should've been an engineer.

Where you would like to live
- I've always loved the canyons of Mars. Noctis will always be beautiful - especially after terraforming - but I'll hold a special place in my heart for the early morning Carbon Dioxide mists.

Your favorite authors
A little Jim Butcher, a little Stephen King. I've read books by John Scalzi. I tend more to read books, rather than authors - if at all.

Your favorite composers
Roger Water's The Wall is something I've always treated as a warning, about the dangers of being closed off. I saw it live right before I boosted to space, sitting on a stadium roof.
Otherwise, I normally like music with energy.

Your favorite artists
Whoever it was that added a plaque with his name on it underneath a standard fire extinguisher hanging off the wall of the museum of modern art. I like that sense of humour.

Your favorite fictional heroes
Montgomery Scott. Why I went to college to study Mechatronics. And Shinji Ikari, for showing the strength of the decent.

Your heroes in real life
- My first instructor, Max Armblessed. He died ten years ago. He helped define a lot of who I came to be.

What you hate most of all
- Politics. Comstockery (I love the word though). I hate the people who made me hate them.

Historical figures that you despise the most
- There're some figures I hate that only became historical because of me. A few are still out there. Those who've appointed themselves 'morality police'.

How you wish to die
- I wish to avoid answering this question for as long as possible. But, I think I know how I'll die.

Your present state of mind
- Frustrated. Feeling like I'm always ten years too late to the party. Fandoms. Fenspace....

Faults for which you have the most toleration
- The ones expressed by the woman looming over my shoulder while I write this.

Note: Jet is partly lying in one or two cases, or skirting truths.
-------

Ford

Your favorite virtue
- Being able to come through and stick by your word

The quality that you most admire in a man
- Respect.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
- Honest to her own ideals.

What you appreciate the most in your friends
- They know when to tell me I'm wrong. And I try to do the same.

Your main fault
- I was impulsive as a teenager. I tended to think that the law didn't apply to me because I wasn't doing anything 'wrong'. I bend the rules too much.

Your favorite occupation
- Bounty Hunting. It's exciting. And it does some good.

Your dream of happiness
- A fast car, an open road, a full tank of gas and someone to share it with.

Your idea of misery
- Working two jobs to meet the mortgage payments on a house. I try and avoid debt

If not yourself, what you should like to be
- I might've been happy with the Crystal Millennium, but I arrived before they did.

Where you would like to live
- It's hard to beat the allure of the open roads of California/Navada/New Mexico.

Your favorite authors
I think the last book I read was by Dan Brown. Hah! I enjoyed Eric Flint's 1632 stuff.

Your favorite composers
I'm almost ashamed to admit I have a soft spot for Jazz and R&B. Something between Aretha Franklin, Jake and Elwood (I'll be killed for saying that) and Ornette Coleman

Your favorite artists
Jack Kirby

Your favorite fictional heroes
I've always liked the Man with no Name.

Your heroes in real life
- My Aunt Irene. Who taught me there was an alternative to the college - office - house - debt life my mom saw as the ideal outcome of a successful life. She taught me to be true to myself and stand by my lifestyle.

What you hate most of all
- Feeling like I owe someone something - that they own a part of me. The people who see me as nothing more than another personality template, or coslifer of a well known character.

Historical figures that you despise the most
- Giuliani count as historical, or is he too recent? The people who drafted the Dangerous Substances bill of 2007 after the mutation incident, then rammed it through Congress just to get that dick into the White House.

How you wish to die
- I don't want to die alone, with nothing to do to save myself but watch an oxygen guage ticking down to nothing and hope. I would like to go in someone's arms, with a smile on my face.

Your present state of mind
- Excited. I have a chance to do something I love, and make a lot of money doing it, I just need to reach for it now.

Faults for which you have the most toleration
- I've learned to tolerate a certain level of arrogance. It comes with the territory. I was never one of the real fan-people, especially in the early days.

Left unsaid, is that Ford's Aunt Irene ran a gun store, owned a Mustang GT500, and kept her store afloat when certain laws were passed by working with a tour company to bring Japanese gun-enthusiasts over to get some experience shooting. She may not be based on Rally Vincent, but Ford Sierra and Rally Vincent may be based on the same person. There has to be a reason she switched from being blonde and half-British, to half-indian and well-tanned between Riding Bean and GSC. Could Mr. Sonoda have been inspired?

Ford went to orbit not because Space!, but because it was a better alternative than getting pulled over by the Chicago PD, having her car searched for handwavium, spending ten years in prison - at a minimum - and the rest of her life a convicted felon.
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[robkelk]

Note: Jet is partly lying in one or two cases, or skirting truths.

Yes, of course... Nobody is completely able to analyze him- or herself, and everybody keeps some things secret. (Noah's answer to "Your idea of misery" is incomplete, for example.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[ECSNorway]

Twenty Questions: Chris Marsden

Your favorite virtue
Tenacity. Never give up, even when it seems impossible.

The quality that you most admire in a man
Honesty. The ability to say what you really want, what you really believe in, and take no shame in it.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
Honesty. The ability to say what you really want, what you really believe in, and take no shame in it.

What you appreciate the most in your friends
That even after all I've done, they still believe in me.

Your main fault
Self-centeredness. I'm just willing to admit it.

Your favourite occupation
Making things work.

Your dream of happiness
Comfort, friends, family, and something interesting to do.

Your idea of misery
Being alone in a locked room, with nothing to do.

If not yourself, what you should like to be
Commanding an independant exploration ship.

Where you would like to live
Everywhere.

Your favorite authors
Rudyard Kipling. David Weber. Diane Duane. Jim Butcher. Steve Miller and Sharon Lee.

Your favorite composers
Gordon Bok. Tommy Makem. Gustav Holst. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Heather Alexander.

Your favorite artists
I've honestly never been much on art. I know what I like, but I don't know particular artists.

Your favorite fictional heroes
James Kirk. Nathan Ford. Honor Harrington. Kirigaya Kazuto. Kato Marika.

Your heroes in real life
Bill Gates. Steve Jobs. Ronald Reagan. George Washington. Nikola Tesla.

What you hate most of all
People who mask intolerance and greed with pretend concern and caring.

Historical figures that you despise the most
Oh, I can come up with so many for this one. Hitler, Lenin, Mao, Stalin, Marx. I could go on.

How you wish to die
Saving others from the same fate

Your present state of mind
I have a dinner date with a gorgeous redhead as soon as I finish this. What do you -think- I'm thinking?

Faults for which you have the most toleration
Honestly trying to do the right thing when you don't really know what the right thing is.
Also, any that you can acknowledge and try your hardest to correct.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

[M Fnord]

Twenty Questions: Malaclypse Fnord

Your favorite virtue
Cooperation. We're social animals, and when we work together we can do so much more than if we're all isolated.

The quality that you most admire in a man
Honesty.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
Perserverance.

What you appreciate the most in your friends
That no matter what happens, how far we get separated, they'll always have my back. And I theirs.

Your main fault
I am an arrogant man. Sometimes this works to my advantage, but not enough to call it a virtue.

Your favourite occupation
Being right in the heart of the vortex.

Your dream of happiness
That everything I've worked for all these years comes out right in the end. All jaded cynics start out believing in the happily ever after, that's why the world hurts us so much. Some of us never quite stop believing.

Your idea of misery
I've already lived it.

If not yourself, what you should like to be
As weird as it sounds, I'd be happy being a busker. Did it for a while in college, and every now and then I get the urge to take a guitar and just light out, play the wandering troubador for a while.

Where you would like to live
On my ship with my girls by my side, free and clear with the Universe at our fingertips.

Your favorite authors
There's so many. Marx of course, but that's almost required. Robert A. Wilson. Hunter Thompson. Vonnegut. Tolkein, naturally. Charlie Stross. Iain Banks. Ken MacLeod that old Trot. Grew up on the old masters: Clarke, Asimov, Heinlein. Grant Morrison. Jon Krakauer. I could be here all day.

Your favorite composers
Robert Johnson. John Lennon. Billy Bragg. Leslie Fish (don't tell her). John Denver - I think there's a law about Coloradoans liking John Denver somewhere. I've always been a fan of movie music: Williams, Horner, Kamen, Giacchino, that sort of thing.

Your favorite artists
Picasso. Jim Steranko. Dali. I like to think I've an appreciation of the Dadaists, but then they'd probably tell me I'm doing it wrong. So it goes.

Your favorite fictional heroes
Hagbard Celine, Superman, Masaq' Orbital, Jean-Luc Picard and Satan.

Your heroes in real life
George Orwell, Emma Goldman, Joe Hill and all the forgotten anarchists who've stood against tyranny.

What you hate most of all
Those who take something noble and twist it to evil ends.

Historical figures that you despise the most
There's the usual suspects: Reagan, Thatcher, fascists in general. The great capitalists of the 19th through 21st centuries. Cecil Rhodes.

How you wish to die
I have absolutely no intention of doing so. I expect that means it'll be a surprise.

Your present state of mind
Bemused.

Faults for which you have the most toleration
Hypocrisy. If you're an evil sonofabitch, own it. Don't hide your slime under weasel words about freedom or God or 'the children.'
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

[robkelk]

Since it appears some of the Fenspace discussion is taking place over on another forum, and not everybody there comes here, I've posted these to the wiki for all to see:
http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... stionnaire

Copy the blank form from the talk page, add your own answers, and add them to the wiki page...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Ross Van Loan]

Your favourite virtue : charity 

The quality that you most admire in a man : compassion 
The quality that you most admire in a woman : playfulness 
What you appreciate the most in your friends : steadfastness 
Your main fault : My melodramatic flair can sometimes take me to the very precipice of Alexander Luthorism!  
Your favourite occupation : Making Fenspace a little more fumsome (fun awesome)
Your dream of happiness : A long, kid filled--at least three boys & three girls-- life with Ramona Wandblume.  
Your idea of misery : Overly serious people enforcing the daily grind of Life!
If not yourself, what you should like to be : A rogue comet blazing across the Universe! 
Where you would like to live : In the caldera of Olympus Mons.  
Your favourite authors : H.G. Wells (war of the Worlds), Joseph Conrad (Heart of Darkness), Shirley Jackson (The Haunting of Hill House), Homer (The Iliad), Edgar R. Burroughs (A Princess of Mars),
H.P. Lovecraft (At the Mountains of Madness), Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep), Joe Haldeman (The Forever War), Robert Heinlein (The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), Richard Matheson (I am Legend)

Your favorite composers : Antonin Dvorak (Symphony No. 9, From the New World), Camille Saint-Saens (Op. 40, Danse macabre), Basil Poledouris (Conan), Alex North (Spartacus), Ennio Morricone (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly), Gustav Holst (The Planets), Isao Tomita (electronic transcriptions of Stravinsky's Firebird, Holt's Mars, & Debussy's Golliwog's Cakewalk), Ludvig Van (9'th Symphony), Igor Stravinsky (The Firebird), Sergei Prokofiev (Romeo & Juliet), Daft Punk (Tron : Legacy)
Your favourite artists : Michelangelo (The Sistine Chapel ceiling), whoever it was that sculpted The Winged Victory of Samothrace, M.C. Escher (Relativity), Roy Lichenstein (Whaam!), Johji Manabe (Outlanders)

Your favorite fictional heroes : Captain Kirk, Philip Marlowe, No. 6, Harry P. Flashman, Lysistrata, Princess Kahm, Hawkeye Pierce, Sherlock Holmes, Richard III, Prospero 

Your favourite fictional antagonists : Prof. J. Moriarty, Iago, Kahn (Ricardo M.), Emeric Belasco, Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Rotwang

Your favourite movies : Roman Holiday, 2001, Casablanca, Apocalypse Now, Death Race 2000, Dark Star, George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, Solaris (both versions), The Maltese Falcon, Phase IV, Heavy Metal, Dr. Strangelove, Wizards, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Life Aquatic, Fritz Lang's Metropolis (Rotwang & bad 'bot Maria!) 

Your favourite foods : sushi, very rare steak, mango, kimchi, dolsot bibimbap

Your favourite drinks: single malts, soju, saki, stouts, hot chocolate 

Your prized possessions : An almost fully functional Interocitor, an almost self aware green glowy Loc'Nar, a one to one scale Tycho monolith

Your heroes in real life : Carl Sagan, Conrad Zimsky 
What you hate most of all : see above reference to the overly serious. 
Historical figures that you despise the most : Marcus Licinius Crassus, the folks responsible for Reality T.V.
How you wish to die : Jump starting the spin of the Earth's molten iron core with nothing but a helluva big nuke & a micro cassette recorder! (The Core was a mostly awesome film!) 

Your present state of mind : I'm playing in the sandbox of SPACE!  
Faults for which you have the most toleration : most of them, with the exceptions of hypocrisy & perpetual tardiness (that makes me particularly crazy!) 

[Dartz]

Lun Alekseeva


Your favorite virtue
Compassion. Humanity.

The quality that you most admire in a man
Self Respect.

The quality that you most admire in a woman
Self Respect.


What you appreciate the most in your friends
They gave me so much while asking so little.


Your main fault
Too forward with my beliefs.

Your favourite occupation
Naval Pilot. So far my only occupation.

Your dream of happiness
Cool, fresh water on bare skin. Perhaps with warm sun.


Your idea of misery
Party General Secretary Lun Alekseeva. It means I have failed.

If not yourself, what you should like to be
A Cowboy.

Where you would like to live
By the shore of a crystal bay, surrounded by forest and mountains. Maybe a small village to keep the solitude at bay.


Your favorite authors
Strugatsky brothers. Orwell and Huxley as warnings. I have not had much time to become well read.

Your favorite composers
Someone from Gagarin introduced me to Earthlings. Ennio Morricone.

Your favorite artists
This girl I met on a space station. Drew me a picture in my uniform. More alive than the works of dead men. There is too much reverence for dead artistry and not enough focus on the living who create new.

Your favorite fictional heroes
Ivan Denisovich. Not for what he accomplished in Solzhenitsyn's book, but for what he respresented. It was information that toppled the Soviet government, and this began with Denisovich' and his human endurance and a window into the truth of the Soviet government.

Your heroes in real life
Anyone who has the courage to stand up and work and try to make a better world, even if they know they will never live in it. Those who stand against fascism and authoritarianism wherver it appears.


What you hate most of all
Arrogance. The belief that because you got lucky in life, it gives you a blank card to treat those less fortunate like dog shit. Those who desire power for power's sake, those parasites who cloak themselves in the great ideals of man, while simultaneously rotting them from the inside. The fascists who call themselves anti-fascists.


Historical figures that you despise the most
Stalin and Senator Joe McCarthy can dance together in hell, with Mao in to complete the threesome.


How you wish to die?
In front of the firing squad. Then I will know I have not betrayed my ideals.


Your present state of mind
Bemused at what passes for common sense here. These people are simultaneously frustrating, exciting, dynamic and funny. But fundamentally decent.

Faults for which you have the most toleration
I can forgive any honestly held belief, but not self-serving justifications.

-----------------------------------------------
________________________________
--m(^0^)m-- Wot, no sig?

[Rajvik]

James “Wolfboy” Bostwick:

Your favorite virtue. Loyalty
The quality that you most admire in a man. honor
The quality that you most admire in a woman. loyalty
What you appreciate the most in your friends honesty
Your main fault. Over-confidence
Your favorite occupation. teaching
Your dream of happiness a filled library on all subjects and a family to share it with
Your idea of misery. Unable to help those in need
If not yourself, what you should like to be. Normal and quiet, not drawn to this battle filled life
Where you would like to live. My comfortable little hobbit hole on Ganymede
Your favorite authors. David Weber, John Ringo, JRR Tolkein,

Your favorite composers
Your favorite artists
Your favorite fictional heroes: Harrington, Harmon, McClintock
Your heroes in real life: Patton, Washington, MLK junior
What you hate most of all: Slavers
Historical figures that you despise the most: Hitler
How you wish to die: defending those in need
Your present state of mind: unsettled
Faults for which you have the most toleration: Ignorance, it can be remedied
 

[robkelk]

Y'know, even Proust didn't go back and change his answers repeatedly; he just re-took the questionnaire.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

[Rajvik]

Neither have I. I just keep seeing it pop up