Jesse Howard correctly answered the Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question:

Q: Whenever Christopher D. Bennett goes to a buffet, what does he get to eat with his ice cream?

A: Green Olives

As a reward for Jesse’s knowledge of my culinary tendencies, he got to choose the next question I answered on the Proust Questionnaire.

Proust Quote

“If only for the sake of elegance, I try to remain morally pure.”

Confessions Question

Your Chief Characteristic

My 2009 Answer

Proust Questionnaire Number Sixteen

I’m surprised by how difficult it has been for me to work on this project this year.  I don’t know if that mean I’ve had uneventful year or unsuccessful year or if perhaps just perhaps, the subject of “Me” is incredibly boring to me.  That can’t be. Most people find me fascinating. At least that is what they tell me.

When I think about this question, I can’t help but think about a photo project that I worked on over 5 years ago.  I had several friends write on piece of “poster board” 1 word.  Just 1 word that they would like to be the 1st word that crossed the minds of other people when they thought about them.

“I saw Chuck down at the store.”

“Oh Chuck, he so fastidious.”

“Agreed. no other word encompasses Chuck’s existence more than fastidious.”

I think about the word I scrolled onto paper in the Lagomarcino courtyard all those years ago and I know that word probably isn’t correct. But I do think I should try that project again.  It might make a good replacement for the Friend Wall, since it will be coming down sometime soon. Although when I think about it, that would almost certainly be just a different form of Friend Wall.  Maybe this way a couple of family members could sneak onto the wall.

I’m getting off topic.

If I look at the undisputed nickname I carry around with me (Lone Wolf) I would think that the best way to describe me might be loner.  I’m not surrounded by many friends. I spend most nights home alone. All of my work time is spent with my nose to the grindstone. I’m not even sure I know the names of many of my co-workers.  There’s the Candy Drawer Lady and The Grand Grammarian and The Trapper and The Hunter and The Dandy and The Potential Future Serial Killer and The Filmmaker.  But I don’t know the names of any of these people. I’m pretty sure they don’t my name either.

I don’t have weekly engagements. I’m not in a bowling or basketball league. I don’t see the same group of friends every Friday for a meal. I don’t going to the movies once a week. I don’t correspond with many people via email. I don’t send lots of texts. I don’t get lots of texts. My phone is a 200 dollar paper weight.

Another characteristic is my openness.  You can ask me virtually any question and you will get a version of a completely truthful answer. I am so open that since the beginning of the year I have had the goal of sending in a secret to PostSecret. Since I don’t have any secrets that are mine (I have a wealth of other people’s secrets) I haven’t been able to fulfill that goal.

However, as well documented and undisputed as my loner credentials are, and despite the fact that I closely resemble an open book, I don’t think I’ve changed much in this regard from last year.

My chief characteristic is my veracity.

I have a 100% commitment to the truth and have never understood people that don’t.

True it took me some time to realize how honest of a person I am. It took me so long because I’m not a dillhole or a jerk.

I’ve known quite a few jerks in my day. They usually say something horrible to another human being and then back it up with, “I’m just being honest.”  I’ve known at least two of these people that have spoken glowingly of their honesty based on the nearly constant flow of negative energy that was coming out of their piehole.  For this reason it took me a small amount of time to figure out saying mean and terrible things to people is not the same thing as being honest.

More importantly, being nice and saying positive and complimentary things to people does not make you dishonest.

Negative people think they are more honest than positive people because they see the world in a negative light. When they hear positive people saying positive things to people they assume that person is lying and doesn’t have the guts or testicular fortitude to tell people “how it is”.

The truth is that the positive person is “telling it how it is” from their perspective.  Their perspective is more positive and it is still the truth.

Being negative doesn’t make you honest. It makes you painful to be around.

That isn’t to say that I can’t be harsh and abrasive with the sandpaper of truth. If my perspective is negative, you will know about it.  After all, I am the fountain of truth. As I see it.

Christopher D. Bennett Trivia Question

What is the 1 thing I always buy when I go to an Iowa State game?

Remember, the first person to answer this question in the “Comments” section of this post gets to pick the next Proust Questionnaire question that I answer. I won’t take me two weeks to answer the next one, I swear.