Branching out today:
I thought I'd try an interview because learning about people is something I enjoy. Being fundamentally lazy ...I mean, efficient, I figured I'd save myself a bit of effort and use a questionnaire developed by Marcel Proust, the French novelist. Why recreate the wheel when the wheel is already available on the Internet and it works quite well?
Today, for the inaugural Proust questionnaire (at least on this blog), I am interviewing Michael Topic, whom I have actually interviewed before in a different time called early 2016. The world was very different then. It will be interesting to see if his answers have changed. Michael is a creator (I don't know what else to call him!) who lives in the UK. So, here we go: get to know Michael.
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Having the ability to create without worrying about finances, with those I love near.
2. What is your greatest fear?
Losing my creative abilities.
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
The inability to influence people with new ideas they need.
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Needless overcautiousness and conservatism. I also dislike heartless people.
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Can't think of a single one. People in the public consciousness are often badly flawed - even the brilliant ones.
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Musical equipment.
7. What is your current state of mind?
Jaded, but quietly determined.
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Resisting change in order to look wise. That's just posturing, but at a horrendous cost.
9. On what occasion do you lie?
When telling the full truth would be needlessly hurtful.
10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My weight got out of my control because I blindly followed orthodox, official nutritional advice, which turned out to be pure quackery. I'm getting it back to healthy.
11. Which living person do you most despise?
There are so many world leaders, corporate heads and authority figures that fall into this category.
12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Gentleness.
13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Compassionate intelligence.
14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
I'm blind to my own overuse of cliches. No idea.
15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My wife and kids.
16. When and where were you happiest?
When making music, wherever I get to do that.
17. Which talent would you most like to have?
I wish I could cause positive change without so many people wanting to stop me at all costs.
18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
My tendency to get snarky when highly stressed.
19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Fatherhood.
20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Someone enlightened and wise.
21. Where would you most like to live?
In a world that thought differently to this one. The obsession with money-making spoils everywhere.
22. What is your most treasured possession?
My late father's snare drum and his favourite drum sticks.
23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
Feeling rejected and irrelevant.
24. What is your favorite occupation?
Making and learning.
25. What is your most marked characteristic?
Passionate enthusiasm.
26. What do you most value in your friends?
Playfulness and loyalty.
27. Who are your favorite writers?
I read so much, that there are too many to list, but also too few that truly stand out.
28. Who is your hero of fiction?
I don't really believe in heroes, but I liked how the Hermione Granger character was written.
29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Carl Sagan
30. Who are your heroes in real life?
To me, there is no such thing as a hero, but I like people who tend to have moments of lucid insight and exhibit fearless integrity. Even heroes are vulnerable and human.
31. What are your favorite names?
The names we gave our kids. We thought long and hard about those.
32. What is it that you most dislike?
Greed.
33. What is your greatest regret?
Spending so much of my life working extremely hard for arseholes.
34. How would you like to die?
Peacefully
35. What is your motto?
Imagine, invent, inspire, create, encourage, enlighten and edify.
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