About Paul

Aspiring gentleman, part-time rogue. Jack of all trades, master of diddly-squat. Contemplating world issues and trivial matters. Opinions are my own. I’m an atheist living with depression, anxiety and alcoholism. I also have a good, albeit dark, sense of humor about it all. At least, most of the time.

I’m gainfully employed doing mostly marketing, splitting my time between a payroll/HR consulting company and a non-profit working on providing medical services to the South Sudan.

You can email me at paul@paulsletters.com, like my page on Facebook and follow me on Twitter if you’d like… @paulslttrs. I’m also on Instagram at instagram.com/paulsletters.

Want to know more about me?

Here are my answers to the Proust Questionnaire:

1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
An afternoon on a boat- a swim and dinner with good company.

2. What is your greatest fear?
That I will drink again.

3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
My social anxiety when it leads me to say “no” to invitations and opportunities.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Talking during movies. Racism too. Ignorance of others covers it, I suppose.

5. Which living person do you most admire?
My parents, who have created an environment for their children that is supportive, loving and educational.

6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Books.

7. What is your current state of mind?
Better than it was yesterday. Content?

8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Piety.

9. On what occasion do you lie?
To protect someone’s feelings when to tell the truth hurts them needlessly.

10. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My height. I wish I was a little taller.

11. Which living person do you most despise?
Dick Cheney.

12. What is the quality you most like in a man?
Intellectual curiosity.

13. What is the quality you most like in a woman?
The same.

14. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Like, uh, you know…”

15. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
Life itself. The improbability of our existence and the journey to squeeze every drop of our time here.

16. When and where were you happiest?
My first two years of college were a happy time for me, but there are little moments every few days that are very happy moments.

17. Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to play guitar.

18. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I snore.

19. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
My ongoing sobriety.

20. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
Sean Connery.

21. Where would you most like to live?
I’d love a house on the east side of Skaneateles Lake.

22. What is your most treasured possession?
My cat, Bogey.

23. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
The morning I woke up and decided to kill myself.

24. What is your favorite occupation?
I was a tour boat captain in the summer of 2006.

25. What is your most marked characteristic?
My sense of humor.

26. What do you most value in your friends?
Honesty.

27. Who are your favorite writers?
Hemingway, Wodehouse, Hitchens. Tina Fey. I like Amanda Marcotte’s stuff in Slate.

28. Who is your hero of fiction?
George Costanza.

29. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
John Adams.

30. Who are your heroes in real life?
My mother and father.

31. What are your favorite names?
Henry and Gus.

32. What is it that you most dislike?
Talking during a movie. Someone checking their phone while we’re having a conversation.

33. What is your greatest regret?
Not getting sober earlier.

34. How would you like to die?
Quietly, peacefully looking out over water.

35. What is your motto?
If someone asks you if you’re a God, you say yes.