In July 2005, we started “The Last Word,” a column in which locals answer questions about themselves. It was patterned after Vanity Fair’s The Proust Questionnaire – which had its origins in a parlor game popularized by Marcel Proust, the French essayist and novelist, who believed that an individual reveals his or her true nature in answering these questions.
Travis Peterson
Inweekly, 2/2/2006
What is your greatest fear?
I’m scared to death of failure; It’s a good, motivating fear though.
What is the trait you most deplore?
Laziness, no better way to waste your life.
Which person do you most admire?
Probably my grandfathers. They are good examples to me of how to live honorably, to love and to take care of your family. They value faith and hard work. I try to live by their example.
What is your greatest extravagance?
I’m pretty cheap, actually, much to my wife’s frustration. My biggest extravagance is probably my coffee. I’m a bit of a coffee snob.
What is your favorite journey?
Last year, we spent a week in Costa Rica hiking through the jungle and around Rincon de la Vieja Volcanic Park and that was an awesome journey. Closer to home, my favorite journey is probably to the beach, when it’s not wrecked from the storms.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
I’d say most of them are overrated. Virtue should be the rule, not the exception. I don’t believe in giving out gold stars for good behavior. That should be expected.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Strategery. Actually, I probably use the phrase, “you know” entirely too much in my daily conversation, you know?
When and where are you most comfortable?
On the front porch with my wife, watching the world go by. That and having dinner, drinks and dessert with friends at the Global Grill.
Which talent would you most like to have?
Patience in the grocery line.
What is your current state of mind?
Scattered, smothered, covered and chunked.
What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being married to my wife, Tara.
What do you consider your greatest failure?
My yearly resolution to watch less TV and read more books.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
The lowest depth of misery has to be trying to find “affordable housing” in Pensacola! Seriously, I don’t know what to say. I’ve been really fortunate in life and anything I might truly consider “misery” would be insultingly insignificant compared to people who’ve lost their homes, their family or their livelihoods due to natural disasters, war or other circumstances.
What is the quality you most like in other people?
Honesty. Everything else can work itself out if people are just honest with others and with themselves.
What do you most value in friends?
My friends have to be easygoing. I don’t like a lot of unnecessary melodrama in my life.
What do you most dislike?
People who take personal offense at little things. They’re the same ones who don’t know the difference between disagreement and dislike, and are usually not worth the oxygen they consume, while whining about things that are so insignificant it makes you wonder why you’re wasting your time listening to them.
If you could change one thing about your family, what would it be?
I wish my grandmothers would have lived longer. They both died when I was old enough to remember them but too young to really get to know them.
What have you learned in life?
Giving really is better than receiving.
How would you like to die?
Preferably in some odd quirk of nature or twist of fate, with lots of dramatic flair, so I can leave my friends and family a good story to tell.
What is your motto?
A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. Life is too short to spend it worrying or planning and never “doing” – I struggle every day to live by that.