Happiness Project: Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing

I’m a writer and illustrator living in Los Angeles.

I co-founded bOING bOING magazine and the Boing Boing Blog, and was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998. For three years, I wrote a monthly column for Playboy called “Living Online,” and was the co-editor of The Happy Mutant Handbook (Putnam-Berkley, 1995). I’m the design columnist for Mobile PC magazine and a contributing editor to TheFeature. I’m also a ukulele fanatic. From June to October 2003, my wife, two daughters and I lived around the South Pacific.

I wrote and illustrated a science experiment book called THE MAD PROFESSOR. Every page is in full color and loaded with illustrations, and it’s printed on easy-to-clean laminated paper, so you can make your Goon Goo, hovercrafts, portal paper, spool-bots, and other experiments without fear of staining the book.

This is an autobiography, directly from the bOING bOING about page. You can visit it here to learn more about Mark.

1. How do you define happiness?

Happiness, to me, is freedom from worry.

2. On a scale of 1-10, how would you rate your happiness now, versus when you were a child?

I’d say it’s about 7.5 now, and it was about 6.5 when I was a child.

3. What do you do on a daily basis that brings you happiness? (and how consistent is the feeling of happiness throughout your day)

Holding my children, spending time with my wife, drawing, editing, writing, and painting. All these usually make me happy.

4. What things take away from your happiness? What can be done to lessen their impact or remove them from your life?

Poor health takes away my happiness. I suffered from very painful frozen shoulder joints for two years and it was harder to be happy. Not getting enough sleep is a happiness reducer.

5. What do you plan on doing in the future that will bring you even more happiness?

I plan to travel, read, paint, and learn new skills. All these things make me happy.

____

To get more info about what the Happiness Project is and isn’t, please visit the Introduction Post. To see a running list of all participants, which I will be updating as things happen, please visit the Happiness Project Page.