June 28, 2007

• I've Been Tagged: 7 random facts/habits

  I don't usually do "tag entries", but I thought I'd try my skills at this one. Let's see, these kinds of entries usually begin with:

  I'VE BEEN TAGGED by Pat (trotta109).

  Here are the rules (and right away I'll break one of them):

  1) People who are tagged need to share seven random facts/habits about themselves on their own blog. (Will do. Answers below.)
  2) Include the rules. (These are the rules, right here)
  3) Choose seven people to tag and include their names.  Don't forget to leave them a comment and tell them they've been tagged. (This is the one I always break. Usually, by the time I get around to playing "tag" the people who are interested in playing have already played, so suffice it to say, that if you are reading this and haven't played, and wish to, consider yourself 'tagged'. But I won't publish a list of profile names. I don't think that many people read this blog regularly anyway.)

  HERE ARE SEVEN RANDOM FACTS/HABITS ABOUT MICHAEL F. NYIRI, POET, PHILOSOPHER, FOOL:

  I think I've answered something like this in the past, but I'll construct a new entry, even if it might have some of the same "random facts/habits" as on any earlier entry.

  1. I would probably be a psychiatrist's dream patient. I'll self psychoanalyze myself right now, and say that I'm anal retentive, obsessive/compulsive, and manic/depressive, to name just three psychiatric conditions. At work, I've been asked in the past to 'seek professional help' concerning my 'mood swings' and tendency to physically slam my head into the nearest wall when agitated and upset. As I age, these manic/depressive mood swings have abated somewhat. I have never sought "professional help" for any of my "conditions." I like to have "everything in it's place". I develop "routines" that I adhere to religiously. When a young man in high school, I channeled my "suicidal tendencies" into writing poetry, which helped me to overcome any real or imagined depressions. I've always been a "neat freak" but am also very tolerant of other's wishes, which allows me to live with a roommate who is somewhat of a slob. We do "live" in different parts of the house, so I have my own "spaces".

  2. Over the years, people have always characterized me as "too serious", without a sense of humor, but I think I have a magnificent sense of humor.

  3. I don't "suffer fools gladly." I hate stupidity, ignorance, and uninformed opinions.

  4. The "fool" in my tagline, "poet, philosopher, fool" is not meant to mean I feel I'm foolish. I used to have the tarot card of "the fool" pasted to my bulletin board in my home office. The tag is from a quote in "As You Like It", a play by William Shakespeare, written in the 16th century. "The fool may thinketh himself wise, but only the wise man knows he is a fool."

  5. In high school, after I had "dropped out" of the Baptist Church, I "preached" that I was going to "found my own religion". Soon after, I had the epiphany which steered me on the course of writing about a "Universal Mind.", or pantheistic godhead. I cribbed the phrase from a Jethro Tull song called "Skating Away (On the thin ice of a new day.")  I've written both a personal spiritual history called "The Books of the Realizations" and about two dozen chapters of "The Universal Blog" which I update a couple of times a year. The Universal Mind is not only a pantheistic overall view of existence, but attempts to prove that almost everything discussed in most religious movements is related, and our "faith" no matter how disparate, is actually the same faith, and our gods, no matter how many names we might give them, are all the same God.

  6. I have been in physical pain for most of my life. Beginning with my birth, when I was born with a deformed head, according to reports from my now deceased parents, continuing through an auto wreck when I was 14 in which I broke my jaw, and compounded by a congenital defect in my left leg which caused me to have to have a hip replacement over a decade ago, which is now causing more pain than it should, and might have to be replaced in the future, I've been told by my doctors, then exacerbated  by a pinched nerve in my back, rarely a day goes by that I don't feel some sort of physical pain. This has inspired a series of poems titled "The House of Pain" which I began writing  back in college. I don't talk about this much, but I live with it. Days without any pain at all are heavenly, let me tell you.

  7. I'm  not afraid to die. I feel I've lived a purposeful, full, and wonderful life, filled with opportunity and joy, freedom of expression, and fantastic friendship. Lately, over the past three years, here on the Xanga service, I've made many more "internet friends." I've been touched by heartache and death each decade of my life, including the passing of my parents in the 70s, and two of my  best friends, one in the late 80s, and one in the mid 90s. I attempt to live each moment as if it were my last, and I'm touched deeply by the unexpected and tragic loss of life which occurs all the time. A quick perusal of the poems I have written this year gave me the distinct impression I've been obsessing about mortality in my poetry, but I think this is just a "fact of life" because I'm getting older.

  Well, that's seven. Possibly I should have lightened up a bit. (I said my friends think I'm "too serious".) But there you have it. I guess number 8 would be "I don't do anything 'small'. This could be a criticism, like "I make too big a production" out of things, but I prefer not to think that way.

  Thanks, Pat, for the opportunity to construct this blog entry from your game of "tag." I understand it was the first time you've been "tagged". Check out Pat's answers on her blog HERE.

  Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool

  ---

  EDIT: 6/29/07 5:30am pdt. I'm a bit upset. Last night, having returned from a most satisfying meal out with my roommate and friend Cancerboy. (Who sometimes doesn't have an appetite due to the many chemotherapy treatments he has to receive almost on a weekly basis) I signed into my Xanga and found that my Premium subscription has lapsed. Nobody alerted me via email like last time. I thought now would be a good time to sign up for Lifetime Premium, but I've been having troubles and can't sign up. Each time I fill out my credit card info and hit "continue", the screen shows me a "runtime error" and my transaction is not recorded. I've alerted "Chris" on the entry where I found the Lifetime subscription link. (It doesn't appear on my account info page, either, so I have to click a link fron "Chris's" site.) Until this is sorted out, my "Jukebox this Week" music selection, index, and links to my "Allthingsmike Universe" will not show up on my site, and an ugly "advert" is at the top of my page. My apologies. This is upsetting my anal retentive self greatly. MFN, ppf

  FURTHER EDIT: 6/29/07 4:06pm pdt. I did something sneaky. I copied the HTML from my "custom module" and pasted it in the "javascript module" on my "look and feel" page, and the whole module has "come back". There is still an advert at the top of the page, and I haven't heard back from any of the "Xanga Gods" about why I can't seem to sign up for "lifetime" premium service. I noticed that I had "won" one of Dan's (the theologian's cafe) video contests a while back, and the "prize" was premium, so I found I had a message from him which I'd never answered, and asked him to add "premium" back in case it wasn't too late. Also, by a strange quirk of fate, I seem to be on the first "starred page" of Xanga and I'm getting hits because of it. So far, one friend request, but no comments. If you drop by from the front page and this is your first visit, let me know why you aren't commenting! (Nyuk Nyuk.)(Just kidding. I know. Page loads too slow. Too long of entries. Same ol' Same ol'. Thanks to everyone who got me there!!!!!!

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