Name (that you go by): Nogrod, Noggy, Nog, Noggins... Ukri (in RL)
Age: 38
Occupation: Teacher (senior secondary high school - occasional lecturer in the University).
Future Aspirations: To not lose the grasp of life and turn to conformism (so easy at this age).
Goal in life: That my life has had some influence for the better in this world, to even one person; being a decent human being.
Short term goals: Getting back to the rhythm of the school year.
Passion: My children, philosophy, music, slow-food.
Hobbies: Thinking too much, following world affairs on several channels, making & listening to music; esp. singing in a choir, cooking.
Famous for (okay this is where you get to brag about yourself): Being the talk-machine to whom anything human or non-human is a familiar subject followed by a more or less weighed opinion, being the over positive person who never loses his temper.
Fave book: Some weird books by Scandinavian authors probably no one of you knows (Sandemose, Vesaas, Kyrklund etc.). Most of the things Franz Kafka, Thomas Mann, Nikolai Gogol, Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco or T.S. Eliot have written. Iain (M.) Banks has not written so many bad books either. And the Professor has made some good ones too...
Fave movie: Just to spell out a few (the names probably aren't correct everytime as I have had to come up with an English name for most of them by myself). Lawsuit (the original book is
Der Prozess by F. Kafka, dir. by O. Wells), Starlighted night (Taviani brothers), Dr. Strangelove & Clockwork Orange (Kubrick) No-man's land (Tanovic), Songs from the second floor (Andersson), Happiness (Solondz), surely Casablanca is sweet and both the Life of Brian and The Holy Grail by Monty Python are hilarious time after time... The world is full of good movies.
Fave sport: Ssoccer, icehockey, basketball...
Fave store: The Market Hall in Hakaniemi, Helsinki (you can occasionally get fresh rabbit or wild-boar from there...).
Fave music: Just a few; this is really challenging as music from almost any genre can be good when it's made with passion and skill. Bach, Beethoven, Mahler, Shostakovits, Satie, Fauré, Debussy... Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, the Beatles... Massive Attack, Radiohead, Björk, Suede... Radio Tarifa, Camaron, Fairuz, Anouar Brahem... and Kate Bush is the Goddess! (And lots of Finnish stuff is good as well...)
What you can't stand: Conformism or spinelessness of any sort in general, stupidity when it acquires a mass-form (political populism including nazism and facism and some trends of neo-conservatism, intellectual laziness of any sort that bans people of making a difference in the world)
What you plain dislike: Everything fashionable (movies, music, clothes, celebrities...)
Who you admire: People who do believe in good and are ready to do something for it.
What you most love to do: Spending time with my children, cooking, making music, listening to "speaking-programs" from the radio, thinking, sitting down with friends, writing to the Barrow-Downs rpg's...
Your self-confessed flaws: When I'm not interested in something I can be more than lazy and never get the things done. Too ready to open my mouth before I think what I'm going to say (thinking out loud: a requirement for a teacher but not necessarily so good in private life...
)
What intrigues/fascinates you: All things or actions that reveal love and caring, all things beautiful, all things that are not self-evident.
What scares you: That something bad happens to my children, that the world goes crazy (it's that already, but unfortunately it can go crazier)
Quotation to live by: "Peace, flowers, freedom, happiness" or "Make love, not war" - and old hippie can't change his fur.
Additional Comments: Reducing one's life and values in these kind of questionnaires is painful and everytime twists the reality. But as it's so nice to read what you others have written, I thought I needed to write my own to claim my right to read yours...