Nothing To Do With Real Estate

If any of you have been sitting around lately wondering "I wonder what is Mike's favorite animal?" Well, wonder no more, it's the tiger - the most awesome of all beasts. Perhaps a psychiatrist could tell me more why I'm fascinated by tigers, but I don't care -- all I know is that they're strange and powerful. I think in the magic factory of the cosmic mind, tigers were designed to terrify us with a seductive energy. Blake wrote "The Tyger"

Poem lyrics of The Tiger by William Blake.

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?

And What shoulder, and what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? and what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears,
And watered heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 and "The Lamb"

Poem lyrics of The Lamb by William Blake.

Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?

Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee.
He is called by thy name,
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
He is meek, and He is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child, and thou a lamb,
We are called by His name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!

from his "Songs of Innocence and Experience", and in college I had to write an essay on these poems. I wrote some silly something about synergy titled "Precarious Balance". I did get an A, but it was most likely awful. But ever since then I've been enthralled with tigers. I had to do research in a LIBRARY. Libraries are big buildings full of books that people used to go to when they needed information or wanted to find a good book to read. There are still some around -- just look for a big, boring building that exhumes authority and that will be it. Tigers would rule the world if they could reason. I've always thought that the crowning of lions as kings of beasts was a sham. The real king is the tiger. I think Tiger Woods would be a weekend duffer if his parents had named him Elmer. When you have a name like Tiger it transforms you into something great and wonderful. I like tigers. The end.