Two years ago I started writing thoughts, ideas, and little pieces of dialog in a fancy looking black notebook. It’s still only half full, so you can imagine how much I actually used the thing. I kept carrying it around though because it’s a legitimately nice notebook and makes me feel sophisticated and writer like. A few weeks ago I actually took the time to go through the old stuff and found this:
“What were you before you were a genius?”
“Poor. An idiot.”
I loved it. It made me smile. It made me think. I didn’t hate it like I had always thought I would hate everything I wrote. That’s why I’m committing to this blog now.
Two year old writing that I don't hate.
Rohun
Nov 29, 2011 -
This is a great idea! I like the concept of sharing your ideas and thoughts while not letting this become a banal blog where people post all and sundry about their toilet habits, sexual exploits and other non-specific mundanity for their internet community to read. I say this with a touch of hypocrisy, being a regular Facebook user who has only recently, since moving to China, reduced my tendency to indulge in the aforementioned habits (well, maybe just the mundanity).
Anyway, the thing about geniuses (or genii? for the more pretentious among us) is interesting. What exactly is a genius – I think that depends a lot on perception and taste, much in the same way as ‘Art’. As you were discussing with me in person, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerburg are considered as such because of what they have ‘produced’ or ‘sold’ – could we argue this is similar to great artists? So many painters for example lived penniless, frugal existences only to be recognised posthumously in fame and adulation. It is clear that Jobs and Zuckerberg are hugely successful entrepeneurs of our time; but they have also had a huge amount of personal monetary success – does that mean that they will be looked back on with the same respect irrespective of their financial legacy? Perhaps history will tell whether they will be rewarded in the same way as Picasso or Van Gogh?
I ramble. As is often the case.
One half of the ‘Super Fun Zone’, aka flatmate
admin
Nov 30, 2011 -
Thanks, Rohun. I appreciate your support. And I promise not to write too much about you :)
Rohun
Dec 8, 2011 -
I think that’s a good idea seeing how I wrote such an awful lot about who knows what here – it’s a great space for sharing and being a follower of the cause!
Reed
Nov 30, 2011 -
This is very cool and I plan on being one of the first “followers” as it were. So,where was I, before I was a genius, was at the fork. Helping no one, hardly even myself, and making no difference. Accepting contentment and “leading” lives flowers my genius.
Keep rockin Brent!
admin
Dec 1, 2011 -
Thanks, Reed. I plan on doing just that.
Tell us about yourself… « jinkens (not jenkins)
Dec 19, 2011 -
[...] asks his parents for, doesn’t grow on a tree. I looked at my friends’ original work (here and here, if you’re curious), hated that they are able to do it better than I currently am, [...]