In talking about publishing content on the web, Rex Hammock quotes zefrank saying
A wise man once said (okay, it was zefrank and he said it yesterday) “Someone who does something bad three times still has three times the experience of that other person who (hasn’t done something because it isn’t perfect and is) still dreaming of all the applause.” He calls these unattempted ideas “brain crack” that people get addicted to and then sings a song with the F-word in its title to illustrate his point. In other words, it’s not for everyone.
First of all, part of the value in writing this is keeping a link to that episode of the show, because it rocks. As a songwriter, “where the fuck do ideas come from?” is easily one of the most pertinent questions I could ever ask.
But I’m also writing this to mention the comment I left in Rex’s blog, saying
I’ve been musing on this myself the past few days, having just the other day had a job interview where I spontaneously came up with this chestnut: “If you can’t look back on stuff you did a year ago and see mistakes, that was probably a wasted year.” (Incidentally, I got the job.)
Which is my way, I guess, of letting you all know: I have a new job. I start next week. More details later after I sign the relevant paperwork.
Congrats on the job! Love the chesnut too, it makes me feel a bit kinder about my last year. By that yardstick, it was anything *but* wasted.
Ack, that was me, logged out and not knowing how to spell chestnut.
Congratulations!
-J
Well, thanks! And yeah, I know a lot about forgiving the past year. Let’s take it a little easy on ourselves, whaddya say?
Thanks!
Congratulations!
I’d write down something smart, but I am letting zefrank do the thinking for me now.
Thanks! I look forward to raising a glass with you to toast the good things in our lives. Or many glasses. To drown out the difficult things in our lives. Either way, I look forward to drinking with you. 🙂
Good plan on letting zefrank do the thinking. Did you see the one from yesterday about drugs and neural networks? It was great. Convinced me I need to do more hallucinogenic drugs.
I did see that one. I was also heavily influenced by the episode where he recommends we walk around with towels clenched between the buttcheeks. He was a little tired that day.
I say that’s a fine idea.
BTW, and I were having a fine chat Sunday plotting next summer’s Seattle ‘boink and reminiscing about previous ‘boinks when your name came up. We are in total agreement on how fabulous you are. Just thought you should know 🙂
Congratulations on the new job!
The zefrank quote is much hipper than the one I offer you here…
“We’ve been conditioned to not make mistakes, but I can’t live that wayyyyy, no no…”
-Natasha Bedingfield
I know. You’re cringing. But I couldn’t help myself and the sentiment makes me feel tough.
Thanks, Anonymous! And never fear: pop lyrics don’t make me cringe. Quite the opposite, in fact — I usually have a pop lyric at the ready for nearly all life’s predicaments. 🙂