Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.
Ó mar salgado, quanto do teu sal
São lágrimas de Portugal!
Por te cruzarmos, quantas mães choraram,
Quantos filhos em vão rezaram!
Quantas noivas ficaram por casar
Para que fosses nosso, ó mar!
Valeu a pena? Tudo vale a pena
Se a alma não é pequena.
Quem quer passar além do Bojador
Tem que passar além da dor.
Deus ao mar o perigo e o abismo deu,
Mas nele é que espelhou o céu
Addendum: Hervee bainga shine sanaa, inspiration erelhiildeg, aphorism, ajiglaltuudiin tsugluulgad durtay bol Fernando Pessoa-giin The Book of Disquiet-iig zaaval unshij uzeerey.
When I was travelling in Italy I always tried to sneak into museums for free by pretending to be a member of those large packs of Chinese or Japanese tourists. Though somehow they always caught me - I blame it on my height. But have you ever wondered what it feels like to travel in those groups with matching hats and a guide carrying a small flag or umbrella as a rallying point? The New Yorker's Evan Osnos recently travelled across Europe on a bus with Chinese tourists and wrote an article about it. The result is a wonderful discussion about the subtle differences between Chinese and Westerners.
the myth that a richer China would soon become a Western, democratic China has rarely looked more frayed than it does today. But if it was naïve to imagine that China’s opening up would draw it close to the West, it is also naïve, perhaps, to dismiss the power of more subtle changes. Modern Chinese travel, like the modern Chinese state, is predicated on the fragile promise that it will impose order on a chaotic world, by shepherding its citizens and keeping them safe from threats that can include Western thieves and Western cuisine.
He is a kind of star now here. I even met him during the summer. I was in the very begining very very much inspired by him! But then I went to a few meeting, we talked and I figured I dont really like him as a person. But, really, who cares? what he does is extremely important. Just because it crates a feeling in our society that there are ppl who still can speak up and do smth!that one shouldnt be indifferent! And even if it doesnt in the end lead to some great change, I am supporting him with all my hands and legs. Now it looks like it's possible the government will just shut down the law that states that this competitions should be publicly-announced...But that is the begining of struggle - he talks and (very importantly so) young ppl are listening to him.
