Bart Westgeest

Kategori: English

  • Phoenix?

    I think, honestly, that of all the things I wrote in the past, like diaries, short stories and poems, I only feel satisfied with about a handful of writings.
    At the moment that would be perhaps 3 poems and 3 short stories. The older works are not necessarily that bad, but I don’t want them any more.
    I don’t know what to think of this unsatisfied look upon everything else I did, it is just the way it is I suppose. I have become older so I prefer other things and I am more critical.
    It just makes me wonder if this process of rejecting works from the past is something that will continue the rest of my life. Maybe.

  • Limited Sources

    There are texts on the internet that are so stupid that they irritate. Maybe we have too many voices. Many are screaming and trying to sound wise and some, probably to attract readers, abandon good sense or judgement.
    I wish there was a method to exclude rubbish from good things. I suppose there is only one way: discipline in judging for yourself what you want to spent your time on .
    I’d like to organize my attention in a way that is just like the best way to watch television: Check what programs will be shown before you turn on the television and decide what (if) you want to watch.
    For the internet world that might be translated into: Keep your feedreader clean and healthy, limit the number of subscriptions as good as you can and be very aware if you surf outside it.

    (Original spark: Peter Englund – Nyårslöfte).

  • Informationens 9 manifestos

    The article “Litterære manifester for et nyt årti” in the Danish newspaper Informationen gives 9 manifestos of contemporary Danish writers containing their thoughts about literature in the new decennia that we just entered. As always the thoughts are personal and thereby very different from each other. Some don’t believe in manifestos while others write a nice little article with their thoughts. One subject that is more often mentioned is the difference between the popular detective stories and the less commercial literary works. Most hope that the latter will survive the stream of very well marketed, and occasionally well written detective stories. This cry for support for the original, more personal literary works make it clear that the writers see a clear difference in value between the two kind of books. The literary works might not make the writer a lot of money (and maybe if they do than only after the writer’s death) but they do contribute to the more interesting and valuable part of literature. (Thanks to Ian)

  • Life should be obvious

    This thought was somewhere in between my notes. It is from not too long ago, but I actually can’t remember where I got the inspiration from. It must have been a blogpost somewhere.

    Life has to be a selvfølge (something obvious, literally: following its self), one does things because one has to. Because it is needed to survive or because one can’t stop doing it anyway. Any other thing will cost too much energy and will be experienced as something that doesn’t really matter. Accepting this also means accepting ones role in life. One can’t become more than one is, but one should continue looking at, training and exploring ones self. A whole world lies inside. Many things become obvious when one discovers the beauty of living and being.

    I’ll try to follow the advice. Distraction comes o so easy, all things seems to be interesting, worthwhile or even important. But deep inside of us our soul (or whatever it is) only asks for certain things. To be truly productive and valuable to yourself means concentrating on this voice.

    As I added to the thought (probably sarcastically – but that can’t cover up the well meant intention): Good luck!

  • Merlin Mann: Figure out who you are

    This post from 43folders.com contains a video with another interesting line of thoughts by Merlin Mann, who thinks about productivity, creativity and the caveats surrounding them.

    Merlin presents his ideas in a popular way, fast and often funny, but he is serious and dedicated in trying to find out the truth about his subjects.

    It is another attempt to define, and thereby better deal with, procrastination.

    Here are some quotes I wrote down:

    Procrastination happens when we don’t know what to do.

    (You go look around to find out what you should do next.)

    Sometimes you procrastinate because you feel you need to do something else for a while. But if so, then never forget who you are and what you want.

    It’s important for creativity to read or do something even if you don’t know why you are doing it.
    But sometimes you have to put your head down and work really hard.

    Happiness is in the right balance of these two.

    In his video Merlin explains that it is important to figure out who you are and to always keep that in mind. Procrastination can be o.k., but it should never lead you away from your own goal.

    There are truly many more thoughts in the video including his well meant advice on how to protect yourself from certain forms of procrastination.

    —–

    Here’s another post I wrote about Merlin Mann’s ideas.

  • How to be prudent in Dutch.

    Hope Gate, Québec ca. 1871, by Louis-Prudent Vallée

    There are many languages, many words. All spoken languages are prefect because they have been used for centuries.
    But sometimes there is a word in a language that seems to be unknown in other languages.
    I looked up the word prudent, as I didn’t know exactly how to define it.

    According to thefreedictionary.com it is:

    prudent
    adj.

    1. Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment (sic) or common sense.
    2. Careful in regard to one’s own interests; provident.
    3. Careful about one’s conduct; circumspect.

    There is a possibility at the bottom of the page to translate the word into another language. This can be helpful for those that speak a different native language.
    But prudent is translated into Dutch as voorzichtig. That is definitely not right. Voorzichtig means careful, and this not in the sense mentioned in point 1, 2 or 3 above.

    There is apparently no good translation of prudent. That’s probably why I didn’t really know it. It makes one wonder why the Dutch didn’t need a word covering this quality.

    —-

    P.S. I came to think of the word verstandig as a somewhat better translation. And indeed after a quick search I found that http://www.freedict.com/onldict/onldict.php chooses verstandig as the best option.

    But http://online.ectaco.co.uk gives many options: voorzichtig, omzichtig, beleidvol, oordeelkundig, verstandig.