08 November 2006

Jenius Gratitude

I have been called cynical, sarcastic, overbearing, hysterical, handsome (thanks, Yvonne!), savvy, insulting, perceptive, prescient, funny, obnoxious (in a misquote, but repeated a few times), bobo, absurd, crazy, heroic, annoying, prolific and most recently, "weird, but cute."

Sigh. And satisfaction. For not once has anyone questioned--at least to My face--that what I write is honest. It is taken as a given that positive or negative, would-be-witty or aiming-for-a-jugular, whether I'm right or whether I'm really right, My words are accurate reflections of what I think and feel.

I'm fortunate in that I have friends and colleagues who may not leave comments around here, but will ask Me about what I wrote or bring up a subject I touched upon and explore it with Me. In The Jenius' early days (The Prodigy Stage, I like to call it), a very dear friend would point out that I may have been "excessive" in My wordings. I almost always agreed with her, and kept doing it. Not in defiance of her, but in search of what I felt I needed to say. She may still consider My wordings excessive--probably more often than before--but she still reads Me and reinforces her support by becoming The Picky Grammar Lady, the World's Most Endearing Editor.

I have resisted writing about writing because it really isn't all that interesting. One sits at a keyboard, taps keys in a certain order and either reveals the result to the world or saves it for posterity. But one aspect of writing is very important and must be mentioned: it is lonely work. Hour after hour, I stare at a screen as it fills up with the product of My thoughts...which is just wonderful because I am a Jenius and only Jeniuses can know the feeling of being in perfect communion with a superior brain.

However, how does one spend over 400 hours writing for absolutely no pay? What force can compel an otherwise productive person to invest 10 full workweeks (so far) in writing His thoughts on whatever comes to Mind, hopefully in a clear, cogent and effective manner?

Support. Or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. I have the first and may have the second. But without the first, the lonely task of writing would be lonelier still.

So in a moment long overdue, My thanks to you who read My words, who drop Me a line here or through e-mail, who approach Me and fire verbal darts or ask Me why I wrote what I did or simply tell Me I'm wasting My time or that I'm headed for trouble because I compare Fools to crap and crap wins every time. Thank you. My mistake was in never understanding that, as much as I want to say and take the time to say it, the task would become unbearable unless others shared it with Me.

But not the credit. That's all Mine. So there.


The Jenius Has Spoken.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I try to explain to some people about "that blogging thing". Some people go: "Cool! You are a writer!" Which otherwise I would never call myself. That gives me a slight buzz.

Still others, though, go like: "What? You waste your time?" And I get frustrated because I know I will never reach some people.

In sum, it is lonely work. And mostly thankless.

So thank you!

As a person, nobody has gained my respect faster than you have; I wish I could "hang out" with you see if some of that jenius-thinking rubs off on me. Alas, I am always focused on work and not relationships.

For that I am glad you write, so that I get to read...

Anonymous said...

Como he reido leyendo estas lineas! Si bien es cierto que la tarea de escribir es una labor solitaria, tendriamos que considerar que tambien lo es la escultura, la pintura, la arquitectura, etc... por que al igual que estas anteriores... ES UN ARTE. Un arte que no solo consiste en ver mas alla de lo que el ojo promedio ve. Un arte que no solo consiste en la capacidad de plasmar en palabras (que pueden ser desde sarcasticas y reflexivas hasta jocosas y entretenidas) una situacion. Un arte que no solo consiste en ver nuestra localizacion dentro del laberinto (y el camino de regreso)...Sino un arte que combina todas estas y un poquito mas. Cuando VanGooh y DaVinci hicieron sus obras "lo hicieron solos"... "durante largas horas" y su motivacion (en definitiva) NO FUE EL DINERO.
Ese es el arte que disfrutas ejercer... y que bien te queda!!!
Dejando mucho por decir
Alfredo R

Anonymous said...

Hi Gil,

I'm conducting an online survey to explore the privacy attitudes and expectations of bloggers.

Please click to take part in the survey: http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/privacysurvey/

If you participate you will be asked to answer questions anonymously about your blogging practices and your expectations of privacy when publishing online. All answers will be stored and analysed on a confidential basis.
The responses will be used to inform academic and policy discussions on blogging practices and attitudes towards privacy.

Finally, could you please encourage other bloggers to participate in the study.

It takes less than 5 minutes to complete the survey!

For further information on my research please visit
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/staff/km.htm or, email:
Karen.mccullagh@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk

I am a PhD researcher at CCSR, University of Manchester, England. I am sponsored by the ESRC and Office of the Information Commissioner, UK.

Many thanks,

Karen

p.s. You obviously enjoy blogging....so ignore the detractors and keep posting!