Weekend grook* greeting, week 40

… I think Piet did catch a common thing with this weeks grook..… and it does seem amazingly easy to find something others do quite annoying and yet not even noticing when doing the same thing…. or the reverse..  to find things one has thought of as important and unique..  things that if someone else came up with it would be seen as insignificant…

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THE SAME, DIFFERENT
Grumble-grook

There’s a neighbour’s telephone
with the same distinctive tone
as it pleases mine to make…
… which I find I cannot take.

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…. well..  this also made men use about phones and phone signals..…  wondering how different, if indeed different at all, phones sounded when Piet wrote this grook…

.. anyway..  hope your weekend will be filled with appreciated variation…

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 39

…growing up I never felt confident about writing….. and I’m sure not due to lack of imagination….  my parents took me to the doctor to check my hearing when I was two… nothing wrong with it (then..  😮  )..…  my mothers explanation was that I had too much imagination and thus drifted into “non-hearing”…  and who am I to doubt my mother..  😉   …  seems like Piet have met (or read) writers with no lack of confidence..… especially regarding how they see themselves….

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IMAGINATION AND FANCY
Literary grook

To imagine himself
is the poet’s art;
for his theme must grow out of
his innermost heart.

But alas, there are poets enough
on my shelves
who think it sufficient
to fancy themselves.

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…..  well…  guess one way to look at it is to measure what actually gets to the shelves..  :-p      …  although then I think there is a danger to always play it safe (see my recent blog on this.

.. anyway…  I know the weekend is further away than normally for this greeting (I write now due to my fathers funeral tomorrow).. but hope your imagination will serve you well this weekend……

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

 

Weekend grook* greeting, week 38

…  well this weeks grook is interesting I think….  like who is a person (really)???  …  is there really a definite answer to that… and at which level in that case???   …  take for instance, as I think Piet is doing here, someone saying/behaving in a certain way in a specific context and not doing so in another context..  what would that imply??  ..  can one really be totally consequent in what one say or do??

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REALLY

As people keep reminding you
the horrid things that people do
are superficial merely.

They’re really not like that at all.
It’s quite unjust of one and all
to judge them so severely.

It would be grand, it seems to me,
if people really were to be
as nice as they are really.

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…..   perhaps one can if it seen at a sufficiently abstract level…  sort of lifting the actions to a level where an image occur that is “consistent” and show who the person “really” is..  :-p

… anyway…  hope whatever you do this weekend will reflect who you really want to be…

.

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 37

… the grook this week reminded me of “det var inte med mening” (it was not done on purpose) given as an explanation instead of an apology when something goes wrong.… and yet I think that in most cases would have more of the desired effect if the latter was selected as response…  but guess it’s better than just shrugging ones shoulders as if it didn’t matter….

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ON FALLING FEET-FORMOST

Some darling people you will meet
are plain disaster-prone,
and will always fall on someone’s feet,
and never on their own.

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…  well…  I guess Piet is referring to something slightly different here..  maybe Gladstone Gander (Alexander Lucas) in Donald Duck (Kalle Anka) would be an example of such a “darling” person..  :-p

… anyway…  I hope you’ll avoid other peoples feet this weekend.. neither trod on others or being trod on…

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 36

.. .. another weekend is approaching..  the title of this grook is relevant to thoughts emanating from my father dying last Saturday.. (which happened peacefully in his home and with his mind clear.... and feel grateful for being there with him… ) ….  sort of a time to sum up..  to think about what has been..

…

…

…

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TO SUM UP
A grook on finding a form
commensurate with one’s subject

It may be observed
in a general way
that life would be
better, distinctly,
if more of the people
with nothing to say
were able to say it
succinctly.

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..  I think my father comes out well when things gets summed up…..  and had things to say…  and did so succinctly..  perhaps especially when it came to using complex numbers in math education…  :-p

..  anyway…hope however you sum up your weekend it will come up positive…

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 35

…  the IT in Society class has started…  and it feels fine….. a good set of students that seem eager (and able)…..  and as usual the setting will be the health sector… an area where people actually should refine when being asked “how are you?”….  🙂

…

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MANNERS
On wanting refinement

Honestly,
some people’s manners
repel you.
Ask, how they are
and, godammit,
they tell you.

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.. and, well….  I guess this in many ways is a question of culture....  which is something the students will struggle with..  😉

..  anyway…  hope you’ll only have good things to say if someone ask how you are this weekend…

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 34

… almost weekend again…   wonder if there’s something similar to larks bringing the weekends on…  :-p      I guess this could be seen as an example of cause and effect…   keen observations can probably “prove” almost any connection…  or perhaps the observations rather should be less than keen…

…

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SPRING’S HARBINGER
On tour

The cold ploughed field seems empty
of any living thing;
but overhead there hangs a lark,
suspended on a string.

It fills the air with trilling thrills,
so palpable and plastic,
absurdly bobbing up and down –
because the string’s elastic -,

till, duty done, and Spring harbinger,
it whisked into the air,
and lowered in another place
to spring it on them there.

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....  this grook gave another association —- Santa.. and his ability to be in heaps of places almost simultaneously…  😉

…  anyway..  hope whatever sign you see this weekend will be connected to something really nice….

Weekend grook* greeting, week 32 & 33

Grook week 32

…  been on vacation…  and the weekend is just about over already..  :-p    ..  guess that is one thing hard to imagine....  well..  I think Piet has a point here.. although I sadly think that there is too much imagination regarding how our neighbour’s tribulation might be a problem for us..

…

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CAN YOU IMAGINE IT?

We haven’t much imagination:
it even overstrains our powers
to see our neighbour’s tribulation
as any real concern of ours.

We have too much imagination:
enough to credit, without fuss,
that all is well with all creation
whenever things are well with us.

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..  but I think that’s an illusion… or rather not being those that he is thinking of here…  well, I think he describe those that “know” with very limited real base for doing so…   but if he thinks of those that knows what’s best for others than I think he might find quite a few at universities…  :-p

..  anyway…  hope your weekend will be free of anyone who would be seen as a pest…

Grook week 33

..  back to work for real…  and I guess working at a university might by some be seen as working with tons of persons that are among those that Piet is referring to in this grook….

..

..

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THOSE WHO KNOW

Those who always
know what’s best
are
a universal pest.

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..  but I think that’s an illusion… or rather not being those that he is thinking of here…  well, I think he describe those that “know” with very limited real base for doing so…   but if he thinks of those that knows what’s best for others than I think he might find quite a few at universities…  :-p

..  anyway…  hope your weekend will be free of anyone who would be seen as a pest…

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 31

… this grook got me to think about getting a lecture about how complex numbers could be used in high school math  to better introduce many other concepts, e.g. derivation and trigonometry, by my father the other day…  a sign that he’s getting better..  well, dealing with the new phase of his leukemia, since his medicine is not working anymore..

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ECONOMY OF MIND

Thinking causes lots of pain.
Talking doesn’t cost a thing.
Therefore, rest your weary brain
and give your tongue a fling.

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… and thinking of him…  I’m sure he would not agree with this advice of Piet…   😉

..  hope your weekend will be filled with painless excellent thinking..

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein

Weekend grook* greeting, week 28

…  time to fly home after attending ITiCSE in Arequipa, Peru..…  and it’s been quite interesting and fun…  felt special to have the honor of delivering a keynote presentation…  the conference dinner was held in a monastery from 1579… and pictures there definitely could make you think of angels……  and being almost 2400m above sea level could perhaps also make you think you’re closer to angels….  although I didn’t notice anyone who’d fit Piet’s description in this grook…

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ANGEL FOOD

   Though men are no angles,
they’re better by far
so long as they think
that you think
that they are.

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…  although I think that thinking well of people often is a good approach…  and I also think that we could be better at letting others now that we think well of them…

.. anyway…   hope you’ll be surrounded by people that are worthy of you thinking well of them….

* Grook taken from “Collected Grooks II” by Piet Hein