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veen  ·  3874 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: A new entry for the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

    My grandfather used to tell me that a man could spend his whole life studying a square foot of dirt from the garden and die having never discovered everything about it.

That's because it's a square foot of dirt, man. Boring as hell, unless you're really into geology. There's a middle ground between looking at a square foot of dirt and at large uncharted areas. And it's where the good stuff's at.

    I felt instantly put off of the whole experience, because I hadn't 'discovered' anything.

I know how you feel: it's nice to know something probably nobody knows. It's the same with music for me. I've often had music I discovered myself be used in a large ad campaign and at first I feel disappointed (it's the hipster hiding inside me), but in the end I know that way more people will then appreciate it. Maybe that's not happening with the tourists as they just go ooh and aah and snap a picture to forget. But is that really something that should make you feel worse about your experience?