Where are you supposed to be?

On foresight.

“Three Pears,” Paul Cézanne (1878/1879)

I don’t have a lot for you today.

But: this afternoon, another boat got stuck. It has already been unstuck, which is a shame.

I loved it while it lasted. Imagine! A stuck boat. A boat run aground, somewhere it isn’t supposed to be. Of course it instantly reminded me of this classic video from Counter-Strike.

If this moves you, there’s a ~4 minute documentary that you need to watch.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about being in the place you’re supposed to be — in video games and in life. As best I can tell it comes from a desire for control over the circumstances of your life and a tendency to narrativize your successes and failures; I don’t think it’s something to guard against, or to watch out for.

But it does imply a clarity of vision for yourself that I find admirable. It’s amazing to have the foresight to place yourself where you can have the most impact (in a game) or where you can ascend to the next rung of whatever ladder you’re climbing (in life).

Anyway: I’ve been making my way through Mythic Quest. I just watched that episode in season 2 where Rachel, a tester played by Ashly Burch, and Ian, a creative director played by Rob McElhenney, are stuck in a car together. He asks her what she wants to do with her life, and she doesn’t have an answer. I’ve been thinking about the scene for days. What do you say when someone asks you what you want?

Yours,

Bijan