Every now and then if you try, you can discover something new. Ian Bogost More Quotes by Ian Bogost More Quotes From Ian Bogost God will not speak to me and tell me to mow my lawn today. Ian Bogost lawnsspeaktoday If you start the day not really expecting substantial change, but anticipating some small new revelation or some small alteration, then over time you're able to find them in more places. Ian Bogost start-the-dayrevelationsable To me, being able to find gratification in more venues, rather than greater gratification in a few, seems like a much more sane way of living. Ian Bogost venuesableway We know exactly where the path to despair and insanity lies. It's in that sense that life is meaningless, there's nothing about today that's worth doing because it's just like yesterday and it's going to be just like tomorrow. Ian Bogost yesterdayinsanitylying Looking for meaning in the ordinary seems like the most urgent thing that we can do. Ian Bogost urgentcan-doordinary Forcing your spouse to stop doing that bad habit that drives you crazy, or making your kid be better at math or at art or at swimming, or making your parents or your in-laws not be annoying in the way that they're annoying, these are sometimes doomed goals. Ian Bogost crazykidsart There are personality traits, or baggage from their backgrounds, goals that they have and the first thing I need to do is understand and then acknowledge and then accept those properties. That's kind of the baseline requirement to have a productive relationship. Ian Bogost goalpersonalityneeds There are also many things my wife can't stand about me, and there are certain capacities that she has that are different than mine. The trick is to find compatibilities. Ian Bogost wifedifferentcapacity The playful perspective is not meant to turn your life into a game or a jungle gym. It's rather that the activity is looking outside of yourself. Ian Bogost turnsperspectivegames I think the most important thing to realize about play is that it's this thing that's in stuff, it's not in you. Ian Bogost importantplaythinking We think we want enjoyment, and that enjoyment is incompatible with work, and somehow we have to import the pleasure into these miserable experiences. That takes for granted that there's not fun or play to be found in the work itself. Ian Bogost playfunthinking We have to always spread sugar on top of it in order that we can tolerate swallowing the things we're supposed to do, which is an incredibly depressing way of thinking about living your life. Not just that your work or your home life would be so miserable that you have to slather sugar on it, but then the sugar is all you're tasting. If that's the only way that I'm finding meaning, then we have this sort of mental diabetes that we're descending into. Ian Bogost depressinghomethinking It's not even that finding laundry pleasurable or delightful should be our goal rather than finding television delightful. It's that both laundry and television can be delightful. Ian Bogost laundrygoaltelevision Once you get yourself on that path where you're willing to find something delightful in laundry and in dishwashers, it means that you train yourself to be able to find it almost anywhere in almost anything. Ian Bogost ablepathmean Wouldn't we all rather have the possibility of finding pleasure and delight in literally anything we might encounter? Instead of assuming that actually there are only these three things where pleasure and delight are possible. Like oh, it's television and socialization and work, and then everything else is the smoke I have to somehow choke my way through in order to get to the good parts. Ian Bogost encountersthreeorder There are things about us that make us who we are, personality traits, or capacities that we have, or knowledge we possess or that we don't possess, habits we have that are good or bad. Ian Bogost who-we-arehabitpersonality Normally if you're dating, you're looking for compatibility, and then the moment that there's incompatibility, you're like, "Well, swipe left on that, let's just keep looking." In some ways I think the same lessons apply to people that apply to objects. It's just much easier to see that lesson in things because they're these fixed intangible lumps of stuff. People are not. They can change. Ian Bogost datingpeoplethinking My lawnmower can't change in the way that my son can or that I can. Ian Bogost cant-changewayson The idea of thinking of our relationships with people as also being structured by limitations and constraints can be useful. Ian Bogost peopleideasthinking This willingness to be frank and plain about the way that the world is, is a good first step. But that doesn't mean that you get what you want. Ian Bogost wantmeanworld
