Introducing “That Is All”

I’m a Buddhist. (A really, really bad Buddhist, but Buddhist nonetheless.)

I’ve never observed Lent, but as a really bad Buddhist, the concept of a ritualized deprivation of some form of enjoyment appeals to me. I’ve toyed with trying it over the years. This year is that year. I made my list of things I enjoy the most and upon which I spend the most (and potentially unhealthy) amount of resources–time, energy, or money–and I came up with three potentials:

• Alcohol
• Thrifting
• Politics

Giving up each has its benefits. Alcohol saves me some money and maybe makes a little more healthy living. Thrifting is time and money. But politics? It’s a huge time-suck. I spend hours arguing about politics, and I have for years. But I also spend hours consuming political content because I foolishly believe one should be informed before forming an opinion. (See: Ultracrepidarian.) And, I don’t know if you’ve been paying attention or not, but American politics really kind of suck right now. Combining both sides into a single event, best I can surmise is this: On January 20, an angry, rich, old, white, racist, weirdly colored bigot stood up in front of another rich, old, white, racist, weirdly colored bigot and took his job away from him. In that moment, everyone completely lost their minds about everything, everywhere, at everyone else.

All at once.

So I have given up politics for Lent. All things political. That means I’m not reading political news. I’m scrolling past political tweets. I’m ignoring calls to enter into the fray to discuss insert hot topic issue today. I’m actively disengaging in political conversations–and going so far as to simply tell someone, “I’m not talking about politics right now,” before falling into absolute silence as they continue to do so.

The strange thing: I’m happier. I drink less (score on that first option). And I have more time. So how am I filling that time?

I’m using it to reconnect with friends, family, and loved ones. I’m reaching out via text or Facebook Messenger to just say, “Hey. How ya doing?” But that would be boring. So, instead, I’m just dropping in with an occasional factoid. Maybe it’s an observation or piece of vocabulary. Maybe it’s a historical event. I drew inspiration (and the first of these entries) from my dear friend Dawn Harper. That entry:

The process of an alpaca giving birth is called unpacking. That is all.

Now imagine you’re sitting in your easy chair, watching your Grey’s Anatomy and sipping your chablis with two ice cubes, and that pops up. You’ve not heard from me (nor I you) in weeks or months. It’s just plopped there in your text messages.

That’s “That Is All.”

But as I’ve been doing these, people have started asking me to keep track of them. Thus, I’ve decided to do just that. This is “That Is All,” the blog. After sending out my daily love bombs, I’ll post that day’s entry here (to publish the next day). You’ll find I’ve already published several (including the alpaca one in this). These were those first few entries.

They’re short. They’re a quick read. And they’re all true. True as in “You can google that shit.” (And I encourage you to do so. Fact checking is important, which is why I haven’t minded the four friends who’ve sent me a daily account of their dogs’ bowel movements.)

Welcome to “That Is All.”