A year ago Travalon and I went to North of the Bayou for Mardi Gras, but this year we're under pandemic rules, so he got takeout from there (a crawfish po' boy for himself and jambalaya for me), and we just listened to Louis Armstrong at home. It would have been cool to see the Big Easy right now, because of course they can't have their parade with the famous floats, so they're having "Yardi Gras" and decorating their houses as if they were floats. I've seen some photos - so cool! It's also Handy Woman's birthday, and she said of course it would be on Mardi Gras when we're all social distancing, so she just worked the polls for her birthday. She said not too many people showed up to vote, since it's a primary for a statewide race rather than a presidential election. This was the year for people having birthdays fall on celebratory days, since just last Friday it was both Lunar New Year and Richard Bonomo's birthday, and again no party. It would have been a fantastic party theme...
For Lent this year I am only doing what's necessary. (We'll see how long I can go before breaking this resolution...) I am only eating what is necessary and saying what is necessary and buying what is necessary. I'll check social media once a day in case it's someone's birthday or someone is trying to get a hold of me, but I won't scroll. Travalon said he is going to do the same thing with social media, and he's also going to give up buying collectibles during Lent. I will keep blogging, because to me that's necessary. It's a part of what I do, like breathing or washing my hair. Maybe I'll blog about Lenten reflections, like I did way back in 2009.
Famous Hat
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Right now I feel a break in posting and hanging out on Facebook, scrolling the news feed is badly needed for me. Both Famous Hat and I have too many nice friends and good connections with people we care about to permanently get off of it, but so far I find it very refreshing to take a six week hiatus. It has become an all-consuming monster for many of us, too big a part of our lives. Without going into detail, I admit one of the main reasons I decided to take this break is politically related- I am seeing too many of my old high school and hometown friends buying into and sharing posts displaying off-the-wall false b.s. conspiracy theories about who they believe is really responsible for the violent insurrection on the U.S, Capitol on Jan. 6th. I find this deeply disturbing, but I really don't feel like arguing with these people, they're entitled to their beliefs, I just don't want anything to do with it anymore. Like many people, during free time or when I'm bored I have the urge to fiddle with my cellphone, checking out Facebook. I can't anymore- I deleted the app. The urge is going in a different, more constructive intellectual direction. As a history and geography buff and a world traveler, I am going to spend more time on Google maps, traveling the world virtually during this pandemic, and on my Wikipedia app- trying to learn something new. If a friend wants to chat with me via the Facebook messenger, I can do that on my phone without seeing FB itself at all. This is challenging, a real exercise in self-discipline, but I am determined to succeed, and I believe Famous Hat has it in her to do so too.
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