Taking a break

This is a very painful post for me to write, but it's one that's been a long time coming. I thought I would be able to stave it off, but it's clear now that I can't.

I'm going to have to take a break from blogging. I don't know whether the break will be temporary or permanent, whether it'll be a day or a week, a year or forever, but this activity that I love so much, that keeps me entertained and motivated and thirsty for knowledge and striving for change, has become incompatible with other parts of my life to which I need to pay greater attention. In short, in a utilitarian sense, the effort to produce it is outweighing its benefit, and so I must move on, at least for a time.

This blog was never just about politics ... just about the 2008 elections ... just about me. Sure, that was a big part of it -- yeah, even the part about me -- but it was, I always felt, a way to highlight the crazy twists and turns of life ... not just a life, but life generally. I started it because I wanted to combat the incessant right-wing media noise with some truth -- and along the way, I learned something, about people and about myself.

I learned that people, no matter where you go or what you do, fundamentally are good, and that there really are people out there who want to change. But I also learned that no matter how much one changes, the basic core of the individual remains constant. It's a lesson I won't soon forget.

2008 certainly has had its ups and downs, and I've been privileged to chronicle many of them here. Indeed, this sucky blog itself is a chronicle in one respect -- it traces the arc of a life from the depths to the heights, and the inevitable variations therein. It has been an enormous part of my recovery from depression over the past four years by providing me an outlet for raging against the wingnut machine as well as a means to meet and commiserate with new friends who crave the same sorts of things for America and our world -- and for our children and grandchildren -- as I do.

Frankly, having been laid off about six weeks ago, I've become interested in turning blogging into some kind of career -- somehow -- and I have a few ideas on making that work (and maybe some support to do so, too), but in an ironic twist, it turns out I actually have to sacrifice this blog, at least in the short term, in order to pursue that goal. I once thought that after the election I might slack off a bit, you know, not be quite as involved, and I thought I'd have time, a couple of days, anyway, to kind of wean myself down to a less frenetic blogging pace. But life, as it is wont to do, doesn't always let you wind down -- election's over, time to be normal again -- and I am afraid I have more to lose right now by maintaining this collection of bits and bytes than by letting go ...

I won't say "goodbye" exactly, because I really don't know whether or not this is permanent. After all, I've been on hiatus before and come back. In addition, I don't know whether or not I'll be able continue with Blast Off! Radio, but there probably will be a post here and there relating to that, so stay tuned -- whatever happens, I'll announce it here. But what I will say is thank you for reading my thoughts and observations over the years, and if anything I've ever written has made you laugh, or made you think, or made you want to act to make our state, our country, and our world a better place in any way, well, then I guess this sucky blog has served its purpose.

Catch you patriotz laterz ....