The Minimalist

At the unofficial official SX (how cool is it when it's an abbr of an abbr) launch party for chimpit this evening I heard a 25-year old sysadmin tell me that she is a minimalist. Which reminded me of when I was a minimalist. Which then brought on the self doubt in the spirit of Freedom-is-just-another-word (yes, Janis was belting that out half a mile up the street at Threadgill's about the time I was when being born) and I asked myself - am/was I a minimalist? And does it fucking matter?

The answer is still a resounding yes and yes. I'd like to think of minimalism in terms of two similar but different ideas: stripping away everything to it's fundamentals, and doing more with less.

I still use my 20-year non-shocked old mountain bike. Lazy? Spend-thrift? Stupid? Possibly, but I like to think it's minimalism. Gardening (don't water it in summer or cover it during frost), traveling (four t-shirts, four boxers, a pair of shorts and two pants - including the one you're wearing - doesn't matter how long or how far the trip), cooking (Bittman's recipes - at most 5 ingredients, all fresh), architecture, design, life - there's a unifying thread.

And how do I reconcile that with two kids, several mortgages, and a home full of stuff? The other day Vivian and I were getting ready to drive somewhere. And she wanted to take a bunch of toys. And I heard myself explaining "Sweetheart - travel light. Don't take what you think you need. Take only what you can't do without." Why, she asked? Otherwise you don't really know what you need. And meanwhile you're carrying around a pile of shit.

It comes down to the backpack vs. the RV. The sail boat vs. the power boat. The rag top vs. the SUV.  The iPhone vs. the home entertainment media center. The charcoal grill vs. the outdoor kitchen. You get the idea.

And yes, back at the Freedom-is-just-another-word level, minimalism is angst. But if you are luck or unlucky to have more than you need it's not a bad way to frame your life .