Simple Gifts

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right
--Shaker dance song

BlipBear and Kiwi reminded me of simple gifts the other day while I was sitting, surrounded by (I kid you not): my laptop, my iPad, Laurie's iPad, my iPhone, two iPods, two cameras, and an external hard drive. I wondered how it had come to this complicated bunch of technology and how much time it takes to manage it all. It felt a little bit crazy. Sometimes I think a pen and pad of paper are all I need or want.

And yet, I find these tools so useful for some important things: my music education and teaching, my photography hobby, communication.... As with all things of this nature, balance is the goal. I want to balance my time using electronics with my time outdoors or with friends or playing my guitar. It's too easy to get sucked into the abyss of the iToys.

Early in my internet days, I looked into joining a 12-step-like group for computer addiction - but it was an online group, which seemed so ironic to me -- like an AA group meeting in a bar.

I have finally pretty much given Facebook the boot. I heard myself yelling at it more often than not, and really getting very little out of my interactions on it.

Simplify. Simplify. Simplify. It's not as simple as it sounds.

Adverb/Adjective challenge: SIMPLE