Monday, March 23, 2009

simplification, the long route

it's been quite some time since i posted again, which in reality doesn't mean too terribly much as i suppose i'm not posting for my adoring fans but mainly for my own writing needs.

which, sadly, have taken quite the backseat lately.

why, you may ask? because there are so many things going on! every weekend has been busy, every weekday long. in my heart of hearts i know how much i enjoy sitting down and allowing my fingers to play over the keyboard, listen to the tap tap tap of keys as the words appear before me. it's like watching a magic act, or someone playing the piano. i'm no houdini, and certainly no virtuoso with words, but i do so much enjoy the act of vowel creation.

it's basic and plain, and both of those items are close to my heart.

it seems like so many things are not basic or plain any longer. recently i needed a new phone -- mine had no range, anywhere, except for one square of the sofa, part of the stairway landing, and a corner of the upstairs bedroom...and anywhere outside of my own home. so i jumped online and found a phone.

generally speaking i'm reluctant at best to enter the world of electronics or vehicles. to put it mildly, i exist in a state of ever-present "i don't need a different one...mine works fine." but my car has not been working fine, and my phone's hijinx were annoying, to say the least.

(this horrid reluctance does NOT apply to purses or clothing or books, unfortunately...)

online i picked out what looked like a simple phone -- a shiny, satiny pink. it's actually quite easy to use, and it has a calendar in it, so that i can store events, which is completely fabulous when you consider that for that last how many years, despite the advent of palm pilots and i-phones and the myriad other personal oranizers, i've still relied on my little paper day planner. works great provided you have a pen handy--which usually i do not.

thus when i realized what my phone was able to do, i tossed the planner.

there was hesitation, of course, because my heels were dug into the "this is good enough for me" mentality. why shouldn't my found-in-the-dollar-store planner not stay in my purse, taking up residence among my mango-flavored chapstick, my mp3 player, the wad of keychain and keys that only actually has 3 keys on it, a package of kleenex and some burt's bees hand salve. it was good enough for last year; what has changed?

it seemed so strange to replace something so basic with this sparkling pink device, which was only a third of the size of the planner itself--something that could store all of the days of the year AND notes AND phone numbers in one compact place. replacing the simple with something more elaborate--and yet that in and of itself simplified my life some.

at any rate, my simplified organizer is indicating that it's high time i get to the DMV and renew my license.

and as long as i'm at it, perhaps look at a different car. or mule. your choice.