I did not intend my brief absence to cause any consternation, but it appears that some did notice—my apologies.  I am alive and well and finally over the colds that have plagued me for the last month or so, but I am also feeling a bit scratchy and grey and rough around the edges, so typical of January and winter, as much as I enjoy the season.  A bit of bleakness is good for the soul.

I have been reading a lot and sleeping adequately and failing hopelessly at learning Japanese and crawling through the days at work.  I now have a Kindle which drastically increases the amount of consumer electronics in my house.  A thief would be sorely disappointed to find:

• A three and a half-year old laptop with a non-functioning battery.
• A cheap Japanese “boom box” for playing CDs in tinny glory.
• A small television that still includes a picture tube as part of its anatomy.
• A flip-top cellphone of a model popular some three or four years ago.
• A PlayStation 2 that serves as a DVD player.
• An ipod that was purchased in December 2006.
• A car that was manufactured in the last century.

So, yes, I of the thousands of physical books, now have an e-reader.  I was so sure I would not like it…but I am a person who takes ten books with me on vacation and whose arms get tired of holding some oversized volume up to read…it is a device that seems magical.  If you explained it to someone a hundred years ago they wouldn’t believe such a thing existed.  It’s witchcraft. 

I still love my books on the shelves:  some are quite difficult to stumble across, rare or even collectible.  Those can stay.  The malingering others that could easily be kept on this handy device…well, they might be finding a new home soon.

Sometimes I have funny daydreams about this hypothetical me that would live in a tiny tiny house with just the things I need to survive, and those things would all be well-loved and well-used and have the perfect place where they are kept.  I doubt this is as enjoyable in reality as it seems in my unencumbered reveries, but it provides sort of an ideal to which I can aspire.  The gross weight of my household effects is more than half taken up by books and it is thrilling to think they could be kept in check on something so tiny.