Continuing my philosophical slant this long weekend, my friend Shen sent me a link to a video presentation by John Maeda at the always inspirational TED.com. Maeda-san is head of the MIT Media Arts Centre and his big "thang" is simplicity. He wrote a book. These are his 10 laws of simplicity. Nice reading for a 3 day weekend...

Law 1: REDUCE. The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

Law 2: ORGANIZE
Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.

Law 3: TIME
Savings in time feel like simplicity.

Law 4: LEARN
Knowledge makes everything simpler.

Law 5: DIFFERENCES
Simplicity and complexity need each other.

Law 6: CONTEXT
What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.

Law 7: EMOTION
More emotions are better than less.

Law 8: TRUST
In simplicity we trust.

Law 9: FAILURE
Some things can never be made simple.

Law 10: THE ONE
Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Living out of a mid-sized backpack and small daypack for 2 months, and seeing how simply people live in places like Lombok and Rajasthan has really impressed upon me the ridiculous bloating in western culture. I wanna slash and burn my life into zen-like simplicity. Will I ever equal the rucksack guy's 101 essential possessions list? Do I even want to? Is this just a passing phase? We'll see. Ha. All I know is, I want to live better: healthier, happier, more peacefully and to do all things better than I have been. You know, quality vs quantity.

Heroes starts again tonight in the States, which means it'll be on my screen sometime tomorrow.... Soooo excited. Ah, yes, it's the little things in life...