It also gets you to write a letter to your younger self, which is integrated into the clip, too.

It’s all a bit nerdy and is mostly about showcasing Google Chrome (which you download …free) and HTML5. Pundits are saying it’s The Future (man!) of music videos.

Whatever. I like the nostalgic nudge it provides.

The lyrics of the song that forms the soundtrack go like this:

I used to write,
I used to write letters I used to sign my name
I used to sleep at night
Before the flashing lights settled deep in my brain

But by the time we met
By the time we met the times had already changed

So I never wrote a letter
I never took my true heart I never wrote it down
So when the lights cut out
I was left standing in the wilderness downtown

I used to write letters. I wrote a lot and sometimes I still do. When I’m agitated I write to myself, like I’m writing to the little girl inside who is a little bewildered by All That Life Is. Writing it down unfurls my true heart. Nothing magical in that. It’s just a process that gives attention to my true heart.

The song continues:

oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
oooo we used to wait
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Sometimes it never came
(oooo we used to wait)
Still moving through the pain
(oooooo)

We used to wait, it’s true! And often it didn’t come – letters, responses, phone calls, answers. Nothing was instant nor guaranteed. Which was kind of good. Sometimes there was not much we could do other than move through the pain of the uncertainty. Now days, there’s always a way to make things happen, faster or from thin air. Which puts untold pressure on us. Waiting and accepting…it was kind of a blessing, really.

Anyway, I put in the address of the patch of dirt in the country outside Canberra where I grew up. I haven’t been out there since the family had to leave when I was 16. You can check it out here if you can’t be bothered to make your own. I got quite emotional seeing the dry bushland that used to overwhelm me as a kid. So much nothingness. So much brown. A lot of loneliness and dry awkwardness. And goats. Goats and dry dams and dirt. Below are Billy the dog, a goat and one of my brothers, Simon, and sister Jane.

In the bit where they invite you to write a letter to the you that used to live there, I wrote this:

Everything is going to be OK and the dirt will define you.

What would you tell yourself? Do you prefer waiting and just sitting through the pain? Are we all a bit tired of not being able to simply wait?

I personally get pretty uptight when guests stay. Having new people in my space confronts me. I live a pretty selfish life and I get all flustered when my routine is mucked about (mostly because I have no “fat” in my schedule…something I’m desperately working on right now…for another post). When friends and my large family step into into my home it kind of breaks my stride. Which sounds revoltingly ungenerous, I know…

That said I always put out flowers – daphne is a favourite – in the spare room, place a towel and facecloth on the end of the bed and bust my foof-foof valve (as my grandad used to say) to show them a good time. Lifehacker suggests we all go one step further and they’ve created a Guest Information Pack template you can download for free.

It includes spots for useful information like informing your guests about household quirks. It takes a few minutes for the hot water to get all the way from the basement of your apartment building? Make a note that they should run the hot water while they brush their teeth to get it shower-ready. Have a dog with a delicate constitution? Make a note that table scraps will make everybody miserable. Militant parking regulations? Make sure your guest knows their rental car will get the boot if they park on the street after 2AM.

Effecient and kind. I like. What tips can you share on how to make hosting smoother?

***Updated Friday 5pm: News is emerging the election will be called tomorrow. The PM is saying she’ll ask the GG to delay issuing the writ until Wednesday, which means IF YOU’RE NOT ENROLLED TO VOTE YOU’LL HAVE ABOUT FIVE DAYS TO DO SO. Do it at my link here.

***Updated Friday 5pm: Latika Bourke has started this election Twitter list of political journos to follow. For more, see my list below.

I keep getting asked the best way to stay up to speed with the stuff we all need to know for the election. Honestly? Twitter. It’s taken a while, but Twitter has really settled into itself and we’re kind of getting the hang of how to best use it. It’s not really for inane “I just ate 3 Maltesers” updates. It’s a business tool. And a media tool.

Heading into the election, Twitter will play a major role. News will break on Twitter (as it did with the Abbott/Turnbull spill). Dynamic, important debate will happen on Twitter. Without spin (there’s not enough characters!). On Twitter the media/opinion leaders we all love actually share what they REALLY think, rather than the publisher line.

Before I break into a list, a community announcement: The election COULD BE CALLED THIS WEEKEND, which means you need to be enrolled to vote NOW. Not on Monday. TODAY. Got it? Once the election is called, there’s about 1-5 days (depending on how fast they move things) to do so. If you’re a first-timer, or you’ve moved, or you have kids who might not be correctly enrolled, check out my election cheat sheet. Pass her around…

Enough of that. My list. Please add any dinkum twits you’re loving and I’ll post it!

Very Good Twits (who provide useful commentary and useful links)

* Annabel Crabb: my favourite columnist. Hands down. Find her at ABC’s The Drum.

* Leigh Sales: also at ABC’s Drum, and host of Lateline.

* Latika Bourke: based in Canberra and great for the scoops.

* Dave Penberthy: editor of The Punch (and closet feminist, truth be known).

* Mark Colvin: really knows how to use Twitter well…shares great reads.

* Samantha Maiden

* Laurie Oakes and David Speers

*** an observation: many of the most influential voices are young women. Just saying….

*** If you’re not already, do yourself a massive favour and tune into Q&A on ABC, Monday nights. It works really well with Twitter – viewers can tweet their thoughts in real time as the political leaders and commentators rant and debate on the panel. Their opinions run along a ticker at the bottom of the screen. The show has recently hit its stride – fun, robust, loose, candid. Exactly how this kind of debate should be.

*** Also check out The Chaser’s Yes We Canberra, Wednesday nights at 9.45 on ABC.

Any others I should add to the list? Who are you loving for robust political thinking? I’m sure I’ve missed a few…

But how to clear the clutter? This little gizmo – ManageFlitter – does it sniper-like.

It works by sorting your Twitter followers list into:

• Talkative or Quite – They tweet too much or too little.
• One Sided – They don’t follow you back.
• Possible Spam – They have no picture on their Twitter profile

You can then hit the unfollow button if you feel it suitable.

And, nope, don’t feel guilty.

We kinda have to realise that it’s not about the person, it’s about what information they’re sharing. I use Twitter to get my news updates – I mostly follow journalists and news services. I also follow a few bloggers who share fab links. I don’t use it to keep up with mates or personalities. I don’t follow Lady Gaga. I don’t follow Ashton Kutcher.

I mostly delete people when their messages get “unhealthy”. I deleted Deepak Chopra a while back because his tweets were almost manic…they got me agitated!!! I’ve deleted a few comedians when their tone has got snarky and cynical. The effect of being bombarded with bitchy asides is powerful. You start thinking in the same tone and seeing the world as something to be poked.

What about when YOU get unfollowed?

Just. Don’t Care. Practice it as an art form. Twitter is meant to be about sharing information. I CHOOSE to not see it as a popularity contest. Keep sharing good stuff and the right people will want to listen. This is the point of it.

Digital  Inspiration has this list of gizmos that help you see when others stop following you. I advise NOT using these. A fetid breeding ground for paranoia!!!

I also recommend veering clear of this:  tweet beep sends you an email when you’re mentioned on Twitter. Stokes the ego in a really annoying, addictive way. DON’T NEED IT. SLIPPERY SLOPE!

How do you manage your Twitter? Do you have any formulae you recommend?

Yeah, you got it? I’m clearly not that secretive. But you know that, I reckon.

This url shortener – trick.ly – works by allowing link access only to those who can answer an intimate question about you. Inner-circle stuff. I love that the url for the site is actually trick.ly (no dot-com).

Lunch, by the way, was ace. The company was astute and dynamic and authentic. I drank green tea and ate parmigiana. Then there was a sun shower. The end.

The new wisdom is knowing this. The new status is being in control of it.  The new power is having firm boundaries. Like, for instance, standing tall and proud and declaring you only check email twice a day. Or boldly deciding you work a four-day week. Or not taking your phone out with you when you have dinner with someone you wish to explore intimacy with. I’ve experimented with all this. And more.

To this end another nifty little tip for stemming the tide of group work emails onto one’s phone, from timesonline. It seems rather involved and bothersome. And, personally, it doesn’t work for me because I don’t get too many group emails any more (I’ve used other techniques to plug the flow, like unsubscribing from emails, and requesting that I’m left off certain group emails). But it could suit you:

If your work e-mail is anything like mine, many of the hundreds of messages you receive every day are actually addressed to groups or huge mailing lists, rather than you personally.

Sometimes it becomes difficult or even impossible to find the things you’re really looking for, particularly in older versions of Outlook.

In desperation the other week, I set up a new account on Gmail. I then went back to my work Outlook and set up a rule to automatically forward mail addressed to me personally to Gmail.

So far, so good. Gmail acts like a filter, and it’s much easier to search and access on a mobile device than going through all the Microsoft Exchange setup malarkey.

Now comes the bit I love. Head back to the Gmail account and click on Settings. Add your work signature under general if you wish. Then mosey over to the Accounts and Import tag.

Here, there’s an option for everything you send from Gmail to appear as if it comes from your work e-mail address. You enter the address you want it to look like, Google then sends a confirmation e-mail to that address. You confirm, and bingo!

The upshot is that my personal mobile phone now picks up work-related e-mail sent to me personally, and I can reply on the move while appearing to be at my Times e-mail address. Setup is easier than MS Exchange, search is faster, and all the e-mails are intended for me personally.

To be upfront: if you buy the books via that widget I get some affiliate percentage for suggesting it to you. But I thought it might be handy for some…hmmm….

My philosophy right now: small, nice, gentle changes to the way you do things can drag you from the biggest of ruts and bored sludges. Little creaky movements to the left or right. Do-able shifts.  Like, sometimes I part my hair on the other side. Or write in a different location (yesterday I hung out at the Surry Hills library). Small, gentle shifts make life feel fresh. But keep it small, otherwise they don’t happen.

If you feel the same way,  you might want to give this little app a crack. Omm Writer is a beautiful, FREE!! download that allows you to change the vibe of your writing experience to a more mellow, inspired, Zen-ish one. It’s the virtual version of sitting in a nice park with a good glidey pen while listening to Enya. Actually, take the Enya bit out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

After downloading the link, you use it as your writing template. You can change the background of your “paper”, overlay ambient music/noises (a lapping shore soundtrack), font size, and the sound effects for text input (ooooh, such wonderfully satisfying click, click noises…like in the movies or Sex and the City when Carrie tap, taps away on a focused mission).

I like the way the cursor just glides along the page. It seems to infuse my thinking with flow.

Tell me what you think…

And what other small techniques you use to get into a writing mood…

become as free as a REAL bird

Web 2.0 Suicide Machine can strike you off Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. At the press of a button.

As the site says,  be as free as a real bird. A 2010 resolution, perhaps? To free yourself from the relentless tinkering with and preening of your social network sites?

I am very much hesitant about why I have a Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn presence. It all seems rather counter-intuitive to my search for simplicity and LESS in all aspects of my life.

It’s also all about friend accrual. And I’m not sure that this is how I want to conduct my interactions with people. Power on the web involves being  what I call a “friend whore” – getting as many followers as possible so that…what?…you’re heard? when you pen your first novel you have a fan base? I’m just not sure.

I’m going to think about www wipeout for a bit. That’s what I do. I sit on things and then the answer comes to me very obviously. It can take a while. If you’ve reached saturation point, then give it a go. I’d say tell me all about it when you do, but you probably won’t be able to, cut off as you will be from all things online. Perhaps I’ll see you on the dark side!