1. In the accessibility options, invert the color scheme.

2. Return to the homescreen.

3. Take a screenshot.

4. Open the camera roll and look at the screenshot.

5. Go back into the accessibility options and switch the color scheme back to normal.

6. Go back to the camera roll and look at the screenshot again.

7. Say, “Whoa.”

iOS7 may not be the best thing since sliced bread, but it is fun. Sometimes, you need something that constitutes simple fun more than you need something that’s measurably better than sliced bread.

Geek Shui’s Verdict: Sliced bread is good. iOS7 is good. Fun is good. iOS7 and sliced bread are both good fun. Rock on. \m/

I did not.

And…

…as long as my path is straight

…and my motive is pure

I will not.

I took this with the iPhone 5. I applied the ‘Vibrant’ effect in the Camera+ app, three separate times, and finally, added the text overlay using the Over app.

What is the first fact? I am a hoarder of virtual pieces of paper. I have to-do lists, shopping lists, stashed hyperlinks, saved names of good wines and, as odd as it may sound (to non-parents anyway), a note that reminds me how soon and how much Tylenol one can give their child, if they happen to immediately vomit the first dose. What was the second of the several things I reaffirmed? Well, it involves Oprah Winfrey.

Oprah isn’t dumb. In fact, she seems to be both intelligent and wise…which is a rare thing these days. What I found relating to Oprah (aka The Oracle) was a note into which I had copied the final words she spoke on her decades-long talk show. As I read the words anew, I remembered why, after seeing the show, I had searched the interwebz for the show’s transcript…and copied it into a note. I did it, whether I realized it at the time, because I knew I would one day need to hear…or read…those words again.

Actually, it isn’t that I (or anyone else) might need to read those words and remind me (or them) about who or what they are. Moreover, at least in this case, I needed to read them to remind me that there are people out there who haven’t, can’t or won’t do what she encouraged the world to do: Find you. Be you. Make the world a better place by being you. At the end of the day, some people are jaded, paranoid, distrustful or just plain unhappy. I don’t have time for them. Thanks, Oprah, for reminding me of this.

The above words are mine. The ones below are hers. Copy them onto a virtual scrap of paper and tick it away. One day, you, too, might need it.

“What I knew for sure from this experience with you is that we are all called. Everybody has a calling, and your real job in life is to figure out what that is and get about the business of doing it. Every time we have seen a person on this stage who is a success in their life, they spoke of the job, and they spoke of the juice that they receive from doing what they knew they were meant to be doing. We saw it in the volunteers who rocked abandoned babies in Atlanta. We saw it with those lovely pie ladies from Cape Cod making those delicious potpies. … We saw it every time Tina Turner, Celine, Bocelli or Lady Gaga lit up the stage with their passion. Because that is what a calling is. It lights you up and it lets you know that you are exactly where you’re supposed to be, doing exactly what you’re supposed to be doing. And that is what I want for all of you and hope that you will take from this show. To live from the heart of yourself. You have to make a living; I understand that. But you also have to know what sparks the light in you so that you, in your own way, can illuminate the world.”

Each one of you has your own platform. Do not let the trappings here fool you. Mine is a stage in a studio, yours is wherever you are with your own reach, however small or however large that reach is. Maybe it’s 20 people, maybe it’s 30 people, 40 people, your family, your friends, your neighbors, your classmates, your classroom, your co-workers. Wherever you are, that is your platform, your stage, your circle of influence. That is your talk show, and that is where your power lies. In every way, in every day, you are showing people exactly who you are. You’re letting your life speak for you. And when you do that, you will receive in direct proportion to how you give in whatever platform you have.

You are responsible for the energy that you create for yourself, and you’re responsible for the energy that you bring to others.

There is a difference, you know, between thinking you deserve to be happy and knowing you are worthy of happiness.

Whispers are always messages, and if you don’t hear the message, the message turns into a problem. And if you don’t handle the problem, the problem turns into a crisis. And if you don’t handle the crisis, disaster. Your life is speaking to you. What is it saying?” – Oprah Winfrey, 2011

[Photo credit: @GeekShui, Ocean Park, PR]