January 2005 Archives
I'm thankful for:
I'm thankful that I was born in the age of cell phones directory assistance and mapquest internet directions - I would have been so much more lost than I am. I am thankful for blue snakeskin shoes, ballet slippers, and 4 inch high heels that makes you look slimmer. I'm thankful I don't have to get water out of a well or a municipal fire hydrant so I can take a shower. I'm thankful that text messaging has become such a staple in the united states.. I only had to wait for 4 years for it to be introduced here. I'm thankful for bluetooth wireless headsets that lets you roam 30 feet away from your phone. I'm thankful my friends don't mind listening to me whine once in a while. I'm actually thankful that there's someone who annoys me in my life to give me that competitive edge and a little boost to make me work harder. I'm thankful that the sun is shining in So. Cal after that dreadful rainstorm. I'm thankful that everyone is able to rely on faith and hope when everything else disappoints. I'm thankful for poetry and full moon and clear skies. I'm thankful for lemon bars, mud pies and black and white cookies. I'm thankful that automobiles are available for a lot of people in So. Cal to afford. I'm thankful that there are some honest people in show business(don't laugh). And I'm thankful that karma gives you what you deserve. I'm thankful that my family loves me. I'm thankful that there are always "maybes...."
Sometimes, I feel as though I'm stuck in the traffic jam of life. I feel as though I'm right in the middle of La Cienega Blvd in the middle of Beverly Hills in peak rush hour.
Everything is crawling, the air is stale and everyone is in a bad mood around me and I'm thinking, should I change lanes, so i can go faster?
but what if I change lanes and that slows down even more (murphy's law)
and I am back tracked?
so I'm in a perpetual dilemma, wanting to leave, afraid to change and dying because I'm stuck.
You ever have that feeling?
I feel exactly, right now, as this song by Kelly Clarkson states:
Grew up in a small town
And when the rain would fall down
I just stared out my window
Dreaming of what could be
And if I'd end up happy
I would pray (I would pray)
Trying not to reach out
But when I'd try to speak out
Felt like no one could hear me
Wanted to belong here
But something felt so wrong here
So I pray (I would pray)
I could breakaway
[Chorus:]
I'll spread my wings and I'll learn how to fly
I'll do what it takes til' I touch the sky
And I'll make a wish
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget all the ones that I loved
I'll take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Wanna feel the warm breeze
Sleep under a palm tree
Feel the rush of the ocean
Get onboard a fast train
Travel on a jet plane, far away (I will)
And breakaway
[Chorus]
I'll spread my wings
And I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Buildings with a hundred floors
Swinging around revolving doors
Maybe I don't know where they'll take me but
Gotta keep moving on, moving on
Fly away, breakaway
I'll spread my wings
And I'll learn how to fly
Though it's not easy to tell you goodbye
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway
Out of the darkness and into the sun
But I won't forget the place I come from
I gotta take a risk
Take a chance
Make a change
And breakaway, breakaway, breakaway
New Album from the band Garbage comes out on April 11th!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*Jumps around the office*
Burmese Government always covers up disaster in the country, fearful that other governments will try to help the countr. Why is help so bad, you ask? well, having to answer why Burma has disalarmingly low levels of health care and human rights are some of the reasons why and also they do not want to lose control. So they never report disasters to other Burmese people, much less the rest of the world. If anyone from the American Red Cross is reading, can you make sure people who need help in Southern Burma - and about 10,00 of them need help (as far as I know) - get it?
thank you! - and I know everyone suspect that the Burmese government is hiding the truth from you. Don't suspect any longer, it's true. Even if they cooperate and tell you it's a very low level of disaster, it is probably untrue also. Come on, the waves went to Somalia and destroyed the beaches there - SOmalia is 3000 miles away. Why would you think the damage is less in Southern Burma, which is just a skip, a hop and step away from Phuket, Thailand? I understand that the damage isn't so severe due to the way Burma is shaped. But please, question the government. Don't just turn away from Burma. Honestly, the government probably doesn't care about the fishing villages, because they do not care about Burmese people in general.
Myanmar fishermen, fearing new tsunami, keep their boats ashore.
Thu Jan 6,12:21 AM ET South Asia - AFP
KHA PYAT THAUNG, Myanmar (AFP) - Fishermen who saw much of their seasonal fishing village swept away by the Indian Ocean tsunamis said they were too scared to return to sea, fearing a repeat of the deadly disaster.
"We dare not go fishing yet," said Mya Mya Win, 47, a mother of four who said she lost all her possessions when the killer waves struck on December 26.
"We have had to share. That's not to say that we are demanding assistance, but we have nothing to eat," she said.
The tsunami killed 17 people, mostly children playing on the beach, when it hit this seasonal fishing village.
The village, 220 miles (352 kilometres) southwest of the capital Yangon in Ayeyarwaddy division, sprang up barely a month ago as families built bamboo and thatch huts for the post-monsoon fishing season.
"I do not want to ever see or hear of a disaster like this. I cried even though I am a mature man," said U Thaung Sein, 54, whose daughter-in-law was killed by the tsunami.
Fears ran so strong of a repeat of the undersea earthquake and giant waves that authorities were now worried about fires, as astrologers advised residents to light candles to ward off another quake.
"The authorities are worrying about people's safety because of these rumors. Most people have followed the astrologers' advice by lighting candles in front of their homes at night to avert the earthquake," said one women in the town of Labutta.
The death toll in the Labutta region stood at 22, while some 1,300 lost their homes, according to a Red Cross official in Labutta.
"Most people were killed while they were watching the tidal wave, which they had never seen before," Maung Maung Myint said.
In the town of Labutta, only a few old buildings and a historic pagoda known as Shin Saw Myat were damaged by the tsunami.
The UN's World Food Program estimated the total number of dead in Myanmar at between 30 and 60 people, the agency's Asia director Anthony Banbury told reporters in Bangkok.
"The exact number of deaths are certainly less than 100 as far as we know," he said. "The devastation has been very limited."
WFP also had identified about 10,000 people in the Ayeyarwaddy division who needed assistance and said many more people further along the coast would likely need aid.
"There are probably several thousand people who would benefit from food assistance there," he said.
The WFP coordinates UN relief actions in the region along with the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Satellite images of isolated Myanmar's shoreline reveal it was not as badly damaged by the deadly tsunami as other countries in the region, US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said Tuesday while touring hard-hit areas in neighbouring Thailand.
Other stories:
Burma Escapes Worst Effects of Deadly Tsunamis VOA News 06-January-2005 2201
Burma's military authorities initially said about 59 people had been confirmed dead. But aid groups were skeptical, because of the ruling military's censorship of the press.
Earlier Thursday, Burmese Prime Minister General Soe Win told an emergency tsunami summit in Jakarta, Indonesia that his government was capable of dealing with the aftermath of the tsunamis.
Some information for this story provided by AP.
PM concerned over Burma tsunami toll
Dailycandy.com posted this a couple of days ago... and i thougth I should spread the word.
I know most of my blogs have been about the Tsunami.. but the disaster is so tragic, it's been on my mind alot. I hope the victims of the Tsunami and the Earthquake will be able to recover...
January 3, 2005
Disaster Relief
So we sit safely on the other side of the world. Watching images of devastation on TV. Reading tales of survival. Mostly (and pretty much unsuccessfully) trying to comprehend the vastness of so many deaths.
And the initial destruction was only the beginning. The death toll from Asia's massive tsunami will continue to mount: Lack of clean water and health care, as well as homelessness and poor sanitation, will put countless more at risk of cholera, malaria, and other diseases.
You want to help? (Of course you do.) The best thing you can do is make a donation to humanitarian organizations that already have relief programs in Southeast Asia. Here are a few:
Oxfam America is sending food, water, hygiene kits, and plastic sheeting for temporary housing to Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
Operation USA, an L.A.-based disaster-relief organization, will be airlifting medical, nutritional, and shelter supplies into Sri Lanka and India.
Doctors Without Borders and International Medical Corps are sending medical and health-care relief to the entire region.
NetAid, a nonprofit that empowers the poor through educational initiatives, will use donations for emergency services and counseling and for rebuilding schoolhouses in Southern India.
Save the Children is mobilizing resources for families of survivors.
The American Red Cross is gathering support for its International Response Fund.
Lanka Academic Network, a Sri Lankan nonprofit, is dispatching a team of local university volunteers to aid the reconstruction. Additionally, it has set up a website where people can post information about missing loved ones.
USAID can direct donations of bulk commodities or volunteers with special disaster relief skills.
The SEA-EAT bloggers are compiling exhaustive information (helplines, charities, photos, statistics).
It may feel like only a small dose of hope. But every bit counts.
