March 11, 2011
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Pray.
Devastation in Oarai town in Ibaraki prefecture (state).1 I was caught at school last night and heard quite late about the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
2 This will be a story with legs, so please allow me to see what happened and how to help.
3 I realize every minute is a life, but a lot of times in events like these, you need a little patience at the plate so we could see how best to offer help.
4 I'll try to remain on it as it unfolds, and anyone out there who knows the best means of getting help out there, feel free to email me, and I will get the info out there as swiftly as possible.
5 Right now we have the entire thing of waiting until things are set up online.
6 I'll keep you notified, perhaps even this weekend.
7 Meanwhile, pray. This is a major tragedy, and we need to rally the troops to help Japan.
8 For those of you who don't know, a magnitude 8.9 earthquake hit 250 miles northeast of Tokyo yesterday, causing huge tsunamis and at least 57 aftershocks. According to ABC news this morning, 88,000 people are listed as missing, and the death toll has various numbers from 55 to 1000, but those reports are seldom accurate in these sorts of situations.
9 According to this morning's Merc News, there are tsunami warnings for the entire Pacific Coast of Japan. Tsuanami warnings were also put into effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island, the Northern Marinas, Hawaii, Guam, Taiwan, the Philippinnes and Indonesia.
10 The entire California coast all the way to Oregon is also in a tsunami warning, mainly because of the fierce 8.9 reading of the initial quake.
11 I will attempt to keep you posted, although I will be teaching all day, and tomorrow I will not have computer access because I'll be at my Dad's.
12 Meanwhile, until help agencies are set up, pray for all of our friends and families affected by this tragedy.
13 Moving on, Part the First: I had one of those days yesterday. This sort of story always puts bad days into serious perspective.
15 I'm not a believer that there are bad days anyway, as anyone who reads the DN would know, at least not on a smaller scale. A series of small setbacks is not a "bad day".
16 I believe that each occurrence tends to be a separate occurrence, and that a bad day could turn around in a millisecond.
17 Good thoughts. A bad day is when a real tragedy hits. So after my series of minor setbacks, I got down to our theatre last night and enjoyed music at the deft hands of our maestro, Steve Barnhill.
18 From our Concert Band, which consisted of many of my own students, to the orechestra, symphonic band, and wind ensemble, the entire evening blew me out of the water.
19 A nice ending to what was clearly the worst day of the year. And the worst day of the year at the Chill ain't really anything to write home about. And when put up against what just happened, yesterday was a mere trickle. I'm lucky to work in such a nice school.
20 These students hold doors for one another AND for the teachers for gawdsakes.
21 So I ain't trippin'.
22 I just had some boushit from the English department that I had to take care of, and it took hours upon hours to figure out how to do some computer stuff.
23 I just kicked back, figured I'm a grown up, and figured it all out.
24 It just took TONS of time out of a guy who simply can't offer that sort of time.
25 Bottom line: it all got done, and I was able to relax with some amazing music the rest of the evening. I didn't like getting home to the news of the earthquake and tsunami.
26 So let me get info on Japan, dudes, and perhaps we can DONATE when I get the links.
27 Meanwhile let's pray and give thought to the families and friends of those affected.
28 Gottago teach.
29 Peace.
~H~
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