Okay, it has been a while since I have posted on either blog, as it has also been a while since I have done any decent work on my Uni projects too. There are several posts for my Uni blog caught in draft stage at the moment - I hate posting back dated stuff as I never seem to catch up. But am going to have to bite the bullet and do so I think.
Anyway It seems that I am destined to always deal with many different things at once...no matter where I move to. Although New Zealand is becoming a more and more tempting idea. That or in the middle of no where in Canada, it may be cold but at least I'll be able to get some sleep. :) Needless to say I have not been this stressed since I was living on the south coast and that is saying something...
To top it off the world as a whole doesn't appear to be having a good time of it either at the moment. I have shed tears over what happened in Japan. It is a lot for one country to deal with all in one go, kinda puts things in perspective as troubling as I may find my problems at the moment they are petty in comparison. (That's not forgetting Christchurch and everywhere else at the moment too...) Yet in today's connected and networked world are we more aware of what is going on so it seems like more than in times past at times? As before the internet, before Twitter, events that are going on in the world now would not reach our news channels until most of the worst was over. The fact that there was video of the earthquake taken by people on their phones on YouTube mere minutes after it happened is something I find difficult to get my head round at times.
I have been keeping up with the developments in Japan mainly through the internet as well, using Twitter and websites to check on the progress of the brave people in Fukushima and watch the news websites show clips from the astounding video that people took of the destruction, in some cases as it happened, which as I said I still find hard to believe that this power of nature was captured on camera by so many people.
To think that if something like this had happened several years ago when the internet was not as it is today then it would be a very different story. We would only see pictures of the aftermath of the tsunami and quake, and only then if news channels had managed to get a camera crew out there. We would be seeing more static images of these areas washed away and even then it would be after a while as it would take time for news to travel to our side of the world. A long time in comparison to the time it takes today at least.
From what I gather also the internet managed to stay more or less a stable means of communication in Japan during this time and it has been nice to see companies like Google not only donate money but use their power on the net and their resources to help in more practical ways. Simple things like updating Google Maps as soon as possible to help rescue teams plan routes and help people find their way in a landscape that must seem alien to them now.
Also due to the fact that we have been seeing some jaw dropping video of that wall of water reaching land and the destruction it caused in it's wake, not only from the air but on foot also, it gives it a sense of perspective. To get that small glimpse of what those people went through, edited or not, it makes it a more real and it makes me realise that I am lucky to be seeing all this from the comfort of my own home and am not caught in it all. That I am to be thankful for all that I have...
Yet it does also make me feel helpless, as where do you start to clean up and repair something like that....I have a huge amount of faith in the Japanese to rebuild and recover from this. Sadly this is not the first time they have had to suffer a national tragedy like this... Yet the mentality of the people there as a nation is so very different from the people here it seems. I dread to think what state the entire UK would be in right now if it had happened to us....
Anyway the positives from all this really have been seeing how people have come together to help Japan, so many countries have sent people, resources, money anything they can to help. Which is heart-warming and despite events in my own life making me lose faith in humanity, this restores it in a second, as when things really are tough people pulled together to help each other out. Also the one headline that was not seen through all this, but was mentioned a lot on Twitter, was that many lives have been saved by the engineering and building regulations in Japan.
However one thing recently that caught me off guard slightly was logging onto the PSN recently on the PS3... as for start I have to admit I didn't expect it to be up with all that was going on, but then Sony are based in many different places these days. However on the 'What's New...' section there was something a little different; instead of the games that were last played on the console, instead of adverts for upcoming games there was the Japanese flag and it linked direct to the PSN/Red Cross appeal to help those in Japan. Seconds later my bank balance was a little less and every penny of that money went to help those that need it more than I right now.
I was amazed at how easy and simple that it was to do - a few presses of the button on the controller and I had helped in some minuscule way. Seeing that there are a fair number of PSN subscribers out there if each one of them donates a small amount it is going to add up to quite a large amount and will hopefully make that small difference over there. Thank you Sony for putting that up there and making it so easy for so many people to donate something so quickly.
For now though I have plenty to do in my own life right now, the most pressing of which is a presentation due tomorrow that at present I have not started on. With everything that has happened in my home and with my family this week I am behind in my Uni work. I am angry that I am behind as well as it I really shouldn't be, but I was stressed before things kicked off...even more so now and I just don't know where to start. So have been doing small little things here and there instead...but to me it just doesn't feel like enough. Yet it will have to do!
I have been told recently by a good friend that I am more than capable of the work that I have been set. That I always manage to do well even if I am dealing with more than most. I almost felt that he was saying that I tend to thrive in the interesting times in which I have been cursed/blessed to live in. :) I just need to remember what I have achieved through previous adversity and that I am dealing with little in comparison to people half way across the world from me.
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