donations to red cross

the tsunami has reportedly claimed more than 120,000 lives at this point. amazon.com is accepting donations on behalf of the american red cross and has already collected more than US$5 million. 100% of donations made through amazon go directly to red cross disaster relief.

small relief

if you fly with cathay pacific, you can donate your frequent flyer miles to send relief workers from oxfam hong kong, UNICEF and other nonprofit aid agencies to the devastated areas in south & southeast asia. if you donate frequent flyer miles before 7 january 2005, cathay pacific will match your donation.

tsunami

it's almost incomprehensible that a single tectonic event could kill over 55,000 people. and in some of the poorest, most unstable countries on the planet.

i hope none of you are missing anyone. here's a missing persons message board that might help you in case you are. my deepest sympathy goes out to you, your family, and friends if anyone you love is unaccounted for.

tastes like burning

8:03pm
firehazard just did which of the following:

a) shorted out apartment by leaving blowdryer running in sink
b) set own eyebrows on fire while stir-frying egg jam*
c) fused rice into a diamond-like carbon product into bottom of saucepan
d) all of the above

(hint: when in doubt, choose c.)

i apologize for the smell, she quietly explained to flatman later. w distracted me.

oh. if, by 'distracting her,' she meant that she came over to my desk on the other end of the apartment to interrupt me as i worked (to tell me for the eleventeenth time how intent she is on living here – OK I GET IT, do you need a pat on the head?) before shuffling back to the kitchen, then gosh, i guess i did distract her. but instead of apologizing, what did i do? i laughed inside, despairingly.

instant karma is getting me, though. today i fished a slobbery tennis ball out from under the kitchen island for her dog and whacked my head on the granite countertop on the way up. so if i sound extra cranky, it's because i concussed myself. or maybe that was her fault because she distracted me without actually being here.

yep, still going to hell.


* don't ask.

the nice

people i have known for over a decade each, whose opinions i value and trust, have informed me that i am not the horrible wench i have been making myself out to be, which makes me feel a trifle better even if i am still going to hell for wanting to laugh despairingly at someone with such an indiscriminately positive outlook as firehazard.

miss J told me the other night that firehazard 'brings out the worst' in me. i wholeheartedly, wholefistedly, even doublefistedly agree (shaking fists).

so i'm attempting to wage a campaign of nice. it's hard, because i've come a long way since my way-too-nice days when i was a super-powered magnet for strangers who wanted to tell me and tell me and TELL me. or take me to their 'secret surf spot,' or give me an unsolicited back rub, etc. i was once approached on haight street by a tripper who walked up and suddenly wrapped his arms around me in an all-enveloping hug (dude was significantly bigger than me), going 'hiiiiiiiiii sweetie! just loooooook at you! sweetie.' just because i happened to glance & smile as he approached. which is sort of sweet, but honestly? that ain't cool.

anyway, the campaign of nice has been challenging, as the person i am trying to be charitable towards does things like accidentally unscrew the light fixture instead of the base for the lightbulb AND shocks herself in the process.

*

but onto actual nice things (naturally, not my doing):
last weekend was another kitchen sink party; this one was a second anniversary celebration. it was a fun warehouse kinda party, with contributors' art on the walls, hordes of greasy-haired (probably extremely literate?) boys and fire-jugglers who kept dropping their flaming clubs on the floor, and recycled-material fashion – but the sound system was so bad that nothing spoken or sung into a mic could be understood. it was like the punk rock version of the peanuts adult characters. wawaWAwawawawaWA. (yes, ma'am.)

...and a text-message exchange i shared last week, while on dinnerless stomach i drank a super-sweet bubble tea AND had a slab of cake as i worked wireless-lessly at an oakland teahouse – BUZZZZZZZ!

unfamiliar phone number: hey girl! wazup? its robert. what r u doing 2nite?
me: hi there! uh, sorry, robert who?
upn: um, i think i may have the wrong number. what's your name if you don't mind me asking?
me: it starts with a W, if that helps.
upn: yeah i do have the wrong #. im robert [last name deleted]. how old r u? u dont have 2 answer
me: probably way older than you. have a good night :)
upn: you too. sorry to interrupt your evening, ma'am

oof. touché!

today in berkeley

bumper sticker on an old audi: GEORGE BUSH IS A TOTAL SKANKJOB

at berkeley bowl (where, strategically dodging aggro berkeley moms running old ladies into the bulk bins with their jog-strollers, you can pick up 10 kinds of seaweed, wheat-free sugar-free cruelty-free organic free-range vegan fair trade granola, and stinky single hippies all in one go – wooHOO, 12 items or less!), i peered at some yellow onions over the shoulder of a middle-aged asian lady who said, 'oh, i'm in your way,' and i smiled and said, 'no, you're not' and she went 'yes i am' and i was all 'noyourenotnoyourenot' and she said 'yes, i am.' and before i could stop her politely moved her cart six inches forward and i picked up some onions and thanked her and resisted the urge to give her a big hug and she smiled at me over her glasses like she was teaching me a lesson.

loopy girl talking to her apple as she crossed the street.