Shaken Faith

The world cracks open and breaks our hearts - Japan's quake keeps the horrors on refresh as things go from bad to worse.  I am not wanting to post much frivolity lately, and while I should be focusing on career aspects, I just can't for some reason.   Visiting there in the early oughties, I was a huge fan of the culture and people, and found them to be very calm in the chaotic world stage of wars and famine.  I see pictures I can't post and videos I just do not want to watch (like 9/11), it's not our porn to obsess over.
I hear - but do not at all want to venture online to corroborate - that a governer of Japan said the quake was a just punishment from God.   I am sickened to think this might be true - and even more sickened that our side will come up with way worse (the Pat Robinsons and Phelps clans should be ignored at this point).
I thus think we need to give back some how that doesn't involve a paypal account and unseen transaction.  There's an uneasy, arrogant feeling in the house that 'we could be next' -  and time is generated/wasted on considering those possibilities and blogging.   Why can't that energy be harvested to help the situation?  
Sorry - guess I'm feeling rather heavy at the moment.

Lust and Landfill...

One of my New Year's Resolves have been to chuck a good half of my wardrobe.   You know - the trendy, unwearable reminders of the oughties (and creeping back in vogue 90's)...

Trouble is... Where does it go?

Photo by Christian Boltanski

Sometimes the air isn't so fresh...

Yesterday, while enroute to meet up w/peeps to watch the fireworks, i witnessed a vehicle combust from inside. The driver seemed nonplussed as flames reached up inside his windows, and he circled while talking on his cellphone. It became one of those surreal moments because you can't really explain why someone's vehicle is on fire - and the lack of soundtrack makes the whole thing long and drawn out while each of the pedestrians make the obligatory 911 phone call to give a head's up... I waited to make sure there's no assistance needed (or if anyone was in the car - which didn't look likely at that point), so I resumed walking... and I started to notice the amount of exhaust from other cars well. In fact, the whole city seemed to become this worst representation of global warming (the crappy vintage dautsun with a bad muffler, the obnoxious harley rider with the tail pipe spewing noxious gas)... It was like watching a PSA of all the things that are quickly corroding our planet, later that night replaced with the rocket exhaust of a million illegal fireworks.
In approximately 2 weeks, the Light Rail will start and with it a small victory for the South end that's been continually shunted by suspect transit issues (there's a reason why the #36 is not running on time) and an easier way to get downtown. A little too late as we gulp the last decent air...

Winter Kisses, Summer Tears...

Well, even though the warmer temperatures bring about an explosion of flowering trees, beachy surf-inspired patterns, flip-flop casual optimism, I can't help but return to this series I kinda half-watched on Tuesday night (*Ok - big lie: i had it on with the sound off on because i was busy gabbing on the phone about other life-breaking issues such as expensive footwear, the state of my bedroom and the status of certain single guys in town)... But anyhoo, I am engaging in Enviroapocolypse Porn. It's known that if you present any kind of future dystopia with Sigourney Weaver narrating in the background, you've immediately got a buy-in. From here on out, I will shower less and recycle more.
And in my own ecosystem, my top floor dwelling is the fractional representation of the earth as it soaks up all the heat. I've taken to putting up a canvas tarp over the skylights so the effect is somewhat Bedouin. I wonder if I should actually put solar panels over the windows and start to generate some serious power for things around here...

Drip, Drip, Drip

The "oh shit" moment of truth is not the fact that we're dangerously running into a recession (followed by a big depression worse than the great depression of the 30's), but that we're totally going to f'ed with the rapid rate at which polar ice is melting. This is going to need more conversation and conservation than bricks in the toilet and "showering with a buddy"...

Experts have been monitoring 30 glaciers around the world for nearly three decades and the most recent figures, for 2006, show the biggest ever 'net loss' of ice. Achim Steiner, head of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), told The Observer that melting glaciers were now the 'loudest and clearest' warning signal of global warming.

The problem could lead to failing infrastructure, mass migration and even conflict. 'We're talking about something that happens in your and my lifespan. We're not talking about something hypothetical, we're talking about something dramatic in its consequences,' he said


Yes, I've heard this before, and I can't think of a single reason to wake up and go to work tomorrow if this keeps up.