It's not a cry you can hear at night, it's not somebody who's seen the light...

My mouth is finally getting back to normal, which means it isn't drying out at every opportunity so I have to stay up all night with a water bottle in my face, dripping it on my tongue. And that isn't an exaggeration, I actually did that. Dry mouth is like...one of the worst things I have ever experienced, physically. It was worse than asthma because it made my tongue all huge and I couldn't talk right and that freaked me out so I had anxiety attacks and couldn't breathe anyway. And my mouth hurt because it dried out if I didn't drink water constantly. And I was always aware of it. It's still the tiniest bit dry, but nothing like it has been, and my tongue feels like it fits in my face now.

YOU ALL NEEDED TO KNOW THESE MINUTE DETAILS ABOUT ANXIETY MEDICATION SIDE EFFECTS. Okay, you probably didn't, but now you do anyway ;) And really, if that is the worst side effect they give me, I can deal. But I am saying that now because it seems to be over! It seems like such a minor thing, but oh dear GOD it was a week and a half of quite an ordeal.

Now there is chicken ceasar salad (oh god, I just ate so much of it which is so good) and Silent Hill, which is so atmospheric and the music is pretty and there are monsters and I have random threads to start in FS and the kitten is sleeping beside me. I feel happy and warm and loved and lucky. And calm. I feel calm.

Thank everything for that.

Now I just have to start eating more again. I still have no appetite, which bothers me. My clothes are all way too big. Like...it is impressive how much weight I lost in two weeks (yes, I am not pleased about this). So tomorrow I am going to eat three meals. I know, right? I CAN DO THIS!

My beautiful friend Elva (Ashes of Eve) is working on a solo project. So here be pimping.

http://www.elvamusic.com/

If you join the mailing list you receive a link for a free download of the newly re-recorded When I'm Sleeping.

If you want to hear some of her gorgeous music, head on over to http://www.reverbnation.com/elvamusic and you can listen to When I'm Sleeping and Moment (which I currently have on repeat because it's so amazingly gorgeous). Every play helps her out, so have a listen!

And a Facebook link too, just because http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Elva/158295504223274

Still no running water, though people on this side of town are starting to get it back so this gives me hope we'll have it soon. Our stores are still going strong though. We even have five bottles of our original stash left, and we've been boiling up the stuff we got from across the road. I am so glad it's there so we can replace what we've been using. If this goes on much longer we would have run out and we stockpiled water like mad. It just goes to show that even when you do prepare, sometimes it's not enough.

So. Guys. If you can? Have emergency kits. Even if you live in a place where you think they won't be necessary. We used to think they weren't absolutely necessary here even though we had one, because the dangerous fault lines were in Wellington and on the West Coast, not in Christchurch. And then a previously unknown fault ruptured. You just never know. If you're someone who can afford an emergency kit (and please know I completely understand that not everyone can), it's responsible to have one. It means emergency rations of food provided by whatever disaster relief happens to be around can go to the people who can't afford to have an emergency kit in a disaster and who need it far more, instead of getting used up on people who should and could have been more careful. It's just goddamn socially responsible, okay? It's caring about your fellow human beings while taking care of yourself too.

Put some tinned food and toilet paper and no-wash anti-bacterial hand cleaner and batteries and flashlights/torches and candles and matches and blankets and anything else you think you might need (including pet food) in your kit. And keep clean water around and replace it often (use the old stuff to water the garden or wash the car or...something). Hell, in Melbourne a couple of years ago, some kind of plant exploded and it left part of the city without electricity and running water for days and that was just a random malfunction without any natural disaster cause. So be prepared. Please. Be as prepared as you can be. The ability to have extra food lying around in case of an emergency is a luxury and if you can, please just do it.

Sorry. Preachy. But I can tell you first-hand how important this is. Never assume this doesn't apply to you. Be safe, lovelies. Gosh, this isn't even what I came here to do. I was going to talk about how I can't write fiction because it feels so utterly useless at the moment. And I got on my soapbox instead. Oh well.

Dear Alina,

Please don't kill me for this. I am doing it because you are amazing. (And I love Hera. But I mostly love you.)

Love,

Lara!

SO this is a quote from the blog of one Hera Hjartardottir (http://www.herasings.com/blog which has lovely photos of Hera at Neil Gaiman and Amanda Palmer's artperformance wedding flashmob thing!) The amazing, Christhurch (via Iceland) singer/songwriter the LFoD likes to stalk.

And for those of you frustrated with the Icelandic interview... here is not a translation, but a documentary! by the super lovely Alina White, who contacted me a few months ago about doing this, it was her project for film school (- the school of fine arts, university of Canterbury.) She's also an awesome artist! Here it is in two parts :) xo

( Alina's Amazing Documentary, complete with THE CUTEST HERA EVER )

And Ali informed us that the song at the end was her suggestion and her favourite. It's gorgeous and I WANT A RECORDING. Makebelieve Girl is close to my livejournal's title (it's artificial girl, but close enough).

My brilliant brother's website is on it's way to becoming for realsies. http://www.chronterra.com/

That's what he has spent the past year or so getting funding for. A more awesome form of Wikipedia for history.

My family is so awesome, I don't even know what to do with myself.

I was feeling down today (LONG story) so I decided to do something constructive to take the feeling away (social work training, oy) so I wanted to make a post of all the photos of people and places and things that mean something to me. And when I started to plan it, I realised just how long it would be if I put everyone into it. And that made me feel so amazing, you have no idea...

I did it anyway deciding I would only use photos I have taken myself (or by my family since I wasn't at the reunion to take those and I didn't take the ones of me as a kid, but you get the point!) to cut down on spamming random Hugh Jackman pictures ;). Not everyone that should be here is including my friends in Australia. Woot, Peter, Laura and Ness, I have no (not blurry) photos of you!! And there are other friends who aren't on here, but be that as it may, here it is. Some of my happy things.

( To me you are perfect )