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

Yesterday's quakes upgraded to 5.7 and 6.3.

I just slept for 11 hours. That was nice. Though I am still exhausted.

People developed hypothermia last night because it was so cold. Some people didn't have power to run their heaters or to keep warm. I just... I think hiding from the world for a little while sounds like a good idea.

That'll teach me to complain about not being affected. There was a 6.0 after the 5.5. I was in the living room with Leah and things started falling down. The whole house swayed and so I dove under the door with Leah to cling until it stopped. There is dripping in the roof, but I think that stopped too. So our hot water tank must have sloshed some more water out of it. The kittens are fine, though Ariadne won't come out from under my bed.

City council staff at the Art Gallery's civil defence headquarters said the 2.20pm aftershock was "very very significant" and a number of buildings had collapsed in the red zone.

Emergency teams confirmed the leaning Hotel Grand Chancellor had tipped further over.

The Art Centre's historic clock tower has lost its clockface. It has shattered and fallen to the ground.

And there's yet more photos. Like this one.

Enough of this.

EDIT: Key said to demonstrate the significance of today's quakes, the magnitude six quake this afternoon registered an eight on the Mercalli scale which measures the intensity of earth quakes. By comparison the February 22 earthquake was a nine.

Not surprised. That one today did feel as horrible as that one in February.

EDIT 2: "This size of events is likely to produce its own aftershock sequence, therefore rejuvenating aftershock activity at least in the short term."

OH GOOD. Again not surprised. But *sigh*

I was looking at photos of the tornado and storm damage in Massachusetts which is heartbreaking. But all I can think when I look at these photos is "...that looks about normal" which I hate.

But I live in Christchurch. And I see things like this every time I leave the house. And have now for coming up on a year. And I have such sympathy for what those poor people are dealing with and what they will deal with in the future. But I'm not shocked by the photos. I rode past dozens if not hundreds of buildings like those just on my way to placement every day.

I kind of miss being shocked. But I've been numbed to it.

EDIT: JUST AS I POST IT the biggest aftershock we have had since February happens. At least it felt the biggest and shit fell down and my bridge puzzle broke! (It goes back together easily enough)

And it did this.



So. What I meant was photos of crumbling buildings don't shock me. The damn earth? It still does. Fuck you, Earthquake. Fuck you.

Uhm.

...a flying saucer just landed outside my house. I heard this weird noise and then something bumped into the porch and I squealed. I got up to look out the window and there is this THING there against the steps all lit up in red lights. It's small and probably remote controlled, which means a human is attached to it somewhere out of sight, so no way in hell am I going out there to check. That seems like a nice way to lure someone out of their house (lolparanoid). But I am not kidding. There is an alien spacecraft replica outside. It landed at my doorstep. It has flashy lights.

Why me, you guys? Seriously. What in the freaking hell?!

...I am going to go look and see if it's gone. If I see a face out there I might shit my pants. Wish me no monsters!



So. It's gone now. I didn't hear anyone come up the drive, and it's gravel so if a person came to retrieve it they had to walk on the grass. Which means they were trying to be sneaky. WHICH I AM SORRY, BUT I DO NOT LIKE!!

I don't even know. I swear to shit I'm not crazy though. I'm really not. Well. Not about this. I wouldn't put it past one of the KAOS people to have come to show us their new toy, but I still find it unsettling. I checked all the locks. YOU SHALL NOT PASS, SAUCER OWNER!

EDIT: I just looked at my 'this shit actually happens' tag (which is amazing reading, by the way because even I forget the weird crap that happens to me but...yeah) and I found the entry where I ran into the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, literally, and then acted like a dick. It's here and it makes me laugh still!

Quick public service announcement: I will defend the people I care about if they are insulted or threatened in front of me. That's what I do. It comes from witnessing violence in my home growing up. I don't deal well with verbal abuse because of this, and I will point it out. That is all.

Anyway, I finished the fifth season of Dexter in like three days. I consume that show like very few other shows. I never want to stop watching it. I would watch it...pretty much constantly, if that were possible. I don't know what it is about it. But the fifth season, without being spoilery, was my favourite, I think. I loved the relationships that developed and the way they panned out. I loved it all. I am so bummed there isn't any more yet. It's just done so well.

And I think my fascination with it might make me kind of sick, but WHATEVER, IT'S AWESOME! And fictional.

...and I don't write deeply disturbing fiction sometimes. No. I'm just fine. *fidgets* ;)

You guys. I am such a- *headdesk*

Yesterday I finally bought another wrist brace because my entire right arm has been killing me lately. Repetitive strain injury (easy, tiger) from using the computer too much. So either stop (LOL!) or replace the brace I left in the US. It now takes me forever to type anything, but my fingers don't hurt. Or...well-

I am accident prone. I spent 98% of my life feeling distinctly dizzy and slightly unable to control my body. The only way I can really describe it is that it feels like I am a smaller person that ends a few inches before my body actually does, so I am unaware of where the edges of me are, and I always take a little longer to respond to stimuli externally than internally because I have no control over that few inches of me (yes I know how weird that sounds, but try experiencing it). Blood sugar problems are awesome. I fall over a lot. I run into things CONSTANTLY (my old workplace got so used to me saying 'ow' they sent ME to be the first aid person so the other one could stop thinking they had to help me every other hour). It's a good thing I don't generally bruise visibly or I would be covered in the things.

In the past week I tried to jump off the sofa to stop the cat from going out a window. I got headspin and slammed to the floor in full view of both housemates who were horrified. I cackled madly and then still caught the cat (BOOYAH). I burned three fingers on my left hand badly yesterday while cooking corn. They still hurt, but they didn't blister.

Today I was trying to get a cranefly out of the bathroom so I could take a shower. I was trying to splash water on it to get it to go out the window, and I gave it an overhand watertoss. I slammed my hand full-speed into the shower curtain rod. Oh my god the pain. They are actually already bruising and they still hurt a great deal, especially when I bend them (typing is FUN). And then, while stepping into the bath, my foot slid out and I almost fell into it. I stood there with one foot in the bath and one out of it, cackling madly because it was laugh or cry.

You're allowed to laugh too. It was hilarious.

My family friends and acquaintances in Japan are fine, as far as I know. My friend in Hawaii is fine too. He lives very close to the beach, but when he went to stay at his grandmother's in the middle of the island to keep away from the surge.

Now I just hope my California/Washington/Oregon people are okay.

I haven't slept. I boiled water and watched Most Haunted and read news reports and panicked.

I'm just so exhausted. The earthquake hasn't stopped affecting us here, and the damage was pretty localised. It's been quite a long time and things are nowhere near back to normal and won't be for ages. But when I look at what's happening in Japan...

Just. Fuck.

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.

So...tonight.

Tonight I was supposed to go to a charity fundraiser function at Crown Casino (AKA HELL) that my friend Lauren is holding. I volunteered to help out as well, and she asked me to go pick up the balloons that were donated at some place on Canterbury Road in Bayswater. Fine, easy. I did that, but they had LOST the order and had no contact number so they had to have me ring Lauren and then there was drama about no weights and the store was closing haidhisaosf anyway, a half an hour later I finally left with 50 balloons in my car. Not an easy fit, mind you.

I went into the city and arrived at the casino. I looked EVERYWHERE for feckin' parking and finally found a place. Called Lauren and she had her dad come find me because I had NO IDEA WHERE I WAS! He eventually did (By yelling out MARCO! in the carpark! Her dad is AWESOME) and I delivered the balloons.

NOW. Now comes the wtfuckery. I gave Lewi my debit card last night to rent movies and he forgot to give it back to me. Since parking was free because I was helping at the venue, and the balloons took so long, I decided to drive to meet Lewi to get my card back because walking would have taken too long and he was waiting to go to a concert. I took the wrong exit out of the carpark. I ended up on the wrong road. And another one and another one. I finally pulled over to the side in St Kilda to message Lewi that I wasn't coming and look at my Melways so I could figure out where I was and I think I ALMOST PICKED UP A PROSTITUTE! I saw movement and I looked up and this woman was reaching for the door handle. HOLY SHIT! I thought I was being mugged because I didn't even think 'you are in Saint Kilda'. I panicked and stepped on the gas pedal for a second, jumping forward and I swear she jumped three feet in the air. Poor woman!

Anyway, needless to say, after that I was like "FUCK IT" and I drove home. Once I got unlost, that is. Casino was too crowded and I didn't have any money anyway. *sigh*

Only me is right.

Right...so...yesterday I saw a monk crossing the street and thought it was a big deal....heh.

Today I fucking met the Cardinal Archbishop of fucking Westminster. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor

What was I doing at the time? Listening to "Deleted Scenes of a Snuff Princess" by Cradle of Filth in the halls of the Australian Catholic Uni. Heh. Oops. And I ran into him. Like right smack dab into him. And I was like (NOT OUT LOUD) "Holy shite it's a priest!" Because he wasn't dressed all...in red or anything. (My theology professor said he was dressed as a Collingwood Supporter. Oh hah hah) And then someone was like "Lara, that's the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster" and I said and I FUCKING QUOTE:

"Oh! I'm sorry I ran into you....uhm...I'm not catholic so I don't know what to call you!" Meanwhile my theology professor snorted and the cardinal was nice enough to give me a kind look, pat silly little me on my shoulder and say "It's 'your eminence'" meanwhile I am thinking in my brains, "I want to call you Cardy. You are not my eminent anything." But I didn't call him Cardy out loud. I am SUCH a spaz... Then he left and I had another conversation with my Peter-Brain which constisted of:

Me: ZOMG...A cardinal...that is so much cooler than a monk!!!!
Peter: HIDE ME!
Me: Peter, you're not a REAL ex-priest, he doesn't know you.
Peter: .....shut up.

Weirdest day at work ever.