recently there's been the sprouting up of several short clips shown on tv, hailing the Japanese for their bravery and resolution during this hard time, and about how we support them. I just read that the death toll just surpassed 27, 000. and all the clips show these awfully sad images that you already see in the papers everyday, old Japanese people being carried on backs of rescue workers, a woman crying amidst debris, a packed school gymnasium of evacuees and the homeless... today what touched me when I watched those clips again was seeing the people who were tirelessly moving back and forth, carrying people, giving supplies, medical help, clearing debris.

and I thought, this is a person ideal that is worth aspiring to be. someone whose sole purpose in life is to rush to someone else's aid and do what they can to help. and honestly these people do the most noble, most sacrificial jobs... I would like to be a rescue worker when I grow up I think

there is nothing very big that I can do now except pray and give money. so today I messaged 'REDCROSS' several times to 75772 to make a donation to the Singapore Red Cross for their relief efforts in Japan.

good and bad news pouring out of the land of the rising sun... radioactive contamination of Tokyo's tap water, smoke rising from several reactors in Fukushima, but overall stabilizing of the situation.

God is good, I will hold onto the truth of that. 6.8 earthquake in Myanmar just happened. if I were still in Myanmar it wouldn't have affected Yangon, but I just thought about one of Gus's good friends who still lives there. he lives nearer to the Shan state, nearer to the China border which is where the epicentre of the earthquake is near. am praying that nothing is wrong because he was such a nice guy. he made the funniest jokes using actions because he didn't speak English well, which I thought was a huge achievement that his humor crossed language boundaries. I liked him a lot.

also, CNN asked for people to send in reports if they were affected by the Myanmar earthquake. I don't think they will receive much since almost no one in Burma is allowed to watch CNN -.-