Not a happy planet right now.

[amanuensis1]

I try to keep this journal a place of cheery fannish distraction, but I've been glued to CNN since Friday and don't feel much like cheery fannish posts. Those of you who have been providing such posts, though, thanks. I appreciate the participation in cheerier business.

I'm not sure yet what I'm going to do as active support for the catastrophe. eBay auctions, maybe. Putting them together would give me something to do while hyperventilating over CNN.

Comments

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Don't be watching CNN, they're exaggerating everything for "dramatic" effect. It sickens me. If you have to watch anything, watch BBC. They got their story straight. If you're looking for places to donate, ANN put together an article listing the best places...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the link! Yeah, I'd like to do donations directly to Japan, if that's possible. But need to avoid scam stuff...

[golden-bastet.livejournal.com]

I agree - the US media does seem to be exaggerating everything (I've been looking more at the NYT). When I switched to The Guardian, it become a little easier to check in from time to time and see what's changed.

I'm definitely concerned, and in fact someone on my flist is an expat in Tokyo. But I've gotten a little disgusted at the end-of-the-world coverage I've seen, because it doesn't help anyone.

...Plus there are still other things going on, like Qaddafi going all out against the rebels and Saudi Arabia sending troops into Bahrain. :(

[neocloud9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I got a friend over there too...

[themostepotente.livejournal.com]

*snuzz* Did you get my email? It was happymaking, I promise :)

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

YES! So much to twitch about. :D Responses in detail are coming!

[naltariel.livejournal.com]

Is there a site (Secular site) where we can donate money via Paypal?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

As a matter of fact, if you go to the main Paypal site, there are the links right there. Good of them!

[naltariel.livejournal.com]

I tried to go to Paypal site but find no link to the donation page. Perhaps it's only available to people at US? Thanks though.

[naltariel.livejournal.com]

I finally found local donation box for Japan.
Anyway, I sent you an email. Did you get it?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

I did and I did not make time to reply to it until just now, argh I suck! But you don't, you're awesome and YAY!

[effervescent.livejournal.com]

Has anyone given you the heads up about help_japan? That's an alternative, whether you'd like to bid on or be bid on...

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Thanks, yeah. I probably won't use it for auctions but now I see a post that contains helpful donation links; that's good!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I've been beaten! I was going to mention that comm too. :)

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

Not a happy planet :(

I feel like there's something wrong with me for donating to the animal rescue guys when there are still human lives to be saved. But in a rich economy, the human lives, I believe, *will* be supported. All those dogs and cats wondering around the houses looking for their lost families just broke my heart. How they survived is anyone's guess.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

People are going to want to save their animals, or wandering animals, and they're going to want the funds to be able to do it, so, everything helps, I'm firmly of the opinion. *hugs*

[narcissa-malfoy.livejournal.com]

Where did you donate? That's what I want to do, too.

[annephoenix.livejournal.com]

It was on my other computer so don't have the page here - was via the guy who rescued the two dogs in that awful video (the brown/white dog and the dead looking white dog video - been going round the web). He's a local animal friendly guy, but is collaborating with nearby charities and they're accepting Paypal donations. Figured a direct donation wouldn't go astray, esp as the guy is well known on Facebook for his animal rescuing at the best of times, let alone now. I'll let you know if I can find it again, otherwise Google might help!

[narcissa-malfoy.livejournal.com]

Please do :) I never watch videos like that, the images would never leave my mind. I try to compensate by doing what I can, instead.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

It's very strange. I like what you say about cheery fannish distraction. I get my news from the radio and the hourly bulletins are only 5 minutes. Normally, it's some boring headlines about taxation and I always complain about the inane non-"news" of celebrities adopting African babies or whatnot. These days they can barely squeeze in all the news: earthquake, tsunami, nuclear meltdown, Bahrain, Libya, and oh, it's the weather. I sit there, stunned: "What?" And I realise that the days when it's taxation and celebrities adopting babies are actually the good days. And as long as we can have fannish things in our lives, that is actually a good thing.

:-(

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

It's not as if our lives are perfect every day when we're posting cheery fannish stuff. Sometimes those moments are the few good moments of distraction in a bad day. (Though to be fair I have pretty good days as a rule.)

[dbassassin.livejournal.com]

I'll second (third, whatever) the comments above: avoid the US media for international news. I find even the NYT has jumped the shark on the Japan coverage. The BBC and (my preference) the Guardian are much more balanced.

And to be honest, as horrifying as the Japan coverage is, Libya is what's truly freaking me out right now. Mother Nature going apeshit I can cope with a lot better than some asshat bragging about how he's looking forward to slaughtering half a million of his citizenry. If this spreads to, say, Jordan or Syria, things are going to be getting Cold War-y very quickly.

Sorry I can't supply any happy-making fandom-y cheeriness. :(

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Yeah, looks like the situation in Libya isn't getting prettier. I can only hope the conflict is over soon, and with a reasonable resolution. (Check me out, Miss Optimism.)