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There was an earthquake that happened here during my stay here in China. I didn't feel it, but in Sichuan province where the epicenter was located, it measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. It was a huge tragic disaster for the Chinese. Some estimates were as high as 50,000 people dead or missing. The news footage showed entire towns leveled. To make matters worse, the roads were blocked by landslides. Huge boulders came down and crushed tractor trailers like tin cans. It was inspiring to see the people and the government spring into action. Prime Minsister Wen Jia Bao was at the scene, in the rain, within 4 hours. He went from village to village for a week straight trying to reassure survivors, injured, and rescuers alike.  Time after time, he would personally comfort victims.  This is an amazingly stressful situation for the 56 year old leader.  You could feel the compassion in his voice.  President Hu Jin Tao also is doing the same. Literally, he is sitting in the dirt on a  piece of cardboard, holding victims hands and comforting them. The rest of China cued up in lines around the block to donate money for those in need. The whole country rallied to do anything they could to abate the disaster.  One particularly tragic site was a large school that collapsed with all the students inside.  Hundreds of children died and there were sad reminders in the shoes and book bags mixed in with the debris.  Just to put the immense nature of this earthquake would be like relocating the entire state of Wisconsin; providing food shelter and sanitation; and returning them to productive lives.

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I was in San Franciso last week with Stacey visiting Dad, cos he was there for a conference.    here are 9 things I noticed about San Francisco.

1. pretty much the first thing we did was the most touristy thing we could, which was head to Fisherman's Wharf.  The best part about Fisherman's Wharf is all the carnie food they have .. Hot dogs, chili dogs, popcorn, the works.  I had some clam chowder in a sour dough bread bowl, I don't know what clam chowder is but it was pretty good.  There is a homeless guy called 'bushman' who is kindof a busker/street performer.  He camoflages himself as a bush, and when people walk past he jumps up & scares them, it was pretty hilarious.  People would pay him $5 to get their photo taken with him.  We got a ferry ride around the bay, the tour guide was telling us there was a massive earthquake in the 1930s.  Afterwards a woman tried to make breakfast on her broken stove, it caused a massive fire which eventually burned 70% of all the buildings in San Francisco.  It's known as the Great Bacon & Eggs fire of 1930.  Going under the Golden Gate bridge & looking up was phenomenal.  It's massive, and orange.   In comparison I thought Alcatrez looked pretty small, it's about the same size as our subdivision.  
   
2. I had one job to do in San Francisco - I had to get a bag of sand for my liittle brother cos hes studying geology.  Pretty easy right, it's San Francisco,  I literally thought the hotel would be a 5 minute walk from the nearest beach.  Well apparently there aren't any beaches, theres one really small beach near Fisherman's Wharf, and another beach on the west side of the bay.  So I never got any sand unfortunately,  but to be honest I wasn't too ecsatic about coming back into Canada with a bag of sand anyway.
3. On Wednesday morning we went for a walk down Market Street & we saw a genuine anti-war protest rally, with real hippies and anti-Bush posters. A lady in her 60s gave me a flyer saying why the troops in Iraq should be brought home.  the California police don't mess around, there were probably 200 protesters, and about 50 policemen, with riot gear & big machine guns. and the police have those kickass black and white police cars, they look a lot more intimidating than the Toronto police.
4. Afterwards we walked around Chinatown and Japan Town for a bit, then we got the Bart train to the Golden Gate bridge, we walked about a third of the way across … it's too bad you can't walk across one way, and then get a train back.  We got Mexican for dinner, we must have chosen the cheesiest restaurant possible, there were Mexican guys with somberos playing guantanamera, but the food was grouse enough.
5. we were watching the 10 oclock news when the newsreader came on and said 'by the way, if you just felt the ground move, you didn't imagine it, a earthquake measuring 2.4 was just reported near san some-place.' I never felt it, but it seemed pretty big, 2.4. Stacey goes 'thats on a scale of 1 to 5 right?', and I said 'ahh ... yeh it is'.
6. I did some shopping, I went to the big Apple Store to check out the Apple TV, and I got a fancy tie & shoes for prom from Macys.  I also knicked into Borders to get a book for the flight home, (I got Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut). When I went to pay for it, it was $15.27, so I gave the guy a $20, 25c, and 2 pennies. The guy gave me the pennies back and said 'you can have these, do you have any American pennies' ... I'd given him Canadian ones. I thought it was a bit cheeky to make a big deal about 2 pennies.
7. I was surprised at how short Californians are, I don't think I saw 5 people over 6 foot, most people were an inch or two taller than me, so that was pretty sweet.
8. The light bulbs in California are bright!!  The bulb in our hotel room was 250W (the light in my bedroom is only 70W, though there are 3 of them).  The lights were so bright, it felt like the sun was shining.
   
9. here in Canada you can turn right on a red light (if you stop & give way).  I don't think they have that law in California, cos a few times we were waiting for cars to turn & they just sat there.  and the drivers in California were WAY polite about giving way to pedestrians.  it got to the point we were waving drivers to go ahead, & they'd just shake their head & wave for us to go ahead and cross.

So that’s about it, I  definitely want to go back to San Francisco, next time I'd probably go for a week and try to visit San Jose and Berkley.

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Psychic spies from china
Try to steal your mind’s elation
Little girls from sweden
Dream of silver screen quotations
And if you want these kind of dreams
It’s californication
It’s the edge of the world
And all of western civilization
The sun may rise in the east
At least it settles in the final location
It’s understood that hollywood
Sells californication

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging
Celebrity skin is this your chin
Or is that war your waging

First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of californication
Dream of californication

Marry me girl be my fairy to the world
Be my very own constellation
A teenage bride with a baby inside
Getting high on information
And buy me a star on the boulevard
It’s californication

Space may be the final frontier
But it’s made in a hollywood basement
Cobain can you hear the spheres
Singing songs off station to station
And alderon’s not far away
It’s californication

Born and raised by those who praise
Control of population everybody’s been there and
I don’t mean on vacation

First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of californication
Dream of californication

Destruction leads to a very rough road
But it also breeds creation
And earthquakes are to a girl’s guitar
They’re just another good vibration
And tidal waves couldn’t save the world
From californication

Pay your surgeon very well
To break the spell of aging
Sicker than the rest
There is no test
But this is what you’re craving

First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of californication
Dream of californication

~Californication by the Red Hot Chili Pepperz


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Hey everybody who reads this. Well today was one of the perfect days ever cause i got asked out by this super hot guy who is the sweetest thing lol! And i recently moved to Cali and so far its great and im so happy their hasnt been an earthquake yet lol! Cause cali is home to the worlds most active fault lines besides japan and tokyo. I finnaly heard from my mom today and i havent heard from her in 4 years so i was so happy to hear from her:) Well thats all g2g Bye <Cherity>

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Earthquake today.
Yea... it kicked my ass out of bed. REAL FAST.


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SENSES FAIL LYRICS

"Angela Baker And My Obsession With Fire"

I won't forget the day that, that I came to
And I started thinking that there's more
Than just perfect prom queens and silver spoons
And all I ever wanted was someone to
knock me back to the bliss of ignorance
'Cause I feel like running head first into traffic.

And so I'm here to say
That thoughts in bed with pain.

I won't forget the day that, that I found god
In a kitchen knife now and on my arm
So paint the pale white floor with, with my red life
And tell myself this pain is the pain I love
As I swallow the pills of happiness
And you watch me fall like New York in an earthquake

And so I'm here to say
That thoughts in bed with pain.

I stand outside my pretty house
I light a match to start the fire
I call the cops to let 'em know
It's 22 Walthery Ave.

I thought I wanted this.
I thought I wanted this.

(I'm here to say)
I said I wanted some more attention
I thought I wanted a story ending.

(I love the pain, I hate the pain)
I just give in.
[x2]

I think that the truth is I'm scared
I think that I'm just scared to live
I think that the truth is I'm scared
I think that the truth is I'm everything that I hate.


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Date With Destiny
A burning plane as its going down the last scream before it hits the ground A lost ship on a raging sea a blinking distress signal of emergency A runaway train careening off the tracks the last breath before a heart attack The earthquakeas it shakes your room promising falling skies and impending doom One chance you feel it before you meet with your destiny One chance you need it to come to terms with mortality All that's important to me Everything inside of me All that's trivial will fade and soon recede you will see when on a date with destiny Look in jaws of your own demise watch your life pass before your eyes Did you live like a dream come true or did you just survive? Did you do all you could do? In a fall from a burning tower What would you do with just one more hour? Live that hour out everyday Like it was your last you'll live much better that way You're on a date with destiny

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whale rider

last night, i went to see the movie "whale rider" with my new friend, roxy (she kicks ass. both literally and figuratively: literally, she practices 'muy thai,' and figuratively, she is a fellow capricorn.)

i highly recommend "whale rider." probably the most amazing story i have seen about the resilience, love, forgiveness, strength, willpower and courage from a young girl. the main character is played by an amazing young actress as well. (and bonus, there was a little earthquake during the movie!) i cried a lot. i think everyone cried in the theatre. in fact, i loved this film so much, that i would say that it is my 'must see' for the year.

this week, i also saw, "bowling for columbine," "the fast runner" and "talk to her." i would say that all are rent worthy. i am also looking forward to seeing "stoked: the rise and fall of gator" on monday (yay! for labor day!) with cade.

did anyone else see mars last night? i did, even in LA. so bright. between that occurrence and the film, i felt this really odd cosmic connectivity/ energy last night (and i am not usually this cheesy).

i need to figure out how/when to resign from my job. there is about five weeks until school starts. i am not counting down yet, but i probably should register for classes soon.

happy hump day.



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i felt an earthquake today!!!

magnitude 5.9

neat!



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wow.. who wrote this? they suck, i think its about some guys ex gf...

The ex ex ex gf.

Wars over, this is no fairytale
sending signals to every male
you’re a f*cked up
mix-up
crazy devious lunatic
needing a psychiatric
acting 10 years younger your age
i won’t hesitate to run you over, scared little mouse
lock you up in the nearest madhouse
i don’t give a f*ck, think you can take what you want, having a head start
raping every heart
male or female
doesn’t matter, you’re versatile
busted, i’m arresting you on a charge of stealing
you cant get out of this dealing
youre not rich, youre not poor
so you better play this pitch, or youre not gonna score
stupid unoriginal flavor, stale like stale fish
stench makes me want to vanish
so fake
making mother nature so pissed, you can hear her earthquake
take that ugly mask off, stupid bitch
you look like a witch
bitch, witch
bologna in the sandwich
get down, working at mc d’s for a while
get fat, marry a pedophile
i’m hot for bringing you down, get down, get down, put you on a spaceship and send you back to Jupiter
crazy woman of Lucifer
take your attitude further
you don’t need a taxi
i want you flying to another galaxy
even better, pack your bags, don’t forget your purse
and leave this universe
now that you’re on the right path
hope you find a black hole in deep space
and i never come upon your face.

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One time I thought there was an earthquake... But it was just a fat kid on a pogo stick.



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