what's the rush?

Today, I went to the gym. Put in my Shure earbuds, turned on my iPod, and played some songs to pump me up and get me in the mood to work out because I really didn’t feel like going. Walked into the gym, it had quite a few people there, 10 maybe 12 people (gyms in China are not that big - working out isn’t in Chinese culture). There was no music playing and there was a yoga class going on at the same time with another 10 or so people, also silent. About half way through my work out I looked around I realized I was the only person listening to music. Boy, was that awkward…

Normally, this wouldn’t be an awkward situation, however, in China today, the country declared a day of silence for the victims of the earthquake last week on April 14, 2010. No music was allowed to be played in public venues, meaning clubs and bars were closed, silent hotel elevators, and no music in restaurants. In addition to that, no programs were playing on TV except for the news and most of it was covering the aftermaths of the earthquake. No cable television. Even online games were shut down. This all started from 12:00AM on April 21, 2010 and will last to 12:00AM the next day, April 22, 2010. Now you can see why I felt a little awkward. 

It wasn’t that I was disrespecting the silence for the victims of the earthquake, I really did not feel like working out and I needed something to keep me going. I didn’t know what to do, so I thought, “Maybe I’ll play a Haiti song on my iPod so I don’t feel so guilty, I should have that on here somewhere…” As I was on treadmill watching TV, a charity show was being broadcast with many companies donating millions of dollars to help rebuild the area. I later read that a total of $319 million USD was raised. 

It’s really amazing how China can pull off something like this in such short notice. There are some perks of being able to control the entire country, as opposed to a democracy where everything is voted upon and takes months to approve (if approved at all). In case you don’t know what I’m referring to, the world has been going crazy in the recent weeks. From earthquakes, to volcanic eruptions that halted European air traffic for a week, to mysterious fireballs in the sky… 

The earthquake that hit china had a magnitude of 7.1. It was in the northwestern region of China where many of the inhabitants are from Tibetan decent. The official death toll as of now has reached 2,000 dead and hundreds more missing. When the earthquake first hit, I even read that 90% of the homes in the area had collapsed and the few remaining buildings in the area were just government buildings. If you have Google Earth, you can see the before and after pictures of the earthquake.

On a brighter note, the rescue operation has already saved over 17,000 lives. While comparing this earthquake to the earthquake in Sichuan in May 2008 which took over 80,000 lives, may be somewhat flawed logically speaking, it’s nice to think that China has come a long way in terms of disaster relief. There are 56 different ethnic groups in China and this united the entire country, which is nice to see. One worker interviewed on TV said that even though he cannot be there in the disaster area to help out the victims, he will work harder in life and his job for the victims of the earthquake as well as for the growth and development of China, so that we can overcome this tragic event and come out stronger (roughly translated and paraphrased from memory). 

That being said, this post is my tribute to the victims of the earthquake… and my Haiti songs which I’ve added to my Streampad below.

This post is inspired by my dear friend of 11 years, standing at 4’11” 5’1”, weighing 95 100 pounds and crushes people in rugby… Tara Yip-Bannicq. A few posts back I wrote about change and people who I think do amazing/awesome things… well this is another one (you can check out her Google Maps CV here, it’s pretty creative/cool and I wish I could make one). Tara will be leaving to Haiti tomorrow on an Airplane (check out the song below on the Streampad bar!) for at least 9 months to do relief work (amongst other reasons).

Can you imagine taking out 9 months of your life right now, picking up your things and going to Haiti without a job lined up? That’s….crazy. In fact she just got back from a 4 month relief work trip in Indonesia this past February (no, she’s not a hippie) and pretty much ran the entire operation there. Relief work is fun (I did it in the summer when Katrina hit), but at the same time, I’m not sure if I could convince myself to do it for such a long time. Could you?

In case you didn’t click the CV above, here it is again in Satellite view (another new song in my Streampad!).  This girl went to high school on a boat (think I’m on a Boat! feat. T-Pain, just kidding). She would have classes on this boat, all while she was also travelling the world. And you thought your high school was cool (enter all you jesuit private school ‘our high school is the best in the nation’ kids…JESUIT whaaaaat?!). If you thought that was cool, she is actually stopping by New York first before Haiti. You’re probably thinking, PARTYYY before Haiti! Well, yeah you’re probably right. But that’s not what I was getting to. Tara will be representing the Youth at a UN Conference of Sustainable Development. That’s us! Kinda… our future at least.

Anyway, I’m not too sure what I was getting at in this post for all the readers of my blog. Maybe it’ll help inspire you to do something cool too? Then you can come back to me and I’ll write about you. Yeah, maybe that’s what I should do with this blog.

To finish this entry off I leave you with this infographic regarding Haiti, which I think is very well done. Click here or the image below for a high-res image.

Oh yes, and if you have any spare change you would like to donate to Haiti relief, here’s an organization you can apply to. It’s called Grass Roots United. I know, I know… their website really doesn’t make you want to donate to them, but it’s in the process of being revamped. Or if you are interested in helping out in any other way, let me know and I will put you in touch.

UPDATE: Tara is now the new Communications Manager for the Haiti Rise Campaign for the JUMP Foundation!

If my first opening of my blog was ‘What’s the rush? 1.0’, then I would say this is now ‘What’s the rush? 1.3’.  Don’t ask me why I chose 1.3, it just felt right.  Now, I’ve made two new features to my site:

• Streampad! This thing is awesome. People can now see what new music is currently in my playlist in China!
• Read more…I’ve started using the ‘Read more’ function so that my entries don’t look so intimidating to read and you don’t have to scroll so much in between entries. I’m being considerate for those people who find my blog interesting and actually read older entries that they miss.  Probably not you.  Anyway, don’t think my entries just end, click the ‘Read more’ to continue reading.
• Ask me anything! Link on the right, lets you ask me…..well, anything.
• Submit a post! Link also on the right.  I’m opening up my blog to other people, so if you have something you wish to submit to post on this blog, feel free to do so!

Read more…

The very first time I had the urge to write something online was when Google declared that if China does not let them take off their censorship on search results, then they will leave China. This got a whole lot of attention in the world. Lots of mixed opinions, but I would say the average person applauded Google. While I applauded Google for having the guts to do something like that, I didn’t think Google deserved all the positive press. 

I apologize for the time it has taken me to post something new to this blog. Work is one thing, it has kept me and my mind busy lately, so I haven’t been thinking about much apart from work. But the other thing is, I realized I’m an impulse writer, which is the worst thing a blogger can be. I can only write at times when I feel like writing. Bloggers are supposed to have many posts already written ahead so that they can just click ‘Post’ when the day of posting arrives. On top of that, I’m no natural writer, so I can’t just sit down and start writing. My SAT II Writing score was probably comparable to Randy’s high school standard, which he said “Mang, mah high school… yall don’t know! Our SAT score is good, we beat everybody in Dallas. Huy da best!” (I don’t want to post my actual score in the case of some future companies looking to hire me stumble across my blog and learn about my real writing ability.)

Today the song “Young Forever” came on my iPod as I was walking home and I realized, it’s already March?? Where has all my time gone? I feel like I haven’t done anything in the last 3 months. Mid-20’s and I feel like I’m going to hit 30 in the blink of an eye. Something’s gotta change…

Oh how I miss Texas Football. The burnt orange and white everywhere. The tailgating.  The walk to the stadium. The chants. The Texas band. The cheerleaders. The cannon firing. Bevo….