I don't really have much to add that I haven't read on other blogs on the Tsunami tragedy. I have been glued to the news channels for the last 48 hours - with a brief respite to go get the CT Scan done today and I am just so terribly and deeply sad.

For another perspective, I've also been reading the South African news and the Australian news to get a slightly different view.

I can't even begin to comprehend these hellish numbers. At the time of writing this, it's now confirmed 68,000 have lost their lives in an instant (or at least we must hope it was instantaneous). So many more are hurt and traumatized. This will be something felt worldwide for at least a generation, if not more.

On a personal note, a friend called tonight and reminded me that our coworker, Jon was in Phuket for the Christmas break. Jon and I, to be fully honest, have never been close - rather the opposite, considering I caught him cheating on his wife at my boyfriend's apartment one night. But even still, it struck my heart cold. Even if he is a cad, I still hope he is alright. It certainly brings things home the story, and not just leaving it to numbers!

Logistically, though, how do you even begin to clean up? To remove all the debris, not even taking into account the bodies, but the general debris? All the cars/buses? The garbage? The animals? Just the general 'stuff' that must be overwhelming everywhere you look for as far as you can see? And then where does it all go? The cubic measurements alone would be staggering, more than what any general dumpsite could handle. Will it have to be burned? Will that affect the atmosphere? (Can you tell I haven't been sleeping well?)

I watch these videos as they come in, and think of all these people who were on their Christmas holiday or those that lived there and watched their loved ones, their homes and everything they held dear be torn away from them. But I can't stop watching. I can't turn away. I feel like I must understand, I must spend this time learning and trying to comprehend what this really means. Yes, I'm a news junkie, but somehow it seems disrespectful to turn it off and look away. Those people in Asia couldn't turn it off! I heard a news guy today mention that they had many complaints of the graphic quality of the videos. Sorry, people, but tragedies like this don't come wrapped up in a bow. They are awful, they are nightmarish, and yes, it is difficult to watch, but when we become complacent or turn away, we somehow lose the thought of how precious life is. And that is something we can never ever do.

It makes me wonder what would happen if this tsunami/massive quake happened on the West Coast of North America. Would we be equipped to handle it? How would society accept the mass burials/cremations that are happening in Asia? I don't know how well I would accept my mother or my niece being mass cremated! And who would come to help us? Would there be mass exploitation, like looting? I suspect it would be hell on earth here, but in a different way. Sure, we have more infrastructure, but with that, there comes a different society as well.

And as far as my little 'wicked triangle' theory went, there was a 5.8 earthquake off the coast of Alaska earlier today. So thankfully, my theory wasn't too tragic and there were no real damage caused, but the triangle did occur.

On a lighter note, I had a bad HSN moment. I bought this. I seriously need to get off this couch or my credit card is going to self-destruct soon. (And for the record, I also donated money to a Canadian relief organization helping in the Tsunami disaster too). Just to keep my life interesting, it would seem I've now come down with laryngitis. I thought I already felt like crap, but guess what? There's yet another level! You can imagine just how thrilled I am to know that I wasn't quite sick enough. Whatever lesson I'm supposed to be learning from this, I couldn't tell but I can say quite surely that I'm not a happy camper at the moment.

All right...bedtime for Bonzo.