Not a happy post.

What is my deal with my morbid curiousity? I wish it would let up, but it doesn't.

For the past week-ish I've been constantly checking news regarding the situation in Asia. I like to keep things light-hearted on here. But still.

I feel compelled to write about it. Here are my random thoughts.

I've been thinking about stadiums. In order for me to comprehend the amount of lives taken in such an extreme disaster, I imagine sports stadiums. Stadiums of corpses. Yeah, weird, I know. In the beginning, I was like "Wow, that's the Vanderbilt stadium full of dead people." Which is pretty tiny (~30,000?), as football stadiums go.

And then the numbers keep increasing. The last time I checked, it was up to Giants Stadium's capacity. (Similar to Shea or Yankee Stadiums, I think.) Now, they say those numbers will be surpassed. So I get to thinking of the next biggest stadiums I've been to, most recently the UT stadium in Knoxville. Over 100,000 seats. It's fucking big. Imagine how overwhelming it is when it's packed with live ticket holders. Imagine how horrible it is to imagine every seat occupied by someone *not* alive.

I know, I'm being dramatic, taking things to heart too much. But still.

I also can't help but think that some media outlets are using headlines which smack of prejudice. It's one thing to report on a fellow countryman/woman who was there, and is missing or dead. But some of these headlines essentially are asserting that the tragedy lies in the fact that celebrities or relatives of celebrities or people from the Americas/European nations are gone.

"Kid of Hollywood Guy is Dead!" or "Here's some white people who were on vacation, and got stuck, isn't this awful?" Those who know me know I'm not really one to play the race card, but still. That sucks.

In reading all these news reports, I've only read one account of a rich and/or famous person giving a large donation to this cause -- a Korean telecom exec who donated about 3 million to rescue efforts. So I can't help but think, after watching these VH1 "Celebrities who spend a lot"-type shows, where the hell are you now? I'm hoping you're just choosing to remain anonymous. And anyone reading this who has read news reports of people who have donated likewise, email me or something, because I find this lack of consideration completely distressing.

Also random: Remember that old "What if..." question? If you could cut off your pinky, and save the lives of 5,000 people in a far away country, but not tell anyone why your finger was gone, would you do it?

Uhm. This is random, and disjointed. And a total downer of a post.

On a happier note, props to retailers like Amazon who are making it easy for us to contribute, how ever much we can. No missing fingers necessary.

That's it.