WORST. Oh my god, girl, you are Natalie Fucking Portman, one of the most stunning women of my generation, and you go to the Oscars wearing the junior prom dress of a chubby rockabilly girl? You can see like an inch of lining peaking out from the bottom on one side, and the other side is actually torn up and dragging bits of thread. I don’t care that it’s vintage Dior, she looked terrible.

So, this was happening earlier today.

I’m not normally a storm-alarmist. In fact, I quite like thunder storms. BUT, there was a tornado relatively near by (uh, like two hours away, get a hold of yourself) earlier this week, and The Weather Network was blowing up with warnings. I overreacted. To say the least.

I grabbed my nanas jewelry, a few of my dads books from the 60’s that mean a lot to me, my laptop, and my favourite vintage dress (my priorities are fucking ridiculous) and bolted for the basement.

Now, to clarify, I live on the second floor of a giant old house that has been converted into an apartment building. The basement has a few apartments, the laundry room, all the normal basement-y stuff like water heaters and plumbing and and etc. It is not a friendly place. While I was down there (like, 45 minutes, don’t judge me) I noticed that it was crawling with spiders, reeked of mildew, and was slowly but surely flooding. But, made of (relatively, I guess) sturdy cement and probably tornado proof!

So I stood in the gross basement, clutching my belongings, and calling my dad every five minutes.

There was no tornado.

But my Keds stink like wet basement now.

I’d like to thank a constant combination of Buckley’s (taken in shots every hour), non-drowsy decongestants (the kind they make meth out of!), one million tablets of vitamin C, and the spicyest ramen noodles available at my local Asian market for helping me survive this weekend. Nothing says “you should have been prepared weeks ago” like struggling to get through the last week of class, 3 more papers, and 5 exams with a killer cold.

This is Hideaki Akaiwa. When the Tsunami hit his home town of Ishinomaki, Hideaki was at work. Realising his wife was trapped in their home, he ignored the advice of professionals, who told him to wait for the army to arrive to provide search and rescue.

Instead he found some scuba gear, jumped in the raging torrent - dodging cars, houses and other debris being dragged around by the powerful current, any of which could have killed him instantly - and navigated the now submerged streets in pitch dark, freezing water until he found his house. Swimming inside, he discovered his wife alive on the upper level with only a small amount of breathing room, and sharing his resperator, pulled her out to safety.

If he had waited for the army, his wife of 20 years would be dead.

Oh, and if that’s not enough badassery for one lifetime, Hideaki realised his mother was also unaccounted for, so jumped back in the water and managed to save her life also. Since then Hideaki enters the water everyday on a one man search and rescue mission, saving countless lives and proving that two natural disasters in a single day, and insurmountable odds can’t stand in the way of love. 

(via thedrycleaners)

inothernews:

Video from Japanese TV showing the explosion at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

This is really terrifying, imagine the kind of stuff leaking into the air/water/soil…

life:

The largest earthquake in Japan’s recorded history rocked Japan on Friday, March 11, 2011, shaking cities and villages along a 1,300-mile stretch of coastline with terrifying tremors felt as far away as Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter. The quake killed at least 60 people and unleashed a monster 30-foot-high tsunami that sent ships crashing into shore, wiped away homes, and carried cars through the streets of towns. Tsunami warnings were issued for the entire Pacific, including Hawaii, South America, Canada, Alaska and the whole West Coast of the United States.

Massive Japan Earthquake: The First Photos

Yes, this is obviously tragic, and anyone with a modicum of empathy hopes that everyone in Japan will be alright after the earthquake/tsunami. But I can’t understand all this “Pray for Japan” bullcrap all over the place. Instead of praying, make a relief donation, if you’re so concerned. Praying accomplishes nothing (you’re talking to yourself), and reblogging a slogan about praying does even less. I’m never going to be angry about awareness, it’s great that people seem to care about Japan (for now, until a cool new cause comes along), but leave your religion out of it.