Largest Disaster in History

Article

The loss of human life and devastation due to the tsunami in Asia is beyond my comprehension. And the toll is rising continuously, and they believe that at least 1/3 of the dead are children.

It just goes to show how fragile our lives are, and how we must do our best everyday, and make sure the people we care about know how we feel. Because it can all end in an instant.

I remember when 9/11 happened, all the photos of missing and lost loved ones posted all over the city. I remember the loss. This is even more widespread. So unimaginable, I can’t even find the words. I also remember how the world came to help. It's our turn.




Following are some of the agencies accepting contributions for aid to people affected by the earthquake and tsunami in Asia.
Click here

ACTION AGAINST HUNGER
247 West 37th Street, Suite 1201
New York, N.Y. 10018
212-967-7800 x108
www.actionagainsthunger.org

AMERICAN JEWISH WORLD SERVICE
45 West 36th Street, 10th Floor
New York, N.Y. 10018
800-889-7146
www.ajws.org

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE
AFSC Crisis Fund
1501 Cherry Street
Philadelphia, Pa. 19102
215-241-7000
www.afsc.org

AMERICAN RED CROSS
International Response Fund
P.O. Box 37243
Washington, D.C. 20013
800-HELP NOW
www.redcross.org

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES
Tsunami Emergency
P.O. Box 17090
Baltimore, Md. 21203-7090
800-736-3467
www.catholicrelief.org

DIRECT RELIEF INTERNATIONAL
27 South La Patera Lane
Santa Barbara, Calif. 93117
805-964-4767
www.directrelief.org

DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS
P.O. Box 1856
Merrifield, Va. 22116-8056
888-392-0392
www.doctorswithoutborders.org

INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS
Earthquake/Tsunami Relief
1919 Santa Monica Boulevard, Suite 300
Santa Monica, Calif. 90404
800-481-4462
www.imcworldwide.org

AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE
South Asia Tsunami Relief
Box 321
847A Second Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017
212-687-6200 ext. 851
www.jdc.org

MERCY CORPS
Southeast Asia Earthquake Response
Dept. W
P.O. Box 2669
Portland, Ore. 97208
800-852-2100
www.mercycorps.org

OPERATION USA
8320 Melrose Avenue, Suite 200 Los Angles, Calif. 90069
800-678-7255
www.opusa.org

SAVE THE CHILDREN
Asia Earthquake/Tidal Wave Relief Fund
54 Wilton Road
Westport, Conn. 06880
800-728-3843
www.savethechildren.org


ISLAMIC RELIEF USA
Southeast Asia Earthquake Emergency
P.O. Box 6098
Burbank, Calif. 91510
888-479-4968.
www.irw.org/asiaquak

AMERICARES
800-486-HELP
www.americares.org

UNITED WAY INTERNATIONAL
701 N. Fairfax St.
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-519-0092
www.uwint.org

Guest Blog Entry: From Jessica (The Killer Queen!)

I know Jessica from the New York Renaissance Faire, where she was a devoutly regular patron, who showed her appreciation for our work in many ways. She is now a regular reader to this blog and a new friend.

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Let me tell you about leading two different lives. (Or
so it seems...) Last night I flew back to New Jersey
from Utah. In so many ways I have out grown Utah, or
maybe just grown up in Jersey. I only have a couple of
friends that remain in Utah and of course my family.
But walking down the terminal last night I couldn't
help but wonder what was left in New Jersey for me?

So I will tell you about Utah (since there are a lot of
misconceptions).

There is nothing like flying over the Wasatch Mountain
range and seeing them covered in snow. Utah is
basically two terrains 1) Desert and red rock in the
south 2) Massive Mountains in the North. These
mountains run on both sides of the valley. There is
nothing like a Utah sunrise or sunset. No matter where
you are you have an amazing view. No trees to block
your view, no city buildings to walk through.
Everything is open and so just big. People there treat
you like you are an actual person. If you run into
them or something they always stop to apologize or
something. You can have a conversation with anyone and
not be looked at like you are some kind of weirdo.
Then there is the snow. Utah snow is so peaceful. Just
the way it falls and caps the mountains. I was driving
home one night and the sunset was a pinkish blue and
the mountain tops just radiated light. Then there is
the open air. Everywhere you go you are in open air.
Look up at night and you see stars! Yes people you can
see shooting stars in Utah. There is nothing like it.
I was driving back from my cousin’s house last week and
I saw one and it was just one of those really cool
moments because there were clouds in the sky and just
enough clearing to see it. There are tons of other
things to touch on but that is just a basic flavor for
you.

One other topic I would like to touch on before
wrapping this LONG story up... Going back to visit old
high schools. I took my band teacher to lunch while I
was in Utah. Going back into the high school was like
being transported to a time warp. It was as if I had
never been there before, but yet there were so many
memories that lied within those walls. A lot of
secrets. I am not sure if anyone else has felt that
when visiting their old schools...

Both coasts are great in different ways, but everyone
needs to make it to Utah at least once in their life.
(if you want I will take a road trip with you!)


Snow!


The Mountains

Christmas

Come they told me, pa rum pum pum pum
A new born King to see, pa rum pum pum pum
Our finest gifts we bring, pa rum pum pum pum
To lay before the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

So to honor Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
When we come.

Little Baby, pa rum pum pum pum
I am a poor boy too, pa rum pum pum pum
I have no gift to bring, pa rum pum pum pum
That's fit to give the King, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Shall I play for you, pa rum pum pum pum,
On my drum?

Mary nodded, pa rum pum pum pum
The ox and lamb kept time, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my drum for Him, pa rum pum pum pum
I played my best for Him, pa rum pum pum pum,
rum pum pum pum, rum pum pum pum,

Then He smiled at me, pa rum pum pum pum
Me and my drum.

This has always been my favorite Christmas song. It tells so simply and beautifully a story about how the best gifts are when we give the best of ourselves.

When I think about all the great people in my life, I feel humbled by the gifts I have year round, and enormously grateful.

This is what I celebrate in my heart on Christmas this year!

Today at work, I witnessed a couple ladies bring in a homeless woman and treat her to lunch. They then reached into their stash of just bought Christmas gifts and gave her things out of it for her children. Christmas should be all the time!

After work tomorrow, I leave to see my family and best friend at home. I’m looking very forward to seeing them.

Among the things I look forward to most is watching the final Lord of the Rings movie with my dad. This immediately became my all time favorite movie after seeing it last year, the characters and story have such a personal meaning to me (I may write about it in the near future). I look forward to finally sharing it with him, as his health prohibited him from seeing it in the theatre last year.

I wish everyone a wonderful Christmas, filled with the best kinds of gifts.

Back on track

All the so-called "secrets of success" will not work unless you do. ~Author Unknown


If there is one thing that all who know me agree on, it's that I am not afraid of hard work. But, the past two days, I have impressed even myself!

Arriving at the restaurant at 8 in the morning yesterday, I worked 20 straight hours, with no break (I took bites out of a club sandwich I kept at the bar), leaving at 4 am the next morning. Then went back today for five more hours.

AND I still have energy to sit here and type this blog entry!

I'm exhausted, but I feel good. Not only am I no longer stressed out about money, but I've proved to myself that no matter what happens, I have the power within myself to make things work. Falling back into the old trap of self pity benefits no one, especially myself. I can make it work with hard work! It seems whenever I fall off track, something comes my way to put me back on, all I need do is take it. This is why I believe in God, it happens too much to be just luck.

Now to rest up for another double shift tomorrow!

Guest Blog Entry: From Richard Binder

I know Rich from my hometown. He was a theatre student at Syracuse University while I was up the hill performing with his then girlfriend’s mother in 42nd Street. Fast forward all these years and miles later… and we find ourselves living right in the same neighborhood! Here’s his entry………

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In New York you're supposed to become immune to famous people. So many of them live here, after all. It's not uncommon to stand on a supermarket line with Ethan Hawke, for instance, or sit in a movie theatre six seats away from Lou Reed. It's like a living, breathing version of that sublime section of "Us" magazine, where they show Julia Roberts patronizing Starbucks and Debra Messing picking up a New York Post at a kiosk - just like you do! So it's a blue-state badge of cool you endeavor to earn, especially among your out-of-town friends and relatives. "Look, there's Iggy Pop in the dog run!" "Oh, yeah," you reply matter-of-factly, "he's got the cutest terriers." Whoa. So cool.

That blue-state-cool badge can be hard won at times, though, and for a while there my own path-crossing with the rich and famous was fraught with tension and embarrassment of a pretty high order. It all started when I was living in the same neighborhood as Barbara Barrie. It seemed my sole purpose for living in that neighborhood was to piss that woman off. If I shook my umbrella before entering the subway station, there was Babs to take the brunt of the resulting deluge. If I stepped on somebody's foot on my way off the curb, nine times out of ten it was Babs'. If I was blocking somebody's passage on a busy sidewalk, the frustrated sigh I would hear behind me would emit from the actress I so admired when as a kid I saw Breaking Away ten times. Those were not the ideal moments to tell her so, of course.

Then there was the time I emerged from a bar not too drunk to drive but tipsy enough to have misplaced my parking spot in the mazelike West Village. I got it into my semi-inebriated mind that if I had to ask directions, I might have better luck if people thought I was British. (Don't ask. Just don't.) And on whom did I end up unwittingly choosing to perpetrate this minor scam? None other than composer David Shire and his wife, Didi "Frenchi from Grease" Conn. They couldn't have been nicer. Didi stopped a cab and asked the driver how to get to Clarkson Street and it was all I could do to not turn even beeter red when Mr. Shire sympathized by saying he and his wife get lost in Kensington all the time. I was so afraid my already shaky Received Pronunciation accent was going to devolve into something from a nightmarish junior-high production of Oliver!, so I kept the Brit babble to a minimum.

But I really reached the nadir of these chance collisions when I was working at the Gap on the Upper East Side. I had had way too much caffeine for my own good that day, essentially pummeling my inner censor into a temporary coma as I folded jeans like a possessed man off to the side of the labyrinth of dressing rooms, to which only I had the key. Every now and again a plaintive voice would echo, "Hello? Is anybody back here?" And I would emerge intoning in a Don Pardoesque voice, "Yes! I am the KEYMASTER!" Guffaws all around, mostly in my head. This went on for the better part of the day, and around two-ish I was marveling at how long my Folgers high had lasted and that I hadn't ground my teeth entirely to chalk dust when I heard that call to duty again: "Hello Anybody here?" The voice sounded vaguely familiar, husky, definitely feminine. If I did know who it was, my inner censor had awakened too late to stop me from intoning yet again, "Yes! I am the KEYMASTER!" Because who stood in front of me, looking very tired from a day of holiday shopping (just like US!) with several pairs of jeans draped over her arm, hair just coming in from wrapping Alien 3, but Sigourney Weaver. And my entire vocabulary flew from my head like a kite in a hurricane. I stammered like an unholy cross between Rupert Pupkin and Jeff Goldblum. To her credit, she did her best to suppress a smile as I got all the hemming and hawing out of my system enough to say, "Do you, uh, have a preference for what room you'd like?" Because, you know, the Gap provides a wide variety, right? Ms. Weaver, in a voice you use for someone you're about to straitjacket, said, "I'm sure whichever one you choose will be fine." At this juncture, I’d like to tell my friends that I recovered my composure enough as I was unlocking a dressing room door to say, "You know, you would have made my day if you had said 'I am the Gatekeeper.'" To which I say Ms. Weaver laughs and replies, "Maybe next time." But no. I unlocked the door, averted her eyes, slunk back to my folding room, and pulled a muscle in my calf as I kicked myself in the ass for the next three hours.

That was probably the worst of it. Things got much better from there. The relentless and heightened rhythm of New York gets into your bones after a while and a celebrity sighting is just something that happens on your way home or to work, nothing to get all pretzeled about. Sure, it's cool to notice that Gabriel Byrne just walked out of that bar, but you have places to go and people to see as well. Or you catch their eye and smile, maybe give them a thumbs-up, and that's the extent of it. I did, however, more than make up for the Sigourney debacle one year later when I met Richie Havens at an in-store signing. Having stood on an impressively long line with a copy of Cuts to the Chase in my hand, I was able to pre-plan my sincere tribute. And so I told him how moved I was by his rendition of "Just Like a Woman" at the Bob Dylan tribute and how I had never heard the love in that song till that night. He smiled and thanked me in that warm voice. He signed my CD, "To Richard, A Friend." And that was so cool. I started having great visions of running into Richie in Brooklyn or someplace, him remembering me from the signing and, since we were "friends," we'd go out for coffee.

Well, probably better for everybody involved if there was no coffee. "Do you have a dressing room preference?" What a dork ...

A Blessed Unrest

There is a vitality, a life-force, a quickening that is translated through you into action; and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique.

And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is; nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares to other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate YOU.

Keep the channel open...
No artist is pleased...

There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching - and makes us more alive than the others.

Martha Graham to Agnes DeMille



I came across this last night, as I was going through some of my things. An acting teacher gave it to us once. It tells me that the things I'm feeling now are not only normal, but that I'm exactly where I should be.

I received an email from the director of the show I auditioned for last week. She actually took the time to say thank you for a great audition, share that it was a tough decision, and that not being able to use someone is no reflection on talent. I already know these things in general, but the fact that she actually took the time to say so means a great deal to me, especially now. Auditioning is standard practice for actors, and we don't actually get cast for most of what we go up for, and it can be frustrating. In this case, it must have been especially hard for this director, who had the opportunity to give friends a good job, but only five spots (2 female and 3 male).

This is not the first time I've gotten frustrated. I thank everyone for your uplifting and supportive words, they really do help. In the past I have relied outside sources to lift me up. I know that if I am to truly succeed, my strength needs to come from within first and foremost.

Sorting through my clutter, I also came across a book, The Artist's Way , by Julia Cameron. It is an exercise book for unblocking creativity. One of the things she has her readers do is something called an "artist date". This is something I will begin doing. Once a week, I will schedule a time to do something with just me that feeds my well. I'll see a show, go to a museum, the zoo, anything I enjoy, but no one else can come. It's just me with myself.

I'm gonna make it after all!

Crawling in the Dark

“What is a man,
If his chief good and market of his time
Be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more.”

- William Shakespeare



“…And I wish I could know if the directions that I take
And all the choices that I make won't end up all for nothing
Show me what it's for,
Make me understand it
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Is there something more than what I’ve been handed?
I've been crawling in the dark looking for the answer
Help me carry on
Assure me it's ok to use my heart and not my eyes
To navigate the darkness…”


- Hoobastank (watch the video HERE)

--or here- (video added 6/10/06)...




Overall, in my life, I have come a long way in feeling good about myself, and maintaining a healthy and positive outlook. I don't want to bitch and whine, but today I feel like crap, and feel the need to write about it.

Perhaps I’m just exhausted, and thus more sensitive to things that I would otherwise take in stride. Considering that I just worked twenty two hours in two days with two hours of sleep in between, that could be it.

I really want to get out of the restaurant business. When I first moved to New York to pursue a career as an actor, it was the perfect support job. I could work as much as I wanted and made instant cash to support myself. But now, I am older and I am loosing the stamina I once had. And I don’t mean the physical stamina. This is just work that is draining the very life out of my soul, and thus leaves me empty for what I love.

Not to mention, the restaurant business is very sporadic. One never knows what kind of money they are going to make from day to day. I feel like I may as well be a professional poker player. I was at one store for more than two years, but it eventually came to pass that they couldn’t (wouldn’t) work around my acting schedule. So, I transferred to another store within the chain. But this store is not doing as well as they had hoped. In fact, I think that if this store weren’t being carried by other stores in the company, and had to rely on its own business, it would have gone under by now. All of this has caused me to fall behind on my financial responsibilities. Luckily, the people I work for seem to like me and are happy with my work. So, for the Christmas season, the busiest time of year, they have given me shifts at one of the stores in the Times Square area, which is very steadily busy. I have done my best to be likeable at this store, and hopefully it will lead to a permanent transfer at the beginning of the year.

Still, I want to get ahead enough to make the transition out of restaurants and into temp work, which seems to be the way most aspiring actors around me are going. I have spoken to more than one agent, who all tell me that I “have yet to grow into my type” which translated, means I won’t find the bulk of my career work until I’m older. I interpret this as an opportunity to work on my craft, but I must support myself in the meanwhile. And at 37, I don’t envision myself at 40 with this lifestyle.

So, what must I do to make this transition? First, I must stock my wardrobe with clothing that can be worn in an office. Second, I must be financially ahead enough to get by while I build a reputation with a temp agency. Third, I must simultaneously work on learning specific office skills.

The crappiest thing of all of this is that I have worked very hard to get to where I am in life, and this lack of funds is not only putting everything in jeopardy, but preventing me from going any further. I had to forfeit a stage combat class this month, I’m using outdated photos, and to top it off, my father’s health is not good and I can’t go home to see him as often as I would like.

All of this stress is affecting my work. Last week I had an audition for a job I really wanted a lot. Perhaps I wanted it too much, as desperation is never attractive. Getting this job would have helped me achieve the above mentioned goal, as it would have paid very well. But I was much too uptight. In fact the director, who is also a friend, stopped me in the middle of the scene, got out of her seat, put her arms around me, shook me, and said, “Let it go. This is fun. Have fun.” But I’m not sure that I was able to totally ever relax. But it was good to know that this kind of support was around me.

It seems that I have always been secure with myself as an actor and much less secure with myself as a person in real life. But suddenly, it’s the other way around. My self-esteem has grown, but I hate the work I’m doing.

Since I was 14, I knew I wanted to be an actor. Now, I am having serious doubts. If I am not able to have fun with it anymore, why am I doing it? With the exception of my chessboard fight, and a couple improvisational moments at the faire, I have not been happy with a single thing I’ve done in my work for at least a year now.

If something doesn’t change, this will turn itself around back into self-loathing. This is something I cannot allow to happen.

Someone I know recently encouraged me to sign up for the ad feature on my blog, which I have done. I get money every time someone clicks on an ad, and when it reaches a certain amount, I get a check. So, if you want to help, click!

It feels like no matter what I do to advance, I end up banging my head on a wall. I do feel lucky to have supportive people in my life, for whom all of this crap means nothing. But more than that, I know I have the inner resources to get myself out of these doldrums. And even more than that, I have a strong faith that God has something in store for me when I reach the end of this dilemma. I just hope it comes sooner than later.

Trying to stay positive, but in need of inspiration.

Guest Blog Entry: From the anonymous Globe Hold-a

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I loathe politics, but not nearly as much as I loathe Cary Patrick Martin. Our feud modestly began in the summer of '67, over a tapioca pudding and a Mars bar. He stared at me from across the room, and I stared back, and instantly our souls roared.
Not so much a beast roar, nor a man roar, but something akin to a flower.

So here I am, the anonymous globe hold-a, posting as an honored guest upon this epic individual's blog. Why, you ask? Why, oh unwelcomed disrespectful unknown, why do you infiltrate the welcomed CPM's opinion.com, and fill it with your debauched baseness?
I'll tell you why, people oh people.
To speak of the transcendent wee of Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

To know the limitless imagination is to know true glee is to be a boy again is to know the unending dreamscape of virtues presented in creating a world whence it may come to pass that a detective trio can be formed by the uneasy alliance of a Milk Shake, French Fries, and indeed, a meatball. This show, dear moses, is right up there with the likes of Kids in the Hall and Monty Python. There is no end to the randomness of their storytelling, or jilted plot devices, or unjust irrateness from oh mighty Master Shake himself. The show is an absolute assault and rape on every tickle spot, and you will crawl back bloody, pleading for more. MM tasty.
And lest I say, for fear of exceeding bandwidth, who here, and raise your hand with me now, wants to be Carl when they grow up?

Blessed by the ATHF and CPMblog.com
- anonymous Globe hold-a

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Poppa Pat, rest in peace

Working at the New York Renaissance Fair for the past three years, I have had the blessed good fortune of getting to know many wonderful people. One of them was Poppa Pat, a top notch blacksmith. Every morning, as we passed by to ready ourselves to perform, Pat greeted us with a smile and a “good morning”. During the day, he would always pause his demonstrations to interact with our characters whenever we were around. This past year, I got to know him on a more personal level. He was, for many years, a Chaplin for the US Army, who came out of retirement to assist with the relief efforts at Ground Zero after 9/11/2001, administering Last Rites, and comforting those in need. He served as a police officer in midtown Manhattan. And he spoke proudly of his solider son, who serves now in Iraq. He was truly an all embracing man, whose heart was open to everyone. It didn’t matter who you were, as long as you were you. Pat passed away in his sleep this week. While I feel a very heavy sorrow because this thoroughly good man is no longer with us, I also rejoice with the undoubtful knowledge that he is, even as I type this, being greeted at the Pearly Gates with the same warmth that he greeted me, my friends, and others, whenever we came his way. I am grateful that God saw fit to have my path cross with his. He will be missed.

I am also delighted to learn that our joust field at the faire will be renovated and dedicated to his memory this year.



Official Obituary:
Rev. Patrick Henry Battista
December 7th, 2004


Rev. Patrick Henry Battista, a blacksmith for over 27 years with the NY Renaissance Fair in Tuxedo, and a long time resident of the area, died Tuesday evening, December 7 at this home in Wurtsboro Hills.

The son of Josephine Tambone, and the late Patrick Battista, he was born in the Bronx on March 16, 1945. During his life, he was a member of the NYPD Mounted Division, a detective in Putnam County, a pastor with the Celtic Christian Church, he served as a cleric for various local hospitals, belonged to the Orange County Police Benevolent Assn., and was a member of the Clan McCloud….

Guest Blog Entry: From Gary Scott Irons

Here is my first guest blog entry! It is written by my best friend, Gary. Gary lives in my hometown of Syracuse, New York, and is currently working on his first feature film, which he wrote and directed.

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Has anyone else noticed that consumers have been quite happy & content with the digital entertainment mediums we currently enjoy? There was a time when people bitched about their cassettes being eaten; their albums being scratched; then, CD's arrived -- everybody's happy.

There was a time when people actually had to watch a TV show while it was being broadcast; when their video rental tape was virtually unwatchable due to repeated viewings; then, DVD'S ARRIVED -- everybody's happy.

I think "they" are still happy. I, for one, am still amazed by these formats. I think they are so close to ideal picture/sound that I can't imagine another dramatic leap in quality beyond what we now have.

Question: Is everyone still impressed with CD'S/DVD'S, or is the lust all but gone...replaced by a need for something..."ELSE?"


Esoterically yours,
Gary:-)

P.S.: If you have passions for vinyl, cassettes, etc., please expound upon that as well; I'm curious. I'm in a "media mood" today.

Silly reader survey

Here is a silly little survey for my readers to answer! Just copy and paste with your answers to these 15 questions under the comments section. I will post my answers once I get three responses! (but keep on posting after that!)



What is your favorite color?


What is your sex?


How do you like your steak cooked?


What music are you listening to right now?


Where do you live?


Who would you cast as the next James Bond?


Who would you cast as the next Superman?


Who would you cast as Wonder Woman?


Who would you cast as Gambit?


What is the last movie you saw in the theatre?


Which movie would you like to see next in the theatre?


Which band would you currently like to see most in concert?


What is your favorite Shakespeare play?


What website do you frequent that you would like others to know about?


What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?



I look forward to your answers!