Heaven Help Us

I don't think I've ever been so afraid for the lives of my family (including relatives), and I don't know what I can do about it. When I was little I always feared the word "hurricane" on the news and I heard warnings about counties nearby, but they never hit us. I always thought they would be worse than they were, and thankfully we just always managed to miss it though Houston was vulnerable to hurricanes. I guess it's this false security that has caused me to enter shock today as millions of Houstonians evacuate the largest city in Texas and one of the largest in the nation. I can't help but praise the Lord that I came to UT for college and because of that I'm safe from harm's way. I can sit here and pray, but how will that help anything? He has made his decision, and we can't stop an act of God. My room mate's family is headed here so we'll provide shelter for at least 3 refugees, and I'm frantically trying to get a hold of my family members to see what they're doing. My parents are heading to Louisiana to stay with an Aunt's family and my brother is also headed there to stay with his girlfriend's sister, much of my mom's side of the family is going to San Antonio, and the two families on my dad's side currently have no plans to leave. Isn't that fucking scary? I don't want to say it to them, but what if I'll never see them again because they just stay at home through the storm? Less importantly but also a concern is the fact that I have one foot in Houston and one foot in Austin so I have many possessions at my parent's home. What's worse is that all their stuff is there, and even worse is that my brother just bought a house in Jersey Village he was going to move into next month. Uncertainty and fear have now filled my mind amidst all the stress of school work and NSC, but I'll try to briefly finish this post nonetheless.

Going with the disaster theme today, the Wall Street Journal has an article about new innovations in disaster relief technology including crank radios and disposable CellBoosts (cell phone batteries). It was actually written in response to Katrina, but it looks like it may apply to us very soon. I find some consolation in knowing that we're at least getting better prepared than the poor people in New Orleans were. Another big thing today was actually that the Authors Guild is slapping a lawsuit on Google, and they gave a response soon afterwards claiming that they're not actually allowing whole pieces of copyrighted content to be downloaded. Should be an interesting battle. Lastly, Mozilla fought off attacks themselves claiming that they have better security response than IE, and so far I think they're right.



I've got to admit that the new, international poster for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire looks pretty good. They even have a new tv spot to boot. There's also a new Saw II poster if you're interested. Quentin Tarantino has let out the titles of the two films that will be a part of Grind House: his is Death Proof and Robert Rodriguez's is Planet Terror. I wonder if I can ask Rodriguez for more details next Wednesday. Her hotness, Jessica Alba, has decided that her first priorities for films will be Sin City and Fantastic Four sequels should they be offered to her, and the former is almost certain. I don't know why she'd want a sequel for the other. Lastly, there are a few random X3 casting details for those of you who still care.

Now for the glorious return of the Wednesday Mind Hump:

01. If you were one of board games sold in stores (past or present), which one would you be and why?
I would be Othello (or Reversi) because it's simple and complicated at the same time. It's just a fun game in general and I rarely get tired of it.

02. Ever played Monopoly? If so, do you have a favorite property, block of properties and which token is your favorite? For your convenience -- a list of tokens (old & new): iron, purse, lantern, race car, cannon, boat, thimble, shoe, top hat, rocking horse, dog, wheelbarrow, horse and rider, sack of money.
My favorite token is actually the sack of money, but I also like the top hat. My favorite properties are the utilities, the railroads, and the purple real estate because they're like the forgotten gold mines.

03. Create-A-Board-Game: Create a board game based on your life. Describe it. Here's some features you might describe. What would it be called. What might some of the playing pieces be? What would be the object of the game?
It would have to be timed or something to create the illusion of stress. It would simply be called "Elton" and the object would be to advance towards a neverending series of goals thru a neverending amount of work. Not the best game ever I'll admit, but there are some good spots to it, don't worry.

Please continue to pray for the people trying to leave Houston and its surrounding areas that they manage to escape the path of the hurricane safely.