No News is Good News?

Hello! I'm back! I will try to catch my blog up to all of the big events that have happened this year that have been preventing me from blogging! For now though, I have a different topic on my mind.

I have heard the phrase "no news is good news" before and it seems to be a true statement. In reading back through my blog posts of this year, I came across my posting for Japan's tsunami. Isn't it funny that when this tragic event happened you couldn't go anywhere without hearing about it. The rising death toll. New satellite photos. Fukushima's nuclear disaster.

I still see the occasional "donate to Japan" on some websites (might be more frequent for a person like me who visits Asian websites...), but I don't really hear any news about what is going on. I would assume that Japan is getting on with rebuilding and turning their misfortune around.

I have made the decision to visit Japan after graduating from Oregon State next year, and with this decision comes a need to convince my parents. My mom brought up this topic of rebuilding, so I decided to see what I could find on the internet for any news.

One article stated that 7 of the 9 regions reported an up in the economy views. As I read the rest of the article, it appears that the the economies are doing a little better, but some regions are still in a severe state. With the Fukushima incident, there are several obstacles in the way of reopening and utilizing that power. Production is encouraged to go overseas, and consumers are told to limit their use of power to prevent a black out. Another article reported that the man appointed as the Disaster Reconstruction Minister has stepped down already after scolding a governor of one of Japan's regions not doing well. If you want to read either of these articles, here they are:

BOJ: 7 Out of 9 Japan Regions Up Econ Views
Matsumoto Quits as Japan Cabinet Minister

So it looks things are moving towards progress, but I don't think anyone can say it's "good news" yet. On a lighter note, here is a fun bike helmet I'm looking at, from a website that allows you to buy hard-to-find-things from Japan! (I've also added this website to my links).

Tsunami

It is amazing to me how news can travel so fast in this world. We live over 7,000 miles away from Japan, and yet, moments after a devastating incident, we know about it. It's too bad we don't have a way to prevent these things from happening. The wonderful thing that comes from our current technology, is that we can send help and aid that much faster. Even Lady Gaga is contributing by selling bracelets.

Somewhat-comforting thoughts are that of all countries to get hit with this, Japan is most prepared (at least for the earthquake part). Less people have died than could have, but that is still people who are gone and family and friends left to miss them.

As you may or may not know, I'm trying to get an internship in Japan for Fall term 2011. I know by then Japan will be up and running again, but I feel so sad for what's happened.

Here's a good article about what's happened in Japan. And I leave with the image of the Great Wave.

Karaoke and the Emergency Room

Man, too many things happening recently and a lack of internet connection. Doesn't make for consistent blog postings.

This story dates way back to finals week, first week of December. One of my friends from karate, Brad, went to his last karate class and was going out to celebrate moving back to Washington. I got the pleasure of joining him and his friend Bobby at Suds here in Corvallis. I had never been to Suds before, it's a pretty sweet little place, in the building of Woodstock's pizza.

Brad and Bobby started drinking some beer and got me some hard cider, catching up and talking about what lies in store ahead. After two ciders for me, (and I don't know how many each of beers they had!) we decided to head over to the Peacock. Now this was odd for me, I have never gone out on a Wednesday night, and never putting no thought into what I was dressed like.

I discovered that the Peacock is great for some karaoke on weeknights. There were some impressive folks singing too! After I had another beer, the boys convinced me to sing a song with them. (It ended up being the last song of the night, I guess it took me a while!) We sang "What's My Age Again?" by Blink 182. It was a lot of fun, and I definitely messed up the song with the lyrics right in front of me.

The Peacock closed and none of us were in any shape to drive, so we started walking towards Brad's place. Bobby thinking ahead, had some chex mix to eat on the way. By the time we got to Brad's house, we discovered that there were nuts in the mix and Brad happens to be allergic to all nuts except for peanuts.

Bobby and I were going to try to head over to my house, where I have a car and could drive somewhere to get Benadryl, but instead we called an ambulance. Brad and Bobby spent the night in the ER, one of Brad's roommates dropped me off at my house where I slept until about 6am and went and picked them up. It was an eventful night to say the least. Things I learned: Benadryl is an anti-histamine, so that means good for people having an allergic reaction, and Good Samaritan Hospital is in a weird place at the end of 9th Street. Good things to know.

Monday Morning

Today is Monday. As with most mornings, I start out lying in my bed for as long as possible, thinking about what I'm going to wear and what I might eat for breakfast, with the idea that it will save me time when I actually do get up.

This morning it took me even longer to get up, because I'm so beat up and sore from the weekend's events (Belt testing, etc.). I miraculously got out of bed and ready for my Monday so we could leave the house 10 minutes after 7, to be just in time for my first class.

But who should know that when we left the house we would have cause to not be on time to an 8 o'clock class in Corvallis? Nearly into Brownsville, my sister Kambria notices a strange sound and turns off the music. All of us thinking this sound is indeed strange, I decide to pull over in the parking lot of Dairy Mart. Out of the car we discover that I have a flat tire. Maybe that autoshop class from high school will actually be worth something.

Out of the three of us there, I was the only one who had some vague idea of how to change a tire. We knew where the spare was, but had difficulties in removing it from the trunk. As Kambria and Cassandra tried to figure out how to remove the tire, I took out the jack and started lifting the car. By the time I got the car up, they got the tire out, so we now had to take off the flat tire. In a failed attempt to remove the lug nuts from the tire, it was now that I remembered that you are supposed to loosen the nuts before lifting the car with the jack. This discovered, we lowered the car back down and at about this time a nice man came to help us.

We loosened the lug nuts and discovered that my car has a nifty lock on one of the nuts that prevents people from stealing your car tires. That guy finished loosening the nuts and seemed to will the car upwards with the jack at the speed he was going (anything was probably faster than me jacking up the car).

Both of my parents arrived on the scene, and my dad finished fixing the tire, letting the nice man get back to his work. We put everything back together, and headed to school. So much for a normal monday morning.

My First Place Weekend

Wow, what a weekend. Not only was this weekend the first weekend of August, but also a first for many other things. I won my first Oregon Series Tournament, I heard a unique pick-up line, and I rode in an ambulance for the first time.

Now for all the details. I had been looking forward to this weekend, because I knew that this could very well be a weekend I could win, and not only that, but in doing so I would beat one of the other intermediate women I had not beat before. You should also know that it just so happens that this weekend was not only the weekend of the Calapooia Classic (the disc golf tournament I speak of) but also the weekend where my high school friend Justine was visiting from Arizona and my friend Heidi's friend Kiira was visiting from Washington. Because these wonderful girls were visiting, Heidi and I had to make sure they had a good time, and of course that means going out and hitting the clubs on a Friday night!

So that was our plan. I wanted to make sure that I got to play the pre-tournament doubles, because they were at the course I had not played in the new layout. Doubles started at 6:00p at Bryant Park, I ended up being partnered with Mike, a great guy who helps run the weekly doubles at Adair. The round that I thought would take a mere 2 hours, ended up taking me 3 hours to play, and in doing so made me late for picking up Justine.

After I picked up Justine and headed to the house in Albany where I was house-sitting, we talked a little, I changed real quick and we headed right back out the door towards Corvallis, leaving Devynn behind with the dogs. (We tried to convince her to come, but for some reason she thought the dogs would enjoy her company better than we would that late at night.)

We started at McMennamins, Justine and I were the first to arrive followed soon by Heidi and Angie (Heidi's roomie). While waiting for Kiira we ordered some food and drinks and discussed all the many things there were to discuss.

Kiira arrived, we continued our evening over at Cantina and the time was about 11:30p. (My original plan was to only stay out until midnight, me having a tournament the next day and all.) We were all pleasantly surprised that the place was actually busy, and the dance floor was moving!

First things, first though, Heidi and I had a much awaited duel to get on with. Since I have started going out, I have learned that there are fun ways to drink drinks. One of them being a drink that you get a shot of some liquor in one glass and some red bull in the other glass. The way you drink this drink is to put the shot glass into the larger glass and then drink the whole thing as fast as you can. You finish first, you win. The drinks we got are called Spider Bites, so the shot is some pretty blue liquid. Angie opted out of the crazy duel, and instead took pictures. I of course, won the contest:)



The rest of the night we danced and drank water and talked, and had a great time. Sometime during the night when we were dancing, actually it was one of the time Heidi and Angie took a break from the dance floor and left Justine, Kiira and me. Now I don't think that I am that tall, but I am definitely taller than Justine and Kiira. With that in mind, I will tell you the next part of my tale.

There's us three girls, dancing in the middle of the dance floor, having a great time, and this tall, very white guy come up to me and says, "Your friends are short, you wanna make out?" I was somewhat dumbfounded at this, and uttered some "No" while Justine blurts into the conversation and says, "She has us to make out with." The guy left, and left us with this funny pick-up line to tell everyone else about. He apparently was pretty interested in making out with me, because he came by another time before we left.

The night was filled with lots of fun memories, and I did not leave at Midnight as planned, but right before closing (1:45am).

And now for the major scheduled event of my weekend, The Calapooia Classic disc golf tournament! Saturday morning, I showed up early, reunited with my disc golf friends, and set about warming up before the round. The first course we were playing was one in Albany, Bryant Park, the same one I had played doubles at the night before. I was on a card with Kim Smothers, and "Over the Hill Bob". Both are very nice people and pretty fun to play disc golf with. At the end of that round I was slightly disappointed with my score of 81, because it only beat my score at that same course (in a easier layout) by one stroke. But, when I heard the scores from the other Intermediate Women's card I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in 2nd. Celeste and Rebecca had played the course with an 85, and the new girl Jackie, had played a 76. So it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Then the race for first got closer, because of a scoring error. Jackie had actually shot a 77, and her group re-counted and thought it was a 76. It ended up being a 77, so her score was adjusted to 79 with the 2 stroke penalty.

The next course we played was Timberlinn, a course I remembered well from last year as fun, but with a lot of O.B. (Out of Bounds). I wanted to shoot better than an 82, and ended up with a 78, which isn't bad, but not as good as I had hoped. Jackie still shot better than me, with a 75 (Now leading by 5 strokes). Rebecca shot an 80 to keep 3rd from Celeste, who had a tough round with a 91. That concluded day one of the tournament. I then proceeded to go to the house and sleep for the rest of the evening.

The next morning, I ventured out early, Devynn decided to join me and the rest of my family informed me that they wanted to watch and would be out at the course later. The course we were playing twice today was Waterloo, a new course to the area with a lot of rough edges still. Devynn kept score and spotted, making us feel quite professional.

Right off the bat, I stole the tee by paring the first hole while everyone else 4-ed. That round I kept playing well and driving far, making the pars come easier. Sometime in the middle of the round I counted up strokes to see that I was now pulling ahead of Jackie, I had earned that 5 strokes back and was now taking some more! She had a couple tough holes, which seemed to cause her to get a little more frazzled. At the end of round 3, I had shot a 69, which made me very happy, because I have never shot under 70 before! Jackie shot an 80 keeping 2nd, Rebecca shot a 79 barely hanging on to 3rd with Celeste shooting a 70 to come back from that previous 91.

Round 4 started off ok, Jackie took back the tee right away, and I was not playing that well. I was letting the pressure get into my head that I was now in first. After a few holes I did shake it off (with Rebecca's help) and started playing well again. At the end of the round, I was definitely in the lead, shooting a 75. Jackie shot a 79, Rebecca also shot a 79. At the end of the round we did not know what Celeste shot, but she ended up shooting another 70 taking 3rd from Rebecca.

After calculating our scores and initialing the score sheet, we started walking back to tournament central across the parking lot. My friend Rebecca is really allergic to bees. The day before her husband played the same course we were playing today and got stung 6 times. Because of this she made sure she carried her Epi-pens with her in case she happened to get stung, and before the rounds started on Sunday, she showed me and the whole group how to administer the shots if she couldn't.

As we walked across the parking lot, the thing that we thought we had avoided happened. Rebecca stopped and started messing with the back of her hair, trying to get a bee out. I stopped too, and kept asking her if she had been stung. All of a sudden she stopped trying to get the bee out and looked at me and said "I've been stung." I rushed over to her disc golf bag and pulled out the first aid kid she had in the front of it. I opened it up as band aides and various things started falling out as I fumbled around to get the Epi-pens out. I handed one to her and immediately started undoing the next one. She jabbed herself in the thigh and dropped the applicator. I asked her if she needed the next one yet, and she told me we need to wait 3 minutes. She asked for a place to sit down because she knew she was going to faint. I looked around and saw the picnic tables, then noticed my car right next to us, so I went to open the door to that.

Some other people had noticed by now that something was wrong, and someone brought over a fold up chair as Rebecca gave herself the second shot. I noticed Jackie on the phone and asked if she was calling the ambulance. (She was)
In a crisis situation it seems that is easier to take if you stay busy. Rebecca told me to get a hold of Kevin (her husband), which proved to be a rather difficult task, because he didn't have a phone with him. I called all of the people I knew who were at the course he was on, and no one was answering. I went through her phone and looked for people to call.

All the while I am calling people and trying to get a hold of Kevin, Rebecca faints in her chair and starts having convulsions on and off. The first time she had one and stopped scared me. It seemed normal for her to faint and her body to be shaking, but when it stopped I was afraid of what that could mean. So many thoughts ran through my head. This was the first time she met my family and they got along great, surely this would not be the only time they see each other.

The ambulance came and the EMTs started checking the status of Rebecca. I was there answering all the questions they had about her and about the situation. They got her situated and moved her to the back of the ambulance from the parking lot and it was about this time the tears started streaming from my eyes. I kept it pretty well under control, most people have never seen me cry because I have mastered this skill so well.

I was chosen to ride with Rebecca in the ambulance, and while I was waiting for us to take off, Josh or "Crawdad", helped comfort me and tell me she was going to be ok. He told me about different situations with bees and people being allergic to them and being way out in the woods and them ending up ok. When the ambulance took off, the EMT driving also helped me deal with the situation. I find it an amazing thing that comfort is always there when you need it.

My whole family waited for her in the hospital, I finally got to go in and see her. She was awake and doing well, and was ready to go find out if she kept her third place or not. Right before we finally got the discharge papers for her to leave, we got a call from her husband Kevin that he was in Albany at the Calapooia Brewing Company. (He had went there after he had driven all the way over to Waterloo and found no one there, terrible way to find out his wife had been stung.) We told he we would meet him there.

We got to the Awards Ceremony in good time, Kevin wanted to take Rebecca home right away so we said our goodbyes and she left. At the Awards I had lots of people telling me congratulations for my win and an equal amount of people asking me about Rebecca. It was definitely a unique experience, I hope that the next time I win a tournament there won't have to be anyone getting stung!