So This Is The New Year

Hey guys, Matt here,
Sorry for the lag of communique… I had to eat my way out of a coma, only to drink myself back into one. Luckily, with a little help from Arrested Development Season One on DVD, sanity has been regained. Or at least conciousness.

Please give whatever you can to the disaster relief efforts for Southeast Asia. The day of the quake/tsunami (evening here), I was having drinks with my good friend Ramsay who had just returned from a 3 month trip around the area. He and his girlfriend Kelly had opted to do some humanitarian work in the mountains of Thailand for the final two weeks of their trip as opposed to two weeks on the beach near Phuket. They returned home December 10th. I haven't yet talked to him since learning about the disaster, but it's nagged me that a few decisions later, they could have very well been in the wrong place at the wrong time. I am forever grateful.

Think about 9/11, then imagine that had happened at every major city on the East Coast. We're talking 125,000 people gone in a flash. I was reading The North Atlantic's blog at myspace.com/thenorthatlantic, and Cullen was mentioning visiting a juvenile rehab detention center making him grateful for loving parents. Post-tsunami, I am just grateful for everything. Generations are lost. They say 1/2 of the lost are children.

My mind is so jumbled with feelings about this tragedy, the scope of which I cannot comprehend. Just please give what you can… be aware that some organizations have reached their capacity, and that some cannot process your contribution for a few weeks if not months. This shouldn't matter as I am sure they could use the assistance.

Thanks… I'll try to lighten up a bit.