A friend of mine, Laura Wales, was on Ko Phi Phi in Thailand during the tsunami and survived to tell about it. Though I haven't seen her since I returned in August from my own trip to SE Asia, I had heard through friends that she was there on a research project with a group of Stanford MBA students. She and her classmate James Hsu were packing up to leave their bungalow the morning the tsunami hit. After an ordeal it pains me to imagine, she is recovering from a severely injured leg at a hospital in Bangkok. James Hsu is missing and presumed dead.



It's been 17 days since the tsunami hit South Asia. I've purposely avoided reading articles, looking at pictures, watching the news and listening to horror stories about that day. The fact that I was in some of these exact spots where so many people died doing exactly what I was doing mere months ago hits home a little more closely than I care to admit. I'd like to remember those places as they were, and the unforgettable times I had there. It's painful to think that the bungalow I slept in, the restaurant I ate in, the platform I did yoga on, the bar I danced in... all gone. Here is a small photo montage of the places I was that were devastated in the tsunami.

Yesterday my sister and I spent the day at our friend Feather's apartment. She passed away from Ovarian cancer peacefully and with inspiring grace on December 30 with her son and ex-husband (our good friend Will) at her side. A dancer, poet, artist and world traveler, she had many interests and passions and, it has to be said, was a complete packrat. Those of us who knew her well were asked to come to the apartment and choose some of her things as reminders of her to take home. Will had marked some things specifically for us. She'd been all over Asia, so thanks to her, I now have a Tibetan singing prayer bowl, a standing wood prayer wheel, a string of *giant* Tibetan prayer flags and a red mirrored Rajasthani wallhanging. All the things I wanted to buy for myself but didn't, or did, but lost (no shock there people!). It seems strange and yet so right that I should end up with them this way.

Well this is a rather somber post. It's befitting of my mood I suppose as I've been a bit weepy for the last week. The tsunami, Feather's death, watching good friends come and go from my life (had another reluctant goodbye with Don at SFO yesterday) and struggling to make sense of my new life in San Francisco has brought up a lot of emotion for me. I wouldn't say I am normally very emotional, so I've been caught a bit off-guard by how at the surface they seem to be now. I guess I am only human.