What I’ve been up to
As I start to write this, it’s about 22 minutes to the 2nd week since the earthquake that devastated the Sichuan province in China. I haven’t written much about it beyond two posts which included a link to a “cute” video of the pandas cubs being carried to safety.
There’s nothing “cute” about what happened 2 weeks ago but there have been some trully heart-warming stories about the courage and resilience of the Chinese, their immense will to live, and the love between the Chinese people. The latest such story tells of an 80-year-old paralysed man who was pulled out of the rubble 11 days after the quake; he’d been kept alive by his wife who brought him food until he was found and freed on Friday, 23 May 2008.
Although I’ve not written much about it here, I’ve written lots elsewhere - in emails to friends, and particularly on the Pandas Unlimited discussion forum at the Flickr site, especially on the “Wolong Earthquake Pictures” thread that I started. At some point, I need to gather together my thoughts about all this and write them down in one place. I need to do it not just because China was where it happened (my Chinese blood runs strong in me), but because the Wolong Panda Centre, which I consider my second home, is located very near the epicentre and suffered much damage.
But this post is not about what happened in China and Wolong. That will come later. This post, as the subject above shows, is about what I’ve been up to, work-wise.
I have revamped and upgraded the website for the Persatuan SLE Malaysia (PSLEM) to the WordPress platform. WordPress is better known as a blogging engine, but increasingly, its developers have improved its features and a lot of people are using it to power regular websites. Now, add to those websites the PSLEM website, located at www.lupusmalaysia.org.
I’m the volunteer web-person, and probably the right person to manage it, since I am a lupoid (person with SLE or lupus) and understand the condition from a very involved angle.
I’m quite proud of the revamp and upgrade. It’s going to be so much easier to manage the updates from now on, including the Chinese section!
Apart from the PSLEM website, I have other things on my plate that are keeping me busy.
Meanwhile, it’s four minutes to 2 weeks since the event that changed China.
