22/2 - One year on

I thought I'd get to today and feel the overpowering need to comment at length on the Christchurch earthquakes and how I feel about them. But now that I have Blogger open, I find that instead I just feel tired. I guess I've worn myself out; I've spent today watching the memorial on a projector screen in my office's largest meeting room, reading the quake memorial coverage on Stuff.co.nz, and watching a documentary about the quakes on TV. And now I've had enough.

But I do have one thought to share. Ever since 23 December (the most recent large quake event in CHCH) I've been thinking about how even though there are many people who have been suffering greatly for a long time, and those of us who have been lucky cannot even comprehend let alone compare with the trials the less fortunate have been through, every single person in Christchurch, Selwyn, and Waimakariri has been through a traumatic event. So those of us who still have our homes, our jobs, and our loved ones should not feel guilty if we feel a bit stressed by the earthquakes. It's OK. Simply experiencing an earthquake swarm is enough to affect us. We don't need help, and we don't need donations, but we do need to forgive ourselves for not taking everything in our stride.

Flights of Fancy: kiwi sci-fi, fantasy, and horror

I've been organising this event over the past few months. I've worked hard on it, and learned a lot along the way.

Are you in Christchurch? Would you be interested in coming? We've got some truly exceptional speakers lined up, and it's going to be great!