Sequestered

[muckefuck]

I suppose it should come as no surprise that I was basically on a vacation from the media during the time I was away. Last week, I made reference to catching some show being broadcast Friday night and monshu said, "Remember, we'll be at the monastery." "But that doesn't mean they won't have t.v.," I responded. "I don't about that," he said. "C'mon, even monasteries in Nepal have televisions!" "Yeah, but it's not like a hotel," he countered, "there won't be any in the rooms."

As it turns out, the only t.v. on the premises had no reception; it was reserved for retreat-related videotapes. Theoretically, there was access to the L.A. Times, but I never asked to see it. monshu's eBay addiction drove him to borrow the Abbot's computer (when I popped into his office to say goodbye, he said, "You must be wanting to check e-mail"), but I resisted its charms; at one point, I nearly logged on in the airport, but really there was nothing--not even LJ--I could imagine paying $15/hr. to read. I did bring YAKRAPE, but kept it turned off to conserve battery power, using it only to arrange a rendezvous with ladytiamat and to call my older brother on his birthday. (I wish could say I had the class not to mention that I was roaming, but, alas, I did not.)

So news of the last week's attacks--the failed bombings in London, the atrocity in Egypt--came to me as whispered rumours. Not until I was back at monshu's did I page through the BBC site to catch up on what had happened. Seeing the name "Sharm el-Sheikh" jogged my memory: My parents were in Egypt and this was one of the places they were scheduled to visit. I felt the briefest instance of panic, but then several things occurred to me: (1) Their chance of being among less than 100 people in a city of thousands unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast was really rather small; (2) the reports didn't mention any Americans killed, something they always do otherwise; (3) there were no agitated messages waiting for us at the GWO's.

I calmly decided to check their itinerary to see if there was any grounds for worry--frankly, I was concerned more about my stepmother's reaction than anything else--and found a flurry of emails from my siblings. The upshot: The blast occurred the day before they were to fly there, while they were en route to Cairo. It was ten miles away from their hotel. So they decided to go ahead and, at last report, were having a ball snorkling in the Red Sea.

Sorry, terrorists; looks like you lose again.

Comments

[bunj.livejournal.com]

I had a few minutes of worry when -e brought me the morning paper. Thankfully, I still had their itinerary, so I could calm down. Now I'm just worrying about copycat blasts, but nothing so far.