I’m discovering that people aren’t really interested in donating to charity unless they get something back in return, or unless they can somehow make one person miserable in the name of charity. The people who ran Desert Bus last year comes to mind. They played the most boring game in the world for about 6 days, if I recall correctly. The more you donated, the longer they had to play. The four dudes who set this up raised over $22,000. :O!

The popular thing these days, at least in the realm of donations for Child’s Play, is setting up streaming video of a person or group of people playing a video game. I’m now working on my own idea for a live stream fundraising event. It involves video games and using my prowess of being female.

Before I make anything official, I need to work out the mechanics of how it’s all going to work. But definitely keep on the lookout for more updates.

Preface: This is MY opinion. You’re free to disagree and argue with me, but I will NOT tolerate a flame war. I know a lot of people will disagree on points, but any display of hatred and intolerance will result in immediate removal of comments and possibly banning from my site.

I read a few things recently that really, really bothered me. It’s centered around Prop 8 in California, but this is really about Gay Marriage in general. First, let us look at the exact wording for Prop 8:

The official ballot title language for Proposition 8 is “Eliminates Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.” The entirety of the text to be added to the constitution is: “Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”¹

Shall the California Constitution be changed to eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry providing that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California?²

There’s also Prop 102 in Arizona:

Proposition 102 would amend the Arizona Constitution to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state.³

And Florida’s Amendment 2:

This amendment protects marriage as the legal union of only one man and one woman as husband and wife and provides that no other legal union that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof shall be valid or recognized.⁴

Now let us take a trip through history.

Read more »

I’m not exactly the most active person in my community. In fact, I tend to keep to myself. There are very very few causes in the world that gets my blood pumping and activates my need to do something that will make a difference. I don’t know if I have any volunteer hours under my belt at all. I know, it’s not good.

A few years ago, I became interested in a charity called Child’s Play. The charity was set up by the online comic about games and gamers known as Penny Arcade. Maybe some of you have heard of it. The charity was created as a direct result of people like Jack Thompson insisting that ALL gamers are murderers in the making. Our response? Over two million dollars raised since 2003.

The way Child’s Play works is the charity has a network of over 45 hospitals set up all over the world, and new hospitals are being added every year. The charity sets up Amazon wishlists for the hospital that includes games, toys, and books - all ranging between less than $5 to $400 (for consols like X-Box 360s and PS3s). Gamers can choose a hospital of their choice and pick one or more items to purchase for that particular hospital. Amazon will then ship the item(s) directly to that hospital. Easy as cake!

If you can’t decide which hospital to choose, you can donate money directly to Child’s Play’s paypal account, or you can send money to the address on the Child’s Play’s homepage.

All the toys, games, and consols stay with the hospital so that all kids have a chance to play during their hospital stay. Instead of being bored and constantly reminded of their illness, children can play on a DS or PSP in their bed; they can play multiplayer games with other sick kids on the X-BOX 360 you provided for them. They can read books, play with dolls, and forget about their troubles for at least a little while.

Best of all, YOU get the gratification that you’re doing something to make a difference in these children’s lives. They may not know you by name, but your contribution - whether it be $1 towards a Child’s Play fundraiser, the new DS system you picked out, or a $10 game - will create a little bit of happiness during their trying times.

On the right side of my page, you’ll find a little widget for donations. My personal goal is to raise $500 for Child’s Play. By clicking “ChipIn!” you will be redirected to a paypal page that will send money DIRECTLY to the Child’s Play paypal account. I know it says my email address, but I promise you that the money will go directly to Child’s Play.

Please help out any way you can. Even if it’s just $1, every little bit makes a difference.

I’ve known about NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) since November last year. Unfortunately I learned about it too late to actually participate. This year I don’t have the time to participate. Today I discovered NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month). Since I love writing, but don’t have the time to do NaNoWriMo, I will participate in NaBloPoMo!

Plus I need more content on this blog. -_-;;

I’m in the process of applying to study abroad in Japan in the spring. It has certainly been a process, one that’s far from over. The Study Abroad office at my school has an entirely new staff, which really makes me very nervous. Especially since I received my application to my school of choice two days before it was due. When I called my contact up to freak out about it, he assured me that the school realizes that they’ll be receiving my application late. I really hope what he says is true. Otherwise…

I’m not doing as well in school this term as I would like to be. I think it’s partly a motivation problem, but also an issue with some professors I have/had. I’ve already dropped two classes because of personality issues with professors and people in charge. I feel like I’m not doing enough for my Japanese learning. If I spent less time on the computer and more time learning Japanese, I’d be a pro by now.

I’m trying to break my bad habits, but it’s not really working so well. I’m pretty terrible at self-discipline. In addition to doing NaBloPoMo, I should make a one month daily plan to master more Japanese.

Starting tomorrow, that is what I will do!

I have loved music ever since I first heard it. When I was a little girl, I would have these little fantasies where I was this famous singer with millions of fans. I wanted to be the next Cindy Lauper, because at that time I absolutely loved Cindy Lauper.

But, for whatever reason, I never pursued that dream. I became consciously aware that I had no talent within my voice when I was pretty young, so I felt as though I could never progress into anything worthwhile. I never talked to my parents about my desire to become a singer; my dad was too busy dreaming up his own dreams of what he wanted me to be - a doctor. So I kept what I wanted the most to myself, and secretly hoped that I would somehow get better along the way.

Well, that didn’t happen. I still can’t sing worth a damn, and the only thing I can do musicially is barely play a flute that I haven’t picked up in seven years. The past few years, my desire to have any sort of musical talent has become more and more pronounced. Two years ago I purchased a couple of voice lesson CDs only to find out that I’m not even singing properly. There’s no point of exercising my shitty singing voice if I’m not even using my vocal chords the way they’re meant to be used. I know this much because any time I sing, my throat hurts. I’m smart enough to know that that isn’t normal. Plus friends with more talent than me have told me so.

Earlier this year, I took a voice class at my university. I had emailed the professor prior to the class asking if it was right for me. I gave her my background, which is that I have no background, and she assured me that the class would be perfect for me. Well that was a downright lie. Every single person in that class was a Music Education major who had some sort of previous choir class. When midterm came around, we had the opportunity to step in front of the class to practice the song we all had to sing. When it was my turn to go, I had this false confidence that because everyone else did well, I could do well too.

Wrong.

I’m happy that there wasn’t many people in the class, because I was absolutely mortified by my “performance,” if you can even call it that. I was severely out of pitch, I couldn’t keep up with the pianist, and the professor actually told the pianist to play the notes of the singing part for me, so that I could follow along. I don’t know how I managed not to break down crying during my performance, but I did break down afterwards. I was so deeply embarrassed that I never went back to the class.

Despite that horrible experience, I still have a strong desire to be able to do something musically. I still really want to sing; therefore, I plan on taking private voice lessons once my classes start up again. But singing isn’t the only thing I want to do. I want to be able to play something as well. What sort of musician would I be if all I did was stand around and sing? I guess that would make me… a singer. Hah.

But I want to do more than that. I want to be able to play something while I sing. Besides, if I’m going to learn how to sing, I might as well have an instrument that I can sing along to. I had planned on taking a piano class at my university, but it seems the music department there is full of elitist assholes who won’t allow non-music majors to take any of their classes. Uh, sure. Whatever. (I plan on auditing the class if I can manage it.)

For the past few months or so, I’ve been thinking that there must me something else I can do to kick-start my musical desires. I’ve always been a fan of guitar. It completely baffles me on how such wonderful music can be produced by one instrument. There’s a video online of Japanese mega-star Miyavi using is guitar as both an acoustic guitar and percussion. It seriously leaves me staring in awe every time I see it.

That’s what I want to be able to do.

I decided that when I had the chance, I would purchase a guitar and began learning it. So today, that’s what I did. I was out shopping with my parents when I stumbled accidentally onto this fine instrument. I wanted a guitar that was cheap, but still good enough to learn on, and this fell into my lap out of nowhere. Seriously, I had just said the night before that I wanted a guitar, then to have it pop out of nowhere the next day. It had to be a sign from the heavens. So I picked it up. I came home a happy woman with my new instrument. My parents, for whatever reason, were anxious to help me tune the guitar. Though sweet, it was a bit… much. Luckily for me, they wandered off to the store, and I was left to myself with my new baby. In the middle of tuning the G string, the string broke. I think it was then that I realized that my musical journey will be a very, very long and rocky road. But I’ll happily accept that path when I one day become as good as I hope to be.

Random aside: I am deeply, deeply jealous of anyone with even the most minute musical ability.