July Microfundraiser!!

July Swim for Distance total to date: 1.9k

Playing in the background: The air conditioner. I shouldn't complain, though. This is the first month our electric bill's gone over a hundred.

What, you may ask, is a microfundraiser? Well, I'll tell you. Microfundraising is when you solicit small amounts of money from friends and family members who are just as broke as you are, but who might want to make some contribution or other to a worthy cause and feel better knowing that their contribution is being lumped in with a bunch of others to make a bigger difference. Does that sound like you? Of course it does. Read on:

When I swam the Texas Tough open water race a week or so ago, I somehow got shanghaied into raising money for Childrens Medical Center Dallas as I was celebrating my not-lastness. Well, that's okay. Childrens is a pretty darn nifty place, and they're having just as hard a time in this economy as everybody else. The hospital is listed in U.S. News and World Report's Best Hospitals issue. It's a not-for-profit Level One trauma center for pediatrics and also the pediatric teaching hospital for UT Southwestern. You can read more about 'em here.

(By the way, does the term 'shanghaied' have any negative connotations against people of Asian descent? If so, let's say I got hoodwinked into this fundraising thing. Unless that has negative connotations against people who, uh, wear hoods or something.)

There are a couple of ways you can help me with this endeavour. One, you can sponsor me for Dallas Aquatic Masters' Swim For Distance Month and pledge some amount of money (but no more than a quarter, please) for every kilometer I swim in the month of July. Last July I managed 34 kilometers (about 21 miles) and this July I'd like to make it all the way to 40 (about 25 miles). As of today I'm almost at, uh, two. Still, if I were to make it to 40, and you'd pledged a quarter per kilometer, that would be $10.00. (See what I mean about microfundraising? If I were hosting $100-a-plate dinners for y'all to listen to me talk, or something, I don't think it would go over as well. I'm just sayin'.) What's more, you don't have to pay me directly. You can just go to my fundraising page at the end of the month, click on the link and follow the instructions.

If kilometer swimming is too uncertain, buy my book. For the month of July, $1 of every copy sold will go to Childrens. Here's my Lulu storefront, which has the details. You also get a nifty tale for your trouble, and the price is still only four bucks. Cheap! Tell your friends. To commemorate your historic contribution to Childrens and my literary career, print out the cover page and mail it with a self-addressed stamped envelope to me at 1920 Abrams, No. 117, Dallas, Texas 75214. I'll sign it to you, your wife, your husband, your best friend's cousin's sister, or even just my name so you can sell it on e-bay once I'm rich and famous. That's entirely up to you. So tell your friends. Lots of em. That's the problem with microfundraising: You gotta hit up a lot of folks. Luckily, I know a lot of folks.

If neither of those options float your boat, you still have the option of contributing directly by going to my fundraising page. You can also check out how we're doing on the little contribute-o-meter at the bottom of the page. No more than $10.00, please. I think it's more fun one of the other ways, though. Besides, you oughta get something for your money, even if it's just me swimming for the benefit of all beings.

So that's what I'm up to this month, besides looking for work and driving myself bats here at home. Further posts on Buddhism, politics, writing, scary movies and other things of great interest to follow. Watch this space.