Encouragement party

Milestones: 750 miles logged on my bike. $1000.00 raised. Thank you all for your support so far. if you've not donated, do it today. aidslifecycle.org/donate/5423

Yes, yes. The fund-raising party was successfully thrown. While "fund-raiser" is not what it turned out to be, it did provide me with some perspective, as well a fantastic evening with old, and new, friends.

Before I share lessons learnt via fund-raising parties, I want to thank all of you who came. Anisha & company, Ally, Emilia, Nina & company, James, Tim, Downstairs Dave, Sarah, Goreman, Liz, Talia, Shosh & company, Marcia & company, my roommates Mike, Alyssa, Jess, Eliza. Steph made a brief appearence with Baloo, her doggie. All donated generously, for that and your company, I thank you kindly.

The a few that said they would show, didn't. Overall, I guess I expected the party to be larger, more lively. But it was mostly my fault, as I did not do anything creative. Truth is, I was competing against an entire city chaulked-fat with fun shit to do, and people routinely take a better offer. Worst yet, a lot of people made very short appearences. I don't know what I expected... You get trapped into your own little world when you commit yourself to an undertaking such as this one (the ALC). You begin thinking the entire planet A) knows what you are doing, B) is as stoked about it and, C) commiserates completely with the difficulty of your fund-raising task. Plus, I take shit too personally.

By 12am, I stopped caring about how many people showed, or whether I actully raised any money. All I knew was I had a table in a cozy living room surrounded by old friends Ally, Tim, James, and new friends, Liz, Emilia, Dave. We had plenty of good beer, and cards. James brought out some of his talent and creativity, and we feasted on it.

Further enncouragement came fought the prevailing winds and arrived from the East this week. My mother finally got around to reading this blog. Her subsequent review (as seen as comments to some of my posts) has been very encouraging and inspiring. At the very least I know my mother is reading my posts.