Just when things are starting to heat up nicely, I received an email from Lilian. She received an email from Blogathon saying that her blogger (Chan Kelwin — which is me) has dropped off blogathon. The content of the email is as below:
From: [Blogathon.org's email]
Date: Jul 28, 2007 10:13 PM
Subject: Your blogger has dropped
To: [Lilian's email]
Dear 5xmom:
The blog you sponsored, ChanKelwin.com, has dropped out of the Blogathon. You are no longer obligated to fulfill this pledge, and will not be contacted regarding it, though you may be contacted if you have made pledges to other blogs.
Thank you for supporting the Blogathon.
My immediate response? “HUH? WTF? SHIT. what happened?”
I’m no longer available in their list of bloggers who have joined. All records of the people who have pledged is gone.
I’ve sent an email to Blogathon’s admin regarding this. It doesn’t matter if I’m dumped off the Blogathon ship because I’ll continue to march on for MAKNA. You can continue to pledge through Blogathon.org and donate to MAKNA. If that link doesn’t work, screw it. Just leave a comment in any of my posts stating the amount you pledged and I’ll pick it up. At the end of this, I’ll post up the total amount pledged taking into account the previous and future pledges.
I reassure to those whom have pledged that I will continue to be here until the end of it — updating my blog every 30 minutes for 1 cause.
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I’m only on my fourth post for Blogathon and guess what?
Blogathon-ing is tough!
Each of my posts so far was completed right at the end of the 30 minutes cycle. That means, I literally have no time whatsoever to rest. After finishing my previous post, I wander about to other blogs to see how the others are doing. When I get back to my blog, I’m left with 15 minutes to prepare this post. *sigh*
Seriously, for those reading this post or any other bloggers doing the Blogathon, keep in my that Blogathon-ing is tough. It’s not like we’re just sitting behind the computer tapping away at the keyboard. We cannot miss any of the 30 minutes cycle or else it will affect the next post and the post after that.
So, if you’re in any position (financially) of supporting the Blogathon, please pledge and donate. There’s a list of other bloggers doing their bit for other non-profit organizations as well.
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Last night, I was sitting in my room thinking, “What can I do to increase or encourage people to pledge and donate to MAKNA?” That’s when I came up with this (lame) idea — posting up and audio file of me singing.
Ah, I know neither my singing or voice is worth any amount of donation. Just to let you guys know that I’ve never sang in public before. You will need to dump a big barrel of beer down my throat before you see me holding a microphone in public. Firstly, I don’t have the voice of Josh Groban. Secondly, I don’t have the vocal range of Jaclyn Victor.
Against all odds, I braved myself and recorded a 1 minute audio of me “karaoke-ing” to the tunes of When I Fall in Love by Celine Dion and Josh Groban. On normal days, I would never have done this. Even now I’m thinking of backing off. Thank god for this “30 minutes 1 post” thing that stops me changing my mind because there isn’t any time to think.
I might even regret this. Damn. Imagine being the laughing stock of others. *sigh* You guys better raise the USD400 before I change my mind. LOL.
So here’s how this works. Currently, the amount pledged for MAKNA is USD278.35. If I’m able to raise that amount to at least USD400, I’ll post up that ear-breaking karaoke file of me singing. Deal?
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Majlis Kanser Nasional (MAKNA) or National Cancer Council is a Malaysian non-profit organization. Their main objective is to “pool and utilise all efforts, expertise and finance from all sectors of the society, to fight cancer and reduce related pain, morbidity and the suffering that cancer patients undergo”.
One of the reasons is that I was approached by a girl when I was at the post office a few months ago. She was manning the booth together with a few other people. They were there to promote and educate the public of MAKNA’s work. They also urge the public to donate to MAKNA through monthly “instalments”. She told me that by donating as little as RM30 a month, they were able to cover their expenses for one of their patients (for a period of time — it’s been some time and I don’t remember the details). However, due to my financial constraints at that moment, I was not able to do so.
Therefore, when I heard of Blogathon, I knew this was my chance to help MAKNA and somehow give back to the society. Earlier, I didn’t dare to set a goal too big. I wanted to try and raise maybe USD100 or equivalent to roughly RM300+ only. Then I realized that I’m not doing this for myself but for the cancer patients and MAKNA. That’s when I raised my goal to RM1,000 or equivalent to about USD300+.
A big thank you to Lilian and Ahpek for pledging USD50 each early this evening to help MAKNA.
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If you don’t know what Blogathon is, read my previous post on it. Right now, 572 blogs are taking part in it and a total of USD88,416.73 has been pledged for various non-profit and charity organizations around the world.
This is my first time joining the Blogathon. When I first heard about it just a few days ago, I wasn’t sure if I should register myself as a blogathon-er. The reasons?
Firstly, I was afraid of rejection. What if no one bothers to pledge and donate anything? I emailed Lilian and she assured me that usually your friends will chip in a bit here and there to support you. She also agreed to help me spread the message if I were to register myself. Thanks to her encouragement, so far I’m able to raise $278.35 for MAKNA.
Secondly, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to do it. I mean, staying up for 24 hours isn’t a big problem (yet). My biggest problem will be to write one post every 30 minutes. On an average, it takes me at least 1-2 hours to write a post. Maybe that’s because I’m not used to blogging just yet. Sometimes, I re-edit my posts a few times before publishing them. Not to mention a few posts that never even made it (I didn’t publish those at all).
Whatever it is, I’m in it and I’m planning to finish this “race for charity”. Thanks for those who have pledged and donated. For those who haven’t, you may click here to pledge and donate to MAKNA.
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