charity: water Birthday Campaign

Please visit my charity:water Birthday Campaign page to watch the video and read about how my charity will help water projects. http://mycharitywater.org/p/campaign/?campaign_id=21342 (The following is the commentary I wrote for that campaign page.)

I'm about to turn 15. Wow. With a birthday the day before Christmas, it's easy to get caught up in the comfort of the holidays and the excitement of giving and receiving gifts. With new, just released books lining the shelves of bookstores and cute outfits winking at me from store windows, it's easy to just sit back and forget about all the people in the world who are less fortunate than I, figuring, "I work hard. There are people who would buy all of those things without a thought. I deserve that stuff." 

And maybe I do. But what I've found is that I don't REALLY want it that much. When I compare it with the way my heart aches when I watch this video, my want is nothing. So this year, instead of asking for things, which will just crowd my room and give me more to be stressed about as I try to clean up, I'm asking for water for a family somewhere in Africa.

I've set my goal as $60, because at $20 per person, that is enough to provide a family of 3 - the same size as mine - with clean water. I do not ask you to give any more or any less than what you would usually spend on a birthday present for me. 

There has been many a time when I feel disgusted with the ease of life here, because I begin to feel that everything I live on is built upon some Jenga tower facade that could collapse at the slightest nudge. The water from my tap comes to me through other people's labor, and the food I eat, though it may be local, has still passed through many other's hands before mine. And this allows me to learn and grow every second of the day, because I do not have to worry about having clean water, food, or clothes. This opportunity has been lost for many women in sub-Saharan Africa, who spend more time every day collecting water than they do doing any other activity. We're not talking just a few families here, either: 1 billion people live this way every year.

If it cost $20 to provide you with clean water, would you give up that nice shirt you've been wanting? I bet you would. So donate to my campaign for charity:water, and change a life.

It's That Time of Year for...Noveling!

It is with much pride and disbelief that I announce (a few days late) the one-year anniversary of you, blog! It seems like it's been so much longer than a year, seeing as the world of words has really always been with me, but since it's only been one year with you, that just means there is so much more time left to spend with you!

There's a lot to catch up on, and so many things I could talk about that center around events. But I think I'd rather focus on ideas, because my appreciation for ideas pretty much surpasses that of anything else.

It's November. It's NaNoWriMo time. I knew, without a doubt, that I would participate in it again this year, and had been mulling over my idea for a couple of months; because this time, I am determined to actually finish a novel, something I did not accomplish last year. That was due to the fact that the idea I came up with was so complex and intriguing that I couldn't limit it to only one plot thread. NaNo became more of a novel-starter rather than something that actually made me finish one. Anyway, back to this year - I came up with an idea while at the zoo in Shanghai, China this summer. I made extensive character outlines, plot outlines, and developed a theme. I couldn't wait to start writing, and especially to see where my characters took me.

Yet on November 1st - the morning of which I forced myself to pull away from my computer and not start on my novel so that I could focus on my English and Biology Honors exam that day (!) - I walked out of my first exam at 12:00 a.m. and an entirely different idea hit me. I walked out of the doors to the gym, and saw the late morning sunlight streaming in through the windows, and I saw dust floating in it, and I heard the silence of an empty hallway, and I felt the release of all those thoughts and facts I'd just dealt with on the test from my brain. And I wondered...what if dust could take you to another time? Dust is, after all, the remains of something that existed in the past.

More later. I'll provide you with a full description. Right now, my novel is calling out to me, tugging at my heart and my fingers and my mind, but I've got to work on my English essay. Because I, unlike Ella (the main character) cannot let dust take me back in time. I have to deal with the present, where every second something changes, and if you don't grab onto that second with all your passion, it could be lost.