Friends and holiday cheer.

I'm being spoiled. My friends are just too awesome. I sometimes forget that people aren't as cool as them and don't really think about it. But then they go and do something that makes me love them all the more. There is nothing in the world like realizing how much someone understands you. It makes me want to do something amazing for them right back.

Boxing day this year was my christmas gift exchange with Sarah and Emily. We had a lot of fun. Sarah's parents this year had given us all Doctor Who Sonic Screwdrivers. And here is where the appreciations begin. We had fun with toys. While we are all going on to being full fledged adults we can still play and not deny enjoyment in the small pleasures of life. Too many people take themselves too seriously and loose the fun in the world. What is the point of living if you're not enjoying your life?

Sarah had made us personalized christmas crackers with all sorts of nerdy goodies. Mine had in it a tiny hand made K9 and T.A.R.D.I.S. pin, paper Sherlock Holmes and Watson based on BBC's new Sherlock, fun little mustache on a stick to go with an emergency Tea bag and sugar holder, and bubble blowing stuff that makes solid bubbles (so cool... I don't know how it works yet but it is just too cool).

And to top it all off a paper party hat that looked like an evil over lord's crown. I felt immensely pleased to be wearing it when I opened Emily's gift and found a book on "How to Be a Villain". In just the few minutes I spent reading it I can tell that it is going to be fantastic and hilarious!

We spent the evening goofing around, drinking tea, playing with our toys, watching the Doctor Who Christmas Special and making each other laugh.
Thanks for spoiling me and being big kids with me.

Nerd Carolling Thanks You (final total)

So Nerd Carolling has come to an end. We were really happy with the results!

We had hoped to raise $100 from our two days of singing.

We made that in the first night.

After 5 nights of carolling, (3 more than we had planned thanks to an amazingly positive response) we raised...

$505.58 CAD

Sarah and I made the donation last night to Child's Play. People have also been giving online donations and telling us about them. So our real grand total is

$565.58 CAD

Thank you so much to the people who got excited and sent us around to a variety of people. You started a chain reaction that got us sent to so many different places in the city and got the word out further.

Thanks to Sarah and Emily for putting in their time and singing voices to making this possible.

A huge thank you to Jonathon Coulton (jonathancoulton.com) and The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society (cthulhulives.org) who said we could use their music and basically made the whole thing possible. They have really great music, if you haven't done so already you should check them out.

This was a really fun project and we hope to be able to do this again next year!
Merry Christmas

Nerd Carolling (first night)

We went out singing last night and already have passed our goal of 100 dollars for Child's Play (http://www.childsplaycharity.org). So now we're hoping to double it. We had so many people get into it when we started going around. Once they understood what we were doing it snowballed. We'd sing for one house and they would send us to two more houses.

Also people were really happy to give to Child's Play. Most had been wanting to for a while but didn't feel like it was worth it for their five or ten dollars. But we've also had people from other cities email us to let us know they've donated an amount and want us to sing for someone in Regina. So exciting!

Typing

I love typing fast. I love hearing the the variations of the key strokes as I slam down on the board in different levels of intensity. I feel in those moments that I'm playing a new sort of instrument and that the crescendo of my idea is somehow transmuting itself into something new and wonderful. Mostly I love to send off emails as fast as my fingers will allow. Just listen to the keys. I've had so many emails where I simply have to say "Yes, I can do this." or "Right away." that it feels like the phrase is simply part of the motion and not the reason for the email. I would find any reason to send off that email. Now just to find that portion of my brain that is the poet. To coax out some description so that others will understand, what I hear in the beautiful sound of typing the word.

Debate and nerd carolling

Ok so I was realizing that I'm not really letting my nerd flag fly. I mean how can I be a plain nerd if I don't talk about nerdy goodness? So first let me say that I judged debate last week and it was awesome! I had a wonderful time and got to see so many people and chat with them in a very open space. Ran into a guy (thankfully not literally) who was in my physics class in first year. It was really good to see him. He's now substituting at my old high school, funny in that small city way.

We had a really good time judging and listening to all the debaters. There were a few really hilarious moments. One in particular was a kid saying "Am I right?!" realized what he had said and followed up beautifully with "Yes. I. Am." Simply perfect. Sarah had a really great moment where a 14 year old kid clarified something for everyone: "Now I'm not a scientist...." yeah, we guessed that.

An excellent night and got me really pumped up for my real project that I wanted to talk about.

Nerd Carolling.

Sarah and I did this a few years ago but I was off the continent last year so it had to wait. Basically this is a simple concept that requires way more explanation than I expected. We (Sarah, Emily -when she gets back- and I) go around to various houses and sing to people. The people we sing to have either given us money or someone else has given us money to sing to that person. Like sending a singing telegram. We're singing nerdy songs, some to the tune of christmas carols and some that just need to be sung because they're so amusing. The money we collect is going to Child's Play Charity (http://www.childsplaycharity.org/)

We thought it would be a nice thing to do to encourage people to donate to help sick kids have something fun to do. We emailed Jonathan Coulton and The H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society. They both said we could use their music. Very exciting!

So our first day of singing starts tomorrow... er later today. I can't wait! I hope to get some recordings and put them up on youtube. Now just to find my camera.