Procrastination post #3

TOPIC #1: Does anyone know how I can get $150,000 within the next 3 months?

It's not for me; it's for Nomadicare, a non-profit based here in town which tries to give adequate health care to nomadic herders in Mongolia (at least those who want to continue that lifestyle).  I met the woman who runs the organization a few weeks ago; she sent me an e-mail recently because she needed some help, so I went to her place this morning to talk about what she wanted me to do.  I don't think I'll ever be invested in her cause like she is, and the fact that she somewhat emphasizes preventative and holistic medicine bothers me a little because I'm a skeptic whose one foray into alternative/naturopathic medicine went nowhere (but she also wants to give the nomads access to modern Western medical treatment too, because she's an RN and knows traditional medicine won't cut it, so she's not completely off her rocker).  But this town is filled with big ideas and people who want to change the world*, and if there's anything I can do to help out, even if it's just someone's pet project, then it would be a really good experience to have.  Despite what little misgivings I have (like, should preventative medicine really be part of a model for more affordable health care?  I don't see how feasible it is), it's still a good cause**; just see the website and you'll see what I mean.

So yeah, my main job is to see what I can do to get as much grant money as possible in as short of a time as possible.  I went to the library in town today to start searching for foundations and grants, and.........it's tough.  Nothing specifically for Mongolia or holistic medicine would work in this case, so I have to get a bit more creative.  I found some places that might be good to start with, but......yeah, I could use some advice here.  I don't expect anyone here to know how she can get $150,000 so soon, but if you do know something that can help, I'm all ears.  :3

TOPIC #2: Someone added me on AIM and I don't know who they are.  Which one of you is flutterjet?  (If you don't want your username getting out like this, PM me and I'll remove this bit.  Also, don't be afraid to contact me -- I don't bite, and even if I did my teeth aren't all that sharp.  XD)

TOPIC #3: I'm not doing that 10-requests meme going around the f-list, in case you were wondering.  One, I'm still terribly blocked; two, I'm busy; and three, I don't want to have to take requests just because I made them, and making requests without doing something in return makes me feel like a leech anyway.  :/

TOPIC #4: I've decided I'm not doing Anime Boston.  I've checked out their list of events and, well.........nothing really appeals to me.  It really seems to be more for people who are really into anime and manga, and I'm not so into it that I would enjoy the majority of the events they're putting on.  I like it, but it's not a big part of my life; at most I download fanart and read fanfic, and maybe somewhere down the line I'll buy DVD box sets, but that's really it.  Is it really so bad to like the medium but not the subculture?  (Plus, I don't play video games [although I probably should sometime in the future, or at the very least watch some playthroughs], so I'm not all too enthused about Nobuo Uematsu coming, awesome and amazing as I'm sure he is.  >_>;)

The only problem is.......I completely forgot about that fact, and the fact that the 25-pager is due that week, when signups were going around.  Which I wrote about here just yesterday.  And I filled out the form.  Yes, dear reader, this should be a clear indicator of the headspace I'm in right now.  -_-;  I e-mailed the person responsible to see what I can do to take me off the list, but I haven't received a reply back.  Hnnnngh.  D:  (EDIT: Just got an e-mail back; everything's all set.  *phew!*)

( More fannish stuff under the cut... )

TOPIC #5: While I was in town (in addition to getting a much needed haircut), I went to the bookstore.  I am now a proud owner of one The People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, one Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, one Food Rules by Michael Pollan, and one Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea by PJ Harvey (which was a CD, in case you didn't know who PJ Harvey is, even though I think a lot of you have -- but it never hurts to make sure, right?  8D;).  I also got a copy of an autographed poetry book by someone who works here at the college: Below the Falls by Gary Margolis, which is talked about in this article (which I already talked about with dreams_of_all recently).  I bought it because I remember when the young man referenced in the article and the chapbook, who was also a member of my class, went missing spring semester of freshman year; the whole campus was in a state of confusion and anxiety, what with the helicopters flying overhead once in a while and all the speculation to what might have happened.  Turns out he took a walk around town one night during Feb break while drunk, and slipped and fell into the river and drowned; they didn't find his body until that May, in a pile of debris below the falls right above the Main Street bridge in the center of town.  That's the really freaky part -- he was under everyone's noses the whole time.  There were a couple of times where I was within a few hundred yards of where they found him, and.........yeah.  *shudder*  @_@;

Anyway, the cashier noticed the copy of Good Omens and told me how much he loved Neil Gaiman.  :D  He recommended American Gods and Anansi Boys to me; when I asked him what his opinion of Neverwhere was, he told me it wasn't as good because it was an earlier books and Gaiman has gotten more polished since then (though it was still really good, from what he said).  I'll have to keep that in mind when I go out looking for books again.  What do you think?  But yeah, conversations with cashiers = always a good thing, no?




* This is probably the closest I'll ever sound to a Frank Miller comic.  Although now that I come to think of it, Middlebury, VT would be the perfect place for a superhero comic.  XDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
** I mean, Jane Goodall has endorsed Nomadicare, so it's gotta count for something, right?