Correspondence: Some Answers

Because of my fiasco, I'll probably have more time to spend on my fundraiser for a while. Thank you all for the donations and votes received so far, and thank you for the interesting suggestions of other charity work (besides my own alternatives 1.Feed homeless, 2.Play for the elderly, and 3.Help schoolkids) you could sponsor my doing.
If you have a really good idea of another good deed for me to do, perhaps you should share it as a comment in this blog, so others can vote for it too? Remember, if I can do it and a majority of voters want me to do it, I promise I will do it, and make a picture of it available to the voters. And I keep my promises! Again, anyone who donates at least USD20 to XMLive can submit a vote on what I should do under 'Donor Information:' on the donation form.

I have received some questions, which I will try to answer below. If people take the trouble to write in and ask, the least I think I can do is to answer to the best of my abilities. The questions I answer here aren't very hard or personal, but being able to openly talk about private things for once, like my job interview, feels wonderful too, so let me make a second promise:

I swear to answer any questions you may have for me if I can and have the time, as long as it won't get anyone in trouble.

Here are the questions I received:

1. Some people wonder if the votes on what charity work I should do carry different weights, depending on the amount of money donated. In a way, they probably should, but then again different people have different means, so it seems a bit unfair. Let's say that I will count the votes equally, but listen extra carefully to suggestions from the people who donate more money!


2. Another question is whether the same person can donate money and vote more than once, and if so, whether this counts as multiple votes or just a single one. This is easier: You can donate money and vote as many times as you like, and I will count all votes separately, even if they come from the same person.


3. A different, totally unrelated question is whether the George Bush whose movie summary I quoted is the current president of the United States, or maybe his father. Answer: Of course not, silly! I don't think that either one of them would be capable of writing such a good summary, and if they did, they wouldn't publish it on IMDB, since it's international. In my opinion, George W tries his best to enforce the most unfortunate of all American streaks: The feeling that the US is the only happy place on a strange and dangerous planet, and because of its 'freedom' anyone can be rich and successful in the US if they try (Kurt Vonnegut writes in Slaughterhouse-Five something like (quoted from my hazy memory) 'The United States is the only country in the world where there are no stories about noble, admirable poor people. This is because the United States hates its poor citizens. Since the people of the United States believe that anyone can become rich through hard, honest work, they are convinced that all poor people are either evil or lazy. Even the poor people themselves are convinced of this.'), and since most Americans believe that no other country in the world has this 'freedom', they think all other countries secretly hate the United States and plot to destroy it, so they should never listen to what anyone else has to say. If any Americans out there think that I shouldn't speak about the United States since I currently don't live there, please don't bother commenting on this post or contacting me to express this, since that only would prove the point I just made.
   
   
   

   
   Anyway – nobody likes a ranting girl, so excuse me, dear friends. It's just that I care deeply about these issues, and I would much rather discuss them with you than with Dad. At least you won't command me to rump up and panty off if you get angry with me…

Read on: