Do Something Great This Weekend

Alright, I’m still pissed off over Barnes & Nobel calling this week ‘Black Friday Week’ on top of Black Friday even existing, but my rage from this morning as dissipated a bit and I’m going to do something constructive. I’m going to ask you to donate but in a few different ways that I think are great.

First, I implore you to donate money or blood to the American Red Cross. For some of you donating blood is a bit of a commitment, which is why I point out that you can also donate money to the Red Cross. I ask for a blood donation first because they always need blood, I assume they always need money too but blood and components are more important to me. A few years ago when my mother was sick the donations of blood, packed white blood cells, packed red blood cells and plasma were important and great in helping her. Due to the kindness of other people she made it a bit longer and was able to take care of some things before dying. She encouraged my brothers and myself to donate, as a way to pay forward the kindness of someone else who donated. I have reasons to not be able to donate blood, but will find a chance to donate money to the Red Cross, which is tax deductible for the fiscally minded in the room.
Information on donating to the Red Cross can be found here: Donation information

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If you want to donate money to children, there's Desert Bus for Hope. It's a real time game about driving from LA to Las Vegas, a 6 hour drive or something, but the bus is made to not be able to drive straight so you can't just hold don the button and walk away which the game plays itself. Donations means people play this game for longer periods of time, it's a vicious hellish road or boredom with very little. When you complete the trip, you are awarded with a return trip! Should you crash you get to wait for a tow truck to pick you up! Riveting, isn't it? The money donated goes to Child's Play, an organization that gets video game systems and toys into hospitals to make a child's stay suck a little less. You can straight donate money to DBH, or you can  bid on some of their fabulous auctioned prizes, which currently include Jayne's Hat, a Megaman helmet knit hat and other handmade goodies, a Darth Vader figure in it's original 1996 box and what not. Some Dark Horse merchandise has be put up for auction; there's a replica of Ramona's star bag, a pixel Goomba blanket, Magic cards, a DJ Hero bundle, and more, so you can be selfish and helpful at the same time! What I really like about DBH is that is showed up out of nowhere i 2007, I heard about it then, and it's been growing since.

Desert Bus for Hope Child's Play

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The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society because it's not  all about breast cancer, and which is what my mom had.They have some text message donation and different ways to help, and things you can buy online if you want to help that way.

Donate online right now and How to Help

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I think I've tapped out my writing abilities for now, but please, if you can, donate. If not to these donate to other valid and safe groups that need money or attention. There are national bone marrow donation groups, specific cancers, children, education, homeless, LGBT groups and more out there that need attention. I decided to channel my rage in getting an e-mail calling this week 'Black Friday Week' into sharing information about worthy groups that are always looking for help. So please, do something great and donate. Not just this winter, not just winter but all year round, the need doesn't stop just because the year's over.


Jasmine P.

"Adult"

This is bullshit. Applying for FAFSA is fucking bullshit. I jump through all these fucking hoops and now I get stopped just because my father's alive. To quickly explain why his living is a bad thing: my parents have been divorced since I was about 1 year old. My mother had sole custody over my brothers and myself until she died. She died when I turned 18 which automatically makes me an independent. I checked that box on FAFSA because my father does jack shit to provide for my well being. He doesn't even send me money once a month, which he did for my brothers. If I want money from him I have to either directly ask him for it, or I have to try to beg for it by sounding as pathetic as I can to see if he gives me anything. It's gatdamn bullshit.

Cut to now. My mother has been dead for three years, I've been an independent and my father isn't giving me shit. I haven't been working but I've had my inheritance to spend on school for three years, it's running a bit low. I call campus Financial Aid to figure out why they need my father's information and it's because he's alive. If I say I made an attempt to contact him they'll say that and I guess I'll be awarded the money they tentatively told me I could receive. The problem herein lies in the fact that my father will respond, he will fill in his tax information and FAFSA might not give me any money because he of whatever he fucking makes. Or they'll give me less. Either way it works out not in my benefit and I might be screwed and have to apply for a loan from somewhere else.


I guess I understand where the government is coming from in wanting both parent's information, but he's dead. If my mother was still alive they wouldn't have needed his information because she had custody, so now, just because she's dead and he isn't they need his information. I honestly don't know how much he makes, I'm just assuming it's more then enough to keep me from getting shit and that makes me a very sad Jasmine. Sad and furious. I bet you that if I had been in trouble and I told the government the same shit about m father they wouldn't care that he's alive. But when I need money from them they make me jump through the most idiotic of hoops to get a few pennies. In the grand scheme of things $20k isn't that much to the government, I don't understand why they're trying to hard now to not spend it when they spend a few million if not billion every fucking day. I mean if education is so important in this country make it easier for people to either afford fucking college or make it easier for people to get money to pay for college.

I just want money for school. I want to be done with school and I want to really be perceived as an adult because this shit makes me feel like a child. I hate feeling like a child.

Jasmine P.