Besides being yet another Friday 13th… today is indeed Comic Relief’s Red Nose Day!
Ah, you wonder. What’s that? Well, from their respective websites:
Comic Relief:
Our vision is ‘a just world free from poverty’.
Our mission, thanks to our comedy heritage and the fantastic relationship we enjoy with the BBC, is ‘positive change through the power of entertainment’.
And our biggest tool, in trying to achieve these two goals, is the ability to inspire people across the whole country especially those who don’t normally do charity – to do charity.
And Red Nose Day (RND):
Red Nose Day is, quite simply, a day like no other! We take some fantastic fundraising in schools, offices and homes across the land, mix it with the nation’s favourite celebrities getting up to all kinds of mischief, sprinkle a new Red Nose (or three!) across the entire UK and add a cracking night of comedy on BBC One to make Red Nose Day the phenomenon it is.
If you are intrigued further, I highly suggest going through the nifty flip-book style storyline of RND’s ‘Story So Far’.
One of the main goals (emphasised this year – there are many things Comic Relief as a charity help towards all year round) is to raise money towards putting a stop to the malaria crisis in Africa. You’ve only got to see a short clip of one of the many films made about parents who are watching their babies and children die from malaria, and you’ll feel just how serious this is.
The mind boggling thing about it all is that malaria is something easily preventable. Something we (the developed world) don’t even have to think about, yet is something that kills a child in Africa every 30 seconds. I don’t think I’m the only one who literally gets wet eyes even thinking about that for a moment.
I’m not writing this blog post to… well, bring sadness to your day. Red Nose Day has always been something I’ve always enjoyed being a part of since I was old enough to understand what it meant. I thought I would take this time to share what I’ve done for it today (admittedly, not much, but it’s better than nothing) and to also help spread the word just that little bit further.
So I first decided to follow one of Red Nose Day’s twitter accounts (they have a number of them for different things). This was to mainly follow how the Red Nose Climb of Mount Kilimanjaro went.
Then tonight, via the very useful BBC iPlayer I managed to watch the documentary about the climb as a whole and it immediately made me want to donate.
And I did. £30. I know it’s not much, but the point is that if everyone gives then it amounts to quite a lot. I then gave another £1 for a red nose to be added to an uploaded photo of my choice. I believe this is the first year ‘digital noses’ have been available – usually you buy a physical round red nose to wear during the day.
I then ‘donated’ my Facebook status to RND, to be updated by their page as they choose.
All in all, small actions, by one (small?) person but still completely worthwhile.
One of the reasons Comic Relief and Red Nose Day is something I love is simply because it’s making a difference in the world by making ‘ordinary’ folk give through laughter. And I love laughter. 
@ 23:06 Friday 13th the total money raised was standing at £32,802,411. Wow.
Update @ 21:53 Saturday 14th the total for Red Nose Day itself was £57,809,938. I’ve also given a bit more money by downloading £10 worth of singles from the top 40 on iTunes. (25p from a 79p song in the top 40 will be donated from iTunes to Comic Relief – amongst donations from other downloads as well).
Before you panic and start thinking my blog has been hacked into or I’ve been lying all along about my nationality: neither has happened. Yes the title of this blog post is not in English. Keen eye. Ah, but do you know what it is written in?
Well I’ll tell ya. The clue lies within today. It’s the Chinese New Year! And the title of this blog post simply says ‘Happy New Year’. I think. So yes, happy New Year to you!
…
‘Um… I thought New Year’s was January 1st,’ you whisper quietly, so as to not disturb or offend my seemingly insane thoughts.
Yes that’s quite right but for me January 1st is no day to set as an example for the rest of the year. Oh no. You see because I do happen to get rather drunk on alcohol the day before, so Jan 1st is a sleep/rest/peaceful day. Not one for looking wistfully into the future and being proactive. And all that joy.
So, a first for me, I’m ‘choosing’ (if I can indeed do such a thing) is to count my New Year’s as today. That way I’m not sleeping off alcohol and I’ve had a good 4 weeks to actually think about the year ahead. Sounds good to me!
If you are wondering why I chose the Chinese New Year, rather simply I love all things Chinese. I hope to learn Mandarin when I can find the time and I want to spend a good deal of time visiting China. Cool beans.
Righty so let’s get to it. My main ideas/thoughts/goals for the year of the ox are (in no particular order):
- Put hell of a lot more effort into maintaining this site/blogging. It is something I actually enjoy, yet fail to put time into! Due to less time spent in front of a computer these days, I’m experimenting into others ways of blogging (i.e. via my mobile phone).
- Get damn well better at staying in contact with everyone. This includes my immediate family, my distant family. My immediate friends, my distant friends. Offline friends, online friends. And rather oddly, myself! I do this via writing in my journal with a good ol’ pen. I’ve not done it for a good few months and I should really do it every day!
- Get clear with myself just what the hell I’m doing with my time and essentially my life! It sounds deep, I guess it is. Towards the end of 2008 I realised my life is my own. So I want to start making decisions for myself and not other people and their own goals. With this I need to sort out what I want to be doing with my life!
- Read more. I was such a bookworm for so many years (if not the majority of my life) but the past three years has seen the time I spend reading dramatically decline. I’m not sure why, but I do miss it so I want to bring the comfort of a good smelling book back to my mornings.
- Save money. Simple. Put money into my savings account rather than letting it sit in my main account just waiting to be spent.
- Eat better. Mainly, less fat. I’m not trying to be a health nut but I want to eat just a little bit more consciously towards what I’m putting into my body. I’ve found a great tasting and healthy food in (fruity, not nutty) muesli. I know, I’m shocked too but it’s actually really good!
- Do more exercise. Really. During the summer I was pretty good but since then my exercise routine has quite literally diminished. But I like exercising. It feels gooood. Honestly! (And I have a little spare weight I’d like to shuffle).
Hmm beyond that I don’t think there’s much more I’m working towards this year. That I’ve thought about yet anyway! Some things are standard, others are… not so standard… *laughs*
Anyway, there is no point dragging this post out so I’ll leave you with that.
Happy Chinese New Year! Feel free to share your own goals for 2009. 
She is a wee bit crazy, hyper, random and generally rather odd. But perhaps just a typical English twenty year old gal?
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