Fund Raising - Extra-Life's 24hr Gaming Marathon : Gaming for a Good Cause

You thought that games were all bad, and gamers were all sloppy, aimless d00ds.
You thought wrong, my friend.

We’re inspired, and on a Mission. A Mission started by Sarcastic Gamers in 2008 in honour of Victoria Enmon (aka Tori) – a young girl who despite her sickness, went on to inspire many with her spirit, determination and love.

Initially, Sarcastic Gamers donated games and other gifts to keep her spirits up whilst she battled 3 rounds of the disease. After she lost her battle, Sarcastic Gamers set up Extra-life, a 24hour video game marathon to raise funds for the Texas Children’s Hospital (which is a part of the Children’s Miracle Network), in honor of her.

Over $300,000 was raised in the first 2 years of Extra-Life which has since partnered with the Children’s Miracle Network which allows donors to pick which hospital from the network that they’d like their funds to go to.

I will be participating with Razer to raise funds for Rady Children’s Hospital, and we’re all so hyped about it, not because we’re excited about having an excuse to play games, but because this is one of the rare times that we can do what we love whilst using it as a means to help sick children and support their families. All too often, gamers are viewed as being self-absorbed in their fantasy world, and this is the second aim of Extra-Life – to show that we do have hearts, and we will rally to worthy causes.

How this works :
I will attempt to play games for 24 hours straight, and I’m looking for a MINIMUM of 4 kinds souls to sponsor me $1 EACH for every hour that I play.
But I’m sure we can all do better for that, after all, it IS for charity, so I've set myself a target of $500.
(Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and all donors will receive an IRS compliant tax receipt.)

Sincerely,
PMS|furryfish*

Support me HERE 
See my Extra-Life page HERE
Read more about Victoria Enmon here:
http://therecordlive.com/article/OrangeCountyNews/OrangeCountyNews/VictoriaEnmondiesfromLeukemia/31738

power struggles

Most of the time, it’s better to take the carrot approach, as opposed to the stick approach, even if you’re in the position to use the stick.

Recently, some people in my life have been insisting on certain things, and most of the time, I comply, not because I can’t say no, but because I’m trying to be gracious.

I wonder though, if people realise they are getting their way, not because they are right, or because I am weak, but because I’m being nice.

Speaking about being nice, I know that sometimes I’m a little short in my replies, especially to queries I get online – facebook pm, facebook wall, msn.

I do try to reply in as much detail as I can, most of the time, but it DOES get a little tiring to have to reply the same question a few times, and to reply questions which could very well have been answered by google.com.

I try, but I fail, especially when I’ve had a bad day, a busy day… which is almost every day.

Oh, and it does annoy me a little when people drop me another message a few hours after their first to say that they are still waiting for a reply. -.-

So, forgive me. I know it sucks to receive curt replies, or no reply at all, which I why I still strive to leave a few words to most of what I receive.

Try to think for me too ok!

I’m considering storing up all the queries I get, and just replying them once or twice a week. Idea?

***

Anyhow, we (we being eliza, huayan and myself) are on digital life today. Will post a pic of the article when I have it!

being a... woman

it's really difficult being a woman.
if you look too good, people will be too afraid to approach you.
if you look bad, you'll be insulted even if you don't purposely draw attention to yourself.
you have to look pretty without trying too hard, and you have to do it tastefully enough so that you don't seem like a slut.

as i get older, i realise that it's harder and harder to maintain yourself. (or maybe its because as you get older, you're exposed to more and more treatments, and more people, and you have the spending power...)
hair takes up a few hundred bucks a year, and if you wanna be extra pampered, you've gotta spend on manicures, pedicures, facials, massages... waxing if that's your preference.

but i guess it's fun, in a way. at least when you DO look good, you're admired and it IS easier to get your way, with both guys and females.
and you are more or less entitled to spend time and money on yourself. entitled, if not expected.
a guy spending time and money on beautifying himself would just be called gay - because metro is not widely accepted here.
i mean... can you imagine what the beautician would say if a guy walked in and asked for eyelash perming?!

oh well. but being female... it's fun i guess.
but if given a chance, i might want to try out being a guy for a day.
it seems pretty fun to be able to pee out of a hose.
hahaha...

***
and i'm too lazy to caps the right letters, as usual.

Of female divisions and sideshows

i've been asked about what i think about competing in a competition divided by gender.
i have to admit that competing in an all-female division sounds pretty good to me.
before you judge me, here's why -

the dota market is saturated right now with highly skilled players
i echo the sentiments of chawy and hyhy when they spoke about considering switching to LoL as their main game. the top players have already marked out their territory, and the rest will just not be able to reach that standard and skill level. the game has been around for so long now, that the top players know who they are, and they've banded together to form unbeatable teams.
Playing against a normal guys team is fine, when we meet those, we normally beat them and progress. its playing against a serious competitive guys team which we have problems with.
because of the time and money involved, non serious teams will take part on an adhoc basis, and only the guys who are seriously competitive will actually take part regularly.
can i add that the standard of DOTA here in singapore is high. its very high.
and trust me, after first round out-ing and second round-outing most of the competitions for the past few years, its actually sounds very tantalising to compete against other female teams whose standards aren't as high as a competitive guys team.

there are only so many girls around
YES, we've been around as 5 for a while, but more out of neccesity than by choice. not that i don't love the girls, i do. but if you take a look around, how many other female dota competitive gamers are there, and how many of them located near enough to us here in Singapore?
Let's take a look at the number of female gamers who have entered and left the competitive scene in Singapore. i daresay that 4/5ths of them have left the competitive scene and are playing casually, if at all, now.

so why stick together?
then again, you might ask why we choose to play as an all girls team, instead of playing in mixed teams?
simple, most of the guys we've started out playing in mixed teams with have gone mia, switched to other games, because dota's been out for so long that they've lost interest in it. Yes, we used to compete in mixed teams, and depending on the line up, the performance varied - from reaching 1st/2nd place to first round out.
as 5 girls, there's a better bond, and it lasts longer.
guys are all cool with trashtalking and back smacking each other, but when it comes down to sticking together as 5, there are lots of ego problems, power struggles...
not that we don't have that now, but i guess as females, we're already used to putting up with that sh1t from the guys around us.

and yes, i know about how people view female divisions - its like watching soccer in slow motion, its like watching 2 awkward people face off each other, its just a b00bs and t1ts fest.
yeah ok. how you want to view it, is up to you.
but i'm pretty sure that no guy team out there has worked as hard as my team has on marketing, publicity, and picking ourselves up when we get pwned in training and competition. and we've done this ON OUR OWN.
also,
what other guy team out there has survived years of getting pwned and still tries?

if you want to comment on our make up, and how we bother to dress a little nicer, then tell your girlfriend to just wear your boxers and t-shirt when you're going for a movie date with her. every date with her, for that matter.
oh, and make sure you don't style your hair and put on contacts instead of spectacles either.