My trip to Kyoto University

[Chrissi]

Hi guys,

Well, you might have noticed I've been kinda on-and-off lately. For me, school takes up most of my time these days, as well as the fact that I'm working part-time. This gives me not much time for internet things anymore. I miss FFR but the fact is that, well, I'm a pretty ****in busy gal these days.

Anyway, I'd like to tell you a little story.

There once was a girl named Chrissi. She was a modest girl, a hardworking girl, who had particular fascinations with technology, sex, world cultures, and brains. She had heard far and wide that a certain university was the ONLY place to go if you wanted to do Computer Science. She figured, why not? Computer Science = $$$$. Nothing better to do with life.

Alas, it was not meant to be. Nature hath not maketh her a mathematician, and so she soon found herself in misery studying mathematical processes. And Chrissi spoketh, "This is not right, this is bad! I am working in a desk addressing the petty whims of my boss, not helping others!" And her generous nature drove her to find another path.

She had taken a course in Psychology as an elective credit, and had quite enjoyed it. She investigated further, and found that it was quite appealing as an area of study. With much haste, she transferred into Psychology.

However, things were not perfect. She was not making any money. She was living off kilograms of rice and not much else. She thought, "There must be some easier way than this!" Her malnutrition drove her to find a job, where she solicited donations from people who had been in her position.

With adequate nutrition comes great responsibility - and great stress. Time was now of the essence. Whereas before she had time to relax, Chrissi now only had time to work and study. It is a hard life, but necessary.

I previously mentioned that Chrissi had an interest in world cultures. She began taking courses relating to East Asian cultures and languages, sparking interest in Japan particularly. Such a mystical place! But Chrissi was not a traveller - travellers were rich people.

However, her sensei encouraged her to take a certain opportunity - the opportunity to go on an exchange trip to Kyoto University in May of 2008. Chrissi, unsure of her position as a traveller, thus spoke, "But sensei! I have no money!" And sensei spoke unto her, "Too bad. You need $4000. Better get it, lol."

And Chrissi cried many a night, knowing that she had but a couple hundred sitting in her bank account, only a meager amount, useful for rent and food and not much else. A full-time job was out of the question, as time was tight enough with only a part-time job.

And lo! Chrissi had an idea. Why not preach this Dharma unto the interwebs, and seek their generosity?


If you are interested in SENDING CHRISSI TO JAPAN, please read on.

Helping to send me to Japan is not without reward! While in Japan, I am at your whim and call. I have a camera, I will have a rail pass, and I will be visiting Tokyo a few times, so if you have donated and you want a picture of any particular place, I'll do my best. The trip is from approximately the beginning-middle of May to the beginning of June.

I will have a website, where I'll blog about what's going on. If you want me to do something, I'll try and do it and report back. Just remember I'm poor, so if you want me to do anything expensive, please pay. And if you happen to want some sort of souveneir, I can also provide this service. But I can only fit so much in my travel bag, so it can't be anything big, and there is limited space. I'm not worried about buying adult things, etc, so if you want some sort of bunny vibrator or something weird, go for it. Just remember that I live in Waterloo, Ontario. If you're nearby, you can probably come pick it up, but for most people, there are going to be shipping costs involved as well (granted, usually less than it would cost to ship from Japan).

If anyone knows of any other enticing services I may offer, please do tell and I may consider them.

Now, the money. I'm getting a friend to help set up a website for me to collect donations, but at the moment, there's nothing up. You can send money to my paypal, at "rediahs at gmail.com". The catch: I need to raise AT LEAST 75% of the funds in order to be able to go. So if I don't break $3,000, there's little or no chance of my going, and I will try my best to return the money in the case that I cannot go, but I'm not entirely sure of how all this stuff works, so the possibility of not getting it back remains.

Also, the only thing that guarantees my going is breaking $4,000. I also don't know what date I need to raise this by. I don't know when the funds are due. Everything is terribly preliminary at this point. I can probably get some sort of loan but I don't have any sort of steady income above what I use to feed myself. So this is going to be kind of hard to pull off.

Regardless! If you want to see a po' Canadian girl go to Japan, please give generously.

I will know more and updated next Wednesday after the official meeting.

Thanks for reading my story, and <3 FFR.



On a suggestion from All_That_Chaz, I've opened the floor for pledges. A pledge is awesome, because it means that you don't have to worry about me not making the goal and trying to get the money back to you somehow and possibly not giving it back. Yeah. That's not a very nice situation to think of.

Anyway, what a pledge means: it is a COMMITMENT. If you say you are going to pledge a certain amount, PLEASE PLAN TO FOLLOW THROUGH. Allowing pledges puts me at a little bit of a disadvantage in a way; there is always the possibility that people will pledge and never come back and never give me the money when I reach the goal. Please don't do this. If you pledge, you promise to give me the money if and/or when I manage to garner enough money through pledges and donations to play for the trip by the due date (which is currently TBA).

Again, it is a COMMITMENT. If you don't intend to help me out upon reaching the goal, please don't pledge. You'll screw everything up. I'd much rather not hit the goal, than hit the goal from a bunch of weak pledges that people don't follow through with. So if you aren't planning to donate when the goal is hit, please just don't pledge.
PLEDGES in order by when they were made

All_That_Chaz $200 (possibly $300 if a stretch is needed)
devonin $100
CypherToorima ???
Maybe LilyPichu ???

Total: $300
Percentage of minimum: 10%
Percentage of required: 7.5%

[Omeganitros]

I love you.

[Chrissi]

If you really loved me, you'd shower me with cash.

Anyway, as my story mentioned, I am a ****ing busy gal, and currently need to get to writing a paper.

HLEP ME.

[Wilkin]

The only thing making me want to donate is the possibliity that the sensei's sentence actually ended with him/her saying lol.

[devonin]

If anyone knows of any other enticing services I may offer, please do tell and I may consider them.

Good thing you didn't include this in the version you posted in TGB

[windsurfer-sp]

Originally Posted by KgZ

lmao devonin

Haha agreed.

Anyway good luck making it to Japan. Sorry im not a cash showering kind of the guy atm.

Try getting Synthlight to sponsor your trip. Give it some "ffr related" reason and he will happily splash some dollars your way.

[All_That_Chaz]

Have you already exhausted possible family aid?

Here's a thought - so people don't feel they're going out on a limb donating, you should allow "pledges." We say we'll give you an amount of money. When the pledges add up to the amount you need, let the pledgers know, and you'll collect.

I was a lucky kid and I'm not in debt at age 23 so I'll go ahead and pledge $200. If it gets down to the wire and you're in need of another $100 or so, I may pony up the difference, but I'm sticking with $200 for now.

Since this is being posted in chit chat, I'm assuming and hoping you're being serious.

[Chrissi]

Originally Posted by All_That_Chaz

I was a lucky kid and I'm not in debt at age 23 so I'll go ahead and pledge $200. If it gets down to the wire and you're in need of another $100 or so, I may pony up the difference, but I'm sticking with $200 for now.

Pledges will definitely be accepted and are just as good as actual money - even better since I don't have to worry about returning the money should I not make my goal. Thank you sooooooooo much for kicking it off!

Originally Posted by All_That_Chaz

Since this is being posted in chit chat, I'm assuming and hoping you're being serious.

Yes, entirely serious. That's the reason it's in chit chat. I would have posted it in TGB except that I want to be taken seriously. This is really srs business. I did cross-link from TGB though.

[lord_carbo]

Drop out of Japanese studies. Take a Spanish course, and go to Puerto Rico for a month where you can do humanitarian work.

[madmatt621]

I did some research for salaries in Computer Science and graduates with a degree in computer science had a annual mean salary at $60,000.

Anyways, I'm going into Athletic Training and they get a mean of $49,682 (Team) and $60,510 (Self-Employed).

[Specforces]

I'm going to the University of Nigeria in about a year, so that's going to be fun.

[ddr_f4n]

I would give you money, but then I would short on cash for my trip to Japan this summer as well.

[adlp]

itt weeabo helps weeabo

+ 1 for white japan

[adlp]

+8 doot/ -1 in offhand

[tsugomaru]

Originally Posted by madmatt621

I did some research for salaries in Computer Science and graduates with a degree in computer science had a annual mean salary at $60,000.

Anyways, I'm going into Athletic Training and they get a mean of $49,682 (Team) and $60,510 (Self-Employed).

What does this have to do with trip anyways?

~Tsugomaru

[CypherToorima]

As soon as you post the date you you need the money by, I'll know how much I can pledge.

[LilyPichu]

Good luck with your goal! I'll see if I can make a pledge, too, although it won't be a huge amount. /._.\

[Chrissi]

I'm getting pretty happy but also kinda worried with all this pledging going on. I don't want to end up in the situation where I think I have enough money in pledges, but some people who previous pledged, for whatever reason, won't pay up.

But that's sort of just a lingering thought. I hope that people who pledge mean it. And thank you very much! As soon as I know the deadline, I will tell you. I will probably know on Wednesday.

[ShAiOnEi]

Just join the military.

[omgitznpv]

can't help you, but hey.

japan was totally worth it when i went there for a while.