One of the activities I undertake each year is collect toys for a local orphanage in Japan. While the orphanages here are pretty well run compared to other places in the world, there isn’t a whole lot of extra money for toys for the kids. So every year I go around and collect small toys such as bottle cap figures, key chains, phone straps and plush (stuffed animals) for the boys and girls.
In one of our recent discussions about this blog (my wife has learned to ignore it to a great extent, but when she does visit, I usually get an earful…) this past weekend, my wife commented that it’s always the same people who comment on this blog which means it’s only the same people who read this blog all the time. I argued that while there are a core group that tend to comment quite a bit, there are a lot of readers that just read and never comment (I should have added, “because everything is so ridiculous that it makes them speechless” but I was already treading on this ice of being sent to the couch in the Hello Kitty sleeping bag).
She gave me one of those laughs like “nice try, but I won’t believe it till I see it.” So I challenged that if I can get 1000 different people to comment on a post, would she be willing to donate some of her Hello Kitty stuff to the orphans? She agreed, but also stipulated that if I fail to reach 1000, I have to take her on a Hello Kitty trip this August and I’m not allowed to complain at all (that certainly would be nothing short of Hello Kitty Hell…)
So here’s the deal. For every 5 new people that comment (if it’s to say something bad about Hello Kitty, all the better, but even if it is something positive, I will forgive you since it’s for a good cause) my wife said that she will donate a Hello Kitty toy to the toy drive (even if if the total doesn’t reach 1000). 100 comments means 20 toys, 500 comments means 100 toys and 1000 comments means 200 toys. With your help, I have the opportunity to rid our house of 200 Hello Kitty items that will go to a good cause and my wife won’t even be able to complain about it. How great would that be?
Since I don’t want me wife accusing me of cheating, please don’t make multiple comments under different names (it’s too easy for her to figure it out). If you have never commented before, this is your chance to say something and help out a great cause. Please also take a few moments to spread the word and tell your friends. The thread needs 1000 comments from different people to donate the maximum number of toys — that’s less than half the current rss feed readers. Not only will I be deeply grateful in getting 200 products of the evil feline out of this house, it’s not often that you can bring a smile to the face of a child by simply leaving a short comment. Thank you in advance for all those that are willing to help.
Start commenting!!
Update: “Wow” is all I can say. When my wife and I made the deal, I had to reach 1000 comments before the end of the month. It took just over 2 days to accomplish it with all of your help. While I did find the number of Hello Kitty fanatics that read this blog a bit disturbing, I’ll suppress that horror knowing that this house will have 200 less Hello Kitty products crowded inside in the weeks to come and that there is no need to go on a Hello Kitty vacation this summer! That is certainly a great relief and something to celebrate!
Of course, I will photo document all the items with the evil feline that leave this house with great joy and pleasure as we pack them up and deliver them. Those will appear in future update posts about it. This is probably the biggest victory ever in Hello Kitty Hell and is certainly something that I could get used to!
Feel free to keep commenting. I’m not sure what the comments above 1000 will mean at this very moment, but I’ll figure out how to make those above 1000 help out as well for all those that took the time to stop by and help a good cause.
I’d just like to take another moment to thank everyone that took the time to comment to help out the kids. It’s very much appreciated.
