Goodbye Desert Bus

Well, another Desert Bus for Hope has come and gone and, once again, the folks at Loading Ready Run have raised and unfathomable amount for Child's Play. As of today, the total is over $197,000 and counting, and the boredom of Desert Bus went on for a ridiculous 141 hours.

Thanks to everyone who donated to help the kids and torture the players. My silly little underwear raised $125. I think next year, now that I know about the craft along, I'm going to start sooner and make something a little more involved. Also, I'm going to try harder to win the auctions I want, and not let another awesome set of sushi plates slip away from me. Helen, they are beautiful.

But most of all, thanks to those crazy kids at LRR for putting themselves through this. Also a quick thanks for the mention of my blog!

Desert Bus Begins!!!

Desert Bus for Hope has finally begun, with all proceeds benefiting Childsplay. Be sure to check out all the awesome crafts up for auction, or make a donation and see how long they can play the worlds most boring video game!

Desert Bus and Magic Yarn Ball!

So, I have completed my project for the Desert Bus Craft Along! Since I have been really into the underwear creation lately, and I had an appropriately nerdy T-shirt that had run its course (Thanks Mike's mom for the awesome shirt!), I thought I would put one out there and see how it does in the craft-along!

I will post a link to the auction once it's up!

I have also finished a Magic Yarn Ball for Swap-Bot! I had never heard of a magic yarn ball before, but soon got excited once I found out. Basically, you wrap up a ball of yarn with gifts inside that the receiver will discover as the ball unravels! How fun is that!

I was hoping to be inspired by my partners profile, but found myself strangely uninspired with respect to what to put in the yarn ball - I just ran out of ideas. I was not that happy with the gifts I had come up with for the ball, until I went to wrap them up, and decided I was going to make something to put in the middle - and took a bunch of stuff I just had lying around the apartment to make an awesome pair of earrings:

They're made of wire, beads and buttons, and I think I'm going to have to make a similar pair for myself very soon...

Desert Bus for Hope - How You Can Help!

I just got back from Iqaluit, and went straight to Seattle for PAX - North America's largest gaming convention. It's crazy good fun, and I will make a more detailed post in the very near future.

At PAX was a video game themed sketch comedy group from Victoria called Loading Ready Run. If you've never seen their videos before, one of my favourites is How to talk like a pirate, perfect for Talk Like a Pirate Day (September 19th!).

Every year, Loading Ready Run hosts a fundraiser for Childsplay called Desert Bus for Hope. This year, it starts on November 19th. Check out the blog for the event here.

Desert Bus for Hope is basically a video game marathon with the most boring video game ever made (though not released) where you drive back and forth across the desert in real time. The road is straight, and there are no other drivers, but the bus slowly drifts off the road, so you constantly have to input commands.

There's a nice little news story on YouTube here that explains the event pretty well, but basically, there are a series of drivers taking shifts playing the game 24 hours a day. Previous years they had 4 drivers playing in shifts of 4 hours. This year, they have 5 drivers, and they will be each playing shifts of 24 hours. That's right - 24 hours of the most boring game ever made. And the bonus is that the more money they raise, the longer they have to play - so if they raise enough, the first person to play will have to go all over again!

In conjunction with the video game marathon, they are actually having a Desert Bus Craft along. If you are a crafter and have something they could auction off, be sure to check out their blog post on the Craft Along - they have a super cute video describing how to send in your craft for the auction too!

You can also watch the entire game marathon in real time. Make sure you contribute to keep them driving!