Convalescence Plans And Charity Gaming

Last Friday, I met with my doctor. And, wouldn't you know it, the ol' Spolverino Luck kicked in. I was (not very) politely informed that the surgeries I'd been having had...for lack of a better phrase...a shelf life. They could only be done so many times before they had to do major open surgery. I was less than enthused. So what went from "well, I can grin and bear this for another two months" turned into "I may be recovering for six months and will have a wonderful variety of medical procedures to do while I'm recovering".

Needless to say, whatever can't go wrong, will, and it will. Catastrophically.

So as I stare down the barrel of an exploratory surgery this Thursday, I've been thinking to myself...what can I do during my convalescence? The doctors frown heavily on drinking during recovery. I might be able to get away with doing some reviews of the spirit samples I have (as they are usually 50-100ml samples). I will be doing cigar/pipe/medwakh reviews as well. But I can't smoke every moment of the day. Well...I CAN...but I can't imagine doing that for every waking moment for two to six months.

So I turn to what I normally do. Video games. For me, video games are an anxiety relief. Escapism means I don't have to think about what I'm going through or what I have to go through. I just focus on what's on the screen. I have a wide variety of games that I could play but that doesn't really involve the IWB readers. So I've devised a plan.

I will play games for (semi) charity.

I say semi charity because, frankly, I am going to have massive bills to pay. I've been unemployed since the last time I've had this surgery. So, as much as I hate to say it, part of the proceeds will have to help me pay my hospital bills, doctors bills, prescription costs, and equipment costs. Can't do much about that. But what I CAN do is donate the rest to charity. The first charity I'll be donating to is the National Kidney Foundation.
They rate very well in terms of charities. See here for a whole work-up on them by the Charity Navigator. I'm sure you know by now that my kidneys are not fantastic, with "not fantastic" being a rather strong understatement. If I could, I would love to help everyone everywhere to have new kidneys. But until the manage to make kidneys out of thin air...I don't think I can do that. BUT WE CAN HELP FUND THAT RESEARCH. So the NKF is a charity I'm throwing my enormous girth behind.

The other charity that I'd like to support is probably not well known by you but is near and dear to my heart. I have, since I was two weeks old, been having all of my surgeries (well, technically, 25/27) at Westchester Medical Hospital in Valhalla, NY.

That's right, I've visited Valhalla and have returned. I'm the craziest Viking ever. So I will also be making donations to them because they have supported me since I was born and pretty much helped me live. Okay, DEFINITELY helped me live.

Now, these are 501c3 charities but, sadly, I am not so you can't exactly write this off. But I will be VERY transparent about this. Everything will be split in half. Half to my needs (until the point at which I stop needing it), half to charity. I will do weekly/bi-weekly analysis costs and make them available to you. IF I make excessive amounts of money (which I'm guessing I won't), then I will donate everything but what I need to charity. Examples for clarity:

Let's say I need $600.
I earn $50. $25 goes to me, $25 goes to charity.
I earn $200. $100 goes to me, $100 to charity.
I earn $3000. $600 goes to me, $2400 to charity.

I'm not hear to EARN money. I just want to keep from digging the debt hole deeper than it already is. It's mainly about donating to charity. I hope you can understand my mentality. If you want further explanation...just email me.

I will be using Twitch.tv (for some reason it just lists me as Justin.tv so I dunno what the deal is with that). The link is here. I will also be Tweeting about video games, incessantly, on my other Twitter channel, bacchus_plays. So if you want to support me...and good causes, here's how to do it. Follow, subscribe, and give me feedback (WHICH YOU GUYS ARE NOT FANTASTIC AT). If you have any recommendations on HOW to stream...I'm all ears. Ideally...free is cool. I might go for the Adobe program or the Open Broadcaster Software. Also, if you've got any questions, comments, concerns, or games that I should probably play...let me know. I've got a huge Steam list but it can always get bigger. I will be playing a variety of first person shooters, real time strategy, some massive multiplayer's (FFXI and maybe WoW, depending)...

Oh, and whatever the hell you classify Minecraft as. Not sure WHAT it is, other than "Creeper Explosion Simulator 2: The Enrage-ening."

EDIT: I have added a new charity as well. It is this one:



By all intents and purposes, I am disabled. I meet most of the government definitions. I never consider myself disabled because I guess I feel like there are so many more out there that deserve the title of "disabled" more than I do. But its true. When I read the website...I cried. I dunno if its the Percocets I'm on for the pain or the leftover anesthesia or WHAT...but it hit so close to home I cried. I'm not ashamed to admit it. It's been a wearying few days so maybe that's it. Video games have always helped me escape. I escape pain, discomfort, situations with no silver linings in sight. I can be who I want to be: a powerful wizard or a savvy spy or a noble soldier....instead of a fat kid with PTSD and terrible kidneys. So I will be supporting this charity as well. The charity will be a three way split. If the value doesn't work out, I'll put up a vote on to who gets the extra. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go back to playing Minecraft.