Thought of the day: X-a-thons?

UofT is very big on X-a-thons. Whether they be walk-a-thons, climb-the-CN-tower-a-thons, or, as I saw advertized today, dance-a-thons. And I have just one thing to say:

I don't get it.

I don't understand why people would make their donation conditional on my walking a certain number of kilometers, or staying up (both in terms of awake and on my feet) for 24 hours, or not eating for a certain amount of time, or whatever. If people are going to donate to breast cancer, surely they don't need me to do something for it. Why not just canvas a neighbourhood for donations? I don't see how asking "would you like to donate $20 to breast cancer?" works differently from "would you like to donate $20 to breast cancer if I walk 20 kilometers?"

Could someone who has participated in these types of events please tell me the rationale behind them? Because, really, I don't get it.

Today in a nutshell

Today consisted of, in no particular order:

- lots of Latin
- less reading than I'd have liked
- discovering my paper topic for Christianity is too broad and I need to narrow it
- receiving a letter from someone I didn't particularly want to receive a letter from. (Long story.)
- dinner with The Master of Massey College. There was food. Good food. Tasty food. There were other people. Good people. Tast–... yeah. Fun people. Conversation ranged (among other things) from anecdotes about Robertson Davies, the problems of Suburbia, volunteering to work with handicapped children... The night ended with a rousing rendition of "Whiskey in the Jar," performed by Mike and I.

That's it for now. Tomorrow will be laundry day and lots of Social History reading day. Also it's Evaluate Your Life Day tomorrow... are you where you want to be in life?

G'night everyone!