Welcome to my Virtual Birthday Fun(d-raising) Party page. As many of you know, with the exception of the ongoing problems at the Fukushima nuclear reactor, the aftermath of the tsunami has fallen out of the news. However, hundreds of thousands of people are struggling to put their lives back together from zero, many having lost all possessions, home and family.

Being 'between jobs' again, I don't have much to contribute financially to this area of Japan, so I'm contributing my 35th birthday to the cause! As those of you who know me will know, I'm not one for celebrating birthdays - well, at least not my own - so I might as well use this one to do some good.

But how will this raise money for the people of northern Japan? Firstly, I'm asking anyone who would normally buy me presents (the select and generous few - you know who you are and thank you!) not to buy presents, but to donate the money you would have spent here. If you want to send me something, a picture of what you would have bought will be lovely thanks!

And to the rest of you, I'd like to invite you to a Virtual Birthday Party!! The idea is simple - you look at the itinerary below, budget for a night out in London (drinks, dinner, then more drinks, tube fares, and enough for a taxi if you really want to go large), you take that money and donate it here. Simple! And what do you get out of it? Well, no rich food to upset your digestion, no embarrassing activities after drinking too much (you know who you are!!), no hangover in the morning, and a general sense of well-being!

I'll be on-line with web cam (chrismass1 on skype) and beers, and mobile phone on hand, so you can all drop by and join me virtually through the evening. Here's the virtual itinerary:

Date: Sunday 10th April (4 days after my birthday, but figured more people would be free and not have excuses on a Sunday)

Itinerary:

17:00-19:00 ish - Porterhouse, Covent Garden (beers about £3 each)

19:00-21:00 ish - Off for food at some Italian restaurtant around there (don't know why Italian, just fancy it for my birthday) at about £15 a head (£20 if you're going for dessert & coffee)

21:00-23:00 ish (well, it's Monday tomorrow) - Fancy some live music, so off to 12 Bar Club (never been, just googled it) for their Jam Night - £3 entry plus a few beers.

So feel free to 'come' to the bits you normally would, spend no more (or less) than you normally would on my birthday evening out, throw in your tube/bus/taxi, get out your credit card and leave the rest to the nice people at JustGiving.com (remember to sign up for gift aid, you UK tax payers!) And remember, if we don't raise more than 200 quid, I'll be sorely depressed that none of you wanted to come out for my birthday!! And with 200 quid, that's another couple of hundred people fed and watered for a day.

To see my other fund-raising project, Selling My Life, and to pick up some bargains, see my other page: http://www.acculturate.co.uk/selling-my-life.html

And if you don't know about donating through JustGiving, here's their spiel:
"Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity."

So please dig deep and donate now. Happy Birthday me!!