Hello, Watchers! How’s it going??? OH GOD I HAVE THINGS I WANT TO TALK ABOUT BUT I CAN’T YET SO I WILL JUST TEASE YOU LIKE I ALWAYS DO.

So let us discuss things I can talk about!

1) As you may have noticed, the downvote button has been removed. I should have done it earlier, but I’m stepping up and being accountable for it now. It was recently used to bully someone who tried to talk about cissexism and I no longer want to host an environment that can lead to such things. So it’s gone. FOREVER. Like Firefly 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁

2) The site rules have been updated this week to further define my site’s policy regarding oppression/being called out, so please read and internalize such things. This is not up for discussion.

3) I really, really need to change this theme I have going on here. I initially liked it, but it’s responsible for a lot of the Internal Server Errors many of you are seeing and it sucks up bandwidth like a vacuum in my apartment where I wage a daily war I like to call Mark Fights His Cats’ Hair And Repeatedly Loses. So, are there any WordPress themes any of you are partial to? I’m thinking of going with a Headway theme, since they’re easily programmable and I can move away from such an image heavy site. It should improve load times and also be much more accessible for folks concerned about accessibility, since it comes with the ability to add image descriptions as captions! Pretty neat, I think!

4) In less than two weeks, I will disappear from the world for about eight days. Every summer (this being the fourth in a row), I participate in the AIDS/LifeCycle, a 550+ mile bike ride that raises funds for HIV/AIDS prevention and awareness in California. Because federal and state funding was slashed recently, this ride is more important than ever! I’m riding for the San Francisco AIDS Foundation this year since I now live in the Bay Area.

Over the course of seven days, I’ll ride my bike from Cow Palace in South San Francisco all the way to the Veterans Center in West L.A. Yep. All by bicycle! Along the way, I’ll help raise awareness in the many towns that I pass through on my journey down south. On top of that (because we all know that money sometimes truly does help things out), I will have raised thousands of dollars for the SFAF!

I initially wanted to raise $10,000, but between a full-time job and a full-time writing deal between my two sites, I totally slacked on fundraising. However, I am just about $800 short of my fundraising minimum of $3,000, so I’m turning to all of you to see if you can help! I did something special for Mark Reads and covered a Janelle Monae song if people helped me reach $2,000, so I would like to offer something similar to all of you if you can get me to $3,000! The thing is….I don’t know what to do! Want to see a video of me doing something? Or a one-off review? Or a specific live-blog? I AM HERE TO BE USED BY YOU, MY COMMUNITY.

I know money is tight for many of you, so if you cannot donate the minimum ($5), please pass this along to friends and family if you can! Post it on Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. This is honestly a fantastic cause that quite literally keeps people alive, since many folks depend on the SF AIDS Foundation for their prescription medicine to keep them alive, and you’ll be doing a great job in helping keep a center open that services a lot of queer folk and people of color!

So, here’s my donation page at this link.

Whatever is the highest-rated suggestion below is what I will do when I reach $3,000. Unless it’s like MARK MAKE A PORN VIDEO or something. EXCITED! Thank you so much for everything. And I am planning on a full week of posts during the time I am on the ride, so I expect that it should appear as if I’m still here. YAY!

REALLY IMPORTANT EDIT

I have reached $3,000 and will do Mark Reads My Immortal over the course of the week that I am actually on the AIDS ride in June. You are all amazing!!!

PLEASE DONATE TO MY BROTHER’S FUND INSTEAD OF MINE. He still needs a lot more money to make his minimum donation amount!

THANK YOU ALL!