ARCYCLING IS BACK... With Some Changes.

HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ARCYCLERS!!

Did you miss ARCycling? Did you? DID YOU?

(I'm assuming you all just shouted YESYESYES!)



But listen. Things are different now. And here's how:

1. This time around, JUST GABY is running the show. So be patient with me, dear ones. 
2. Instead of doing ARCycling once a week, I'll be running it ONCE A MONTH, usually the FIRST Sunday of the month BUT this is subject to change based on Gaby's schedule. 
3. This month, however, ARCycling will be taking place on the SECOND Sunday of the month. This is because today is the 1st and Sunday is the 5th and I don't think that's enough time for the amount of donations I think you'll all provide if given the chance. 
4. There will be NO time outs or mandatory reviews. If you request two books one month, you can request two books the next month. If you write reviews, don't write reviews, whatever, I don't care. I'm just one person and I don't have time to keep up with all the things, so run, my pretties, run and have books and fun. 
5. ARCycling is still only for US/Canada. Not all books will be available for Canadians. Those books will still be noted in BLUE on THE LIST. 
6. Everything else pretty much runs the same. Check the pages for the specifics, donate some books and be back her on Sunday, October 12th, 2014 for our first session post-hiatus! The exact time of the session will be posted on Twitter the day of, so go follow that Twitter and keep yourself up to date! 

Now that you have all the basics, you should go read up on the rules, found in the "What's Going On Here?" tab. Then you should go to the ARC Donation Form tab and DONATE THOSE ARCS. Because we can't have a session without ARCs. And since I'm giving everyone an extra week to get their donating acts together, I expect things from you. (No, I don't really, but please? kthnxbai)

That's it. If you have any question, shoot them at me on Twitter or send me an email at arcycling@gmail.com!

Hiatus. And what it means for you.

Sometimes you have to know when to do this.

If you're reading this, this most likely means you are a fan of us, whether donator or requester. And if you're a fan of us, you might have been aware of some of our failures and shortcomings the past few months. Frequent cancellations, emails getting forgotten -- in fact, I think one week we all three forgot it was even Sunday until it was Monday. Oops.

Despite my ridiculously busy life, I have to say I am AWARE of this. I haven't always been able to fix it, but I've been aware. And it's just come to the point, where I've decided to temporarily shut down ARCycling rather than continue our suffering. Lili and Gaby regrettably agree on this point.

Now, to answer the questions that will invariably come:

Wait. WAT. When will you open again????????????????
Er, not sure, friend! Could be a few weeks or maybe even a few months, but the point is that all three members are just too busy to run ARCycling efficiently and BELIEVE ME, it's better have to a hiatus-ed program than a hot mess of a program. We know when we are beat. See above white-flag waving gif.

I donated books, what happens to them?
I'll be sending out emails today, but we release your books back to you. Any donated books that you've currently submitted will be cleared from our records. If/ when we decide to open again, we'll put out a call then.

What happens to the Two Week Time Out/ time restrictions? Do they hold?
Uh, no. If/ when we open again, no one will be on time out. That would be ridiculous.

Should I still submit reviews?
YES. PLEASE. Be SURE to tweet us with links so we have away of recording them immediately. We might be closed for the moment, but we still appreciate the shiny reviews!

So... this means I still have to review the books I have?

Yes.

Will you miss us?

Well, this is depressing. Can we have some gifs like the good old days to make us feel better?
ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY. There's always time for gifs. I'll even go into my gif vault for you guys.

What you guys HAVE to be like with us at this point. But no, really.


What it was like for me to write this post:


What you did upon seeing the first word of the title of this post:

What you might need after reading this:

What you might want to do to us after reading this:


But seriously, what our lives are really like:


So, luckily, with a blog...


Let's end on a serious note. SERIOUS LAUGHTER NOTE.


Well, that was fun. See ya on the flip side, guys!


*I could apologize for the amount of Dan and Phil gifs in this post, but I won't. If you know who they are, then you know why it was needed. If not, I warn you, they are nothing but internet holes. Don't fall for their cute, innocent British boy faces.

Annndddd.... introducing....

It's become a little clear that Lili and I needed help. Between Lili's college and Jennifer's three jobs, things were falling through the cracks. Oops.

So Jennifer went a huntin'... I mean... recruiting. The search was short. Gaby! Who is Gaby? Well, she's this chick on Twitter and this her blog, Queen Ella Bee Reads! And actually (surprise, surprise) she co-ran yesterday's session with Lili and wasn't scared off by you lot! She even called it 'fun'! Mad woman.

We're still working this new triumvirate out from week to week, but this means we'll have email responses out faster and widget updated more. Jennifer's been really dropping the ball on that. Sorry.

This means less stress for Jennifer and Lili.


And more results for you guys:


Now, everyone celebrate the adding of Gaby! The 3rd ARCycling girl. Her stick figure will be coming soon!

Clarifying the Changes

There have been a few questions about the changes, so I just want to clarify a few things.

REQUESTERS

• If you get your request in immediately, odds are that you will get a response the way the program is normally run
• If you get it in late, you will most likely get a response really late into the night (we're talking anywhere between 11 and 2) if not Monday morning
• The list will close really late Sunday night so everyone has a chance to get to it

DONATORS

• Your e-mails will go out any time between late Sunday night and early Tuesday. We have to do it when we have the free time, you know? We will do them all at once and always announce on twitter when they are complete.
• In some instances they will be done on time if either of us manage to be free

Hope that clears up any questions!

Updates!

What with Lili being busy at college and Jennifer working 3 jobs (yes, yes, I'm awesome, I know it) ARCycling is going to have to be shifted. SLIGHTLY.

Things are going to run pretty much the same as always, open, close, books-free-for-all, etc. but it's those emails, man. Those emails. They kind of take forever. You wouldn't think so, but they do. So from now until further notice, emails might be going out a bit later than usual.

The emails to people who got books are quick and easy enough, they should go within the same time frame, but Donators, you awesome people, you. You will be getting them any time from Sunday night to Tuesday, at the very latest. This is to allows us a little wiggle room with our tight schedules.

Anyway, that's all!

ARCycling is cancelled for 9/1/13!

Sorry! That's life!
This does NOT count towards Two Week Time Out. Basically So, if you were to get off this week, you get off next week. If you were to get off next week, you actually get off the week after. Wherever you currently are in your time outs, push it back a week. All donations will be held to next week.

Sorry again!


Now to explain why, Jennifer is working (dull) and Lili, well, Lili is moving in for her freshman year of college!! So while she hasn't abandoned us (yet) for the wild college life, let's start her off in the only way ARCycling knows how to do. Gifs.
Always.
Gifs. Always.

So as someone who's been there, done that, here we go.

First, Lili's gonna be all:


Then she's going to realize college is different than high school:


Especially when she sees those textbook prices:


Then inevitably, this happens to just everything:


Then finals come... oh yes...:


But the most important thing, is to have a party:


And make friends:


And learn some stuff:


And, finally have a blast in Manhattan:


Stay tuned for any planned service changes to ARCycling in the coming weeks as we adjust to have a college student in our midst.

Guess. What.

It's been a year. We are a year old. A year. 12 months. 52 weeks. 365 days. 8760 hours. 525600 minutes.

Okay, a year give or take your definition, but for sure a year that this blog has been open.
Now it's stats time.
In that year, we got to 600 followers. We've had over 800 books given a second, or third chance at life. We've had 250 reviews that wouldn't have existed otherwise. We've had over 200 unique donators. This is all so happying.

And do you know what that means? GIF TIME.
So lately I've rejoined the world of popular things by finally watching Sherlock, Avengers and the solo movies that led up to it and before that Star Trek. So, we're just gonna have a big crazy fandom explosion of all of these things. Get ready for your computer to be loading for like 10 minutes, like the old school days of AOL dial up.*
*Jennifer just dated herself a whole hell of a lot. Dang.

When someone (or me) gives me the idea for a gif post:


When someone is oddly evasive about giving me their full name because it's the internet:


When I make a mistake and just have to publicly eat it:


When someone asks me to do something simple:


When I totally forget it's Sunday until Lili asks me when we should open:


Me, I have to do ARCycling by myself:


When that's not the case and Lili and I are in it for the long haul:


And we knock it out like the bad asses we are:


How I dramatize pressing the 'Publish' button in my head as we open:


When we open and nothing moves instantly:


Me, to Lili for being my TWTO girl:


What solving most problems actually feels like:


When people think I actually get mad over most things:


When I actually get mad for people trying to cheat my system:


When a 'big' book donation no longer surprises me:


When I get a WEIRD book donation:


Me, when something comes up about Two Week Time Out and I pawn it off on Lili:


When I look at someone's blog who wants to request and their reviews are three sentences:


And...


And then...


And finally, my answer:


And our reaction to said blog:


When I get some snippy "suggestion":


Because of course...


When I navigate my massive spreadsheets like a BAMF:


Me, when I 'catch' someone who hasn't gotten their book mailed out in a timely fashion:


Trying to do ARCycling when my internet is slow:


When someone is just SO EXCITED for the book they got:


And now I end on a fantastic crossover:


Good gods, that was exhausting.

Now that you've successfully gotten to the end of this post, you're rewarded with information on a giveaway! Lili does the giveaways, I do ridiculousness.
Go here.