The Fundraiser is Over, Long Live the Fundraiser!

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

So… how was the fundraiser this year?

So far about half of last year. That’s half of what last year’s was for the two weeks of fundraising.

I’d be scared this meant I was losing readership, if it weren’t for the fact that the people who donated are about the same as last year, but their donation was a half or a quarter of last year’s.

And I get it. Things are tough for everyone. I remember when $200 of groceries was a very full cart. Now, to be fair, that was 20 years ago, so it might be I’m old. But still you wouldn’t believe how much stronger I’ve gotten. I can lift that with one arm.

And then there’s the fact that the times being tough for everyone means we all are donating to more people, and tend to prioritize giving to those who need it.

Then there’s the fact that this blog has four thousand subscribers, but I know most of them don’t receive the email. How do I know that? Because of the number of you who tell me you finally found weeks of posts in your spam because this site is tagged as “dangerous” and “disinformation.”

Which — shakes head — tells you how desperate the left is. They have nothing to sell, all they can do is prevent our side being heard.

Now, the truth is the fundraiser this year was also marred ON MY SIDE by a bunch of things.

The normal, at least until I can get in for a sleep study and get a new machine, which will be probably end of August, because that’s the earliest they could get me in on an emergency appointment, is that these posts have all been very late, due to me waking up in a panic and staying awake middle of the night. (It’s probably the machine. Unless it’s a touch of foretelling, which I hope not.)

Late posts get fewer hits, even on the throttled rate.

But even so, this year’s fundraiser two weeks were extra gifted. About a day before it started my laptop keyboard died.

I still have a desktop, but I try to keep the social media on the laptop, so that I’m not tempted to it when I’m upstairs. So, the laptop going out before a campaign I conduct mostly on the net was…. fun.

We fixed it by putting a keyboard on top of the keyboard (since it’s on my lap, I can’t put it in front of the keyboard) which in turn gave occasional fun times of “the computer is possessed” as the keyboard on top pressed keys on the bottom. Keys like the space bar or the cap lock. (SO MUCH cap lock.) This made the posts still later, and occasionally very odd, as I had to figure out where the text had accidentally moved and such.

We have resolved this by giving me Dan’s laptop which he was “barely using” and his taking my old one to see if he can replace the keyboard and have it work in any meaningful way. (The keyboard was for some reason really hard to replace. He’s done this before, but this one is weirdly attached.)

But we resolved it only two days ago, because there was a lot of transferring disks and data.

Anyway, as though that weren’t enough, I spent most of it with a mysterious RAGING allergy attack which — please hit me — was resolved when I remembered I am deathly allergic to feathers and there was a quail in the guestroom. (There are reasons for this. The quail was injured, and the other two coups are occupied. So we put her in the brooder in the guestroom while she recuperated.)

This image is wrong. We weren’t randomly hosting a quail on its tour of the States. The quail recovered and was moved outside, but not before my eardrum had ruptured.

ALSO the last four days…. well, you guys know what my head has been since Saturday, but also Havey-cat developed severe dehydration during the weekend. Since he’s a kidney patient, we finally took him in, and they gave him subuctaneous fluids, which we’re now supposed to give him every other day.

That accounts for my forgetting to link the fundraiser on the last day of the fundraiser.

The other stuff? It accounts for my forgetting to link it almost every day, and ending up linking it in rewrite, which doesn’t go out in emails.

So, perhaps this fundraiser was cursed. Or perhaps it will trickle in over the next few months, as, weirdly, it did last year, taking it to (I THINK) higher than asked for. (Depends on whether I understood Dan correctly when he did the accounting?)

At any rate, the fundraiser is now officially over. Which doesn’t prevent you from hitting the donation links on the side. The give send go link replaces the Paypal, for obvious reasons. And, you know, anytime you have cash or chocolates (what?) you can’t use, you’re welcome to mail them to: Sarah A. Hoyt, 304 S Jones Blvd #6771, Las Vegas, NV  89107.

In the works are a podcast of sorts — delayed start, because the allergy made me so hoarse I’m only now recovering. (To quote younger DIL “Where did your voice go?”) — and arranging for a paid membership here for those who might wish to do that (WHAT? look, it will be the fiction, so you don’t have to. But some of you have asked.) Also getting a reliable t-shirt source that I can link on the side bar. (This has been very much requested.)

And maybe I’ll follow MCA Hogarth’s lead and start a shopify thing here too. Who knows. (Not yet, though, because I get too much from Amazon.)

There might also be a comic, if I can get my behind in gear.

Some of these will be overtime, clearly not tomorrow.

And in late November, if no one in my close in circles desperately needs it more than I might have a secondary, auxiliary fundraiser. Because a little amount twice a year is easier than a big amount once a year. (TRUST me, I know this math.)

Anyway, for now it’s done, and I’m celebrating being done. Now I’m going to have some ibuprofen (blinding headache over the eyes. And no, no quail in the house, anymore) go do cat boxes and write books to put up. Oh, and share them to my substacks. (I HAVE been writing. It’s just the last two weeks…. You know?)

Because, as grandma would say, of my sitting here and doing retrospectives on the fundraiser, instead of working, actually, “This life won’t lead to sons, nor bearded grandsons.” Which I guess is a goal. I mean, I hope for grandchildren. The bearded…. can wait many years. And I don’t insist on male. (Though, let’s be fair, if the girls have my genetics male won’t be needed for a close relationship with hair-removal implements. Mediterranean people uber alas!)

Anyway, I’ve been silly long enough. Don’t set fire to the dungeons, and don’t go fishing in the dragon pond. I have the world’s largest* book to do a first edit on.

*That was written by me, and isn’t a goat gagger fantasy!

69 thoughts on “The Fundraiser is Over, Long Live the Fundraiser!”

  1. “don’t go fishing in the dragon pond.”

    Unless you want to catch a dragon.

    Of course, “trying to catch a dragon” all too often becomes “the dragon catching you” and as a dragon, I’m generally on the dragon’s side in such matters. 🐲🐲🐲🐲🐲

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    2. Dragon mating habits, the females go down to the dragon pond and lounge around alluringly fishing until the males chase them, and then the females catch the males?

      Sorry, Drak, sorry, my head is weird?

      Liked by 1 person

      1. Well….

        From what I’ve heard, there are plenty of cases where the males of the species hunt the females of the species until the females of the species catch the males of the species. [Very Big Crazy Grin]

        Of course, with Dragons, the Mama Dragons assist their future daughters-in-law in the “catching”.

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        1. “…where the males of the species hunt the females of the species until the females of the species catch the males of the species.”.

          Umm, Isn’t that normal even for Humans?

          Liked by 1 person

        2. ”… as with the boys chasing the girls and the girls chasing the boys, the situation is not as symmetric as it may seem.”

          I read that so long ago that I don’t have any clue as to where I read it. I do remember needing to get a bit older before I understood it.

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          1. I first read that as a quote (and I forget who was the original): As at the typical ski resort, with girls looking for husbands and husbands looking for girls, the situation is not as symmetric as it first seems.

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      3. Fluffy goes down to the minion pool because that’s where the sea serpent hangs out.

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    1. Sorry bad link only picture
      President Joe Biden said Tuesday he would reevaluate his candidacy for president if his doctors told him he had a medical issue.

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        1. Ditto. They’d have to tie and gag “Really A Doctor” Jill. And even then she’d try to laser-eye them to death.

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          1. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again the only way that ersatz baby sitter is letting the Turnip in chief leave his current position is in a pine box. One could almost feel sorry for Joe but I suspect he knew what he was in for long ago.

            Liked by 1 person

          2. In my slightly loopy opinion (post-operative pain killers for the giggles. It went well, but the Really Good Meds are my friends today. Whee! :) ) I can’t think of anything that would convince DOCTOR* Jill to let Joe step down. I’m not up to grokking the 25th, and putting Kamala in as FICUS might have Jill threatening to spill any dirt she has on her or any of the other Powers that Be.

            Right now, the only way I can see Joe leaving office is toes up. Suddenly?

            ((*)) Nurse Ratched was unavailable for comment.

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            1. Any bets that Pres. Jill Biden has “The List”? The only way Joe Biden leaves the Presidency alive is if Jill is assassinated. Which still doesn’t help her victims, because if she dies it’ll trigger mass media releases.

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              1. Yeah, if she has The List, she’d be near impervious. OTOH, if Joe or Hunter (or Jill–Hillary was supposed to have been there) was on somebody else’s copy of The List, or on tape from either the Island or Epstein’s NYC mansion, that would have plenty of blackmail material. Maybe the one thing that could force Jill to back down.

                I don’t recall who cleared the Island, though I read the reports of the massive amount of concrete poured into the tunnels, but as memory serves, the Fibbies got the New York tapes.

                Still a bit loopy. Half-life calculations*, adjusted for age and medical issues, say that tonight’s pills exclude opoids in favor of the acetaminophen/ibuprofen combination. I need to do a bit of driving tomorrow and find it advisable to stop with this afternoon’s pills.

                ((*)) Between remembering the math, dealing with a new release of Libreoffice, a funky laptop, and the effects of the pills, it was an adventure. Only took 3X the normal time to do such. OTOH, I found the HP-15C calculator emulator for Linux.

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  3. I mailed cash again; track that, you bureaucratic a-holes.

    Deciding where to send my money is not so much a matter of ‘need’, as what I value. I get a lot out of this site, so I choose to support you. I certainly don’t want to see it go away.

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    2. I thought about sending a Czech in the mail, but he objected, so it was a check. (I’m postop from the knee cleanup procedure, and I think the oxy just started to hit. Won’t take it for long, but Whee!) Sounds like I’ll be good to go. Hobbling around on a single crutch or (by preference) a cane.

      And now to get horizontal.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. Uh, my donation will be late again, but not as late as last year, I promise. Progress, not perfection, is the motto I try to live by….

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      1. It’s not a problem financially, my procrastination is due to health issues. Nevertheless, your advice is good.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Hmm. I am not insane enough to mail my extra chocolate (if there was any) to Las Vegas in the middle of July.

    September probably for some good criticism heading to your GSG account. (You are smart in leaving it open all year; summer is usually not the best time for me and probably others here in the Anteroom To Hell Belt.)

    Liked by 1 person

            2. Were they trying to make it GOOD FOR YOU?

              I live about an hour from a source of Really Good Chocolate. The next time I’m attending an event where I expect to be able to meet you, I’ll bring some (assuming I can keep it cool).

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      1. Yeah, but then you have to rely on the shipping company actually acting in a timely fashion. (I once received a cheese plate in July from an unrefrigerated truck. Gifter got a refund.)

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  6. I donated a little this year, because I actually have some money and I need the good karma. Also this place is a wonderful haven of witty repartee and hilarious memes. Can I pay you in cat paintings next time?

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              1. If you really want to see what I’ve painted you can go on my Instagram page. Don’t have a lot of cats, but I have some.

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      2. Apparantly, USSS may call it a “mass shooting”, not an “assassination attempt”.

        Because “affray” wasn’t quite believable?

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      1. There were too many things that “unexpectedly” went wrong, and such a small amount of things that unexpectedly went right (Trump’s guardian angels deserve something special for their halos) to let me think it was pure coincidence. (Root slope too steep? Couldn’t have been more than a 2 in 12 pitch.)

        Not only is a sufficiently great amount of incompetence indistinguishable from malice, but sufficient malice leads to incompetence.

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        1. As the saying goes, once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, and thrice is enemy action. There were way more than three things the Secret Service “missed” or did wrong.

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  9. So, uh, how’s that “sense of doom” premonition going since last week? I mean, that’s one heck of a big event to set off the forecasting meters…

    (I’m one of those people that thinks of people as not quite having their minds fixed in time, which can lead to some weird shenanigans when dealing with feelings of doom or otherwise.)

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