It's not...
funded yet/a head cold/Springtime
So let’s get this out of the way right now. There are just FOUR very short days left for the Shaolin Nun 4 Kickstarter and we’re only 70% funded. So if you’re going to fund the book, it’s time to get off your…wallet and pledge!
“You seem a little cranky, JC.”
Did you read that part that says we have just FOUR DAYS left on the campaign? I don’t get to keep the 70% I’ve raised and figure out the rest. I get to start the campaign over, and try to build back up. Every campaign has its struggle and all of them have piked in on the last day, but needing to close just over $2k in 4 days is scary.
On top of that, we launched strong, making $1000 the first DAY, and $2000, the first week. That we’ve had to crawl, claw, and frankly, BRIBE our way since then is more than frustrating.
I don’t want to in any way diminish everything everybody who believes in this project has done. My backers have shared the campaign all over social media. Some have stepped up in a big way, increasing their pledges in the hopes we fund. Some who have nothing have still made big contributions, because they believe in our project.
And despite their super-human efforts, we’re still struggling to close that last 30%.
“Is there any hope?”
There is, actually! My friend and series Inker, Laurie Foster, was in similar dire straights (not the band, the actual state of being) with her Kickstarter for “Powerbroker 3 & 4”. She was trying to raise $7,500 in a very tight window, and it looked like she was going to fall short. And it closed strong on the last day, closing at over $8,000!
So yes, I’m hoping for a late surge, myself. I’m also planning for the worst.
“So there’s really no reason to be cranky, or is there?”
When is a head cold not a head cold? When it’s COVID-19.
“Oh shit.”
Yup.
Nine or so years ago, I picked up a respiratory virus at con. We all get con crud, but I must’ve picked up SARS or something. After weeks of feeling sick, I was climbing the stairs to my bedroom and nearly came tumbling back down. I sat on the bed, wheezing and gasping for breath.
I made an appointment with my doctor. She said it was probably asthma. I looked at her shocked. “I’ve NEVER had asthma,” I said. She shrugged and sent me to get a chest x-ray. The x-ray was negative, so she sent me for an MRI. The MRI people sent her the scan and she told them to tell me to see a pulmonologist. It was the pulmonologist who revealed the con crud had given me adult-onset asthma.
It’s not a mild case of asthma, where I can do things and just need to use an Albuterol inhaler occasionally. No. I have to use a very expensive Budesonide inhaler (so expensive in the U.S. that I have to order it through Canada to get it for $60 rather than $200) first thing in the morning, and then I can do things and just need to use an Albuterol inhaler occasionally.
Naturally this puts me on a high risk for COVID-19.
I’ve spent the last three years in near isolation. Working from home, and rarely going out, because I’ve been terrified of what this virus could do to me. But I don’t live alone. My son has contracted the virus twice from his co-workers. He’s been good to immediately test and self isolate, and has never passed it on to me or my wife.
My daughter still goes to school. She always wears a mask, but she let her guard down when she hung out with a friend. She came home with what seemed like a head cold. She shared said head cold with my wife, who shared it with me.
But then my usual over-the-counter cold medicines weren’t touching it. The sinus pressure was getting worse, and my wife wondered if we should take a COVID test. I grabbed the box and said, “I’ll take one and let you know if you guys need to.”
I followed the instructions and dripped the four drops onto the test strip. I watched the liquid run down to the area where the positive line would show. And a big, black line appeared! I waited the required 15 minutes hoping it would go away. But it didn’t.
My wife and daughter tested and both got positives. My son tested and was negative. I made a doctor’s appointment that afternoon and am now on Paxlovid, because I don’t want this shit inside me for one minute longer! If the last crud gave me asthma, what’s worse than asthma that won’t kill me, but make my life a little more irritating and expensive? I don’t want to find out.
“Okay, I get the cranky now.”
Thanks. I got over being livid yesterday.
On top of that, that damned groundhog wasn’t kidding. We got a dumping of snow this last week, that was probably equal to all the snow we’d gotten this winter, followed by some rather Baltic temperatures just to make it turn to ice.
And here I was sick, so I couldn’t go outside and play with my snow blower to help dig us out. Fortunately, my son took care of that for me. But it’s these late winter storms like this that make me long for spring. Which is still a month away.
TL/DR
I have COVID and the book isn’t funded yet. Help a guy out.