This is a difficult diary for me to write. I have always been a big fan of "It is more blessed to give than to receive," but I am going to have to give in and do some receiving, if any of you are able and willing to do some giving. I was hoping it wouldn't come to this, but I am hard up against it now and have about $50 left to my name; with a health insurance bill due next week, rent due on the first, and a $300 overdue utility bill to be paid by the fifth or they cut me off.
As many of you know, I have spent the past several years working at home as a psychiatric transcriptionist to pay the bills, with the occasional graphic arts job that paid for some extras. A couple months ago, I lost my latest transcription job due to a switch to voice recognition software. I have not been able to pick up another transcription job nor a steady graphic arts job. I have the impression that the transcription business is fading away at the same time that there are fewer independent consulting jobs now that regular fulltime employment is picking up. I have a few potential projects still in the works and several job leads, but just have not had time for anything to pan out yet, and do not foresee getting paid in the next month or so. So if by any chance I could end up with about $1300 for the three bills above, then another $1000 for my expenses in May (most of which will go for my special needs pets!), then I would be grateful, and hope that will give me time to weather this transition. I have a PayPal account, which seems to be the fastest way to transfer money these days. Just tell them that you want to send money to a friend at my email address karlekonsultants@cs.com.
As always with DKos fundraisers, please do not feel any pressure to do more than you can afford. You can still help. In addition to sending money, you can recommend this diary to bring more eyes on it, tip, comment, tell all your friends, twitter, Facebook, do whatever you who are technologically adept do with social media, and generally keep it in as wide a spotlight as possible for as long as necessary. That way, the diary will find its way to those who are in a good place to help out financially.
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In exchange, I do have something to give back to you: The experience of my whimsical snarkery! I have decided to begin a new cartoon series to draw attention to right-wing stupidity. But I don't know what to call it. So I am asking what you think. Since this is a contest exclusively for Kossacks, I am calling it a Kontest. My favorite name for the series so far is Conservative Critters, but I'm not entirely enamored of it. So I have created a poll below for you to vote on, but please, riff off of these ideas and/or otherwise come up with your own titles! All brainstorming is greatly appreciated. The first three cartoons are below the silly orange squiggle. I happened to draw two dogs so far, but it will not be a dog-dominated series. I anticipate making my way through the animal kingdom. If I choose your title, you'll get a shout-out here and at www.elenacarlena.com. Ooh, you'll be famous! (Yes, in reality DKos has views that are orders of magnitude higher than my little Web site; on the other hand, you don't have to compete with thousands of diaries.)
Thank you for your interest! Happy title brainstorming! And thank you so much for your help!
12:14 AM PT: I'm kind of leaning toward something with "zoo". Old McDonald had a Zoo? (too long) ZippyDippyZoo? Zoo Beasts? Others?
Sat Apr 25, 2015 at 4:57 PM PT: I have a title! I plan to announce it in a diary on Monday. It's none of these exactly, but I think you'll like it a lot!