The edges disappear in the fog.

Photo copyright Aji, 2021; all rights reserved.

The edges disappear in the fog.

That's just the way it is with storms, but there's no excuse for not recognizing that truth. Unfortunately, all of colonial "America' seems hell-bent on refusing to recognize it, so that they can pretend to shock now. We warned you. You didn't want to hear it.

The first of the year is always brutal. I'm coming down off the 3-month adrenaline rush that's required to keep pace with the demands of the holidays business-wise, this year complicated by pandemic and even greater fascism. And January 21st is no kind of magic bullet; as a friend and I were saying earlier today (and Wings and I, as well), that's merely the day the REAL work begins. And I am such extreme pain that I have not had any real sleep since before the end of 2020, and I am paying a heavy price every moment of every day. I wish those edges could disappear, but that's denied me.

On the plus side, JoanMar met the match 6 days ago, and the matching funds were deposited moments later, putting her halfway to goal. Another mutual friend is setting up a GoFundMe on her behalf, and that will make tracking easier, and hopefully make fundraising easier, too. But thanks to the generous donor with the matching funds, she hit the 50% of goal mark early Tuesday afternoon, and that is a beautiful thing in and of itself. On top of that, Wings is getting the first dose of the vaccine this Thursday (it goes by age, and he just made it, probably in part because he's diabetic; my number won't be up for a few weeks yet). That is a huge load off my mind, too.

As I've said, January is always the hardest month of our year (July runs a close second, but it's not as bad as January). We have a ton of annual or biannual expenses that come due, some insurance but mostly business-related. That fact doesn't make them any less necessary, nor any less urgent, and this year winds up being the most expensive yet. We received some very, very good news a few days ago, and I'll be able to cover all of it before the month is out. Barring catastrophe, I'll be able to cover necessities for a good while. Eve before today, I have been mindful of the fact that we will not freeze or starve, and that puts us in a position far more fortunate than too many folks in families this winter, in the middle of a deadly global pandemic currently raging unchecked here. BUT: I still have to bring in consistent sales (only 4 the entire holiday season, an all-time low courtesy of the pandemic economy), and I still need to boost my Patreon (which is down $300 on this month's payout already), because there's a long, long year ahead of us, and a whole year's worth of direct attempts to harm people using the pandemic as a vehicle will not be corrected by the end of the year, let alone a few months.

There is no economy now. There's nothing. People are literally dying all around us from the government's failures, and I don't know how we keep them, or us, alive unless I can cover the bills. We have lost SO much to 2020, so very, very many people, and the gifts and the talents and the knowledge and the wisdom they carried too often lost with them. Because this state has followed the lead of the country and refused to do what was required, we are about to see a very big spike in new cases, probably as early as two weeks from now; the current spike in deaths remains sustained daily. People have needed so much more help than we could give them, but we did as much as we could, even when it put us in a bind, and we will need to do much more of that this year. So:

• Sales here; 
• Testimonials here; 
• Amazon wishlist here;
• Patreon here;
• Ko-fi here.

And if you've been contemplating a purchase? Marking the birth of 2021 would be a very, very good time to do it. There's even new work, here and here, and there will be two more new pieces shortly, so please watch for them and share the links.

All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2021; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.