Nota bene: I do make an effort to track down and thank people who donate, usually via the email address that PayPal captures. Occasionally someone thwarts me by using a service that gives me a shambling shuggoth of a temp email instead of a real one. The last one did have a name, the top three results for which, when Googled, were 1) a comp-sci author working in complicated questions of security, 2) a civil litigations attorney who specializes in defending people against complaints in Russian commercial courts, and 3) dead. Assuming it's one of the first two, glad you're on my side, and thank you for the donation! If it is the third one, also thank you, and I'm glad to know there is internet service in the Great Beyond.
In answer to a couple of stray questions: Actual money is most fungible, because it can be used for miscellaneous things. I have a small but useful income from my Patreon here. At the moment, what this gets you is (everybody) my thanks, (for $5/mo and up) my blog entries 24h in advance of everyone else, and I have to re-jigger the rest to be things I can actually deliver in this current climate of fear and disintegration. Amazon gift cards are also useful, because Amazon Fresh is the only grocery delivery service that accepts SNAP (food assistance) as payment online, and SNAP doesn't cover non-food things like toilet paper.
If you specifically want to pay my bills, to prevent me from spending $8 of your generosity on froot-flavored wine, the three things that I pay for directly are:
- Amazon Prime ($6.99/mo) - Half price to those on SNAP, which can be paid for with gift cards, and gets me free delivery on most things, including the groceries, a free Twitch Prime subscription that goes to one of my friends, and an unending stream of Unsolved Mysteries episodes;
- SimpleMobile ($25/mo + a few dollars in random fees) - My phone service, which covers unlimited talk/text/data on the cheapest smartphone known to man, and which can be paid for with re-up cards available at a number of different retailers;
- Google Play/YouTube Premium ($9.99/mo) - The streaming music is for dance work and lessons, and the ad-free YouTube is so I don't go out of my goddamned mind, which can be paid for with Google Play gift cards.
If you do specifically want me to spend $8 on froot-flavored wine, let me know if you would like me to drink it on webcam right in front of you, and we'll hammer out an appointment time. Grubhub will also feed me pizza. All cards can be directed to miss[dot]arabella[dot]flynn[at]gmail[dot]com.
I also have an Amazon Wish List specifically populated with the gear I'd need in order to do video production properly. I can, and probably will, start by shooting without a lot of this stuff, but I would like to build up to doing proper video essays in the style of Lindsay Ellis/Simon Whistler/Technology Connections, and running live events via Zoom/Twitch. I'm not sure how adult I can get with the content before getting punted from either Twitch or Patreon, so I might run the saucier things over OnlyFans; stay tuned for updates on that. There is also a list of dance equipment that would make my life about a billion times easier while physical access to a studio is spotty or non-existent.
If you don't want to give me money, but have the burning urge to send some of it somewhere, you can give to the general funds of the EFF or the ACLU, or to the non-profit dance studio where I get most of my training. I have a (wonderful, inexpensive) local vet now, but before I found her all of my critters got their care at MSPCA Angell.
[I... actually don't know if I can keep money on account at the local vet? They're a small family-run clinic that uses electronic invoicing, and they do have the capacity to delay billing if you need an animal seen now but don't have the cash for it until payday. If I asked nicely, they could probably figure something out. Last time I talked to her, the exotics doc who adores my fat entitled furballs was busy rehabilitating a playpen full of baby trash pandas, so she probably hasn't considered the question. I like them enough that I am committed to Ubering rats down there forever, no matter where I end up living.]
A couple of people I know IRL have also offered to be a sounding board for things. I haven't gotten you all a personal answer yet, but thank you! I appreciate all of you, I'm just way way out of bandwidth right now. Like, I'm spending all day trapped in a small bedroom that looks like it's been hit with a tornado, because I'm packing things to move and sometimes I just have to drop what I'm doing and stress-cry again. The weather in Boston has also been bouncing between 90°F and violent thunderstorms, which makes this migraine season for me, yaaaaaaaay.
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