I know that everybody loves free ice cream, and certainly the past has proved that more than a few people enjoy the flavor of my ice cream to the point where they have made a financial contribution to the running of this place. I cannot express my gratitude adequately for this generosity.
Nevertheless, the reality I face is that at some point, New Wife will have to retire from her job. She is already well past the “official” age of retirement, and only her nigh-indispensable skill and dedication to her employer has enabled her to keep working there. But that is going to end at some point in the near future, for the simple fact that she’s finding it harder and harder to cope. I won’t go into details, but she is after all a cancer survivor, with all that that horrible condition entails.
This means that we would have to depend completely on my Social Security, which is not enough for us to keep going. My family have all indicated that they are willing to support us as much as they are able, but there is a limit to that because none of them are that well off, and they have their own families to support as well.
I don’t have to tell anyone how difficult it is for senior citizens, even qualified ones like us, to get a job — any job — in today’s America. But that’s what we face. (When I’ve looked for work, incidentally, I’ve been greeted with incredulity by the dozen or so people I’ve spoken to so far — even though I’m physically fit not just for my age but for any prospective employee.) And the ones that would accept me, for example as a carer for the elderly and infirm, don’t pay enough to make a difference to the situation, especially when the resultant reduction in my already-inadequate SocSec is taken into account, as it would.
I’m not the only one in this predicament, of course, but quite frankly I’m the only one I care about at this point. Survival makes one selfish.
So I’m going to be exploring several avenues by which I can derive some kind of income from my writing — not the frenzied rants, hate speech and febrile diatribes which you all know and love, but actual writing of the intellectual / literary ilk. The details are not yet finalized but are well in motion.
All this will, however, take some time to reach fruition, so I’m going to have one last fundraiser here over the next month, because the funds are desperately needed, as always.
To start the ball rolling and to show my seriousness, I’m going to have a fire sale of almost all my guns, keeping only a couple for absolute self-defense needs. (The hell with fun shooting; even at the discounted range rate, that’s going to have to stop completely.) If you’re interested, email me (kim@kimdutoit.com) for details. (For obvious reasons, I’m not going to publish a list here.) Even this treasure is going to go:
…in (of course) .45-70 Govt.
We are both proud people, New Wife and I, which makes it harder yet for me to do this.
But here we go. Over the next month, please make whatever contribution you see fit via the usual conduits:
- Venmo: @Kim-dutoit-3
- PayPal: kim@kimdutoit.com
- Zelle: kim@kimdutoit.com
- Dead Tree: (sooper-seekrit mailing address)
6009 W. Parker Rd Ste 149-141, Plano TX 75093
As I stated above, I’m hoping that this will be the very last time I’m going to be doing this, so please be as generous as you can afford to be.
And as always, many many thanks for all your support, both now and over the past couple decades.
P.S. And please don’t read anything deeper or ominous in the above. This website isn’t going to disappear, for starters.
