So, as I've previously detailed in recent diaries, MediCal seriously hosed my family. There is, at last, some good news.
I'll break things down into the Good, the Bad, and the Pretty.
The Good
Timesheets came! After some not so thinly veiled threats on my part, I finally got to talk to the woman in charge - and she was utterly unaware of the situation and that her underlings had been jerking me around like they were. Within an hour, she reinstated my aid and ordered the timesheets sent for ALL the lost hours. She was very nice and sincerely helpful. I've held off on announcing that she fixed things until the timesheets actually got here - that office has supposedly 'fixed' this several times, now, so I wasn't going to believe it until I saw the proof.
The Bad
It still took them over almost a week to SEND the damned things - we just got them, Saturday. It'll be at least another week for them to process them and send checks. That's one last week or so to try and struggle through. Thankfully, in large part to people here, all of our utilities are paid current, so we just have to feed ourselves. We only have about $50 to do so, and the foodbanks are largely useless to us as my wife cannot eat most carbs or sugars, and that's largely what they give out - bread, pasta, beans, etc.
The Pretty
While all of this has been going on, I finished up the 6 page preview, cover and pitch for my solo comic book and have begun sending it out to publishers. I'm doing my damnedest to get working and start making money in comics rather than wallowing in the angst of all of this. I've also drawn one commission for a Kossack, and started another.
Here's my comic book pitch:
Other Zoey
by Larime Taylor
Some people become killers.
Zoey was born that way.
Ever since she can remember, Zoey Aarons has felt the urge to kill.
For eighteen years she resisted those urges and fought to be someone
better than her base instincts would allow. In a moment of weakness
and anger, however, she let go and took a life. Instead of leaving that
fateful day behind her and starting a new life as a college freshman,
Zoey's about to be tested and face temptation in ways far greater than
she could ever imagine. Slaughter University is in Cutter's Circle,
California, and Cutter's Circle has a dirty little secret - it has the highest
population of serial killers per capita in the country. The sleepy little
town around Halloween Lake is up to its proverbial severed head in
killers. One of those killers is a boy named Rio, and in him Zoey will
find the first person that has ever truly understood her. Like Zoey, Rio
is struggling with his own urges. Unlike Zoey, however, he is finding
freedom and power in giving in to them. After a lifetime of abuse at
the hands of his peers, Rio feels strength as he kills, satisfaction
as he gets revenge on those who ridiculed him. Rio is becoming what
Zoey fears she will become - a monster. In order to hold on to her
humanity and resist becoming that monster, she'll have to kill the
first boy she's ever loved.
Other Zoey is intended as a mini-series with the potential for future
stories, focusing on the early struggles Zoey undergoes to get a grip
on the darkness that has been dormant within her since birth. It is
written by award-winning disabled playwright and artist Larime Taylor,
and illustrated entirely with his mouth. While not a webcomic, it is
uniquely formatted to make it a perfect fit for computer screens and
e-readers like the Kindle and iPad.
That's my last two weeks of hard work during all of this.
So, that's where things are at, now. Wanted to keep everyone posted, and a big thank you to those who have helped us!