Dear Insane Children,
Just a quick (and sad) note to say that there will be no Live Stream this week. We’re dealing with a Confluence of Stupidity that has me emotionally drained and technologically blocked.
For several weeks now, we’ve been dealing with an issue at Facebook/Instagram where our Ad Account is Suspended without reason. This has happened several times now, resulting in lost business for Mysterious. We go through the Appeal Process and then get a “Sorry for the inconvenience” message. No other useful info or reply to our questions is offered.
Now the account appears to be permanently shut down and we have no more option for Appeal.
This could turn into a Major Life Event because it’s Mysterious that allows me to live the life of an Independent developer – and makes it possible for Yan to work from home after she was laid off from her “normal” job. If Mysterious were to suddenly vanish… I don’t know what we’d do. As everyone is well aware, it’s not the greatest time to be out searching for a new job, and that’s the same here in China as everywhere else.
Before anyone asks: Patreon money supports the team of seven artists working on all the projects you see being developed here. I try to run it “lean” meaning that there isn’t really cash left over after salaries, fees, taxes, shipping, and other expenses related to Patreon. Yes, adjustments could be made to have Patreon support me and my family but that would mean fewer artists being paid for by your support – not ideal and not my goal.
Add to that stress the fact that there’s a major delay in trying to get our Astrill VPN account renewed. Payment has been sent but somehow not received. Their support team is blaming the pandemic but I don’t see how that has anything to do with transferring money around from bank to bank…
In any case, if our VPN service gets shut down we’ll be essentially knocked off the (Western) Internet. So… more stress.
Anyway, I am feeling exceptionally stressed out… not in any shape to host a stream. And our VPN service has kicked down to a non-VIP status, which means we’d probably experience lots of instability and Stream Death (TM).
I don’t mean to be a Debby Downer on Thanksgiving… just want to give full transparency into why there’s no stream this week.
I really appreciate your support and would be in a full-blown nervous breakdown right now if it weren’t for knowing we’ve got a whole Asylum full of Insane Children to back us up. Much love to you all!
PS: On the Good News Side of Things… [REDACTED 2] say they are looking for TV writers to attach to the Oz: Adventures series project. I think that’s huge? And [REDACTED] seem to have collected all the info they need for moving to the next step regarding helping to fund a new studio. Also huge, right? Maybe this will be one of those “one door closes, another opens” moment… Fingers crossed.
From Shanghai with Turkeys,
-American