Dead Mermaids

I made a new sticker design! And to show it off, I’m uploading a sample of it here as well.sample If you want one, it’s only available through the sticker club for a month. The sticker club link is to your upper right. Just over there. See it? Then if I have any left they’ll get put in the etsy shop.

All is getting ready for the convention. I’m nervous but not really. Actually things look a little dicey right now as, well, Paypal’s system was hacked much like in this report here. This happened a couple of months ago.

Not always in the know as I am, I had no idea what was going on until Paypal sent me a new debit card and told me the old one would no longer work because of it. Okay, I thought. I cut the old card in half and have been using the new card ever since.

Yesterday morning about 0300 hours, it happened. Sri Lanka and some other weird country I’ve never heard of charged my Paypal a nice ripe sum of somewhere around $900. And I had only $100 in the account.

When I called Paypal, they were very nice about the matter. They told me they were going to reverse the charges, and that the account had actually been charged a good deal more than that but they blocked them. Then they explained that it happened because they’d been closing down the compromised cards “in batches”, and they just hadn’t gotten to mine yet.

Insert flat-eyed face here.

I have to hand it to Paypal, though. I had called them expecting an issue. They were friendly and forthright. Charges are being reversed, and I’m supposed to get my money back in 4 days. Of couuurrrsee… I found this out because I’d went into my account trying to find funds large enough to buy FOOD… but… I’m sure my hips aren’t going to miss anything. :-p

The issue, the real issue, is that there was only $100 in my account. That means somewhere around $800 is being forwarded as a charge to my bank. My Paypal account is a business account, after all, and has been a tool for me to keep my business funds separate from my real life (read: my husband) for years.

So we called the bank. Do you know what they said? “There’s nothing we can do.”

As a result things are looking real dicey on that matter. I don’t know how this works with Paypal; if they’ll put the money back in my bank account as well or what will happen. The bank however explained that putting a stop on it would “take too long”, so they were just going to force us to wait for the amount to bounce and then charge us a bounce fee.

Bounce fees add up.

So currently my husband and I are in limbo, wondering if we’re going to be able to make the car payment out of his paycheck when it comes in a few days… or will it be eaten up by fees that aren’t even our fault to begin with.

On the other side of my life, where I play a fictional character that puts out videos expressing unpopular views no one likes to hear, I often say “use cash, use cash, use cash”. I do my best to use cash, to keep it hidden in case it’s needed. My husband and I have slowly been weaning dependency on credit cards out of our lives for a while now.

Our resolve just hardened on the matter.

So maybe I’ll get to Arch Anime Con, maybe I won’t. I hope I get to. I’ve already begun to dye my hair purple. (Mwahahaha.) Oh the fun I hope to have.

If you like my sticker design, please drop me a note about it. It was rare inspiration! I think I’m Bravest Warrior starved. Where is Season 3… dang it….