Courtney’s stolen laptop
Donation protected
On our most recent visit to NYC, the car was broken into and ransacked and Jamie and I had some important things stolen. Among those things was my laptop. Although I do work a retail job, the portion of my income that enables me to pay my rent and bills actually comes from my work as a freelance writer and blogger. I used that laptop to do these jobs.
Normally, I would simply buy myself a new laptop without requests for help, but that’s not currently a possibility for me due to recent apartment complications. Over the last six months, my roommate and I have experienced several infestations and housing malfunctions of different kinds, some of which adversely affected my health. The treatments for these issues were ineffective at first, forcing us to live out of trash bags for months on end, packing and unpacking our belongings (many of which were damaged by careless extermination crews in the treatment processes) over and over again. Because I primarily work either from home or on my own schedule, this sucked up endless days from my regular writing plans for weeks on end and caused me massive loss of income. Between that and the costs associated with our constant problems (our rental company accused us of lying and left us to deal with some of it at our own expense), I suffered huge financial strain, burned through my savings, and have been left struggling to work even more than my usual balance of nine jobs in an attempt to cover my living costs, continue participating in Drag Coven in at least some capacity, and try to avoid serious debt until I can escape the apartment. The only reason we still live there is because the costs associated with these multi-layered problems put us in a position where we could scrape together regular rent, but couldn’t also finance first and last month’s rent on a new place or the additional costs associated with moving. All of this has resulted in me being financially unable to replace my suddenly stolen laptop on my own.
I was very hesitant to make this fund. I fully support and do my best to contribute to legitimate crowd funding caused and I know that my problem is worthy. On top of already being the kind of guilty person who struggles with asking for help when I need it, however, I also know that we have countless people criticizing us every day for apparently financing Drag Coven by being entitled brats with rich families, sugar daddies, and trust funds. Clearly none of these things are true (we each work hard at multiple jobs to do what we do), but I was convinced that making this fund would get me such a torrent of hateful backlash that I wouldn’t be able to face that with my normal confidence when I’m feeling so worn down from the apartment problems I’ve been facing since long before my laptop was stolen. The thought of potentially bringing more negativity on myself made me too anxious at first. Thank you to the friends who convinced me that I’m loved and supported and that my needs are valid!
I am hoping to replace my stolen laptop with one that has the same capabilities it had. My needs are pretty basic in the long run, but the research I’ve done so far made me realize that cheaper computers in the $100-$400 range will not give me enough memory to download the HQ images required for formatting articles and posts for work. Many of those also function through clouds and apps and my need to format and hyperlink for work requires actual full webpage functions rather than apps. Additionally, these cheaper/smaller computers won’t have the memory capacity for me to work with or store any of our photo and video files for Drag Coven, placing our full media workload on Jamie and limiting what we can provide drag fans and performers with in the long run. That’s why I’ve set the limit where it is.
Any contribution at all, or even just sharing, is massively appreciated. I’m forever grateful to have such a caring support system of friends and, even though I might have the worst real life luck ever, I’m lucky for the people who lift me up when the universe kicks me in the shins!
Normally, I would simply buy myself a new laptop without requests for help, but that’s not currently a possibility for me due to recent apartment complications. Over the last six months, my roommate and I have experienced several infestations and housing malfunctions of different kinds, some of which adversely affected my health. The treatments for these issues were ineffective at first, forcing us to live out of trash bags for months on end, packing and unpacking our belongings (many of which were damaged by careless extermination crews in the treatment processes) over and over again. Because I primarily work either from home or on my own schedule, this sucked up endless days from my regular writing plans for weeks on end and caused me massive loss of income. Between that and the costs associated with our constant problems (our rental company accused us of lying and left us to deal with some of it at our own expense), I suffered huge financial strain, burned through my savings, and have been left struggling to work even more than my usual balance of nine jobs in an attempt to cover my living costs, continue participating in Drag Coven in at least some capacity, and try to avoid serious debt until I can escape the apartment. The only reason we still live there is because the costs associated with these multi-layered problems put us in a position where we could scrape together regular rent, but couldn’t also finance first and last month’s rent on a new place or the additional costs associated with moving. All of this has resulted in me being financially unable to replace my suddenly stolen laptop on my own.
I was very hesitant to make this fund. I fully support and do my best to contribute to legitimate crowd funding caused and I know that my problem is worthy. On top of already being the kind of guilty person who struggles with asking for help when I need it, however, I also know that we have countless people criticizing us every day for apparently financing Drag Coven by being entitled brats with rich families, sugar daddies, and trust funds. Clearly none of these things are true (we each work hard at multiple jobs to do what we do), but I was convinced that making this fund would get me such a torrent of hateful backlash that I wouldn’t be able to face that with my normal confidence when I’m feeling so worn down from the apartment problems I’ve been facing since long before my laptop was stolen. The thought of potentially bringing more negativity on myself made me too anxious at first. Thank you to the friends who convinced me that I’m loved and supported and that my needs are valid!
I am hoping to replace my stolen laptop with one that has the same capabilities it had. My needs are pretty basic in the long run, but the research I’ve done so far made me realize that cheaper computers in the $100-$400 range will not give me enough memory to download the HQ images required for formatting articles and posts for work. Many of those also function through clouds and apps and my need to format and hyperlink for work requires actual full webpage functions rather than apps. Additionally, these cheaper/smaller computers won’t have the memory capacity for me to work with or store any of our photo and video files for Drag Coven, placing our full media workload on Jamie and limiting what we can provide drag fans and performers with in the long run. That’s why I’ve set the limit where it is.
Any contribution at all, or even just sharing, is massively appreciated. I’m forever grateful to have such a caring support system of friends and, even though I might have the worst real life luck ever, I’m lucky for the people who lift me up when the universe kicks me in the shins!
Organizer
Courtney Conquers
Organizer
Toronto, ON
