Sea Monkey Worship Page!

All will be revealed in this diary entry, but it's going to be long, so bear with me...

I have been on disability from work for quite some time, which apparently annoyed the insurance company who paid my benefits to no end. So they started to send me to various doctors in -- in my opinion -- an attempt to get my file closed. The psychiatrist found nothing wrong with me (more fool her, eh?) so they sent me to a rheumatologist. He found I was fit for work, despite the fact that my specialist and family doctor believe I am not. So my benefits were terminated in November. Nice Christmas present, eh? You gotta love private enterprise.

So I filed an appeal and went to see three doctors in an attempt to have my benefits returned. But they found I was able to work after talking to me for an hour. What a farce! So now I have to file an appeal with the Labour Relations Board to have this decision overturned.

So what does this all mean? In addition to shaking my faith in doctors, it means that I have spent the last five months of my life fighting to keep the benefits I have paid for by writing letters, visiting doctors in Vancouver, and generally contacting people to try to fight the insurance company's attempt to force me back to work. The worst part is that I would love to be back at work: The money was great and I loved my job. But I cannot. And so I have spent all my waking and well moments writing like crazy to try to figure out what else can be done. Thus, this site has gone by the wayside.

I will be returning to part time work, against the opinion of my physician, because I have no choice. I am tired, I am sore, and I don't know if I can do it, but I have to try because I am out of options. I am really scared I'm going to end up as sick as I was in 1996 when I used a cane and couldn't drive and spent most of my time in bed as walking was too exhausting. But I will deal with things as they come. Wish me luck.

Which leads to the "donate" button on the site. I don't want to take advertising, but I can't afford to keep the site any longer. I am spending at least $300 a year on the domain name and hosting, and a lot more on postage and video tapes and other things necessary to keep the site new and fresh. So the donate button is an attempt to get the funds to keep the site going beyond April 1, 2005, when my domain and bandwidth expire. Any funds donated will also go to all the things necessary to keep the page going -- storage, media, postage, and all the other good things.

I hate to ask for funds, and I feel like a huge mooch, but it's something I have to do to keep the site going. I receive no funds from any manufacturer of Sea Monkeys -- in fact, the guy in the Netherlands refuses to pay for the box of books he bought from me-- and the royalties for my book only come in once a year. I'm going back to work part time, but this will barely cover my personal expenses, let alone the Sea Monkey Worship Page. So there's the explanation. If you can offer a few bucks, pounds, or euros to keep the site going, that's great. If not, that's great too. My main goal is to share information about Sea Monkeys with the world in the hopes that you will have a wonderful time raising Sea Monkeys. And I hope I can continue to do that!

Thanks for all your support and kind words. Keep telling people about the site so they too can love their Sea Monkeys!