MoonBox :
I wanted to say somehing before I play this update, and for anyone else that cares, if that's the case. I'm at the lowest point in my life right now, but I'm not talking about depression, that would be the consequence of, and not the situation itself. For the past two-three years, my life's quality has slowly been decreasing, with my sister's death kicking everything off, back in November '20. Add to that a no-good brother, and the fact that my mother got so bad with dementia or Alzheimer's, that she's stuck in a nursing home now, and I have no driver's licence or a car for that matter, so I can't get to see her so often now, and although I honestly don't get much out of the visits that I do get, due to her condition, I still miss her, you know. And I really am poor, on welfare actually, but up until fairly recently, I was able to manage, financially.
But for the last 6 months in general, and more specifically these last three months, I have received extra money from a different source, all legal of course, money to aid with paying the electricity bills, which I have paid. But, the welfare office, has ONLY looked at the total amount received, and reduced my "income" from them accordingly, effectively cutting my money by a third. And since they say that the money I receive from them is supposed to cover not only food, but also Internet, TV, and telephone costs, which it was, up until these last three months, when they started reducing the payment from them, despite knowing all about it upfront, not to mention the fact that they're not using the money from either source the correct way, it doesn't take a genius to see that this makes it very difficult to make ends meet, especially since the prices of everything has skyrocketed.
And, like I said, under normal circumstances, the money I received from them, was enough to pay for Internet/TV/phone, which that money is supposed to cover, in addition to the monthly expenses for food. But how can you pay those bills, when that is roughly the amount that those bills comes out to, when that's the amount they have cut, AND the payment from them is supposed to cover those costs, just because the government gives us extra money for the winter season, to help with paying for the electricity/heating of your apartment? But in case you're confused, it's easier to let the numbers do the talking, and I also wanna point out that they have already done this already, cutting the money from them by half, because of the "regular" money (subsidized housing aid) from the government as well, which is supposed to help with the rent itself, which I really didn't have an issue with, as the money still came out to (roughly) the same amount in total, it just meant they saved money on their end, and not using government subsidies for their intended purpose, but that's a completely different topic.
So, the money I received from them before this latest "change", came out to 3300-3700, something like that. And the regular subsidized housing aid, was about the same, so it meant that I could in a sense, pay half of it on food, and the rest to cover the bills for TV, Internet, and phone. But, when the EXTRA money aimed at helping with electricity costs came in this year, in December to be specific, they lumped all that money together, and based on the total, only paid out 844 in Janury, and 2044 in February and March. And I assume it will be the same for April, if the sum from the government is the same, as it usually goes down as we move closer to summer, and it was only 1000 last year, when the final payout for electricity came, meaning it's probably enough to pay one bill, with a couple of hundred (2-300) left. And my daily expenses for food, is estimated at 100 per day, coming out to 3000 per month. And my currency is different, we're not talking about dollars here, 1 dollar equals about 9 of my currency, just to be clear.
And I'm still struggling to make the money go round, and I definitely can't have dinner every day, either, and trust me, that's a modest amount of money, in our country. But now, they have even started to dig into the electricity money in a way, but not directly. But by cutting the payment from them, in the same amount as the electricity money. So when your (new) total now comes out to 1500 less per month, and that's the amount of the bills supposed to also be covered by the payment from them, but it's reduced by them, then what? And previously, I had been able to even save some money, and in December before I knew what would happen In January, even had so much in my savings account, that I was considering getting a new TV, as my old one from 2014, is just about an inch from its life. And I won't say how much a TV would cost here, but we're talking thousands.
But in the end I didn't, for many reasons, the brand on it, the fact that all my savings would be completely gone, et cetera. And I'm now actually glad I didn't, because due to that money being there, I was able to keep afloat for 4 more months. And being able to keep up with the bills, due to my savings account. But now, when I pay this months fee for those three bills, TV/Internet/telephone, there's only about 300 left in my savings account, and I know I will never get back to that level again. Not to mention the fact that I don't know how much longer I can stay afloat, after this is done.
Which brings me to the point of why I'm writing this, and in this place, of all places. Firstly, because I don't have anywhere else to bring it forward, which is a sad statement of its own. Secondly, because these games came into my life, when I sorely needed a distraction, to cope with losing my sister, who was my best friend and confidant. And to also eat less, as I was really close to 100 kilos, and really didn't want that to happen, or worse. So the games kept me occupied, distracted from the loss, and not so focused on food, sweets and cakes/cookies, and chocolates. And I was able to lose more than 20 kilos, and is fairly stable around 70 kilos now, and although it fluctuates a little bit both ways, it's mostly stable.
But my final point, is that all of this might change very soon, as I won't have any real money to speak of, in my savings account anymore, and only time will tell exactly how long I will be able to keep up with things, financially, before I have to "abandon ship", so to speak. And I wanna thank all the devs of the games I've played, too many to mention, but Moonbox is definitely one that stands out among many, and 'Grandma's House' is easily in my top 10, despite not even having animations. And in terms of today specifically, I had played a game that I don't even know if I'll keep playing, not because it was bad or anything, but simply because you have to download each part separately, and play them as standalone games, although it's one game, meaning that in the long run, the whole process is more involved, but there's more content per "game"/episode, than just regular updates. But in short, I was relieved when I finished the first part, and I don't even know if I will go back to it.
But I wanted to have a break, and consider if I even wanna bother to download the next three "episodes" available, so I decided to have a look at the 'Latest Updates' page, and was really happy to see that GH V. 0.27 was there, as it has become one of my "backbone" games, along with a very select few, but I'm sad that I might not be able to see the MC and "Nana" have their first moment, if that's how things turn out for me. But still, thank you Moonbox, for creating one of my favourites, and a game that just makes you feel good, there's not much drama in it, and the little drama in it, isn't excessive, if that makes sense. And at the end of the day, a really "feelgood" game, despite the fetishes within. And a perfect game to play, if you feel like I do now, as it helps me cope with the misery, or simply bad, or too "involved" games.
I was definitely happy to see the new update out, hope it didn't get leaked, by the way. But like I said before, thank you Moonbox, for creating something that brightens the mood, in what is mostly otherwise a difficult life to deal with, and while I mostly spoke about the loss of my sister, and the money situation, there's so much more I left out from this post, to not make it longer than what it already is. So thank you, and all the other devs, for the service you provided, in a time when I needed it the most. And I'll keep playing, as long as I can, because it's not over 'til the fat lady sings, and my ISP gave me three months for free, but I still have to pay this month's fee. So there's that, at least, but after that point, it's an open question of what will happen after that. And to any dev I said "I'm working on the script", I probably won't be able to fulfill that obligation, as I lost half of my games in a HDD fail not so long ago, and another money issue I have to solve, with little to no money as the starting point.
So I'm sorry about that, but it is what it is. And to anyone reading this, thank you for taking the time to read it all, but I had to let you know the change I'm facing right now, and the potential consequence of it, as only time will tell exactly how things turn out. But it's ironic, that in one of the richest countries in the world supposedly, this is how they treat their citizens, out of sheer greed and saving money on their end. And that's the final reason why I posted it here, so at least SOMEONE knows the real story, and may serve as a warning to others as well. Appreciate what is there, when it's there, because even in a rich country, apparently you can have your base foundation swept away at any point.