Near-death experience

I had a heart-stopping moment of panic today.

You see, I went out to get the mail. And in the mail, among the usual assortment of credit card offers and Pizza Hut coupons, I found a letter from the IRS. Just seeing the envelope made me pretty nervous. I'm in a fairly good place financially just now, but that's "fairly good for me" kind of good, I don't have money coming out of my ears or anything.

I went back into the house and opened the letter. Skimmed the first page. Error on my return? Change made which I need to approve? Money owed which I need to pay?! Panic is starting to set it. Second page. INTEREST because the payment is late? AIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

But wait... dollar ammount on interest.... $0.07?! Ah ha ha ha ha! Okay, nevermind! Panic cancelled!

Turns out I owe an extra $4.22, plus the $0.07 in interest on it. I think I can manage to afford that.

International Economics

Okay, somebody correct me if I'm wrong. You have two people living in two different countries. Country A uses the bork as the unit of currency, country B uses the ching. A bork will buy you what a ching will. And for so many hours of work, on average you get paid about as many borks per hour in A as chings per hour in B. They're worth about the same, give or take a little.

Now say the exchange rate shifts. Suddenly a bork is worth two chings!

What does this mean? Well, according to somebody I'm talking to, it means that our native of country A is suddenly suffering, because she's still paying a whole bork for something that her friend in country B can buy for a ching! That's only half a bork! OMG, she's paying twice as much now! WOE!

Me, I kind of think this is bad for the person from country B, because before she could buy international stuff, and pay in chings, and the only real holdback was shipping. Now she can't afford to buy anything at all from country A, because she just can't afford to pay two chings for something that's just a bork. And her friend over in country A could order internationally, and pay half a bork, plus shipping, and still get things cheaper than they cost at home.

Am I crazy here, or is that how it works?

(Yes, I just had a gal from England tell me it was HORRIBLE for her that a pound is worth two dollars. She's paying SO MUCH MORE for stuff than us Americans. I just kind of went ... at her. I mean... a pound buys what a dollar buys. A pound has pretty much always bought what a dollar buys, at least within my memory. The fact that a pound is worth two bucks now doesn't mean that every Brit in the nation is suddenly getting ripped off compared to us Yanks, kay? It means us poor Yanks can no longer afford to buy imported stuff from England, it's too freaking expensive.)

In other pony-related news,

I've nearly finished a pony fursuit head!

http://bladespark.topcities.com/costume/pony05.jpg

It has a few flaws, but for my first equine, it's not half bad! Man though, I hate working with short fur. Give me fluffy things any day! (Speaking of fluffy things, Tari is in that shot. She's so cute, she naps curled up there next to where I work a lot!)