Why am I here?
I have a ton of work that I could should be doing. My summer fellowship developing some blockchain technology has very little time left, and I'm way behind. I'm an idiot and deleted approximately three months work. Thank god I made a backup copy (just kidding). Even when I think I have my tendency to procrastinate behind me, I still end up bringing things uncomfortably close to the deadline. This time it will be even more nerve-racking as I'm not sure I can even work fast enough to finish, but I'll give it the old college try.
Momentarily, I'm reflecting. I don't get the chance to do this much these days. It's always go, go, go, go, go. My ambition has me maxed out. I wish that I would have done this earlier in life, but what can you do. Work (x2), school (x2), and children (x2) are really close to my max. Add on the significant other with a seemingly infinite honey do list, and sometimes I get to sleep. Despite all of this, things are really good. I'm struggling here and there, but the general trajectory is in the right direction. I noticed that it has been 7 years since I started here on Hive. That's a significant portion of my life. Like 20(ish)%. I don't want to make it the pretend birthday celebration that some make it. I did however, figure that I could use it as a point of introspection and reflection on the 2016 version of myself.
At that point a lot of things had happened in my crypto life. I had amassed a lot of Bitcoin, and lost it all. (My brother still likes to remind me of this every time he hears BTC hit an all time high.) I was totally sick about it. I didn't want to even think about crypto for a couple of years. I believe at the time I lost it, it was around 20k worth of BTC. After some time I warmed back up to crypto. This new stuff called Ethereum sounded awesome. You could run apps on it for god's sake. Immediately excited I took some of the very little money that I had, and bought a bunch of Ethereum. Time to try out the apps right?
They were trash. It was like internet in the dial-up days, but worse. I could be wrong about the timing of this, but I Eth dice'd my entire Ethereum position. I figured the space could be wide open, so I looked for similar technologies that were just emerging. I wanted to get in on something early. I found this thing Ethereum clone project called Expanse. It resembled any other crypto community. It was basically a really long chat log of "wen moon?" and missed deadlines. I even jokingly tried to get Expanse to fund my wedding. They honestly almost agreed. (I'm still not married lol.) One of the members who I assumed was a developer, was talking about their blog on this new thing called Steem. I decided to check it out and fell in love with the idea. Look! An app that works!
Despite me being around, I rarely posted. I was much more interested in the community. You know, people who liked cryptocurrency but occasionally emerged from the basement layer to walk in the sun ("regular people"). I spent almost the entirety of my time on the chat, and drawing poor cartoons. The only thing I remember that I didn't like was the behind the scenes scammery of STINC. There were numerous rumors, and a lot of stories that didn't seem to make sense. Many users here though seemed to ignore it enough that made me think I was being paranoid. At a certain point, I decided that it would probably go to the trash can soon, so I cashed out some of my stake. I rode up the wave of 2017 up about half-way before I cashed out of the crypto market in its entirety. I needed the money anyway. I figured I wouldn't be back.
I missed the community though. I had made a bunch of great friends just drawing goofy cartoons, making memes, and chatting. I found myself coming back on chain for them. I loosely stay in touch with a few, but the time is hard to come by these days. Even early on, I tried to tell the community not to be so serious about itself. If you make it fun, people will stick around.
Sometimes these days I actually feel proud of myself. "Did I actually just do that? Oh that's right I am a bad-ass." This is the fruit of an extreme work ethic. Others I just wish I was sitting at home and shit-posting with the homies. This community got so much better after the fork. It is a true testament to the power behind community. Money is largely a fairly-tale. It is rooted in the mysticism of financial institutions. It is the most popular and successful religion to date. But when enough people believe in something, it becomes real. As long as we remember this, I think I'll be celebrating a lot more Hive anniversaries. Maybe I'll even post some memes.
I'm tagging some of the people that have made my Hive experience worth being here over the years. Each of you impacted me in different ways, but all of you collectively make this place great. For those that I haven't spoke to in a while, I hope you're doing well. Reach out sometime:
@pxlmitsu @elliotjgardner @thatkidsblack @rubencress @acidyo @eveuncovered @lemony-cricket @m31 @pharesim @klye @ace108 @steemitadventure (RIP) @tarazkp @celestal @escapist @apsu @nelly @zest @tuck-fheman @bethalea @gonzo @whatsup @mobbs
(This is in no particular order and I'm sure there are many more that I'll neglect to write. I'm on a time-crunch remember? Make sure to call me a big idiot for forgetting in the comment section)
Seven years? Hectic, you're part of the Olde Guard then. The stories I've read on here about people's crypto journeys - we almost all did similar and kicked ourselves, so please don't feel alone. I did some stupid shit and lost a ton of (potential) cash too, but hey, that's how it goes right?
Best of luck with your studies and I'm so glad you made a backup (sarcasm). Deadline chasing is a trait of mine too and it's not great when the line starts edging up really close, but it sounds like you've got it under control.
Happy Hive Birthday to you 🎂
Back in the day you could make a fortune for basically nothing. I remember the infamous 5-figure makeup tutorial type posts. Even @roelandp had a makeup tutorial. Maybe I messed up by not getting in on that. Look at that payout! Lol
https://peakd.com/beauty/@roelandp/the-first-steemit-male-makeup-tutorial-bringing-youtubers-to-steemit-roelandp-is-back
Roeland, I know that we have never really spoken. I appreciate your hard work in the ecosystem, but you ever thought about bringing this back? It'd make a great skit at Hivefest.
I was so bummed that the video isn't available to watch anymore. The comments were funny as hell.
I miss the degeneracy. I used to more or less write shit posts and satire.
Ya big idiot.Nah, I won’t because to be real, you’ve done what many have failed to do within the time you’ve been here. Hell, even I forget to, and I’m cunning to be this platform’s biggest cheerleader.
It’s to interact. You’ve got it down, and even though I miss several Discord pings a month, it’s fair to say I’m still in this game because of ties I’ve made with some of the people you’ve tagged above.
Happy to hear you’re still plugging along with your project. I’ve got an AMA to host in less than an hour, with wildly enough, someone I onboarded!
As far as the work ethic, I’m trying to foster it with better time management. It’s been cool these past two days, though I’m shying away from being stricter on what interferes and what doesn’t.
I’m not gonna make you commit to anything, but Ruben had a nutty idea with making transparency reports on HIVE, for those other projects I’m in, and I love it.
I’m trying to grow these communities organically, but especially by having them record their efforts somewhere it can reward them, close the loop.
I’ll see if I can’t hit the voice chats soon. Be well man. Glad to hear you’re still trucking.
You and @rubencress could definitely make a great marketing team. That's my two cents.
Define transparency report. What's the vision?
Jk I read this: "I’m trying to grow these communities organically, but especially by having them record their efforts somewhere it can reward them, close the loop."
I'm always trucking homie.
If trying to grow communities is your goal, I wish you well and I hope you achieve that
Have a great day!
Happy cake day! 🎂
HOW DARE YOU TAG ME!
lol, just kidding. yeah holy fuck 7 years is a long ass time but seems to have flown by.
Our community might have shrank a piss ton over the past couple years but lots of us are still around lurking or shit posting. Thanks for the shout out and I hope all is well on your end. Cheers captain.
Yeah man, you're always going to be one of the early day meme-lords that I appreciate.
I miss the good old days when I could just draw whale balls on MS-paint and make a king's ransom.. Now everything is all serious and I have too much shit to build. XD
Cheers again captain, have yourself a gooder.
I'm glad Ive impacted your experience, Hive was a center peice of my life for a long time.
No worries. I think you have a very fun and pragmatic style. You're very pro-crypto and pro-human.
cool your still sticking around!
It's easy when the people are your friends. I really want crypto to succeed.
Happy Anniversary.
You are about a week after me.
Still surviving here. Just met a Hive blogger from Germany in Singapore recently.
That's really cool. You know I've never met anyone that uses the platform in-person. Too bad I can't make it to Hivefest one of these times.
I thought this time in Mexico will be good chance for many in the Americas
I am here now. Not an early adopter like you, so help me out with a follow and check out my posts. I am up to something you might like.
I sent a follow. It's really hard to stick with it at first. I'll read some when I get the time. The best advice I'll give when starting out is to tell the story that only you can tell. Make sure to have fun along the way. If you do that, the success will follow.
Thanks for the feedback
$WINE
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Glad you are still here! I remember missing you twice when you took time off. I feel like your grind is paying off, even if it's taking time. Grinds are like that as long as there is some kind of next stage you are working towards. I got out of crypto entirely with the exception of bitcoin and hive. I used to allocate 20-50% to shots in the dark but now I'm just figuring that if I can hold something that won't disappear or become irrelevant, I'll be significantly better off in 10 years than if I blew the money on something risky. I do plan on cashing out double my initial investment next bullrun though, which won't even equate to half of my current stash :-) so I guess I'll be 2 years early. Still gotta work, not a millionaire, but at least maybe I'll be able to do some stuff.
2024 should be a good year for us!
I'm kind of an ETH maxi these days but I like the utility and development community more so than the mechanics. It just works. I'm still nowhere near where my goals lie. I'm doing the crypto stuff for fun, ultimately I want to end up deeper in medicine. I like using the clinical skills I have as a paramedic to solve problems. I also like research these days. We'll see where it all lies. I heard that the opposite of happiness is boredom. When you think about it, death is the ultimate boredom (at least in theory). You can't do anything. Get out and experience life, live the way you want to live, and you'll definitely do great. I'll try to do the same man. I'm rooting for you.
Well, perhaps the "Cranky Gandalf" would be one of those who would have the right to call you Big Idiot for being the only one posting in your little community and you actually forgot to mention him. Eh? ;p
@por500bolos gets acknowledgement here.
Lol I'm so sorry. RIP the "little community". You are the MVP there. I can't steal your thunder. I'm editing the post to give you the proper tag. I will send humble upvotes in your honor.
Also, thank you for calling me out on this. I need to post there and have a little fun!