Hi @roleerob, sorry for this very late reply.
I'm very happy that somehow that submission made an impact to your blogging journey here on Steem. I really liked that post reflecting your past as a hay farmer. I think that every curator have their sweet spot on finding post that they believe worthy for that particular lift. As for me, one of my favorite are those life stories like yours. It's simple, humble and very honest. Quality posts like yours are worthy not just of the rewards but attention. I believe that stories like this should be seen and appreciated by more people.
For your questions I can only answer a few as I'm not really that knowledgeable in some of them.
First I believe that curie is more than curation, curie supports various communities, helps in creating quality engagement and many other awesome things. For more specific information about curie you can actually read it here.
It's almost been a year since I started curating all thanks for sensei @geekgirl for recommending me. I still remember my first week, I almost got disqualified but thankfully manage to stay and it's almost a year now.
I find your post scrolling thru the life tag, tags doesn't really matter but each curator I believe has their own favorites. As long as ones content is exceptional and original there's no issue with the tags.
I really like being a curator, finding good content, being able to enjoy cool stories, artworks, videos etc. while being rewarded. It's all thanks to you @roleerob and all other author's that are staying here on this platform providing great value for content and engagement. I, as a curator owe you guys alot. Thank you very much!
P.S. Thanks to @misterakpan for bringing me here. Thank you bro!
Update to @lordkingpotato and @llfarms. I'll post it here, as without your curating efforts @lordkingpotato, none of this would've happened.
On the strength of the interaction with both of you, over the last 24 hours, I have taken this step:
I take voting for our Steem Witnesses very seriously. I have now voted the +8 MVests, over which I have a controlling interest, in support of @curie for Steem Witness.
Thank you both again for being great examples of Steemians to emulate. Given some of the "news" on other fronts "in here" today, that is nice to be able to say ...