I had it all planned out perfectly. At the suggestion of 
Yesterday was a pretty unique day as it was one of the first times in just about two years that my entire family of in laws were all together in one place. Due to schedules, commitments, distance, and the general everyday happenings of life, we've always been a few people incomplete when it came to recent family gatherings.
More specifically, it was the first time that all of our nieces and nephews and even my great niece on this side of the family have all been together with us. It was all set to be the perfect evening. Just like the majority of 2025 was set to be the perfect year for crypto.
After taking family photos that pushed my grill start time back, I was finally able to get the charcoal going.
About half the family was busy playing Kubb (they have Swedish heritage after all), and I was getting the grills up to temperature and arranging the meat so that it could cook to perfection. That's when I realized I didn't have enough room for all of the chicken wings I had bought.
No problem, I made a quick pivot and decided that I would just grill them in two batches. Just like we had to change our expectations after the tariff stuff started happening. A late start, not enough room, no big deal, what could go wrong...
That's just about the time the skies opened up. Now, we have been in a bit of a draught, so it's not that the rain wasn't welcome, but this deluge ended up lasting just about an hour, the full time I was doing my best to make sure I cooked the food properly, evenly, and in a way that didn't give everyone food poisoning.
Oddly enough, the grills held their temperature pretty steady for the most part through the whole deluge. Kind of just like BTC has been holding pretty steady just below the all time high of $122K or whatever it was. We see numbers like $114K earlier this week and it's easy to start being a little dismayed at where we are compared to where we thought we would be.
I tell you what, six pounds of chicken wings and 18 bratwurst doesn't go very far with 17 hungry mouths to feed. The wings were absolutely decimated, and the bratwurst had a relatively large dent in them. At the end of the day, everyone was happy, and full!
I might have added a few gray hairs through the process, but ultimately I pulled it off.
Do we think BTC and crypto in general can do the same?
Obviously the hope is there, but just like I can't control the weather, we can't control the outside factors that seem to be impacting the crypto markets.
Despite the relative absence of altseason, I still have a few tokens I hope can be winners for me this cycle. VET from VeChain is one of them and in case you missed it, I wrote (what I think) was a really good post about their new Stargate staking program yesterday
If you didn't catch it or you are interested in a token (besides HIVE) that has a real world use case, you should check it out.
I'm still holding my CHEX bag, but even I am starting to led the FUD over that one get to me. I'm the sort of person who will ride a token all the way down to zero before I sell it at a loss. I have that luxury thanks to my full time job, but I'd still prefer the alternative!
My favorite silver mining stock Fortuna Silver Mines has been on the up side towards the end of this week inching closer to $7 per share. As of Thursday when I am writing this it appears there is still a bit of confidence in the precious metals space. As Christmas quickly approaches (can you believe it!?), I will likely be making some new purchases for myself and my nephew.
I've also considered buying a 1 oz piece of silver for a buddy of mine who isn't on HIVE yet. He is a bit of a homesteader, so I think the idea of owning precious metals would appeal to him. I just need to find the perfect piece. He is really into hunting and the outdoors, so I'd love to find something with that theme. He's also a former English teacher, so anything literature related might be good too.
I should really create a HIVE account for him sometime, even if he never plans to use it.
Anyway, that's all I have for this week. Until the markets really pick up (if they do), we are kind of just in wait and see mode.
All pictures/screenshots taken by myself or
