Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) recounting an ass-whooping he'd taken as the result of investing in overhyped stocks. His tuition cost him a lot more than yours did you ... and how many times does one get to be compared to Mark Twain?

High praise indeed :-)

On that point, raconteurship, this post was a masterfully crafted story, a song sung with perfect pitch. From the beginning, I was hooked and the rest just flowed like honey. Sarcasm and self-referential humor deployed perfectly in the service of telling the tale. If losing a few bucks was the price for finding your muse, it was well worth it. This genre of story-telling (satirical allegory) is your forté.

Thank you for these kind and eloquently woven words; as someone who continually bounces from contemplating imposter syndrome to wondering whether Dunning & Krueger are allies, I needed this.

Funnily enough I too met a colourful character in Istanbul, he didn't offer me a Rolex, fake or otherwise, but he did offer to show me the best belly dancing places in the area. Alas I was there for work and had to decline his kind offer.

I too was skeptical of the sincerity of this guy when he first sat down, but after an hour or so of buying each other mint teas (him) and beers (me) I realised he was actually a genuine individual who was simply trying to be friendly.

I'm sure he got a kickback from the local bars and restaurants if he brought in business, but he was a nice guy. In fact he ended up buying me more drinks than I did him, he often physically stopped me from paying for drinks.

If he had offered me a good fake Rolex, I would probably have bought it!

Anyway I wanted to say that I'm just about to write something inspired by your reply on my last post.

Something you said really resonated with me, and then this morning I saw the most beautiful piece of artwork, an Eth NFT and your words came back to me. I was so greatly moved, I sold all the "rubbish cartoons" I could.

Anyway I finished the article I'd started last night and now I'm going to move onto the reply to; or rather the article inspired by your comment.

I almost don't want to release the one I've just finished, instead jumping straight into the one that's buzzing round my head, but it does make sense to do that one first.

Once more, thank you for your kind words Sir, and I'll see you on the 'chain!

Cg