Hehe, don't get me started... maybe too late...

Privacy! It's a huge topic for me, which is not to say that I'm a privacy fanatic or expert in any way. I've given away most aspects of my privacy already. There's little The Machine doesn't know about me at this point! I've used the internet since the start, without a break, for just about everything and anything. I've cared about my privacy increasingly in the past 10 years, but now realize it's pretty much too late. Everything we've ever done that used technology has left a record, and it will all be attributed to us, and perhaps we'll be punished for it too, who knows. If we have any privacy right now, soon we will not.

That said, I close my curtains when I get changed. I don't upload clear video or photos of my face, and so on. I'm not in a hurry to ruin the last of my privacy. And I've been doing what I can to keep Brett (my 19 month old) offline. In fact, his approximate age and first name is all that has been entered into any computer/device. No photos of him over email to family, even. I don't think anonymity is really possible in today's (or tomorrow's) world, but from a moral standpoint I don't want to give away Brett's privacy before he's mature enough to consent to it. Once he's 16 (or whatever), and he fully understands the pros and cons, he can start putting himself out there.

As for financial privacy, yeah. Ironically, talking about it on a permanent and open forum is probably not going to get us too far. Neither of us can say everything here! I did have a few silver bars, but had to spend them during my homeless points (hey, that's what savings are for!)... I pick up the occasional ounce when I can now, but there just isn't any supply here in this town. I could get Maples at $45 if I really really wanted, I guess. But I have other things to take care of first, before savings.

I like cash and hate cash. Ideologically I think we need it to some degree. But the way they've made debt notes so worthless and plasticy, they don't even fold anymore, they stick together, they warp in the sun, and they can't be redeemed for anything. And coins are crappy steel garbage instead of valuable antimicrobial discs of intrinsic value. But I fight against a cashless economy, which is being pushed hard. I like the idea of cash but tend to spend mine (mostly on food) as soon as I get it.

I'm earning a small amount of crypto now, not enough to pay bills yet, but who knows about the future. But it won't matter unless I find a way to get it into my belly!

Oh and I have a Cardano wallet with some crumbs in it. They upgraded their program a while back and no longer support Win7 (me). So I can't even get into my funds there at the moment. Thinking of selling the whole wallet and funds to a friend, or something. Maybe give the key to my kids to open that vault someday? I think it was only $10 or so, haha! But then again, that was at the low, somewhere around 5c each. I see it's at 165c each today. Better than a kick in the nuts!

The only other thing I've got of value, was not something of value a year ago - my Magic card collection. Collectibles have skyrocketed during lockdown, so I've got 5 figures of cards in boxes here. I know a guy who would take them off my hands but he's in Vancouver, and there's a regional blockade up between him and I now. Not that I'm permitted to operate a vehicle anymore, but I could potentially pay someone to drive me and the cards down to make the trade. It's gotta be done in person. So I dunno about that. Maybe things will open up for the summer? They're saying it might happen, but only if enough people take the injections. Fuck that!

Wait, would that be considered essential business travel? Hmmm. I'd have to look into the details.

You now know my financial situation, haha. Well, except that most of the monthly bills are paid through my wife's db. So if we're careful and smart we can cover the basics (all in cash). But there's no way to get ahead, and inflation is creeping up on us all the time.

My hope for a long time (the 4 years we've been on the blockchain) has been to do what I saw other people doing, and work my way up to the point of being paid for my content. People said I'd have to invest (so I put what I had in the crypto world into STEEM), and they said it would take regular effort and several months. Hah... that seemed like a long time to put in nonstop effort and quality content, and not without risk, but we set ourselves to it, made sacrifices, and turned it into a priority in our lives. For years, we've struggled to find an audience (I just hit 1000 followers, for example), and in short, we found the hard way you can't earn crypto on this blockchain doing the kind of activism we do (cannabis liberty), or providing the kind of content we create. We never bought or sold votes, we didn't get into any shady nonsense, we just created content, uploaded content, curated other people's stuff, commented, and powered up everything we earned. Our account values kept shrinking year over year. Finally, in 2021 we seem to have come up off the bottom, but HIVE really has yet to shine. If we had put the amount of time/effort/risk/investment/etc into any other project, we'd have something significant to show for it now.

You could say I've only got 2 problems! One is earning crypto, and the other is finding a way to spend it!

Other than that, my financial situation is peachy... lol

I feel rather lame about the above. When I was a statist I had so much more money, and influence over people. I've had to eat humble pie, and lose the ego, and shed the pride. It was a good thing, but it has left me rather raw, ragged, and hard to be around for most people. Thanks for listening :)