Ocean Cake Day

Wow... So today is my one year Steemit anniversary, cake day! Actually... I was not expecting to be sticking much around because I was quite skeptical about the Steem platform when I first joined, mainly due to general animosity to Steem from the wider crypto community at the time (accusations concerning the pre-mine and abuse and such). But signup was free, and it was a token that already had established itself among the top tokens, so why not?

I followed the instructions. Introduction post with some sort of identity, where I hid behind Opal (and still do to some extent). Joining the chat server, now Steem Chat, and that was the start of the adventure. The chat was fascinating to be a part of, and I found that there were already so many people to share the experience with.

I had some encounters with @ocd and @curie, and am very thankful for their early discovery and support. Curation efforts and engagement are the way forward for adoption, that is for sure.

Not long after, there was the master plan for world domination (crypto domination). I agreed completely with the idea, and felt it was a rather ingenious plan, though the plan now is slightly altered. This strategy is the core behind why I eventually decided that Steem was the right cryptocurrency for me to be focusing on. This, and seeing just how the steem platform has transformed so many lives already.

I spent a bit of time reading through the code and the docs to see what the deal was with SBD, how voting and curation worked, and various other tidbits, and there are several posts on that theme. And I also made a few contributions that were accepted into the Steemit condenser as well.

I had a bid bot phase, even running one of my own with the community I was in. We gamified it, using the delegation and proceeds to fund a game in @cryptoempire, a manually-run turn based empire building game, but in the end I did not feel comfortable with the bid bot and we shut it down. The game also shut down, but the reality is that it really did not need a bid bot. Another game started shortly after and seems to be going strong, in @darklands run by @norwegianbikeman.

I write about whatever I feel like writing about. There are a few persistent themes though. I'll frequently write about my dog Opal, from her point of view.

I also wrote a string of travel posts. I had some fun writing about a travel series to Iceland. One of those posts is slightly different than the others :). Hmm once unlimited editing is there I think I might clean up and make the formatting more consistent. Also some photos broke...

I've flowed through many communities on discord, and where I ended up primarily is with the @helpie community, where I have had the pleasure of meeting many great minds. Wonderful engagers of the platform, creating initiatives that bring us all closer together, staying positive amongst the toxic tides. Lately I've listened to many radio shows on mspwaves as well as listening in on the @helpie meetings. It has been a pleasure witnessing @helpie's recent growth as well, as @helpie also became a witness recently and is just flying.

And of course to round out the year, the experience of HF20 which was quite rough, but we made it out of there...

Looking back over the year, I must say I'm very happy to have met so many great people, very passionate about the Steem platform, through all the rough edges and the drama. It's obviously not all rosy but there's just so much good happening on the platform it's still easy to gush about it all. Thank you all for making my experience here that much better! Onwards and upwards from here.

... And I decided to close by deciding not to hide behind Opal any longer. So uh. Here's a picture of my face. Some of you have already seen it. Until next time!