Honey, I've been seeing another blockchain.
Another year almost comes to an end. Last week my fellow Grumpy Men and I already celebrated the new solar year. Beer taste evening at my place. Snacks, beer, and good music. For this special occasion I also got us some 'oliebollen', on which the donut was inspired. If I'm correct the translation for 'oliebol' is 'doughnut'. So it kind of makes sense. Really was not looking forward to them festive days. Actually I've been feeling down on and off. Let it be January the 2nd 2025, somehow. Too many bad thoughts, memories, shait going on in real life. What? Are people still going to war? And stop tinkering with the weather allready! Geo-Engineer your own freaking ass, creeps! Thoughts, they don't stop. It's been too dark and cloudy for too long, it is getting to me. This is abnormal. Or am I just becoming this certain age...?
Maybe you get this: "Why doesn't it just work right out off the freaking box!!!" There was a time when I would try, try and try until I got things working. Recently tried to install Python (a programming language) on the laptop I got from my brother. Installed Linux on it, done in a jiffy. And I wanted to keep it as basic as possible. Only installing the Lubuntu system, no applications right away. Cannot tell you all the curses I've let out shortly after. And I wanted to do some blockchain stuff, Python is quite straightforward to do that. Well, if it functions, that is. No worries, I'm not going to put you through all of the frustrations. Simply put, I've powered the laptop down. Let's leave it at that.
Somehow it has become a thing. And I lose my temper pretty easily the last couple of months. My stomach is telling me that I should be chillaxing more. So I decided to open a present I got on Xmass Eve. A beautiful barley product, known as Scottish Whisky. Speyside Glenlivet's Tomintoul it is. And I really like the taste of it. Very different from my favorite Islay one known as Laphroaig. And because I'm not really feeling the holiday spirit, I'm putting in some spirit from the outside. It's Yule time for Peet's sake! Now where's my whisky glass. Let's drink to something good, like peace on earth. Who knows, this time it might even work out. And if not then I've at least enjoyed some nice drinks. It ain't half bad.
On Steem there was this vibe. Early days of SteemIt. The blockchain started on March the 23rd and I got this account on the 26th of May. It was new and exciting. The first payout was supposed to be on the 4th of July. So much creativity, it was buzzing, it was inspiring. Somehow it feels like that changed when Steem was sold out. In what I called a Reversed Sybil Attack. In this variant a few über wealthy accounts do a hostile takeover. And I moved over with Hive, but it felt like something stayed behind. That special feeling, the vibe, the extraordinary experience. Hive became its own kind, it evolved and technically it kept improving. But somehow the special feeling had gone for me. Or maybe it was just me that changed? Yes, I'm not ruling that out.
And I recall buying my first Bitcoin, somewhere at a whooping 700 Euro! How I hesitated to use some of my Steem earnings for that. What if it would drop down to worthlessness? And then Doge. When I scroll through all the transactions I did using Dogecoin, with current prices, those amounts look insane! Well, I suck at fortune telling, I can tell you that for sure. On SteemIt I suggested to create a Chainbook, or something in line with that. It would start with a story and then others would continue it. It did not really take of like that. But I remember how the Aristocrat Boomy storyline got extended every Thursday. Do you remember the last line every of those stories ended with? From that Chainbook idea I made a spinoff which came to be known as the Coop Files. Really, I miss those days. But then again, I'm already a Grumpy Man.
What got me into Steem was my Geek nature. The technology begind it was just amazing. Hah, I want to see an UTXO blockchain like Bitcoin do that! Okay, inscriptions, I hear ya, but it's just not the same. On Hive I can publish (practically) instantly. No way you're going to be able to do that on the Litecoin blockchain. And also them EVM blockchains cannot do it. And not to forget about the costs of the transactions on those. Running a publication platform on one of those, would that really be possible on chain? In the meantime all those Fun 'n Meme Token Coins pop up. Did you see that thing 'Fart Coin'? Really, close to one dollar, a Token on some EVM blockchain? Yes, I'm definitely becoming an old fart.
The Geek freak in me needed something new and exciting. As I did not get the spirit again to publish regularly on Hive somehow. Somewhere from early 2012, I think, I've been exploring several blockchains, like NXT for instance. The promise that it would be possible to create your own Token Coin looked interesting. Unfortunately it did not really take off on that blockchain. Steem promised Smart Coins and that could still be done on the Hive blockchain directly. Yes, there are second layer solutions. A lot has been build on top of Hive, I know. But I'm not locked in one blockchain, guess I'm polychain instead of monochai n. And I also Aped again by buying Dogen on Polygon. Even a rug pull experience has not kept from doing so. Last year I came across DeSo and it has some nice features that make it quite unique. The Geek in me lit up and got quite a lot to have fun with.
Guess that I'm still around, that what I kept as Hive Power is still there. And a good friend delegated some more to double it. Yes, I still miss those early Steem days. Great times, good memories and I will be publishing now and then I think. For old times sake? Who knows.
This time the payout of this publication will go to three accounts that are special to me, in one way or the other.
My third glass of TominToul is almost finished. And yes, I think I will rename these days to Beautiful Barley days.
Wishing you already a prosperous new year!
Have a great one!
