Holy hell, guys! I've been here for FOUR years!

Time flies when you're having fun!

It's been a hell of a ride over the years, and I've seen a lot of crazy stuff go down. I've made it through flag wars, the STEEM wars, and have found myself here with all you awesome folk who have decided to call HIVE your home.

I still have plans to get the tattoos on my hands modified to incorporate the HIVE logo, blending the two without completely covering the former. I don't really post on STEEM much anymore, (though I might start again just to milk the current bull run over there...) but I also don't want to ignore my roots.

I got this tattoo to show homage to a platform that completely changed the course of my life. Had you told me four years ago that I was about to start a journey to becoming a "real" writer, I likely would have laughed, but that's exactly what ended up happening...

Earning a few dollars in crypto here and there for posting about my interests sparked a new passion within me, and soon I was earning hundreds of dollars for some of the posts in my Super Cool Science S#!t series (my highest paid post earned over $700 USD after cashout!)

From there, I started refining my writing skills and aspiring to turn what I had learned into a job that could replace the restaurant work I've done for nearly 20 years, and it worked...

I took a few courses, grabbed a couple certifications, and now run my own copywriting and marketing business via SirSweeney.com, and I truly have this platform/community to thank for giving me the confidence to push this far.

---

In the past year that HIVE has been around, I've made a push to increase my stake on the platform. At the time of writing this post, I currently have nearly 1700HP, which is more than twice what I ever had on STEEM, and will continue to push toward dolphin status on my way to eventually becoming a HIVE whale!

So what now?

I want to make my fifth year on the platform my most active yet, increasing the amount of commenting and posting I do, while staying away from starting big crazy projects I'll likely never follow through with. I've learned my lesson about biting off more than I can chew, and will instead focus on my strengths. I love writing serialized content, and my Super Cool Science S#!t series has been such a success here that I have plans to publish it as a book when I reach 50 installments! Beyond that, I have plans to start two new series very soon.

The first will be called 'AlieNation', where I write about some of the most famous and bizarre alleged UFO and extraterrestrial sightings and contacts, putting just as much research and effort into each piece as I do my science posts.

The second does not yet have a title, but will cover one of my guilty pleasures; talking about active serial killers, and past serial killers who were never caught. If this sort of thing interests you, comment below and help me come up with a title for the series!

I will also continue to write my Rogue Curator series, where I choose a random HIVE community and create a curation post featuring some of the best content published the prior week. These aren't exactly my most "successful" posts yet, but I enjoy creating them, and even with the small bit they've been earning, the amount I share with the authors I curate (10% each) is still more than I could give them with a single upvote on their post.

---

It's still hard to believe it's been four years already!

Feeling generous? Want to help support my current and upcoming content? Drop a cake day tip in my jar!

It's as easy as clicking the button below to donate HIVE, or scanning the QR code to the right to donate fiat!

---

Here's to four more years with HIVE!