In case you guys missed it, I am in the process of preparing for school at Code Fellows.
Steem Power
This is something I've struggled with a lot over the last few days.
My Steemit earnings are very precious to me. I feel as though I've gotten in on the ground floor with Steemit, and hodling a hoard of Steem Power is very nice.
I believe this platform will be the basis of a new and experimental user-generated-token economy, and the Steem currency will increase in value substantially in the next few years (in my opinion).
However, this doesn't change the facts of my current circumstance.
Code Fellows
Yesterday I took my entrance exam for the Code Fellows 201 course, which teaches the front-end-stack (HTML, CSS, JavaScript).
So YAAAAAAY! to that :D
But, as with most good things, there is a catch, which in this case is: I HAVE TO PAY FOR THE DAMN THING.
The big problem here is simply that I'm poor, lol. I just don't have the money to do this.
As it stands, I've been able to get some financial assistance through Code Fellows financing partners, but it's not even close to enough to allow me to live in Seattle for two months.
Powering Down
So, I'm going to have to tap into my Steem Power, at least for a little while, in order to support myself and my family as I transition through this education into a better career.
This is sad, as I know that I have already lost my dolphin status, which I only just recently acquired, but what other choice do I have?
I have to do this.
If my Steemit channel were as it was a month and a half ago, this would be different.
Back then I was making over $100 per day, and my payouts were netting more than than per day. It was a great time, and my feelings of positivity for Steemit were at an all-time-high.
HardFork19
When HF19 hit, there was an initial wave of enthusiasm and exuberance.
It was fantastic. People suddenly had a huge amount of power compared to the day before, and all of my posts went from being worth a decent amount to having several dozen pending posts that were over $100 in value.
Then, as voting power was quickly drained, within a few days people stopped voting, or voted with a far smaller percentage than they had previously.
Then the big crypto dip happened, and Steem and SBD shot down with all the other cryptos, so even if you did get a good post going, you had the pleasure of watching it peak and then slowly decrease in value.
I think that this was a case of unfortunate timing, and I think it hit Steemit pretty hard.
At least it hit me pretty hard.
And now that the price of Steem is heading back up, I kind of have to take the opportunity to take some gains for the sake of my family and my future career in coding.
What could change this?
Well, quite simply, if Steemit was even close to as lucrative for me as it was a month ago, I would not power down, and in fact would continue to post like a daemon for the next two weeks before school starts.
The simple fact is I need money, and Steemit is my greatest investment and savings, so I have to skim off of it until I'm in a place to recoup expenses.
Once this is all over, and I have a well-paying job, I will likely buy up all the Steem I've spent and then some, but it won't be the first thing on my list (as debtors tend to be more of a pressing concern than my friends here, unfortunately).
I hope this helps to clear up my recent absence and wallet activity.
Love you guys!!!