Obligatory anniversary/dolphin post

First off, I'm a dolphin I guess?

First order of business: it's become customary around here to announce to the entire blockchain when you cross the line of 5k powered up SP, as if everyone cares for some reason. So, with my latest power-up, I've done it, and I'm super excited about it.

So yeah, stake and growth isn't like the hugest deal to me or whatever, but I'm really proud of having as much ownership of this thing as I do with you guys. It feels like some new-agey hippie "content cooperative" or something. Love it. But you know what I love more than my stake in Steem?

Steem. ^_^ So let me just gush for a while about how I came to find this wonderful place and how I came to call myself a Steemian.

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_{Image by geralt on Pixabay. CC-0.}

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How I joined Steem

I first came to Steem almost a year ago by complete accident. I had theoretical ownership by proxy of some various shitcoins alternative cryptocurrencies, but I did not control my keys. Not my keys, not my coins, right? So, I set out to remedy the issue, but I found that this one coin STEEM was different from everything else I'd ever touched. There was nothing like a wallet where I could just generate a key and receive the coins. It was account-based, and I needed to create an account in order to receive what I was owed.

I signed up through Steemit.com and tried to use one of those free SMS numbers because hey, why am I giving my phone number to people? To open a crypto wallet? What a scam! (Hey, have we fixed onboarding yet? xD)

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My first experience in crypto-kindness

Well, it seemed that there was some kind of silent filter on the registrations, because I never did receive my confirmation e-mail. Luckily, @apsu was there in Steem.chat (which was then Steemit.chat) to save the day. He must have seen something worthwhile in me, because he made me an account with @pharesim's kickass Steeminvite tool.

Back then, we were still creating accounts by delegation, and STEEM was worth a whole lot more at the time. So, it was no small favour for @apsu to lock himself into that arrangement, just to bring my as-yet undiscovered Steem persona to life... and to him, I will be eternally grateful. I had experienced this first act of kindness and it had piqued my curiosity. I had not experienced kindness like @apsu's in the crypto space, ever. I had sort of developed this theory that it was impossible, because even though I saw cryptocurrency as a way to claw back our freedoms from our oppressors, I had long accepted that the decentralised and anonymous nature of it all simply brought out the worst in people. That theory was challenged, for the first time, by @apsu, here on Steem.

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Early experiences in the Steem community

Still, I may have just held my STEEM and gone silent if it had not been for a couple more things that happened. I don't remember in which order they went. Somehow, I found myself attending @sykochica's trivia nights she was hosting in Steemit.chat at the time. I think I won something like 25 STEEM from those in total. The excitement and generosity I experienced there was one of my first real introductions to Steem as a community.

I have not seen @sykochica around for a long time. I miss her. I hope she is doing okay.

Another thing that happened was meeting @NoNamesLeftToUse The Writer/Artist Himself. I've always had an appreciation for abstract art and while I'm not sure Himself is the type to subscribe his art form to labels, his work has always interested and even sometimes inspired me to write. My first posting transaction on the Steem blockchain was commenting on one of his posts and I have been a huge fan since.

The Writer/Artist Himself is still around, but I've not been very good at engagement recently. I'm pretty ashamed of that. He was pretty instrumental in helping me figure out how I felt about some things early on here. We have had our share of slight disagreements here and there, but largely we share the same love for the "gift economy" aspect of Steem.

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And then, things got dangerous

Shortly after that, I was sort of dragged by one @saywha into a little community of sorts, where I met a lot of the people I call my friends today. Now, my memory is not as good as it once was, and there has been a lot of attrition probably due to the bear market, and that community is not really active anymore. I'm not going to attempt to list everyone I met there, and some of them have gone probably never to return, but if you're reading this, you know who you are, and I am grateful to have met you.

It was through my actions in this community that I came to be acquainted with some of the members of Operation Curation Delegation (@ocd). I've never been much of an effective curator here on Steem. I like to make myself feel better by saying I curate people, not content. That is basically the world's most terrible excuse, though. OCD has been instrumental in supporting new and underrewarded authors here on Steem and I have always admired their project, which is why when I was approached to become the technical maintainer of @ocd-witness, the answer was a resounding yes. Even though I suck at curating, I am proud to support such an amazing project in any way I can. (And hey, if you haven't yet... you should vote for @ocd-witness today! :D)

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And then, they got quiet

This year has been a real bear. Am I right? [dodges incoming tomato projectiles]

Seriously though, I don't think it has been all that bad. Luckily I can say my personal Steem activity hasn't suffered much from the market downturn, as I would have needed to be an active poster in the first place for that to happen, but I would be lying if I said the general pessimistic mood about the cryptosphere did not get to me a little bit; I think it has gotten to us all.

We've lost a lot of people, new and old, and posting activity has slowed down quite a bit. I think it is the popular thing to do to hate on the people who left and imply that they were never real Steemians to begin with and that sort of thing. I am fine with rewarding the people who stuck around but personally I don't have any ill will against the people who left. I just wish they wouldn't have left, that's all... and I do hope they come back.

People accuse these people of being in it "just for the money" and I agree and sympathise with that point of view, but what exactly are we doing here? We are building a better world here with Steem; at least some of us are trying to. We are doing that by creating a system which leverages human greed against itself for the greater good. We're struggling a bit. Our baby is sick and it's purging itself. But even though greed is one of the ugliest parts of the human condition, I don't think we can just hope that people are good enough to overcome it completely. I just don't think we can expect that of ourselves and our species.

So I don't seek to combat greed directly; I think that's futile. Instead, I seek to embrace and harness it for good. I think we have to continue our work to build and support systems which, like I said, balance and leverage that greed in favour of a better platform for everyone. Vote-buying still sucks though and I wish it wasn't a thing. :D

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Thank you, everyone

I cannot possibly finish talking about this past year of my life without mentioning and thanking a few people... and if you're not mentioned here please don't be offended, it's just that I hate you and never want to see you again probably thought you would think it was too awkward or something.

@apsu, thank you again for being my steem account's daddy <3 (probably not the emoji you were hoping I would use)

@saywha, thank you so much for my monster. It's basically "me" now. You literally created how most people here will probably always see me. How's that feel? Lol.

@NoNamesLeftToUse The Writer/Artist Himself... thank you for the warm welcome, for your artwork, for the laughs, and for the puzzles. I still haven't solved that one. Don't tell me the answer. I'll figure it out eventually.

@suesa, in you I found a confidant and a dear friend who I will never forget. I will always be grateful to you for your friendship and for giving me the language and concepts I needed to understand something about myself.

@elliotjgardner, thank you for your act of kindness and for trusting me for no real reason. I'm not sure if you even remember what I am talking about, but you are an integral part of everything that has happened... and thank you for bringing so much ａｅｓｔｈｅｔｉｃ into my world. Please post more.

@crimsonclad, thank you for opening my eyes, musically. Wait. Wouldn't that just be opening my ears? I dunno. Came for the synthwave, stayed for the metal and the drunken antics and the hug pits, God, the hug pits. Never change a bit; you are awesome ^_^

@agnikana and @kex, thank you each respectively for your writings and poetry; poetry and music, and both of you, for being human with me. Thank you for giving me a reason to keep up the fight, every day, for this amazing technological and economic revolution we are building. It's easy in the comfort of a functional economy to think that crypto is "too hard" for ordinary people and that it will never be successful as a result. Your experiences tell me otherwise, and your continued struggles mean we must succeed. There is no other option.

@geekpowered, thanks for all the conversation. You might be a little weird, but it's never boring with you around. Also you started posting a lot more than you used to and I am proud of you, man. I need to follow in your footsteps a bit.

@m31, you showed me the beauty of life and nature through your photographs and words, and made me want to venture outside and experience the Earth for the first time in years, and connect with it in a way I simply never have, ever. You have shown me the beauty of a lot of things, even the darkness. Even myself. Thank you, for the discovery; for the music; for the magic; for everything.