Hi Everyone. I'm back after my steemit hiatus last week. What can I say? I was enjoying real life. Catching up with friends, (i.e. people on Facebook) and I went to the Gold Coast for a bit. I like the Gold Coast. The beaches are so nice even though the waves constantly try and dump you in the sand or suck you into a rip, and it feels really different to being in Brisbane. Plus there's a vegan pizza place there which I always want to go to.

After a fun 24 hours of flying and the busiest LAX I've experienced so far, I've returned to Panama and am trying to get back into my routine. I know that I've been REALLY SHIT at steemit the past few weeks—especially with the Team Australia updates—which I've neglected the most out of all my steemit jobs. As a result—and probably the higher steem price—there's now a lot of you that want to join.  

So, new year, new format. Since it takes me a long time to write these posts normally—and because so many of you want in—I don't have time to summarise people's intro posts like I have previously. So assuming this trend continues, I will make them shorter and link the intro posts unless people have DM'd me their deets.

But before I get to all that...

Fun with @ausbitbank and @krystle

Well it was a great end of 2017 for me. Not only did I enjoy three-odd weeks of R&R, but I also got to meet a bunch of Brissy steemians in real life.

First, I met @ausbitbank and @krystle at their new house. We hung out, played some Nintendo games—all of which I sucked at except for a yoga one that involved standing still in tree pose. Later we did some steemit work in their office using their not shit internet (unlike all the shit internet I experienced pretty much everywhere else). I enjoyed meeting them both very much and hopefully they felt the same. 

I also met their kids, who hugged me, which I found very odd. Probably not why you think.

1. Kids hate me. It's like they instinctively know I have no maternal instincts.
2. They're autistic. These are the first autistic kids I've met but tv has taught me that autistic kids don't like to be touched so I was very conscious of this going there. But not these kids, they pretty much hugged me straight away.

So is this like maths? Two negatives make a positive? I don't know. 

What I do know is that @clayboyn was jealous since he's always virtual hugging me in Discord.

The Brisbane Meet-up

Then on Saturday 30 December we had the Brisbane meet-up. Myself, @gohba.handcrafts, @juicy-shark, @magicmonk and @apsistrading attended. There were a couple of no shows and last minute cancellations so we didn't beat Adelaide's turn out, but it was still decent and I think everyone who went was glad they did. 

We talked about steemit obviously, cryptos, other steemians—mostly the ones in discord, cos they're the ones we know and interact with—and anything else that cropped up. The weather was good, we sat outside, some drinks were consumed, and there were no awkward silences (just to reassure those introverts out there that you can go to a meet-up and you'll be ok).

Because I'm shit and was real life busy, I didn't write it up and it seems like too much time has passed now anyway. You can read @magicmonk's post or @gohba-handcrafts' post for the low-down. Unfortunately, they are now out of the payout window so if you liked them, please upvote one of their newer posts instead.

The community notices section

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising and rewarding Aussie creativity by curating quality content.

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do that are here. Don't forget that @centerlink is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project (MSP). Details on how to join are are here. Come say hi in the Team Australia chat room in PAL-Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends. 

You should consider voting for the the MSP witnesses, particularly @ausbitbank and @aggroed, who've a done a great job in getting this project off the ground. Lastly, if you're feeling generous, you can delegate SP to the Team Australia upvote bots @centerlink and/or @mrsquiggle (or any other bot you like) using Vessel. You can delegate to any of the MSP bots using this link.   

Candidate 1

Name and bio

@izzydawn is part of the growing number of Aussie school kids getting onto steemit. Originally from England, she's now a mallsballer and the daughter of @minismallholding. She is really into photographing nature and submits photos to shutterstock.

Intro post here.

Fun fact 

"When I used to go fishing with my Dad I would pinch his bread to catch wild ducks and cuddle them."

Awww. But I've seen those ducks in Adelaide and they aren't very friendly. They use to hiss at me when I rode past on my bike.

Candidate 2

Name and bio

@calathea is a gardener from Sydney and a real life friend of @forexbrokr. She's hoping to share some tips and hints for looking after indoor plants as well as her photos of her gardening efforts to date. 

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"Even though I have over 30 varieties of plants, I'm pretty sure I don't have any natives!"

I'm just impressed that you're growing them all on a balcony.

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@revo lives at a beach in South East Queensland. He has a background in ecology and IT but is focused on political activism and social justice/ socioeconomic stuff these days. 

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I was a pilot at age 16."

Wow, that's younger than when I got my driver's licence.

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@baronvonscrub is another mallsballer who describes himself as "the quintessential blend of lazy, unemployed bum and renaissance man" (i.e. a student). He describes his physical appearance as fantasy dwarf turned goth. 

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I was a fairly talented épée fencer, having won a few state competitions and competed in the national championships in my first year."

Ooh, a stabby fun fact. Nice. It reminds me of when I used to watch the Olympics/Commonwealth Games as a kid.

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@itchyfeetdonica was born and raised in China, has visited 60 countries, and is now living on the Sunshine Coast. She works in marketing and communications, translates between Mandarin and English, and runs language and inter-culture training programs.

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I'm the only person screaming with excitement when kangaroos hop by the office window (in the first month after I arrive in Australia)."

Lol, that was me in Aberdeen when snow and/or deer would appear outside the window. Everyone thought I was weird.

Candidate 6

Name and bio

@just2random is from Melbourne and has been burnt by crypto on several occasions, including losing money in MtGox, Cryptsy, Coinex and Mintpal. Ouch! When he's not getting hacked, he loves the night life and has got to boogie.

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I still play with LEGO, well not exactly play, because I make a small income from my creations by sharing them with my audience on YouTube. And another fun fact is I have a 2M+ view video which puts me in rarefied air on that platform."

Hey, I played (although I use the term loosely) with Lego last week in Brisbane when my friends' kids dragged me into their Lego adventures at 6am. Good times.

Candidate 7

Name and bio

@strongerbeings is an engineer from Brisbane, who has recently taken on casual teaching gigs at universities, and working for a software company. He also says he likes food a little too much but then willingly posted an unflattering photo of himself on the block.

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"Growing up my parents spoke pretty much zero English, they were immigrants and were still learning as well. It's a little embarrassing to admit this, but I learnt a lot of my English watching sesame street and playschool. In grade 1 I was taught how to read properly by volunteer parents, and I think back and wonder how I would have turned out without them encouraging me so patiently."

Hmm, maybe I need to find some volunteer parents to help speed up my learning of Spanish.

Candidate 8

Name and bio

@spaceginger lives in Townsville with his wife and two daughters. He has been in the Army and Air Force, been a business owner, a glazier by trade, and is now giving back to the community by helping troubled youths as a Youth Worker. He's been in more fights in two years as a Youth Worker than his whole life, but he continues to do it because these young people desperately need empathetic and trusting adults to help them find the best within themselves.

@spaceginger is a colourblind artist loves to meditate and exercise on the path to realise his true self.

Fun Fact

"When I was about four years old my friend sunk his teeth into my head and produced a lot of blood. For the next few years, I thought that's why my hair was red! Still got the scar on my head too."

Lol, that's hilarious (not the biting part) and total kid logic.

Candidate 9

Name and bio

@tony10 is from Liverpool (UK), currently living in South Africa, and will moving to Sydney on 16 January. He will be introducing and helping many new high net worth individuals come over to Steemit (mostly analysts, hedge fund managers and family offices).

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I ride across countries by pedal power and I climb LOTS of mountains (+80)."

Wow, that's a lot of mountains. It's probably good you don't live somewhere like the Netherlands (although that would be good for cycling, so, swings and roundabouts).

Candidate 10

Name and bio

@cryptokoala is a family man based up in Northern Queensland. He has two king Charles Cavaliers, one of which thinks she is a cat because whenever he turns his back and there is food on the table, she jumps up to eat it. He just finished his studies in Work Health and Safety and is job hunting. He enjoys gardening, yoga, and researching blockchains and cryptos.

Fun fact

"I like to juggle and have a YouTube channel called the crypto koala"

Hmm, I think we've had a few jugglers on here with that as a fun fact now. It's still impressive though, and I'm still uncoordinated as shit and it's probably why I lost all the Nintendo games against @ausbitbank the other day.

Candidate 11

Name and bio

@mslillypilly is originally from Russia but now lives in Melbourne with her partner @datascience and two cats. She's into nature, photography, and Australian fashion designer Leona Edmiston.

Intro post here.

Fun fact

"I'm the creator of the Leona Edmiston fan group on Facebook."

Cool. Stalk her. Get her on steemit!

Candidate 12

@nathenial is from Canberra and currently living in Prague. He's a fifth year Architecture student but has over four years experience working in the industry. He's passionate about ecology and sustainable development.

Intro post here.

Fun fact 

"I once lived in a van for a whole year."

Wow. That sounds tough. Also this should not be confused with "living in Van", which is short for Vancouver and a rookie Aussie mistake I made chatting to @crimsonclad one day in Discord. I thought she lived in a van and assumed she drove around looking for free wifi to run her witness server.

Congratulations everyone. You've been accepted into @teamaustralia

The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness and our Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank.
2. Send me your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself and teamaustralia tags to help boost your following. Use this handy guide by @teamsteem if you don't know what to write.
3. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London. You need to have a connection to Australia to join.
4. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you! The more fun, the better.
5. Regularly check the Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote/follow the content you like. You can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are here.
6. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or PAL-Discord that you want to join.

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner. 

This post was created in mspsteem, which provides a 5% beneficiary to @minnowsupport.

Are you an Aussie? Introduce yourself in the teamaustralia chat room!  

Top image source

Gif by @justcallmemyth

Team Australia banner by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas