Aint the year just flying buy - we've passed the longest day, so that means the nights are getting shorter as we head towards winter here in the northern hemisphere !
I joined Hive around the end of November last year - and have just loved it, since joining. The thing that sticks out for me the most is the community - it is supportive, friendly and just generally awesome.
Since joining I've aimed to grow my involvement and investment within Hive - and now that we are half way through the year it seems like a great time to review progress. This has been largely inspired by the saturday savers club via 
[Above is a picture taken close to the longest day near my house in Edinburgh - so just about at the half year point !]
Starting point:
I dont have detailed records from the 1st of Jan for my specific holdings, other than that my hive wallet had a value of $7.16 (based on the HBD and Hive I had at that point). As of today (27/06/22) my wallet reports a value of $551 - so I'm pretty happy with that increase - $544 for the half year - whatr a change !
When I joined the saturday savers club I started keeping better records, and have a good record from the 9th of April. In the table below I've included some of the key coins I hold, with the value then, and how much I held as of saturday the 25th of June (a difference of 77 days - which is around a 5th of a year).
When I look at the figures above, I can hardly believe some of them ! I struggle to believe that I only had 14 LOLZ at the start of April. I love the LOLZ project and did a major push on it, and it really has paid dividends.
And the increase in ALIVE is also really great - another project that I have a lot of time for, especially the caring side of it (you do a brilliant job there
).
The LEO and splinterlands increases are nice. I'm enjoying LPUD which is really helping my LEO numbers. And I also think PIZZA is a great project, and have had a decent increase there (but have more to go).
And having joined Listnerds about 3 weeks ago, that is also coming online.
When I started saturday savers club I stated my goals as 1,000 HP, and 1,000 HBD. Well, 1,000 HP got smashed in early June, so I upped that target to 2,000 HP. However, as can be seen I no longer have any HBD. When the market dropped I realised that cashing in my HBD for HIVE was an opportunity I couldnt miss, and so did that at $0.38 - which netted me a nice amount of HIVE and really propelled me towards the HP goal. However, I now have an uphill battle to hit my HBD target - but while the value of HIVE is low, I will continue to invest any HBD gains into HIVE - and only once the price recovers to ideally above $1 - will I start converting HIVE to HBD.
What did I learn over the 6 months ?
- That hive blockchain is great and that it is the community that makes it - and if you embrace the community you cant really go wrong,
- There are a couple of projects I invested into that didnt really work out (I can think of maybe 4 to 5). I'm not going to name/shame. I didnt loose lots as my funds are spread thin across many things - but it has made me realise that I need to a bit more research on the team behind a project and the community involvement (or not) before I really decide to invest heavily into something specific,
- I learned that there are some great synergies between coins, and when you focus accumulation on those with the added effect of compound interest - it can really increase your earnings,
- And that Hive is all about content and curation - so its important to keep on top of this. I try to post once a day, I dont always manage - but I get close, and that means I get a constant HIVE/HBD income stream that I can use to invest and grow.
Changes for the coming year ?
- HIVE, HBD, LOLZ, LEO, PIZZA, ALIVE and STARBITS (Rising Star) are the important projects for me - because they are well backed and I think they hold promise - so I will probably focus a bit more on these compared to other layer 2s,
- I am a little more wary of getting too heavy into any smaller specific layer 2 project because of some recent news thats been floating around, so I may focus just that bit more on HIVE and HBD generally,
- Although the LUNA crash also reminded me that its best to spread your investments around so that if any one goes down, you dont loose your shirt - so I will continue with other good layer 2 projects that I like including EDS, EDSMMs, SPI, DHEDGE, ARCHON and INDEX. I just need to get the balance right.
Final Words
- These 6 months with Hive blockchain have been great. From $7.16 to $551 is just crazy. And with other investments now kicking in, my monthly gain also increases month on month. So I'd expect to have a value in excess of $1,000 by a decent amount by the end of the year,
- As well as the financial opportunities of Hive, I've been very impressed by the humanity shown within the community. Whether thats charity projects like the Ghana bore holes or support for Ukraine. I'm also very impressed by the general every day support for individuals who may need a boost - I think this aspect sticks out for me - and I hope its something that the blockchain never looses. Without the community and the people driving the community, it would not be the wonder that it is - you are all part of that, and you all make it. Thank you sincerely !
All the best from Edinburgh 
[A picture taken at Stonehaven in Scotland on the 2nd of January - or as close to the start of the year as I could get !]