Hi to all my fellow Steemians! I’m here and I just read somewhere in the FAQ sections that ‘the account can not be deleted and is permanently stored in the blockchain along with all of its activity’, so I guess I’m here to stay whether I like it or not.
I was thinking about how to approach this introductory post and I figured the Five Ws method might be worth giving a try (you know, the famous who, what, where, when, why). And to make it (even) more irresistible, I’ll throw in a how, completely free of charge. But the offer is only valid if you 
WHO is this guy? I am a rather average middle-aged man (I am not quite sure what the official definition of ‘middle-age’ is, so I may be lying there). As a kid (I believe I was about six at the time) my goal in life was to become a priest and was proudly announcing it to anyone with a minute of their time to spare. There was no divine calling behind that powerful and life-changing decision. It was rather straightforward and worldly: it would allow me to go through life without having to get married (it’s fascinating how a child’s mind works). Luckily, I got a chance to breach the celibacy in time, i.e. before I ever got to swear on it, which saved me a lot of trouble, but, above all, provided me with a lifetime of happiness and pleasure (apart from other less agreeable and therefore less important details).
And WHAT does he want? I have several seemingly quite dispersed areas of interest:
languages: I studied philology, so I guess this is what I am, at least on paper. It is also what puts bread on our table (a hefty chunk of the loaf): translation and foreign language teaching.
gardening: I find it fascinating and extremely satisfying to have an opportunity to grow part of your own food. Unfortunately, I am not yet in a position to boast about my gardening prowess as I’m rather new to this hobby and not everything always turns out the way I would hope. I usually try to find some outside excuse completely beyond my control (the chickens ate it, the wind blew it away, the hail destroyed it... you know, the typical force majeure) but at the end of the day I just have to accept the fact that my fingers are just not green enough yet...
animals: they are just pleasant and all-around nice to have close by for that soothing and tranquillizing effect apart from occasional economic benefits. Plus, I am officially a vet tech. Not that I recall much of what I learnt back then, but I’ve got all the papers to support my claim. :)
humans: they had never been of much interest to me, but all that changed when my kids were born. I was just gobsmacked how fast and effectively those little brains develop. That is when I took to the human psyche and the science (i.e. -logy) suffixed to it.
cryptostuff: this is a brand new ballgame for me. Basically, I haven’t got a clue about it (yet), but at the same time I am very eager to learn the rules of the game.
WHERE can you find me? Not that the location of the physical being matters much in the virtual world, but I’m in Europe. I’ve lived in a couple of European countries so far, but currently I’m a resident of Spain. We’ll see where life takes us next (we, as a family, are not exactly famous for settling down easily).
WHEN can you expect to see me? I have no fixed schedule planned for now, but hopefully, as regularly as possible. And I would suspect the introduction of the 
WHY am I here? Putting that question down in writing just made me realize that it would actually deserve a position much closer to the top. But, hey, one does not always get what one deserves in life, right?
How did I ever stumble upon Steemit? Someday somewhere someone (I honestly do not remember this information) mentioned the d.tube platform as an interesting alternative to its bigger, centralized cousin. »Sure, I’ll check it out.« And there’s only a short step from d.tube to Steemit. I thought it was quite amazing and quickly decided to sign up. The blockchain technology it is built on also attracted my attention. It seemed both promising and intriguing at the same time. I must be frank – I am completely ignorant as regards this topic. I’ve only watched a couple of quick presentation videos on youtube (yeah, I know, but that was before I was made aware of the existence of d.tube by the aforementioned someone). I thought to myself that might as well be the future worth embracing. We'll see how much of that turns out to be true, but it definitely seems like a good idea to make the first contact with the cryptoworld in the safe environment of Steemit (surrounded by friendly community willing and able to lead the way and lend a helping hand if need be).
There is another reason for my joining the community. English not being my mother tongue, I sat for an official Cambridge English Exam some time (but not long) ago and it turned out writing was my Achilles heel. I thought I would try to give it a boost by committing myself to writing blog posts on a regular basis. I am no perfectionist, but any reduction in the gap between the current state and the perfection will be a source of immense joy and pride. We’ll see how that works out (persistence has never been one of my virtues).
And HOW am I planning to bring all this about? Well, basically by mingling with the rest of the members of the community (that means you, guys), sharing my thoughts on what you’ve got to say and, hopefully, post some content of my own. Hopefully, I get to meet some new interesting Steemians and make some new Frieemians (that was my go at creative English word formation and just in case I wasn’t as successful as I was hoping to be – I was going for ‘Steemian friends’).
Visual introduction aka photo album
And now, a chance for all of us to appreciate my exquisite beauty (and those of you who’d rather skip this section, I shall hold no grudge). :)
This is me with the cat:
This is me without the cat:
And this is the cat without me:
But do not be deceived, cats are really not my thing. Though it looks like I am theirs.
OK, guys, this will have to suffice for the introduction. My goal was to publish the intro post by the end of the week and what I’m feeling right now is sheer pride for achieving it. I hope I can keep up with it.
See you around!
PS: All the photos (except for the ones featuring me and The Cat) are from Pixabay.