Mutterings of the disillusioned
Somehow life started to pass me by very quickly. I don't know how, or indeed when, this happened.
Maybe as you approach your mid-thirties, time suddenly functions differently, like skirting a black hole of realisation. I'm sure my brain is suddenly waking up to the fact that it's been on this planet for close to a third of its predetermined expiry date. Don't get me wrong, I'm a very happy go lucky guy, and I know I've got plenty left in the tank, and all that jazz. I just remember being like this once...
Wide eyed and full of wonder in my 20's. Then as I got older I transformed into some kind of cynical beast. The type who guffs when he hears the term social media, and harps back for a time when game pads only had two buttons. I looked at my spot free (most of the time), face in the mirror the other day and gave myself a hard stare of introspective dismay.
"When the hell did I get so old, and negative?"
So this was, and to a large extent is the current me.
The toad and frog thing is only because I don't really like the idea of posting pictures of myself on anything. I have a facebook account, and some long distant memory of a myspace account. That was enough for me if I am being honest. Uploading my life onto some platform never appealed, and a lot of things have passed me by since then. Which is not to say I am a technophobe, nor against social media. I think its really cool that people are able to make a living doing what they love, and posting/blogging about it. I spent a good portion of my youth playing Eve-Online, and had some of the best conversations I've ever had while flying around in spaceships. I dabbled in coding for a bit, and pretty much all I ever read these days is sci-fi. But I don't like putting a lot of stuff out there.
So why am I posting this now?
Good question. I can be a grumpy old man sometimes. My wife recently caught me on this, and warned me that I was becoming that thing that all white men my age fear becoming. If you don't know, then you haven't tutted at enough young people enjoying life, or talking to their Siri's. Its a worry genetic development. Or maybe its just me. Either way, I didn't like this person I was becoming. So yeah, time to change things up a bit.
Secondly, I've been away working in Africa for a while, so I let my online presence slip a bit. Internet being slow, and a rostered expat job meant that somehow Bitcoin passed me by, and not in a small way. Not only did it pass me by, it built a 6 lane motorway, and only after about a billion freight trucks later did I stop to think what the hell was that. So I peered into the rabbit hole...
And I loved it. I have been reading obsessively about this and other coins/platforms since Oct of last year. At first I did what most people who (thought) they'd missed this cryptoboat did, and daydreamed about shudda's and coulda's. I'll let other better/more experienced writers deal with the future of all things Crypto, and the buzz surrounding 2018. But suffice it to say, I decided that I could moan about what might have been if I'd had a chance conversation with a Bitcoin enthusiast back in 2012 at some airport bar, or I could get some skin in the game right now.
The potential gains are still huge, but it can be a daunting world for someone whose let half a decade of technology pass them by. I've done OK so far, and what started as a "newbie" Coinbase purchase of Bitcoin and Etheruem, has evolved into dozens of alt coins, numerous wallets and a couple of tentative ICO investments. Its a steep learning curve, but the dedication of people to producing good intro material is outstanding. I felt like it was time to give something back, and also that selfish motive to promote coins that you hold :).
Get to the point
So I'm trying to rewire my brain. Trying to teach an old middle aged dog new tricks. I won't be growing a fashion sense anytime soon, and that selfie stick I got for Christmas is still going to be gathering dust. But something about CRYPTOS and my uncovering of Steem has rekindled something in me. I'm not even 35 yet, so maybe its time to send a little bit of myself out there, a Sputnik of paranoia navigating the abyss of those downward facing thumbs, and trolls.
Ah yeah and I'm slowly turning Vegan
Haha that collective groan of the masses that already have you type caste. Yes, I used to eat a lot of meat. I worked on mine sites where there wasn't a whole lot of choice. But I have grown to realise one thing in the past decade or so. There is something very f#&ked up with our relationship with food. Its been a slow transformation for me. And no I'm not going to tell you why you should be Vegan. That choice is yours (in an overwhelming amount of evidence), I just know that I can't keep on being a hypocrite. If you own a pet, and you eat meat, your not an animal lover. Sorry but don't be a dick and think that you can be.
I'm not quite there yet, so I won't go throwing stones in class houses and all that. And yes this might crop up into future posts at some point, and I'll probably sit alienated in the middle between the Carnates and the MV's who claim that only a binary state of being is acceptable. But like all things human there are degrees to everything. So lets see how we get on with that one.
All I can tell you is that I was listening to 1984 on audiotape when a milk delivery truck drove around a corner in front of me one day, and on the side of it was a female cow giving me the thumbs up. Our world being more messed up than 2+2=5 is a very disturbing thought. So yeah, change needed.
We shall meet in the place where there is no darkness
I'm positive about the future. I have to be in order to avoid that mind decay into the bitter old me that the mirror on the wall prophesied. But also because reading into Cryptos has made me realise once more what humanity can achieve. We screwed up the internet in a big way, it could have been a glorious thing, but instead we mostly turned it into a vanity contest. I say mostly. There have been a few cool applications out there. But as a driver for change it failed horribly for the most part. And if you think that is a glib offhanded comment, then think about the fact that the printing press sparked the Renaissance.
For the first time in a long time, I am excited about what the future holds. I'll post from time to time, mostly as an introspective diary. But mostly I'll just be watching and working on those Crypto and Vegan gains. Oh and just so you can see that I am a real boy, here is a picture of me on my first Mapping project. And no its not a cool hero pic, that right leg is trembling like crazy as I slowly stand from a crab position as my mate takes the shot. But I thought it would be a nice parting image of me gazing into the future of what might be.
PS if the pictures don't work I am sorry, I followed a how to, so lets just see.