It's been a crazy 2+ weeks. From flying into Kota Kinabalu to assist 
Mav in action during KK Masterclass 2018
Lucky to find time to try Sabah's local fruit— the tarap
While it doesn't take too long for me to write, there are just too many items pilling up in my to-do agenda. Of course, like any blog and journal, I'd like to take a step back and reflect my journey thoroughly on Steemit.
To me, every step counts. And I'd like to document my progress as a Steemian, no matter how big or small is my milestone.
Last Week's Goals:
To launch a contest for the #newbieresteemday initiative. My goal is to create awareness and outreach for the new Steemians. As long as they produce great content, I think they definitely deserve the resteem and upvote.
Speaking of great content, I turned up a notch and challenged myself to join as a Curie curator. I've heard quite a bit about 1) getting recommended and approved as a curator, and 2) surviving as a curator. For me, it was an entirely different experience as a Curie curator (more story on this later!). But the whole idea for me was to see if I'm really fit to be a curator and if yes, how long would I survive in this rat race :) Things like this gets me excited all the time. Simply because I get bored easily.
Catching up with smartsteem and moderating quality content creators for whitelisting.
The Results:
I had the contest all prepped up one week ago, but I was hesitant to post before I can confirm the instructions were clear enough. I changed the visual about 3-4 times before deciding that this current one fits
's theme of bees best :)
When I spoke to
about my intentions to join Curie, he referred me to the top curator of the week at that time (
). Mark is my mentor and has helped me tremendously with Curie's ins and outs, including how Curie's expectations towards exceptional content, and why some pieces are just not 'cut out' for Curie. Mark and I connected on Wednesday, and I made it to the list on Saturday morning, which was surprisingly fast 'cause I understand that it takes about a week or so for the training to be over. Thanks Mark for having faith in me.
After making a mistake of submitting too many contents at one go, I worked on my understanding of the Curation Score and Approval Rating frameworks so I can perform better the next time. No mistakes, no learning.
When I started as smartsteem's moderator, I wasn't expecting rewards from
. The reason I picked up the role was that I hate seeing people abusing bots and marketplaces, promoting their posts even with sh*tty content. Being in control of the platform allows me to filter through and whitelist only deserving, talented creators. And one might say, I do it with passion. Which is one of the reasons why I joined Curie as well? So comes a day when I am rewarded with a pleasant surprise in the form of SBD from the generous Wolf. Thanks, Wolf! *Helps motivate me a little 🤑
What's Next:
Pick a winner for the contest (it's Monday already!) and announcing my intentions for newbies to create epic content. You'll never know when you'll be rewarded one way or the other. Above all, enjoy creating content and the reward will follow suit when you least expect it.
One step at a time, one milestone a week. That's probably my motto for now. I am not too sure where my journey with Curie will lead me, but I have learned a lot in this one week. From the system's scoring to choosing exceptional content, I believe I will learn more extensively in the next couple of weeks. I wouldn't dare aim to be a top curator just yet, but I'm just playing by the ears, one step at a time. Come what may.
Nothing much really, except to keep purging annoying, sh*tty content out of the smartsteem system. Again, come what may? Yeah, I'm quite an@l about someone just slapping on a poorly taken picture, with hardly a decent headline, and calls it a day off. Imagine how would others feel, those who had poured in tremendous time in creating epic content, when you so conveniently bid bots just to boost a lousy post. I have no qualms about anyone using bots; in fact, I think it is okay when you have a great content to boot. Otherwise, don't bother giving the bot-bidding practice a bad name.
My Thoughts
Whether you're creating content or helping out with the ecosystem, there's always something for everyone on Steemit. Pick what you love doing most, and be the best at what you do.
I can't stress enough that you gotta be the best at what you do. You don't need to be the only good whale, but you can still be a whale and join the rest of the better whales. Geddit?
Honestly, I was borderline stressed and jittery when I almost screwed up my rating score. I might have felt this way because I didn't wanna disappoint my mentor, Mark. If I do well, he gets rewarded too and I wanted him to because he's been so helpful and patient with all my questions. But if I ever screwed up, I thought what's the worst that could happen? I could either just continue creating content, or try again. The world doesn't just end there.
Also, if it's not too late, this is me wishing all of you a prosperous Lunar New Year & Happy Holidays!
How was your holiday?
