Hello, hello, hello, hello!
The very excellent, super exciting and super new Katelyn called me out in her 10 things post, and while I'm usually not excited to do such thingamigos, I feel like I've made a ton of new Steemy friends recently so it might be a good time to re-re-introduce myself.
Old hats/SteemBesties might already know some of these things... but if you could refrain from commenting "This is so borzo, be new already!" that'd be fantastic.
To be perfectly honest, I'm not even sure what the 10 things are going to be... I'm not confident this won't be the steem blockchain equivalent of this:
Anyways, let's say some words!
1.) Got big moves!
My partner and I lived our entire lives in Melbourne, Australia... and then sold up everything and moved across the world.
When people ask, I joke that it's because all our friends started having babies, so we had to leave... but really it was because all our friends are so incredibly multi-cultural.. everyone was from somewhere else, and it just reminded me on a daily basis that there is a world out there to be explored.
2.) USA freakin' loves us
Surprisingly the USA was the easiest for us visa-wise. It's such a weird concept trying to figure out where you're going to move to... we both have jobs that'd be super hard to attempt in another language... also we'd need to be allowed to work...
We totally imagined ourselves in Europe, and I interviewed for some jobs in the middle of the night, but the US ticked all our boxes, even though I hadn't really thought of moving there before, y'know, we moved. I'd never even visited before.
I won't lie... the first year was rough... it was a hard transition, so many rules and new systems and processes to try and work through... I can't even imagine moving to a place where I don't speak the language now. I honestly think computerized systems made the move much harder... getting a non-pre-paid mobile phone was super hard, for example, because we didn't have a credit score, and none of our IDs fit in their systems. Everyone kept saying that when it was all paper forms, it was so easy.
3.) Got big goals.
Before we moved internationally, I was playing indoor soccer 3 or 4 times a week, and loving it. I was terrible, but I loved my teams, the competitive side of it and the social side of it. I had an amazing time...
Whereas almost every school in Melbourne would have Indoor Soccer/Futsal leagues in their gym afterhours... the US pretty much has the same system, but for basketball. I've moved to Portland, Oregon, which really only has one Indoor Soccer place... and everyone is so amazingly good... so I was pretty intimidated.
That's when my partner decided that I was going to compete on:
I've since competed on Australian Ninja Warrior, but the American version is really where my heart is set.
4.) Training is going horribly.
I honestly haven't trained for 3 months or more... and I'm super struggling with that.
I've developed a weird overuse injury in my right elbow. I've been managing tendonitis for 7 or so years, but this is very different... whereas my tendonitis would develop as I'm working on something, ie, it would kick in after 50 minutes of rock climbing, resulting in my arms being useless for 3 days... whatever this injury is, affects me immediately.
I can pick up a bottle of water, or a towel, and pain shoots through 1 of 3 spots in my right elbow. I'm working with a physio on it... but it's a super slow process... book an appointment, 3 weeks later they can see you... they need an MRI... so 3 weeks to see a doctor for a referral, 4 weeks to schedule the MRI, weeks to get the result... weeks then to book another physio appointment... you get my drift.
The physio thinks it's super crazy mega extreme minute swelling in the tendons... but it's been 3 or 4 months since I did a pull up and it's just as painful as ever... so I'm honestly not sure.
Oh... I just realized that it was this post that started the pain... dammmmnn 6 months of blurgh.
5.) I might be an unemployed bum soon
My US visa is tied to my work... and my work at a consulting company is tied to a project at another company.... and that project is finished.
Weirdly I'm still there though... my team lead just keeps on hanging on. I expected to be out late-August, and I've been extended to the end of the year... and I might be extended past that. I'm not sure. My team lead wants to keep me, but it's a whole budget thing.
I've technically been replaced by an Accenture Outsourced thingamigy… ie, there is a team of dudes in India that are doing my work... but they haven't been great, and my team lead wants to give them the flick and keep me instead... but the arrangement is company-wide, so we'll see.
If my team-lead can't keep me, then my consulting company will fire me in 2 seconds. No doubt. I'm too expensive, too annoying, and they're based in the Midwest... and I am not. I'm not worried, it's just hard to plan life when I have no idea what my life will look like in a few months.
6.) Steem got me back into photography.
Here's the story of why I got out.. and Steem is threatening to throw me right back in. I've mainly just been taking photos of the wandering wildlife around our little foresty retreat, but I think if I became funemployed, I'd take up photographer properly, and then create content on the process for Steem. We'll see.
I'm both excited and daunted by the prospect.
P.S) ---> that is a photo I took, not a photo I am in.
7.) Sleepless near Seattle.
It seriously took us 8 or 9 mattresses before I could sleep in America. We literally purchased and returned all those mattresses.. it took so long... most won't let you return it before you've had it 90 days... and some have a narrow return window that we missed.
So... the US has this law that all mattresses need to be flame retardant.
As of 2007, all mattresses are required to contain enough Fire Retardant Chemicals to withstand a 2-foot wide blowtorch open flame for 70 seconds.
Probs not a reputable source
The problem is that a lot of these chemicals and outlawed in Europe and Australia... and it turns out... this super tough ninja guy, totally allergic.
My partner, absolutely no problem, whereas I was waking up feeling sick every morning... and by about mid-morning I was feeling completely fine. It took me maybe 9 months to figure out it was the mattress... because, you know, we had changed literally everything; diet, altitude, brand new building, stress, etc. I eventually figured it out because I was totally fine when I stayed in a hotel, and then sick again back at home.
I didn't know the problem was off-gassing though, I thought I was allergic to a particular material... and it wasn't until the 7th or 8th mattress until I learned about the chemicals that were in all new mattresses. Hotel mattresses are often pre-2007. Eventually I had to get a special doctors certificate to get around the off-gassing thing (which was super easy by the way, the doctor didn't even question it) and we had a pure natural latex mattress made up. It's super comfortable, it's a pure slab of rubber that is impossible to move. I love him.
8.) My steembots are driving everyone crazy!
Source
I created these guys:
| Dicebots | Action |
|---|---|
@rollthedice | 6 sided die |
@rolltwodice | two 6 sided dice |
@rolld20 | 20 sided die |
@gobbo | a jerk who rolls for you |
@attackdice | advantaged 6 sided die |
which are supposed to do this:
but instead, have been doing this:
I'm really proud of how popular they've become... I had to stop the @GINAbot notifications because so many people we using them for their games on the Steem blockchain.
These bots have been running for something like 241 days without an issue, but during the hardfork I paused them because they ran out of Resource Credits super quickly. That was a big mistake. I should have just let them go. In the last 241 days, the service I use Zeit have added another datacenter. So... when I started my bots again, the service puts them on both datacenters... which means I have two instances (ie, two servers) of these bots running at all times. I tried running them on just one datacenter and they disappeared in a couple of hours. I'm sure the secret is setting the exact correct parameters... but no idea what those are.
I'm sure I'll figure it out... but I also know I'm using Zeit not exactly how it was intended... so documentation is sparse.
9.) Married for all the wrong reasons!
So, ah... how do I put this.... I'm married entirely for visa-reasons.
I totally don't really super think marriage should be a thing... or more specifically, I think like hardly anyone should get married. It's just such a weird arrangement. There's literally nothing else you would sign up for life for...
I know it doesn't sound like it... but I do think I'm a bit of a romantic... and relationships are absolutely something that you need to constantly work on... just like you need to constantly be good at your job, or constantly train for a sport. When my partner and I had been together for a few years, and family and friends were hassling us to get hitched so they could party... we gave them what they wanted.
It was amazing. The theme was trashy celebrity weddings, and it was kind of a combined birthday party despite our birthdays being 8 months apart. Everyone got right into the spirit... we even had a fake ceremony where everyone interrupted with their own dramas. We hired some paparazzi to hassle everyone, it was just the most fun night, and people bought us way too many presents.... and no one asked us again.
A month before we left... we invited everyone to a birthday/farewell party, and got surprise married... there were many tears of aunts and mums. We had to get married because the US doesn't recognize defacto relationships like Australia does. In Australia we were treated the exact same way as a married couple. In the US, if only one of us got a job, and the other didn't, then the non-jobbo one would have to leave.
10.) I'm going to play with Steem Bounty on this post
I really like the concept of it... but I'm not super sure how it all works. I think if you leave a comment underneath, then you might win some steem or similar. Let's explore together.
Thanks for reading if you got this far.
Nominating people is a bit mean, but I'm going to do it anyway. @run.vince.run is a dude I met through a friend at Uni, and now he's my Steem Buddy. So good. Totally makes me wonder who else I know on here for reals. Vince is also a big fat country-getteroutterer, so I'm super curious to hear about his life since we last hung out.
of and active user of your bots. am very grate full making my game possible here. :)
You're are extremely welcome my friend! I love that I can't even play all the games my bots are involved with because there are so many... I'm so happy people like them...
… hmm, I really should create profile pics for them all... it's been on my list of things to do for ages.
I am also considering returning to photography because of Steemit.
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Thanks for that @ropaga! I feel like I've got a good handle on Steem Bounty now. I had a look through some of the posts they were paying out on, and that helped me visualize the process. I have to say, I really like the concept, especially for someone like me who doesn't have a very big upvote... it's been a really great way to bring new people to my post... so I'm very thankful.
I hope you post some photos! Check out the @photofeed account if you haven't already... their resteems are just incredible!
This was an interesting read.
Mine is fiction. I used to fill copywriting orders on fiverr but now, I'm all into writing
Thankfully, mine was dating. Dated for sex and money. I was broke and she was lonely. Sounds like a fair deal to me
Anyway, it's all over
A long read, but worth the time
Thanks @iamthegray! I hope Steem allows you to scratch that fiction itch. I dabbled in fiverr too, but it honestly feels like unless you're the first person with a particular service, it's impossible to catch up... because everyone just goes with the highest scored person every time... and I kept getting pinged for copying other people's gigs, even though I was sure my was different/original. Steem seems way more satisfying to me.
Hope you write about your dating experiences... sounds like a hell of a story. Thanks for reading my post! Really appreciate it!
Yeah..
I write an average of one fiction a day (mostly as entries for contests though)
Same here. I tried to migrate to upwork but I was told there were too many people offering the same service (creative writing). Well, Steemit is good. I'm just waiting for the yearly bull run
No way! She's on steemit.
Whaaaaaaat? That's crazy! I can't imagine an ex being on Steemit.
I honestly feel like a bull run is merely days away... there's excitement in the air...
Yeah...
It's crazy
I can't wait for the bull run. I've been HODLing for so long my hands are hurting
Wow, you have a really interesting life, I hope everything works out with the job and elbow.
Thank you so much @mrzurkon! I appreciate that! I had a physio appointment for my elbow today, so I'm feeling a lot more hopeful now that I have a slight plan of action. Thanks so much for your comment.
I loved reading this because I didn’t know that much about ya! I loved all your support and positivity and now I feel like I know more and it’s awesome ❤️ glad you did it- even if it’s just for selfish reasons hehe
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Nawwww, I'm so glad you weren't all 'untag me immediately - this post is a dumpster fire truck!'.
I honestly love reading other peoples these-types-of-posts but have never really been into it myself.. but you kind of perfectly epitomize all the new, exciting Steem friends I've made over the last few months... so thank you.
❤️ Well I’m so glad you did it and it’s so true to remember that every day on Steem is an opportunity to (re)/ introduce yourself to new people whether it’s in how you post,comment or engage. Also the mattress thing killed me- because we found our mattress at such a deal because of someone like you who slept on it once and hated it 😂😂
Posted using Partiko iOS
Oh the Accenture thing made me shudder. They have popped up in my place and we all know what that means!
That's exciting! Now instead of doing actual work, you can have discussions about what is "in scope" and what will have to be a "brand new change request". Yayyyy!
Hahaha. "In scope". And then comes the "scope creep". Oh how I don't miss being a consultant.
hahahaha, that's already started!!
I’m really sorry to hear training isn’t going well and hopefully the work situation clears up. On the flip side, good on you guys taking the plunge and heading for an adventure in the US.
Thanks Linny! The training thing is just so frustrating. If there was rehab or exercises or anything I could do to actually help it along, I'd be fine... but everyone is just so unsure, so the advice is just to rest it... which is not how tendonitis-y things usually work.
It's been quite a plunge... and terrible financially, but it's been 3 years and still everyday holds some new exciting discovery. I'm so happy in our little forest.
Just so you'd know: the bounty is shared among the people whose comments you upvote. The bigger your upvote, the bigger share of the bounty they will get. 5% of the bount shares is rewarded to people who got upvotes from others, so you are the one who decide which comment is more valuable and deserves a bigger share of the bounty
Thanks for this Mike! After I posted this, I had to go into Steemworld for Steem-bounty and stalk some of their payout posts to see how it all works. I've actually set up a lot of my regular commenters with a commenting autovote… so I think I'll pretty much keep everyone on the same level unless someone goes huge. Thanks heaps for the help though, I really super appreciate it... that's fantastic!
Ooh, lots of goodies in here. I learnt a bunch of stuff about you I didn't know.
Whaaaaaat? How is that even possible? I would have bet any cryptos that you already know all the things.
Aww Adam! I knew some of these things about my steem bestie but there’s a lot more to learn always!! That little map of the world you made cracked me up, but in all honesty I think it’s an amazing and brave move that you and your partner made across the world to pursue your dreams and I love that! Lol and what are these new bot friends of yours??
Hahaha, you know what's weird... all the world maps I looked at look like that one. I couldn't find a single one that has the US next to Australia over the Pacific... I so didn't care about Africa and Europe for this guy, but there's just no way to exclude them.... cos, you know, that's not the way you'd fly between US and Aus.
Ahhh, my bot friends are my gift to the Steem blockchain... people are using them to fight zombies, crawl dungeons and, obviously, to frog joust.
In answer to your other question... no comps for the moment... I'm seeing my physio on Thursday to hopefully establish a plan of action for rehab.
Your not-wedding sounds like the best XD
Not recognising defacto is dumb.
I kind of wish some of you with regular complaints/injuries would not be so damn far away because I want to try to help but I kind of need physical contact to work XP
Hope the job situation is magically resolved :)
Hahaha, it was THE BEST! Everyone still says so. Ask any of our guests and I'm sure they'll tell you it was in the top 10 of not-weddings they've ever been to.
Awww, I wish that too. Are you sure you don't want to bring your family to the forest with us? We have computers you can wrestle with here too....
The job sitch pretty much always works itself out... I've been working hard to save up a buffer, but honestly, something usually comes up.
Currently I won't even move out of our city much to the partner's annoyance XD
I don't like wrestling with computers I just like using them :D
Ace to read more about your journey dude!
Had the same issue with Zeit. wish I had an answer for you. I've still not figured out the correct config puzzle to fix it. 🤷♂️
Thanks super traveler!
I thought the secret was limiting them to one datacenter (sfo) then they'd be fine... but within a couple of hours they all just went to 0 instances... maybe I need to play with min or max uptime or something. My problem is that the dicebots seem to be used through a stack of different timezones, so I'm wary to mess with them too much.
I´m also learning about Steem Bounty and this post is probably the best way to learn about it, I just got to know you better!!
Thanks so much @diogosantos! I have to say I'm impressed with Steem Bounty so far... I'm honestly surprised it's not more wildly popular. Thanks so much for reading my post, I super appreciate it!
Awesome read, you sound Iike a really interesting fella. We moved abroad with our kids about 6 years ago. Loving it. Originally all from Brissy, but now Cambodia.
YES!!! I was aiming for semi-interesting.... so I'm so super excited to see you say that. How old are your kids? Have you written about your transition? I'd love to read about it. My aunt and uncle retired from Perth to Cambodia and have never looked back. The difference in property prices is what sent them over, but I don't think they expected to love it as much as they have.
I was happy to read the point where Steemit returned you to the picture, you see that you love doing it.
Have not you visited Venezuela? Hahaha
Thank you so much @romeliagarcia! Steem has actually inspired a lot of changes in my life, and that is definitely one of the most positive. Now when I'm out travelling I do think 'What would my Steem friends like to see'.. haha.
nice writing about yourself. hope you get what you really want and am praying your company will retain you. wish you luck dear
Thank you so much @arcticfoe! I really appreciate that. I'm not too stressed about my company retaining me... it'd be nice if they do but if they don't I might find a much better job... so either way it should be interesting... I'm just impatient to know which direction my life will be going. Thank you!
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