I've never thought I'd be posting here. It was supposed to be just another step in my journey to the world of crypto.
![eye.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/DQmPuqnJosKPafwUZgtZBZtYrx3mBoEracEephFiQorHPuG/eye.jpg)
I've set up a witness and miners using steemit as a source of knowledge (thanks for all great posts about that). I've successfully mined three blocks (yay!) and then the whole mine was blown up by some guy named **Hard F. Fork**.  He was 17.
<sub>I don't know his middle name but I can guess ;)</sub>

Producing three blocks gave me something like `0.75 STEEM` rewards in Steem Power. If only STEEM would be worth as much as Bitcoin... ;) But OK, mining STEEM for **FUN** (99.999%) and **PROFIT** (0.001%) was cool enough and more than nothing ;) I've decided that I would use my mineress account to write on Steemit! 
Great idea. Login failed.
It took a while before I found instructions on how to set my keys to get in.

A week ago I've submitted [my first post](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@decentral/raleigh-d-now-on-steem) and it had begun...
https://steemitimages.com/DQmep6QqxG5GNzsHpHoJzSb1ksqQcj6azEZJvfsE9Wjidn6/ral.png ![se7en.png](https://steemitimages.com/DQmQ9wg4EyQZ5kaUWSVBiHUcwnBK9wMPVc1Vx7nMs71ZNgv/se7en.png)**days on steem**
I wasn't even able to vote my own post because of an error telling me that `Voting weight is too small, please accumulate more voting power or steem power.`
My account's Steem Power was worth only $0.12, much less than I'd get signing up the normal way.
<sup>Normal? That sounds like an insult ;)</sup>
Fortunately it was enough to post more thanks comments as I've never expected such a warm welcome from total strangers!
I'm no longer using other social networks so I haven't shared it with anyone except showing it on my screen.
I had no followers on steemit because I was a total newbie.
Despite all that I was warm welcomed by 25 people who commented on my post!
It was viewed 156 times and got 86 votes.
Now I have 24 followers and 49 reputation which, as I've already learned, doesn't mean anything but good to have! ;)
I've got `0.010 STEEM` from @surpassinggoogle as a gift (thanks) and powered that up immediately I'm still unable to vote :( but that's supposed to change as soon as I get posting rewards.

Remember my troubles with logging in? I saw @felixxx post about having similar issue. I was so excited that I know the answer that I missed the other half of the question ;) Thanks @gtg for helping us out with this. I've won the 5 SBD bounty! Thanks @felixxx.

Now I'm waiting for my first posting and curation rewards.
I'm excited that I can actually get paid for posting because that's something new to me. I was wondering if it matters whether those are real money or just some points like in games or that worthless reputation we have here, but yes, it does matter a lot even if we can't see it from our own perspective.
I've put a lot of time and effort to get on board and make my first post here. I would get much more money if I spend that time walking dogs in my neighborhood, but during this week, I've already seen that it can really change people's lives. @hykert was able to [gather money for migrating from his country](https://steemit.com/life/@hykert/with-steemit-i-gathered-funds-to-migrate-from-my-country-or-opinion).
**READ THAT AGAIN:** He was able to [gather money for migrating from his country](https://steemit.com/life/@hykert/with-steemit-i-gathered-funds-to-migrate-from-my-country-or-opinion). That's truly amazing story and one of many proofs that we are experiencing here something special.
An unique mix of blockchain technology, crypto economy and social network.

#### Steemit: where crypto geeks meets social weirdoes

I think I like it. ;)

I would continue to explore this realm and support as I can.

Btw: Have you seen Se7en?