<center>https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmUJnw6epx9ZiRGE9spognzprLUTuTnSiRbMcUuE2ePSYx/NewAvatar.jpg</center>

This is me, and this will be my avatar for 2019. 2017 and 2018 saw me constantly flaunt my "Steem-Mobile", with the legally issued vanity licence plate of "STEEMIT", inspired by the one and only @mattclarke. Here's a final look at the vehicle, a memory which will soon fade into obscurity for this place with a fairly short retention and attention span. If you've gotten this far before your auto-voter has come along, well, well done. 

<center>![](https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmVx85KssLqcyyked1ebcmCtcshfdDLpwf1Sqiy6pdCDLa/image.png)</center>

The car, of course, will remain with the STEEMIT plate until the licence plate agreement ends, and then, I think I'll revert back to a general issue plate in a few years (I've pre-paid the plates, out of my own pocket, for a total of four years). This decision stems from a number of things - STEEMIT Inc's poor leadership and less than concrete plans for the blockchain, and also one of austerity - I don't have unlimited funding to pump into the blockchain. 

I also don't have unlimited time to pump in, either, which means that future posts may be more rambly, but I want to focus on giving more of myself away this year. Being more candid. Being more honest. Using the STEEM blockchain a site of catharsis for me, myself, and my words, and being happy with whatever interaction happens to splash across my proverbial bow. 

I'm not a boat, but there was some pictures of boats in the new avatar. I had to make that pun. For me. Not for you. 

<h2>So what's with the chicken?</h2>

It's not my chicken, as you can probably guess by the expression on the face of the horrified woman reflected in my glasses. It used to be one of her chickens, until her husband happened to step on its neck (by accident) while disembarking from a ladder.

<div class="pull-right">https://cdn.steemitimages.com/DQmTYwd5PmxYWVY1VoY4HoDEdAYM2AGxBPWeueSq2crs8gk/image.png</div>Since that moment, the poor girl has never quite been the same, shunned by the chooks in the pen, narrowly escaping with its life after being bullied. It was annointed "Special", or "Spesh" for short, and she's a bona-fide assassin of breadly goods, other carbohydrates, huntsman spiders, and well, anything that isn't tied down.<br/><br/>

The chicken also shits everywhere with reckless abandon - and doesn't mind being man handled - which is a desirable trait in a chicken. 

<h2>Bonding with Special</h2>

It was very quick. Man meets shower. Man meets huntsman. Man makes a girly shriek, and escapes shower wearing only a robe. Man summons Chicken. Chicken destroys and consumes huntsman spider. Man completes shower. 

<h2>This is just one of many travel stories to come</h2>

I spent a fair bit of time away from home, away from a keyboard, and spent some time behind a camera, inside my mind, and knee deep in various bits of the pacific ocean. As a result, I've got lots of musings cooking up there in my mind, but I won't overwhelm, or barrage everyone with it all at once. That simply wouldn't be fair.