![back-to-school-6305107_1280.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kryptik/23sxi9CGnhpLr5mANWZ7ni1rrL8n3G9b1JSDcRnMkGJ9xapzzGugv2n973QCxCE6qemaL.jpg)

<br>

*Why am I here?*

<br>
I have a ton of work that I ~~could~~ should be doing. My summer fellowship developing some blockchain technology has very little time left, and I'm way behind. I'm an idiot and deleted approximately three months work. Thank god I made a backup copy (just kidding). Even when I think I have my tendency to procrastinate behind me, I still end up bringing things uncomfortably close to the deadline. This time it will be even more nerve-racking as I'm not sure I can even work fast enough to finish, but I'll give it the old college try. 
<br>
Momentarily, I'm reflecting. I don't get the chance to do this much these days. It's always go, go, go, go, go. My ambition has me maxed out. I wish that I would have done this earlier in life, but what can you do. Work (x2), school (x2), and children (x2) are really close to my max. Add on the significant other with a seemingly infinite honey do list, and sometimes I get to sleep. Despite all of this, things are really good. I'm struggling here and there, but the general trajectory is in the right direction. I noticed that it has been 7 years since I started here on Hive. That's a significant portion of my life. Like 20(ish)%. I don't want to make it the pretend birthday celebration that some make it. I did however, figure that I could use it as a point of introspection and reflection on the 2016 version of myself.
<br>
At that point a lot of things had happened in my crypto life. I had amassed a lot of Bitcoin, and lost it all. (My brother still likes to remind me of this every time he hears BTC hit an all time high.) I was totally sick about it. I didn't want to even think about crypto for a couple of years. I believe at the time I lost it, it was around 20k worth of BTC. After some time I warmed back up to crypto. This new stuff called Ethereum sounded awesome. You could run apps on it for god's sake. Immediately excited I took some of the very little money that I had, and bought a bunch of Ethereum. Time to try out the apps right?

___

![dumpster-100909_1280.jpg](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/kryptik/EoeE253ZYRTTN3TiT7QKF3Nnd62acveXRukoY4bxaKb1MbEfnPnBD1DtAptywqnnt44.jpg)

___

They were trash. It was like internet in the dial-up days, but worse. I could be wrong about the timing of this, but I Eth dice'd my entire Ethereum position. I figured the space could be wide open, so I looked for similar technologies that were just emerging. I wanted to get in on something early. I found this thing Ethereum clone project called Expanse. It resembled any other crypto community. It was basically a really long chat log of "wen moon?" and missed deadlines. I even jokingly tried to get Expanse to fund my wedding. They honestly almost agreed. (I'm still not married lol.) One of the members who I assumed was a developer, was talking about their blog on this new thing called Steem. I decided to check it out and fell in love with the idea. Look! An app that works!
<br>
Despite me being around, I rarely posted. I was much more interested in the community. You know, people who liked cryptocurrency but occasionally emerged from the basement layer to walk in the sun ("regular people"). I spent almost the entirety of my time on the chat, and drawing poor cartoons. The only thing I remember that I didn't like was the behind the scenes scammery of STINC. There were numerous rumors, and a lot of stories that didn't seem to make sense. Many users here though seemed to ignore it enough that made me think I was being paranoid. At a certain point, I decided that it would probably go to the trash can soon, so I cashed out some of my stake. I rode up the wave of 2017 up about half-way before I cashed out of the crypto market in its entirety. I needed the money anyway. I figured I wouldn't be back.
<br>
I missed the community though. I had made a bunch of great friends just drawing goofy cartoons, making memes, and chatting. I found myself coming back on chain for them. I loosely stay in touch with a few, but the time is hard to come by these days. Even early on, I tried to tell the community not to be so serious about itself. If you make it fun, people will stick around.
<br>
Sometimes these days I actually feel proud of myself. "Did I actually just do that? Oh that's right I am a bad-ass." This is the fruit of an extreme work ethic. Others I just wish I was sitting at home and shit-posting with the homies. This community got so much better after the fork. It is a true testament to the power behind community. Money is largely a fairly-tale. It is rooted in the mysticism of financial institutions. It is the most popular and successful religion to date. But when enough people believe in something, it becomes real. As long as we remember this, I think I'll be celebrating a lot more Hive anniversaries. Maybe I'll even post some memes.

___

I'm tagging some of the people that have made my Hive experience worth being here over the years. Each of you impacted me in different ways, but all of you collectively make this place great. For those that I haven't spoke to in a while, I hope you're doing well. Reach out sometime:

@pxlmitsu @elliotjgardner @thatkidsblack @rubencress @acidyo @eveuncovered @lemony-cricket @m31 @pharesim @klye @ace108 @steemitadventure (RIP) @tarazkp @celestal @escapist @apsu @nelly @zest @tuck-fheman @bethalea @gonzo @whatsup @mobbs 

(This is in no particular order and I'm sure there are many more that I'll neglect to write. I'm on a time-crunch remember? Make sure to call me a big idiot for forgetting in the comment section)