The blocktrades contest | Books and Fish in Tokyo

I got really excited when I saw the latest Blocktrades Scholarship post by @anomadsoul. I'm so grateful that those who are persistent in posting qualify stuff, engaging in the community, and don't use bidbots to boost their payout and rep will be rewarded by @Blocktrades. And then I saw the last sentence " let the most engaging and committed minnow win."

Mmmmm... I'm not a minnow anymore as I became a dolphin a few months ago. Since joining Steemit, I've ploughed back pretty much everything I earned here, and I've never powered down . Am I disqualified? What I heck! I'm still going to put myself forward, coz I have nothing to lose. So here goes.....

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POST

The post I've picked to enter this contest is Books and Fish in Tokyo from my recent trip to Japan. I always try to get a nice balance between words and good photos in my post. I'm neither a stong writer nor a photographer, so I always make the extra effort to make sure my posts are top notch. That's what counts here. Shit post doesn't get you anywhere.

COMMUNITY

I mainly write about my travels on Steemit and hang around with the travelling community quite a bit. I've been with the @SteemitWorldMap since it started over a year ago. I love curating for the @SteemitWorldMap, especially when I discover an undervalue posts that don't get the recognition they deserve. It's a tough world out there and I'm truly pleased that I can help to make someone's day through the Map. I'm also a mod on the @TravelFeed discord channel. These communities are an important part of my network offering mutual support to help one another grow.

A couple months ago I joined the @promo-mentors team to help promote the 5 Steem Challenge. That's a great challenge to promote Steem and deserves a lot more traction than it currently does. I'm hoping to help give this a big push in the coming months. Last and not the least, I founded @LadiesOfAsia which includes 7 other ladies. Our aim is to share fun and culture diversity across Asia Pacific.

ENGAGEMENT

Engagement is a two way process, I know how rewarding it is to get great genuine comments. That's what makes Steemit and the friends I've made here so special. Thus the least I can do is to treat my friends better then they have treated me. I always respond to comments (it's rude not to). I engage with my followers and those I follow as much as I can (I like to have a life outside of Steemit as well!). And whenever I have more than a spare moment I like to poke into random quality posts on the feed. Sadly these seems to be getting a bit sparse nowadays.

WHY ME

The drop in Steem price doesn't really affect me. If I was looking for massive payouts I would have used bots like mad. Admittedly I have used them a handful of times when I was going through a really low period when I started out. But I've come around now and decided to move upwards and forwards with my own effort. I haven't even used OCDB even though I'm on the whitelist. I like to see how far I can go without bots, and hopefully winning this will be a testament to my effort.

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Steemit isn't perfect, but it's as good as you make you. That's why I intend to hang around.