I'm so grateful for this comment, @mineopoly. You have been able to see something in my poetry that only one other person ever has. That was @cabbagepatch, and she was my only cheerleader when I began. She would comment on every single one of my poems, often with paragraphs. She was an amazing soul in the body of a middle-aged Japanese lady living in Hawaii. I fear she must be either quite ill or have passed many months ago. It's not like her to leave Steemit. I wish you could have met her.

Since you started commenting on my pieces last winter, I've appreciated it a whole lot, more than I could really say or my meagre upvote could convey. It is so nice to have someone being able to intuitively know what I'm saying, beyond the words. Sometimes what you got out of the pieces was quite different from what I did while writing it. I love that, too. It's just a part of the dynamic transmutation process. You're right that I never tried to hide my identity, but I made people find it out on their own, if they were curious enough.

That is so funny about thinking I was Indian. Actually, I started writing a little bit about my intense experience in India the other day. I always tear up when I think about it. It was the first time in my life I ever felt like I belonged somewhere on this planet. The air quality and other infrastructure issues in India were very severe, and I chose not to return, even though I promised them I would. That still haunts me. I will definitely write some blogs about my experience in the future. It completely changed my life.

The way my music school was, we didn't have minors, instead we had "emphases." My emphasis was Composition & Arranging, so my most challenging classes were about advanced Music Theory, Orchestration, writing for Brass & Woodwinds, etc. However, I took an Environmental Science class as my elective science, and loved it. My mom @violetmed also wanted to be a Geology major before she finally decided on a Math major. I know much of my love for nature and rocks came from her, as well as (eventually) my understanding & appreciation for the strong faith in God she exuded. (I'll save the story of my "atheist days" for another time. ;-)

We definitely should chat on text or voice more. I hope in the future something of the sort is integrated into Steemit so it functions like a proper modern social media site. If they could find a way to put that on blockchain, that would be interesting, though one with privacy features would be nice. I'm thinking it could be based on a separate but complementary blockchain that had the ability to send secure transactions so people could still chat in confidence.

Namaste!