First 30 days on Steemit: Impressions and re-introduce myself!

It's been about 30 days since I joined Steemit. I've been awestruck by the community here. I want to talk a little about what my impression of this place is as a new user. I see great potential in this and I'm interested to be able to look back a year from now and see how much changes. Let's begin, shall we?

You did not come here to be normal, you came here to be you. #truth

I've barely logged onto facebook this past month. I find it tedious. Boring. There's no brain food there. It's all junk, designed to rot your mind instead of your teeth. Steemit is where my mind longs to read. Thought provoking conversations, people helping others. NO ADS! It seems like a dream. Maybe it is.


Steemit to me seems like a giant ecosystem. It chugs on quietly, shaping the world. I see more good here than bad, and that is a welcome repreive for someone like me. Most days, I would open up facebook and see horrible things being shared. People saying horrible things to each other and about each other. Gossip, rampant posts about ponzi scheme leggings that you just have to feel! "They're like butter!" I couldn't take it anymore. So, good or bad, I'm onboard with steemit now. The rewards incentivize people to be civil to one another and learn how to debate properly. There are some exceptions I've seen, but that's what's beautiful about an ecosystem. "You did not come here to be normal, you came here to be YOU". Right?

First Impressions

1. Tight knit community of all the best kinds of people.
2. Lots of ways to game the system. (but from what I'm reading about hf20, lots of this is getting fixed.)
3. Some infighting. (to be expected, sort of entertaining to watch unfold)
4. Lots of support for new users, but not really in a central location. Maybe Steemit needs a "Welcome Center", where new users can browse support topics or possibly chat one on one with someone that can walk them through.
5. THIS PLACE IS STILL IN BETA? That impresses me very much. But what impresses me more is the way users have formed groups to work on projects that will improve the platform. Collaboration is key in building a society that we all want to live in. Everytime I log on and read and see what other people are working on, it inspires me to do more. It pulls me out of depression, rather than shoving me in headfirst as facebook does.

I'm extremely glad I stumbled on this place. I've always felt like an outsider when it comes to things like money and the way we treat each other. I've never been one to "talk shit" about another person. Everyone is a product of the environment in which they live. We are all just trying to survive in a world that functions on antiquated systems and money. We do the best we can and hope that it's enough.
I do believe that Steemit has a real chance at changing the way society thinks about money and the value of "work".
I'm curious to see where this rabbit hole leads and so excited for the journey!

My first introduce yourself post was very much a dumbed down facebook style version of me. Since I've gained a few followers over this month and made some real connections with people, I thought maybe I could write a "do-over" introduction post for you all. Ready? This is me and my kids:

I'm 35. Born and raised in Washington state. Moved to Colorado in 2002 for college and studied Avionics. (How to fix aircraft electronics). I met my husband (@chackett) in college. We moved around a bit after we graduated. I have held almost every job you can think of when it comes to electronics. I worked as an Flight Simulator Technician for a company called CAE right out of college. That was a total blast and I loved it so very much. But I was hungry for more knowledge. Every night I went in to work and got to fly 20 million dollar flight sims, but I wanted to work on the real thing. Hubby and I both got hired on at SkyWest Airlines in Palm Springs, CA and off we went. I started out wiring on the aircraft, but quickly found that I was claustraphobic and most wiring in aircraft is in very tight spaces. I was moved into the back shop to help the engineers build test sets. That was really fun and I discovered how much I really loved to solder.

Palm Springs was not where we wanted to settle down, and SkyWest was not a place we wanted to make a career. So we both looked for jobs in Seattle and moved back, stayed about a year, got married, and then moved back to Colorado. ( I know, I know, we had a little wanderlust happening, haha!)

Colorado had always held a special place in our heart and we stayed there for almost 10 years. I worked a few different jobs during those years, circuit board assembly was my favorite. It felt like the circuit board was my canvas, the soldering iron, my pen. Molten solder as paint. Assembling all the gadgets and gizmos for all the girls and boys. My favorite job that landed on my bench was one for NASA. I soldered for NASA ya'll! Those are the things that get me excited to be alive.

After our twins were born, we decided to move back to my home state, washington. We have a mother in law apartment on our property that my parents rent from us. It works out really well, grandma gets to spend time with the grandkids whenever she wants, and I get free babysitting. :) We've been back in Washington for 2 years now. This place I grew up in is so different now. This Valley has seen more than it's fair share of disaster. These past 2 years alone have seen a mass shooting in our local mall, a cop being shot in the face during a standoff, a flood that destroyed homes and numerous gang related shootings, many of them resulting in fatalities. I've seen my friends posting on facebook that they are trapped in their homes while swat teams search for suspects, again. The world is changing fast. Until now, I thought we may just be doomed. Seeing the community here on Steemit gives me hope. Hope that there's a better way. Hope for a future for my kids. I can't wait to be a part of it all.


I hope you'll follow me on my steemit journey. I'm jumping in with both feet. I'm inspired by all of you to try my best. I may use this blog as a form of therapy sometimes. Shit might get heavy. One day might be sharing something cool I've learned with you, or it might be a poem. Or digital art. My interests range from baking to snowboarding to coding and everything in between. My mind is always full of random thoughts and anxieties. I still like to express myself and have fun though, you know?

I balance being a twin mom with boatloads of coffee every morning, silent screaming where the kids can't see me, and unloading my thoughts wherever I can. If I sound weird enough to follow, please tell your friends! I'm no good at keeping up conversation in real life, but here, I can! And I will. So I hope you'll want to read my stuff, because I literally cannot get enough of everything I'm seeing produced here. Thank you for creating this wonderful place, all of you!