😍 THROUGH THE EYES OF A NEWCOMER - An original story about STEEMIT 😁 - PART 2

I woke up with a start. Damn, I had fallen asleep. What had happened? How could I have slept off with so much happening?? Quickly, and hoping that I hadn't missed anything much, I got up from where I had fallen asleep and started walking around again.

All around me people were talking. There were some new faces, and they were cheered by the existing crowd as they introduced themselves. I should do that sometime I thought, introduce myself... but not now.. for now, I needed to continue walking.

Soon, I noticed that the voices of the people had become louder and I could even make out a few things that were being discussed. Yay! I thought happily, cleaning my ears so I could hear better... and discovered that there were many conversations not happening in Greek and Latin... but in English.. the language I had been learning all my life. Thrilled, I held my head even higher and walked on.

I had an agenda for the day. I wanted to learn as much as possible. I wanted to participate. I wanted to belong.

I headed straight for the How-To book shelf. And lost myself there for hours. What breakfast, what lunch, what dinner? Everything became one and one and many and then disappeared from memory. I focussed on feeding my brain rather than my stomach. I learned a lot that day. For starters, I learned that one should always feed the stomach first. Sigh! Who is the boss? Oh man, yeah, I know!!

Okay, moving on I also learned that we could not only pick up pre-existing knowledge but also mint new money in this house. A lot of it! Now, who can look down at such a deadly combo? All I needed to know was how and then learn it. And learn I did.

I learnt that there were different ways for newcomers like me to start making money. There was a catch though... they all involved breaking out of the surrounding shell, no matter how hard.

Yes. I had to come out like a chicken hatching from its egg. Or like a butterfly from its cocoon. Colourful, bold and clearly interested. Knowledge would quickly follow.

And then I could easily start money in three different ways, by:

1. Talking
2. Listening to others while they talked, and then talking myself after they stopped
3. Listening to others when they talked and then clapping with both my hands when they stopped.

I believed Method 3 for making millions and millions of dollars was the easiest. So I adopted it as my modus operandi. Anytime I could make sense of somebody's speech, I halted and clapped. Sometimes, if I liked the sound, I clapped harder.

Soon my hands were red from clapping. And the sound was growing feebler.

Confused, I decided to resume walking and soon discovered that the power of clapping was gradually returning to me. Hurray! But, how long did I have to wait to get it all back? As I looked across at the notice board in the center of the room, an underlined line stared back at me. "http://steemforthe.win/" I stared back at it. I stared so hard that it buckled and within seconds revealed the time it would take for my clapping power to become 100% again. I had to wait. And probably wait for a long time. It was testing my patience. Clearly. But, I was smart enough to know that my patience would bear some very sweet fruit.

Instead, I started exercising caution while clapping. I clapped only if and when I truly and thorougly understood and approved the talk of any person. I clapped only when I wanted the person to know that I was sincerely appreciating his/her knowledge and his/her desire to share it with me. I clapped only when I was happy.

Very soon, my wise old inner spirit decided to resurface again and guide me to not just clap but also to put in words the reasons for clapping. What a fantastic idea! I promptly changed my modus operandi to Method 2. From then on, I talked as I clapped. Sometimes, I talked more as I clapped more. It was a very nice feeling.

To be Continued...

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Disclaimer: Dear friend, I hope you enjoyed the story. It contains no offensive reference to any person, living or dead. I wanted to write about my experiences the first time I joined the platform, but this light hearted story created itself first.

How do you like my story this far? I was inspired to continue writing here because of @rudyrun, and @waynevan who wanted a proper conclusion to my short story. I thank them and all of you who are here with me reading and supporting what I'm creating.

If you missed Part 1, you can find it here: https://steemit.com/funny/@sandzat/but-steemit-never-sleeps

Cheers! - @Sandzat