TODAY I BECOME A MAN.

Okay, so maybe that's a little dramatic. Unless you ask my BFF Rich... the one you have to blame for dragging me, kicking and screaming, into the world of cryptocurrency, and a whole new social network. He'll vouch for this post as proof that I've finally earned my man card. (No, really.  There's no reason at all to think otherwise. Even though I've omitted any link to the guy.)

Did I really just write "BFF"? I guess I really am in uncharted territory.

To be clear, my manhood wasn't really in question before this article, as far as I know. I mean, I've got a wife, two kids, three stepkids, a house, and all the right dangly bits. I know how and when to use an Oxford comma. I know what an Oxford comma is. 

But when you're limited in how much time and money you have to put into things, it makes you overly cautious about starting anything, because you feel like you can't afford to be wrong.  Suddenly you find yourself paralyzed, stuck in one spot wondering what's going to happen next.  The bus is driving you, and you're NOT on your way to Disney. You eventually have to step up and make a decision. Bite the bullet. Take a chance. Win or lose. Be a man.

I have gone from knowing literally nothing about cryptocurrency one day (the July 19th, to be exact), to having several accounts with different exchanges, making an initial purchase, learning how to transfer funds, installing offline wallets, and keeping it all secure, and then within a week making my first post on a crypto-centric social media experiment the next.  (It says "beta" next to the steemit logo, so that makes it an experiment in my eyes. I apologize for nothing.)

All while being a (new) husband, a dad, a caregiver, a business owner, a musician, and the smartest, most handsome, clever person you'll ever meet. Okay, that last part is overboard - I can be that too.

I have focused my time and energy for five days to make sure I was giving my venture into bitcoins and beta steemit's the best possible chance.  I could have done the same with something less risky - a crash course in growing black walnut trees (which I nearly did) for example, or, you know, learning how to write without boring the hell out of my reader. I would have probably done... nothing.

But it took something as intriguing and old school as making money (real or virtual) to snap me out of my paralysis, to make me jump in and throw my time -- all my time, one more time -- into something really, really new (to me).

I try -- I enjoy -- learning as much as I can when doing something new. Usually to excess, to paralysis.  I read the instructions on new packs of AA batteries and the tags on the new pillows.  You know, just to makes sure I'm not missing out,  something that perhaps I didn't know about portable disposable power cells or head-supporting bedroom accessories. I try to make sure when I start something, I "start it right" so that I don't fail.

But we all know, that doesn't work, right?

So, here I am, posting "before it's ready," before I've beat it with my mouse and keyboard until I've written well past the perfection I sought, before I've had the chance to agonize over it for 2 weeks, get sidetracked by life, and then come back in another weeks and say "oh yeah, I should probably finish that."  Before I've really even had the chance to "lurk," and see what others have done. Hell, i'm not even going to agonize over formatting (and steemit probably won't let me add CSS styles anyway.) I'm posting, readiness and failure be damned.

And maybe that's how I'll approach all my articles here. I'll throw them at you, and you'll beat me down, or worse, not say anything at all. Or, you'll help me out of my financial crisis so that I can write even more. Or you won't, so that I don't.

It's not ready, I'm not ready.  But here it is, here I am. I can handle it now, because I'm stepping up, making a decision, biting the bullet.  I'm taking my chance, and I'm taking all of you down with me -- especially YOU, Rich -- win or lose.

Today, I am man.