THE LONGEST COMMENT EVER POSTED ON STEEMIT
This post was originally going to be a comment, but the more I thought about it, the more it became a post in itself. In fact it may become five posts!
(I did another comment that became a post once before, but this one is longer)
This post by @in2itiveart got me thinking about a few things - https://steemit.com/art/@in2itiveart/how-i-feel-being-an-artist-in-2017
TYPING
Some people on Steemit don't speak English and have to translate all their posts into English using a translation program.
I don't type very well and struggle with translating my ideas into typese, but I can write them down with a pen and paper easily, because handwriting is not a problem.
Last year some of my Steemit posts were typed up for me, which was awesome, but this year I have to type them all myself which I am not really into.
My theory on this, is that typing is left brain activity and I am almost exclusively right brained. I started out right brain dominant anyway and then suffered damage in the form of head injuries and later a brain tumour which messed up my left brain even more.
It is common for each brain hemisphere to control the opposite side of the body but in my case they actually don't cross over so I have very poor motor control on my left side.
I do almost all my computer use with my right hand, mainly just using my thumb and index finger - yes that includes typing!
I'm also not really able to type without staring at the keyboard (even after 20 years I still forget where the letters are). I also can barely think and type at the same time. When I write with a pen the ideas just flow onto the page but with a keyboard each line of type is slow and difficult.
I already have a list with more than 350 ideas for Steemit posts and the reason I don't post one every day is because I don't have the time or energy to type them out.
Right now I am realising that I need to get a solution to this, and I'm working on one right now, but this is the first time I've used it hence it is still a bit rough. I have a program called Dragon speech to type so in theory I can write my ideas down on paper and then read them out to Dragon and have it type them out.
It hasn't learned my voice yet, and I haven't learned to use it properly (it's very clever and quite complex), so there are mistakes from here to Africa. But if I can get this working, it will make a big difference.
My other idea for short comments is to just write them out with my graphics pen and post them as images
IMAGES
Every comment I've ever done on Steemit has included an image (over 2500 of them) It's the images I see instantly, but typing out comments to go with those images is the slow and difficult part.
Right brained people tend to think and remember the images first, and I don't mean those boring diagram type images that geeks include to be helpful on how to sites. I want psychedelic art and vivid photos of freaky shit.
For me, whether it's a post or a comment the images are the most important part. Most people on Steemit don't even post images on their comments but sometimes when I'm tired or in a hurry reading a post with hundreds of comments, I only look at the ones with images and I only vote for those ones.
And the main thing that determines whether I look at a post in the first place is the thumbnail image.
CHOICE
We don't always have a choice about what we do, whether it is being an artist or racing motorbikes. Last week I was watching an amazing documentary called "Closer to the edge" about racers in the Isle of Man TT.
When I was three my parents went to the Isle of Man and rode around it on their Triumph Tiger 650, so although I don't consciously remember I have actually been around the race circuit on a motorbike.
As a teenager I was obsessed with bicycles and motorbikes and raced both - my nickname was Wheels.
Watching those guys racing, but knowing how likely they are to be injured or killed and hearing and them saying things like "life is not a dress rehearsal" and "I don't have a choice" brought home to me that sometimes we don't have much choice about our destiny.
At the same time, watching those guys aged 25 doing that to themselves, with no fear, struck me that one day they may wake up aged 50 and realise they have been in pain from their injuries for half their lives and it will stay that way until they die. And suddenly feeling very mortal...
Here is a photo of me as a teenage bike freak
RELIGION
All that destiny stuff brings me to religion. Some people believe that we are guided by the "hand of God" and its taken me a lifetime to understand that they mean the same thing that I mean when I say destiny.
Ironically I was born with a loathing of religion. The first time I ever saw a church, aged four, I tore up the flowers from its front garden and threw rocks at it.
Later, by the age of 10, I was making sure the rocks broke windows and sending death threats (yes, hand written) to vicars.
Why? - My best theory based on muscle testing is that I was murdered by churches for being a heretic in six past lives. I know this sounds really fruit loops, but that's what tests every time, and I have no other explanation why anyone could be born hating religion that much as a child.
INTUITION
The post was originally inspired by one was about art and tuition.
Over a decade ago @kiwideb, who is a kinesiologist, taught me to muscle test.
I'm not into all complex theories that kinesiologists are into, and everything I do is just based on yes or no - I'm binary like a computer.
I started out lifting a dumbbell with my outstretched arm to muscle test and progressed to the point of gently pushing my index finger against my thumb.
Ultimately all that testing has arrived at a point where sometimes I know what the answer will be before I even test, and that is what deciding on pictures is like for me.
Yesterday I took 300 photos, and looking through them afterwards it took about 30 minutes to pick out 18 highlights. (It was easy because most of them were crap)
Later I'll edit those ones and again pick a handful of my favourites.
I really admire people who can spend all day doing an amazing painting. Although I have tried that myself I could never keep going with it because I just had to do something different.
And because I only do what I find easier, I have never valued it, so I didn't realise that the ability to instantly pick stuff is a skill in itself.
Now I'm going to start accepting that if I just choose a photo and run an effect on it, that is art too. Maybe its almost like a painting that took an artist all day because it took me a decade to arrive at the point of being able to instantly decide which photo and which filter!
Maybe doing what is easiest for us is our true destiny because we don't have a choice.
@sift666, I found your article moving and insightful. First up, keeping in mind your handicap when typing, I have to commend you for the fact that I only saw one teensy error, and it is an article of note (and I am a bit OCD when it comes to langauge!)
Regarding images: I once saw a single comment in a ladies' magazine, and for some reason it really stuck - it was said that every page should have at least one image, and that you actually lose readers if an article consists of the written word alone. I can relate. It is not just because I am a WO-man, it is because I am a HU-man. Therefore, the more images, the better, as long as they are of good quality. And yours are; I enjoy them greatly.
THEN: What is art? I am also a complete right-brainer - thoughtful, subjective and very much intuitive. I have tried my hand at painting with different media. I have done ceramics in my time. I made the most beautiful cross-stitch embroidery pieces. Right now I am going wild for two things: coloring in other people's line drawings, and crocheting. And I love writing (by the way, Afrikaans being my home language, I also sometimes struggle putting my ideas in order for posting, because I now have to start thinking in my second language). Yes, these are not exactly "art" in the traditional way that most people understand it to be. But I create beautiful things. I have a friend who creates absolutely stunning photos. So do you. As much as Michelangelo created art with paint on a blank canvas, my crochet blankets can be called pieces of art. As much as Michelangelo created art with paint on a blank canvas, your photographs can be called pieces of art.
In Dutch: "doe zo voort". Keep on doing what you are doing and believe in your heart that you are an artist. I know you are!
It had a lot of editing! - before that it almost looked like it might be a new language, free of all punctuation...
Thanks for your lovely comments
I don't really know what to say, but this post was really interesting to read and it definitely made me ponder some things.
I hope you manage to find a way that you can produce more content for Steemit, because I would definitely be interested in seeing it!
Anyway, I just wanted to comment to show some support... If only I had more than 20% voting power...
All comments and votes are much appreciated - a year ago my Steemit vote was only worth 0.3 cents, but ultimately it's not about the money!
If I only had a brain.
Brains are overrated - that's why we need drugs
People who think too much get the world in trouble.
![images.duckduckgo.jpg](https://steemitimages.com/640x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmPAGhTNGYJRGKGsqCniGCYMC9QkPro4icJDNnUZMfjmXR/images.duckduckgo.jpg)
I think the reason you know the answer before you muscle test (sometimes) is that the muscle testing is just a way to access our intuition.
I think it overrides that inaccurate little voice in my head that keeps squawking like a parrot...
haha, yes sometimes I have idea's enough of typing stuff but dont have the energy or time either :). So you need to speak into a mic and it types everything for you? That looks very handy. Just wondering how many faults there would be in the text then..
Yes it can type it all out at normal reading speed - BUT - so may mistakes in this first go it took a lot of editing - I hope to improve though
hands down :D
Put your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care
I would suggest looking into handwriting recognition software.
Your smartphone may already have one. Take a picture of what you wrote, and let the computer change it into text.
Copy-paste into steemit.
I'd love to find one that worked - I have tried a few and if I wrote really carefully using separated block letters they sort of worked, but connected hand writing didn't go well at all.
Can you recommend any?
When I was into handwriting recognition, I was back in college.
I am sure things have gotten much better.
Many of the tablets, like the Note, convert handwriting to text.
So, I am sure there is good software out there, I just don't know any.
I stopped writing by hand about AutoCAD 3.12
I'll try some more out and let you know if I find any good ones
#life
Anthony Robbins
:The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.
wow... I will comment more when I have digested this "post" comment. I guess I am excited that I might have inspired you - mainly, because my post was kinda depressing and that it influenced you, makes me happy. I think you bring up a lot here. I always have felt that typing is brain-balanced for me - anyway but probably not... I hope the dragon speech works. I was just looking for some freeware like this online again...have done so before... reviews say it works but you have to get the puter to know you - long and boring. But it will be soo worth it - I love the pics. And yes, doing what is easiest is our true destiny and there is no choice.
Yes the inspiration was certainly all you!
Another thing that really struck me with your post is that sometimes great posts don't get the attention they deserve, and yes your post was a bit down, but it was also really honest and heartfelt, which is something I appreciate.
That is actually an intesting story in itself!
I read years ago that he is actually long dead and the guy who is supposed to be him is a long term stand in
http://yournewswire.com/stephen-hawking-died/