Road to Steemfest3 (1): A step back to go forward

No clue how many of these free-writing paths i'll be taking before the event, but today seems like as good a day as any to begin proceedings. @anomadsoul with the call to attendees here.

As @tarazkp indicates himself, my attendance is also not 100% yet but I do have every intention to get to Krakow and see faces, old and new.

_{Last years event t-shirt, and still in the top 3 newest that I own :)}

---

Last year I paid for two tickets and two flights because I has the money, and I wanted this person to come with me. This year is a bit different though, only one ticket to buy, but I'm not working for the United Nations at present. To be fair though, it's more out of personal choice though than anything else.

After the Christmas crypto boom, the reality is that it's much harder going right now, living off STEEM. I'm prepared to do it though - eat a bit less, drink a bit less, party a lot less, and it's just about working out, for now. This is my step back to go forward.

However, this would be much harder if I didn't attend last years Steemfest. @elear and @utopian-io were there, and they've been really good to me this past year. @anomadsoul was in attendance, and if you watch the votes on the blogs of others, you may have noticed his name sitting pretty at the top of my vote list often.

You can get all shitty about it if you want, but networking is a large part of the Steem ecosystem. Closed circles is not what I wish to see, but you need some 'regulars' appearing with votes. And Steemfest is a pretty good way to gather up a few. Why? Because you can sit having a beer with someone, play a game of pool, and seeing how they are as person. I don't want to support money grabbing selfish douche-bags, so the in-person check is good to have.

Plus, when you have been to the event, you can write about it:

https://steemit.com/steemfest/@abh12345/steemfest-2-my-thoughts-and-journey

I didn't collect much 'support' at all at the time of Steemfest, but just getting to the event was kicker for future votes. We, as past attendees, have something in common and the honest account I gave of last years event collected a little more support, which has been essential for this past years survival without 'real' employment.

It is with hope that SMT/Hivemind/Communities will have been released by November, or at least be close enough so that you can smell them in Krakow. I think the populous have been pretty patient on the repeatedly changing timescales - it's not like we have much choice in that though :)

What is it, 14 weeks until the 2nd week in November? I can see a lot of time spent in this text box before then. My visit likely depends on it :) It's all good though, I enjoy being here. Not so much in the 345678 discord servers I've been invited to this past year, sorry if you haven't seen much of me - I'm around though, just check the blockchain for details.

Mum - Thanks for letting me use your apartment on this beautiful island this year. I promise that when crypto and STEEM moon, I'll sort you out with the money I owe you, something nice - like double-glazing in the bedroom for the winter. I just have to get to Poland first :)

Free-write tangent, over and out!

Asher