Two Years of Variety on Steemit: Practicing the Art of Uniform InconsistencysteemCreated with Sketch.

in #steemit6 years ago (edited)

Welcome to the results of two years of Steeming.

This is what happens when I post on Steemit for two years, I write a two-year birthday anniversary post, all about me.

This is really supposed to be a variety page.

Those who follow this page might have noticed by now that there may seem to be very little consistency in the material that is presented here. It might also be noted that some of my posts are entertaining and informative, while others are absurd and immature. Other times, it's just artwork.

Here's some of my art that has never been on the internet until now:


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untitled, color pencil and black pen, 1997

An Adherence to Ubiquitous Incoherence

This blog page frequently features the art of spilling, or blundering thought, sometimes making up new words to suit a fancy, and then, like flinging caterpillars into the sea, suddenly becoming very serious over absurdities, while perhaps covering the news and weather.

This uniform inconsistency has been the business model for this page for nearly two years.


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"HERE IS AN ILLUSTRATION TO HELP EXPLAIN..."

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Uniform Inconsistency: Pickles

Maintaining inconsistency might sound simple at first, but when I change the subject practically in mid-sentence to talk about a clearly unrelated topic, one might suppose that they are reading the stream of consciousness that leaks from a bucket of pickles. Readers may then be surprised to find out that I don't really like pickles.

There is a lot to say about this topic. Once, while working in a food warehouse, I missed lunch on a busy Friday, and began feeling weak. The warehouse that I worked in supplied food products for restaurants, and we dealt in big drums full of spices, coffee, boxes of grill bricks, and buckets of pickles-- that sort of thing.

A 5-gallon bucket of sliced dill pickles was damaged that fateful Friday when one of the forklift operators jabbed a fork into one of the the plastic buckets.

My Feelings on Pickles

Once before, long ago, I had tried eating a pickle, and had then decided that I didn't like cucumbers, or pickles. Sour and offensive, I couldn't see why anyone would call it food. Everyone else seemed to love pickles, and they threw them on everything. I picked them off. I didn't like pickles.

That all changed on that Friday afternoon at the warehouse, when a minor forklift accident liberated those sliced pickles from their bucket, instantly altering my mind and my perceptions.

This was a serious hunger that I was dealing with that day. After someone pried the top off of the damaged pickle bucket, I ate a slice of pickle. It wasn't bad. I ate a few more.

To make a long pickle story short, I still don't buy pickles, (they're really not that great) but now I know that I don't hate them. They aren't too bad if you're famished.

Two Years at Steemit!

This is a big celebration post! That's enough about pickles. If you're like me, and don't really like pickles, SKIP THE ABOVE SECTION ON PICKLES, and begin reading here:

I've been at Steemit for two whole years now, and looking back, Steemit was a whole different world back in August of 2016. The day that I signed up, I had just clicked a link to a Steemit post, a Jeff Berwick article (@dollarvigilante) and saw that his single post had collected something like $24,000 worth of STEEM within just a few hours. I had no clue what STEEM was, but I signed up immediately.

I didn't expect to get $24,000 for a single post like the dollarvigilante had done, but I did get excited thinking about maybe getting a mere fraction of that kind of reward, while also having a place to post my artwork, stories, videos and to share my visions and ideas about the imaginary future that I was busy with already.

After seeing the five-digit rewards that were showing up on the Steemit feed around two years ago, I was intrigued. The possibility that a piece of my art might bring in even $24 worth of interest, or even just $2 and 40 cents, made me realize that I had finally found a way to be rewarded for my artwork, and maybe even be rewarded for my screwy ideas, so I started writing, and drawing and painting, and...

Thanks to Steemit, I Started Drawing and Painting More Often

It didn't take long before I had used all of my artwork in various posts, and found myself creating new art to go with the new posts. My hand was rusty at first, since I hadn't moved a pencil around on paper in a few years, but the muscles built quickly, and soon I was liking some of my own sketches, and sharing them, to see if others could see what I'd seen.

The People I've Met At Steemit!

In these last two years, I have become acquainted with Steemians from all around the world. I would list them, but I would surely leave someone out, and I don't want to forget anyone so carelessly here.

All the way on the other side of the planet, I now have friends that I never would have met if not for Steemit. I could name some exotic faraway places but again, I wouldn't know where to start, and wouldn't want to miss anyone, or to inadvertently list their beautiful country last. I'll just say that I now have beautiful friends who live in beautiful and faraway, exotic places, and am very proud to have met them all. That includes you, just so you know. If you made it past the pickle section above and are reading this, I'm happy to be sharing this space with you.

Steemit Changes and the Long-Term Crypto Ride

No matter where you might be in the world, this is a good time to sign up if you are not already on Steemit. The numbers go up, and everyone gets excited and joins the platform, like I did, and then the price goes down, and lots of users wander off or power down. Those who've stayed on Steemit are glad that they did, and I'm proud to say that I'm one of those who has stayed.

More Art

Here's a watercolor that I made around 2003, when I would use photos of women from fashion magazines as my models:

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Then, here's this guy, just so we don't accidentally end up with a 'women by water' theme in the art:

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Things change constantly, and instead of resisting, I change this blog page every day, and I never get bored writing about the same thing all the time. It's a uniform inconsistency that keeps me entertained.

Thanks for looking in!

There is one consistent theme here that I can mention in closing; I do encourage the reader of this page to look inward often, and many of my posts will end with that-- for those who make it through the stories about pickles and such-- a reminder about the moment, and my appreciation is shown by saying, thanks for looking in!


All images above are mine, I had no pictures of pickles to share, but that's enough about pickles for now

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To be sure, click @therealpaul

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Being consistently inconsistent makes for amusing reading XD

Happy steemiversary? :D

Yes, thank you! It's a two-year steemiversary celebration of variety.

Though I have taken a bit of a break from posting for a number of reasons, in general I have found steemit to be a very much needed creative outlet. I also have found myself far more motivated to be more creative than I had been in several years thanks to my blog on here. Happy anniversary and congrats on two years! I truly enjoy reading your posts. :)

Thanks, yes it was the motivation that I needed to start creating things again, and that inspirational part of Steemit has been a lot of fun for me here in my 'real' life.

I do read your posts, and I do enjoy them. Maybe the fact that they are unpredictable is what makes me read them regularly.

I'm happy to remain unpredictable, that will be easiest for me! I appreciate your reading and checking in, or looking in and I'm glad to know that you enjoy them.

Congratulations, Paul, on holding on for two years. Also on your eclectic variety. I'm overdue for a two year celebration...

😄😇😄

@creatr

Thank you! I'm glad the variety is appreciated, the input helps. Yes, the two-year mark is worth bragging about, and just yesterday my rep turned over from being 68 forever, now finally 69. Not sure if it's worth a whole new post or not.

I recently (and quite shockingly!) made the unexpected transition from an eternal 69 to a 70...

Gotta just keep steemin' on. ;)

Two years is a long time. You are gifted in your artistry and your writing.Thanks for sharing that with us @therealpaul

I appreciate your looking in!

Brilliant! - great to make it to TWO isn't it?

What colour Lambo are you going to buy?

I've just ordered a purple one like this:

I didn't want to show off, so I've ordered this dull grey one, to blend in.
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Smart! When racing down the highway, you won't be the one pulled over!

Almost as cool as mine- but not quite!

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Maybe I should modify?

Well now I might have to trade mine in for this-

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That would do the trick...

I might go more conservative (I often say that)

I don't like pickles either, but I do like chocolate. Possibly inordinately so. And my topics are all over the place too, as well as being randomly spaced. So a uniformly inconsistent box of chocolates (see @dreemit's comment) must be made for me. I wonder if I can think of anything interesting for my 2 year anniversary, coming up within the week...
PS I really like the rat sleeping on a bike pic

I have a chocolate problem. It's something that I can admit, because then I don't have to fix the problem, and of course then I'm free to have some chocolate, no problem. Congratulations in advance on the two years, I'll be on the lookout for that post! Oh and thanks-- I like the rat too, always liked the way he turned out. I was once in a band called the Shackrats, and I made the drawing for their posters and promo stuff.

Don't we all. Have a chocolate problem, that is, not make posters for the Shackrats. That, I think, is for you and you alone. I mean really, when you think about it the biggest addictions are: (not in order)

  1. Chocolate
  2. Coffee
  3. Umm, air, I guess?
  4. Life, definitely life. No one gets out of that addiction alive.
  5. Hmm, gotta go with the internet. It's a common problem.
  6. For those with whom I associate (yes, I did phrase it like that just so I could say 'whom.' Got a problem with that?) books. Definitely books.
  7. Did I mention coffee yet?
  8. And speaking of bad jokes
  9. Really annoying long lists?
  10. I should probably stop here
  11. But I'm not going to. Because I'm contrary.
  12. And on that note, obstinacy.

Okay, I think I'm actually done now.
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Hmm, not entirely convinced you changed the subject mid-sentence. Maybe mid paragraph, certainly mid-article, but I don't really see the "mid-sentence."
Sorry (not really). I'm nitpicking.

You're right! I remember now being unsatisfied with that sentence, now I see why; it's not doing the trick that it was set up to do. I could probably salvage it by editing in the word 'practically'- "...practically mid-sentence..." so that it doesn't just fall flat like it does now.

I'm glad you mentioned this, and I appreciate the nitpicking, it's better than silence.

Hmm, I don't know. Not much is better than the sound of silence.


Yeah, I know that was face palm worthy. I'm sorry (again, not really). Please ignore my cringey joke.
On the other hand it really is a great song. I'm still sorry not sorry though.

I do appreciate your saying your not sorry- too many say it but don't mean it. I am sorry that I failed to ignore the cringey joke until it was too late, but if it helps any, I didn't realize it was cringey until you told me afterwards-- I probably never would have known!

Thank you for that. You gave me an opportunity to laugh like a maniac.
This is a good thing because it shows people my true colors. unless I want to hide my true colors... maybe it will help me on my way to world domination
(What color are my true colors anyway? Maybe a manly hot pink and that beige color which is just on the edge of being both beautiful and disgusting... This requires contemplation, which I will probably not do. Oh well.)
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As much as we may have in common I've learned there is a great pickle chasm between us today! I'm very much a texture person, it seems to go hand in hand with what I like to eat, and the crunch of a pickle is delightful to me, while the squish of a mushroom is quite gross. (I'm also not fond of the taste of dirt though, which might explain why fungi has never appealed)

If I were to describe your blog in one sentence it would be: It's like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. ;)

I'm an eclectic personality, so it makes perfect sense that I would love such a blog!

I'm happy with the chocolate analogy, but anything chocolate will be good for me. Now, I don't hate pickles, I just don't particularly care for them. Eventually I would leave them on burgers if they came with pickles, but then, of course I went all vegetarian, so no burger to fuss over anymore. But yeah, pickles are ok now, I got over it!

As always, thx for everything. I really couldn't have done this without you're encouragement along this ride, just so you know. You light this place up nicely, and you bring out the best in me here in my writing, and in my ongoing attempts to interact with people with such grace as you do, you are inspiring in many ways! Love you always.

Actually, you and Howie are in the same pickle boat- he doesn't mind them, but he doesn't love them like I do. Well- he does like a sweet pickle now and again (blech) And he loves mushrooms, hence the mushroom hunting- that part I do enjoy, finding them I mean.

Well shucks. :0) I am super glad that anything I did kept you going, steemit needs your energy. I'm really sensitive to different energy- I would have thought it would mostly apply to being in physical proximity but I've learned that's not the case, I can feel it in steemit just as much as anywhere- and without energy like yours in this place it would be far less appealing to be here!

Thank you for the sweet words, I love you too!!!

it has been a crazy journey seems like this day is more famous lots of people joined today :D

It has been crazy! Good to see you still around too.

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