Hey all. It’s Team Australia update time! But first, as you know, I like to discuss other things going on (either in my personal life or on steemit) more generally before I get to that. 

Since there’s nothing much exciting going on with me right now, I will talk about steemit stuff. I am pretty excited for the Masters of the Universe challenge. This is a continuation of the steemlords theme, which you might remember from 1-2 months back. 

Basically, we all got shafted at the end as @sirknight stole our loot and transformed himself into He-Man. However, he has now sent us through a transformation portal and we have morphed into 80s cartoon characters. Our new selves have landed in Eternia, which we are to save from evil villains. 

A bunch of transformation posts have been put up already. Go check them out cos they are a good read. Also, if you want in on this creative writing challenge, now is your chance. I think it’s going to be fun and I’m looking forward to seeing what my character ChooXena: Vegan Warrior Princess now She-Ra Princess of Power has in store and who she encounters.

As you probably know by now, @mrsquiggle has had an upgrade. @aggroed has brought him into the MSP family and he is now a more powerful curation bot than before. If you would like to earn greater rewards for your posts from @mrsquiggle, you can do so by delegating to him. Check out this link for details.

I’m really happy to be onboard as part of @mrsquiggle’s curation team. I love being able to read your posts anyway, but now I can give also give them a bit more oomph. Hopefully, his power this will continue to grow over time.

Community notices

You should follow @mrsquiggle, who is doing a great job recognising and rewarding creativity within Team Australia. He will also submit the most worthy posts to @curie, which would result in a massive upvote if you can tap that gravy train.

You can support Team Australia members by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions on how to do that are here.

Don't forget that @centerlink is busy putting Aussie-battler tax dollars to work in the form of dole payments for posts, as well as showcasing Australia's most worthy dole recipients.

Steemit witness and our very own Minister for Welfare @ausbitbank has created the @discordia bot, which you can use to increase your upvote moolah. Some of the proceeds will support @centerlink so give it a try.

Of course, also check out the awesome Minnow Support Project (MSP). Details on how to join are are here and here. Come say hi in the Team Australia chat room in PAL-Discord. It's fun and you will make new friends. You should also consider voting for the other MSP witnesses, including @aggroed who has a done a great job in getting this project off the ground.

And lastly, if you're feeling generous, you can delegate SP to the Team Australia upvote bots @centerlink and/or @mrsquiggle (or any other bot you like) using Vessel. You can delegate to any of the MSP bots using this link.  

Candidate 1

Name and bio  

@magickred is a mother, wife, and a makeup and SFX artist from Wollongong (which I’ve spelt correctly this time). She has worked on several student films and is hoping to break into bigger budget films at some point (you need to talk to @angusg below). @magickred says that studying real wounds is beneficial for making prosthetics. She has also made her own wounds from scratch, which has taught her how to make them more realistic.

@magickred is an avid jigsaw puzzler, semi-nerd, gamer (SWG and WoW), fictional writer, fire snake (if you follow eastern astrology), Star Wars and Star Trek fan, movie buff, and oldies music lover. 

Fun fact

“I have published a few articles and have a few movies credited.”

Nice. I checked out one of your articles. I think you have one of the coolest jobs I’ve seen so far when doing these Team Australia introductions.

Candidate 2

Name and bio

@activist-news has a steemit blog, website and a 12K+ subscriber YouTube channel all of the same name. He is from the Gold Coast and has been a human rights activist for about 10 years. He is interested in computers, decentralization, crypto, and free speech.

@activist-news hopes to plant seeds of truth in the minds of any who wish to pay attention, find more ways to become economically self-sufficient online, and network with people who have similar interests and pursuits.

Fun fact

“The Holocaust never happened.”

Yeah, I’m not going to touch that one.

Next.

Candidate 3

Name and bio

@wanderwithtwo is a friend of @travelgirl and blogs in English and Chinese. Although one person does the actual blogging, @wanderwithtwo is a duo from Sydney that enjoys travelling, photography, food and art. They hope that they are able to share their experiences with the world and provide a bit of inspiration and motivation.

@wanderwithtwo’s hobbies include fishing, swimming, tennis, gaming and music. They are also collectors of BE@RBRICKS and nanoblocks.

Fun fact

“We love avocados and avocados love us.”

Avocados are indeed delicious. However, I’m a little unclear about how they show love back, being fruit and all.

Candidate 4

Name and bio

@beachhermit is a self-confessed hermit from Geelong. She has difficulties participating in any sort of social network, but has been teaching herself about blockchains and therefore feels the need to be part of one.

@beachhermit has also been teaching herself programming and has completed a bunch of MOOCs as well as a Graduate Certificate in Information Technology from a bricks and mortar university. She’s also teaching herself maths with Khan Academy for fun. She says she’s not any danger of blinding anyone with her brilliance but is gaining a sense of fulfillment and satisfaction with learning new things later in life.

Fun fact

“I have a sheepdog (kelpie) that thinks flies are sheep. We can always tell if a fly has landed on a ceiling fan because she’s underneath stamping her feet and whining.”

Ha! Dogs are funny. Much better than cats.

Candidate 5

Name and bio

@angusg is an animator and film-maker who has been making music videos since the 80s. He has produced and directed numerous videos for major label artists including Natalie Imbruglia’s 'Torn' (great song and I liked that video), Sia, Dave Stewart, Gene, Rialto, Deni Hines, Christian Fry, Bellatrix, Dikta, and Symposium. 

@angusg moved back to Australia with his wife and daughter in 2008 and has since worked in Sydney and the Gold Coast as a director and producer. He currently lives in Fingal Head near Kingscliff, is a vegan (woot! woot!), and is an active film-maker, particularly of Indie films.

Fun fact

“I’ve won the Gruen Transfer a couple of times. One was for a spoof Australian Government ad telling people that the Australian Government was introducing a Parents Licence.”

Wow! I am super impressed with what you’ve achieved in this area so this does not surprise me at all. Well done @angusg. 

Candidate 6

Name and bio

@bigdizzle91 is from Melbourne. He left school at 15 to work in a supermarket until he was 18, when he started a plumbing apprenticeship. However, he ended up quitting to pursue more money since he was living in his car, which he says was pretty crappy but better than the street. @bigdizzle91 then moved into a share house, where a lot of drugs and alcohol were consumed. Paramedics were called on several occasions because of overdoses and suicidal people.  

@bigdizzle91 then built pools and greenhouses for a while, before finding his current role as a fence builder. In the future he would like to open an animal rescue for abused/neglected cats, dogs and other animals. 

Fun fact

“My mum owns a pet crocodile.” 

Just to put this in context, his mum does run a wildlife rescue centre. She's not just keeping one out in the back yard.

@sirknight, please add these new members to Team Australia. 

 The rules for joining Team Australia

If you’re not yet a member and want to be, this is what you need to do:

1. Vote here for our resident steemit witness @ausbitbank.
2. Regularly check the  Team Australia and Australia tags and upvote the content you like. 
3. Follow and upvote existing members of @teamaustralia who you share a common interest with. Alternatively, you can show your support by following the centerlink curation trail in Streemian. Instructions are listed here.
4. Comment below or DM me on steemit chat or Discord that you want to join.
5. Link your introduction post so I can find out a bit about you. If you’re new to steemit you'll have to write one so use the introduceyourself tag to help boost your following. You can also follow this handy guide written by @teamsteem.
6. If it’s not mentioned in your introductory post, tell me which city and country you’re in, cos let's face it, a lot of us live in Australia's fourth largest city—London.  
7. If you’re not Aussie tell me why you should be a Team Australia ambassador. 
8. Tell me a fun fact about yourself. This can be anything. For example, maybe you run a successful business, or you have eight kids and three dogs, or you rode your bike across America, or you won the blue ribbon for javelin throwing at sports day back in high school, or Toadie came into the pub you work at one day and you served him a beer, or, maybe you can fit 55 maltesers in your mouth like Ed Sheeran can. It doesn’t matter what it is, I want a fun fact about you!

Once I receive this information I will try my best to write a good introductory paragraph about you for the official Team Australia membership updates. So the better your information is, the better I can make you sound. Where relevant, please use the teamaustralia and australia tags to promote your work. I will try and post weekly updates unless there is a lot of interest, in which case I will try and post sooner.  

 Team Australia banner and MOTU artwork by @bearone

Page dividers by @kristyglas