My application to join the Alliance - a family of steemians

There is a place called Steem where you can come for the rewards, but stay for the community. And I have loved this place, felt at home, made friends around the entire world, tried many many many different things, and keep trying, and have been rewarded in a dozen different ways, if not more.

What more could I ask for? To keep going!

_{We still take selfies, now that we are professionals}

This is my official application to join a group called the alliance. According to the rules, I have to answer three questions in this post:

1. Where did you hear about us?
2. Why do you wanna be here?
3. What do you feel you can contribute to the platform/alliance?

That's the way it works. Then, if I am accepted, I will be subjected to months of hazing, finally resulting in me being admitted to the group at the lowest levels.

_{Like Dragon Ball Z, I imagine that I can spend a whole season powering up for the next 'level'}

I have heard about the alliance since it first started. Some great users that I was having a lot of fun with, like @tattoodjay were getting together and joining syndicates and unions and 'alliances'.

Now, I have and had joined a few groups in my time on the steem blockchain, and those that still list me as members have accepted how I 'role'. I am a butterfly, trying and testing every flower out there, crossing continents just to get a glimpse of what is on the other side. Those that count me as friend know that if I eventually come back around again, its because I count you as friend too!

So I tried very hard to avoid any groups where it seemed like strict levels of commitment would be monitored and enforced.

_{Oh look! Something shiny!}

Then @snook happened. Now, don't misunderstand me, she has been around this Earth a bit before me, and I invited her to the platform and she was actually on much earlier than all this. But people started to find her, and love her, and get interested in her as I knew they should, since she is such a fun person, open and creative, and was learning how to open up on steem.

So she joined this great family of alliance members, and kept poking at me to join it as well. Not force-ably, just bringing it up tangentially in conversations like moms tend to do.

_{See! I really do know @snook! Wait...Who's watching the road?!?}

Why do I want to be here? I am always trying new things, and I (a lot like @snook actually) am unphased by people who say that I should 'pick a niche'. I do my own thing, which is one of the reasons that we named our show, 'The Art of Being You'

So as I go about doing my thing, I have found that the community is the best part around here, and that there are great new friends that I have met here, that I interact with, and that I keep bumping into. Since very many of my friends are already a part of the alliance, and I like making new friends and commenting on their posts, I think that it would be a great opportunity to join up with the alliance.

_{Busy Bee!}

In regards to question 3, what I will be contributing to the alliance, my answer is two fold. First, I am currently a commenting machine! I would love to have another source of content from authors that has been pre-curated (by this application process) on which I can go and read and comment. I am currently enjoying the engagement leagues and am of the mind that what steem needs right now is not more bloggers but more audience.

The second thing I offer is an open mind and a bit of SP. I would like to delegate some SP to one or more bot programs that vote on a circle of select authors. I believe that these voting programs do a lot to keep early people going. Even a few cents can help people get up over the hump of 0 payout 0 visibility posts. I already participate in @steembasicincome and @qurator and have heard about a few within the alliance that might benefit from some of my spare SP.

I am currently in a position where I can continue to advance my coding skills, I do have an open source tool that I will be working to get hosted again and to continue to improve functionality. I am eager to meet friends and community where I can go to get questions answered and to in turn answer questions. I am a 'helpy' person who often needs 'help'.

Thank you for the opportunity to put together this hodge-podge of a post, now its back to commenting all over the blockchain!