August is windy here. Its unsettling... have never liked strong winds as they make me feel ungrounded. Far, far too much air. I struggle to find my feet, my roots, those first connections with the ground that enable me to stabilise. I really am ready for Spring now, with its warmer calmer days and blossoms. Everything just seems strange right now.

On Steemit, too, things are a little strange and quiet. As Steem hits the lowest I have seen since starting in April (I have never been here at its lowest, nor was I hear at the highest) it seems you could swing a cat in here and not hit anyone. Sorry, cat lovers.

I wonder if everyone's just too busy to drop by. I'm grateful for those who do. I have had quite a few odd comments from new followers, including:

'Keep being a good big brother'

'I am screwed to you so if you could screw to me too'

'I like your style'

'Hello river flow your post is much better'

Better than what, dude? And of course the ubiquitous 'Nice post' to which I want to reply: 'Oh yeah, what did you like about it then, huh, huh?', in a passive aggressive but mainly aggressive way. A bit like what I wanted to do to the email this week that came through from some dude. You gotta admire him for trying:

It appears that, (MY REALLY OLD EXPIRED PASSWORD HERE), 's your password. You may not know me and you are probably wondering why you're getting this e-mail, right?

actually, I setup a spyware on the adult videos (porno) website and you know what, you visited this site to have fun (you know very well what I mean). While you were watching videos, your internet browser started out functioning like a RDP (Remote Access) which provided accessibility to your screen and web camera. and then, my software program obtained your complete contacts out of your Messenger, Outlook, Facebook, in addition to emails.

What did I do?

I made a double-screen video clip. First part shows the video you're seeing (you have got a good taste haha . . .), and Second part shows the recording of your web camera.

exactly what should you do?

Well, I think, $11000 is a fair price for our little secret. You'll make the payment by Bitcoin (if you do not know this, search "how to purchase bitcoin" search engines like google).

Bitcoin Address: 1Kx6np7quTv6DuJqq1Hoq5GNc2RzGkTUhE
(It is case sensitive, so copy and paste it)

Important:
You've got few days in order to make the payment. (I have a completely unique pixel within this e-mail, and at this moment I am aware that you've read this email message). If I do not get the BitCoins, I will certainly send out your video recording to all of your contacts including relatives, colleagues, and so forth. Having said that, if I get the payment, I'll destroy the video immidiately. If you need evidence, reply with "Yes!" and I will certainly send your videos to your 6 contacts. It is a non-negotiable offer, that being said don't waste my personal time and yours by responding to this message.

So after I transferred 11,000 to some rando in bitcoins, which was hard to do because I don't have a bitcoin wallet, I went and enjoyed @whatamidoing's post this week who took stock of Steem's low point by cheerfully listing all he is grateful for. I read through his list and mainly felt that I was the only one who seems to know so little about crypto. Litecoins, byteball, airdrops, wallets, referral links? It's all pollen in my face making me sneeze.

There's other stuff happening that's making me feel a bit out of sorts at the moment but I tell you what, I am grateful for my sense of humour. This morning I was tapping away on my laptop chatting on Discord, where I seem to spend more time now, to hear a disembodied voice say:

'I CAN HEAR YOU TYYYYPPPPINNNGG'

in a demented foreign accent. I literally freak, get ready to turn off my laptop and the modem and change all my passwords, and tape over my camera, when I realise I accidentally tapped my voice on and it was someone on Discord.

I shout WHAT! and hang up.

Then..beep.

It's @mrprofessor, who seemed to find scaring the shit out of me really funny. He said he should have spoke like a ghost. WTF does a ghost sound like? Apparently I sounded very Australian. Perhaps it was the manly Wolf Creek voice I use when I am scared shitless. A defensive strategy.

So, this brings me to the gratitude bit.. I am grateful for Discord. I'm grateful for my friends ON Discord. For @mrprofessor who daily makes me laugh and has been with me since he stalked my intro post (check out his first vlog, which he said he had to rehearse in front of the mirror for), for @guchtere who asks me endless questions, for @holisticmom who shows me her kids star belly button when she wakes up and always, always has sound and calm advice for when I'm stressing over something. For @mountainjewel and the crazy rabbit holes we go down with our oversharing and the days when I am actually online and available on the nights she is feeling mischievous. For conversations out of the blue with people, @vladivostok and @whatamidoing this week.

You should try being Australian here, when most of your Steemfriends are on different timezones. Walking into a chat room when everyone is asleep is unsettling. And when I wake up I find I have missed the party! But I've been amused in the @helpie chat room for a bit. Something about cookies?

I also joined @freedomtribe this week. Loving the good vibe there. Loving the radio shows on @ghsc Discord (Global Homesteading Collective) - they always seem to be busy too. How do people find the time, to you know, life and stuff, and still seem to be in a chat room like, all the time? And @ecotrain, and @smg, and @tribesteemup - very quiet in the chat rooms, but an occasional hello and a helping hand from folks here makes me smile. I love the different rooms there. I bet when Steem goes up it'll be a proper juggling act trying to keep up with the multiple chats going on! One day I'm going to send the wrong thing to the wrong person.

Oh and other cool stuff, like @mountainjewel's madlib challenge and @sagescrub's awesome crypto for seeds new website launch and @flauwy's 1UP initiative starting to gather speed. So stuff is happening after all.

Oh, and @naturalmedicine has been a hoot so far. So grateful for all the stories this week in response to the competition 'how has natural medicine changed your life'. Seriously, go check some of them out and help us vote for the best one! The discord channel is here and we'd love to see you join. And, if you have a wee bit of steempower lying around, a little delegation would help us celebrate and promote just that little bit more.

https://discord.gg/XZxb53y

Just don't freak me out if I accidentally leave the voice on.

What's your week been like on Steemit?

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If you're a supporter of all things natural healing, you might like to read our introductory post here. We'd also love to welcome you on Discord here!!