I'm totally, acutely, painfully aware that I know nothing (yet)

This is my second post so I'm still a very tiny morsel of plankton (which looks like this:)

Source: http://blueplanetsociety.org/2015/03/the-importance-of-plankton/

Therefore, please bear with me if I offer the odd piece of nonsense that makes me look like I don't know what I'm talking about (and if it looks like that it's probably true). But at least I try, and I know a little more every day, after every single post I read. At the moment I have to concentrate the limited time I have on learning about this whole new and exciting world. So I apologise for not being as responsive as I'd like to be to some very nice people's posts who have upvoted and commented on my introduceyourself post a few days ago. One member, @honeysim, even entered my post in a payitforward contest for which I'm super grateful. I looked at every person's profile though and tried to develop a bit of a radar about what kind of people I want to follow, what interests me, and which are actually real people and which are not. Getting there, slowly... In any case, I am humbled by every contribution that was made and will follow up more actively as soon as I get a better hang of things.

Busy.org

While looking at the profiles of people who followed me (thank you to every one of the twelve of you), this post by @riverflows caught my eye: https://steemit.com/busy/@riverflows/why-i-prefer-busy-org-to-steem-com

It literally described all the little things I found a bit bothersome while writing my first post on steemit. You know, not VERY bothersome, only a little, and certainly not enough to not wanting to pursue this. But when I read this post about @busy.org, I certainly felt like someone had read my mind and it made me want to have a closer look. So I did. First of all, the train analogy was great and made it easy for me to understand that busy.org runs kind of parallel to steemit and is not competing with it. If I get this correctly, the two even assist each other to grow. This was important to me because I've already grown fond of the steemit community and grateful to its founders, and I wouldn't have wanted to already jump off the wagon and onto another one. What I didn't learn from this post was how it actually works with the signup and posting etc.

I then found the original train analogy (or at least an earlier version of it) here: https://steemit.com/steem/@mediavoice/explained-steemit-and-busy-org-using-this-analogy but her original story on media.com (link is in her post) describes it better. From that I learned that if you write a post in busy it will automatically show in steemit and vice versa. Cool, very helpful piece of information, basically enough for me to sign up to busy.org and give it a try. So I enthusiastically wanted to make an account but encountered another slight hiccup (no doubt due to my general lack of blockchain wisdom). Without any explanation or '?' or help button to click on, there popped up a window from something called steemconnect, asking "Do you want to authorise the STEEM account @busy.app to use your posting role?" I had no idea what that meant, and if I've learned one thing, it is not to agree to something I'm clueless about. So I looked it up and after reading this post https://steemit.com/steemconnect/@busy.org/introducing-steemconnect-by-busy-identity-authentication-authorization-for-steem-blockchain-s-apps, I felt confident to click that "Continue" button. And sure enough, there it was, instantly. A beautiful new profile, similar but different to my steemit profile. I like them both but I do find writing a post a bit easier here on busy. Yep, I wrote this post on busy and am now hoping it will really appear in steemit as well once I post it.

Is it weird to say I felt rather accomplished after that? Haha, I picture some of the truly accomplished folks shaking their heads right now (if I can get any of those reading this far). But hey, everyone has their own milestones to climb. One of my goals is escaping planktonhood. As much as I appreciate the role of plankton in feeding the whales of the world, I don't particularly enjoy being described as one. Having said that I'd probably like to just skip the next one... Nawww, just kidding, happy to do things step by step!

Steem Basic Income

Another concept that caught my eye is related to something I support generally and would therefore love to be part of here as well. I found all the information on @steembasicincome but I don't know how people can find someone to sponsor them into it. Is it pure luck to get picked for sponsoring, or is there something specific one can do to increase their chances? Or does someone like me, at the stage I'm at now, have no chance to get in? I'd love to hear some advice in the comments as I think it's a brilliant concept, well worth supporting. I've read and heard about several plans and proposals of universal basic income, mostly visions at this stage, and I believe it would make a huge difference in the world. Anything that can reduce poverty and homelessness is positive, and at the same time I believe it would increase productivity and creativity, and definitely general health and wellbeing. I will definitely try to get myself up to speed with the happenings in this area.

Now I wish everyone a happy Mother's day. However, please spare a thought for those who had to endure the loss of a child and for whom this day is therefore a recurring source of unspeakable pain. My heart is breaking today for two of my friends who were cruelly put in this impossible situation. I am eternally grateful that my own are healthy and kicking, but it teaches you to take absolutely nothing for granted. Hold your children close, tell them you love them, and appreciate the beauty of every moment!

That's it for today, more coming soon...