Last night, somebody suggested to me that I join Vocal, since it pays out for the number of views my content receives and how much viewers engage with it, rather than how much people tip. Since I write prolifically and easily get a thousand views (on average) per post here (but barely any tips, thanks to how rubbish AMPL, ETH and $FARM are), I could earn a modest sum there. So, obviously, I joined up. What I didn't realise is that the site pays in fiat, not crypto. To add insult to injury, it uses Stripe to pay out, too. (Stripe doesn't pay to people in my home country, nor does it plan to in future. If you're outside North America, Europe or the UK, you're probably going to be out in the cold, too.)

Every time I think I've found a way forward to pursue my dreams in a financially viable and sustainable way, try something new, there's some obstacle or two that "pulls me back to the start." I just can't beat the game and win.

I'm not going to lie; I'm feeling terribly despondent and disillusioned with cryptocurrency at this point. It's supposed to make life easier and free us from fiat, right? Well, it has done no such thing for me. It's just given me problem after problem and made my life no less difficult or frustrating than when I started. Clearly, I'm missing something crucial here, because I might as well have just stayed with fiat, for all its bondage and problems. I'd probably be just a little less stuck than I am now. Crypto has just given me different problems, instead of solving any.

The obstacle standing in my way is me and my mediocrity. (It always has been. I'm just not the great white hope I was supposed to be. I never will be, so I'm going to end up out in the cold.)

I'm going to bed in the hope that I can get up in the morning and function. Right now, I'm miserable and not going to be any f@@king use to anyone.

"I'm a driver; I'm a winner! Things are gonna change; I can feel it!"

Atlas shrugged. Cold, hard, reality sucks like life itself. Here endeth the life lesson. Snark out!