ONE MILLION BLURT POWER!

At the start of 2023 I set myself a goal that didn't seem possible: 1 million Blurt Power by New Years 2024. I made it! And without a day to spare!

Flashbacks

Here's how it all went down!

In October 2022, I was at 500,000 BP after 10 years of content-creation for crypto, never spending any, just re-investing my payouts and grinding away. An unexpected and unwanted move threw my life into chaos once again...

"..I'm going to move up North (where there is still a few places to rent), and grow a garden in Canada's tundra. Seriously. I'll be a bit less active over the next couple months as we pack, move, and settle. If I'm still alive in the spring, and have internet for my desktop, I'll start a new Blurt series about growing food in the Arctic. If I can create thousands of articles and videos people enjoy and benefit from, with nothing to show for it, I can grow tomatoes in a snowbank. You'll see."

Well, I certainly did that! The move itself was traumatic for my wife, toddler, and baby because Air Canada screwed up and refused to fix their mistake, costing us nearly $10,000 we couldn't afford to lose. We're still recovering from the financial hit, which isn't easy because both of us are seriously physically disabled and unable to work. But we've settled into our new house, created a garden, and begun to integrate into the community. And I've been pumping out high-quality content like a madman, doing my best to grow this platform, and hopefully someday earn a living (or even part of a living) doing it.

Another post about my crypto journey can be found here, in January 2023, which is also when I announced my strategy for the run to 1 million. I was at 600,000 BP at the time.

I started the year with a ton of Covid (and vaxxine) content, which was still the big story in the world (the genocide in Gaza had not yet begun). For a glimpse at 120 of my best posts of 2023, check this out.

And yes, the tomatoes I envisioned - and promised - were grown, harvested, and enjoyed! I have several jars of sauce in my pantry, to be enjoyed over the cold winter. We're in a very Northern part of the world - Northwestern BC, Canada. I can see Alaska from my garden! I did it the hard way, too! Heirloom (starting from seeds, using seeds I had collected from my own previous crops)... and 200% organic! (That means NOTHING used, at any step, except dirt, water, sunlight, and air!)

Many boxes, pots, jars, and bags of tomatoes were harvested here, somewhere that fruit like tomatoes is usually not possible. I feel good about that. And yes, the rest of the garden did well, too! Lettuce, peas, beans, potatoes, sunflowers, carrots, and a lot more. It generated a lot of posts, and people enjoyed the garden content all Summer.

At various points, I purchased BLURT on Hive-Engine, then powered it up. I bought it with other proceeds of my crypto blogging, such as some HIVE tokens I had left over from my original BLURT purchase at much higher prices. I shudder to calculate just how many millions of BLURT I would have right now, if only I hadn't started here so soon. Sitting on my ass for 6 months, doing literally nothing, would have at least quadrupled my holdings! But that's not what happened, and I instead poured 1000+ hours into this platform in 2023, grinding my way forward.

Gardening, genealogy, and current events dominated my posts through the Summer.

Now in Autumn, I was posting consistently, and updating at every 10,000 BP milestone.

Around here, I was certain my goal wasn't possible. I didn't give up, but my calculations showed that it wasn't going to happen... by a longshot. Still, I kept trying. Gaza started to replace the garden posts, and I began talking more about finances like precious metals and crypto.

That's when I discovered a little bit of HIVE in some secondary accounts my wife and I own. I used it to buy some BLURT and quickly powered it up!

Here, I realized it was technically possible to reach my goal, thanks to the recent boost. But it was going to take a lot of effort and sacrifice. I wasn't sure it was worth it. My readers seemed to want me to try, and my wife was supportive, so I set to work creating nonstop daily content through December.

My awesome wife MediKatie started giving up her evening music time to make posts and comments toward my goal! What a sweetheart. <3 It was going to come down the wire!!

On Christmas, I made my last post that would pay out in 2023. Since then, I've been managing my curation precisely, to maximize returns for today's big calculation, and this post.

Made it!

Today, the last posts and comments paid out. A huge batch of curation rewards came in. And of course, interest continued to pile up. Was it going to hit the mark?

Here's the final breakdown:

Blurt Power in my account: 995,000
BP in my wife's account: 8,000

Total: 1,003,000 BP

To ensure I'm curating (voting) with a full million, she has delegated me her 8,000 BP. Actually, a few other people have also delegated me some BP, putting me at a grand total Vote Weight of 1.04M!

I'm excited to begin 2024 with this investment in the platform, and myself. I look forward to curating a lot of high-quality posts and comments!

I mentioned some potential plans for how to improve my curating strategy, but haven't solidified exactly how I'm going to do it. (Suggestions are welcome!)

THANK YOU to everyone reading this! Blurt is an excellent platform, with many superb humans using it. A nod to my supporters and friends, you know who you are! I would name names, but there's too many, and I wouldn't want to leave anyone out. BIG thanks to Tom and the coconuts, haha! Everyone who uses Blurt is a participant, and every participation has an effect on the platform, so my gratitude goes out to everyone here, from the casual user, to the dedicated creator, to the diligent curator, and the team keeping the nuts and bolts connected. I have a good feeling about 2024, and the emerging bull run for cryptos. Having a million BLURT (and growing fast) is an accomplishment I worked very hard for, over a period of 11 years. It's incredible that about 150k was earned this year alone! I don't know if I can top the quantity and quality I managed this year, but I'm going to try.

Keep on growing!
DRutter