(My first online article) A Short Introduction to...

Hello all Steemers/Steemarians,

What is the correct term? My humblest apologies for not knowing, but as you can see I am new to this world of blogging on Steemit and to be honest anything beyond Myspace and Facebook is too advance for me. MySpace is obviously a dead website (so I don't use that); and Facebook... Well, I live in China (will talk about that later), and China blocks numerous websites including Facebook and previously the love of my internet life: YouTube. What other social websites are there? Oh! I do have a Twitter, but only because I had to to pass a course for university. We had to follow some politician; used it twice and now my junk mail is inundated with "your Twitter account blah blah blah." So, lets just say, I am not the best with internet.

So how did I get to be in the presence of such interesting people like yourselves? If I am honest it was purely selfish means. I had some extra cash from work, so I was looking around for a way to make my money work for me, as the popular saying goes. Lately, everyone seems to be talking about cryptocurrencies and after looking into a bunch of them; bitcoin, dogecoin, litecoin etc I came across this place. A place people share their lives, ideas, hopes and dreams. An artistic and thought provoking way to develop one's financial portfolio; and being an amateur writer myself Steemit would give me a perfect platform to share something I enjoy doing! However, I never jump into anything without understanding it! So, I researched into Steemit and found out that there is a real sense of community here, with people really wanting to share, learn and educate, but most importantly be respected as an artist in a world where everyone is trying to take advantage of you and your work. Here, the power is in the hands of the artist and in the hands of the people, and that is something that is quite beautiful and refreshing!

What else does one say in an introduction? Oh! My name is Joshua, but Monkey is a nickname I have been stuck with for quite a few years now. I would like to think it is unique, but it seems when I signed up for this gig, the username "monkey" was taken, so I randomly chose the one I have now. Not sure if I really like it, but it might grow on me. I am from England, but I currently live in Chengdu, China. I did my masters here; my major was Ethnic Traditional Sports (in other ways Martial Arts/Kung Fu). Crazy I know, they do have this as a major here in China. I graduated last year and I am currently working as a full-time teacher. I will post more on my life in China in future posts.

As for what makes this Joshua different from all the other Joshuas around the world. A friend once described me as “the spark of the party”, I was never the centre of attention, nor wanted it, but I was always able to create a positive energy in a group of people. One ex-girlfriend said that I am “a very amazing boyfriend, but not particularly romantic” (not sure if it comes across as one, but it was meant to be a compliment). My little brother, 10, and sister, 14, call me “checker-boy”, because I am forever “checking” that they are wearing their seat-belts when in the car. So what does this mean: I am social, but not attention-seeking; a loveable-guy, but not romantic; a stickler for the rules, but also caring for people‘s well-being.

I could rant on more, but I shall contain myself. Besides, that is the basic gist of me and my life. So I shall end my introduction with something I wish I wrote:

"I don't make friends based on how big their pockets are or how well connected they are; rather I make friends based on how positive their minds are. It is hard to end up with a very complicated lifestyle if you are always surrounded by positive minded individuals." Edmond Mbiaka

Until next time friends,
The Monkey that be Joshua

P.S oh and the "a very amazing boyfriend, but not particularly romantic” comment; she isn't an ex-girlfriend because of my lack of being romantic...