Hi there Steemians!

Hi 

I'm an Australian guy who loves my family.  My wife and daughter are the shining light in my life.  

My mate recommended Steemit to me a week ago and I'm finally setup and writing my introduction post!

After hours of reading on Steemit, I'm still not 100% confident I understand Steemit fully, however I am excited enough to jump in and start.  I figure the nuances will come in time.

I love the philosophy of the posts I have read, about growing a community.  I'm also excited that Steem is light years apart from all of the other cryptocurrencies.  There are so many around now, most of which do not appear to have any point of difference.  With Steem my first impressions at least are the the community is first, with the currency almost a side note.  I guess I'll find out more over the next few months.

My interests are spending time with my family and friends, running, playing guitar, going to see live music, travel, hiking in nature and I've been learning to meditate.

Being on the closer side to 40 now, my wild partying days are over mostly.  My wife made the observation that the music festivals of your 30's are running events, which is certainly true for us.  

Running is an activity I have only become interested in over the last few years.  A work colleague dragged me out for a run one day and I was soon hooked.  My first half marathon followed six months later.  Then I tackled a full marathon the next year, which was extremely rewarding.  The next year I pushed again and knocked over an ultra marathon.   The extra 8kms nearly killed me, but as they say what doesn't kill you makes you stronger.  If you haven't tried it, in my opinion it is worthwhile having a go.  

Meditation, well this is an interesting topic for me.  After listening to many Tim Ferriss podcasts I decided I should roll the dice with this meditation thing.  I pictured myself sitting up on top of a hill in an orange robe cross legged.  Turns out this could not have been further from the truth.  There are a plethora of apps now that offer guided meditation.  All you need is some commitment.  Being a fidgety person with minimal attention span, all I set up for was 3mins a day for a week.  I figured I could set aside that amount of time for an experiment.  That was enough to kick start this new habit.  Now I'm over 3yrs into a daily practice (max 20mins) and I cannot recommend this highly enough.  There is a calmness and clarity I have now, where I can feel emotions rise and then notice them, almost from outside myself.  It is hard to explain, but really cool.  It's like you can catch being angry earlier and let it go sooner.

When I was a kid, I loved computer games.  I had my mates over all the time to play Nintendo (original). My quirk was that I made them wash their hands before they played.  Weirdo. OCD check.  I just hated picking up a sweaty, food covered controller!  Not sure why that story is relevant, but hey this is a introduction post.

In my teenage years I loved music.  I listened to so much Metallica, one day I finally picked up a mate's guitar and made the decision to learn this instrument.  I borrowed an electric guitar and amp and went for it.  I used to sit down with a tab book and try and play along.  Turned out Metallica was too hard so I started with Nirvana.  After months and months, I could finally string together a few chords.  Then I progressed to drinking beers and trying to jam.  One mate pointed me to a metal zone pedal and it was game on!  Now I still play guitar, but mostly of the acoustic variety.  I keep trying to interest my 3yr old daughter but can't get her into heavy metal yet.  As happens with many people my tastes mellowed as I grew older.  Grunge was the genre that made me obsessed with music.  Smashing Pumpkins, Soundgarden, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Pearl Jam and of course Nirvana.  Wow, what talents.  I had all kinds of phases, such as Chili Peppers, Sublime, Bob Marley, PUSA, Everclear, Garbage, Weezer, Radiohead, Greenday, Blink 182.  There are some wicked Australian music bands too, such as Powderfinger, Grinspoon, Regurgitator, You Am I, Spiderbait, Living End, Bodyjar, Butterfly Effect, Shihad, TISM, British India and The Cruel Sea.  The list goes on.  I loved some electronic music such as Massive Attack, Portishead, Chemical Brothers, Morcheeba, Faithless, Groove Armada, Prodigy etc.  Ah the memories!

Partying hard with my mates was a given in our university days.  We used to drink to oblivion and go out on the town chasing girls unsuccessfully. It was fun!  I hit up so many gigs and festivals.  Growing up in Brisbane, Australia it was the Livid festival that was my first followed soon after by the Big Day Out.

In my late 20's I met my wife.  We hit it off immediately after an introduction from good mutual friends.  She and I both independently wanted to move to London, so rolled the dice and did it.  Turned out to be the best move of my life.  We had such amazing fun in that city, it's hard to describe.  Being able to travel throughout the UK and Europe is an experience for which I am truly grateful.  We made so many friends in London, that we are still close with today.  Holidays kayaking through the Fjords in Norway, eating cheese and wine in France, all night festivals in Spain, sailing around islands in Greece, hiking the mountains of Slovenia, Poland and Slovakia are all some of my best memories. I highly recommend traveling throughout Europe if you can. Snowboarding in Austria and Switzerland, wow, the Alps are breathtaking.  The people are friendly and fun.  I want to take my daughter to see it all.

I studied a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Commerce at university, which allowed me to work in some of the biggest banks in London.  I'm truly thankful that I fell into an accounting qualification, as the income has opened so many opportunities in life.  It's funny to me to think that anyone would know what they wanted to do with their life, when a meager student under 20yrs old.  I certainly did not!  I'm grateful I found a job straight away and have jumped from there onward.  

My wife and I took a mini-retirement (as we like to call it) when we left the UK after 5yrs.  We traveled for a year on less than USD $20k.  A ski season in Canada, followed by 2 months through Central America then a return home to Australia where we married.  Then off to South America for a 3 month honeymoon.  What a decadent existence!

Well I think that is a fair crack at a "who are you" post.

I'm stoked to be in the community and am excited about where this all goes!

Cheers

Ben

I'm on linkedin and facebook

 www.linkedin.com/in/ben-boyle-b2649211 

https://www.facebook.com/ben.boyle.37853