And so it begins...

Greetings to one and all!

This is supposed to be my introduction post, so I'll tell you a bit about myself and also list out the kind of content you can expect from my account going forward. 🙂

I won't go into the details of name, location, education, etc. because seriously, who cares? As long as you like what I am going to post in the future, you couldn't care less whether I was a human or a bot, or simply a Martian with an impressive long-range internet access. However, in case you are still curious, head over to the Wordpress blog link in my bio and you'll be able to figure out these insignificant details with a little effort. 😉

Here are the kind of things that interest me (and therefore, highly likely to be posted in my account):

1. Photography: I started my journey into photography around 10 years ago, a 2-megapixel cellphone camera to begin with. Over time, I upgraded to a Sony Cybershot W320 in 2010, and then to a pair of Nikon cameras (P900 & D7200) in 2016, while also gaining quite a few megapixels on the cellphone front as well. Though I never had any formal training in it, I understand the concepts of light and optics to take a decent picture more often than not. My preferred subjects are insects, flowers, birds and animals, though I don't miss out on taking the occasional travel photo as well.

2. Writing: I started writing somewhere around 2006, starting with translating fiction from my regional Indian mother-tongue to English, and so I cannot claim them to be original works, which started perhaps a year later. I kid you not when I say that those were stupid and horrible pieces, with no thought given to logic, scientific accuracy, pace of events, or the conversational style of characters. But I continued writing one horrible piece after another, and I could afford to do so because I never showed them to anyone and had no fear of being laughed at. Years later, I managed to be brave enough to show a couple of those to a few trusted friends, and their positive feedback is what led to the creation of the Wordpress site mentioned above. Though not a regular when it comes to writing, I still find it to be a satisfying experience whenever I get down to it, ranging from articles on random topics to life experiences to the rare piece of fiction.

3. Math and puzzles: I can safely claim to be somewhat gifted when it comes to mathematics. At a certain point in the past, I used to be fascinated with numbers which had some interesting or unique properties. Though my formal education was never in the field of math, I still take pride in having quite a few contributions to the Online Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. However, this interest in math has now taken a backseat to puzzles, which are a different kind of a challenge to me. I am passionate about Rubik's cube and many other variants (I had 21 such 'cubes' at last count), and though I will most certainly never come close to setting any world record, I still find enjoyment in figuring out new algorithms while solving them.

4. Gadgets and gaming: Cellphones, laptops and cameras - the holy trinity of technology. It will be criminal to stay aloof of the latest features and developments that happen in the world of tech. I am the go-to person in my friend circle whenever someone needs to buy a gadget. Give me your requirements and the budget, and I'll hunt something down for you. Previously, I used to be quite passionate about racing games (primarily Need For Speed Most Wanted 2005), but now I tend to spend my free time being creative in sandbox software such as Universe Sandbox and Kerbel Space Program. The only small bits of gaming are now limited to my cellphone, which includes popular titles like Mobile Legends, PBA Bowling and PUBG mobile.

5. Science fiction: Book or movie or TV series, barely makes a difference. If it's sci-fi, I'm game. As someone who has managed to download the 26 classic seasons of Doctor Who over a 20 kbps connection, and who has digested numerous sci-fi franchises over insane bursts of binge-watching, I could proudly say that I'm a geek. I currently have a collection of over 450 movies and 40 TV series and the list keeps growing. I have also created my own file-naming convention which allows me to organise sequels, prequels, reboots, remakes, crossovers, alternate timelines and even non-canon material so that one can watch it as per release sequence or chronological sequence.

6. Cryptocurrencies: Well, because why not? It's the new hot cake in town. Or should I say the new hot Lambo in town? I have just completed a year in crypto-space, and it is through one of my crypto-pals that I got to know about the Steemit platform. As my Wordpress site was gathering dust and I was on the verge of abandoning it, visiting this site has given me the realisation that it is not so difficult to monetize your articles if they contain quality content. Yes, the platform is not perfect, but like most crypto projects, it is still in an early stage and would improve dramatically over the next few years. Anyway, coming to the larger crypto picture, I have the experience of writing out a simple bot which can perform trading automatically on my behalf. I am not the speculator who runs after 'the next bitcoin', rather I'm one who holds a diversified portfolio and allocates only a fraction of my investment to the trader bot or for the purpose of ICOs. More details will follow in subsequent posts.

So I guess that's about it. As you can see, I like writing long posts, which will remain the case in most future posts (photography posts will be a certain exception). Also, I should give a fair warning that I'm a bit dramatic (easily an understatement) when it comes to posts about life experiences, so please bear with me. There's always my forced humour to piss you off anyway, so I'm sure you'll find something or the other to complain about.

Cheers!