New Steemer, Hi There

I'm @princepuffin, and I'm happy to have found this community. It was brought to my attention by my friend, @aaanderson. Together, he and I produce a blog/podcast called Medium Rare. We give our take on society, culture, and technology. One of the driving themes for us is Timothy Leary's concept of SMI²LE. It's an acronym that stands for space migration, intelligence increase, and life extension. Those are the things that Leary, and later futurists/transhumanists, believe need to take place for the next step in human evolution.

I am a dilettante with a varied background. I went to college for sports pedagogy. I wanted to be a football coach, but gave that up when I learned the truth about concussions and traumatic brain injuries. Something felt gross to me about collecting a paycheck to get young men to bash their heads together. I worked as a city police officer for six years, but gave that up after learning the truth about the systemic corruption and racism inherent with that job. Since then I have learned butchery, drove for Uber, and I currently play poker full time. Poker is the only "job" I have undertaken that I don't feel conflicts with my personal morals. The poker table is the only place in the USA that is truly equal. I play with college professors, businessmen, gangsters, and everything in between. It is a unique cross section of our society where it doesn't matter who you are. The only requirement is that you have money to sit down and play.

This site reminds me a lot of the old LiveJournal and I like that. I am excited to contribute. Things I may write about might include my weird life in Florida, my encounters with strangers at the poker table, or thoughts on what I am reading at the time. In 2014 I read 40 books. In 2015 I didn't try so hard and still read 20 books. This past year I have read 6. So in 2017, I plan on tackling my reading list as hard as I did 3 years ago. I will be reading from the list chronologically by publication date, starting with Moby Dick. I will be doing a deep reading and sharing that here. If there is anything else you would like to know or are interested in reading my thoughts on, let me know!