# A challenge As I love contesting, the post by Eric @anomadsould about this [challenge](https://steemit.com/challenge/@anomadsoul/challenge-or-get-to-know-me-or-50-steem-in-prizes) hooked me right away. The first obstacle I hit was that I could not scroll down to the very beginning of my blog on main *steemit.com* condenser. I went to *busy.org*, and stuck about half way as well. Then I tried *steempeak.com*, and - same story again. I have no idea why this happens, but the only way I could go to my early posts was on *steemd.com* # 1-Strange beginning [![2_of_us2017t.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/l7JLvn1Z-2_of_us2017t.jpg)](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@onealfa/hi-there-from-63-yr-old-crypto-addicted-geek-onealfa-i-e-ly1a-out-of-tiny-land-called-lithuania) My start on Steemit was rather strange. As a big fan of all the new things and novelties, I found Steemit rather early, on May 18, 2016. Registered, looked around, and... forgot. For a whole **NINE month.** After nine month, on FEB 2017 I found it again, made one single upvote (@timsaid), and... went away. For another three month. I can't even remember, why I did so. Probably it was so boring, dull, uninteresting. Then, once internet started to boil about this new social network, in May 2017, I re-discovered it once again. By this time , all this was so much erased from my brain, that I tried to register again. What? What a surprise, this user name is taken? How it can be? (I always use the same ID, same username everywhere !) Immediately I went to check my #LASTPASS account, and here it was, the ID, passwords, links, everything necessary. My old habit to save everything on LASTPASS proved it's power once again. After almost a full one year, finally I've made my 2nd upvote, first follow, first comment, and finally a first post, with introduceyourself tag. ![first_tx_onealfa.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/0EkMuT01-first_tx_onealfa.jpg) My very first post in full can be found by this [link](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@onealfa/hi-there-from-63-yr-old-crypto-addicted-geek-onealfa-i-e-ly1a-out-of-tiny-land-called-lithuania)

# 2-Only strong balls win I like promoting cryptos. I do it everyday, everywhere. Not only to my friends, colleagues, relatives, neighbors. I talk to the strangers, to bank clerks and supermarket cashiers, to restaurant waitress and bus driver. To my #UBER customers, which I met first time ever. Not only about #BTC. About other coins as well. And of course, about ***STEEM***. One day I counted how many I have personally brought to steemit. Looks like 40+ people. (including [two my twin daughters with their boyfriends](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/birthday-the-day-we-doubled) ) [![acceptig_btc.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/PxQLoexw-acceptig_btc.jpg)](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@onealfa/only-strong-balls-win) Here is a [short story](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@onealfa/only-strong-balls-win) happened to me one day in early 2017. BTC was somewhere around $900 that day. Read the post - it is a bit dramatic.

# 3-The Future is TODAY As I already mentioned, I gave great fun and pleasure promoting cryptos. And I do it since 2012. In 2013 my daughter @iveta with little help of me (voice, and some ideas) have created a short video for her local student's creativeness competition. Today some our statements sound wrong and/or funny (TX cost), but remember, that was all done in **2013**. [![futuretoday.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/VSmSO2gh-futuretoday.png)](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@onealfa/the-future-is-today) Never the less, quite a few ideas from that video remain valid even today. Read [the story](https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@onealfa/the-future-is-today), and then enjoy our video. 😊

# 4-Can fortune-cookie change your life? You may think - what a BS. Yeah, in most cases, it is. But as it often happens in our life, every rule has it's exception. [![fcookie.png](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/bPGvp5Z3-fcookie.png)](https://steemit.com/life/@onealfa/the-power-of-paper-my-personal-fortune-cookie-story) Here is one [episode of my life](https://steemit.com/life/@onealfa/the-power-of-paper-my-personal-fortune-cookie-story), which maybe can prove what I say.

# 5-Story behind my handle Some nick names are meaningless, some are not so. I had no problem selecting my nickname though. Because what is behind of it - is absolutely unique in this universe. [

](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@onealfa/why-i-named-myself-onealfa) Social networks are maybe 20 years old. Internet - a bit more, like 25-30 years. But my experience in pre-Internet SOCIAL NETWORK's started 47 years ago, back in 1971 https://steemitimages.com/DQmVWrAEjwdHLH6wgGBcW6TdFzc2VZK1YVvJZ9WjayWg8sD/ly1a_qsl.jpg Here in [this post](https://steemit.com/introduceyourself/@onealfa/why-i-named-myself-onealfa) is more details why I describe my Steem nick @onealfa so ambitious. And one more post about our #hamradio society - it's [language and alphabet](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/would-you-take-this-challenge-morse) 😊

# 6-Keys for success From the the very first days on #Steemit I have learned, that between the top factors for successful progress on Steemit is large quantity of followers (sure not to be forgotten SteemPower, engagement with your followers, consistency in posting, attractive and value-rich authentic posts). When you start, you have no followers, or maybe just a few. So I decided - increasing their quantity is my prime task. And maybe the best way to get them is by posting good, attractive, interesting pictures. It takes less effort (and time) to make a decent picture, than to write a 2-3 page long text article, which almost none will read it anyway. As photography been one of my numerous hobbies since the teenage days, so I started to post my photos. Especially I like doing macro-shots. [![focusstack.JPG](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/su6GxD85-focusstack.JPG)](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/colorchallenge-wednesday-yellow-this-time-with-focus-stacking) You may find many macro shots on my blog, besides occasional #video, time-lapse, or [drone footage](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/fkh4d4d8). Here is [one of those macro-photo](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/colorchallenge-wednesday-yellow-this-time-with-focus-stacking) posts, using Olympus's built-in focus-stacking. More of such is [here](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/after-rain-6), and [here](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/wild-flowers-macro-from-a-comfort-of-your-chair-2), and [here](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/wild-flowers-macro-from-a-comfort-of-your-chair-1).

# 7-Contests are FUN Contesting is very close to my soul. I have been taking part in contesting for years, in my radio hobby. Took part in contests of various scale, from national, and regional up to continental and world-wide scale. I know what is the taste of winning contest like European or World-wide championship. (got a #1 place there six and two times, accordingly). [![animal_puzzle.JPG](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/LtnjLjLE-animal_puzzle.JPG)](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/animal) Naturally, I take part in some contests here on Steemit, and even sometimes announce my own small challenge or puzzle. (I wish I would find time for more of them - it's so good way to get attention) Few of my photo-puzzles I've done this spring are [here](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/animal) and [here](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/celebration-time-a-puzzle)

# 8-I like those dApps. Give me more ! It is so good to see now new #dApps appearing here on Steemit more and more. Two of my favorite are #ACTIFIT and #dLike. I try to use (and to support) them every day. Even have delegated a bit of my SP, i.e. 2.5K to former and 1K to second one. #Steem-ua is another one where I'm planing to increase my support. [![actifit.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/onealfa/TYKirmvs-actifit.jpg)](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/actifit-onealfa-20180923t172308503z) #Actifit is so great - it gives me better inspiration for daily walking, than all my doctors recommendations. 😊 Being a big gadget lover, I love to get something to post for Steemit, once I finish my daily walk in the park. And even get some tokens in return for this. Wow ! To post something like [this](https://staging.busy.org/@onealfa/actifit-onealfa-20180923t172308503z)

So this is a brief compilation of my key posts here since my strange "false-start". I mainly concentrated on the early posts, because for some weird reason none of the frontend applications (steemit, busy, steempeak) was able to scroll me more than 13 month back in my log. I like to nominate for this challenge @ligita, @eglep and @kamile Thanks so much to Eric for a wonderful idea.

P.S. Feel free to resteem this - if you like this compilation. After 7 days I will pick one re-steemer for my ***SPECIAL PRIZE*** 😉