Yesterday, for the first time, I took part in a “virtual meet-up,” which was held in a cyberspace environment called “Cryptovoxels.” (Cryptovoxels is built on the Ethereum blockchain…or something. I honestly don’t know much about this stuff, but it’s always interesting trying something new!) Before the meeting, which began at 11:00 A.M. (Pacific Time), I spent about an hour trying to figure out how the whole virtual world thing works… And I didn’t quite get it at first…

I messed around for a while, trying to find the coordinates where the meeting was supposed to happen (with no luck) and eventually decided to watch a video on how to USE Cryptovoxels, which helped a bit. I also had to figure out how to send some ETH from my crypto-wallet to MetaMask (I read a short article), so that I could register an avatar name. (It cost less than 50 cents in USD; however, I should mention that you don’t HAVE to register a name to use the site. You can just walk around with a blank avatar and still see everything!) Eventually, after doing more research, I figured out how to get to the virtual art gallery, Gangnam Art Club, run by a person called Conlan. The gallery had several works of crypto-art on display, which I think were available for purchase on OpenSea. The gallery itself was set up as a two story “building” with some works on the bottom floor, and a set of stairs that your avatar could take to the second floor and see more work. (Next door to Conlan’s gallery was a building that was marked “MakersPlace,” which is the company that hosts all of my crypto-art! I looked around that building for a bit, too.) Almost feeling confident that I knew what I was doing, I signed off for a bit---because looking at a computer screen for too long hurts my head, AND because my computer isn’t the fastest or most powerful, the 3-D environment did lag quite a bit as I walked around and was a touch difficult to maneuver through… Still, I was determined to “make it” to the meeting!

Just before 11:00, I signed back in to my machine and followed a link in an email (which I was sent by MakersPlace informing me of the event) that dropped me right at the “meeting place,” and I proceeded to take part in my first virtual discussion!

[Screenshot of the event by me!]

The premise of the meeting, moderated by Conlan, was that we would be looking at and discussing a few different pieces of crypto-art, all of which had been chosen before the meeting began. And overall, the experience was quite entertaining. My computer continued to be glitchy and moved VEEEERY slowly, which was frustrating, but the chat seemed to work well enough---once I figured out which buttons did what. (NONE of this is intuitive for a guy who isn’t very techy.) Conlan posted a link to a recap of the discussion on Twitter. He also (I think he’s a “he,” but I didn’t verify this, so I hope I’m not being mean by assuming)… He also said that he wants to continue to have these meet-ups once a month. I’m definitely interested---if for no other reason than I liked the artwork that we looked at, and it’s exciting to hear (or READ, I suppose) what other folks think of those works.

Moving on…

TODAY... Today, I continued working on my new office. In particular, I put together two new bookshelves---with some invaluable help from Gitzy…

The shelves themselves (ha!) turned out pretty good, and the space really seems to be coming together!!! (Although, I didn't take a photo of the room, for some reason. Just the shelves...)

While doing THAT task, I also had some errands to run (between finishing the first shelf and the second), picking up my miniscule paycheck, dropping it at the credit union, stopping by the office supply store, and then going to a parcel delivery shop to send out a couple of my books! (WHAT books, you ask? Why my newly published novella, Allen Tombes – Fire From Water! A rollicking and thrill packed urban fantasy story full of creepy monsters, strange science,…and blood… It wouldn’t be MY story if there weren’t no blood! The book is available in both digital and paperback formats!) One of the books that I mailed was going to a former collaborator of mine, so I wrote an evil short story (satirical, of course) on the envelope for him! Here’s a pic!

The lady who was helping me at the parcel service was amused by the drawings I made on the envelopes. I almost always draw a snake or bunny or monster or something on the packages I send out. I wonder how often the folks at places like that shop get to see decorated packages. I used to be a POSTAL ART enthusiast (I still would be, if the costs for sending packages hadn’t gone up so much), so I would frequently send and RECEIVE artworks through the mail, and it was common for those works of art to come in highly decorated, sometimes quite bizarre, packages!

Speaking of receiving artwork by mail, you may remember a few weeks ago when I SENT a package to an artist who I follow on Instagram. Well, YESTERDAY, I received a package full of some very cool art BACK! Here’s what landed in my mailbox yesterday afternoon…

I love the creativity, the WEIRDNESS, of the drawings, and the painted bookmarks are also quite cool. The artist who made these goes by lvpepsi on Instagram. If you’re a fan of this type of art (it’s my favorite), look her up!!! You could also follow ME on Instagram…I mean, if you WANTED to… Come to think of it, I don’t know if I’ve ever shared my “handles” on Steemit before---certainly not recently. Here’s how you can find me!

Twitter: https://twitter.com/richardfyates
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/richardfyates/
Cryptovoxels: richardfyates
Ello: https://ello.co/richardfyates
Redbubble: https://www.redbubble.com/people/richardfyates
MakersPlace: https://makersplace.com/store/richardyates/

(Are you noticing a pattern here??? BRANDING is important---according to a thing I read online one time… It clearly hasn’t led to MONETARY SUCCESS, yet, but I’ll keep trying!)

And that’s probably enough guff from me for tonight… I’m HOPING to have a new book review ready to post before bedtime tomorrow, although that will depend on how much time the grandkid gives me for writing! Probably wouldn’t hurt to check back tomorrow afternoon, though, just in case!!!

Okay, thanks for stopping by!

---Richard F. Yates
(Primitive Thoughtician and Holy Fool)

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