2023 was the best year of my life so far. I am very grateful for all the amazing ways my life changed this year. #nostr was a huge part of this.
It all started when I surrendered my lame ambitions, failed company, and dead-end projects to Jesus. Everything I thought I wanted to do, I gave it up. I just resigned myself to trust in what God wanted to do for me. Within a week I had the idea for ONOSENDAI. A month later I launched it, beginning my career as a nostr developer. The reception was amazing and a catapult for the rest of this year.
I did my first hackathon. Then I did another. Then I did a third. Then I won! First place in the Yakihonne Nostr Hack-On!
I created a community for ONOSENDAI and garnered almost 100 members. I've never run a community like this before. Everything just happened so naturally and it's been incredible to see it grow.
I went on a podcast for the first time ever -- Nostrovia, the OG nostr podcast. I made friends with G and Bitkarrot who are very amazing people that I love!
I was made an admin of the nostr telegram group. This came as a great surprise, because I simply discovered this by accident one day.
I was recruited as a consultant for a bitcoin/nostr company and got paid in bitcoin for the very first time! Thank you Arcade Labs!
I know follower count is a shitcoin but I got over 2500 followers on nostr, which is more than I've ever had on any social media, and that's pretty humbling to me that so many people want to see what I have to say.
I got recruited for another hackathon, but this time it was for something I did not expect -- a video game publishing platform on nostr -- CRASHGLOW! I love video games and I'm so grateful that Jon reached out to me to work with him. Bringing gaming to nostr is definitely a passion of mine that the Crashglow project opened up for me, and Jon has also become a good friend!
I went on a SECOND podcast -- Thank God For Nostr -- which was very appropriate because God was the source of my entire nostr journey. Getting to know hodlbod has been an absolute gift!
I figured out a way to bring Yondar into the nostr ecosystem and launched the new nostr-powered Yondar at #nostrasia, making a decentralized Google-Maps-like experience possible for the first time on nostr!
I got an OpenSats grant for working on cyberspace!!!
I traveled internationally for the first time to #nostrasia in Japan, which is a place I've wanted to visit my whole life.
I got to meet Gsovereignty, Jack, Rabble, Pablo, Will, Max, Jeff, Shaun, Sherry, hodlbod, NVK, WaterBlower, Awayuki, Millie Mays, Steven Mosher, and so many other amazing people. I made tons of new friends!
I was on a panel that ended up being all about cyberspace. I gave a talk about nostrocket and Yondar. I presented the Crashglow hackathon project. And I did these with almost zero anxiety, which is amazing because I used to be a shy and nervous person.
I worked closely with G to grow Nostrocket and launched Yondar on it, which is a huge deal.
I hosted my first dev call for Yondar and saw a huge amount of interest in it. I've been merging pull requests from other people who are passionate about making Yondar better! It's so cool!
I've learned incredible things, read incredible books, had incredible ideas, met incredible people, and it's hard to believe it all happened in 2023. But all of this is simply a reflection of the incredible mission that I have been put upon. Freedom technology is my calling. I have never felt so at home, so comfortable, so excited, so driven, so passionate, so creative, so hopeful, or so at peace as I feel right now being a nostr developer. I feel as though there is no place in the world I could possibly be that would be more perfect than where I am right now. I am so grateful, and humbled, and optimistic.
Whatever happens in 2024, I am ready for it. God is leading me on this journey, all because I let him, and although the world is full of uncertainty, I fear nothing.
I can only imagine the blessings and victories that await 2024.
I am humbled and grateful for each moment with you all.
Happy new year 👾💜
