Every year, I spend 1-2 months living in Egypt. This is because my husband is originally from Egypt, his family is much larger than mine, and so while our economic base is in the US, our social base is actually in Egypt. I thus became multinational many years ago.

However, my husband spends 3-4 months each year in Egypt, while I only spend 1-2 months there. So, there are 1-2 months where I’m in the US alone. The reason I choose to do this is to look after the household and business, and because I’m not as productive in Egypt (inconsistent internet, less optimal workstation, way more social pressures, and so forth).

In some ways, we find that spending some time apart strengthens our relationship and lets us focus on our separate things for part of the year. And when we meet after 1-2 months, it’s such a great reunion. We find ourselves wanting to catch up on so much and spend extra time together. But also, even though in some ways I look forward to having time alone and indeed get a lot done during that time, I immediately regret it once I am alone. I find myself constantly looking forward to going to Egypt, as I am now. During these periods, I end up posting more on social media, either constructively or non-constructively, in what tends to be a replacement for diminished in-person contact.

This seems to be amplified by my work situation. When I was an engineer, I worked with colleagues in person each day, but now that I work from home, my colleagues are virtual and I meet them in person only at major events. So, this relatively brief window each year of being in a different place than my husband tends to be oddly monk-like, with me at home alone 24 hours per day, working and living and doing whatever I do. I think one of my future goals will be to increase my deliberate effort at spending time with local friends, especially during this part of the year.

Anyway, I’m doing a series of “real thoughts” uniquely on Nostr, and this is the first one.

Conclusion: Social circles are (obviously) a very important thing, including for workaholics and introverts like myself. Social circles affect us in various ways, and having gone through many cycles, I have become increasingly aware of the changes that take place during these seasonal cycles of being close to others vs far from others.

What book are you currently reading? Looking for inspiration...

My thoughts to Brad, I think are worth broadcasting, as I work how how to best use and support Nostr: nostr:note1zudecullqey4rw6wdrkgpc2ajjtyqcrfwqedgwcyvfajlklpzt7sxrc358

Sex workers often face financial discrimination and restrictions from traditional banking systems. Nostr and Bitcoin's censorship-resistant nature allows sex workers to transact and communicate freely and maintain their financial privacy and freedom. Without the risk of accounts being shut down or funds being frozen, they can confidently manage their earnings without interference from third parties. This is why I'm so excited to see a group of sex workers joining Nostr today. They need decentralized and censorship resistant money and communication more than a lot of could understand or experience. We're building these tools for everyone, especially for people from their community. 🤙

#neverforget

long overdue, but i finally have a nostr.build account ✨

DO THE WORK!!!

If you don’t like #bitcoin you don’t understand money.

Welcome to nostr, new nostriches!

The nostr protocol and decentralization are the future of social communication.

The current state of social communication is dominated by a handful of large, centralized platforms. These platforms have a great deal of power over the way we communicate and interact with each other. They can decide what content is allowed on their platforms, and they can even censor or ban users at will.

Protocols. Not platforms. 🤝

This centralization of power has led to a number of problems:

Privacy concerns: Centralized social media platforms collect a vast amount of data about their users. This data can be used to track users' activities, target them with advertising, and even influence their behavior.

Censorship: Centralized social media platforms often censor content that they deem to be controversial or offensive. This has led to accusations of bias and suppression of free speech.

Security risks: Centralized social media platforms are a major target for cyber-attacks. These attacks can result in the theft of user data and even the disruption of service itself.

A decentralized social communication protocol offers a solution to these problems. Decentralized social communication is not controlled by a single entity. Instead, bits and pieces of the protocol are spread across the Internet, ran by independent server operators and independent developers. This makes open protocols like nostr much more difficult for anyone to censor, control the content, or take it down.

Freedom will win. We just have to build it.

Thank you for joining us. 💜

This is why we use nostr. This is why we are excited for nostr's future.