Why we need a community
Over the last few years my wife belongs to a running club. It started for my wife during Covid, during that first summer of of the Pandemic, when we finally understood that it is not going to be over in a few weeks. I think many changes started for many people during those two years. I wife loved to work at the office. The daily interaction with the friends and simply be outside in a common space, going to lunch with co-workers, going for a drinks after work.........all these were dear to her heart. However, all that suddenly stopped on March 15, 2020 for her (and for many of us in Houston). Her company slowly decided that they will permanently go towards work-from-home model. Although there are many advantages to that model both from a corporation side and from an employee side; there are certain disadvantages as well. It is especially difficult for an energetic extrovert like my wife to work from home all the time. To a large extent if we are forced to stay at home it becomes fundamentally difficult. The main thing for her was the lack of a community and the urge to 'belong' to something.
Content credentials: Generated with AI ∙ July 26, 2024 at 11:01 AM
During that summer, one day my wife just couldn't take the walls of the house anymore, and went to a facebook group who encourages new people to run. Mind you lockdown was absolutely minimal in Houston where we live. We could do almost everything normally (just wearing mask), but offices were closed. So one summer even she went to this small local pub near our home where the running group gathers and runs short to long distances as per the ability of the group. Then they come back to the same pub and have a beer or two. In fact, the pub owner provided a round of free beer for anyone that runs!
That is how it started, and 4 years running, she rarely misses the Thrusday evening run. I don't run. However, I personally know many of that running club folks. They have come to our come, we have gone for drinks and social hour together. If there is some special cooking at someones home or BBQ; we get invitation and left overs. I count on safety and companionship of those friends of my wife, when I am travelling around the world for work and need support. In short, although I don't run, I don't know what would I do without those running group people! This group started with about 6-7 people I think during pandemic days, and now they are 450 or so strong and dynamic, meaning, some people have moved to different cities or even countries and they still keep in touch. That is the need of a community.
A community that is hive
I have been part of hive from Jan 2018. Sometimes I forget how long it has been. Sometimes I also forget what extraordinary things we have been through together. I have a fairly demanding job and also a relatively young family compared to my age (my wife and I have kids much later than average couples). When I consider that, I have spend disproportionate amount of time on this platform compared to anything else in the last 6 years. I often ask myself .......Why?
Content credentials: Generated with AI ∙ July 26, 2024 at 11:03 AM
It may have started with crypto investment for me, but certainly it is not that anymore. Not only many crypto projects far outpaced hive, but also, I personally am not much interested in crypto as an investment myself. I know investment landscape of the world very well, and I am financially free; so I don't really need any money from crypto or any other kinds of investment anymore. I have multiple houses to live in multiple countries. My kids education is paid for. Yet I still do a dayjob, which is finding new hydrocarbon, and I enjoy it very much. The job continues to pay extremely well. So at 48, when I ask myself why I spend so much time at hive. I think the answer I get, is I like it here. It gives me a sense of belonging. I have made great friends here, who genuinely care for my well being.
My surgery
Yesterday on a public comment I mentioned that I will be going through a major surgery soon. It was a comment hidden inside a long series of comment activity during a day of intense typing and lot of noise. Yet numerous people picked up on it and reached out to me in public and on DM. I am touched! I am thankful that you care for me. I must say lately it is Splinterlands community where I spent most of my time, and I am grateful for the care you have shown me. It is both the hive and splinterlands community, they are one and the same, because, often we forget that Splinterlands is built on hive and POWERED BY HIVE.
So I feel it is only appropriate that I let people know what is happening to me on July 31.
I have developed a condition called OPLL. Ossification of posterior longitudinal ligament. You can google it, just follow the link I provided if you are interested. What it does that it calcifies the ligament that holds the spine into bone, thereby narrowing the cervical canal pinching all the terminal nerves going to my arms. So basically my arms are slowly going numb. I can't feel my fingers as I type (apologies for the typos, I won't be fixing them!).
Treatment is a procedure called Laminectomy and fusion of C3-C6 cervical vertebrae. It translates to they will open the back of my spine, cut out 4 vertebral laminae, so that there is more room inside my spinal canal. Then they will drill 10 holes (5 on each side of the spine) and put 10 screws and bolts and attach two titanium alloy rods. That’s basically it. I am told it is about a 2 hour procedured, and if everything goes well they will keep me at the hospital for 1 night.
Now What?
Now what is one of my favorite phrases. I have loss of motor functions on my fingers, but it is nothing serious and after the surgery I am expecting to get it back immediately. I will continue to work towards the governance activity that I do for the Hive and Splinterlands community all the way into the surgery date. Over the last couple of weeks my typing on discord was extreme! Most of that is non-productive, but that is often the way it goes in exploration. Most of the wells we drill doesn't provide hydrocarbons, but the ones that do, pays for it all and then some! That is the life lessons I have learned and applied all my life.
Afterall, I am an oilman!
Soon to be a bionic oilman! :)
Maybe even part bot, part human! Watch out Splinterlands players; soon you have to deal with my enhanced skill sets, and there is nothing you can do about it! Deal with it :)
Didn't want to 'disturb' you too much when I saw your hidden comment yesterday, but since you've done a post on it, just want to say I hope all goes well with your op (of course it will, why wouldn't it) and you'll be back on the chain as fiery as ever after your recovery 💪👹!
Nothing to disturb:)
Today is my day off. Surgery is not until Wed AM. Thank you for the kind words.
Also after surgery I likely take at least a month off so there will be plenty of time. You guys are not getting rid of me that easy!! lol
Again thank you for the support and kindness.
Yes,I figured it'd take more than an op to get rid of you. You've survived FBI/CIA threats and virtual murder attempts before
![untitled.gif](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://media.tenor.com/JbPbQcESh08AAAAC/youll-be-fine-bustle.gif)
Exactly :) :)
Hope you are OK dude, I have had loss of sensitively in my hands at different times of my life..., it's not nice. You start shaking them about.. but it doesn't work.
This one is bad. If I don't take care of it, progressively it will go bad. There is no way to reverse it without surgery.
However, I am in no pain. Only numbness. Pain only happens if I am doing typing with numb fingers.
It will be improved immediately after the surgery
Sounds like pretty intense surgery but I really hope your recovery goes really well.
Thank you. I will be alright:)
We will still love ya mate even if you go full bionic and become one of the robot overlords 😀😀
I knew it!
Thanks boomy!
😀
Good luck and quick recovery.
Also, once you are back, I hope that you could beat @magicmonk in Nitrotype! :-D
Not planning on “going away” much, if everything goes okay…
You are not getting rid of me that easy :)
The name alone scares the shit out of me. The procedure for the treatment looks like a long one. I wish you well and a successful surgery.
lol. Medical science like to have long scary names:)
Don’t forget Laminectomy, if you google and see some vids it will scare the heck out of you :)
Thanks for telling me before hand. I better not do so, so I can sleep well this night. One thing I cannot bear to see is the sight of blood (human or animal). It stays in my head and I lose stability.
get well soon, hoping a fast recovery. ❤️
Thank you. Not planning to be out of commission for long
Hello AZ you don't know me but I know you very well, In splinterlands community you're the few one I'm looking up even tho we get a lot of critics in the community and sometimes I'm having fear also and questioning myself oh should I continue playing Splinterland? should I just give up? but given all your voice also Dave makes me bullish with this project! btw just want to say I appreciate you always wishing you a speady recovery soon and Good luck with the surgery
Thank you for the good wishes and kind words. Dave is certainly a calming voice
Hope the surgery goes flawless!
Thank you acid! I am hoping so too.
I get it fully as I have been WFH since 2012, when very few even knew about WFH. It needs very good discipline to make sure, you don't give a lot to the work, spoiling your personal life, because the other side will always demand more thinking that, you are always available WFH. So we have to be very vocal to set our own limits and then over time people accept it.
Good luck for your operations, I pray, it all goes well and you recover fast.
Thank you for the kind words and wishes.
By the way although I live in Houston for many years, I am originally from Calcutta. Notice the old English name I am using, I left well before the name change:)
May be share a little more ? I still did not get. It definitely makes me more curious now.
Oh I thought you might know, since you are from India
The West Bengal government officially changed the name of its capital city, Calcutta, to Kolkata on January 1, 2001. The name change was made to match the Bengali pronunciation of the city, which has always been Kolkata or Kôlikata.
I was referring that I left India before this event.
Oh, that one I know, I was thinking you changed your name but still using the old English name. Could not derive your name using the city's name though.
Yeah I was just referring to Calcutta’s name, not my name:)
I had to do the work from home thing for a bit. I am not a fan of it. I don't feel I am anywhere near as productive when I am working from home than I am at work. Just too many distractions. Best of luck to you with your surgery. I hope it all works out well for you. It sounds like you and I started here right around the same time!
Thank you. Hope to get over on the other side quickly
All the best to you on your surgery coming up! Glad to hear you'll be back in action big time again after. I look forward to what you/we build after. We need a great community that works together and gets things done for the greater good of hive and the growing amount of people using it.
Thank you. Hopefully won't be out of action too long.
Hope everything goes well and wish you a speedy recovery.
Thank you. We have good doctors here, I am counting on their skills
I hope it goes well.😊
thank you
You're welcome.😊 Enjoy your day and Yes, the community is a great help for us.😊
Oh my days, not heard of the condition before. Hope it goes smoothly and it's not too painful. It sounds like you should see a huge improvement after the procedure
What a condition 😳! Sorry for the inconvenience you are going through with your health. I wish you a successful surgery and speedy recovery
Didn't know you going through such things take care brother keep safe always.
Thank you
Thank you, Man for the contributions and efforts you have put into this project #hive. I feel pity for you with the condition you are going through now. I hope you pull through with surgery so that you will have some few years to be around here.
Your wife is like me. I can’t go days without stepping out even though I’m not feeling too well
I hope your surgery goes well
I wish you best of luck
Good luck for your surgey 💪
@tipu curate
Upvoted 👌 (Mana: 13/53) Liquid rewards.
Thanks
It's always good to have a community behind you in good times and especially in bad. It makes you feel less alone. I hope one day HIVE can make its mark in this world.
And all the best for your operation and a speedy recovery.
Enjoy your weekend. Cheers
Thank you
It's my first time reading any of your post @azircon and I am really touched. I have not been on hive for that long but I have made few friends, mostly from Nigeria. I pray your surgery go well. I do not know if you believe in prayers but I will put you in my prayers. You are obviously needed here on hive, so just get it on with and get back to us...
I would say that Hive is really more into crypto and investment — I agree with you, it's all about the community and the friends that you had within the platform.
I wish you a speed recovery, if you are having a hard time typing, maybe you can use a speech to text feature of keyboard. What do you think?
Thank you. Yes I might try that.
That sounds great 👍
Wishing all goes well in the surgery! Greetings from Cuba.
You made me laugh with that ‘Soon to be a bionic oilman! :)’
It's very positive to keep your humour at all times. Everything is going to be fine.
Everything will be fine in the surgery, it sounds complicated, but, I know there are many experts there with a lot of knowledge, we are waiting for you, although I know we are not very close, with time I have come to understand you and your actions within the community, besides you are my guild mate, we must continue destroying the rest of the players haha. Greetings and blessings.
Here's to wishing you a very successful surgery, and that you'll be back even better than ever! I get what you're saying about Hive. I just celebrated my 7th anniversary, and can spend hours per day creating content and being involved with engagement. Some people here wonder "why?" but I do it because I love it, and it makes me a better writer and content creator, so it isn't "work" at all. So I get it.
May the surgery go well and have a fast recovery. No doubt everyone will feel your absence on here but sadly real life does steal each of us from time to time from this beautiful community. Take care :)
Hoping for your fast recovery 🥰
I pray for your fast recovery. I hope everything you've experienced will make you a stronger person than before. Have a nice day.
Very good content. Belonging to a community. I hope you have a speedy recovery.
All the best to you and your family. I'm very glad that you have a lot of loving support. May everything go very well for you on the 31st and that you have a quick and smooth recovery time and find relief and great improvements with this procedure.
Thank you
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No matter how we disagreed on things (maybe still do) and had not nice interactions (from both sides) - I wish you only the best for surgery and such, more important than this thing called Hive or SPL - I know what I am talking about unfortunately. And no, that is meant no bullshit but by heart no matter if we disagree on tons of things - all the best @azircon - health is more important! I hardly agree with any of your actions but I still see you as someone that tries to support Hive and SPL as such. All the best
Thank you
Always welcome!
Vonak!
I believe that as members of this thriving Hive community, we will transcend this obstacle. After all, friction makes polished gems.
May you live a longer and healthier life bro. The arena awaits you!
![ezgif-5-20337a6b36.gif](https://images.hive.blog/0x0/https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/lolodens/23zvHXwR4hWLuJvyy312g3iR4dM6UZ1nooXwsUrtJ2HwRCRfojnjv94N7UH6Jb18whEwb.gif)
I hope you feel better soon.
I agree with your premise of this post. Human interaction is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Someone on here once told me "With ten people that stick their noses in the same direction, there's nothing that can't be achieved." Truely believe that. It can cure addiction, depression and other illnesses. It can change the world...for better or for worse.
Wow I love to know more about influential people in Hive, even if it's not the best time, but I'm sure everything will be perfect. I wish you all the best soon.
Maybe it would be great to have your wife and group of runners join Hive Run and bond with Hive. They are welcome. blessings
I saw the comment, and I'm sorry you had to deal with it with your surgery very near. Last I saw, it seems you patched it up in the end. I hope the surgery goes well.