Once Upon a time... when I stumbled upon the challenge of @anomadsoul to create a Freewriting article to get to know each other better. All of this under the spirit of an excellent way of letting people know a bit more about us and to "walk in our shoes" for the few minutes it takes them to read our posts. And I fully agree with this good idea a great initiative.
A great initiative that has been inspired in the framework of the next great Live Steem event to be held in Kraków Poland these next days of 7/8/9/10/11 of NOVEMBER 2018.
In all honesty, I found that article from @anomadsoul through the freewriting post of my friend @tarazkp whose articles always fill my feed page with splendid good content everyday. And well, one thing led to the other. And then, I thought that I could also write my own essay to be able to participate in this challenge. Until snooping in deeper, I found something a bit daunting.
So, after have read that, I had to slow down my enthusiasm and settle down my anxious fingertips a bit abstaining to write right away my extravagant freewrite story. Well, he said 'only' those steemians who are 'planning' on going to Steem Fest 3 in Poland are allowed to use his tag. And if it's purely about 'planning', I certainly had and have my plans also!! };)
However, knowing how much @anomadsoul flees to my blog and does everything possible to stay well away from my articles. I decided to refrain of join the party too soon and await for a better chance to give free rein to my humorous freewriting plans.
Well, I mean, it doesn't look so easy for a pauper Cranky Gandalf fly those 8.887 km thru 14h 15m or more from Caracas-Venezuela to Kraków Poland to concrete his evil plans. ¿Isn't it?
Uhm, well, unless from here to November I could attract enough upvotes from powerful whales and rich guilds & trails supporting my extravagant posts with plenty Steem & SBDs as to be able to save some do$h and purchase a Flyboard Air™ to make the trip by my own means.
But ¡Nah! I suspect that would mean too many scales in-between the trip and also way too much gallons of Kerosene/Jet B to carry on with me thru the travel to succeed in such unwary adventure. No matter how much I wished to scare to @anomadsoul in person. }:)
And then, I decided to follow the trail of crumbs left by other steemians on this #roadtosteemfest tag to see where they could lead me. And that's when I came across the participation in this challenge of @soyrosa. Whose entry article was kind of an inspiration to keep going with my evil plans.
So, after avidly reading with full attention her post and especially the comments section, it was that I went to know also that @hashcash is currently living in Poland. Not exactly in Kraków but in Warsaw which is not very far from Krakow.
Therefore, that new knowledge gave me my Eureka moment. To know that all was not lost and that I should remain attentive to the events surrounding the Steem Fest 3 reunion and further ponder my options on how to get there in November.
I am certainly at the moment an old & lonely hermit and a financially poor extravagant Cranky Gandalf currently living in Venezuela that fortunately has dual citizenship. Venezuelan and Spaniard. And that also fortunately (for brief time) I count nowadays with all my papers in order. I have both, my Venezuelan passport and the EU passport Up To Date. Hence, easier for me to find my way to Steem Fest 3 in Poland with the right support. And actually, nobody that depends on me nor miss me in Venezuela at this moment.
Around here in Venezuela I have no family left. In fact, no one close to my own blood. All the members of my family still alive are scattered throughout Europe. And most of them, including my own children all over Spain. Most of them, the closest ones, I have not seen in person for at least 15 years. The rest, a lot more time without seen them.
So, for that reason alone, I thought the idea of participating in this challenge seemed interesting and attractive for me. Who knows, maybe even the deities would collude and would give me a hand before it is too late to accomplish a few humble milestones.
And then, suddenly, the pals came to the rescue...
¡STEEMFESTDREAMS!
The @steemfestdreams account created by @richardcrill two years ago told me that I shouldn't stop dreaming so soon. That there will always be a way to crystallize our dreams in one way or another. That although it may not seem like it, there is always 'someone' who looks, reads and listens to our prayers. That there is certainly a remote possibility that I could fulfill my dream of scaring an intrepid adventurer like @anomadsoul with my presence in person on SteemFest3. 😈
So, now with joy and determination I will come to participate through their generous offer and callout. I will have to tempt my not so good luck and try harder all my funny tactics, weird antics and humorous shenanigans to earn me the goodwill of the three judges of this contest. They are: @aggroed, @dynamicgreentk and @richardcrill. None of them an easy or sweet marshmallow to earn their favors nor preferences. ¡¿You Know!?
¡But I will try nevertheless!
I am sure that if I win the prize, this will not be because they would like to know how I look in person. They, and most of those who will have the fortune of reading this post thus far, surely will have to know beforehand how a flamboyant Cranky Gandalf may look when he writes and express himself as I do it all the time. So this won't be the mystery to solve. In the very remote case that I could win the contest.
Because everyone will intuit in a jiffy that the biggest attraction with my attendance at the festival. Undoubtedly it will be witnessing from the first row how I make @anomadsoul flee again, away of me, terrified with my presence. (Sorry my dear mexican friend! Nothing seriously, all in jest) };)
So after writing and publish this post, I guess I only have one more thing left to do. I will immediately get to work and start practicing my extraordinary skills as a professional pool player again. I'm pretty sure that with my golden tongue and great charisma exercising my past gambler arts to convince a bunch of steem preys to play a handful of pool games with me for some money on SteemFest. Probably this will allow me to stay in Europe a little longer than expected and maybe even also visit my family in Spain. :)
I just hope the judges @aggroed, @dynamicgreentk and @richardcrill jointly with @roelandp & @anomadsoul can follow a good advice as soon as they catch it. };)
Oh! and last but not least. Don't forget donate some money to The Travel Reimbursement Fund just in case an old cranky gandalf or a few others moony steemians can't find their way to home again. ;)