El

Welcome to Ashland. I'll be your guide.

El's Chronicles: Shadow Island // Chapter 4

My exiled Russian intelligentsia ancestors woke up in me today, and now I have an irresistible urge to start an intellectual salon. No particular subject, just people who enjoy thinking together. Looks like NIP-29 might make this possible, although I don’t have the faintest idea how it works. What do you guys think? #asknostr

This is so incredibly sweet of you! I’m genuinely speechless. ❤️ I absolutely love it! Thank you! And thank you for reading my story and bringing a little piece of Shadow Island to life.

I’m starting to believe that Shadow Island could be my subconscious interpretation / projection of Nostr. Nostr definitely fits the description of Shadow Island. Who knows, perhaps you’re one of the island’s locals, wandering through my dreams!

When people share YouTube links, sometimes I see an actual video preview with a thumbnail and other times it’s just a plain URL. Does that depend on how the person shared the link / which client they used to post it, or which client I’m using to view it? #asknostr

Chapter 3 of El's Chronicles is here!

How a #normie who hasn't been on any social media in nearly a decade ended up on #Nostr.

4 years ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. It took almost 3 years to recover enough to feel somewhat normal again. Before the diagnosis, I was self-employed, single, with a child and absolutely no support system. All of my family is still in Russia, and because of the sanctions, every avenue for helping us financially was closed.

During one of our video calls, my brother suggested I look into getting a #Bitcoin wallet. We made eye contact, and I said, “I’ll look into it,” and we both knew perfectly well that wasn't going to happen.

I did, though, watch a bunch of YouTube videos (“Bitcoin for Dummies”) while I was cooking, and that's where I first heard about Nostr.

I also occasionally read WGSN's trend forecasts, and Nostr was mentioned there as well (decentralized social media).

Last month I thought it would be a terrible shame if the world never knows about the #GrimReapersYoungerHotterBrother So I started wondering where I could publish my writing with the best chance of it surviving, and Nostr came up again.

I thought Nostr was half a Reddit Bitcoin discussion forum and half a free Dropbox (with complicated instructions). Instead, I found people.

It's lovely here. I think I'll stay. #GrowNostr

P.S. It's weird, but after just a few weeks on Nostr, I've realized that I actually want to meet more people in real life and be more socially engaged outside the digital world. Historically, regular social media has had the exact opposite effect on me.

Chapter 2 of "El's Chronicles / Shadow Island." Let me know what you think!

Someone calls me Snow White without the dwarfs.

Meet my nocturnal zoo.