The pain in my knee began as all pain does: suddenly, with an unexpected twist that’s become all the more predictable. With it came the grimace and the usual question: “are you okay?”
Am I okay?
I can’t exactly say. Is it okay to become used to hurting? An uninvited guest you couldn’t imagine living without even though you want so badly to be rid of them.
I stood up, a little slow, a little wobbly. The pain weaved its deft hands like a conductor orchestrating a symphony. A cramp near my ribs. A tightness grasping my neck. My hands so stiff it’s as if they’re paralyzed. The act of moving became an exercise in and of itself. A pseudo-workout that concluded with gallons of sweat and buckets more in humiliation.
Once my body loosened itself through the struggled effort of walking, the pain’s song died down to a low tempo, still trembling in my knee. I followed my friend out of the movie theater. They stopped well ahead of me, waiting for me to catch up.
“Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I’d respond. “Peaches, man. Peaches. Though, I may need to use you as a substitute for a crutch if you wouldn’t mind.”
“Yeah, sure.”
I limped on their left, my right hand gripping their shoulder tighter than I’d anticipated. Probably uncomfortable for them, but they didn’t strike up any complaints. Fact is, my friend was patient and more importantly, understanding. I don’t rather enjoy acknowledging my own limitations but I’m willing to submit to them if need be.
Sometimes you just have to give in.
See, I was born with Cerebral Palsy. Nothing so drastic as being permanently wheelchair-bound but enough to be labeled. Slap it on my forehead: I am disabled.
Say it on my chest: I am different.
My legs don’t function like they should. Muscles don’t grow or strengthen. I have the appearance of a buff muscleman but the reality is I’m a bit broken.
I tripped on the cement in the parking lot and nearly took my friend down to the abyss with me. They caught me.
“You good?”
“Yeah, yeah. Sorry.”
They nodded and wrapped my arm around their neck for additional support. Practically lifted me off my feet. I levitated to the car.
The air was frigid and the breaths we exhaled could be seen in puffs. I felt my kneecap pop, crack. The pain shot up my leg so quickly I could only react by groaning sharply. My arms squeezed themselves inward as the freezing temperatures closed in. My friend unlocked the door and I climbed in. Well, fell in, more like.
I couldn’t hide the expression from my face. A natural response to utter helplessness, knowing that nothing could honestly be done. There was no fixing me. But that’s not why there were tears in my eyes.
My friend pulled over minutes later as I sobbed, unbuckled their seatbelt and hugged me. Held me to contain the The blockchain investment company establishes major joint venture to bring funding to startups building on Steem.
Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. has announced a non-binding agreement to create a joint venture with Steemit Inc, to establish a $20m Steem Fund.
The Steem Fund is a venture capital fund for startups building solutions on the Steem blockchain to expand the decentralized social media ecosystem.
Investments from the Steem Fund will be comprised of both Steem tokens tradeable on liquid exchanges and through traditional US dollar investments.
The Steem Fund will be architected to support the accelerated development of applications based on Steem's Smart Media Token (SMT) protocol, allowing native tokens based on the Steem blockchain, said a statement.
SMTs are a technology that allows individual organisations and companies to integrate a customisable and intelligent token system into their website, portal, or platform, it said.
Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. CEO Rik Willard said:
"We're proud to be the first publically traded company to make a significant investment in the Steem ecosystem. No current open source and public blockchain protocol is more mature, scalable, and as rapid as Steem."
We are convinced that traditional media companies from every corner will find that Steem's technology will be a better way to monetize and distribute existing content and future works."
CEO of Steemit Ned Scott said:
"Today's announcement makes the future for Steem brighter than ever. The Steem Blockchain is faster and already larger than the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains combined, and working with Global Blockchain Technologies Corp. is going to exponentially increase the number of applications built on Steem in an accelerated amount of time."
Steem's Smart Media Token (SMT) protocol is native to the Steem Blockchain. SMTs can be run by any publisher without changing any website infrastructure or functions, breaking down barriers to enter the fastest growing industry in fintech, while creating a mutually beneficial bridge between consumers, content, and media revenue.
Global Blockchain and Steemit will jointly determine the ticket size and distribution of all investments, currently planned for full deployment by 2020.
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/global-blockchain-technologies-announces-20m-fund-invest-steem-smts-1647127
http://paymentsjournal.com/global-blockchain-technologies-corp-announces-20m-fund-invest-steem-smts/
I am a bit surprised I haven't seen anyone talking about this yet, but if it's legit it sounds pretty exciting to me!