Before I start with the actual post, I'd be thrilled if those concerned participated in my short steemSTEM quality survey which takes about 2-5 minutes, depending on how fast you read. Thank you!

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A new year always brings a certain uncertainty of what's to come. The past year is still very fresh in our minds and we have to decide how we want to proceed. I'll split this post into two parts, the first will be a look back on 2017, the second a look forward to 2018.

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2017

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People

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Attempting to name everyone I encountered during my first 6 months on Steemit would end up in me forgetting someone. To avoid this, I'll just intentionally gloss over 90% of the awesome people I met here. If I don't name you but we talked a lot in the past (and I didn't specifically say that I don't like you), I probably like you. You can message me on steemit.chat if you want to be reassured of my love :P

Anyway, here's the 10% who made the cut:

@reggaemuffin who dragged me here with the prompt "go, write!". And write I did. He has supported me ever since and I'm glad he brought me here! (He's also a Steem witness.)

@gtg who, after my first challenge ended, delegated me 1k SP "for a week" and kept the delegation running long after that. He is also supporting steemSTEM, helps keep steemit.chat a good place and is a Steem witness. Great guy, we need more like him.

@justtryme90 and @lemouth , who founded steemSTEM and made me part of steemSTEM management. I can't describe how happy I am to be part of the steemSTEM family and how glad I am to know these two.

@pfunk , another witness, is one of the steemit.chat admins I have the most contact with. He tries his best to make the chat a great place to connect with other Steemians, which is more than necessary, it's vital.

@apsu is one of my favorite people on here because he's just really great. Wonderful person, wonderful friend, incredibly good at writing satirical posts. He also makes great bread.

@mobbs , @anarchyhasnogods , @trumpman , and @ruth-girl who are all part of either steemSTEM management, the curation team or both. They put a lot of time and energy into this platform and it's just really amazing.

Last but not least, @blocktrades who has been my mostly silent supporter since the beginning. I'm very grateful, as this support is one reason why I am who I am today on Steemit. I hope my content will keep living up to your standards in the future!

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Projects

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I tend to be someone who announces something once and then just carries on doing that, so you might not know which projects I'm involved in. Here's a short list:

• steemSTEM is Steemit's science community and the members try to bring better science content onto the blockchain. I'm part of the steemSTEM management for some time now.

• In December, I started a mentoring program in which I try to help one Steemian at a time (for a week) to improve the way they post. I've only helped 2 members so far, as it's very time consuming (especially combined with other stuff I have to do) but it's very fun. The next mentee, starting on Monday next week, will be @gentleshaid .

• On steemit.chat, I'm a moderator in the #general channel and try to keep the room free from promotion spam, help out newbies and catch scammers. It's often very frustrating but I try to do my best.

• "Suesa's favorites" started out good and has slowed down a bit recently. It's me introducing a Steemian I like at the end of my post. If you post original, good content on a daily basis, leave me a comment why you want to be promoted and what content you post. I'll check out your blog.

• "Suesa's Science Challenge" is also something I do from time to time, where I give a topic for other users to write about. The last two challenges had a price of 100 SBD total (despite SBD being so valuable during the last one). @steemstem usually provides some SP for the winners too!

• Only half official, but artists who seek more exposure on Steemit can contact me if they want to create a cover image for one of my stories. @artlover did that for one part of my "Stranded" series

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2018

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My plans for 2018 is to keep doing the things I'm already doing, my projects, my writing and all the stuff around it. It might be a bit harder, as I'll start working on my Bachelor thesis in February, but we'll see.

I'll also join the Minnow Adoption Program by @taskmaster4450 as helping minnows to reach 1k SP is a great way of helping the community grow. I already have my eye on a certain minnow, those who are supported will be, just as my current mentee, announced at the bottom of a post.

Edit: The minnow is @thi-js and I'm now officially adopting him till he reaches 1000 SP!

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I hope you all had a great start into the new year and that it will be a GREAT year. For you, for Steem, for humanity in general.

See you around

~ Suesa

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Pictures were taken from pixabay.com

_{GIF was created for me by @saywha and @atopy , rest of the signature by @overkillcoin}