I owed you this update and now, with Christmas and New Year celebrations over, I have to sit down and tell you what I got and... a couple more things.
First: The device
Like I said in the campaign, I really didn't want to ask for much, I just needed a device that could help me work and stay in touch, so I aimed at a mid range Samsung smartphone, the Galaxy A55 5G.
The price was of $430 in my city, so I asked for a max of 450~500 dollars in ZEC to afford it. But something awesome happened.
I succesfully raised $380 in total in around 24 hours of running my campaing. so I was "running short" of my main goal. But, like I mentioned before, I've been an active Zcash promoter in my city. Talking to everyone I can about Zcash, crypto and financial privacy, and trying to push people into working in Zechub bounties to earn ZEC, that last one is a little difficult because of the language barrier, but at least two or three people has succesfully joined.
One of those people is the manager of a small tech store in my city. I already taught them how to use Zcash, USDT and two popular exchanges to run their business in the past, and they ended up integrating stablecoins and one of those exchanges.
So I walked in there to ask for the next alternative in the list, the Galaxy A35, he said that, sadly, that model was not available, he HAD the A55 for the aforementioned price of $430. I said that, sadly, I was running $30 low (I had a bit of ZEC saved in my wallet) so I asked him what could I buy with that, and showed him how my Infinix (which I also bought there) ended up after its battery blew up.
My friend inmediately asked me "but, do you have that token you told me about, ZEC? Can you trade them to USDT?" and I replied that, of course, I could do that. He then said "well, I found a provider that works with that, and he charges me less if I pay him with USDT. So trade them and the phone, with a charger and a plastic cover, would go for $390".
So, again, I ended up raising $380 from the campaign, and had $30 in ZEC in my wallet, I could afford the phone and still save some money which, of course, I did.
So, first, thanks
Now I need to thank you, and celebrate each and everyone of you for your support. I've always had a dream of becoming a succesful creator, and I have dedicated plenty of time and effort to this community wherever and whenever it's been possible. And you've never let me down. I've made good friends here, and a lot of people who believe in what I am and what I do.
I have a lot to offer and I'm hopeful I can share with you plenty of stuff in this new year, and I'm eternally grateful for everytime you've supported me and the people I care about.
This ended up being the most awesome christmas gift I received, and I'll do my best to give back whenever I can.
And for the ones who didn't believe, my sincere apology
I know I had a rough "late 2023 - mid 2024", plenty of things happened that ended up distracting me from my goals. So I ended up falling short and not delivering as I was hoping to. And it didn't happen only in Zcash community: if you check my personal projects, you'll see they ran the same fate. I just couldn't cope, too many things happened and I ended up overwhelmed.
Personal loss can happen to anyone, and some of us just don't know how to deal with those personal, deeply emotional matters.
Still, I promise I did my best, and I'm trying to jump back into action in every single matter. And I know you're an awesome person too, with your full right not to believe, and I hope I can do better for you to change your mind.
But I still want to thank you, and I still want to wish you the best, and wnat to tell you that I totally understand your opinion, but we're not here to hate on anyone.
So, finally, thanks to each and everyone of you. Hope you had an awesome holiday season and sincerely wish you the very, VERY best in whatever you're up to, because I never felt so at home in a community as I feel in Zcash. Thank you VERY MUCH! God bless your hearts!