February Was Wild

I may have unintentionally taunted the universe when I said in my previous post that my February would just be ordinary.

That’s coming from someone who completely forgot that February isn’t just about Valentine’s Day, and that even singles like yours truly can still have one hell of a time.

Let me take you through how the second month of 2021 actually went down.

Naturally, there was a bit of reminiscing. Two years ago, around this time, I was in Thailand with my ex, soaking up the sun and the honeymoon phase.

A year later, we were broken up, but he made vague plans to see me and “maybe fix things.” That never happened thanks to the pandemic.

I’ll admit, I held onto hope longer than I should have. But eventually, even the most stubborn hearts get tired of waiting.

Looking back, I realize now how much I craved reassurance that never came. You know how, when you love someone, you miss them when they’re not around? I never got those spontaneous “I miss you” messages unless I said it first.

In our two-year relationship, I never quite knew where I stood. He did nice things for me, sure, but deep down, I always had this gut feeling that he wouldn’t stick around when shit hits the fan.

Instead of the usual “I’ll always be here” promises or "I don't want to lose you", I got the opposite. He literally told me he couldn’t promise he’d stay because, and I quote, “we never know what will happen in the future.” Romantic, right? Fuck reassurance or commitment or anything like that.

Anyhoo, back to this year’s February before I get too off-track.

I'm currently back home in Moalboal, where Valentine’s Day is pretty much a non-existent event (no one cares about it in our household). So instead of moping, I treated myself to a hair makeover, which is arguably the most excitement I’ve had since I got back.

Barely two days after V-Day, all hell broke loose at work.

If there’s anyone reading this right now who has no idea what I do, I’m a copywriter for a local crypto exchange.

I write all the stuff you see on our social media page, all the articles on our Help Center and Medium publishing, almost all the content on our website (others I had to leave alone because of management decision lol), all the advisories and newsletters sent via email, and in a lot of instances, customer support emails that tackles complicated issues.

After nearly three years in crypto, I can tell you that it's an extremely extraordinary space to be a part of, but also full of landmines and unknowns.

So it doesn’t help that last Tuesday, there was an incident on our exchange that prompted us to go into maintenance mode immediately, one that was unscheduled, unplanned, and unannounced. I learned later on that calling it an "emergency maintenance" did the opposite of what we wanted, which was to keep people from panicking.

Things got worse for us when our maintenance got extended to more than a day, which meant our users couldn't access their wallets or trade at a time when the crypto market was on fire. Cue the unhinged mob ready to crucify all of us.

People assumed the worst, calling us scammers, manipulators, and even accusing us of pulling a rug. And honestly, I get it. But as someone on the inside, I can tell you with full honesty: there was zero shady business going on.

We had a legit issue that spiraled, and the internet did what it does best: it fucking freaked out.

A week on, we have unlocked most of the affected accounts, but we are definitely still reeling from what happened. The fallout was very real.

Just today, I was up at 3:00 AM and worked straight through until 11:30 PM. Our issue even made it to Cointelegraph (hello, global spotlight), so we’ve been juggling press releases, damage control, customer support chaos, and fake news takedowns all at once.

Between the media frenzy over what happened to the negative sentiments against us on social media comments, it has been a daunting two weeks.

It’s been fucking exhausting, but not gonna lie, it was also weirdly rewarding.

If there's one thing I can say about all of this, it's that yes, this is a shitty thing to go through as a company, but I'm still thankful for everything. As an employee, it can get super stressful, but I'm glad to go through this kind of issue with the kind of people we have now.

I love my job even if it's a circus right now. This company is my first real startup. I want to see it thrive, even if that means a few (or many) sleepless nights. Call me a workaholic, I guess.

Work aside, my brother is getting better, and he can walk now without crutches, so that's another thing I'm very thankful about. He has also started crypto-trading and now sees its potential, so woohoo.

On a more bittersweet note, my mom started rehoming our puppies (we have 6) to their new furever homes, and honestly, that makes me sad. I know we couldn’t keep them because we already have a lot of rescued dogs, but it still breaks my heart.

My mom said the first two went to really good homes, but I still worry. I get attached very easily, so I truly hope all the pups will go to good homes that will love them.

In brighter news, I’ve also picked up resin crafting. So far, I’ve made bookmarks and tried my hand at fridge magnets, though I’m not super happy with those. I plan to buy more molds and explore other designs, so stay tuned.

Oh, and a crypto company interviewed me last week. But I’ll save that story for another post.

For now, I just want to sleep. Good night from Moalboal. 🌙