🎸 The Ukulele That HIVE Bought 💰 Srey-Yuu Finally Spends Some Of Her Crypto Earnings 👧

over 1 year ago

My oldest daughter decided to reward herself with a ukulele after withdrawing a little of her HIVE, so my wife and I decided to go to the shipping station and pick it up.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Family Excitement For @Srey-Yuu

Once upon a time before COVID-19, my wife and I had an Ital restaurant in Kampot, Cambodia. After we closed the restaurant and before leaving for Ecuador, we held private dinner parties on the weekends. We would typically host 12-14 people plus a musician, and plate the food family style on a big long table, making all the random guests feel like a cohesive group. One of our friends almost always brought her ukulele for the musical entertainment, and Srey-Yuu learned a couple chords and how to strum.

Since that time she has always occasionally mentioned wanting to pursue a higher ukulele education. Instead of buying her a ukulele many years ago, I taught her how to blog on Hive and earn a monthly income equivalent to a Cambodian university graduate, except that she's only thirteen and has many years ahead to save and prepare for her future. She's long had the money to buy a ukulele for herself, but she's pretty conservative with her crypto savings, only using it to buy a bicycle and a few other small purchases.

I've always wished she would spend at least 10% of her crypto to maintain morale and also prove to herself the reality of her Hive blog's power and potential. So when she finally decided to splurge and spend $80+ USD on a ukulele, spare strings, and shipping costs, the whole family was excited for her, and perhaps even more than her. We snagged the uku-package and did a little shopping before heading back up the mountain to home sweet home.

Stop 🛑 Thumbnail Time 🤳

While descending the first pass, I decided pull over and take a pic/short video that would be used as the GIF thumbnail for this post, and that was the only reason for this stop, the above pic, and and awesome GIF thumbnail that welcomed you to this post.

You Are An Addict 👩‍⚕️

After arriving home, Srey-Yuu pretended it was no big deal, but Monkey-B immediately put her paws on the ukulele package, and began slowly picking at while nobody was looking. Within 5 minutes we had to collectively agree to allow her to open the package for big sister.

Monkey-B loves opening things, well most kids do I guess, but I've found her on several occasions watching videos of people opening gifts on YouTube when she could've been watching a blockbuster on Netflix. I marveled at the seaweed-flavored not-Pringles we scored, and Monkey-B kept picking away at the uku-packaging.

Srey-Yuu was happy to take a backseat and enjoy her snack while little sister opened the precious cargo. Just look at the difference in personality of these two, haha, but I swear they are sisters.

Big Sister Takes Over 💪

When the packaging was down to the last layer, Srey-Yuu decided to take over the uku-unveiling, and I tried to document the natural joy of discover without interrupting anything. We purchased a set of extra strings which were inside, and to my surprise there were no complimentary guitar picks or business cards within, customer service fail.

With the last thin paper covering removed, the cheapest ukulele money can buy that is not a toy is creating awe and wonder. I let Srey-Yuu play around with it for a while and then told her if she finishes her ASEAN Hive Top 3 curation post and a post for her blog, I'd download an iOS ukulele app in her iPad and let her practice/learn a little before going to bed.

Deal 🤝

After Srey-Yuu agreed to our deal, I let her and Monkey-B marvel over this cute little thing for a little longer, then asked Monkey-B why she didn't want to withdraw any HIVE or HBD for a special purchase, and she let me know she is "saving it for her future instead."

The ukulele even captured Pov's interest, and that is not an easy feat, so perhaps she will learn a thing or two from Srey-Yuu as she slowly become's Cambodia's first ukulele black belt or whatever title is given to one proficient in the ukulele arts.

Say Stupid Stuff Before Snapping 🤣

It's hard to get Srey-Yuu to smile, both for the camera and not for the camera, and I usually have to resort to bad jokes, silly antics, or even the occasional fart to crack her. While she was holding her new precious in these shots, I said some stupid dad humor stuff that I can't remember, but whatever it was it made Srey-Yuu break down and smile a little for you all.

She quickly regained control of herself and emotions, putting back on her teenage emotional shield that deflects nearly everything short of nuclear weaponry.

You Wanna Keep Those Fingers? 🪓

After being without the ukulele for nearly 5 minutes, Monkey-B wanted hold it again, and Srey-Yuu clearly acquiesced without resistance as not-documented in these last couple pics.

As little sister took over control of the most interesting new thing in our lives, Srey-Yuu touched it one last time, knowing she'd soon reunite with her precious ukulele in the next 45 seconds. After this, the family on the mountain lived happily ever after and guitar picks rained down from the heavens.