Every time the chain gets congested, I can’t help staring at the mempool in a daze: what exactly is my transaction going through? Basically, it’s just queueing—but this line is kind of “social.” Whoever tips more may be able to cut the line; tip less and you get left waiting, hanging there for half a day without moving. Then you end up getting anxious yourself—changing the fee, resubmitting, canceling—going back and forth, and the transaction fees just keep rolling higher.

The strangest part is, sometimes you think that once you click confirm, it’s over—only to find that your transaction is openly out there, naked in the pool, and everyone can see what you’re trying to do… And when you run into those new L1/L2 projects that crank up incentives to pull TVL, suddenly the chain gets packed: even veteran users end up cursing “mine and sell,” and I can understand why. You’re over there queueing and paying congestion fees, while other people’s scripts are batching and churning out transactions at full speed. The experience gap is painfully obvious.

Anyway, I’ve only got one habit now: when the network is congested, I’d rather be a bit slower—but I make sure I understand whether I’m truly just queueing, or whether I’m giving everyone else a liquidity punchline. That’s it.