January 2021 wasn't just the beginning of a new year. It was the beginning of many new things. It was a new apartment, a change of career, and the beginning of my interest in and excitement for blockchain projects.
My name is Ashe, and my pronouns are they / them. For over a decade, I've worked as a personal trainer and strength coach. Along with my wife, @melanieblack, I have owned and operated two gyms, helped hundreds of people with their fitness goals, and coached some successful novice powerlifters. By the way, you should follow her if you're looking for useful and body-positive fitness content. Her content is... Not like other basic fitness coaches, lol. This is us:
Being a strength coach and running a gym was very rewarding. When COVID hit, and gyms were forced to close, our gym went out of business. Like many people, I started creating fitness content online as a way to continue earning a living.
But creating content on the typical social media platforms has its problems. Content isn't discovered on its usefulness or relevance. Rather it is the most sensational, and often inaccurate, content that is well marketed that gains traction in an algorithm. I'm sure subject matter experts in any field lament the proliferation of hollow interactions and sensational content in their fields on social media. I sure did.
As the GameStop stock shenanigans were taking place at the beginning of the year, I chuckled along with everyone else at how it all played out. But I was never into the stock market, so getting in on that craziness didn't appeal to me. But along with all of that hype, Dogecoin also popped on my radar. And shortly thereafter, I became fascinated with crypto and blockchain technology.
For me, the value of Dogecoin wasn't in its price movement. I don't actually own Doge and don't have plans to. It was the hype that introduced me to a new part of the web that was the value for me. I bought some Bitcoin and some Litecoin and learned about proof of work and mining and such. I switched to the Brave browser and became fascinated by the goals of Brave and the Basic Attention Token. The idea of a web where creators were rewarded for making good content, rather than just making good marketing fodder was exciting. For me, this was all the value of the Dogecoin meme... the introduction to a fascinating new part of the web.
I got a Brave ad at some point for the @Splinterlands card game. I signed up and was instantly a fan of the game. That was my introduction to the Hive blockchain. Eventually, out of a desire to learn more and more about the blockchain space, I found other Hive apps, like @Actifit, and the whole idea of the Hive ecosystem began to look like the space I have been wanting to create content and connect with people in.
And this is my introduction post. Thank you for reading this far. In addition to being a strength coach, and a newbie crypto and blockchain enthusiast, I'm also a gamer. I'm a pagan atheist. I am a martial artist. I am a genderfluid transgender person.
I like making useful content about my interests and areas of expertise. Hive looks like a great place to do that without having to worry about crafting an optimized marketing message. I just want to make good and useful content that isn't pigeon-holed into an optimized marketable niche. I hope you find some of it useful.
I'll be blogging and making videos about gaming and blockchain gaming mostly. But expect some fitness content here and there, maybe some cat pictures and some musings of a crypto noob, maybe some martial arts musings, and whatever else floats my boat. Here's the cats!
Thanks for reading this far, and thanks to @macchiata for the prompt to make this introductory post.