Two weeks ago, I decided that I needed to incorporate something new into my daily life. Prior to Christmas, I had participated in a strength training class twice a week for 12 weeks, and managed to hit Personal Records on all of my lifts (225 lbs. on squat, 215 lbs on deadlift, and over 100 lbs on bench). But now I wanted something to help lean me out. I was tired of pushing myself to be physically stronger. I wanted to push myself to be stronger mentally as well, and not just in the "you can do it" kind of way. So, I searched for some yoga videos.

One morning in my living room, I rolled out a yoga mat and spoke into my Xfinity remote, and found Adriene. Yoga with Adriene has over 4 million subscribers on YouTube, and after just one or two of her videos you can see why. I started her Dedicate: 30 Day Yoga Journey, and after just completing Day 13 with her, I can say that I look forward to waking up each and every day now. She has become my morning. Her encouraging words help me wake up, and give me the strength that I need to face a new day.

Surprisingly, I am doing much better at this whole yoga thing than I expected. I have always tried to maintain good flexibility, but I don't have that lean bohemian body that you typically see going in and out of a yoga studio. Two weeks of Dedicate and I feel more erect, more poised, and am 6 lbs. lighter. I am hoping to take another 14 lbs. off before March. Maybe one day I will share what I am doing with my diet to pair up with this awesome yoga journey, but for now, I'll let you get back to your life.

Namaste

Several months ago I watched a movie, Fahrenheit 451. It was less thrilling of a movie than the trailers led me to believe it was, but it had an interesting concept strung throughout the plot: Words were outlawed and everything was communicated in symbols. As I watched, I kept thinking about how our society is slowly changing into a society like this, with all of our emojis and symbols, but that there is no way we could ever go to that full extreme. Right?

Now, let's fast forward to this week, where I have been overwhelmed by symbols. While filling out my unemployment claim and while job searching through their website, I encountered several new symbols. I suppose the symbols should make it easier for people to quickly see requirements and scroll through jobs faster, but there was one symbol that I stared at for a good 5 minutes trying to figure out what it meant. I pretty much figured out everything that it couldn't be, but I am still unsure what exactly it did mean.

Since then, I have been noticing symbols everywhere: stereo manual, recipe sheets, public restrooms, road signs, websites, emojis, prescription drug bottles, food containers, AHHHHHHH!!!! You see, the more I see these symbols everywhere the more I realize how quickly we are evolving back to a symbol society. Yes, I said back to. Why did I say that? Well, have you seen the hieroglyphs in Egypt? Are hieroglyphs and symbols an advanced communication system, or are they a step back in the evolutionary chain? It's hard to imagine being able to communicate everything we think, feel, and need to say with a symbol, but then again, if we continue to become a society that disconnects from human interaction and keeps increasing our virtual intelligence, then yes, it is possible that one day, just one day, we will no longer need to know how to read, write, and sing our ABC's. Children in schools no longer are taught handwriting, since the keyboard has been deemed more valuable. I remember when one of my daughters was in elementary school, and she was being taught to write words by sounding them out and writing down how she thought they were spelled. When I asked the teacher why she never corrected the incorrect spelling, she said it was because spelling was no longer important. She said technology will help make up for poor spellers, and it was more important to help her with the phonics. I suppose you do need to make sure you pronunciate perfectly when you are talking to an artificial intelligence being.

Man… I am really bad at this blogging thing. I suppose I should set a reminder to do this everyday. I mean, how do bloggers blog every single day? Do they have lives? Do they get time to enjoy the world from a perspective that doesn't include a computer screen?

But anyway…

Clue #4 in my iTreasure Hunt was released last night, and I am surprised how many people are struggling with it. I thought it would be an easy one. I am also surprised by how many people still haven't figured out Clue #3. Maybe this hunt is harder than I initially anticipated.

Much like Forrest Fenn, I have revised many of the clues in this hunt of mine several times. I want it to be fun, and just challenging enough for people to want to do it. When a hunt is too hard, people tend to drop off. For example, the Astana book. When I first got the book, I sat and wrote out all the characters onto graph paper. I made numerous copies so I could play around and experiment. However, I don't think I have spent anytime on it in the past 6 months.

I just received a new book in the mail today with more treasure hunts in them. Well, this book has been out for somewhere in the neighborhood of 6 months, but a fellow FennTuber inspired me to grab this book and give it a go. It is Armchair Treasure Hunts by Jenny Kile. Wish me luck! I can't wait to figure out Forrest's words to searchers. They will probably inspire a video, and a bunch of adventures down quite a few rabbit holes.

It is finally 2019! Time to put all the pain, struggle, and events of 2018 behind us and focus on the new opportunities that 2019 will bring.

I'd like to wish each and every one of the happiest and brightest new year!