sarakingdom

The art is a challenge. But I think, if I do it right, I can find enough. I dunno, I just want something a bit different. I've been doing Avatar for a long time, because it's cute and monkish, but I'm in the mood for something different.

Same. More swords, please.

Absolutely helped for me. Learning the night where "I only slept two hours" is actually a five hour night, it helps a lot. Sure, not enough sleep, but plenty to function on, and it's easier to get going if I'm not as resentful and grouchy about it. If you've got a good app, it'll keep track of how many times you wake up and how light or deep your sleep is. A good activity tracker is pretty damn useful in sleep analysis.

It's hard to get enough velocity behind them to penetrate a winter coat, though.

I got an activity tracker for sleep, too. The stuff I'm awake for, I can write down. The stuff I'm asleep for, something else had better be writing down for me.

Pretty damn near single digits here, too. That's starting to be serious cold, not just casually cold.

WOW. That sounds a hell of a lot like a baptism requirement for getting your black belt. Honestly, that sounds like a place that's going to be a problem for you, as you rank higher and higher. They're probably going to shut you out of leadership and teaching roles as you become senior for not being in line with the dojo values, and might not even rank you properly. The gym sounds awesome, though! And any day with a navel orange is a pretty good day, IMO.

Week 1: Day 2 Fitness Points +8 hours of sleep+1 super-restful sleep bonus+2 liters of water+1 injury careLife Points +1 task bonusTotal: 13 It is super-cold today. Everything, made of ice.

Meal plans aren't for everyone, but there are alternatives. And I bet your boyfriend would help. That might be a really good thing to do together, if you'd like to get weekends under control, because he'd be in on it. If fear of failure is a big obstacle, then I'd recommend starting smaller and working up, like staying under your calorie and carb goals at least four days a week, then five, then six. There's very little you can do in one day to derail six good days of eating, so that's still basically the full win.

YES VERY HARD. But there are a few options. I'm working on it. Like the TV movie of Going Postal. Even if nothing turns up, I can get creative. It is a shame he's gone, and an equal shame that his illness was starting to make writing difficult for him. However hard I found it to get into his books at the start, no question he's one of the greats, and one of the world's really decent people.

It's all about incentivizing shit the right way.

Awesome challenge. Good to see you back. One of the reasons I like the switch to four-week format is because it encourages simpler challenges. It's not as big a deal to put off the extras till next time, and I think you're wise to do it.

Yep, this. And in a pinch, there's dried fruit. Easy to overdo it, but it might be a good stepping stone while you're giving up dessert. Also, if you look at old-fashioned food trends, for a long time there was a trend for a small serving of cheese, fresh fruit, and nuts for dessert. High on useful nutrition and pretty damn satisfying. Dessert is mostly a mental thing, I think. And not necessarily a bad one, because there's a mental satisfaction component to meals, and making changes is easier when you're using that rather than fighting it. It's not necessarily bad to have a small course of the meal to say, "yup, meal's over, let's linger for a minute and then get back to things". There are many ways to do that, like a cup of coffee or something that's actually useful for your goals. Figuring out how to use that makes it less of a big willpower thing. Willpower is fickle.

That sounds totally legit. What is aikido for, if not helping people blend into one on a global scale. A hakama-wearing civil service could harmonize the shit out of things, on top of being super-stylish.

Happy birthday! We do have lots of people here doing NF Yoga and bodyweight training, and you're totally welcome to do your challenge here, whichever guild you identify with. (On the other hand, a lot of our small talk involves throwing punches at each other, which can be an acquired taste.)

My next challenge is going to be a Discworld challenge, I think. I had a hard time getting into the books, but they've been my mellow bedtime audiobooks lately, and now I've got a sense for how to read his prose. ( I considered Discworld for this one, but I need more reading for the challenge I want to do.)

Liking this challenge. Mental health challenge is legit, and honestly one of the best things people with mental health challenges can do for their physical health, as well. And, like Kishi says, they're crazy interconnected. (Saw a TED talk or something recently by a researcher who considered depression largely a modern lifestyle disease, and his recommendations looked almost entirely like NF best practices. Moderate regular exercise, sunlight, large dose of omega 3s, meditation, a handful of other things. Mental health may literally be physical health.)

You win. That's even worse. Human bodies, man, so stupidly fragile.

Kettlebells do not scale well, like buying more plates for a bar does. Alas. Lookin' good. I really want to up my water, too. Maybe this time around I'll give points per liter.

I love your challenges, they are so full of getting useful shit done. I aspire to have challenges as good as yours. Your dojo, man. That's pretty heavy-handed. I wouldn't even feel totally good about the guilt-tripping email, let alone the religious instruction. It's their dojo and they can teach what they want for the people who dig that sort of thing, but it's totally not out of line to not want that from a dojo. Religion is not an important karate skill (although the reverse may be true for some), so you didn't sign up with a karate school in order to be better at someone's religion. I'd consider it a bit of an imposition, to be honest, like taking advantage of the educational relationship we'd agreed to have. But there must be customers who want Christian karate with a religious component, so that's meant for their target customers. Which... is not you. I'd chalk that one up to "not the right dojo environment for me", and go find a dojo where everyone leaves their private business with their street shoes when they get on the mat.

Man, sorry about those injuries. I hear ya. This is a lot of shit to get done, so I think this is the time to start talking strategies, huh? Workout and sleep look like you have strategies, getting to work looks good enough to get started with unless you run into problems. What's your strategy on the soda? Some people dig tea or flavored seltzer or something to take its place. The vegetable strategy is going to be the big one, I'd bet. Are there things you can eat vegetables in and not mind them, like in Chinese food and stuff? Because that could give you a really good place to start. There are some recipes on NF for people getting into cooking that are pretty good. Veggie stews in the crock pot? Let's get you more excited here.

Reload the page, they disappear.

In a jeans/shirts workplace (which is most tech workplaces, aside from sales and legal), you have a lot of leeway and can't go wrong with the crocheted scarves. I kinda dig that purple/maroon scarf with that outfit, because it's got the maroon of the long-sleeved shirt in it (I think that's the color in your photo, anyway), and will make the whole thing look very intentional. It is on the dark side, so maybe not every day, but some days you don't feel like a bright note, and that's fine. I've been known to have all-black days on occasion. If it's every day, it starts to look a bit goth for the office, but now and then, why not.

Week 1: Day 1 A shiny new challenge! I'm going to be porting some points over, because there are prizes involved, so I'm not losing my precious adulting points. I deserve all the prizes for them. Fitness Points +6 hours of sleep+5 ukemi practice+5 meditation+2 liters of water+1 keeping injured things extra-warm+1 soaking the injured muscleLife Points +1 adulting+1 productivity bonusTotal: 22 points Not a lot of ukemi practice, because my carpet is not thick and my hipbones are going to complain for a few days, but it loosened up the back and seems utterly easy on the legs, so ukemi practice is go for this challenge. My ukemi instincts are gratifyingly good, so this initial bit will just be a cleanup and tweak of the motions. Hydration is a point per liter in this challenge, to shift the focus to actual quantity.