JazzyM

Looks awesome! Totally subbed!

Looks like you did well today! Like kaylya said, store bought bread and yogurt is fine. If you applied "I have to make it at home" to ask your foods, you'd have to grow your own veggies and slaughter your own animals O.O Just no buying premade meals, like precooked chicken or sandwiches from the deli. Keep it up!

Thanks. Look below for meditation I'm really hoping to get the depression under control. I've never had it hit me so bad. I have no idea what kind of meditation. I'm new to it all. I found this article and was going to try it. http://life.gaiam.com/article/meditation-101-techniques-benefits-beginner-s-how Any suggestions would be awesome though I'm going to try and post here more often. I just go to start writing and end up with "nothing I have to say will matter to anyone." Tis sad. Hedgehogs rule. I plan to hit up your thread if not tonight then tomorrow!

I be welcomin any and all teh me ship! We have plenty of space! Welcome, new crew! I'll be sendin out a message teh ye all hopefully tonight, if not, tomorrow!

Oh my god! Hedgehogs! *squees herself to death* I will one day have a hedgehog!

When you start feeling super depressed like that, remember that it's the medication talking, not you. Remember that you're an inspiration to so many people. And that even the best of people have bad days. You can do it!

Welcome aboard me crew, lassy! I'll try teh be sendin ye a message sometime tonight.

Subbin' me fellow CutLass

I be here teh be followin' me fellow captain. Looking forward to seeing your updates!

Omg, I love the way you've worked out your layout and story and all that! Though I kinda feel like a bad captain for not being able to save you lol I am so looking forward to reading your updates!

@shadowlion I want soda so bad! I'm not going to, but my god, right now is so hard. I just want a root beer. @sunmage thank you! Maybe it's just that time of year lol @ornata Thank ye, lass. I be lookin forward teh yer challenge and cheerin ye on. Let's do this!

I be signing on and volunteer as a captain if ye be needin another one!

It had been rough going for a while, but Jazzy had survived. Barely, but she had. A terrible storm had arisen, tossing the ship around in its torment. It even went so far as to knock the fox demon off of the deck and into the churning waters. Luckily, being a fox demon allotted her the ability to change form and she stayed below the ragged waves in a form more suitable for the ocean. Once the storm had mostly passed, she pulled herself free of the water and back on to the ship. Above her, clouds still passed, but the sun was shining and she was drying out. There may be some rough patches ahead, but Jazzy was going to tough them out, there was no other option. No more giving up, no more slipping behind. She was on deck to stay. Until she beat the Captain and got her own ship, that is. --- So last challenge, I had a rough time of it. My depression hit me hard and knocked me on my ass. This challenge, I've decided to join the druids and focus on meditation to help with manage my depression. My main quest is still to lose weight and I will be actively working towards that, but a big focus is on meditation. Main Quest Lose 5 pounds Quests Swab the Decks -Ride the stationary bike at least 3x/wk for at least 30 minutes +2 STR Food Rations -Stick to 2000 calories per day +1 STA +1 CON +1 WIS Nightly Activity -Use the HeadSpace app for meditation daily +1 STA +1 CON +2 WIS +1 CHA Life Quests Jazzy's Log -Post an update to my challenge thread every other day +1 CHA Pay it Forward -Post to my CutLass crew's challenge threads at least once a week +1 CHA Free Time -Cross stitch when possible +1 STA Side Quest Every Pirate Needs a "Rum" Ration -32 Oz of water a day +1 STA +1 CON Grading At the end of the challenge, I will take my total days completing each goal and divide it by the total days available to get my final grade on each goal. In order to pass the goal and get the points, I have to get at least 80% on that goal. These will be tracked through my spread sheet. Passing the challenge completely will be based on whether I'm trying all the way through to the end. If I give up at any time, I fail. Rewards Will be worked out

When I set up my grading at the beginning, I made it so that if I got a B or higher, it was considered passing and I got the points for it. Water got very close, but I slacked one too many days and didn't quite make it. I looked at this the way I look at my grades in school: B or higher is good, Cs are only good in subjects like math, lol.

Thanks so much for your support, guys, it helps a lot. I'm working very hard to get back up and stay up and continue on this journey by finding new ways to go at it. Looking forward to seeing you guys around next challenge!

The ship bobbed gently in the small waves. The storm hadn't completely cleared and still threatened to attack the ship again, tossing it amongst its gales and waves, but for now, things were pretty smooth. On deck, no one stirred. It had been a rough few weeks and many had been lost. No one was sure if they should trust the weather or not. One man stood by the railing, looking sadly into the water. Of the ones lost, the missing fox demon weighed most on this man. He had last seen her fighting on to the deck in the torrential downpour; he had tried to join her, but when he cleared the stairs, she was gone. Davy Jones had claimed her for his own. He sighed and turned away from the edge, walking back for his bed below deck. Behind him, a hand rose over the rail and clamped down, dripping water. -- This challenge sucked. A lot. And not because of the challenge or my goals, but because of life. I've been diagnosed in the past as major depressive and it flares up situationally. Last year, my boyfriend's mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and I transferred my job out to where he lives so I could help take care of her. She passed in November of last year. Things got really bad at my boyfriend's house and I needed to get out. i told my job I needed to transfer back to where I live now with plenty of heads up about it. Come August, when I needed to be transferred, my boss dragged his feet. I was without work for almost 2 months and dealing with HR throughout. Come to find out, my company has NO sense of communication. In the time I've been at my boyfriend's house, the manager of my old store (the one I was transferring back to) was transferred to another store and the new manager is a complete bitch. HR forced my transfer and for my first week, I was yelled at and blamed for things that were out of my control. I work at a fabric store and Halloween is our biggest season; for some reason she didn't understand this (and still doesn't). But I was made to feel like I was insignificant and stupid, when I've been at my job for 3 years and am loved by customers. I just crumbled under it all. I literally just laid in my bed and did nothing when I got home from work and school and started missing school days because I just couldn't be bothered with it. In the midst of this, my boyfriend got laid off, school got very hectic, and so much more. My grades for this challenge are as follow: Bike 3x a week: 33.3% 1810 calories a day: 30.9% 32oz water/day: 73.8% 100 words/day: 33.3% Yoga 2x/week: 83.3% No soda: 100% So the only two goals I passed were yoga 2x a week and no soda. I got close on the water, though. Now that I'm back to work, I drink a lot of water each day, so I'm not so worried about that anymore. For the next challenge, I think I'm going to focus on my exercise, my eating, and some kind of meditation, so I may be moving to the druid group next challenge. We shall see.

Wooo.... terribly written, but here it is! -- Kazoo-blown fan fare sounded across the deck and over the edge of the ship. Granted, it sounded more like wet rice paper because Jazzy had never been very good at the kazoo, but it was the only instrument she could find on such short notice. “Here ye, here ye! I be havin' a few announcements ta make!†Jazzy shouted as she hoped up onto a barrel of rum. “I want ta start out by sayin' that I am so proud of not only me own crew, but all the crews. I'm more proud of me own crew, but I'm bias in that. We've all done so well, whether we've stayed our intended course or strayed. I know I've been a little slackin' on me captain duties, but that's beside the point.†She cleared her throat, grinning at the ladies around her. “I want to congratulate Ornata for movin' up from apprentice to full fledged CutLass! I've been watchin' her over these last six weeks and she's done so much and improved so much. Welcome to the full time piratin', lass!†She had to clear her throat to calm the cheering crowd. “I also want to congratulate Anaticula for everything she's done. For those who don't know about her journey, I suggest ye keep an eye on her. She's quite the inspiration.†More shouts of congratulations and applause spread. She waved it down again. “dsavage, ye may not have said a whole bunch, but when ye did, it was always a positive note. Ye've done a lot in such a short amount of time and I'm jealous of all the sights ye've seen.†Laughter and clapping erupted. Jazzy smiled as she waited for the clamor to die down. “Sadly, me last member, Elfikay, had to take shore leave after injuring herself, but I kept tabs on her when I could. I'm glad to hear she's coming back and I hope she'll be coming back to us CutLasses. She's a fighter and we're lucky to have her. “Hell, I'm lucky to have all me crew. I hope ta see all of you back on me ship when we set sail, and maybe even a few new faces. Congratulations to everyone and have some rum on me!â€

I am ready to get back on the horse! I let myself slide for too long, I am going to do this!

Thanks so much dsavage! I may not have time to write something up for promoting and congratulating my crew do I may just have to list it out. I've fallen behind on homework (math hw specifically) and need to catch up before the 27.

I am so proud of you! There are so many people who don't make it through their first challenge. I dropped out my very first one a few years ago. You not only made it through, but you owned it. Looking forward to seeing your progress next challenge!

Sorry, double post ^.^;;

Anaticula, I think that even if you've backslid in some areas, you've kicked so much butt in others that it makes up for it! You've done and finished a lot of triathlons as a beginner in just the last few weeks, you've signed up for a half Ironman, you've invested in a new and better bike. And you've noticed where you've slipped and are trying to fix it. I know how hard that can be, and giving up looks so easy and so much more comfortable, but you're giving all you've got an doing great! I find you to be quite the inspitration. Keep up the good work!

Don't let the injuries discourage you! You are better than the injuries!

That hike looks gorgeous! So jelly, lol. I'm so proud of you for all you've done! You may not have hit all your goals, but like Anaticula said above, you've got tons of winning going on everywhere. Keep up the good work and congrats on everything!

Ahh! I'm so bad! I've been really out of it lately and just not... feeling very well, mentally. I let my depression take over and almost literally curled up in a ball and gave up. I have stuck to some goals, like no soda and going to yoga and gotten back on with drinking water, but the rest of my goals have failed, including the weight loss one. For the next round, I don't have set out goals yet, but I plan on an exercise goal, an eating goal, and maybe some kind of meditation to try and help keep myself balanced or something to that extent. I'll have it figured out before next challenge. I'm going to try and get around to posting something to recognize the wonderful efforts of my crew, 'cause even when I was failing, I loved seeing them succeed.