mightykendar

After a week or so of mostly taking it easy (I did continue to train, but on a considerably more limited scale than I had been), I was cleared yesterday by the hand specialist to exercise again after he removed the big, bulky dressing that I'd been wearing for eight days straight. My thumb is still swollen enough that I can't really bend it, so it's not particularly useable for much, but as this was a complication from an earlier injury, I had already gotten used to managing without it. I have since resumed strength training and just did my first post-surgery handstand, so I think I'll be good to go! This next part is not for the squeamish... ... For those who might be wondering, I split my thumb open initially (over the top and right through the nail) in early June. I had eight stitches and it was quite a mess; I honestly though I was going to have the tip amputated because it looked so bad. Each half of my distal section of my thumb was going in a different direction, with the exposed distal phalanx just chilling there for all to see. :X It never fully healed, and I had a recurring infection, so the hand specialist recommended that he remove the nail, clear out whatever's going on in the nail bed, and remove any foreign material that might be there. When I was originally stitched up, the ER doctor used what was left of my nail as a plate to hold the fracture in place, putting stitches through it. This was only the right-side portion of it -- the left was nowhere to be found, and I, along with everyone else, assumed that it had been lost in the initial accident. It turns out that it had been inside my thumb, stitched up, the whole time, with new nail having grown over it -- running diagonally from the left-hand (looking overhead) side of the nail bed to the right-hand pad side of my thumb, where a large lump had formed as my body tried in vain to push out what was now dead, foreign material. I'm thinking that, now that my body is no longer engaged in battle with this rogue thumbnail, I might start making even better gains in my fitness and health? Hope so!

I think your goals are definitely realistic and attainable, and hopefully you can take whatever you learned from your first attempt and use it to guarantee success this time around. Good luck to you!

High-five! That's awesome!!

(Maybe you've got the theme to The Jeffersons stuck in your head now...or possibly that Primal Scream track from Screamadelica...anyway, I digress...) Main Quest: Pretty simple...at the end of this six-week stretch, I want to successfully complete an unassisted pull-up. I'm well on my way, but I've still got a fair amount of work to do. To achieve this: -- I will continue to focus on strength training. I like to do this anywhere and everywhere. If I see something that I can grab onto and hang off of, I do it. If I see something heavy that I can pick up and put down, I do it. If I get the urge to throw down a set of push-ups or a handstand (wall-assisted at this point), I do it. -- I will continue to eat a diet that is not only healthy and balanced, but that also contains a substantial amount of protein, so I can continue to build muscle. -- I will continue to do assisted pull-ups at the gym, gradually reducing the counterweight needed until I can do it by myself (right now, I can do 12 reps at 55 lbs. counterweight). Not directly related, but I am also planning on trying out the capoiera club at my university, but that won't be until at least next week, because... (A little bump in the road...) I had surgery on Thursday to deal with complications from an injury that I sustained back in June, when I crushed the end of my right thumb and fractured the distal end of the distal phalanx. Not a huge incapacitation as far as injuries go, but one that, at least for the time being, is preventing me from, say, wrapping my thumb around a bar or even a dumbbell, as it was immediately bandaged after the surgery (I haven't even seen it yet). I am going for a follow-up next Friday, so I'll see what my limitations are then. Until that point, I do have resistance bands that I can play with, I think, without messing anything up thumb-wise. Also, I am supposed to do an "adventure race" (one of those obstacle course things) three weeks from today, so hopefully that will still happen. --- A little bit of background, just because... Last winter, as I approached the completion of the undergraduate stage of my college career, I finally became sick of the fact that I was getting a bit overweight, out of shape, generally pretty unhappy about myself and how I felt and looked. My husband, who had gotten to the same point, joined a gym, and I went with him when I could. On the side, I did a lot of bodyweight-type stuff, including the Beginner Bodyweight Circuit on the NF site, which was really helpful. Since then, he and I have both lost nearly 20 pounds. I went from ~155 lbs. and a size 10 to a lean, mean ~137 lbs. and a size 6 (I can wear a size 4, but it's not as comfy -- yet)! I did an unassisted chin-up for the first time recently, and have completed two 5ks, the latter without any walking at all. Recently, I've begun doing wall-assisted handstands (although my surgery will keep me from doing that for a while, I think). I'm doing crazy stuff that I never thought I could do...and I think that this is only the beginning. Also, in that time, I have started grad school, which also constitutes some sort of life-leveling, I think! So that's my story...here's to being able to list more accomplishments...and a completed first-time challenge...six weeks from Monday. Good luck to all! Mighty Kendar

Not the prettiest handstand, but a step in the right direction...

Just did a wall-assisted handstand and held it for a full minute -- I could never do anything like this before, ever in my life. It's a great feeling!

Some great bands in that list, but this one sticks out! Wish I'd gotten a chance to see them before they split.

I got the Quattro Adventure unlicensed NES cart recently, which contains a few Codemasters games, and Treasure Island DIzzy is among them. I thought it was pretty interesting!

I will, thank you!

I hope you get there soon!

Thanks! It looks like it's actually going to be happening next Thursday. Hopefully the recovery period will be relatively short...I signed up to do an "adventure race" at my university in early October and I'd hate to have to bail. :\

Thanks, folks! I may be having minor surgery involving my thumb tomorrow, so I'm not sure if my pull-up pursuit will be temporarily sidelined or not...but I'll keep finding ways to work out, no matter what!

Beautiful! I have a 32X as well that I found in a thrift store once; I just haven't gotten around to buying the cable to hook it up to the Genesis. The Power Glove is on my shortlist of peripherals that I really want to pick up (that and ROB)...I have third-party QuickShots for a few systems, a handful of Zappers, the Konami lightgun for SNES Lethal Enforcers, a CIB SNES Super Scope, a CIB SNES Game Genie, loose Game Genies for a few other systems, the NES Advantage, etc., but I am always looking for more. I have a big shelving unit devoted almost exclusively to my NES stuff...my husband is very patient, haha. I'm basically trying to live my childhood dream here, I think.

Haha, yeah, I hear mixed things on that. For any of it to be "retro" or "classic" is a bit horrifying to me; I played the NES and SNES growing up, and now, for example, the Digital Press forums define "classic gaming" as "before Playstation 2." I still think of the *original* Playstation as relatively new. Perhaps it would be more appropriate to say that my primary interests lie in 8-bit and 16-bit systems, and, to some extent, the platforms that existed before the NES burst on the scene in the mid-'80s. Old-school RPGs are great, BTW. I actually have a great love for the oft-maligned Zelda II, even.

I actually do come across them (and the games) occasionally in the States, but they're definitely not as common as other systems. One other console from around that era that I always had some level of interest in was the Turbo-Grafx 16, and I don't think I've ever come across one in a store for sale. I had a roommate once that owned a 3DO -- that's really one that you don't see around often. I do have a boxed Amiga 500 that I picked up many years back, and I'm hoping to get it going as a gaming machine at some point, as the Amiga had a LOT of quality titles and very good visuals for the time.

Did my first completely unassisted chin-up this morning (yes, only one thus far) and I came darn close to an unassisted pull-up! The last time I tried an unassisted pull-up (this past Saturday morning), I only made it up halfway, and today I was able to bring my forehead up to the level of the bar. Shouldn't be long now! Wicked excited!

Oh, that's irritating. I get a lot of mine from thrift stores, and those get hit pretty hard by resellers as well. Fortunately, I live near a few of them, so I can check in on a regular basis.

I have a 2600, too...I'll be honest; growing up with D-pad controllers instead of joysticks (the NES was the first console we had growing up), it is pretty challenging for me to play a lot of the games for that system. Using a joystick for a game like Pitfall! is not intuitive at all for me, though I do try, haha. I really enjoy the paddle-based games, though, such as Breakout and Super Breakout. I always wanted my own pinball machine...I had a friend in elementary school who had one in her house, and I was super jealous, haha.

Nice! I'd like to get a Master System at some point. I hear the Alex Kidd games are really worth playing? Play Expo sounds like an awesome event!

I always wear my wedding band, engagement ring, and a sterling-silver bracelet that belonged to my great-grandmother, whether I'm working at an archaeological dig or at the gym. I've never really thought about taking them off, honestly. My ears are gauged (though I've gradually reduced the size of the plugs I wear, as they are more-or-less a remnant of my younger years), and I only take the plugs out when I'm sleeping. I wore a class ring (not mine, even, my mother's) for at least ten years before I got engaged, and there is a sort of indentation at the base of my ring finger where it sat for so long. My wedding band and engagement ring nestle right in there, and they're such a pain to get off that I can't imagine removing them every time I work out, haha...

Inspired by the other Nintendo-related thread...any fellow "retro gamers" on the boards? One of my "nerdy" passions is classic gaming. I grew up with Nintendo's 8-bit and 16-bit systems and I now collect for them (well, mostly just the NES) as an adult. I also have an interest in other 16-bit and earlier systems, games, and history. I also grew up with, and am still enthusiastic about, a number of DOS-based games. Just curious how many folks around here might be similarly interested in playing and collecting old games?

I've always been a big Nintendo fan, but, admittedly, I've been out of the modern videogaming loop for the most part. When the Nintendo 64 came out, I found that most of the games released for it (and the ones that I wanted to play the most, of course, such as the flagship franchise titles) gave me terrible motion sickness, and I was basically forced to stick with the 8-bit and 16-bit stuff. I do have a GameCube, which I use occasionally (mainly for Smash Bros. Melee and to play GB/GBA games via the Game Boy Player) and a Wii. I found the Wii to be really fun, and I enjoy the "all-in" experience of using the various peripherals to play games, but I'm still uncertain as to how the Wii U is enough of an improvement for me to want to buy yet another console. My husband and I have a PS2 as well, but we're really not modern-gen gamers for the most part. I can't play FPSs for the same reasons that I couldn't play N64 games, and I can't play games like Skyrim, etc., either, which always sucks because my friends will be telling me how awesome they are, haha. That said, I can definitely see how Nintendo could eventually no longer be the console powerhouse that they were -- and perhaps this has already begun to happen. I saw something about the 2DS the other day, and while I'm not as offended by it as most folks seem to be (I actually think it looks pretty cool!), worth noting is that I don't own a handheld newer than a Game Boy Color, and have never owned a clamshell handheld of any kind. I grew up with Nintendo's consoles, and I'd hate to see them no longer make them, but it does seem that the company could end up on that trajectory. Of course, Mario, Zelda and Pokemon will continue to draw in big $$ for years to come, I'm sure.