Phayze

Week 2 Final Tally: Covert Ops: 7/7 High Mobility: 2/3 Trusty Blade: 6/7 Perfection is overrated anyway... I spent most of Saturday feeling sick to my stomach, but I stuck it out and managed to get some stuff done. We had a lemonade stand/bake sale in front of our house to raise money for a local shelter dog that needs eye surgery, so I spent a lot of time helping to setup and run that. It was draining, but we met our fundraising goal and even scored a little extra, so that's a big win! Here it is Day 3 of Week 3, and I'm still so tired it hurts (literally)... I know that the common advice is always "listen to your body", but what are you supposed to do when your body is always saying "Go to bed!"? My solution: Half-ass everything you can! Because, hey, half-ass is better than no-ass, right? ^^;

Sooooo.... updates? How goes the challenge? Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

I gave it some thought, and switched my sleep journal over to a spreasheet because a) spreadsheets are cool, spreadsheets can make graphs and c) graphs are even cooler. I think my logic here is undeniable. Last night (Wednesday, as I write this) was the worse night of sleep I've had in a really long time. I did great for the first two hours, but then a remarkably explosive thunderclap scared the whole house awake at around 3am and drove everyone into our bed - The Boy, the wife, the dogs, even the cat, I think, were all competing for breathing room - and I pretty much couldn't fall back asleep afterward due to the combination of minor dog fights at my feet, knees in my butt and more thunder outside. I've pretty much been off coffee for several months now, because Mrs. Phayze convinced me that amping up my system with stimulants was probably counterproductive to recovering from whatever is causing my tiredness (she thinks I have something called "adrenal fatigue", but the scientific literature isn't yet sure if that's even a thing). Today, though? Today, coffee was a matter of survival. Even the Black Magic Elixir has its limits, however, so my workout plus several Dailies were left undone. --- Week 2 Tally: Covert Ops: 6/7 High Mobility: 2/3 Trusty Blade: 5/7

Breaking News! I'm Nick Bottom, interrupting this regularly scheduled broadcast to bring the latest news from Oberon Fjórir, where another inexplicable attack on a civilian cargo shipment has taken place just moments ago. From what we know so far, the attack bears a striking resemblance to the one carried out last week against an EDT Hauling convoy on Oberon Tvier. We'll now turn to our field reporter, Peter Quince, at the scene of the attack. Pete? Quince: Thanks, Nick. I'm here now with Agent Thisbe of Oberon Fjórir Civil Security. Agent Thisbe, what can you tell us so far about the attack?" Thisbe: Not much so soon after arriving here, but witnesses report a single mobile frame appeared suddenly, overwhelmed the convoy's security forces and destroyed most of the cargo. Quince: Is there reason to believe that this was the same frame that attacked on Oberon Tvier? Thisbe: The MO is similar, but our early findings suggest that this attack was carried out using long range, precision strikes rather than the close quarters plasma blade we believe was used on Tvier. There are very few pilots that would be capable of demonstrating this level of skill in both styles of combat. Quince: So you're saying that this isn't the work of a single individual? Thisbe: I'm not prepared to speculate on that. We'll need more evidence. Quince: The cleanup effort on Tvier revealed that the attacked convoy was involved in smuggling activities for the Etton Conglomerate. Is there any evidence that this could be the case here as well? Thisbe: Our agents will need more time to sort through the wreckage before they are likely to find anything incriminating, but if they do we will make a statement as soon as we have concrete evidence of wrong-doing. Quince: Are you expecting to find that evidence? Thisbe: Again, I'm not prepared to speculate, but it's no secret that many believe that the attacker on Tvier is some kind of vigilante, and the purpose of that attack was to expose criminal activity. If we do find similar activity here, I might start to believe that myself. Quince: Thank you very much for your time, Agent Thisbe. We'll look forward to hearing your final report on this incident. Back to you, Nick. --- Week 2 Tally: Covert Ops: 4/7 High Mobility: 2/3 Trusty Blade: 4/7

Week 1 Final Tally: Covert Ops: 7/7 High Mobility: 3/3 Trusty Blade: 7/7 Perfection? Whoa... o0 If you're interested (and I KNOW you are), sleep journal entries are behind this elegant and finely crafted spoiler tag. Feeling in a bit of creative slump this week (a recurring problem), so I haven't gotten a new image ready to continue my challenge theme. Sometimes just poking listlessly at the bricks (be they real or virtual) helps stir me up and I get something I like, and sometimes I'm just too exhausted to even manage listless poking. It's been one of those weeks so far. I've been a bit too engaged in Fallout New Vegas lately, which isn't a problem per se, but considering the limited amount of discretionary time I get each day I feel like maybe I should be doing something different - just to mix up, if nothing else. I considered switching to a different game, but somehow that feels a little like cheating so I'm reading "The Hand of Thrawn" instead. It was a good choice. --- Week 2 Tally: Covert Ops: 3/7 High Mobility: 2/3 Trusty Blade: 3/7 Remarkably, this is all going according to plan! Could this possibly be another perfect week? We shall see...

Crushed week 1, and started week 2 with a PR? Awesome! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Nice! Simple, attainable goals and a great motivation make for a perfect challenge. ^^ You got this! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Thanks, T. ^^ With any luck I'll learn something useful this month, but only time will tell. I don't understand why, but starting this sleep journal seems to have had a negative impact on my ability to sleep. o0 All this week, I've been having uncommon trouble falling, and staying, asleep. Oddly, Mrs. Phayze has been struggling with the same thing, so maybe it's something in the air? --- Week 1 Tally: Covert Ops: 5/7 High Mobility: 3/3 Trusty Blade: 5/7

It just occured to me that I was apparently so wrapped up in the storytelling part of my challenge that I never gave these missions any real world context... oops? ^^: So, here's the short version: I'm tired a lot. I mean, like A LOT more than I really should be. My mother-in-law is 30+ years older than me, and she manages to keep up with my 6-year-old son much better than I can, and that's just embarrassing. I saw my doctor about it once, he did some blood work, recommended some vitamin supplements (which helped a bit at first, but the effect didn't last) and told me that I'm depressed and probably have sleep apnea - both not true... well, okay, I'm GETTING depressed, but that's just because I'm too tired to do all of the things that I need/want to do. The way I see it, there are two likely culprits here. 1) Central Nervous System Fatigue - which is likely, because I have history of burning myself out by doing too much and not resting properly. This one is nice, because it will probably just go away on its own given enough time, love and tenderness. 2) Narcolepsy - which is also likely, because I have some indications for it, and some family history (though not close enough that I've actually met the narcoleptic in question). This is not-so-nice, because it's basically incurable and the drugs used to treat it are horrifying (disclaimer: I think that about most drugs). Both basically come down to a matter of management, as there's no magic pill to take that will make either just go away, hence these missions. The Sleep Journal will (hopefully) help me discover some patterns that could possibly improve my fatigue management tactics, the gentle exercise should stimulate my nervous system and help me maintain mobility and mind-muscle connection just in case I someday can workout the way used to be able to, and the habitica dailies are to keep me from using tiredness as an excuse to skip out on doing important things like washing the laundy, because there's nothing worse than waking up to discover that you're out of clean underwear. Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

YAARRH Indeed! ^^ --- Week 1 Tally: Covert Ops: 2/7 High Mobility: 1/3 Trusty Blade: 2/7 On track for success! Sleep Journal Entries: Date: 7/17 Bedtime: 1245s Wake up: 915a # of Wakings: 1 Sleep quality: 7/10 Supplements taken/time: ginseng master + b12 @930a, glutamine @12a Avg energy level: 4/10 Naps - Quality: 145p-200p - 4/10 Date: 7/18 Sleep Time: 1240a-915a (8h 35m) # of Wakings: 3 Sleep quality: 4/10 Supplements taken/time: glutamine + Bedtime Tea @12a, B12 + Ginseng Master 945a Avg energy level: 5/10 Naps - quality: NA

Welcome back to GBC News, bringing you the latest stories from around the Goodfellow Cluster! Strange goings on at Oberon Tvier tonight, as reports are coming in from local security forces regarding what appears to be an outbreak of mobile frame violence near the spaceport. Details are sparse as of yet, but from what local authorities have been willing to share, it appears that an unidentified mobile frame suddenly attacked a group of land-based cargo vehicles, laying waste to their private security detail and scattering their cargo, though it is unclear at this time if anything was stolen. There were no transmissions from the attacker that may have indicated a possible motive. For now, we only have this single, distorted image of the assailant, recovered from the cockpit recorder on one of the wrecked security frames. If you have any information that may help investigators identify this machine, please contact your nearest colonial security office. An in-depth investigation is currently underway, and we will have more on this story as it develops. -- Who could this mysterious aggressor be? What nefarious aim lies at the heart of this vicious attack? Could it be reprisals by the Etton Conglomerate? Pirates? Only time will tell, but until then I’ll give you a little sneak peek at the Oberon Tvier Colonial Security Agency preliminary findings. -TL;DNR- -Covert Operation: Sleep Diary 7 days/week -High Mobility: Workout 3 days/week (endurance, mobility/skills and stretching) -Trusty Blade: Complete all Habitica Dailies 7 days/week Let’s get mysterious!

Week 5 Completed!...ish? I know I said that I was going to make up for missing week 1, but in the interests of gathering my physical and mental energies for the next challenge, I've decided to split the difference and call this week done halfway through. That's reasonable, righ? Right!? o0; Pointman: 13/13 100% GWACS: 16/21 76% Ground: 15/17 88% Pound: 13/13 100% So, I did really well at moving this challenge, which is great! Not so well with the stuff that required sitting, though, so that still needs more work... Still, not a terrible challenge, all in all. ^^ Going forward, I'll be keeping pretty much all of these activities in my Habitica Dailies so I can continue to progress with them - especially the forum activity thing! I suck at that. ^^; I know this is short for a wrap-up post, but I've decided to stop putting so much effort into stat-naziing the RPG elements of the challenges, I need to take some time right now to finish up my next challenge!

Thanks, Eli. ^^. Spot was a good friend, and we'd been through a lot together. As for my fatigue effecting my daily life, well that's kind of an understatement! I saw my doc about it last fall, and he told me I was low on a couple of vitamins (though supplementing them only helped a little) and tried to get me on antidepressants (I explained that I only feel depressed BECAUSE of the the fatigue). I should probably do a sleep study but 1) that sounds like torture and 2) even if I get diagnosed with narcolepsy, I'm not going to let them jack me up on Ritalin all day then dope me up on the date rape drug at night. Kind of a lose-lose situation, really, so I'm going to take my chances managing this problem on my own. Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Week 4 Update: Pointman: 4/4 back training sessions GWACS: 6/6 posts posted Ground: 3/4 meditations meditated Pound: 4/4 movements moved So, I've been putting off talking about this, because I wanted to have something worthwhile to say on the matter, but I'm pretty sure that L-glutamine is frikkin' magic. I had been taking it for a month or two and had noticed some improvements in my energy levels, but then about two weeks ago i ran out and decided to see how I got on without... the results of that experiment were not pretty. I've been extra sleepy and irritable since, though at first I put that down to stress/depression. Mrs Phayze noticed the decline my condition, too, so we popped out and bought a bottle glutamine. Three days later and I'm already feeling a lot better! Still kinda sleepy, but it's much less effort to get through a normal day without collapsing on the couch halfway through, and my mood is improving, too. I've been doing some research, and I'm pretty sure I'm narcoleptic, which is putting this chronic fatigue problem in an interesting light. I'm working on some quests designed to help me manage this problem more actively, rather than just waiting for it to go away... I'm pretty sure it's not going to do that, unfortunately.

Woo hoo! That first step is always the hardest. Once the joy of the spreadsheet gets its hooks in you, it's all downhill. ^& Oh, an nice work on those HSPUs! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Oh noes! o0 I hope you can get it fixed, but I guess walking isn't a bad option either. ^^ Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Cool challenge! Dwarves without booze sound pretty scary, though. Just a little advice from my "learned the hard way" file:. Take your time building those pull ups! I pushed too hard, too far and did some unpleasant things to my elbow tendons. > Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

That's so cool that your biking to work! It's something I've been wanting to do for ages, but keep putting off. Mrs Phayze has this crazy idea that I'll get run over by a car, and her logic is difficult to argue with. ^^; Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Week 3 Update: Pointman: 4/4 back training sessions GWACS: 2/6 posts posted Ground: 4/4 meditations meditated Pound: 4/4 movements moved Okay, fresh week, fresh start! Got to begin the week by pulling a double-shift at work, which is no fun, but there are worse things, and the money is good so no regrets. My fatigue levels were pretty awful last week, so there was a lot of dragging myself through my goals... which is exactly why my goals are still so easy, so that's all right. I've worked up to two sets of 10 short bridges and I'm going to try the same with angled ring rows tonight - so far I haven't had any burn out problems, but I'm being careful not to pile on any faster than a rep or two per week. That's Coach Wade's advice, and I'm trusting his system, even though I really really want to work harder. I totally flubbed my forum posting goal, for no better than reason just not making it a priority. I knew this was going to be my foil this month. :/ I only managed a little Lego time, so I don't have anything to show... still. ^^;

Woo! You show that sandbag who's boss, T! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Thanks, Bones. ^^. There were definitely loads of hijinks! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Week 2 Review: Pointman: 3/3 back training sessions GWACS: 6/6 posts posted Ground: 4/4 meditations meditated Pound: 3/3 movements moved I was just starting to get my head back together a little when Mrs Phayze calls me at work to tell me that my cat is urinating blood. To be fair, I've been expecting this... she's 16 years old, hyper thyroid and has chronic kidney disease, but still I kind of wished she'd do me the favor of passing away in her sleep and making things easy on me. No such luck. I had to leave work early and take Spot to the vet for the last time today. I put her to rest near the woods behind my house and built a little cairn over her so she isn't disturbed. On the one hand, I'm glad she doesn't have to suffer any more, but on the other ... I miss my cat. Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Week 2 Update: Pointman: 2/4 back training sessions GWACS: 4/6 posts posted Ground: 2/5 meditations meditated Pound: 2/4 movements moved I'm starting this week out in a weird place mentally... I'm feeling really down over some personal stuff and I have pretty much no motivation for anything outside of self-flagellation and/or trying to distract myself from self-flagellation with housework, anime and computer games. It took some convincing, but I came to accept that the whole reason we do these challenges is so that we have commitments to make good on, even when we don't want to. Depression is a real creativity-killer, though, so even though I managed to score some points, I wasn't able to put together an update on the plight of the striking workers at the asteroid mine. Hopefully soon. Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Maybe it's just me, but getting motivated to make spreadsheets has never been a problem. You don't get a thrill out of formatting cells and adjusting formulae? o0 Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk

Hey, that split is looking pretty good! You'll be on the floor in no time. ^^ I just started working on mine last challenge, so I've got a long way to go. I'll keep an eye on your progress for inspiration! Sent from my XT1028 using Tapatalk