Broba Fett

Following along good sir.

Also, big thanks to @Tanktimus the Encourager for the call to "come home" on FB. It was just what I needed to push me over the edge to back with it.

My friend, it appears we are in very similar places. Let's get back to it.

Good to be back and good to see you too. Now to stick with it!

Hi friends old and new, long time no see. Life has been busy. In the past year I've: Released a novella. Bought a house. Continued to be a full time dad and husband successfully. Had an eipdural injection on two herniated discs that were causing my left leg to go numb. (Stemming from bad lifting years ago. Foot is still numb but I am mostly functional, if far from my strongman competing self of a few years ago.) Finished my BS in Business Management and walked in the first graduation of my life. Got a new job in a brand new industry and have been working much harder/ 3-4 more hours per day, including 2-3 days per week of working late from home. Started the year at 416lbs, got down to ~375 in the summer, then slacked with the new job and back problems and got back up to 399. I really need to maintain and finish the year with a net loss of overall lbs. It'd be a big boost to my mental health, which has honestly been strained over recent months. So my goals are simple: Track calories every day. No goals, no shame if I go over. Just the act of tracking will keep me from grabbing that 5th caramel pixie. Check in with you all every day to tell you all how I tracked and check up with some of you. Bonus goal: Take advantage of my fancy gym membership to go to one of the included group yoga classes with my wife. Just one. I will probably fall in love with it but I have to get there first. That's it. The past 6 years have shown me that the small changes are the ones most easily carried forward. Please help hold me accountable. Starting weight (10/2012): 500.5lbs Challenge starting weight: 399lbs Total overall weight lost: 101.5lbs

I'll be honest and suggest you just listen to the first two arcs. The most recent one has been lackluster at best. It feels like the group had a lot more fun at the beginning and now they're just kind of keeping the patreon money flowing. I am really only listening now because i'm so invested in the world and want to hear how everything plays out. They really hit their stride 20-30 episodes in and it stays pretty compelling until the end of the second arc, which was just a few months ago. In fact, I think they had an abridged version going for awhile. Cuts out a lot of the boring f*ckery that comes along with 4e and gives you the best parts of the story. Maybe check that out.

I thought he might. He definitely has a knack for weaving fiction. And Travis/Justin care so much about their characters. Even Clint really started taking it seriously after Crystal Kingdom. Commitment was a fun little one-off and you could tell he got real serious about planning it. I'm real excited to see how Amnesty goes. Also excited to listen to the trial session of Dust. I assume that's the cowboy game Travis has referenced a few times in various The The Adventure Zone Zones? Biggest problem I forsee is that I'll be totally caught up within a couple weeks and I'll have to find another show to binge between new episodes of TAZ and Drunks & Dragons.

I powered through the last 10 episodes or so of Balance last week while driving to/from Des Moines on business. It was an excellent ending to an excellent story. Also made it through Commitment and am an episode in on Amnesty. Still making up my mind as to whether I like the Apocalypse gameplay over 5e.

Still alive and going strong. Sold about 100 copies of the book and feeling really good about it. Made more than enough to validate continuing to write. It's nice to have a hobby that pays. Passed Project Management on 2/15 Passed Global Business on 2/27 Submitted Change Management final paper yesterday, awaiting grading. Halfway done with Business Communication. I expect to be done and graded by mid-week. Been walking and/or swimming 4-5x per week and have been on or under points consistently since the last post. Weigh-in today went really well: 388.8 So that makes it: 9.4 lbs down since beginning of this challenge 36.2 down since wedding (6/10) 111.7 down overall 13.8 to the lowest weight I've been since Tammy and I have been together 37.8 to the lowest weight I've been as an adult

Thanks man! I appreciate it. I hope you enjoy it. And yes, my face remembers the arnis as well. If I get a minute later I'll try to find a picture of the time I caught a stick to the eye.

I'm super excited to see what happens if/when the church were to find out I'm selling a fantasy book featuring a cameo from the pope. Speaking of, the book is on sale! People are epaying money to read something I wrote and it feels awesome. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Sounds like a plan. I'm all in on it. I'm sure that's part of it. We're a pretty liberal town, having two college campuses, but college kids don't generally show up to Mass en masse. (Heh.) So it's definitely an older conservative congregation.

Thanks sir. It felt really good. If I can keep racking up good reviews and finish my degree I think I'll be in a really good position for promotion whenever my director retires in a few years. RE: Minecraft: I have never been able to get into it but I bet the kid would love it. I think our next purchase will be Mario kart as I know we both will enjoy that but I'll have to put Minecraft on the list. RE: WW: I was super skeptical but it's working so I won't question it. I think paying for it adds a level of accountability. Also the flexibility helps. The weekly flex points and fitness points help me to keep my "cheats" from running wild. I know that if I stay within my total points for the week plus fitness points I'll lose at least 2lbs. So a meal of weakness doesn't become "eff it, I'll start again on Monday" I agree with you though on succeeding and failing together. That has happened to us on several other eating plans. So we will see how long we can keep WW going. If we can go all year the wife should be at her goal and I should be down 100lbs and the lightest ive been since junior high. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

That is exactly how the first priest explained it to us before we married. That explanation is why we didn't pursue this prior to marriage and why my wife contemplated leaving the church. It is absurd to us that they were saying they'd rather her stay divorced and living in sin than marry me. That priest was sent on "administrative leave" shortly thereafter, so take that FWIW. The ladies at the parish explained it in a much more palatable light: that marriage is a sacrament between man and wife and is meant to be for life. Annulment is checking to see if you actually were qualified to give that sacrament in your first marriage in the eyes of the church. Regarding conservative nature of the church, I was surprised as well considering how liberal and revoltuonary Pope Francis is. However, I guess such things take time to trickle down, especially to churches in rural Illinois under an older conservative Bishop. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

This is all secondhand understanding via how it's been explained to me by the lady who runs the program for prospective Catholics, a priest, and the lady I talked to Monday who helps with the annulments and such so I apologize if it is off: Our first marriages were not Catholic so they would not have been blessed BUT the divorces still count in that Tammy cannot take the Eucharist once we married. The annulments we are looking into now is the church looking to see if there was a reason both of our previous marriages were not actually considered a marriage in the eyes of the church and could be annuled. So basically they want to anull something they already consider illegitimate. (I know, contradictory, but stick with me) From my understanding nearly every marriage could be annuled if you look hard enough. And they do. Everything from finances to sex to abuse to family history to unwillingness to have children/more children. Gotta pop out more Catholics. It could even come out that they announce them annuled solely because both of us were married by protestant ministers. I'm not a big fan of the process or the fact that they believe anyone can be cut off from communion due to making a decision to marry and divorce BEFORE joining the church. It's just one of the many things they will have to explain to me in order for me to consider converting later. At one point I was planning on attending seminary as a Baptist so I have some preconceived notions and such that need to be addressed. Oh well. It's worth it to me to explore the possibility, if only so my kid doesn't have to explain to her friends in Catholic school why her stepdad doesn't take communion. Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk

Thanks all. It's totally crazy that people will be paying to read my imaginings the day after tomorrow. I feel really good about it though. The Q&A videos went over well and ended up being really fun to shoot. Check out the author fb page if you want to check them out. Likewise good buddy. That brings up a good point. Several of you are fb friends but anyone on here can feel free to add me. I'm going to do my best to stay current on here but fb is definitely the best way to stay in touch. If you do add me just shoot me a message letting me know you're from NF. ------------------------------------- Monday: Took and aced not one but two, count em, two finals. Microeconomics and Quantitative Analysis. Brings my total credit hours completed since October to 58. If I can finish one more class I'll own my Student Mentor's record for most credit hours completed in one six month term. Spent time with the kid playing Switch. Mario Odyssey two player is hard. Went to the parish to talk with the lady about annulling my first marriage in the eyes of the church so my current marriage could be blessed and my wife could resume communion. It was not easy. Very intimate details were discussed. I had to answer questions as to why I felt it was permissible to divorce and such and really examine my decision to do so for the first time in a couple years. Not fun. I don't regret my decision but it's not a good time to discuss bad times. I didn't let it ruin my day though. Had a good night with the wife and kid. Was under my daily points. Today: Went and swam for a full hour this morning, followed by a good soak in the whirlpool. Walked on a break and lunch for a total of 75 mins. Got my mid-year review: Exceeds Expectations Nailed my daily points. Tomorrow: Wife has an interview first thing in the morning that she's super worried about. So I'll spend most of the morning soothing and encouraging. Hopefully I can get a walk in on lunch again. Thurs: BOOK LAUNCH!!!!

It's been good. I think I may have been a little over-ambitious to start school and the book thing in the first six months of the marriage but so far we've held up well. I'm glad you're doing well. Best thing about life is that it's never too late for us to be better.

I've got nearly two... dozen pre-orders of the ebook. Seems like most people who actually know me want a paperback copy so I can sign it. We shall see how the launch goes Thurs.

That storm was super weird. My wife drives up to I80 every day for work and she was working in whiteout conditions all day but we didn't get a single flake here in BloNo. Glad it wasn't as bad as they were forecasting for you up there.

Thanks y'all. I'm super excited to have so much stuff going well at the same time. I've figured out that the best way to keep happy is to keep busy. No down time equals no time for being bummed and such. @deftona Thanks! It's an urban fantasy novella about a guy who gets recruited into a group of Paladins that protect the earth from evil. Lots of things get shot and/or blown up. Check out the author fb page link in my sig for more details. Super excited to get it out there. I filmed four short little Q&A style videos about the book for the guys helping me market it, including a fun one where I tried to make a wendigo call from my voice and an elk call. Getting them uploaded to the fb page at various times today. Tomorrow I'm off work but have the kid at home because one of the priests from her school passed away last week and services are tomorrow. So tomorrow will likely consist of some schoolwork and some time hanging with her. I also have a meeting at the local parish tomorrow with a lady who is going to help me learn more about Catholicism and possibly converting. I have a bunch of questions that need to be addressed before I could commit to such a thing, having been brought up Baptist. At the very least we will be seeing about having our previous marriages annulled in the eyes of the church and having our marriage blessed so my wife can take communion again.

Way to go on the 12 miles!

Paladins Anointing Ebook launches on 2/15. Urban Fantasy about a vet who gets recruited into a secret society of modern day paladins. They shoot things and blow things up. Check it out. Tell me what you think.

Oh I forgot starting weight: Weight at start of challenge: 398.2 Down 36.8 since wedding (6/10/17), 102.3 overall (10/12/12) Also, considering goal weights: I had long considered 275 my long term goal. This week I am reconsidering. One of my employees is 6'0" (4 inches shorter than me), has a more slender build, and hasn't done a bunch of lifting in his life and weighs 275. His body type is what I'd be happy with long term. So I may need to readjust my expectations for the long run. Right now I'm sticking with under 350 by my birthday 9/1, which would allow me to safely use a treestand in October. Thus I am 48.2lbs from birthday goal as of this morning.

Hi friend. How goes it?

Grumble, you're a guild leader?!? I'm out of it for just a few months and everyone starts getting delusions of grandeur.