Tialoredron

*drops in behind the shadows of the masses* >.> <.< *quietly cheers*

*stumbles in, looks around* "I have no memory of this place." - Gandalf, Mines of Moria It is wonderful to be back stateside again, but alas I was lazy during the deployment and put my workouts on pause. I have since recovered and am well back on the path that is Crossfit at my local box; luckily the damage wasn't too severe, just a few days of DOMs and reduced weight capacity on the strength workouts. Eating well during the deployment helped stave off too much loss but I have gained an additional 10 pounds and am sitting at 185 lbs at 5'11". I am happy where I am weight wise and am looking forward to exceeding even my previous PRs with the increased mass (hoping to lose fat, gain muscle). Hope everyone is having an amazing challenge so far!

It's at moments like this that I truly appreciate our fearless leaders (because I will totally buy that T-shirt once NF store comes back).

5 pages in and no Diggy diggy hole? I am most disappoint.

The only whiskey I drink

Walks into the Tavern, seeing about half the room drinking caffeinated hot water and the others drinking fermented water. My fellow Rangers who mistakenly believe they can only have one drink or the other, surely you lot are more creative than that. Might I be able to offer you something I learned from an island far to the North; to stay warm in the winter (or for those who were still too cold in the summer) take a shot of whiskey and pour it into your coffee, like so! Greetings fellow Rangers! Good to see so many getting a head start on things! I am getting ready for a move to go the biggest sandbox I know about. I will probably be pretty silent until mid next month when everything (hopefully) settles into becoming the new normal.

Congrats skinNbones! Time does have a crazy way of speeding by. Here's to many more years of the newer you!

And along with the PR on clean, no real surprise on being able to do a new PR on Front squat yesterday with 185 lbs! Now to connect the two movements to make it a true BW Clean.

Quote to live by; right there. You may not be awesome to yourself right now, maybe not tomorrow, but each day you can be a little more awesome than yesterday until you look back at where you started and realize all those "little awesomenesses" added up to your current level of awesome. Be awesome Rangers!

A bit late in report this, but hit a major milestone for me by hitting a new PR on my Power Clean this past Monday! Finally hit Bodyweight!

The only thing I can imagine at this point is the words in the voice of Darth Vader...followed by saying repeatedly "One of Us. One of Us." as the tavern stands to repeat the incantation. I see others had beaten me to the punch of getting the "One of Us" but with it being May 4th and all... Anyways, greetings fellow Rangers! I am back and ready to stalk shadows again. I may toss my hat back into the ring again with the challenges, but I won't be working any physical fitness (read: fi'dness!). I would like to get involved with the community here at NF and hashing out my life goals again; but work has been going in cycles of moderately busy to "*unintelligible noises* 12 hour days isn't enough I need more hours!" July is definitely going to be hectic and I will be spending the next months getting ready for that; I am not sure how well I will be able to balance work, fitness (fi'dness!), Epic Quest, as well as my own gaming/nerd-dom development. @Tanktimus the Encourager, Your words of encouragements are always a fun read even though I am not participating in the challenge. Thank you for what you do for the Ranger community and I hope you realize that there are those of us in the shadows and other guilds who, though we go unspoken, truly appreciate the time and effort you are giving to this community to improve the lives of others. I hope that I could be at least 10% as motivational as you have been; but thank you for providing my final push to really wanting to get back into the community!

That's horrible... They were supposed to be green.

A hooded figure appears in the doorway, his cloak soaked from the rain as he made his travels that day. The figure took a quick stock of the room, recognizing a few faces but seeing plenty of new ones and made his way to the barkeep. A few unheard exchanges and a leather pouch slid across the bar as the figure moved to the a chair with a wall to his back; he stuck his knife in the center of the table and prepped his pipe to light incense since he never actually smoked but enjoyed the smells. You see the barkeep pouring rounds for everyone and overhear him saying Courtesy of the hooded one. Said he used to be a regular. The figure drew his hood back and the older faces recognized Tialoredron from the previous year he spent in the Ranger Hall, but went off on his own a few months back and hadn't heard from him in a while. He seems friendly enough, but he isn't engaging with anyone who doesn't come to him. Hey guys and gals! Good to see everyone doing well and bringing in some new Rangers! Alas, I am still not doing any challenges but I would be more than happy to cheer you guys on from the sideline. I am still doing well and working on my own epic quest of awesome, but posting about it hasn't been a priority of mine. For the Rebellion!

As it should be!

Necro-ed! New PR last night with Deadlifting 290 lbs! Still hanging out and watching from the shadows mostly; purchased NF Yoga, but I haven't really started besides watching the first video. Need to find the motivation to make time to at least watch Water A and start getting to it.

Its been a long while since I have updated my sig and had a Woot; yesterday's WoD involved re-finding our 1x Max for deadlift (was at 215 lbs, didn't update my sig when I busted that from 165 lbs on 9 February earlier this year) and I was able to lift 265 with a double over grip! The second attempt failed and I needed to do a switch grip for the remainder of the day (12 minute AMRAP 15 calorie rows, 10 AMSU 20 lbs, 3 Deadlift 245 lb scaled) Even after busting PR for our strength workout, I was still able to knock out 5 rounds and get one calorie done for the start of the next round. And now for the DOMs....

Yeah, unfortunately I failed compared to my baseline. Looks like its time to do moar burpees...

Karen still has me not walking straight, and I did her on Wednesday! I couldn't really imagine doing 1 more WB after 150...much less 1 more burpee after the same exertions.

157 Verbal and 158 Quantitative on the exam, but I may have those values switched; I was super exited to see those two values on the screen as the requirements of the school I am looking at is 153V/148Q for the GRE, so in either case I definitely smashed it! One step closer to getting my Masters! ((If I do get a Masters...can I be called 'The Master'? I will have to find a way to make or steal a TARDIS though, maybe that will be my thesis...)) /WOOT!

As much as I would like to, I don't think I can properly manage my time to work back in, but I definitely appreciate it! Once life settles down and I find more time than I know what to do with I will definitely be back in for more rounds.

Just got my baseline; 67 without a target height. I plan on using the box I go to for accomplishing the PvP and hope to get a video as well. Definitely going to use my (now) new NF gear to help motivate me through another 7 minutes of that when it comes time. Good luck all! ((This is not for the weak of heart, mind, body, our soul....it will devour all!!))

I talked to Cn3wton as I was stepping out, but I was hoping to get back into it in a relatively short time (which didn't really happen).

Greetings fellow Rebels, I skipped out last challenge and stayed away from the boards as I prepped for moving to a new job. The date is fixed now, and I will officially be moving June 17. I have been keeping my workouts going and diet as appropriate for me and did not have any real loses to speak of other than a few games I was involved with in the boards and threads I was following; I don't think it wise to get re-involved in the games again as I feel I will spend too much time putting in effort to them when I should spend time to making sure I have good feet moving forward at my next job, but I will watch from the sidelines at the very least. In better news, I decided the time to splurge had come and I purchased the three styles of NF shirts I had my eyes on since I started last year and received them in the mail yesterday. I am very pleased at the shirts and am excited to wear them to my future workouts and I hope to have proper pictures up soon (on here and FB). During my time away, I asked myself what exactly is the Rebellion to me? I had gone almost over 6 weeks without the boards, still working out on my own and eating as well as I can. Previously I had felt I gave my lifeforce/willpower into the Rebellion so much that I thought it to be interfering with my real life as I wanted to put in the effort of a full scale D&D campaign into my character and the message boards. Realizing that I was too involved, I stepped into the shadows to refocus on my fitness and diet and ensure my goals still aligned with a progress. The Rebellion has been an important part in regards to my outlook on diet and fitness, and nothing will change that the Rebellion is one of my original influences to how I am improving my life. With all that, the Rebellion cannot and will not run my life though. I am on my own path by myself and others can join me in parts, but it is I who will have to walk the path and dictate the meaning of the trail of life. I found that the Crossfit gym I attend had the in-person accountability that I missed out on when my roommate and I graduated from college; I filled that hole with the online Rebellion community and I could not ask for a better one, but there is nothing like having the spotter/trainer/mentor/coach right there next to me. I will advocate the 6-week challenge for those that want to start or modify habits, but I have found that after the habit is formed, the challenge loses its meaning and I lost faith in the challenge. I see that the challenges can and still work for people, but I had felt like I was stuck in a rut in coming up with challenges that I could build SMART goals with; I hated the idea of fixing a number to pushing a weight when that was not what I was looking for, I wanted to make changes and ensure that I put in the time and effort of getting an exercise routine built and formed and the strength gaining would follow. I have started this whole adventure as 5'11 155 lbs scrawny skinny that lost all the improvements made back in college, and after joining the gym I have gained 20 lbs and I have put on muscle definition in my arms and legs as I stopped worry about how much I want to lift weight-wise and instead worry about improving myself for the workout later that day, or the next workout. I have stopped comparing myself to what I want to be and now I am working out to improve what I can, listening to what my body is telling me during the workouts and increasing the difficulty when I can. I suspect I will still get onto the Rangers threads during the challenges and participate in the mini's as I feel I want to, but I am not sure if I will be participating in the challenges at this time.

/e tosses his hat in the ring /e throws down his gauntlet /e salutes his opponents Not really looking forward to this, but at the same time should be fun; great way to get back on the boards for sure!

As the horde pops out of the ground like daisies, Thurindor's eyes widen bigger than his stomach as he attempts to count the undead risen from there slumber and begins chanting in the old language ((Sylvan)) "Oh protect me from this I face; Yield death its disgrace" and a shimmer forms around him, but instantly goes out of sight. Thurindor then leaps into the first ranks of zombies as they move around Bacon's goo and yells at the undead ((Common)) "BEGONE! YOUR BODIES ARE EMPTY HUSKS AND YOUR SOULS YEARN FOR REST!" as a wave of white light emanates from him.Three of the zombies lumber off to crawl back to their grave, but the masses continue to surround Thurindor. "YOU ARE DISEASED AND ROTTED, THE LIGHT HAS ABANDONED YOU AS YOU SUFFER NEEDLESSLY!" and another blast of light sends 5 running off to parts unknown. The three that stayed behind threw their arms toward him, but only one caught purchase as the other two seemed to hit a barrier around Thurindor. It did not take long for the blood to start flowing from the wound in the shoulder, but Thurindor seemed to pay no mind and he continued his crazed ranting; "YOUR BLOOD HAS STOPPED FLOWING AND YOUR CYCLE IS BROKEN, RETURN TO YOUR SLEEP AND DECAY TO DUST" 2 more zombies seem to listen and gave into the words being uttered. As the two zombies disengage from battle, Thurindor seems to become aware of the situation he had put himself into, now thoroughly surrounded by zombies all pressing for the attack; 4 of the zombies are able to tear through the barrier exposing more wounds to fuel their hunger for carnage. The visible effects of blood loss quickly came on to Thurindor as his skin turned paler (as if it wasn't pale enough already!) and his steps became more staggered. "I gotta get out of here, this is no place for a wizard to be...what was I thinking!" Thurindor ducked his head down and rushed through the line between him and the rest of the group and fell over after getting behind Flo and Elora. Squirming out of his pack, he picked up and loaded his crossbow to take a shot and the oncoming onslaught of undeath, fearing that he may join them if he couldn't get back on his feet. As the first shot wizzes out of the contraption, Thurindor rolls on top of his pack and rushes over it, grabbing it with his left hand and dragging it behind him. He takes a moment to heft the pack onto his good shoulder and reloads his crossbow; his clothing nearly unserviceable but for rags as blood is soaked through and dirt had adhered to the wet clothing. The shot hit one of the zombies, at least that is what Thurindor hoped, but he had fired into the masses and he cannot pick out a certain target as his eyes refused to focus. Another shot lucked itself to fell another member of the horde, but continue onward it marched.