mkdutch

Yay for being alive. Between you and @@mu I'm looking forward to Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff and some friendly competition!

Yesterday was mentally rough, but I'm feeling significantly better today. I've made progress with my handstands and I'm super happy about that. She-who-must-not-be-named showed up though so swimming is on hold for the week. I'll try to jump straight into my week 2 goals when I get back to the pool.

 

To help with mental health I'm trying out an app called mood paths that checks in a few times a day and records how you're doing. After 2 weeks it shows you a map of your emotions and helps identify causes and patterns. 

 

Athena's Playbook> History of Magic mini

Day 8 completed

  3 sets:

    20 high knees and 2 burpees w/ jump ×5

 

Handstands> Defense Against the Dark Arts mini

6 minutes of practice(see progress photo)

 

Reading

I haven't been nothing this, though I've taken time to read every morning. Currently 2/3rds the way through my first book.

4 hours ago, @mu said:

I know no magician wants to be Hufflepuff, but I so wish you had been sorted with us

Fun fact, I'm normally a Slytherin so naturally I love Hufflepuffs. So let's have some friendly competition and support eachother. I look forward to seeing you on the quidditch field!

1 hour ago, Mad Hatter said:

Oh dear. Hope it was just a temporary glitch and that you’re ok?

Really bad negative body image day is all. I'll be okay though. 

Alright! First day of the new term. Last minute switch from Flying to History of Magick as I'm trying to be a little more money conscious.

 

History of Magic

Hit the first running goal of .5 miles fairly easily. With warm up and cool down totalled .64 miles. 

 

Completed Athena's playbook day 8. 

3 sets:

   20 bridges

   10 bridge taps

   10 push kicks

   10 butterfly dips

   10 V extensions

 

Defense Against the Dark Arts

15 minutes of forward rolls. 

(No practice video today as the entire session happened with a mental breakdown and I dont need that immortalized.)

 

Quidditch 

Total reps:180

20×3 Straight Leg Lifts

20×3 Sit and Reach

20×3 Table Top Crunches w/yoga ball

 

 

I'll take up seeker, I could use more drive to work on my core.

Alright nerds! Who's ready to kick butt? 

 

(Also, any spots open for Quidditch?)

Oh excellent! I'll watch it in a bit. ❤

Firstly I am super jealous of your swimming spot. All the areas around here are either filled with gators or at the moment poisoned. XD;

 

Secondly, that backbends, even while stiff, is so smooth! 

Your practice videos are awesome. Even within the single session you can see a skill progression!

3 hours ago, @mu said:

 

 ouch! shame it looked like a lot of fun.

It was, but I'll just have relocate my work to the gym instead. Allergies can't hold me back. 

 

3 hours ago, @mu said:

Hufflepuff is full it seems, but we have many MIA. It would be good to have some mid-term re-inscription / Mini confirmation maybe, to avoid positions that are filled but not active (all the Houses have this problem, not just us).

 

Well I am excited for which ever house they put me in. Just hoping I get placed by tonight. XD

So, hit a low after being plagued with nightmares Thursday night. Skipped the pool but kept up with Athena and handstands. No real progress yet on handstands. Friday I went for a run and roll session and realized I'm allergic to grass as my shoulders and triceps are still covered in hives a day later. (Bonus, got chased off early from my practice as the sprinklers turned on.) So all tumbling will be in a gym setting now. 

 

Still waiting on house placement, but I hope to join quidditch maybe and start racking up points for my house!

On 8/8/2018 at 1:34 PM, Alanna said:

Following! Good luck with the tumbling :). I had to learn some similar moves for aikido a few years ago, and could have definitely seen and raised you when it comes to rolling struggles :P. Eventually something clicked - though I'm not sure I still have those skills!

 

Let me know if you have any advice for handstands - I also think being upside down is scary...

 

Hope the meditation helps on the mental front, as well.

 

Yeah, I'll definitely get it. It'll just take time. For handstands, I like using the wall to get the hang of being upside down. I've managed to get both feet off the wall briefly, but not to full inversion (the perks of having a low ceiling and being tall I guess). 

 

On 8/8/2018 at 2:50 PM, Mad Hatter said:

Yay handstands! Have you learnt how to cartwheel out of them yet? That's the first thing I'd do to overcome the fear.

 

I actually can't cartwheel either. I can kinda do it on my left but I dont travel at all and I'm not actually sure how high my legs actually go. XD

Good morning~ I was curious about if sorting had been done?

Welcome to the assassin side my fellow Songs of the Lioness fan! (Side note, glad to see you're still on the site!)

Swimming, handstands, and stretching! Oh My!

 

Swimming

Pulled myself from bed early so that I could hit the pool around 6am knowing I would have no time otherwise. Died doing Managed to swim 600 meters in 24:01. I'd like to lower my time, but stamina shoulder come first.

 

Athena's Playbook

3 sets each:

-10 Squats

-20 Side kicks

-10 Lunge Ups

-20 Side Lunges

 

Handstands

HANDSTANDS ARE SCARY! That is all.

Spent roughly 15 minutes working on handstands, mostly getting used to being upside down.

 

 

Stretching

Stretching is my favorite. Worked on front splits and back bends today.

Finding myself tight in the hamstrings, so front splits were a struggle. No pictures on that at the moment.

 

 

Last night was a bad mental night, so getting up this morning was really a struggle. I did it though and hopefully will continue to do so.

I'm intrigued by the day drinking and underdark!

 

Have an awesome time though!

1 minute ago, raptron said:

Yesss, I love all the things you are working on.

 

Thanks for being patient with the Sorting Hat! I'm working on getting you into a house on the spreadsheet (we may or may not have not set up permissions correctly for me, haha) but if I can't get that done soon, I'll just let you know and you can at least start tracking on the individual house page.

 Thank you! I figured if I hadnt heard by Friday I would start poking so thank you for the update.

You've got this! I'm excited to see what goals you set!

20 minutes ago, @mu said:

Yeah progress video! You're lucky to have a pro to help. But what matters most imo is that you enjoy it and stick to it! As you say, it's a journey.

 

I love the rolling in the grass! That's exactly what I would like to do now /badger (but it's too hot outside)

 

 

 

I went out at 7am because Florida is awful and any later I would die.

 

12 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

It sure does look like a lot of fun!

 

It's fun but frustrating. There is a lot of laughing to prevent me from being overwhelmed. XD

A little more than frustrated, but I also have to remember I haven't done tumbling in years and even then I wasn't good. Did a short run today (only .25 mile of continuous running) and practiced rolls before heading home to start the Athena Playbook. 

 

I'm lucky in that I have a friend helping me with tumbling that is a former instructor and is literally paid to trick now. So I have that edge in this journey. We've determined I need to work on my core and have adjusted my stance.

 

Here's the blooper reel... I mean practice video I sent him:

 

(The bad music made me feel better about my over all crappy practice.)

 

Athena's Playbook:

I shared it with a friend, not expecting her to start that day so I did days 1 and 2 in order to catch up with her. Day 1 is cardio with a good number of burpees. Day 2 is upper body. 

 

Day 1: Cardio (level 1)

3 sets of:

     20 high knees, 4 burpees, 20 mountain climbers, 4 burpees, 20 jumping jacks, 4 burpees. (2 minute rest between sets) 

 

Day 2: Upper Body (level 1)

 3 sets of:

     4 plank rotations & 20 punches (4x)

 

Tomorrow:

Swimming, flexibility, handstands, and day 3

41 minutes ago, @mu said:

We have similar interests it seems (handstand / aerial / flexibility)! Whatever the sorting hat decides for you, it should be fun! I'm still working on that LEVIOSA spell  

 

 

Leviosa is a lot harder than it seems that's for certain. I'm excited to see your progress though, I'll likely post videos of my own work in tumbling and pole.

 

27 minutes ago, Mad Hatter said:

 

Loving all your fun activities!  Circus <3

 

❤❤❤ circus arts are so much fun!

Heckin' yeah! Way to crush it right out of the gate!

Slay those goals!!

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

 

Whilst I have not yet been sorted, I am much too excited to join back up that I am posting my goals regardless! I'd love to make this fun and full of gifs and images, but apparently my computer's right click is no more. So a wall of text that I may edit later it is.

 

My plan? Go hard or go home. Commit or quit. So I hope we can all cheer each other on and become amazing.

 

Personal goals:

 

As an assassin one needs to be able to escape any situation. Whether that be on land and water, and strong enough to overcome obstacles.

 

Swim 3x a week

-Week 1: 500m/600m/700m

-Week 2: 750m/900m/1000m

-Week 3: 1000m/1000m/1250m

-Week 4: 1000m/1250m/1500m

 

Athena's Playbook

-A 30 day training program from darabee.com that encompasses strength,cardio, and flexibility.

 

Run 2x a week

-Week 1: .5miles/.75miles

-Week 2: .75miles/1mile

-Week 3: 1mile/1.5miles

-Week 4: 1.5miles/2miles

 

 

 

Hogwarts Homework:

 

Defense Against the Dart Arts

**handstands and tumbling**

-Class 2x a week

 

 

History of Magick

**Running/Swimming/Strength Training**

See above goals

 

Transfiguration

**flexibility**

-Class 4x a week

     (focus on splits and back)

 

 

Extracurricular

 

The studious mind

An assassin should be knowledgeable in more than just body, the mind should be just as sharp a tool as any other.

-Read daily/making it a morning routine

 

Calm in the storm

A clear mind is key for an assassin. One must be able to separate self from a situation in order to adapt with ease.

-Meditate 3x a week (more to counteract any anxiety spikes as necessary)

 

Cunning Linguists

Communication is key to surviving.

Practice German daily