KitBi12

After checking the leaf door for drafts, Kit returned to find the satyr rifling through her knapsack. She deftly picked her way through the group and plucked the corrupted heartwood from his hands. "You're a leader, not a thief. Learn to respect the boundaries of those in your service. However," Kit pulled a vibrant lily from her bag, "if you insist on taking without permission, at least take something which once belonged to you." Bypassing Teros, Kit brought the fire flower to the center of the cave and coaxed it to bloom. The flower filled the space with a warm light which sank through the skin to weary bones. And the party slept soundly. Heeding the call of the jungle, Kit packed her things, imbued the fire flower with energy, and silently wished her companions success before disappearing. Though full of dark, danger, and chaos, Kit trusted herself to the wilderness. Hey all, I'm not going to finish out this challenge or start another on NF. I will, of course, answer PMs if people wish to keep in touch. Best of luck to you all. Stay strong and adventure on!

Hey Kyliewyotie (fantastic name, btw), Thanks for checking in. Unfortunately, I won't be finishing out this challenge on NF. Or starting another one next time. While I feel terribly about leaving our team mid-competition, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be on the forums for a long, long while for reasons I won't go into on a public forum. For those of you who do still wish to contact me, I will respond to PMs. ^.^ Best of luck, everyone. Kick some butt!

All of these things are magic from whole foods.

The 'junk', BTW, is mostly veggie chips and chili-dusted pineapple. And a little dark chocolate peanut butter for emergencies. Or strawberries. Whichever happens first.

I can help out as a beater (basic burpees) or chaser (jumping jacks). I don't always have access to a computer, so I shouldn't be a seeker. Wouldn't want to miss the surprise and not participate. >.> That being said, I will update points as much as possible during games.

Week 1! I did my 4x workouts and increased the resistance for my cardio. I doubled the amount of times I’m working out, more than doubled the resistance, and doubled the length of my ‘cardio.’ Hopefully, this will yield results, but, more than anything, it just feels good. ^.^ (STA 5/5) I joined the mini and proceed to be hours behind the challenges. >.> I haven’t done much for the mini… but I did join. It’s something. (3/5 STR?) Haven’t bought much junk, and the junk I did buy would have been healthy one year ago. (3/4 CON)

Day 1 on my own! (Boyfriend is out of town; drove to the airport instead of going to the gym) I worked a few extra hours, went grocery shopping and arrived home absolutely ravenous. I brought home some chicken pot pie soup (instead of an actual chicken pot pie) from the grocery store, and am making some delicious smelling minestrone. Heirloom tomatoes, garlic scapes, all the aromatics, fresh parsley, cauliflower, kidney beans, and spinach (to be added later) are simmering away. I went shopping for just myself while incredibly hungry, and am a little pleased that my splurge items were a bag a veggie chips and some yogurt.

Salutations fellow Rebels! Kit is a kitsune, a fox of Japanese lore who can take the shape of a human and/or a fox-human hybrid before their powers come to fruition. For now, Kit has fuzzy ears and a fluffy fox tail. [i didn’t draw the above picture. Kudos to ayane-ninja, who did! (Thank you for a lovely drawing of a kitsune not dressed in lingerie. Why is this so difficult to find?)] Kitsune with a darker leaning have control over fire and lightening, but my powers come from the goddess that foxes serve, Inari, the goddess of fertility. She makes the rice grow. J I can create small flames or charges, but I focus on growing plants for healing or manipulating them into weaponry. Growing vines to ensnare and throw enemies, puncturing major arteries with exaggerated thorns, burning enemies with concentrated pitcher plant acid – all possibilities. Also, helpful to our ragtag group, I can grow fruits and veggies (am a self-taught cook and am happy to chat recipes). ^.^ Kitsune are intelligent creatures: puzzles and patterns are their jam. However, Kit is a tiny fox. She should not be counted on for feats of strength; that’s why she employes the vines. The plants feed off of magic (willpower + knowledge), rather than brute strength. Kit’s greatest strength is also her greatest weakness. She is highly inquisitive and has a very active mind. This can lead to creative weaponry and useful deductions, or it can lead to callous reasoning and a mind clouded with anxiety (i.e., Kit is very warm hearted but also cerebral, occasionally making her seem aloof and inattentive). My thread is Chapter 8 in my signature. My goals are very S.M.A.R.T this time around. Work out, do the mini-challenge, don't buy junk. Distracted by her botany journal, Kit didn't realize the sun had risen until the tumultuous clattering from the dining hall became too much to ignore. She cleaned up, checked in with their leader (chowing down on some strange food), and settled in to hear the new plan. Figures of smoke... dark water... and necromancer in the jungle. What could it all mean? Kit couldn't keep her mind from morbid wondering: How could the necromancer control the dead? Spirits, magic, mind control, abuse of jungle's medicine? 'He is better than me.' She finished her fruit, lost in thought.

My neighbor has itty bitty Yorkies who act like Boos from Super Mario. I can hear them follow me around, but they freeze whenever I turn around. They don't hide. They just stand completely still and wait until I move along. So funny. This morning as an omelette with turnip greens, feta cheese, and chives. Tasty!

Signed up for the mini! I'm going to work on push-ups, straight leg inverted rows, wall sits, and V-sits. Also, started off my challenge right by going to the gym 5 times this week. 5! In addition to realizing I don't need quite as many 'rest' days as I've taken in previous challenges, I realized that while I don't pay for junk food, I am offered tons. So much junk. o.o For example, my supervisor ordered us all pizza for lunch on Monday because he's lovely!, he forgot his lunch on Tuesday (and ordered us all pizza again), Thursday was a weekly catered meeting (kale salad from Panera, with chicps and an offered cookie, and all sorts of goodies lying around), Thursday morning, I went to a Stats class where I was offered candy and then cookies (stats based on # of chocolate chips), and Friday breakfast (provided by the office) includes bagels and muffins (which I passed on) in addition to fresh doughnuts because it was National Doughnut day (had 1/2 of one >.>). When I got home on Friday, my boyfriend brought home a dozen doughnuts for the 'special occasion' and fried chicken. Birthday party on Friday (ice cream, drinks, eating out). So much stuff! -.- It has definitely been a year of learning. Time to see if I can put it into practice! (Thanks for the support, y'all. ^.^)

Plant wielder reporting for duty!

This challenge marks my 1 year anniversary on NF! ^.^ And *checks the scale* nothing has changed… To be fair, aside from the number on the scale, much has changed. I finally found a job that I love and have held the same position for nearly a full year (as opposed to job hopping immediately after college). I did, at one point, weigh 135 lbs! Until a family member and some close family friends passed away. That combined with the stress of work and other personal drama led me to pack on the pounds for winter. As the snow melted, I began to clean up my diet at a turtle’s pace. Last challenge was all about controlling the stress and anxiety to give myself a healthy mind prepared to create a healthy body. By being mindful and trying to live in the present, I have my anxiety under control. I’m been doing crazy things (e.g., going to bars with coworkers or wearing dresses in public)! Now it’s time to fix the body-ody-ody! +5 STA - Workout 4x per week (just do it, Sleepy Fox) +5 STR - Do the mini-challenge. +1 CHA - Do the freakin’ mini-challenge. This is my 8th challenge, I haven’t involved/brave/committed enough to participate in any of the mini-challenges. +4 CON - Don’t buy junk food. One of my food problems has been partaking in junk food when out with friends, and out with family, and at work functions, and buying the occasional thing for home. It’s just too much! For the next 6 weeks, I won’t spend money on things that will spike my blood sugar. This does allow for the odd treat this is provided to me or my purchase ‘junk’ food that won’t affect my blood glucose levels. One thing at a time. :/ Most of my food this challenge will be full of healthy nutrients. My boyfriend and I have a share in a CSA! This summer will be organic, heirloom, seasonal veggie-tastic!

MY goals for this challenge were to include more play in my life and doing little things to desensitize myself to anxiety. I've definitely included more play (seeing lots of friends, going to the park, etc) and ended up skipping the little things and jumping straight to the activities that would normally cause me boatloads of anxiety (going to bars, spending lots of time with new people without having a get-away plan). I keep reminding myself that things are going to take as long as they take. Simple as that. Points (based on averages): +4 CON, +4 STA, +4 WIS Level 6 STR 10 | DEX 10 | STA 7.5 | CON 13 | WIS 16.5 | CHA 12.5

Lol. He's jumping. Not the music video. *ring ding ding *

Week 6 Monday: No morning gym because I went into work early, but I did get in a nice walk in the evening. Also, my boyfriend set up a stationary bike in our living room and altered the height setting to accommodate my tiny legs. (All the hyper-extension!) Food today was *mumble mumble mumble* I made a mini-mistake at work today and was able to laugh about it instead of thinking my boss was going to fire me on the spot (groundless, perpetual anxiety). The kitchen is handled; the laundry is done, and I'm pretending I won't have to deep clean the house before my friend arrives on Friday. >.> Friend arrives on Friday! Tuesday: Late update - what even happened this week... This week had some full but not crazy hours at work and only 1 or 2 morning visits to the gym. Every day did include a few office walks. I'm learning about a new design software and am extremely excited to start testing it next week. My friend is here! We had a great weekend walking around and and trying all sorts of yummy food (some healthy some... delicious. >.>). And my boyfriend (with some minor assistance) reorganized the house. It's lovely! and somehow, I was able to help instead of freaking out during the process (clutter and packing generally cause me a lot of anxiety, but this was fine. No freaking out; was even able to help.) +5 CON Slept well, went for daily walks, and went to the gym at least once (4/5) +5 STA No doodles… but lots of music, lots of fun, lots of doing my own thing without causing others lot much inconvenience. I did a lot of things this week (reorganizing, learning new software, learning new review systems, navigating NYC, preparing for a not-my-family family visit, having a one-on-one with my department director) without freaking out. No fuss. J (5/5) +5 WIS I read and new learned systems. The new system is going to help me develop a new assay, so… almost. J I’m near completing my first change control (!) which will enable an existing assay to test a new product. (5/5)

Kit left the leaves with her companions and went off to the fringes of the group to recoup. She curled up on a spongy pile of moss, using her tail as a blanket. Startled awake by the blaring trumpet, Kit popped up, gathered her seeds, and chased after her friends down the hall of mirrors. I've run at least three miles this week, but lost a few gym mornings to late nights with friends. Not necessarily a bad thing... but lazier than it would like. (Assures myself that I still have the weekend to finish my miles.) On the bright side, my two gym mornings happened the day of and the day after my 14 hour work shit. I was sort of pleased with myself. ^.^ It caught up to me, of course. >.> Updated - Managed the 5 miles this week with varying intensity (evening walks through to arc trainer with high resistance). I know I've walked and such outside of the five miles, but these are machine/google maps measured specific for the challenge.

Week 5 Hey, y'all! What's shakin'? Monday: Planned to hit the gym hard core but ended up hitting the snooze button. >.> But the rest did me good, because work just flew by. Super productive day, and learned some interesting things about PleaseReview (new system). I made tried some new recipes for dinner (almond crusted trout w/ bean&greens as a side), ran the dishwasher, am doing laundry, and am thinking of getting a new recipe going for tomorrow (paleo 'vodka' sauce over veggies w/ turkey meatballs). Off to do more chores (i.e., kitchen dance party)! I did all of this cooking and then remembered that I bought an apron this weekend. Should actually use the apron... Tuesday: Went to the gym, worked for 14 hours, and poured myself into bed. Today was lots of veggies, no grains, and just one little thing from the ice cream truck that visited my work. Wednesday: Gym day 2! Food was only so-so today (started well and went downhill during an audit conference). I took a little snugly nap after work and am off to get more sleep soon. Could I possibly go to the gym three days in a row?! Thursday: Ha! No... No, I couldn't. Sleepy, sleepy Kit. Spent the day in the lab and met friends for dinner and a movie after work. Fun, late night. Decent anxiety update tonight: My boyfriend and I drove separately to the movie, and I had to navigate. Normally, navigating and having him follow me would lead to a lot of white knuckle driving, but... this was fine. Not like driving alone... but, fine. Sort of nice. Friday: Again... snuggles subdued my urge to run. Today was all about data, reports, and fine tuning some summaries. Again, dinner and movie with friends. Saturday: Today is so far a lazy day. I've set the tenderloin to brine, had a veggi-full breakfast, and am taking it easy (my introvert needs to recoup). Sunday: I managed to get to the gym on a weekend! XD I spend 45 minutes on the arc trainer with the resistance at 80 and height at 20 (max). I moved at a very distracted half speed (movies drawing my eye), but the resistance is 4x normal. So, not bad for a Sunday afternoon. The boy ordered veggie pizza for Sunday brunch, and I followed the gym with some apples and peanut butter. Currently, I'm attempting to make a Moroccan slow-cooked savory stews with some new spices I acquired. The stew has a lot of veggies, and I slow cooked some pork tenderloin over night to get added on the side. Everything hear is peaceful: spicy tomato based sauce bubbling in the kitchen, Django Reinhardt wafting through my speakers, and all of the trash is taken out/ dishes & laundry are put away. That the stew is going to bubble, and I'm going to read. Happy Week 6, everyone! Finish strong! +5 CON I’ve done very well on sleep this week, and managed three trips to the gym plus a few short day time and evening walks. Omitting my Saturday of shame, there weren’t any days that I went into stasis for multiple hours at a time. (5/5) +5 STA Okay… no doodles or music this week. But, I did plenty of social things! Two sets of dinner & a movie with different friends, a bit of quality time with the boy every day, and I did manage to write in the RPG this week. The point of the stamina category this challenge is to quell my anxiety, which I’ve been doing successfully. (How odd.) Looking back to Thursday (driving), I handled the situation much better than I have in the past. When my driving become the focus of a ‘joke’ later on, I made some funny faces, but I didn’t fly off the handle and get defensive (my old reaction to being ‘mocked’ in front of not-my-friends). I’ve been thrown into a lot of new social situations this challenge, and I’ve handled them all with a sense of ditzy grace instead of awkwardly quiet/anxious/fight or flight. I really hope this trend continues. (4/5) +5 WIS I’m learning two new systems at work (a third if you count how audits work), and have started to politely remind people when they’ve forgotten tasks. I’m finding a balance between letting people realize their mistakes/oversights and gently pointing them out. I’m being slightly less polite with tech support. They are very late with my service ticket *grumbles*. I’ve read a bit this week! For a few weekends now, I’ve been trapped by television. I don’t even enjoy it more than reading or my other activities, but once it’s turned on, I get… stuck? It just kind of goes on and on and the hours slip away. This has to stop. I’m thinking of implementing a system where I only do one thing at a time (e.g., instead of half browsing the internet and half watching a show I don’t really care about, I will look up what I’m curious about. Then I can close my computer, focus on an intriguing shows. Then turn off the television and go cook/read/listen to a podcast, etc. Of course, there are exceptions for things that don’t occupy the same sense (e.g., music (auditory) and cooking/reading (visual)) (5/5) Sleep tight, NF. Time to curl up with some tea and a novel.

I had something written but laptop freaked, and I lost it. A little too warm and hungry to try retyping it. This week started off rough, but I did get a lot of sleep. Momentary frustration over loosing my post aside, I feel much revived. Cute fox to make up for the lack of story:

So, week 3 happened. Sort of disappeared there... From what I can recall, I went to the gym on two mornings, did a bunch bunch bunch of social things without doing anything super embarrassing or rude, probably ate decently and got enough sleep. On to week 4! Monday: Went to the gym but was a wussy. Ate well, was a grumpy gus. Tuesday: Super long day at work (13 hours?) but managed to do a number of successful things. Very tired, very achy, but content enough. Food was whatever I could grab (tuna sandwiches, chicken, etc.); definitely at bread... Sleep of the dead afterwards. Wednesday: Revived! No workout and ate sugary delights, but I was super productive at work and home. I got out before sunset and cleaned my house while listening to Earth, Wind and Fire. *grooves* Food is cooked, the dishes are washed, and the laundry is done. Score for mini-dancer! Thursday: Data, data, data and sleep. Friday: Slept in, did all sorts of paperwork, helped out a coworker, forgot I had a cooking class - flew over. It meant is missed a dinner with coworkers and was late to something. I hate being late for things. Normally, I would have been an anxious mess (late, disappointing people, interrupting a class, on and on), but... I was fine. I enjoyed my drive, did a silly wave to the class when the instructor called me out on being late, and moved on. Enjoyed my dinner and didn't fixate. I've been fine with a lot of things that used to make me anxious. Really, really anxious. Feels like a win. Continuing my brave streak, I texted my coworkers after the class to see if the party was still going. And it was. I drove to the bar, my coworker bought me a drink (normally would not have accepted that), and stayed out with people until after 2 am. No panicking. No worrying. No checking myself to try and make others happy. We all had a pretty darn good time. Saturday: Skipped the gym to sleep, and spent some quality time with the boy before meeting a friend for brunch. It made me late, but... no one cared. o.O I didn't really care. >.> Had a lovely brunch, went (sort-of) window shopping and was spontaneously joined by another buddy. ^.^ This afternoon and evening now about recouping from all the social-ness and the work week. My kitchen will clean itself, right? ( I did clean the kitchen) Sunday: Super duper lazy day. Criminal Minds marathon and veggie pizza. I started learning to play Halo - I'm so uncoordinated! CON This week was all about the sleep and not so much about the gym (1 day). Despite not exercising much, I’ve felt very relaxed and capable. Very centered this week. (3/5) STA So much fun happened this week! XD Unfortunately, it didn’t really involve doodling, playing music, or writing. But I did the actually things that the doodles are supposed to train me for without being anxious. Does that count? (3/5) WIS This week’s wisdom is learning the nuances of a new program at work. I’ve been tasked with putting together reports (not just writing and performing experiments). It’s a lot of confusing work, but I will master this! (4/5)

2 'miles' worth of knee highs this week. (Workout #3 replaced by a birthday call with my little brother) Distracted by the intricate designs painted onto her metal mount, Kit didn't notice the flames until one scorched the tip of her tail. She barked in pain, and hopped onto the horse's head. She saw some climbing higher and other attempting to pry open their metal animals. 'Oh shit... Think, think, think.' Kit tried to focus, but her hammering heart and dry throat were too distracting, too close to panic. Her mind started playing tricks on her, putting her in a lush forest instead of a burning herd. She listened for noises from within her horse, constantly shifting her weight to avoid burning. Nothing. 'Shit...' She nervously fingered the fire flower in her arsenal, not knowing if the flower would harm or protect.

Ya... I realized after I posted. That's what I get for using my phone without my glasses.

Mini time Lord moment - getting ready for bed instead of hours of Netflix in hopes that I can get my butt to the gym tomorrow morning.

You are going to have goddess legs at your wedding. You go, girl! 7 refs?! What are you guys watching for (completely unfamiliar with roller derby)?

Hey Flea! Sometimes, that machine is my beautiful baby, and I’m very protective. Other times… I would kick it if I weren’t so short. >.< To be fair, the more I learn about my baby, the easier it is to adapt to her idiosyncrasies. I probably sound like a nut trying to train people, but I refer to let her brake again! Red, I shall provide the foxes. CA! Hugs instead of foxes? Hi, Heidi! I hope everything is going smoothly and you’re able to find moments if not hours and says worth of peace. (Fist bump for Graeme. I bet that dive roll was epic. Hope he’s healing quickly.) Was one flavor of tea better than the other? Teros and I tried to choose from smell alone. Little Turtle, welcome aboard! How did you become a runner? It looks like such a good thing… but I haven’t convinced myself to get off the arc trainer.

The point system is clean cut if not easy to obtain. Maybe double points for a fun-tivity (double stress relief)? Any fun-tivities this week?