blkhole24601

Hey, believe me, I can use a good push sometimes!

MTE. I have a couple of other songbooks, one of which I know is for Spirited Away (which is my favorite Miyazaki film after Totoro). I'm blanking what the third one is. Ah, well~ Wooooooo!! Glad to have you!!!

Yasssssssssssssss~ Aside from the piano quest, everything is something I need to focus on for one reason or another -- piano is mostly in there so that I'd have at least ONE fun quest to help maintain my sanity! Also tried to keep things as simple as possible this challenge, since I'm still recovering from burn-out in all things and I don't want to spiral down that path again ;;;;;; And yessssssssss, all the love for Utena and the show's glory (and Utena the character's glory too!) and metaphorical wtf-ery. Though I'll admit to actually loving the shadow puppet duo?? True enough -- I guess I'll spend extra time working my off side during my strength training then, when I stray from barbells to dumbbells or bodyweight work. Thanks for the advice! Yes, wonderful, good. Today my instructor pointed out my awesome flexibility and said that I ought to use it to my advantage more often. Love seeing fencers do the splits!! Pffffft, gravity is just a theory anyway. Ohhhh yes. I found a brand of mint-scented epsom salt and mint is my expressway to relaxation of the mind, so I have a feeling that hot baths may be my preferred form of heat therapy especially trying to apply a heating pad on my back is the most annoying thing to do. ;;;;;;;;;;;;; I mean, I will do localized heat therapy too, of course, but epsom salts are a thing I love!

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

The TV series is the one worth watching. I think it's on Hulu? I know the movie is, at least, but: This, basically. I only want to watch it so that I get all of the Utena and thus have a more valid opinion of the movie than, "I heard it got REALLY REALLY WEIRD." ;;;;;;; I'm not entirely sure if we could explain it, tbh!! starsapart would make a much better stab at it, but Utena is better experienced than explained? Tbh, that's why I chose the school I did over another one I was looking at; my school has the beginning classes experience all three weapons, and the other school I looked at basically made you choose before you even took your first class, which is completely unfair, imo. (They also only have classes for two of the three weapons, and knowing my luck I'd wind up most loving the weapon they don't teach ) We do have a couple of HEMA schools in the area and I may go one of those someday when I can find the time for it! Do you have any recommended exercises to keep the balance? Right now I'm thinking that when I do my strength conditioning, I make sure my right side (sword side) is dealing with no heavier loads or reps than my left side (off side), but is it worth trying to fence on the opposite side every once in a while, even if only in practice/warm-ups? Or is there something better than either of these options? In other news, I saw this on Instagram and it's legit justifying my desire to continue to pursue all of my flexibility feats like splits. I don't care if this is most likely a posed picture, dammit, extreme flexibility is beneficial everywhere!

#1 requirement to be in the Assassins: make sure your gif game is on point. You'll do just fine here.

I'm only just starting out, and the school I go to has the beginner classes start with learning all three styles. Once we're ready to move on to the intermediate level, that's when we choose our weapon. I've only fenced foil and epee so far, and I think I like them both fairly equally though for different reasons. I'm predicting that I won't be ready to move up to the intermediate levels until at least August, though, so I have plenty of time to figure it out. And ohhhh yes, my off-hand. After last night, I can already tell that if I'm not careful, my sword arm will Hulk over it. Sooooooo much DOMS in my sword-arm today, omg. (And so many bruises from last night's class; it was epee night and wow, I should not be this proud over bruises...) Welcome!! And always much love for Utena. Even if I'll admit to never having gotten through the movie all the way. Maybe during this challenge I'll make another attempt. Because, well, THAT MOVIE:

It................ must have slipped past me somehow????????? IDK???

I'd say that it's how they got away with sex on TV, but............... this is Utena we're talking about. Metaphors are kind of the show's Thing. OMG I need to watch that video but I left my earbuds in my fencing bag which is at home so I can't even get to my cellphone to watch it on there. SOON AS I GET HOME because if this is exactly what I think it is, I need it in my life!

I almost forgot the show we're talking about. I BLAME AKIO AND HIS CAR TBH??????

YAY!!! Glad to have you~ I binge-watched the entire series maybe about a year ago? And omg, yeah, no, was not emotionally ready for it then and definitely not ready for it now. Then I think, maybe I should watch the movie and then I decide not to because, well, THAT MOVIE. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;; jf;lkajdsfkl;jsdf OMFG THESE TWO I AM DYING. Also Saionji wear a helmet, even Touga of all people is wearing one. Or don't. And fall off and die. That works too.

IKR. Once August rolls around, if I can keep up with my training (and I fully intend to), I'll theoretically be ready to go into the intermediate classes (which is basically requiring at minimum fencing 2x/week) but then I also want to start tap dancing again in August and I'm like....... HOW DO I MAKE TIME FOR ALL THESE THINGS HOW. CAN I MONEY FROM IT. CAN I MONEY AT AN EQUIVALENT LEVEL OF MY CURRENT JOB SO I CAN DO THE THINGS FULL TIME. NO?????? Sigh.......... I mean, it was taking a swashbuckling class (stage combat intensive) that inspired me to take fencing classes finally after years of daydreaming about it (ever since I was a kid watching Magic Knight Rayearth and idolizing Umi Ryuuzaki, basically)................. so I say it counts!

I mean, some of the best Assassin/rogue inspirations are basically fencers. Like: and and (I mean, yeah, technically what they're doing is swashbuckling but pffft, just go with me here!)

double post gif!

Wow, I'm such a homebody guys. My fitness training is now taking a huge fencing focus so I thought maybe about switching to the Monks, but after poking around the forums, it looks like fencers exist in all guilds. Besides, a lot of my fictional fencer inspirations are more rogue-ish anyway??????? And I like it here, besides. In other words, I'm back and feeling refreshed. Still contending with a back injury, but at least it's relatively minor. Excited to respawn and kick all the ass with you guys again!!!

Week 1 Recap Week 2 Recap Week 3 Recap Week 4 Recap

I fell in love with fencing. Obviously this calls for a Utena-themed challenge. So last challenge did not end so well for me. I was getting burned out on life and everything, and then tragedy hit and I just couldn't with anything anymore. After giving myself the past couple of weeks to regroup and recuperate, I have a clearer path going forward in all sorts of things, which makes my summer less panic-inducing (if you're just joining in, work is going to be crazy busy PLUS I'm going to be in rehearsals for Evita starting on May 22), and I know what I want to do with my fitness goals. Because I love fencing, my workouts will all now be tailored towards conditioning for the sport. But I'm also dealing with a back muscle injury of sorts, which is thankfully just a benign injury of the strain/spasm/knot variety, so I need to make sure I take care of that, too, while also making sure that it never happens again! I'm too young for back pain... So, without further ado! MAIN QUEST: Maintain my sanity as I rehabilitate my back, juggle work and rehearsal and life and fitness, and continuing to pursue my newfound love for fencing! QUEST ONE: ENDURANCE TRAINING [+2 STA] In fencing class, my strength is great, but cardio is kicking my butt in ways I did not expect. Seriously, when you’re a very fit person and you have to sit down because your cardio is sub-par, it is a super embarrassing thing. So, twice a week, I will dedicate my workouts to cardio training. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as my heart rate is pumping, I’m calling it good! A = 2x/week of cardio | C = 1x/week of cardio QUEST TWO: BACK CONDITIONING [+1 DEX, +1 CON] As mentioned, my back has been bothering me and it's been preventing me from doing a bunch of exercises like working through pull-up progressions, toes-to-bar progressions, and sometimes even bench presses and other variations of push exercises. Also, working on anything that deals with back flexibility has been a no-go. The doctor gave me a list of stretches I need to do every day, and other self-care tips, of which I intend to follow through on. So I'll do this quest in two parts: 5x/week I will do the flexibility exercises, and 5x/week I will give my back some heat therapy and/or some massage/foam rolling loving. A = 5x/week | B = 4x/week | C = 2-3x/week | D = 1x/week If my back is completely back to normal before the end of the challenge, part one will continue but part two will either be revised or given a pass for the remainder of the challenge. Here’s hoping that this is a bridge I WILL have to cross! QUEST THREE: SMART SNACKING [+2 CON] The winter months are over and I can no longer use my “I’m a mammal so I’m mammaling” excuse for eating like an asshole. Therefore, over the course of the challenge, I’m allowing myself 8 non-freggie, non-protein snacks. Basically: popcorn, chocolate, candy, ice cream, drinks that aren’t water or tea or my chai latte, Snapea Crisps (SOB THIS IS GOING TO BE THE HARDEST THING – and no, I’m not counting is as a freggie), etc are all restricted. Chocolate milk is okay ONLY IF I consume it within an hour of a workout. A = 8 or less snacks | B = 10 or less snacks | C = 12 or less snacks | F = did you even try to control yourself LIFE QUEST: SPRING CLEANING [+2 WIS] My summer is going to be super busy and there is going to be a lot of things in my life outside of work and rehearsal that will fall by the wayside. That will include keeping a clean home. So that my apartment doesn’t fall into complete chaos and disarray over the coming months, every week I will focus on each area of my house and give it a nice, good, and hard spring cleaning treatment. The four areas will be: bedroom and home office, bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room, and the living/dining room. A = 4 Areas Cleaned | B = 3 Areas Cleaned | C = 2 Areas Cleaned | D = 1 Area Cleaned SIDE QUEST: PIANO PRACTICE [+2 CHA] I’ve been itching to relearn the piano again for years now (I used to be so good, I don't understand why I quit, wtf 11-year-old me), so why not start now? At the very least, I want to master a song, and that song will be the theme song from Tonari no Totoro because as my family and friends will tell you, I am a Totoro fanatic. No joke, 50% of the things I own are Totoro-related. Over the course of the challenge, I will log at least 240 minutes towards practicing, which averages out to be about 1hr/week. This won’t get me from Zero to Hero over the course of the next four weeks, but it’s a start, at least! A = 240+ minutes | B = 180+ minutes | C = 120+ minutes | D = 60+ minutes Ready to do the thing! If you binge-watch the show, you seriously start to get super annoyed at how often they reuse this particular animation sequence...

Thanks! I'm being forgiving to myself this week for not doing a whole lot in the way of exercise outside of fencing classes, also in part due to the lecture I got from the doctor at the wellness center, I admit. But it really is easier on me to call this past challenge a wash and start anew, so I call it a greater kindness than forgiving myself the dropout. Also, just got back from the wellness center. The doctor examined my back, said that he felt some spasms in the area I said that it hurt, told me that it was a lumbar strain or something of the sort in which it's multiple muscles that hurt, and that the reason why I'm not better yet is because, well, I'm like all of his past patients who workout all of the time: we don't know how to ACTUALLY rest. So, he has banned me from doing ANY back exercises for AT LEAST a week, even the exercises where the back is the secondary muscle that's worked, and he gave me a list of stretches I need to do every day over this next week or so, as well as making sure I'm getting some heat to my back every single day. After the week has passed, I'm allowed to test the waters, but if it's not 100% better, I am not to proceed. If I'm doing an exercise and my back starts to feel even the slightest bit strange, I'm to stop immediately. So.......... yeah. It's nothing to worry about, and that's a good thing, but a lot of my favorite exercises I will not be able to do for at least a week, maybe longer. Sigh............ (The biggest challenge will be to listen to my body during fencing class, since it's OF COURSE my sword side that's causing me the most grief. Maybe I can train my left side instead? Then I'd be on my way to being able to reenact my favorite scene from The Princess Bride? "I know something you don't know -- I am not left-handed." OH AND SPEAKING OF SWORDFIGHTING, I found out that G is going to be teaching rapier and dagger in the fall for stage combat. YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS.)

I keep going back and forth as to whether or not I'll pick up Crystal again. Yes, the Outers are a big draw but........ ............ though I have heard that they've gotten a LOT better in this new season (at least animation-wise), so maybe???????????

I'm still posting here for the time being, but: I have an appointment with the wellness center at my work this afternoon. I don't know how much they'll be able to tell me regarding my back, but at least someone's finally looking at it. My next challenge is nearly ready to go, but I'm waiting to see if the wellness center has anything for me, since I may have to change one of my quests to accommodate any back conditioning I might have to do. We'll see. The rest of my quests are in place, though! Still deciding if I'll stay with the Assassins or switch to the Monks (because fencing), but I do intend to continue participating in the Assassins' mini-challenges, either way??? Regardless, I'll post the link to my new challenge thread once it's up. Since I dropped out of this challenge halfway through, I'm not granting myself a level up or giving myself any new attribute points. It might be a bit harsh, but eh, I also can't be fussed right now in the middle of reorienting myself to life and work and such. Also, PMS is being a special little bitch today. I'm so emotionally volatile I nearly burst into tears when I saw the sympathy card my coworkers gave me. This is going to be an interesting week. Damn you, Shark Week. ;;;;;;;;;;;; (It hasn't started yet BUT IT WILL SOON I can tell, sob)

Thanks. I'm doing fine now. Made peace and found comfort, and life goes on, etc. There's still moments of pain (like yesterday would've been my grandmother's 83rd birthday, and when we got home yesterday my dad got the gift card for a restaurant he had bought for her for Mother's Day which made the both of us wince -- I think Mother's Day is going to be extra tough on him this year, so I'm trying to figure out a way where not only can I celebrate my own mother but keep his spirits uplifted, but he and I have similar coping mechanisms: we specialize in deflection and humor when we're hurting), but we need to carry on as best as we can. But thank you. No, no appointment for today, I need to make the call still. Which....... I'm totally on top of that, lmao. I'm really hoping that it's a benign thing, that I'm making a mountain out of a molehill and this is just a muscle strain that's taking a long time to heal, but we'll see. ;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Thanks, all. I'm coping best as I can and my parents and I have found distractions with going to the art museum and zoo in town (we're in my father's hometown of Cincinnati now). Visitation tonight, funeral mass tomorrow morning, then it's a long, looooooong drive back to Colorado so my mother can make it back to work on Monday. I'm not planning on getting to work until Tuesday, mostly because this was supposed to be my staycation extended weekend and that's when I was planning on returning to work anyway. Also, I've been trying to workout as best as I can. Did some rest stop yoga on the way East and I tried to do some bodyweight workout like tricep dips but my back starting acting up again. I'm making an appointment on Monday to get it looked at, because this back issue has officially gone on for too long to just be a muscle strain. I mean, I'm still hoping it's as benign as a muscle strain, but it's time to have someone look at it to be on the safe side, because now I'm worried. But also, I can't do a lot of strength workout because the hotel gym I'm at literally only has two treadmills, a lazy stationary bike thing, and a broken elliptical. Not. A single. Dumbbell. I knew barbells were too much to hope for but there's not a single piece of strength training equipment, it's all cardio, and I am super annoyed by this. But once I get off I'm going to look up Steve's article on hotel room workout regimens and seeing if I can't blast through that before I need to get ready for the visitation vigil. I just. UGH. And this is a REALLY nice hotel too! Sigh.......... (I did intervals yesterday, at least???) Called the fencing school about make-up classes, so hopefully during the interim week I can take a couple of classes to get back up to speed. Need to get my payment and sign-ups for the May classes soon. Excited about the prospect of taking three classes all throughout next week! So, yes, coping. That I have alcohol in our hotel room's fridge is a dangerous comfort of knowledge for after visitation.......

Hey guys, sorry, but I think I'm out for the count for the rest of the mini. I might try to continue to contribute, but I got some bad news and I'm just wiped from the craziness that has been my life the past couple of weeks/months, so I need to step back. I know you guys can keep kicking ass, though, and I'll be rooting for you all the same!!

Quick update -- I haven't been doing much this week because work has decided to explode on me, and I was otherwise feeling burnt out on literally everything in my life. Except for fencing, but I couldn't go to class yesterday because of a work emergency, which bummed me out. And then I was getting geared up to kick Week 4's ass, and then I just received news that my grandmother passed away. I hate to say it, but I think I need to drop out of the rest of this challenge. I'm not feeling up to really anything. Hopefully I can get my butt into gear but honestly, I think I just need to take a giant step back. I'll be back for next challenge, either here with the Assassins or with the Monks (because I do want to focus more on fencing). But I think I'm just done for this challenge. Sorry, guys. The news I just got was kind of the last straw. I remain optimistic that I'll be 100% rejuvenated when the next challenge starts, though!

In other news, joining with the white mages for this battle of the mini-challenge was a Good Life Choice. I forgot to mention, but while I was waiting for my bath to be drawn yesterday I did more planks. While I can't do any plank variations because my back will whine (trust me, I've tried) and so I'm stuck doing the standard ones, it's still safe and gives me an option to work my abs while I get over this injury that's keeping me from leg raises. Plus, it's really hard to overwork myself since I'm not DPSing, I'm healing, so all I have to worry about is keeping the team alive, which is a pretty simple task at the moment with all the other white mages we have. Also, since hand balances are a focus area, I can actually keep a decent tally of how long I can actually hold certain poses! In funner news, today is the anniversary of the Apollo 16 landing. A handful of coworkers dressed up as engineers from the time period. It's wonderful, even if two of them together look like Mormon missionaries. They're toying with the idea of regaling their manager with a rendition of "Hello!"