Finisterre

Oooohh Zem and I want to join in! Sleep is actually part of my challenge this time round - I'm aiming to be in bed by 1030 on school nights, and need to take my damn meds EVERY night at the full dose. My main issues with sleep are: Struggling to fall asleep Struggling to stay asleep (yay nightmares!) Then struggling to wake up in the morning. One of my friends did say today that I should really get a referral to a psychiatrist to have a chat about my meds since my anxiety is flaring up like nobody's business (hence the nightmares, and not falling asleep). She's right. But uuuggghhh the hassle. And getting an appointment with a psych on the NHS is going to take about 100 years.

We can add my... shoulders? I think that's the only major joint I have that anyone would want :/

Dear Downstairs Neighbours... I am so so sorry for what you're going to be subjected to tonight. So sorry.

Dooooooooooooo iiiiiiitttt!!! Thank you Thanks! At least I now know that I can fall off (even in a performance) and be ok! And for anyone interested in the full routine - https://youtu.be/TwR9GGotn9I Honestly I am not that happy with it. I like the routine itself but it looks messy and scrappy to me, which is mainly down to the fact I was a little freaked out after that fall :/

I'm doing the "go to ballet classes" thing too! This is such a lovely wee Christmassy challenge

Thank you! I decided the only thing more embarrassing than falling off would be falling off then running away!

Performing last night I touched my toes to the floor in my chest stand I got such a shock that I essentially fell out of it and had to do a weird roll to cover it up

Yay! Another aerialist! You'll be amazed how quickly your fitness improves with it, it's such a good full body workout And the most fun you can have with your clothes on

Ugh, I performed on Saturday night at the Hallowe'en show aaaaand... not my best effort. As in, I fell off the trapeze. From standing height, so slid down the length of the rope on one hand. Luckily (since there wasn't a crash mat...) I managed to land it on my feet, and got right back up then finished the routine, but it threw me and I didn't do the rest as well as I'd have liked The silver linings are that I saved myself (it could have been very nasty) and it means I am now hyper aware of how quickly and easily these things can go wrong. Plus, several people actually thought it was part of the act so I clearly covered it pretty well! I'm still uploading the routine of the full routine, but for anyone who wants to watch me hurtle downwards in slow motion... https://youtu.be/--MeBGS7dIU (PS, I'm fine - took a bit of skin off my fingers, and gave myself a hell of a fright, but physically uninjured!)

Hahahahaha amazing! I used "time is an illusion" on one of the PIs at work and he looked at me like I was making some huge philosophical points XD Yaaaayyy!! All the aerial I am totally happy to enable this one.

CUCKOOOOOOOOOS. I almost got one of those mice ones but I thought it would traumatise the rats seeing me eat it... Where on earth are you getting jeans for 20 quid???

Am I meant to? Should I?? Am I being really dense? *looks confused*

Anyone used this one yet...

Sooooo this is a fun thread! Just checking in for stalking purposes

Week One Update Milliways = 24 Zem = 5/5 and 7/7 Flying = 11 Work = 4/5 Lessons learnt from this week: Good god woman drink less coke for the love of god! Taking lunch to work is an easy way for me to up my fruit and veg intake I do a lot worse at weekends when I'm at my parents' I may need to adjust my scoring on the flying Going to bed earlier does make getting to work on time easier (a revelation to all I'm sure!)

Yup, that's right, it's time for a Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy challenge! I absolutely love H2G2 - the book series is probably what first got me properly into sci-fi (albeit comedic sci-fi). Douglas Adams was a genius as far as I'm concerned! Quest 1 - A trip to Milliways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe No intergalactic hitch hiking trip would be complete without a trip to Milliways and it's going to be the inspiration for the diet portion of my challenge. In the last challenge I focussed on increasing my fruit and veg intake, and did better than I expected, so this time I'm going to up the ante a bit. And include points. The aim here is to have a generally more healthy diet and not rely on the work food. One portion of fruit or veg = +1 Taking lunch to work = +1 Taking a snack to work = +1 Fast food/take away/microwave ready meal = -1 Drinking coke = -1 Up for grabs: +3 CON, +1 WIS Scoring (subject to change): 1 to 20 points = 0% 21 to 40 points = 10% 41 to 60 points = 20% 61 to 80 points = 30% 81 to 100 points = 40% 101 to 120 points = 50% 121 to 140 points = 60% 141 to 160 points = 70% 161 to 180 points = 80% 181 to 200 points = 90% 201+ points = 100% Quest 2 - Meet Zem from the swamps of Sqornshellous Zeta! Zem, as you can see, is a mattress, and will be helping with my quest to improve my sleep. There are two parts to this one: 1 - be in bed by 10:30 on school nights. I'd love this to be every night but it's physically impossible on some. I don't have to be asleep, but I do have to be in bed. 2 - take all my meds every night. I have developed something of a habit of only taking partial doses which is both terrible for my mental health and terrible for my sleep. The only exception is if I have been drinking (which rarely happens but Christmas party in a gin establishment...) because alcohol + meds = bad times Up for grabs: +2 CHA, +1 CON Maximum available, will be scored as a percentage: 30 nights in bed on time 42 nights of med taking (subject to change) Quest 3 - There is an art to flying, or rather a knack. Its knack lies in learning to throw yourself at the ground and miss. I love flying! Or at least my version, which is trapeze. There's lots to work on here, but I'm going to focus on things I don't like (drops to ankles), can't do (heel hangs) or need to improve (toe hangs). I'm also going to get a damn routine together to finally audition for performance work! I'm also potentially going to do some ballet classes to improve my general grace and performance (trying a class tonight, so might hate it...). More points here... Work on hocks dismounts = +1 Work on toe hangs = +1 Work on heel hangs = +1 Work on drops to ankles = +1 Work on millwheels = +1 Work on belly spins = +1 Land a hocks dismount well = +2 Manage a millwheel = +2 Manage a belly spin = +2 Ballet class = +2 Hold a heel hang without hands = +5 Complete routine = +10 Up for grabs: +1 DEX, +1 CHA, + 1 STR, +1 STA Scoring (subject to change depending on how the first couple of weeks go): 1 to 10 points = 5% 11 to 20 points = 15% 21 to 30 points = 25% 31 to 40 points = 35% 41 to 50 points = 45% 51 to 60 points = 55% 61 to 70 points = 65% 71 to 80 points = 75% 81 to 90 points = 85% 91 to 100 points = 95% 100+ points = 100% Life quest - "I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by." Douglas Adams I got a bit of a kick up the arse from my supervisors today. Kinda deserved, but hey. Time to get my arse in gear then! This is going to have two parts again. 1 - be in work by 10am every day (exceptions if doctors appointments etc have to happen). I know this is a no brainer for most people, but I haven't been sleeping well (see quest 2...) and that translates into getting into work horribly late. This. Will. Stop. 2 - finish writing this damn paper. It will get done. It. Will. Up for grabs: +3 WIS, + 1 CHA Each aspect is worth 50% of the total Maximum work days available = 30

I wanna play!! I got a 68, so heron. This shouldn't be too hard...

I have Plans for solo stretching, partner stretching, active stretching, passive stretching... You may hate me by the end of it. I mainly want someone to teach me wtf to do with my arms. I almost did swimming arms the last routine I did

Move along people...nothing to see here...

You will learn to love the backbends! Put your feet on your head and suddenly people think you're a magician (seriously, I tend to forget that I may be only averagely flexible in the circus world but in the normal world I am ridiculous). Also I am thinking of taking up some ballet to help my general lack of grace. Worth it?

Yay flexinessssss!

So, time for a post-challenge wrap up. Quest 1 - yoga This was definitely my weakest in this challenge, which I wasn't expecting. I only managed 33% of my intended sessions which is pretty shocking really. Early in the challenge I did reasonably well, but got no sessions done in the second half. Quite frankly I'm putting this down to pure laziness. Final result: 0.65 STR, 0.35 STA Quest 2 - fruit and veg I had expected this to be the one I struggled with most actually. I ended with 62% which is reasonable. I struggled most on days when I didn't organise myself and take lunch and a snack to work. Definitely learnt that my dinners tend to be distinctly lacking in vegetables... Final result: 1.85 CON, 0.6 STA Quest 3 - flexibility I did pretty well here getting 67%. As with the yoga I flagged a bit in the second half of the challenge, dropping down to one session a week. Final result: 2 DEX, 0.65 WIS Life quest - reading This was going really, really well until the last couple of weeks. I lost my longest serving rat in week 5 and was too mopey to read. Then I got out of the habit for week 6. I've learnt here that I fall out of habits REALLY QUICKLY given half a chance. Final result: 2 WIS, 0.65 CHA Mini challenges: +1 STR +1 CHA +1 CON +1 DEX Total stats STR - 1.65 STA - 0.95 DEX - 3 CON - 2.85 WIS - 2.65 CHA - 1.65 Final measurements Neck = 13" Bust = 38" Waist = 29" Hips = 41" L thigh = 24" R thigh = 24.5" L bicep = 13.5" R bicep = 13.5"

Friday: Only one portion, no flex, no yoga, and no reading. Open training was cancelled so instead I spent the evening watching horror films with friends Saturday: One portion again, and nothing else. Had a super fun doubles class where I was paired up with a guy I've had a huuuuge crush on since I met him, and we got some good things in. My swan ups to the bar as a flyer are getting so much better! Sunday: Again one portion. I also got in a really good flexibility class which included kicking over into an elbow bridge for the first time!

Video may appear at some point if I can make it consistent! And thank you!

Ooooh I really like this! Not sure it would work on my hair though - it's long but pretty thin plus curly and frizzy. Might try it next time I wash my hair since it tends to be slightly more manageable wet.