Flagwaver

To many tentacles for me to prefer Lovecraft... or are there?

Star Captain Volund Pryde takes offense to your freeborn dribble. I was seriously registered through FASA and even went to a tourney in Seattle. I came in 2nd Place behind a Merc who acquired some Clan tech during the tourney through salvage.

Volund stands and raises his glass of tea. "A toast,” he calls out to the assembled Rangers. “To life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. For all of we Rangers who hail from the United States of America, I wish you a happy independence.”

Le fael, mellon.

The door of the tavern opens and a familiar man enters. He has changed slightly, most notably the loss of his beard, but still features the same shaved head. His clothing has not changed from the cream monk-looking robes with brown belt and tall boots. His woolen cloak is transferred from his arm to the hook on the wall and he kicks the dust from the trail off his boots. At his hip still hangs the strange metallic cylinder. “Greetings to you, barkeep.” The bartender nods in his gruff manner and places a steaming pot of water on the bar beside a cup and sweet smelling herb pouch. Volund takes the proffered items, dropping the herb pouch into the cup and filling it with the steaming water. He makes his way through the bar, nodding to the familiar greeting, and makes his way to an overstuffed chair by the fireplace. He drops himself into the comfortable seat, allowing the stuffing to devour his weight, before pulling his legs under him and savoring the smell of the tea. After a couple of sips, he rests the cup on the arm and his hands on his knees before slipping into a quiet meditation.

Thank you, both. I'm planning to keep things going from now until I reach level 20! Optional Week 0-A quest: Constructing the thing Before we pilot a robot, we need to have a robot and in order to have a robot, we need to make a robot but before we make a robot, we gotta plan carefully. Hope that makes sense, because it's an allegory about your challenge goals. Take some time to sit back, review your challenge goals and check whether they are S.M.A.R.T. (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-related). Specific The schedule, physical training, and dietary concerns are all very specific. Measurable The schedule and dietary concerns are not really measurable, but the physical training is. Specifically, it is measurable in terms of body composition. Achievable All three of my sections are definitely achievable. It will take willpower and discipline, but they are achievable. Realistic All three of my goals are very realistic. I used to live by my schedule when I was in the military, the physical training is why we are all here, and the dietary concerns are definitely realistic. Time-related The schedule is all about time. The Physical Training is over-time. The diet... well, when do I eat.

While most people would associate the Destiny Titan with the Warriors, I see them more as the quintessential military trained individuals. Military training, as some of you know, is all about CrossFit-like conditioning. Thus, I will be remaining here with my fellow Rangers. With that said, I’m returning from the dead much as the Destiny Guardians did. However, my Ghost is my conscience to keep my on the path. With that said, I plan to start up about where I left off. So, let’s get started. Schedule 0900-1300 – Activity Slot 1 1300-1400 – Afternoon Training 1400-1800 – Activity Slot 2 1800-1900 – Evening Training 1900-2300 – Activity Slot 3 You will notice that I have Activity Slots listed. Each slot will be taken up with a, you guessed it, different activity. Rather than focusing on one activity throughout the day, I will instead break things up so I am able to accomplish more. Time Management Cleaning Costuming Developing Gaming Learning Writing. The Cleaning is general housework and cleaning. The Costuming is costume building. The Developing is development of my roleplaying game. The Gaming is playing video games. The Learning is based around me writing my Thesis. The Writing is my novel writing. Each task will be performed at least twice per week with no task happening twice on the same day. The other section is my Training. I will be training twice a day. For the purpose of this Challenge, I’ll be doing 5 weeks of Great Body Guaranteed from Beachbody.com during my Afternoon Training and an hour of walking on the track at my local university for my Evening Training. (listening to audible books). Physical Training Train twice a day, once on Sundays, for about an hour each time. My Afternoon Training involves using the Great Body Guaranteed program from Beachbody.com. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I’ll be doing the Great Stretch, Great Arms, Great Abs, and Great Stretch routines. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, I’ll be doing the Great Stretch, Great Thighs, Great Buns, and Great Stretch routines. For the Great Arms routine, I will be using a pair of 5 pound weights. My Evening Training includes walking for an hour on my local university track. To keep my morale up, I’ll be listening to my audible novels. Dietary Concerns Eat four small meals a day Eat fast food no more than five meals a week Drink only one cup of coffee per day. Drink no soda or adult beverages. By my personal clock, eating at 0800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 should be good if my lights out time is 2300 and my stand to is at 0700. So, I’ll be keeping to this dietary schedule.

I’m back! Yes, this is my second rising from the undead in the year. Unfortunately, back in Mayish, I failed a Constitution roll. Well, I failed a couple and nat 1’d one of them. I caught a cold from my wife. After two weeks, I was allowed another Constitution roll and failed it, thus turning it into the flu. My third roll came up as a crit fail and I ended up with pneumonia. I ended up in the hospital for a week and then bed rest for another. Needless to say the conditioning I had for my two months of fitness went straight out the window. My first day back on the track saw me completely winded and I had to stop in 30 minutes of beginning. It’s taken me a month and a half to get back to being able to walk the track for an hour without dying. So, now I’m beginning over. My first couple of routines will be beginner-level video routines. The first will be the Great Body Guaranteed film series from Beachbody.com. The second will be the Ho’Ala Ke Kino (Awaken the Body) yoga program. Both of these will be run for five weeks each. Tomorrow begins my first day, taking part in the Week One Ranger Challenge (a double workout). With that said, wish me luck!

Best mecha next to BattleTech, but I couldn't find a good Clan Jade Falcon gif of a Mechwarrior.

I'm back for this one and I'll be starting it all tomorrow... Ready for liftoff.

I'm starting back up slowly this week (walking for an hour in the evenings), but I will be doing the daily doubles (walking for an hour in the afternoon and evenings) beginning next week. 5 weeks of that, with no workouts on Sunday afternoon. A week of just evening walking. Then, another 5 weeks of Great Body Guaranteed. Another week of walking. Finally, 5 weeks of a power yoga routine called Ho'ala ke Kino. After that, I ramp things up to more powerful programs and add jogging into the walking. I'm now able to keep my breath while walking the track for half an hour and no longer getting winded in the slight up-hill rise while walking home. I absolutely hated being sick, so I prefer health. I've restarted my supplement regimen, restarted my dietary regimen, and am attempting to restart my daily schedule. It'll all kick-off next week with my monthly pictures and measurements kicking off the week after (the Sunday closest to the beginning of the month).

I rolled a 1 on a Con check and ended up catching a cold. I decided to take a week and go through some natural healing and rolled another 1, so it became walking Pneumonia. Until I get better, I am going to be suspending my HIIT and Run.

Unfortunately, this one is a bust for me. While the walking is quite interesting, it's not the kind of walking I wanted. I caught a cold last week from my lovely wife and it walked itself right into walking pneumonia. I'll try to get things back up and running (walking) next week, but this week I am on bed-rest by doctor's, wife's, and apparently the cat's orders.

It still made me break my challenge... but we fall so that we can learn to get back up. Since I couldn't carry my phone in my costume (the pouches and pockets weren't big enough), I'll have to post what I'm tagged in.

My last week of my first challenge was almost a game-breaker due to Star Wars Celebration, but this time I have nothing more than a dental appointment scheduled for the next month. So, I am able to revisit some of my previous points and refine them into something better for my success. The first part of my challenge will be to get into a schedule. The schedule will be more for the main part of the day, but will nonetheless be for every day of the week (except Sundays which are my day of rest). So, my first part of the challenge will be to keep my schedule. Schedule 0900-1300 - Activity Slot 1 1300-1400 – Afternoon Training 1400-1800 – Activity Slot 2 1800-1900 – Evening Training 1900-2300 – Activity Slot 3 You will notice that I have Activity Slots listed. Each slow will be taken up with a, you guessed it, different activity. Rather than focusing on one activity throughout the day, I will instead break things up so I am able to accomplish more. Time Management Cleaning Costuming Developing Gaming Learning Writing. The Cleaning is general housework and cleaning. The Costuming is costume building. The Developing is development of my roleplaying game. The Gaming is playing video games. The Learning is based around my Jedi studies. The Writing is my journal activities and novel writing. Each task will be performed at least twice per week with not task happening twice on the same day. The other section is my Training. I will be training twice a day. Due to “difficulties” in my training program over the past weeks, I am starting over from scratch with a 30 day program of walking twice a day. This is just to ensure that I don’t kill myself when I move on. So, the next five weeks will be walking twice a day for about an hour (that should also let me get through some of my backlog of audible books). Physical Training Walk twice a day, once on Sundays, for about an hour each time. Because of the convention, my diet got blown out an airlock. I will continue to color the dietary restrictions I placed on myself, but I will be modifying them slightly to decrease my caloric intake. Dietary Concerns Eat four small meals a day Eat fast food no more than four meals a week Drink only one cup of coffee per day. Drink no soda or adult beverages. By my personal clock, eating at 0800, 1200, 1600, and 2000 should be good if my lights out time is 2300 and my stand to is 0700.

The door to the outside world opens and in stumbles the Jedi. His robes are scorched, torn, and look as if they have been neither washed nor ironed for a week. He looks tied, the bags under his eyes weighing his head and shoulders into a slump. His normally shaven head looks to have not seen a razor in long enough for a halo of gray hair to ring the naturally bald summit. His beard shuns even the thought of a comb as individual hairs look as if they are attempt individual escape attempts. He stumbles to the bad and slams a coin down with a grumbling comment that could be ‘cookie,’ ‘coffee,’ or some alien dialect that has some very Dwarven-sounding curse words. The bartender, fluent in most dialects (both sober and not), nods and places what looks to be a cup of bubbling tar in front of the middle-aged man. Picking up the steaming asphalt, the Jedi drops two cubes of sugar on top of the brew. One of the cubes breaks apart upon striking the surface before both are slowly enveloped by the concoction. Satisfied with the consistency, he lifts it to his lips. It is quite a spectacle to see a living creature ingest a solidified mass in the way this Jedi does. He downs the entire cup before your eyes, the sight sobering a couple of regulars. A tipsy Gnome standing by Volund gets a whiff of the brew and the smell knocks him to the floor, eyes wide and his metabolism aging him a decade. You’re not sure how, but the coffee transmogrified the Jedi right before your eyes. His robes are flat to his skin with nary a mark on them, smelling slightly of sandalwood incense. He is standing tall with his shoulders back. His beard looks like it was freshly groomed by a barber and his scalp has not even a shadow of hair above the skin. “Thanks,” he says with a renewed vigor in his voice. “I needed that after the week I’ve had.” He glances around the room with a mirthful smile lifting the left side of his lips. “If you ever get the chance to attend a convention, be aware of any physical limitations your body may have and do not stray from them.” With that, he nods to those around him and goes over to the corner near the fire to meditate.

It was, unfortunately I fell off the fitness wagon toward the end. Urgh...

Date: 10-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:39:29 Distance: 2.25 miles

Date: 09-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 1:01:58 Distance: 3.22 miles * * * * * * * * * * Weekly Notes: We are now at the end of the program. 90 days of walking twice a day along with a start-up week of walking in the evenings (along with evening walking on Sundays). I set this up perfectly to coincide with the week I'll be gone to Star Wars Celebration. Week after next begins my next program.

Date: 08-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:54:10 Distance: 2.55 miles * * * * * * * * * * Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:58:40 Distance: 2.88 miles

Date: 07-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:42:45 Distance: 2.21 miles * * * * * * * * * * Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:50:48 Distance: 2.63 miles

Date: 06-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:48:18 Distance: 2.42 miles * * * * * * * * * * Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:46:32 Distance: 2.44 miles

Date: 05-Apr-2017 Cardio Type: Walking Time: 0:38:13 Distance: 2.01 miles * * * * * * * * * * Cardio Type: Walking Time: 1:05:57 Distance: 3.27 miles

Week 3, Day 4 – Wednesday until the end Week 4, Day 7 – Saturday The past week and a half have been a bit of a blur. With the preparations for Star Wars Celebration Orlando, I've been a fury of activity. Last week, I was walking every evening at the very least. This week, however, things were a bit different. I flew to Orlando on Tuesday and was pretty much stuck on an airplane the entire day (got into the hotel at about midnight local). Wednesday, I did about an hour in the hotel's weight room split between the resistance machines and the treadmill. Thursday, I was walking around wearing a carpet and armor (sweating off the pounds in a full-on Wookiee costume with Mandalorian armor over it and a helmet). Friday, I spent the entire day in a Jedi costume and spent most of my time twirling my saber (wrist and forearms were burning by the end of the day). Today, I've been decked out in close to 22 yards of black raw silk and a full face-enclosed mask. TIME MANAGEMENT: I kept up on the daily grind through Monday, but I "slacked off" Tuesday through Saturday due to Star Wars Celebration. PHYSICAL TRAINING: Walking and walking except for this past Tuesday due to travel. Wednesday, I hit the gym for an hour. Otherwise, the rest of this week was spent in hot costumes and standing most of the day. DIETARY CONCERNS: I kept up on my no fast-food rule. Wednesday and Thursday, I had dinner at Denny's (At the same table as Mark Hamill on Thursday). Friday was a catered dinner. Tonight is Denny's. The rest of my food has been in the room or at one of the standing-tables in the Convention Center. They've been comprised of snack-meals in my or my wife's backpack. Oh, and I've been hydrating with water... a lot of water. JEDI BUSINESS: I've been keeping up with my meditations in the mornings, even here at the hotel. There is actually a beautiful outdoor garden where a sizeable group of other attendees have been gathering for morning meditation and yoga. I've even been asked to lead a "Jedi Service" tomorrow on Easter Sunday. I haven't been able to do any classwork here at Celebration due to the long days and tired nights, but I'm going to be working on my sermon tomorrow.

Week 3, Day 3 – Tuesday It was a bit rainy this evening, but the temp wasn't cold. TIME MANAGEMENT: Yay, housework. PHYSICAL TRAINING: I walked in the evening, but couldn't use the track. The university football team is practicing from 4 until 9 every day. You know, because university students don't need time to study. DIETARY CONCERNS: I had Taco Bell for breakfast but the rest of my meals came from the pantry. JEDI BUSINESS: I did an extra long meditation, focusing it on classwork for another hour. Yes, it was part of the actual classwork.