Kvedulf

Week 2 review: This week went really well, I think. I've been recording my ongoing war with the brain weasels and with the exception of a few minor skirmishes, they were practically non-existent this week, which is soooo good. Study has gone pretty well and this week also saw the end of the first three months of meal planning. On the downside, I'm really struggling to do the bodyweight workouts at the moment. Not because they're too hard but I'm just bored with the NFBBW. I'm going to have to mix it up a bit. Steve's Star Wars workout looks pretty awesome so I might give that a try. And the schedule went completely out the window after extended contact with Kvedulf Jr. So back to the lab to find a new system. MORALITY: Like I said, the schedule wasn't robust or flexible enough to handle the stresses of a toddler, especially now that Ms Kvedulf has got a bit more work. Not that I didn't try, but it just didn't work. I have a plan to use a more flexible system based solely on what needs to be done, maybe using that Japanese method I can't remember the name of at the moment. I'm giving myself a higher score for this than hard results indicate because I did try, learnt from it and am adapting. Score: 75% COURAGE: Only got one workout done. Have researched yoga and the nearest classes are at least an hour's drive away. So it looks like if I want to do yoga, I'll have to teach myself. Anyone got any tips? Score: 67% BENEVOLENCE: The first couple of days were too busy to get any time to me, and so was Saturday. Just couldn't find the time. But at least I'm being mindful. And I've kept pokemon to a minimum. Yesterday (Sunday) was Father's Day and I got super spoiled by Ms Kvedulf and Kvedulf Jr but that counts as Week 3 Score: 57% POLITENESS: I forgot to meditate this week. Plain and simple I meditated on Sunday and Monday and then Kvedulf Jr attacked all reasonable sense of order (I swear he is the Champion of Chaos! "Juice for the Juice God! Toys for the Toy God!"). It wasn't until Saturday that I remembered I was supposed to be meditating. Score: 28% HONESTY: Read some from the Hagakure, but not much. Also started skimming through Musashi's work. I can now recognise all the Hiragana, so time to start on the katakana. Score: 31% HONOUR: Little man is getting read to and loving it again. Water is being consumed. Score: 100% LOYALTY: Got about 9 hours of study done and have nearly completed the first assessment. Just have to do some proofreading and editing. Score: 60% Week 2 score: 59% So about the same as last week. Got to work on those workouts and meditating. If I can get that together, with the scheduler working I think I'll be on track to a strong finish.

Woohoo! Brilliant job!

Glad you enjoyed the break

Hey, looks like things are going alright. Has the heat dropped down? How do you find Zumba?

So good to see those As for cutting back on the alcohol. I know how hard that can be. And the rest of your challenge is going pretty damn well I think. Especially the workouts. Give the puppy a pat for me

Right, so week 1 update. Sunday, we went to a national park about 2 hours away from where we live with my dad, sister and her partner, who is also my closest friend. Was really good. Packed Kvedulf Jr into one of those backpack carrier things and did a few walks. He had a blast looking for dinosaurs in the rainforest. Unfortunately, I came down with a bit of a flu and was out of it Monday and Tuesday. Could have pushed through on Tuesday but I rested instead and feel kind of bad about it. I'm counting Monday as a N/A day, but Tuesday counts. Morality: Created the schedule and followed it Wednesday to Saturday. It needs some tweaking and reworking, but we followed it and for the most part it has worked and made life more organised. Sunday counts as a N/A day for this as well because it was an 'event' day.. Score: 80% Courage: Time for my workouts is one of those things that needs tweaking for the schedule. Got one workout done this week. Score: 33% Benevolence: This has been a bit mixed. Monday and Tuesday were all rest days so I felt bad taking time to myself for the rest of the week. And in the time I did take to myself, I ended up playing Pokemon SoulSilver, which while fun isn't something I want to be doing, more something I do when I can't think of anything better to do. Score: 50% Politeness: Meditation is progressing and I've increased to a total of 7 minutes. Week 2 goes up to 8 minutes. I find that sometimes,. when I feel like the meditation has gone well, that the time goes really fast. Not sure if that's a sign that I'm doing it right or not but it feels right. Didn't meditate Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. Score: 66% Honesty: Still reading the Hagakure. It gets better the more I read it. I'm actually liking it more than Bushido and Tsunetomo seems to say more that I can agree with and incorporate into life than Nitobe did. I think Ms Kvedulf must be getting sick of me reading out passages when it really strikes a chord with me. It amazes me that a person from a culture so vastly different to my own and removed from our world by 300 years can say so much that is relevant and inspiring. Didn't read Sunday-Tuesday Score: 66% Honour: Read to the little man every day, even Monday and Tuesday. He loves it and I forgot how much I love it. Drank 2 liters of water since Wednesday. Score: 83% Loyalty: Only got 6 hours of study done, but I did manage to get through the first topic and ready to do the first piece of proper assessment. Score: 40% Week 1 score: 59% Not too happy with that, but it's a pass I guess. Week 2 the focus is on study, workout and not playing pokemon!

You got this Snarkyfishgoats! Inspirational goat is inspirational.

What a resume! Enjoy the camping trip

Hey EJ. How's the week going?

@Bookish Badger beat me to it, but keen to hear how you're going with the new planner. How'd the week go?

Go Badger Go! You rocked week 1.

My birthday started to suck at around 7. They stopped sucking at around 26 when I realised that it's really just another day and proceeded to ignore the birthday part of it.

@Severine You point-and-clickjutsu is strong.Love your reframing of my time. Makes it sound not so selfish, which is a huge issue for my head. Love the idea of putting up a calendar or something similar. Got a couple of ideas on that front that might help. The main reason I haven't started the Severine and Kvedulf Talk Plants thread is that I've really only just started my course. First unit is all about plant identification and nomenclature. Which to be honest is pretty much just a revision of high school biology for me. Except for photosynthesis. F*** you photosynthesis and your unknowable ways! It's like a microscopic, chemical factory with a complex system of weights and pulleys. Sunlight goes in one end and by magic makes ATP. And what's ATP you ask? Magic energy. Sorry, but photosynthesis sucks. That said, I would like your input on what I want to do for the vegetable garden in my yard. Just to make sure I've not forgotten anything in the design. I'm doing a 60cm (2') raised garden bed from hardwood sleepers )it's that high because the dog will jump into it otherwise). It needs to be a raised bed as well because our soil can best be described as clay with rocks in it and I am not tilling that by hand. The bottom 30cm is going to be logs from chopped down trees so it makes a sort of hugelkultur. Soil is a mix from the local landscape supply. Going to use woodchip (again from the cleared trees) as mulch later on down the track. I know that I'll have to increase the nitrogen in the soil to offset the leaching the wood will do but is there anything else I've missed? Will post later with an update.

A little late, but I made it. Following along. Like the challenge, especially the reward system.

FIrst reply! following along. So guilty of both those things. Good luck because I know how hard they are to beat!

My old gaming group did this a couple of times. The meal was based on what we were RPing. It was all good until one of the group decided to do bbq pork ribs and call it flamed heretic for a 40K rp. Was a little strange

This. Could not agree more.

I know I'm late to the party, but I made it. (Got lost and had to stop and ask for directions!) Mmmm, flowers. Nice challenge. About time you tried to make time for yourself Seriously, which deity did you piss off, and how did you do it? Because you've been playing life stuck on hardcore mode recently. Which makes you even more badass and awesome!

Sorry for being late, but I'm here! Great challenge lined up there Badger. Nice theme too. However, Nightblades are really just ninjas disguised as folks from Tamriel. And ninjas are really just sneaky samurai. So that means you're becoming a samurai too Logic for the win! And I too have fallen to the unexpected hike. It's like pokemon: a wild wander has appeared.

- Fall down seven times, stand up eight. A really beautiful quote about resilience and transformation. Considering the setbacks last month, it resonated with me. I really did fall down last month, but I'm standing again. And this month's challenge is no different. It's still using Bushido as the basis. MORALITY: "Morality is one’s power to decide upon a course of conduct in accordance with reason, without wavering" One of my biggest weaknesses is time management. I often say or decide to do something and then not do it, purely because I forget about it or don't make enough time for it. I need to get organised so I can actually decide upon a course of conduct in accordance with reason. Challenge: Research and create a schedule during week 0 Follow the schedule for the rest of the challenge. COURAGE: "It is true courage to live when it is right to live, and to die only when it is right to die" Ironically, given that I joined NF to get fit and strong, it's been my workouts that I have probably been neglecting the most. I still have not been able to set strong habits for my workouts. This month's challenge is about setting a time to workout and doing it. I'm also interested in using yoga to increase my flexibility. Challenge: Complete Beginner Bodyweight workout 2x each week Complete a stretching workout 1x each week Set a time for workouts in my schedule and stick to it Research beginner yoga and self taught yoga if necessary BENEVOLENCE: "Benevolence is love" One of the biggest issues I have is an inability to do the things I want to do without feeling I am being selfish and thus feeling ridiculously guilty. I also feel irritated and trapped if I'm not able to do the things I enjoy. Which leads to me feeling guilty and selfish. You can see how this could cause issues and friction at home. I can't show Ms Kvedulf and Kvedulf Jr the love and affection they deserve if I'm not happy. I need to find a happy medium. Thus this challenge I'm showing benevolence to myself. Challenge: Schedule one hour each day to myself to do whatever the hell I want! POLITENESS: "By constant exercise in correct manners, one brings all the parts and faculties of his body into perfect order and into such harmony with itself and its environment as to express the mastery of spirit over the flesh." I've found that I'm starting to notice a positive change after I meditate. I'm able to focus and concentrate better and I feel calmer. Sometimes I do well, other times not so much. But I won't get better without practice. Challenge: Starting from Week 0 increase my meditation session time by 1 minute each week. So by Week 4 I will be meditating for 10 minutes. HONESTY: "Bushi no ichi-gon...was a sufficient guarantee of the truthfulness of an assertion. His word carried such weight with it that promises were generally made and fulfilled without a written pledge, which would have been deemed quite beneath his dignity." I'm really enjoying this part of my challenges. I've rediscovered my love for learning. My biggest problem though is that I find myself wandering from one topic to the next with no real structure. The only real structure I have is that I have started routinely studying Japanese. Challenge: Read for 30 minutes each day from the following books: Hagakure, The Book of Five Rings or the Japanese history textbook I'm waiting to have delivered. Be able to identify all hiragana, katakana and the "beginner" 50 kanji by the end of the month. HONOUR: "Fear of disgrace hung like a sword over the head of every samurai" I have slipped in elements of past challenges I did really well in. I'm not happy with this. At the time, they were big accomplishments for me and they have fallen to the wayside recently. I am ashamed of this and will rectify it. Challenge: Resume drinking 2L of water daily. Resume reading to Kvedulf Jr daily (very ashamed to admit that I haven't been reading to him daily. Still more than it had been, but I'm really unhappy about this) LOYALTY: Of the causes in comparison with which no life was too dear to sacrifice, was the duty of Loyalty. I know what I want to do and I need to be loyal to my way and what makes me zen. I have enrolled in my diploma and now I need to do it. Challenge: Work on horticulture study for at least 15 hours weekly. Damn...this is another big challenge. BONZAI!!

Following! I'm starting to think you're slowly becoming a samurai too Bruce Lee has some great quotes as well. Every time you quote him it reminds me of one of Musashi's quotes. In this case, when you talk about the way of no way, one of Musashi's "rules" for his Way is: Become acquainted with every art. Know the Ways of all professions. To me it feels very similar to what Mr Lee was saying.

Woot, it's GOAT TIME! It might not be a photo of a goat, but you need a samurai goat.

Hi Terah, quietly following along.

Hi Following along. Looks like a good set of goals for this challenge.

And because I didn't find your alternative to awesome, SnowOwl is Groovy Cat's Pyjamas!