Janus Echo

I completely forgot what it was like to pack for a week-long trip. Also, landlord found a mouse in their suite upstairs so this week has become a mess of cleaning and re-arranging, while also trying to inventory and pack for trip. That said, excuses aside, I could have made more of an effort to at least keep the damage to a minimum. I did not. Here's a quick summary of the challenge for a wrap-up and I'll be back next week for the top of the next challenge. Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Complete. Bonus Goal: Save 1/2 month's rent. No bonus points. It's still in the account, but I'm gonna be pulling it out to pay off the VISA (i.e. dental bill) first thing tomorrow. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) Incomplete. Not a catastrophic failure, but definitely did NOT manage to pull this off. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Incomplete. Definitely had some good days (climbing, biking) but as far as a daily commitment goes, this is not working out. Some re-evaluation is going to happen during week 0. Quest #4. Reading. ... *sigh* I mean. At this rate, I will not take this book to the grave, but only just barely. Quest #5. Make Money. Goal: Free up enough time for IATSE calls. Complete. --- Reward Tiers Quest 3 Level 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding. Going to cut it close but there's no reason for me not to be able to get the last 6 sessions of this challenge done. In summary, I clearly need to re-evaluate my daily priorities. See you all in a week-ish.

I think more frequent updates might re-appear as a goal for next challenge. Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Complete. Bonus Goal: Save 1/2 month's rent. Um. Complete. Technically? I don't have enough in my primary account to pay rent and I have a rent-equivalent dental bill coming up but I also have a paycheck coming before rent is due so... the money has been moved. We'll see if it stays there. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 28 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 8 So. My roommate is an enabler. This is ... could get even more problematic. I have 1 full day to recover from the madness that is today* before I have to prep for guests and a one-week trip. >.< Grocery shopping has to happen at some point but it's not gonna happen before at least 1 more meal out. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 10/35. How do I keep losing days?!? I mean. I know how, but still. Clearly, there is room for improvement here. Also, some forward thinking: I definitely want to keep up with tracking, but I need to think on different methods of incorporating fitness/exercise into my day. It's getting very hot so maybe something outdoors in the morning/evening for next challenge. Quest #4. Reading. 1/5. So much for catching up. Next week I pack up for a week-long event, so we'll see how much I need/want to procrastinate on that. Will probably bring the book with me though so week-0 for next challenge will possibly see some chapters knocked out. Quest #5. Make Money. Goal: Free up enough time for IATSE calls. Complete. Epic Quest. D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. Gonna work on this some today. I've got a 5 hour wait between dry cleaners dropoff and pickup for work. Hence this update! --- Reward Tiers Quest 3 Level 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding. Going to cut it close but there's no reason for me not to be able to get the last 6 sessions of this challenge done. --- * Today's work madness: Finished work at 22:00 last night. 30 minute commute home. Had to drop off costume at dry cleaners between 6 - 7 a.m. 40 minute commute to dry cleaners. 14:00 pickup (30 minute drive back to venue), 19:00 setup, 20:30 show starts, 21:30 show finishes and we have to take the set apart tonight. Anticipated shift end: 02:00. At least my boss understands exactly what he's asking of me and has set aside a crash space for me between returning the dry cleaning and show start. But it's not even 10 and I'm on shot 4 of espresso in various forms so we'll see if sleep actually happens. On the bright-ish side! I found a flea market and spent too much money. But I now own a record player (operational status pending) and 12 vinyl records. For less than the record player retails for. Methinks vinyls from some of my favourite artists are gonna start making an appearance on my Rewards list, but that's TBD pending some research.

@juliebarkley Thank you! Also, it's less beating myself up and more facepalmy at this point. I know that I've lost strength/endurance/everything-fitness-related-except-weight. It's why I'm back here, and the 5-week challenges. You're absolutely right in that focusing on here-and-now, and the progress I'm making, rather than where I was at (when my lifestyle was completely different too!), is much better for my headspace than otherwise.

Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Complete. Bonus Goal: Save 1/2 month's rent. Because honestly, this is a monthly thing, rather than 5 weeks. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 20 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 5 Had to think too hard about if this included meals others bought for me. And then I remembered this is a health and fitness tracking quest, not a finance tracking quest. With 2 weeks to go, I'm going to try extra hard but I've got a couple 12-hr shifts coming up and I'm not 100% sure I've got enough food in the house to cover. But I also have a couple days off, so as long as nothing comes up I should be able to go grocery shopping and hopefully some real meal prep. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 8/35. So. I haven't been making progress on the 30-day challenge. However, I did a 10ish km bike ride with my sister and her partner (half very flat and half very not) and then the next 2 days went for fairly long (for me) walks rather than driving to various destinations. This is a daily movement goal. Still going to hold on of the reward until I've completed the challenge though. Quest #4. Reading. 1/5. Have a couple days off coming up. Going to try and catch up. Quest #5. Make Money. Goal: Free up enough time for IATSE calls. Complete. Epic Quest. D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. Just reminding myself that this is here. --- Reward Tiers Quest 3 Level 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding.

Short progress report today: Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 15 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 4 Today was okay - 2 meals made at home and grabbed a microwaveable for snack at work, so just an iced coffee on the books. But I'm not really sure what next week is going to look like. Tomorrow, definitely going to have 1 meal out - that's the nature of socializing on a stat. Sunday should be an all-meals-in day. And then I theoretically have 5 days of nothing. If my sister visits, that'll be 1 more day out; if not, I'll be heading to Vancouver Island to visit other family which will involve ... more meals out. *sigh* Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 5/35. It's never fun to be able to actually see where you've lost strength. Did a 15 minutes core routine last night and... I used to be able to do a lot more. I've lost time/reps on plank, side-plank, and push-ups. I'm having difficulties with what literally used to be my warm up, let alone actual work-out.

Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Complete. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 15 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 3 Had a friend come to town for a day, so that's 1 meal out that would have happened no matter what. Also, I've hit the halfway mark with 3 weeks to go - this is somewhat concerning. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 4/35. slowly but surely, I guess. My consistency needs work, but what else isn't new? Quest #4. Reading. 1/5 Quest #5. Make Money. Goal: Free up enough time for IATSE calls. Progress: Complete! Called in on Monday, got confirmation that I'm back on the list for day calls and ASAP calls. Epic Quest. D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. --- Reward Tiers Quest 3 Level 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding. Canadian Tire currently seems like my best bet since they have it in stock (according to the site anyways). Surprised that CostCo doesn't seem to have anything in stock - shipping options only.

@JarricYeah. I was really trying to find rewards that will help me change things up and keep up with those changes. Which, of course, is the actual challenge of improving lifestyle. It was very tempting to just say "buy the next video game on the list" because that would feel great! But the fact is, I will buy those when they're on sale and not a moment sooner or later. Progress Report! I am finally done with audience-facing shifts! ...only to roll into a 15 hour day. This is not great for either eating well, nor doing anything other than work. But I've got a couple days off coming up, so I'm looking forward to being able to catch up on a couple things here. Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Progress: 100%! Considering I had to tap out of a week of work over Covid at the end of last challenge (and lost out on weekly OT 2 weeks in a row 😢) I'm glad I managed to hammer this out before the looming summer dry spell. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 12 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 2 Well. Not great, but I'm pretty sure it's better than this point last challenge. Barely. Things are about to slow down on the work front, and I managed to do some grocery shopping, so more cooking at home shall happen. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 3/35. No progress to report. Oof. Quest #4. Reading. 1/5 Quest #5. Make Money. tomorrowtomorrowtomorrow. Epic Quest. D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. --- Reward Tiers Quest 3 Level 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding. Gonna start researching options. I'm behind but still looking good to finish the current movement challenge.

What a Race Report! Your enthusiasm for the event is inspiring. It's always great to hear about fun, challenging, and well-run events like this!

Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Progress: 50%. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 7 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 1 Made food at home and coffee at work! Have a microwave meal ready for break. Today, at least, is a victory on this front. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 3/35. Was all geared up to go home and get a session in last night and then... there was a serious injury at the end of last night. Like, paramedics called, take the injured party away in an ambulance level of serious. So... stuff did not get done. BUT, I did manage to get up early and get a stretching session in this morning so progress was made! Quest #4. Reading. 1/5 Okay, chapter summary: Slang is the language of criminals and the fact that it progressed from dismal and dreary to jovial and jocular is the fault of propaganda and that one specific not-philosopher. ...wow, looks like we might be slowly moving towards something that is not commentary on seedier society jargon. And by slowly I mean glacially. It occurs to me that chapter summaries might count as spoilers? Should I be putting these under a spoilers block? Quest #5. Make Money. Can I just say it's very frustrating to finally have availability to re-join a dispatch list but know there is no work because a very critical union is on strike? Which, for the record, I fully support. Studios need to stop being shit and start treating people like people and not numbers to be crunched. Anyways, still gonna put my name back on the list next week. Epic Quest. D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. Progress: Getting further distracted with conlangs. Have never related so much to JRRTolkien. --- Reward Tiers Figured out some steps here! First off, most of my quests have in-built rewards or a definite end-point that is not within a 5-week bracket. Those (Quests 1, 4, 5) I might do some sort of celebratory thing, but at a much later date. So, I thought some more about Quests 2 and 3 specifically, and my first reward is going to be bat-cave focused. Quest 3 Tier 1: Complete current challenge. Reward: buy additional floor support/padding. Because doing stretches on the floor should not cause additional pain, and as it turns out my laminate floor is laid directly on concrete. Non bueno. I currently have 2 more 7-day challenges lined up after the current one (which has 11 days left in it) so I'll do a bit more thinking on what to get myself once those are closer. It might be that something from those challenges with inspire something. Not sure what I'm going to do with Quest 2, but organizing my kitchen is probably gonna have to happen before I think of food-related rewards.

Well, hoping and wishing isn't really working out here >.<. But I'm backstage for a couple days, so the plan is to get back at it! Also, it's the actual official beginning of the challenge, so that too. For now, only the one point to update, but I have plans for tomorrow. Progress-and-productivity-like plans. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 7 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 1 Sheesh. As soon as I think I'm doing alright, there we go off the rails again 3x+coffee in 2 days. But tonight will be a make-food-at-home night!

Huh. Has my title font disappeared? ANYWAYS. Working front-of-house/customer service absolutely kills my motivation. Doesn't help that one of the [VERY EXTROVERTED] bar tenders thinks it absolutely wonderful to have you out front again, isn't working out here so much better than being cooped up alone in the dark? ...No. No it's not, and I don't know how many more ways I can explain "I hate crowds". She's just not getting it. Very short update for now; hoping to get back on track with daily movement tonight. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 3 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 0 I 100% expect this number to go up today again. I have been good about not getting food after work (generally 22-23:00/10-11 pm) and cooking something quick and easy at home, but that means I'm going to need to find some time to go grocery shopping ... soon. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 2/35. No further progress, so I think I've settled on "starting early buys me grace days" rather than extended my total goal to X/42,

Quest #1. Save Money. Goal: Save 1 month’s rent. Progress: 50%. Quest #2. Track Food. Goal: Eat out fewer than 28x this challenge. (35x if it’s just coffee) # of times I've eaten out this challenge: 2 # of times I've gotten just coffee to go: 0 I've been pretty good so far this week on making coffee at work, but I've also resorted to microwaveable meals which, while not technically eating out, aren't exactly a healthy alternative either. oh well, small steps. Quest #3. Gain Flexibility and Endurance. Goal: Complete daily movement. Progress: 2/35. ...is it still x/35 if I started in week zero? hm. will think on this some more. Quest #4. Reading. Quest #5. Make Money. No progress on either Quest 4 or 5. As expected. Epic Quest: D&D Goal: Write up a complete campaign. Progress: Got distracted by making maps for my currently active campaign. oh well! Reward Tiers. ...this is actually kinda difficult. Spa day maybe? Or maybe find a local RMT.

Sometimes I accidentally end up with an IF eating schedule but that's more because work gets ridiculous than any sort of planning (Ever skipped breakfast and then gone into a 10 hour shift with no breaks? 0/10 would not recommend).

@Jarric It's almost entirely new. I bought both Waterdeep books (Dragon Heist and Dungeon of the Mad Mage) on D&DBeyond to try things out and then discovered that there was no offline content. No 'pdfs, no offline download. Which was a serious problem since I was working on ships at the time and had reliable internet about once per week, and certainly not during actual game sessions. So I rather saltily called my game Dragon(s) & Heist(s) and improvised a bunch of un-related plot. Spoilers: @Conquius I cannot express to you the sheer frustration of generating an absolute ton of draconic content (including pulling from 4th ed and Pathfinder, plus 5e conversions), only for Fizban's to come out right after we called the game. No exaggeration: I ran that game from January 2020 thru August 2021. And Fizban's came out in October. ...having said all that, yes. I bought a copy as soon as I could.