Dyego

This should be called The Challenge of the Returning Rebels!

Kudos for Returning, Rebel! Love your goal rewards, I may just steal the idea (and that sloth ball!! I need that!) I'll be here to root you on

Just wanted to hop in and say congrats for Returning, Rebel! I applaud your bravery in posting your Mindset Module Diary. I don't think I could do that, personally, not yet anyway. Keep up the awesome work!

Woot for same(ish) starting weights! Also, woot for all of the Returning Rebels this challenge! I've been crushing it finding some recipes, now I just need to compile them properly. Chicken's on sale this week, so it looks like I'm going to be trying my hand at some new recipes my first week.

I'm back to lifting the world! I had to go down in weight since my last run since it's been awhile. Dyego Lifts The World Warm-Up: 5 minutes of jumping jacks Cool-Down: 5 minutes of Yoga Weight Routine: Benchpress Weight Amount: 75 lbs Sets x Reps: 2x15=30 Amount Lifted: 2250 lbs Object Lifted: Bull Cow I lifted a cow today!

In the [not-quite]immortal words of Bender B. Rodriguez: My last challenge was December of 2016. In the mean time I've actually not done too bad for myself, so this challenge is not a restart. This challenge is about me keeping the habits that I've begun to build over the last two months, and then building on those habits. As such, my goals for this challenge are simple: 1) Keep my daily habits going I have six daily habits that I work on, but they are kept specifically vague so I don't ever have to feel boxed in, which is what tended to happen with my old daily habits of even something as simple as "walk 5 minutes." What if it's too hot? What if I don't feel like walking? So here are my six daily goals, which I will be keeping track of on a spreadsheet probably. [0 - 0 | W0] Exercise [0 - 0 | W0] Creative [0 - 0 | W0] Spiritual [0 - 0 | W0] Veggies [0 - 0 | W0] Vitamins [0 - 0 | W0] Stretches Updated Rules: This will be a Win / Loss schedule, with a trailing Current Winning (or losing) Streak, as well as an explanation of what was done for each. I have 4 Bye Days per this challenge. During a Bye Day, anything I don't accomplish doesn't count as a loss, but anything I do accomplish keeps my wins going! 2) Increase the potency of my daily habits More days than not I simply do the minimum required of the habit, IE I drink V8 juice as my veggies. And while keeping the habit going is excellent, I'd like to start increasing my thresholds. Under my stretches, I've been doing a pseudo-yoga set for awhile that includes planks, and I've been keeping them pretty steady at 20-30 seconds. By the end of this month, I'd like to be able to hold a 60 second plank just once, but get my average up to 30-40. This #2 goal of increasing potency, however, will not override my #1 goal. If I have to do the minimum to keep the habit, by golly, I'm going to do the minimum. Keeping the pace is more important right now. 3) Lose some weight! I'm at 267.7 according to Today's Weigh-In. Through a combination of "More Paleo!" and "More weights!" I will lower this number. By the end of the four weeks I'd like to be in the 250s. 4) Get my wife and I to the doctor We both need checkups and need to deal with current issues, so this is an important goal. 5) Work on Menu I need to make a large menu of Paleo and Paleo-ish meals, one from which I can draw at random for a week's menu planning to make things easier. So I'm going to scour the web for recipes and ideas that I can then compile for this. So that's my plan for this challenge. Prep Week will involve planning some meals, buying the right groceries, and getting my Workout Jams playlist in order!

Got back to writing again today! Not doing too badly, either. +1337 (yeah, I'm that 1337 ) words today. Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing 2 novels by the end of 2018) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 35,000 Words This Challenge 2,512/35,000

I dusted off the ol' writing fingers today. Since it's been so long since I wrote, I didn't want to work on my story and instead wanted to get the cobwebs cleared away. However, I'm still counting it toward my challenge, since all writing is helpful! Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing 2 novels by the end of 2018) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 35,000 Words This Challenge 1,175/35,000

Send it my way! I haven't been able to turn off my A/C all "Winter." I know, some people would consider that heaven, but months upon months of dryness and 110+ heat get old VERY quickly.

I am finally, finally feeling better. The bad news: being sick wrecked my diet and I gained 4 pounds. The good news: I'm ready to kick myself back into gear (slowly, of course, so I don't kill myself.) The other good news: I did manage to do a lot of organizing of the craft AND weight room! Got the closet completely organized for the craft room, and moved a bunch of stuff about into an easier-to-manage-mess in the weight room. Hey! Sometimes the only progress you can make against a mess is to make it a slightly tidier mess that'll be easier to clean later Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2: Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week 50% Progress

January 11th report: feeling slightly better, so thought I'd ease back into some aerobics and stretching. 25 minutes.

A small update because somehow I got sick again. I blame my dad. I was absolutely bedridden the last two days, but today I shambled out and continued work on my board game. I'm trying to compress the rules down into a meaningful, succinct way so that they are both easy to understand and don't take up 500 pages (I'm looking at you, Fantasy Flight Games, whom I adore but man you need easier rules!) I have discovered, much to my chagrin, that being able to write and publish novels in no way makes me qualified to write rules. This has been disheartening, but I am now seeing it as a challenge in a new way of writing. I hope to keep this attitude through the many rules revisions about to happen.

Just a quick update, since this week has been absolutely bonkers-filled crazy: (Gma in hospital, dad completely down with the flu, and two family vehicles broken. *sigh*) I did manage to get some exercise in though, and still have tomorrow to do my weightlifting! Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 255) Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) I have been eating less overall, but I've been failing this one hard on the nutrition front. I still stress Exercise three times a week for five minutes (One Must Be Weight Lifting) 2/3 accomplished! Minutes spent: 32:00 No progress has been made on any of my other goals. Oh well.

January 3rd Report: 20 minutes of aerobics and stretching

Completed the Watchover Playtest #2. The players all seem to enjoy the game quite well, it's my attempt at writing out the rules that seems to be the problem . The mechanics and game itself are very solid, so all that is really left is tearing the rules apart and rewriting them so they make sense. That's the goal for Revision #4. Halfway there! Epic Quest #4: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Watchover Playtest #2 Revision #4 Watchover Playtest #3 Revision #5 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #6 Rules Finalization Art Finalization Final Playtest #1 Revision #7 Final Playtest #2 Revision #8 Publish!

Thanks a bunch you two! Today I started strong. First thing I did: Went for a 10 minute walk. Then I did some work, and then I did some game designing while eating a salad. I made the rules revision #3, and getting ready for a Watchover Playtest #2 later today. Yee! Here's my progress report so far: Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 258) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) A protein mix and a salad are all that I've had so far today. Woot! Exercise three times a week for five minutes (One Must Be Weight Lifting) 1/3 accomplished! Minutes spent: 10:00 Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing 2 novels by the end of 2018) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 35,000 Words This Challenge 0/35,000 Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2: Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week 0% Progress Epic Quest #4: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Watchover Playtest #2 Revision #4 Watchover Playtest #3 Revision #5 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #6 Rules Finalization Art Finalization Final Playtest #1 Revision #7 Final Playtest #2 Revision #8 Publish!

Spent 10 minutes today, first thing I did in the day, walking! In actual sunlight! Who am I?? +0.38 miles, +10:00 minutes Dyego Walks to Mordor! Time Spent Walkin': 20:53 Miles Walked So Far: 28.81 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: Nearing a steep bank, but not quite there yet...

Yeah, I'm running out of title ideas at the moment. In any case, my "Screw it! Round Three!" challenge went amazingly well on the health front, so I'm going to keep it up. I also did pretty well on other topics but got sidetracked by the flu AND a twisted disc in my back. So it's time to tackle those again. [][][] My first goal is the same as it has been for awhile, because now I'm actually making some serious progress toward it! One of these days, hopefully this year, I will be able to say that I have accomplished a major goal. I'm just going to keep plodding along until that happens. For the first time in a very long time I spent two weeks entirely in the 250s, not going up into 260 at all. I even got down to 252. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 258) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) I've done very well on this, but last couple weeks I slipped a little bit on sugar and carbs. So that means I'm going back to two weeks of no added sugar. It's going to be a heckuva lot easier this time around, to the point where I might even go three weeks. The diet continues of: low carbs, medium fat, high protein, veggies and healthy foods I make myself as much as possible. Exercise three times a week for five minutes (One Must Be Weight Lifting) My back ruined this for me, but I'm getting back out there. I have decided that once a week, at least, I will lift weights. I have the potential to be a Warrior, but not enough interest in doing that solely, but I'd like to get my muscles back into action. The other exercise each week will be composed of walking and lightsaber duels. [][][] My second challenge remains the same. My goal is to have two new books published this year (I'd like to do 4, but I'm trying to stick to attainable goals) and the only way to write and publish a book is...to write and publish a book. So: Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing 2 novels by the end of 2018) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 35,000 Words This Challenge I know that I keep giving myself writing goals that are too hard. But I'm going to treat this 5 week challenge as a Round Two of NaNoWriMo. If I write 7k words a week for 5 weeks that's 35,000 words. It's a bit much, but by spreading it out across the whole challenge, instead of daily or weekly goals, I might be able to do this. No, check that: I WILL be able to do this. [][][] I'm returning to a previous challenge and adjusting it for my new circumstances! It's time to organize my house again with some Winter Cleaning! Last time it was the Loft and the Craft Room. I accomplished the Loft but not the craft room, so this time... Epic Quest #3: Making Room For More Games! (Or: organizing and cleaning my house) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2: Clean / Organize 15 minutes a week Organize, plan, and clean the following: Craft Room and Weight Room. [][][] It's a 5 week challenge, and I've got some momentum, so I'm going to do a fourth epic quest! Thankfully, this is one I can do kind of on the side so it won't detract from anything else, but it's something I really don't want to lose momentum on. Epic Quest #4: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 I made some good progress on this one, and it's time to keep that going. I had to revise my number of steps, but that just leads to a better board game. I don't know that I'll be able to accomplish all the rest of these steps in 5 weeks, and to be honest I'm not really going to try, but any number of these steps that I can mark off is a good step! First to go on this is to make revisions to the rules based on watchover play. Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Watchover Playtest #2 Revision #4 Watchover Playtest #3 Revision #5 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #6 Rules Finalization Art Finalization Final Playtest #1 Revision #7 Final Playtest #2 Revision #8 Publish! And that's my challenge! Tomorrow I go buy some ingredients for my planned meals and get my mind all geared up for the Special Edition 5 Week Challenge! Wooot!

Hello there! This is my fourth challenge and I didn't even know there WAS a chat area for them. Hmm. I have, apparently, been missing out. I am Dyego Alehandro, Author (un)Extraordinaire! I haven't been around that long but I've been enjoying my time here. Had some false starts several times, but finally kicked myself into gear on my last challenge and I'm hoping to ride that momentum right into the next one. What I am looking forward to most in 2018: My goals! I hope to have two more books published and finally have a board game with my name on it. I'm really planning to keep the momentum going and am excited. Fears about 2018: I'm worried I'll lose my momentum and slip back into my sugar-devouring ways. I'm fighting it with all my heart, though, so let's see if we can keep that fear from coming true. Also:

And! The Watchover Playtest went off without a hitch! Got a LOT of valuable feedback, to the point where I'm going to have to revise my goal structure (for next challenge!) to include one or two more Watchover Playtests. But, still accomplished a lot! Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 I jumped up three rungs on this one and am going to finish the fourth this very day, since I scheduled a Watchover Playtest this very evening. Woot! I may just have a published boardgame in the next few months. How awesome is that to add to my list? Artist, Author, Game Maker! Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Watchover Playtest #2 Revision #4 Watchover Playtest #3 Revision #5 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #6 Rules Finalization Art Finalization Final Playtest #1 Revision #7 Final Playtest #2 Revision #8 Publish!

The final report! The last two weeks were marred by flu/bronchitis/back injuries, but I still did my best. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 257) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) Nailed this one. I stayed below 260 the entire time once I dropped below it. My diet has improved considerably. I added some carbs and sugars back to my diet, but I've been keeping them very well monitored. I haven't binged on anything, either carbs or sugar-wise, since I started. The cravings to do so are still there, but they are weaker and easier to ignore. I am doing pretty darn good with this, and looking forward to a future of this diet. Already doing more recipe planning and getting excited about what I can still eat and make amazing on this diet. Exercise three times a week for five minutes Well, the first two weeks were great. Then came the flu. Then the bronchitis. And then the twisted back (from coughing and sneezing too much). The good news? I actually missed exercise. My lightsaber just arrived yesterday, so once my back is feeling better it's time for some dueling with my wife! And it's nice and cold, so long walks are again an option. I love winter. Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 7,000 words a week This one...was not a good result. I never once got even close to the goal. I think, perhaps, that I was weighed down by my seasonal retail job, which really drained the life outta me, but truth be told it's still just really hard for me to write. Now that I can sit up again, I think I'll be trying this again. I may need to lower my goals yet again just so I can get in the habit. Perhaps 700 words a week? Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 I jumped up three rungs on this one and am going to finish the fourth this very day, since I scheduled a Watchover Playtest this very evening. Woot! I may just have a published boardgame in the next few months. How awesome is that to add to my list? Artist, Author, Game Maker! Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #4 Rules Finilization Art Finilization Publish! --------------------------------------- I'm probably going to try making the next challenge as well, not skipping. It can be difficult, but I liked just throwing myself into this challenge. I came away very surprised at what I was able to accomplish, while also recognizing areas of improvement. Life is always a learning experience, right?? See you next challenge!

Weekly weigh-in: 257.1 Holding within a very reasonable margin of error of last week's weigh-in, so that's good. I was unfortunate in that my flu and bronchitis did NOT lower my appetite...I ate like a pig. Way more carbs than the last two weeks, and even had sugar a few times. Still managed to keep my weight down, though! So yay! Absolutely no progress whatsoever on my other projects. I could barely sit up straight, let alone write or design.

So! My flu turned into acute bronchitis this week. I will therefore only have a small update to deliver tomorrow.

A report for the last few days, catching up. +7.28 miles Dyego Walks to Mordor! Time Spent Walkin': -- Miles Walked So Far: 28.43 miles Current Leg of the Journey: Hobbiton to Rivendale Last Milestone: The road has been rolling up and down, but I can tell that I am getting near to a spot to rest.

My 2nd week recap. Some progress on all goals, so quite happy with it. Epic Quest #1: The Search For Spock Sexy (Or: Losing weight. End Goal: 230. Current Weight: 267) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #1 WEEKLY WEIGH-IN: 256.7 (I lost 2.6 pounds) Do your new diet (Paleo-ish + Candida + South Beach Diet) Progress: NAILED IT! Still keeping to the diet! I cheated a little and had Chinese food yesterday, but I avoided all rice and (because of necessity) had the gluten-free options. It was delicious. Otherwise, all week has been good veg, good fat/protein, minimal carbs. The cravings are pretty much gone and I love it. Exercise three times a week for five minutes Progress: 3/3 Accomplished. Work has been kicking my butt, but I've been walking. I haven't updated my battle log for it just yet, but I'll get to that next. Epic Quest #2: Hands of the Scribe, Words of the Bard (Or: Writing and publishing my next novel by the end of 2017) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Write 7,000 words a week I had one epic writing day this week...and that was it. Christmas time at retail tends to suck the life out of you. I have a couple of days off next week, so I'll give it another go. I still wrote more than the first week, so progress! Total Words Written (This Week): 1,008 Words Need for This Week's Goal: 5,992 --------------------------------------------------------------- Total Words Written This Challenge: 1,826 Epic Quest #3: Summoner of Worlds (Or: Designing and Publishing my Boardgames / Videogames) This Challenge's goals toward completing Epic Quest #2 Playtest occurred! Things are going very well, actually, as the rules seem to be holding up to all sorts of scrutiny. There only needs to be some minor changes made for Revision #2, and then it'll be on to Step 8, the scary one. It means I really need to make the rules nice and readable (they sort of are, but need to be better.) I may schedule another playtest between now and the Watchover, just to nail down a few more ideas. I'll see as the revision work begins. Design Document Mechanics Overview 'First Draft' Playtest Revision #1 Second Draft Playtest Revision #2 Rules pre-finalization Watchover Playtest (When you watch a group play your game with your rules but do not participate) Revision #3 Exported Playtest (When you send the game to a group who playtest it without you watching, and they report back) Revision #4 Rules Finilization Art Finilization Publish! --------------------------------------- This was a good "holding steady" week. I was able to keep to my diet and make decisions so that, even though a meal I had wasn't quite "on-diet", I didn't make it worse by adding a bunch of carbs. That was a very good step in my book, as in the past I tended to "screw it, I'm eating bad might as well go the whole way." This time it was "screw it, I'm eating bad, I'm not going to eat really bad!" I got some writing and boardgame creation in, so it was a good week. On to week 3!