Vidd

Oh man, I've really dropped the ball on this challenge... I'm not stressing too much only because part of the point of this challenge was to be more of a breather before I tackle any big goals, so beating myself up defeats the purpose on that haha. But still... I've stayed true to the stretching, and my sleep. I've been so tired lately even with the sleep though. I'm trying to figure out what it might be. I may be in a bad loop with caffeine. Sometimes when I drink it for long periods I start to feel pretty terrible. My full body workouts have been going good. I've been tracking my sets and reps more diligently so I'm able to see the continued progress. As for the goal that is more of the theme, of this challenge... My reading out loud has been I'd say, 30 min every other day. I can definitely do better here, and I think it really needs to be a daily thing for me to see noticeable benefit. At the moment I'm reading a book called Master and Apprentice. It takes place before the events of The Phantom Menace and goes more in depth on the relationship between Qui Gon and Obi Wan. I bought the book because Qui Gon is my favorite Jedi and so far I think the author has done a great job on portraying him. Anyway hope everyone is doing great on their challenges I need to get caught up on everyone's threads.

Hey all, here is my week 1 update! As you can see by all the red X's on rebuilding my base, my desire to continue cleaning has really waned.. The yellow boxes are still somewhat of a mystery to me. For meal prep it makes sense since Sun/Thur are the only days I meal prep but for Charisma(my reading out loud) it has a yellow box for yesterday. For the most part though, these stats I have generated paint an accurate picture. In summary it's only been a week and so I haven't noticed any sizable changes. Yesterday I grabbed lunch with a former coworker and, I can't say the reading out loud has made a big difference yet but it went well. Now that I have more free time I'm trying to keep in touch with people and be less of a ghost. My sleep has been amazing. Now that I have been playing Hogwarts Legacy I can save and exit at any time and so right as it hits my bed time I hop off and get to sleep. This is a great advantage of games like this, whereas with World of Warcraft as much as I love that game, you'd get locked in to a raid or dungeon instance and if you leave, you really let your team down, and so of course you stay up as late as it takes to get it done. I've also recently made the decision to switch to every other day full body workouts so I'm going to be updating my habit tracker to where one day its 40 min cardio, the next its weights, and keep rotating that so that I'm still in the gym every day and maintain that habit. The reason for this is to keep things fresh, make it impossible to 'skip leg day', and a full body pump always feels pretty epic.

Alright so midway through the week and, experiencing some fluxes in my mood. This will be the dear diary update for the week lol. I thought I'd be on a permanent high, and feel light as a feather without the burden that was the CPA exams... but there have been some dips here and there. My theory is there may be some sadness in losing the very clearly defined purpose that exam prep gave me these past two years. I'm proud of myself for accomplishing it and happy it is over, and so this may not make much sense. I have a constant what I'd call, low level sense of urgency, about me in my day to day life. This stems from the combination of, having big goals for my life, and the awareness that I really squandered the first 2/3rds of my 20s. So for me to catch up to my dreams, I need to make two years of progress, each one real year. I would love to my have my own house with its own home gym(A real 'secret base') but I'm still far off from that becoming a reality. I am truly a workaholic now, though. Anyway what I'm going to frame this time period is me grinding my stats so that I'm at a proper level for my next big goal. But there is more murkiness in my purpose than before. It's possible the reading out loud may help me to open the doors to new relationships or careers, or it may do nothing at all. Speaking of that, I've stuck to the habit so far, hitting it every day. I've missed a few days at the gym, but I'm going to try to be consistent the rest of this week. I still think if I can check off most, or all of my habits on my habit tracker, I should try not to worry so much about remaining stagnant. Plus I've got some tasks that still need to be complete: My ethics exam, continuing professional education credits, and finally get my foot injury checked out.

Oh hey fellow accountant Thank you! So fortunately in my state, I don't need to be in a public accounting firm, I just need accounting experience that is under the supervision of a CPA. For the past few years I've been working as a general ledger accountant and this should be enough to get my license. Once I do, I'll need to do some thinking on if I want to stay where I am, or see if I can find something else. I have wonderful bosses who have shown interest in my development, but my department has been hit hard with outsourcing, with about 200 people losing their jobs across all accounting functions except for SOX auditing for some reason, so it has me nervous about the future. Hey I appreciate the support! Right now it's Hogwarts Legacies. I grew up with Harry Potter and an open world RPG set in the HP universe is like a dream come true. But with the CPA going on, I knew I had to stay strong and not indulge. Now I can play it free from guilt. After that, I've got Age of Empires 4, Nexomon Extinction(It's like Pokemon), Witcher 3 which believe it or not I've never played, and by time I get through these the new world of warcraft season would likely be upon me, and so my team I run dungeons with will probably drag me into that. On the reading aloud, it's cool you're considering it too, it can be a good tool to get more used to saying words that are not typically in your day to day vocabulary. So mid-day update, I've got the gym taken care of, cardio, stretching, cleaning, and reading aloud. I need about 45-50g more protein before I get to bed to hit my 1g/lb of BW goal. I'm off to a good start so far I think, but it's only been a day so I'm going to have to see how a week looks haha.

Interesting intro, and a really tricky thing to solve. I saw a youtube short recently where a presenter asked his audience how many people would stay with a person who constantly lied to them. No one raised their hands, and so he said that's why you don't like you. You make promises to yourself you don't keep... Was a simple but powerful message. The more promises we keep to ourselves, the more our relationships with our invisible selves can improve. Not to say we can ever reach perfection. Anyway following along for support. As for week 1, you're just warming up to all of this

I really like the Kratos theme and your goals. As for Brandon Sanderson, I'm a fan of his writing style. He taught me a lot many years back too as a writer. He allowed his creative writing lectures to be posted up for anyone to view on a youtube channel called Write About Dragons and I found them pretty interesting.

The story so far... After years of living a normal life, Vidd remembered his past as a vigilante hero, and decided to turn away from his normal corporate 9 to 5 life to live a double life: Accountant by day, hero in the night. The past two months involved grueling training sessions, a rehaul of nutrition, and countless hours of study to further hone his financial skills: An important trait in getting to the bottom of the shady dealings of the local crime syndicates. Now he was met with a new obstacle. If he was to infiltrate their operations, he would need to be indistinguishable from other members of their gang. Fortunately, he was able to collect a large amount of phone calls through wiretapping between their members. Vidd walked over to his desk, and he turned on his console, illuminating the area around him. In a few clicks he used an advanced AI program to convert all of those calls into text, and then projected them holographically before him. It was time to master their dialect. Day by day he would do this, so that when the time came he would blend in and be able to slip through their ranks smoothly, without rousing suspicion. While it may seem a small task, it was critical for survival. Hey all, so I am still celebrating the passing of my 4th and final CPA exam. I really cannot top that. It was a goal nearly two years in the making and I'm feeling great. I want to keep this positive momentum rolling, but this next challenge is going to be a little less hardcore and this is intentional. I want to give myself time to catch up on some video games I've been neglecting. I think I deserve it after all I've put myself through This challenge is going to build off the former challenge where I am tracking my daily habits in an app. The notable additions are I'm going to actually track my protein intake and ensure I'm getting 1g/lb of bodyweight. The second addition, and the one that is the theme of this challenge is at least 30 minutes a day I'm going to read a novel out loud to myself. Since my early teens I've had a stutter. Where speaking comes naturally to many, it's something I still struggle with. Although I've notably improved since my teens, it still holds me back in some ways. One of my first jobs was front desk at my local gym, and the sales manager overheard me talking with an older guy just starting out, and he walked over afterwards and told me I'd be great at sales due to my ability to connect with people. I didn't believe him cause of my stutter, and he told me his best friend dealt with the same thing, but what he did was read out loud every day, and eventually he became an even better talker than him. The interesting thing is if I am reading to myself my speech is perfect. And the idea is, the more I hear myself speaking perfectly, the more it will program my brain into that being the expectation. This may not be something many can relate with but it's only one aspect of the challenge. Here is my daily plan: Charisma - 30 minutes of reading out loud per day Nutrition - 1g protein per lb of body weight Nimbleness - 15 minutes stretching per day. Agility - 20 minutes cardio per day Training - Gym five days a week Meal Prep - Batch cook lunches Thursday and Sunday. Recovery - Sleep 7+ hours a day

I know this challenge is long done but I feel it is fitting to post the outcome. I PASSED!!!! These last two weeks were brutal I was tossing and turning each night, even had a nightmare I failed. This challenge really only showed me approaching the finish line but the entire journey to this point was a massive one. A lot of sacrifice and anxiety and doubt, but I've proved it to myself that I can take on big goals like these and see them through. Thanks again to everyone who was following this challenge or even just lurking. As for me, I need to go celebrate And at some point get my new challenge thread setup.

Hey so, been a little lost since the end of last challenge. I'm still waiting on the results from my CPA exam which I should find out on the 14th. In the meantime, I've been trying to find the motivation to feel excited about some of my other goals. In an attempt to do so, I spent the afternoon designing a new workout routine. As summer comes to a close, I'm keeping it to gym workouts to prepare for the cold weathers. I'm also carrying an extra 10-15 lbs that I need to shed in order for me to get back to the types of bodyweight workouts that I used to really enjoy. The new routine is Upper Body -> Lower Body -> Full Body -> Arms. The 3 days off are mixed inbetween these sessions and are when I do extra cardio and ab workouts. This is going to give me a lot more frequency in hitting my muscle groups than the bodypart split that I was previously doing. I also plugged in my diet to MyFitnessPal to figure out how things are going, and made some tweaks. I've been doing intermittent fasting for years now, and I think I want to add back in breakfast. My rationale for doing so is, I mentioned during my last challenge that one health issue of mine is that I'm noticing I may be having some new blood sugar issues. I'm experiencing major carb cravings and sometimes feel a little dizzy if I haven't eaten in awhile. So I think it's time to stop the fasting, and maybe revisit later on if I decide to. What I don't want to miss out on though, are the time saving benefits of intermittent fasting so it's important whatever I choose as my breakfast takes little to no prep time. This is why I'm planning on doing overnight oats each morning. This is what the macros are looking like: This looks like a great start to the morning and getting those 52G of protein in first thing, will make it much easier for me to hit my protein goal the remainder of the day versus my previous 2 meal strategy.

What an amazing way to end off this challenge! That hike sounds hard even without recovering from the O2 machine. Good luck on the college, it'll feel great to have that monkey off your back once and for all once this is through

Alright yesterday was the test and afterwards I felt this sudden wave of fatigue wash over me once it was finally done. In the moment though, I had tons of energy due to the adrenaline, so all four hours of the exam I was really focused. It's organized into five sections, the first two are sets of 38 multiple choice, and then the final 3 sections are 3 simulations each. The multiple choice and simulations are evenly weighted for 50% of my total score. I started off strong on the multiple choice. I think there was maybe 3-4 I was unsure on but the remainder things were jumping out at me from all the studying I had done. Then came the simulations, and this is where things began to feel iffy. They went far more in depth on the actual tax forms and highly specific rules than I expected. I really think I bombed the simulations and I left the exam with a really bad feeling about it. I didn't want to talk to anyone about it for awhile so I vegetated in bed and avoided any calls or texts for awhile as I digested all that I went through. I slept on it and regardless of how I did, I can't look back on the journey in regret. I must have put in close to 90 hours of study in just the last two weeks alone in preparation. If I didn't pass it won't be for a lack of trying, but maybe the areas I did study were at times misplaced. I really mastered a lot of things that I thought for sure would be free points for me on the exam, only for them not to even ask me about those things grrr lol Now, I don't find out the results until either the 14th or 15th of September. I have two potential paths I can go down. I can immediately dive back into the books and start preparing preemptively, so that I can sit for my retake as soon as possible, or I can take the two weeks to rest and recuperate, and perhaps not need to study anymore after all if it does turn out I pass. I plan to do the latter. Right now is the perfect time to knock out errands such as doc appointments, catch up with friends, and deal with the mountain of emails I'll have waiting for me on Tuesday when I return to work from my two weeks off. I'm going to be continuing with the habits I've established during this challenge. I think this is the first time I've ever stayed consistent with stretching and it seems to be paying off. I'm still tin man status lol but the joint pain is going away and I'm noticing minor improvements day after day. So that concludes this challenge thanks everyone who supported me along the way! Perhaps I'll join in on the next whenever I find out what becomes of me mid September haha.

August 27th, 2023 - Vidd hunched over his desk, surrounded in large texts, and numerous notepads filled with scribbled calculations. The pale blue glow of his console dimly lit his face as he continued to delve deeper into tax code and complex financial transactions. The news blared in the background, filled with stories of corruption, money laundering, and notorious criminal organizations wreaking havoc on the city streets. But Vidd remained steadfast, blocking out the noise, and focusing solely on his books. To the casual eye, Vidd seemed like an ambitious young accountant eager to climb the corporate ladder, but little did the world know the true purpose behind his studies. Days blurred together, and the fine line between reality and his studies seemed to fade. Yet, Vidd pushed on, driven by the sheer determination. With a sigh, he finally tore his eyes away from his studies, and looked at the date. An entire week had passed, and he had just five days remaining. No turning back now. Well here it is. This'll be the final update before I sit for my exam on Thursday. I'm feeling pretty ok, I think there is a solid chance I make it out of that testing center with a passing grade. I've averaged at least 6 hours of focused study per day. There have been some challenges. The mental fatigue, and as the roleplay intro hinted at, world events have been trying to draw me into their mess but I've been able to block it out mostly. Not so much the news, as it is my family members who are strangely very keen to discuss politics lately. I'm just like I have no idea, no I've not seen the news, I've got something big going on right now lol. Anyway the plan for my last four days is to continue to power through and finish strong. I'm just going to study for as long as it feels as if my brain is still retaining information. My next weekly summary will be a recap of how I felt it went, but I won't find out my results until the 14th which is a whole two weeks after this challenge. So I will be in a state of limbo. If I don't pass, it's back to the books, if I do pass, it's on to the next challenge. I did make it to the gym tonight and it has me feeling recharged. I'm going to aim to keep making it there daily, but if not, I'm going to at the very least take periodic walks around my neighborhood to shake up the long periods of sitting some. Anyway that's all for now, hope everyone is doing great on their challenges I've been trying to read as many as I can but with everything going on I mostly do so in periodic bursts

Hey everybody. So, this challenge is sort of falling apart other than the CPA studies and my stretches. If I were to post up the data on Saturday of how this week has went, it'd be filled with red X's. I think this challenge was extremely ambitious and sort of tried to fix my life in all aspects. Health, career, and cleaning my mess of a living space. And I have improved in all of these areas. But I think if all I manage to really do right is finish this exam, the challenge is a win in my book. This post isn't a declaration of defeat, I still am going to be trying to make the most of each of these next few days, but I haven't been to the gym since Monday for my leg day, and I probably won't make it tonight either. I have been averaging 6-8 hours a day of study time, and I'm finding that the mental fatigue almost feels as if it is physical fatigue, too. I'm going to keep fighting, and I know that if I pass this exam, I'll have all the time I need to focus hard on regaining my fitness.

Yesterday went good, I'm continuing to wage war on this CPA exam. I got 8 hours of focused study time in, got my lunches meal prepped, and also made it to the gym. I still feel so low on time, and so my workout was very bare bones and basic. It was an arm day and I did just two exercises for bicep and triceps. No forearm work, and no bicep movement specifically for the brachialis like I usually like to do. I think this is ok, I'm thinking I am likely to still see gains even with this minimalist approach given I am still making my comeback to the fitness lifestyle. This was all I did: 4 Sets Incline Curls 4 Sets DB Overhead Tricep Extension 4 Sets Machine Preacher Curls 4 Sets Machine Tricep Extensions The logic behind this workout is the incline curls hit the biceps from a stretched position, more behind the body, while the preacher curls are in front of the body, and also the fact it's a machine, it provides tension at the very top of the movement when the bicep is most flexed, which is where the incline curls have the least amount of tension. Triceps I just like to have one movement that is an overhead extension, and another that is more of a horizontal extension. Anyway I slept 9 hours, I think my brain and body needed the rest. Today the plan is to hit legs.

This is even harder than I thought. I can work 8+ hours at my job but when it comes to my personal studies it is harder to stay accountable because there is no boss checking in on me or asking me what I got done. I've made some changes to try to make this easier for me. I'm keeping my phone in a separate room and only checking on it during breaks I've scheduled, and I'm also uninstalling discord on my PC. I'll reinstall discord after the exam, but I'll still have the discord app on my phone. Anyway first day of this second phase of my challenge is bound to be difficult, today I'm going to make much better. I did get the 8 hours in but they were not as focused as they should've been. With these distractions removed, I should have less potential roadblocks.