ViperN7

Viper stops a morning stroll mid-stride, spins around, pokes a head into the monastary, bows, and enters. "Did someone say ju-jitsu?" That's awesome! What's your favorite technique (or kind of technique?) Japanese Ju-jitsu arose as the unarmed martial art of the samurai. It mainly focuses on throws and joint locks (by extension trips, and also falls). At its core it deals with redirecting momentum, off balancing, and utilizing the way the body does (and does not) move. It involves grappling, chokes, and strikes, but focuses more on throws and joint locks. I do not have direct experience with Brazilian Ju-jitsu, but the way it was explained to me, "ju-jitsu" was something of a catch-all term for martial arts in Brazil at the time. It evolved in Brazil from Japanese Ju-jitsu mixed with strong groundwork elements (I'm not exactly sure what the other influences were). As far as I know, BJJ mainly focuses on grappling, with things like throws and joint locks more often part of groundwork or a lead in to groundwork. I'd be interested to hear your & @Kishi 's description of BJJ. All that being said, of course there are many schools and lineages, which will have their own styles and points of emphasis.

Thanks for sharing this.

How did the consultation go? This is not medical advice. I am not a doctor. Definitely talk to your physio. But here's my two cents (do you say two pence?). You can investigate potential muscle involvement. How does it feel to massage or foam roll around your knee? For example: How's your soleus, your gastroc, everything that attaches on the inside of your knee (the adductors, inner hamstrings, etc?) How's your quads, especially your vastus medialis and rectus femoris? How does it feel to trace the gastroc down or the adductors, hamstrings, and quads up? If you don't know what they're supposed to feel like, you can compare to your left leg. That may give you more precise information about where the problem is (and where to focus your efforts.) However, remember that having a muscle problem does not guarentee that that's the only problem. Also, how does it feel to jump in place? That may help you differentiate between high impact (shared with running and walking up inclines) versus particular movements or angles. Good luck!

Thank you @Artemis Prime for giving me the push I needed to finally undertake a quest that has been simmering in the back of my mind for a couple years. You see, I used to keep a list of all the books I'd read. I started the list in my early teenage years (backfilled everything I could remember) and continued until college. It was 10 handwritten pages. In college I abruptly stopped reading other things as suddenly I was overflowing with class reading. One of the changes I made during lockdown was reading more again--it started as getting ebooks out of my library, because that was something I could access when everything was shut down. I've been thinking for a few years about restarting the Books Read list----but I no longer know where the original is, and the thought of trying to recreate it all was daunting. When I saw this question ⬆️ I started trying to remember the historical fiction books I've read, and once I started dredging up the past, the floodgates opened and I've been working on my Books Read list for 3 months. It's on to the 15th typed page and still going. What kind of stories does your dad like to read? Topics/age of protagonist? War stories? Social critique stories? Something more like realistic fiction, just in the past? Does it matter if it's suuuuuuper depressing? How does he feel about nonfiction? It really depends on the kind of story your dad likes to read, but here are some options that might fit your dad's criteria: +The Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain +To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee +The Devil's Arithmatic by Jane Yolen +Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (contemporary to the time it was written) +The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (contemporary to the time it was written) +Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (contemporary to the time it was written) +When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (novelization based on true events) +Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell (novelization based on true events) +The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (more of a novelized memoir, based on the author's experience in the Vietnam War) +Night by Elie Wiesel (memoir; Holocaust) +The Endless Steppe by Esther Hautzig (memoir; WWII)

What a cool concept!

Definitely do not start with Reverie! It may help to think if it like a book series. Here's a more itemized write-up: (Spoiler tag because it's long) The best place to start is the beginning, Trails in the Sky, unless the older graphics are problematic for you, in which case Cold Steel can be a fine place to start (It's actually where I started just due to circumstance. I did have someone to explain important points from Sky to me though.) However, after Cold Steel II the prior games become very important so you'd have to backtrack. By that point, you won't care about the older graphics because you'll be in love with the world, the story, and the characters. I thought I better check my facts before I elaborated, and I did find a pleasant surprise. The Learning Chinese From English course is limited in content compared to the more popular courses. The learning tree/path currently has 3 content sections before a review section at the end. For comparision, the Learning English From Chinese course has 8 content sections. Additionally, the learning Chinese course does not have Stories. As far as I can tell, it does not have Chinese-only reading comprehension questions (just translations). However, (about a year ago? Idk, time is fluid) they added a "learn to read pinyin" tab. And I just found out that in Dec 2023 they did add a hanzi practice tab, including handwriting (with the magic of touch screens)! As far as I can tell, that's just to drill characters on the side; it's not incorporated into the learning path. However, I set my phone to a Chinese handwriting keyboard and hand-write in the sentences that you're supposed to "type". I don't know what textbook you used or how intensive your Chinese classes were, but I think that with two semesters of experience, you'd find a lot of vocabulary that would be new to you. For comparison, I took 8 Chinese classes in college. I knew the majority of the Duolingo content, but there was vocab that was new to me, particularly in the business and net slang units which just weren't topics in my textbooks. There were other words that were new to me scattered throughout. I was sadly mistaken about Duolingo's Italian course: I assumed it would go further because it's a more popular course, but it looks like Learn Italian from English only has 3 content sections at this time, and they are all labeled A1. It turns out there are many styles of meditation benches to be found on the internet, but the kind I'm familiar with looks like this: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1513723051/meditation-bench-is-a-seat-for?click_key=6d4253b99c3a96661132c41e97338dbc59c84f78%3A1513723051&click_sum=d1d3c59d&external=1&ref=pla_similar_listing_top-1&sca=1 It's a little slanted bench and you basically kneel in seiza so that you're actually sitting on the bench, not on your own ankles. I can make no promises about how that would work out for your hips and knees, but I liked it more than the cushion. I got so excited writing about Chinese and Trails that what was supposed to be a lifting break between sets has become more than an hour. Now, back to strength training!

Such kind words! Something I can (and have, repeatedly) talked about for many, many hours! OK, so, I'm going to try to give you the run down here: (This isn't a plot spoiler, it's thematic and mechanical. It just got to be a long explanation.) Indeed. Chinese is what I call one of Duolingo's "neglected" courses, lagging several years worth of updates behind their flagship courses. So I haven't experienced Duolingo going anywhere near that level. Someday, someday in the distant future, I'll get to Duolingo's B2 content in Italian. I'll definitely check out the article! Ah, fond memories for me, but idk if they really make an interesting story. I was introduced to Zen meditation in a school club setting, and then later at another school had Buddhist meditation courses and also secular meditation courses in the physical environment of a Buddhist meditation hall. Those were a few chapters of life ago, but it is nice to remember. I actually preferred the little kneeling benches (have you seen those?) when they were available, but I have spent many hours (not consecutively!) on meditation cushions! I haven't meditated in a while. These days if I'm going for something in that ballpark it's usually reiki. I have not seen West Wing, but I have heard one of my best friends gush about it repeatedly. That's a really great dialogue ⬆️

I am late to the party and so sorry to be late! I totally would have watched Liam defend his dissertation if I had seen this on time! That sounds awesome and interesting. Many congratulations to him! Ahh! Buffy!!! You're reminding me that I still need to finish watching... I have never seen Xena, but the high concentration of Xena clips in these forums has convinced me to add it to my "to watch" list. Neither of these look like my usual thing, but they look so interesting I might give them a try anyway. I keep hearing how great Blue Eyed Samurai is!!! I'll get to it soon! I gotta finish Trails into Reverie before I can start another media project. Cool! And good reason to study. I've never taken an official language rating test so I don't know what my levels are...I'm getting curious though. I feel like if I'm going to go spend money on a fancy test, I should get my level higher first though 😛 My own Spanish seems to be approaching a vanishing point, but it is nevertheless dramatically helping me to learn Italian. I've found that when a language seems to fade, most of it is just very, very, *very* deeply buried. Your Spanish is probably in there somewhere. You got this! She seems amazing! Thank you for the introduction. Yiiiikes! That's rough, buddy. The last time I did plate math wrong, I got hurt. I'm very glad you seem to be in one piece! But that's still rough. Ah! Meditation cushions sure bring back memories! I'm glad it's helping you! Well done being mindful of how the med change is affecting you and giving yourself some slack while you're finding your new equalibrium. Some days don't go according to plan, but sometimes you just gotta manage where you are in that moment, regardless of the schedule. I hope things are getting easier. We are, in fact, capable of getting better. That's awesome, I'm glad you're noticing your own progress. Good work!

I did it again! 2x5 pull ups! This makes the third time in my recovery arc, and it's less than 2 months after the second time! (There were 4 months between the first time and second time.) We are getting somewhere. Slowly, and surely, we are getting somewhere. I feel so good I think I'm gonna go do weights next. What kind of strength projects are the rest of you working on?

I'll be joining you in the bushes for this one, Mad Hatter. ...Do you think we can get a signal in here?

I don't know if this will work for your drawing, but might I suggest drawing at breakfast (or another fixed point in your day...breakfast is a good fixed point in my day). You have to eat everyday, therefore you will also have to draw *something* every day. This might look like keeping your sketchbook and drawing implement of choice on the table. I admit this strategy works better for quantity over quality. It will likely lead to drawing *something*, but might not work towards higher quality, detailed/ in-depth products. Alternatively, I suppose you could post your daily art here if you want accountability. Nice Flowery Dragon Parrot, btw 🙂 Edit: For some reason my phone was not displaying your more recent posts. It seems like you've been getting quite a few drawings in! Nice portraits!

Welcome to the rebellion! We all go about our journeys in different ways. Sometimes that means restarting and recalibrating. Glad you could be here.

Sage advice

Great explanation by Artemis Prime. I'm just gonna mention a few odds and ends. Calories are a unit of energy. Basal Metabolic Rate is the amount of energy your body uses per day in a coma, just to keep you alive. Total Daily Energy Expendature is all the energy you actually use in a day (so, coma level + any energy you use beyond that). Personally, I like to look at both https://tdeecalculator.net which Harriet linked and https://www.calculator.net/tdee-calculator.html and compare the results. Any number from any calculator is going to be an estimate. The more variables you can input and the more specific you can make them, the more accurate your result (should) be. But it will still be an estimate. The TDEE is the number you need to calculate your Calorie deficit (or maintenance level or surplus). It's energy in (Calories consumed) vs. energy burned (TDEE). To lose weight, you want to consume less than you burn. I do not know much about designing a Calorie deficit diet, but I have heard quite a few sources say that you should eat at least your BMR every day, as a minimum. In other words, don't cut so much that you're below this number (The reasoning is that it's not healthy to eat less than this: your body thinks you're in a famine and actually cuts corners to burn less and store more energy ie fat.) Hope that helps.

So, I'm a runner. I race 5ks. That seems to be Scout. I'm a lifter, that seems to be Warrior. Some of the things I categorize as "lifting" seem to fall under Assassin (namely pull ups, also push ups, etc), not enough for me to feel like that's my main theme though. Rangers seem to be the mix, but, well, I guess I don't have a clear idea of what a ranger is. If I'm going to pick a label at all, it just feels wrong for it *not* to be running (scout). Running goes very deep for me. It also feels wrong for it not to be strength (warrior). Strength training is the main thing I've been excited about for a few years--it's actually how I found Nerd Fitness. The strength is not cross training for running. The running is not cross training for strength. It's like a double major. My main focuses right now are: (1) increasing my deadlift (2) I'd like to say "getting my 5k time back down closer to where it was years ago" but really that's been diverted into getting my endurance back to even be able to race a 5k (I'm recovering from illness) (3) getting my pull ups back to where they were before I got sick--endurance is also the limiting factor here. I suppose the most practical reality is I'd like to hang out wherever there are cool discussions 😛