Starstuff

Apparently, this episode involves me getting trapped in the Great Pit of Carkoon for a little bit. My company had a round of layoffs at the beginning of last week, and I was one of the casualties. It caught me totally off-guard and sent me into a bit of a tailspin. I'm slowly crawling my way back out, and I have leads on a couple potential jobs, but my challenge goals have definitely taken a hit. I'll have a more detailed update on how I'm doing with my goals tomorrow, but I wanted to give you all a brief update before I head to bed. I don't suppose anyone's got a lightsaber stowed away in their R2 unit that I could borrow?

Following! I've got keto and yoga goals this time around, too. It's great seeing how well the first few days of keto have gone for you. I start tomorrow, and reading your posts has made me much less nervous about it.

Welcome back! I'm starting keto with this challenge, too, although for me it will be the first time. I will be here cheering you on (and possibly commiserating about "keto flu"). Also, if you're looking for fitbit friends, feel free to add me. My profile's in my signature.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... Episode VI RETURN OF THE JEDI After many months away, Starstuff has returned to the planet of Challengeooine in an attempt to free herself from the clutches of the vile gangster Melancholia the Butt. Little does Starstuff know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction on a new motivation-sapping space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Bleh Star. When completed, this weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of Rebels struggling to restore adventure, happiness, and improvement to the galaxy... This will be my first Challenge in a year. While I've been away from Challenges and the forums, I haven't been idle. I've been doing Rising Heroes missions (for anyone who might be thinking of joining, it's super fun), running virtual races for the Hogwarts Running Club (also super fun), teaching my pup to be a good running buddy (he is the best running buddy) and writing (started editing my novel and added almost 25k words to its sequel!). And, much to my delight and surprise, my husband has started exercising and cleaning up his diet (that setting an example thing? turns out it actually works). But things have been really rough the past month, and I could use some Rebel support to get back on track. Those of you who remember me might also remember that my husband and I have been trying to conceive for a couple years. After much poking and prodding, very few answers (according to all tests, there is nothing wrong with either of us, fertility-wise), and a number of "some studies suggest this might increase your chances" lifestyle changes, I finally got a positive pregnancy test at the beginning of December. And then I miscarried a week later. It sucked, you guys. On top of being physically and emotionally taxing, I wasn't allowed to run or take baths (my go-to stress relievers) for a couple weeks, and my hormones were a mess, putting me on this awful emotional rollercoaster. I was so stressed that I didn't really even enjoy The Last Jedi the first time I saw it (don't worry! this was rectified on repeat viewings). But I'm physically recovered now, my hormones are back to normal and I feel like myself again, and I'm ready to get back to actually, you know, living my life and being awesome. Goal 1: Escape the sail barge It's hard to escape a dangerous situation without strength and agility, which means I need to get back into my regular exercise routine, so my goal here is to walk or run every day, and complete a strength training workout 3x a week. Goal 2: Try a little help from your friends Sometimes, our friends have habits that we think are weird, but they turn out to be really effective. My husband has been doing keto for the past several months and having great success with it. I recently read a meta study showing that women eating low-carb diets tend to have an easier time conceiving and another study suggesting that moderate-to-high protein diets encourage increased ova quality in women. And I've read that some ultra-runners have had a lot of luck going low carb, too. That's enough to convince this carb-lover to at least give it a try for a few months, so my goal is to eat less than 40g of net carbs a day and get a minimum of 25% of my calories from protein. I still have some prepped meals that don't fit these guidelines, though, so my goal for the first day is to finish the last of my prepped meals, and then I can start with my new eating guidelines tomorrow. Goal 3: Reject the Dark Side With all the stress I've been under, I need to engage in some serious self-care so as not to slip into unhealthy coping habits. My goal is to practice yoga or meditate every day. Length doesn't matter, so long as I'm taking time to relax and center myself on a daily basis. Life Goal: Study the ancient Jedi texts That novel I started editing last year? Well, I need to finish it. One of my goals for the year is to edit a chapter a week (with breaks for Camp NaNoWriMo to work on drafting the sequel) until I've got a draft ready to send to beta readers, so my goal for this challenge is to edit five chapters of my novel. And because I like showing off pictures of my dog, here's Finn enjoying the new year at the dog park:

Always great to see another Jedi. Following!

I'm about to go for a short run, and then I'm going to set up my bullet journal for the year, post my challenge, and get to work editing the novel I've been ignoring for the past couple months. Also, hi, guys! It's been a while, but it's good to see you all again.

I think there might be something wrong with the spreadsheet. I was just trying to update the Final Battle sheet with my latest reps, and any time I click on any cell in my row, I get the error message "You are trying to edit a protected cell or object."

Who's got two thumbs and also just did two standard push-ups in a row? This lady! I haven't been able to do standard push-ups since high school, but the current mini encouraged me to try greasing the groove (gotta get those push reps in!), and it totally paid off.

You are using pretty language to attempt to make something unreasonable sound reasonable. It is not "compromise" to allow non-mages to participate in governing mages. Would you call it compromise to allow elves to participate in the governance of men? Or quinari to participate in the governance of dwarves? I'd wager not. Just because a position holds the midpoint between two other positions does not make it inherently reasonable. The midpoint between justice and total oppression is still injustice.

My fellow Assassins, I beg of you: Do not allow fear-mongering and anti-mage propaganda to sway your vote. You know me. We have fought together, side by side, against the enemies who threaten us all. We have supported one another through our challenges. Do you truly believe that my magic renders me incapable of making choices for myself? That I do not deserve the same freedoms and rights as others simply because I am a mage? Do you believe those things about Plitog or Jonsey or Grayspeed? No! Then do not let the Chantry, Templars, and their agents convince you that mages as a whole are not capable or worthy of governing ourselves. Loyalist leadership has been bought by the Chantry and Templars, promised positions of power in the new, oppressive regime. Their followers have so internalized cultural messages of magiphobia that they fear and hate their own powers. The Aequitarians fear that non-mages would never accept a free mage state, that the fears of non-magic-users will eventually lead them to wage war upon us. I empathize with those fears. I am also afraid. But we cannot allow fear to lead us into relinquishing our freedoms and sovereignty. The answer to anti-mage sentiment and magiphobia is not to accept rule from those who would oppress us, but to engage with non-mages on a personal level, to show non-mages that we, too, are people with the same hopes and aspirations, sorrows and fears, as every other sentient creature. Do not vote for bigotry. Do not vote for fear. The only way forward is a free mage state. Vote for freedom and justice! Vote Libertarian!

Week Two, Day 3 Goal #1: Made my bed, walked my mile up a nice hill behind the dog park, did my new strength training routine, and spent 15+ minutes on both Spanish practice and writing. Goal #2: Planned day off. Goal #3: Ate my prepped lunch. Life Goal: Added 502 words to my novel and figured out where the next couple scenes are going. Assassin Mini: 30 table push-ups.

I conveniently live right down the street from a Goodwill donation center, but I will definitely pass along the info about givebackbox.com! Week Two, Day 1 Goal #1: Walked my mile, decluttered a cute skirt that's just a little too short for me to feel comfortable wearing it, and did my strength training. Based on my AMRAPs from the Assassin mini, I decided it was time to fight the workout Boss for the Academy level I was on, and I kicked its butt, so next week I'll have harder workouts! Goal #2: Planned day off. Goal #3: I had a late brunch with my FIL, so I didn't eat my prepped lunch, but I did do all my prep cooking for this week. Life Goal: Wrote 595 words. Assassins Mini: 6 knee push-ups Week Two, Day 2 Goal #1: We got new weekly missions from Rising Heroes today, and all the new stuff is stuff I already do, woo! Made my bed, put in my mile, and practiced my Spanish in excess of 15 minutes. Goal #2: Ran from some zombies. Goal #3: Ate my prepped lunch. Life Goal: Got totally distracted by WoW and people being wrong on the internet, and completely flaked on my writing today.

Can we change the destination we're voting for as long as we do it before voting ends, or is it set in stone once we choose in the spreadsheet? I'm still leaning toward mages, but you guys are making a compelling case for men. I'm going to have to think about this.

Mages. Those guys can kill you with their brains, and are therefore the most pressing threat. *handwave* Pay no attention to the fact that a mage is saying this....

Aha! I was just trying to figure out how to get my doorframe rows a little lower to increase difficulty. This looks like the perfect solution. Thank you!