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Hello and welcome to my battle log, est. 2016! I've been doing challenges for over a year straight and I decided to experiment with an alternative style that gets away from the feeling of being perpetually "on" and one step away from the pointy end of the spear that is the 4WC format while not losing the structure that said 4WC format provides. Kinda strike a balance, like? This will be an ongoing experiment, with some room to adjust. This will be accomplished by a month-to-month formal re-evaluation of goals, without grading per say, and the freedom to change things up at any point with no regrets. All in one place! No need to wonder when my new thread will be up, just stay tuned for the next day's post! Below I will update links to each month's first post so you can see change over time. To round off 2016's activity, I'm posting links to prior challenge activity for the sake of completeness. ...And we're off! Index 2016 Challenges: January, February, March, April 2016: May, June, July, August, Intra-Month Madness, September, October, November, December 2017: January, February, March, April, May, Intra-Month Madness v.2, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2018: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2019: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2020: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December Lessons Compendium *~* 5/6/2016 *~* Magnesium deficient is something you don't want to be--supplement You might also be deficient in other vitamins and minerals--supplement with a multivitamin Magnesium is a diuretic Squat foot position should be maintained at hip width, no farther: a wide stance is Trouble for your inner legs *~* 5/21/2016 *~* Ukemi must be executed with one's head tucked There is in fact such thing as too much ukemi, especially when biased to one side of the body TM Fact: If you get to a place on Intensity Day where you struggle to PR, add volume to volume day *~* 8/1/2016 *~* Daily neck stretches keep even small tension headaches away Too much of the wrong kind of foot rolling can lead to TIGHTER feet *~* 8/27/2016 *~* Stress is real and it will harm training momentum. Knee sleeves are good tools in the gym for preventing quad tension. *~* 11/7/2016 *~* 1/wk DL Intensity Day is too intense. 2/month is good. *~* 1/29/2017 *~* When stressed, a massive deload is not necessary. Just hold fast to the same weights and...wait it out. Too much magnesium = diarrhea *~* 7/10/2017 *~* A reminder: sleeping on one's back reduces the risk of headaches and muscle knots. *~* 12/09/2017 *~* Do not stop taking Slo-Mag. Just. Don't. *~* 1/19/2018 *~* Drinking a minimum of 44oz of water helps regulate headaches, even migraines to some extent. *~* 7/18/2018 *~* Hormonal birth control does cause migraines. So does looking down at phone with bad posture all day. *~* 7/30/2018 *~* Dairy and yogurt disagree with my stomach. Vegetables + fermented food are keys to BM balance. *~* 10/1/2018 *~* Fruit disagrees with my stomach. Bananas are fruit. Lacrosse ball rolling helps manage bad posture headaches. *~* circa 4/2019 *~* I need the lunch hour away from my desk to keep headaches down *~* 10/4/2019 *~* Remember how fruit disagrees with my stomach? That goes for ingredients found in preworkout. Gas and bloating.

2020 Hindsight Challenge The start of a new decade is just the impetus I need to look back and see how well I’ve been meeting my goals. I’m going back to my first NF challenge and each new year since then. I feel like I’m in much better shape, but let’s see what the evidence really shows. Then: (cut for length) Now: I’ve been doing mostly the same range of things for the last seven years with gradual improvements in my approach and implementation. The major big new thing was becoming the parent of a young adult (Elf). I also started doing zen about the same time, which probably helped me deal with things. Over the last couple years I have spent more time doing knitting and spinning. I completely stopped playing the piano – mostly just due to lack of time. I keep saying that I want to weave, but I have not gotten my loom out in a couple of years. I have a pretty good set of habits for doing aikido, exercise and zen. Most of the time I eat well. I could cut back on desserts, but I’d rather just eat less of other things. The things I struggle to get done haven’t changed. My goals for this year are more for fine tuning and continuous improvement rather than major changes. I want to improve in aikido and zen. I’m always going to want to keep moving up along those paths. I want to include more strength training and cardio in my exercise program because I’m at the age where decline is a real concern. My biggest challenges are dealing with the tedious and unpleasant tasks at home and at work. For this challenge I’m going to keep it simple: Attend the Barbells class at lunchtime T/Th. This hits two goals, maybe three. I get to meet more people at work while doing strength training. Once I get the moves down, there can be a cardio component too. Deal with paperwork at home. I am hosting a big party on January 25th. This time I want to have everything dealt with and filed, not just shoved in a closet for the party. Get through my backlog at work by the end of week one. I have no excuses, I’ve just been avoiding it. Tasks from the task list. Points for getting things done.

It's been a long while since I've had a gif-laden challenge. Or a themed challenge. And everyone can always use more Avatar in their life. And the new year seems a good time to do that. In a way, the limited challenges have been my vague attempts at keeping myself moving forward in some way, while dealing with a whole lot of other crap. There's been a lot of upheaval, a lot of change, a lot of drama, and a whole bunch of RP sitting in the corner rocking back and forth with anxiety. I think a majority of these things are ultimately one-off things (shodan exams, company reorgs, house buying, dojo moves and fundraisers), but also they were a slew of things that I feel prevented me from actually focusing on myself and what I want, rather than being pulled along and put into a form of survival mode (Okay yes, the house thing is all on me, but damned if I underestimated how that process works). And so far in 2020, there are definitely things I'm looking at that aren't my most favorite thing to deal with that I'll have to do, but for the most part I want to take 2020 to refocus on my needs a bit. Within reason. 1) Teaching to Learn - Teach once a week, and train at least four hours After all of the drama that happened a few months ago, I am now covering a Friday night class at my dojo for the foreseeable future. (Cliffnotes version of previous drama: Asked to start covering morning classes and teaching. Then asked to cover a class and told I couldn't teach. When I asked why, got told 3 different reasons for why I couldn't teach and in every case was excluded from any form of communication. Then ignored. Now this.) So the large issue here is.... technically the Friday night class is a weapons class. I have been given permission to *not* have it be a weapons class if I so wish, but my dojo does so few weapons things that I would rather not. Honestly, it's a good chance for me to work on the relation our weapon work has to our unarmed techniques, and is a good study in physiology, using ones center, and extension. But it also means that I need to work on all of those things. So on top of trying to figure out the best ways to relay those things to other people, I really need to solidify things myself on that front. Entertainingly, I taught this same class last week as a last-minute favor. The only 'negative' comment I got from the yukyusha was that he "Did totally stab me" when I was trying to teach something. Hey, I'm learning, was my response. But I should work on not getting stabbed during class. 2) Count All the Calories - Track everything eaten, every day, even if it's a hassle My weight/body fat has spiked pretty high since the car accident/depression/forced shodan exam anxiety that defined Late 2018/Early 2019. I tried to do some things, but nothing really worked that great. I kept kind of waffling on what I allowed and what I didn't. Work has a million snacks, which made stress eating happen a lot more than I would allow over all. And for a while I was pretty much dependent on the food that was ordered on company dime to save money. But that meant I let myself get lax about my eating habits. Stress made me less likely to batch cook anything. And since moving I haven't exactly restocked my kitchen and freezer to have good, quick meals. So I need to start logging things again, and hopefully in a couple months I'll at least comfortably fit in the majority of my clothing again. I'm angling for about 2000 calories a day. No idea where my weight is at, and honestly if I step on a scale I'll get depressed. So I'm avoiding all forms of "pre" measurement here. Yea, not great for trending, but better for my mental health. 3) The Morning is Good - Wake up MWF at 0530. See how plausible it would be to leave the house at 0600 for a workout. So the holiday challenge I got somewhat comfortable with the pre-0600 wake up. I didn't make it to the 0530 time regularly because a lot happened and I needed to prioritize sleep and recovery and sanity over an arbitrary wake up time I set for myself that did not impact when I got to work. But trying to get to that point this time is the goal. I've got a tentative plan that I'll join the gym literally across the street from me early next year, but I want to make sure I'm up and somewhat human before I go drop that cash. I would love if it were a slightly fancier gym, but I can't complain since it's like $15 a month. But anyway, we can see how I fair doing early mornings. At least now I have a coffee pot that will start brewing coffee when I set it, so that's great. 4) All Reading is Good Reading - Read something every morning over coffee I have a goal in 2020 to read 30.... things. I tried to keep some tabs on what I read in 2019, but I lost count, and 30 seems like a good number. I'm leaving it as "things" because I'm totally going to count novellas and graphic novels in this count. Probably not run-of-the-mill comics though, unless its a compilation that covers an entire story arc. But I do want to tone down my morning reddit browsing that's jumped up in the last few months. For the most part I'm not exactly learning anything, and I rarely feel strong enough about my opinion that I consider it worth it to comment on things I do read. So at least I should try and at least read things I feel stronger about and will help me. First book I'll finish in 2020 is Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. I'm about halfway through it right now. Nothing particularly earth shattering other than realizing a lot of my reactions make perfect sense, and why I've been feeling so drained at work lately (read: Having to extrovert for things a lot more because a lot is annoying me and not recovering well enough after the fact because crazy 2019). Morning reading should help with the pre-work charging, though. And thus begins my 2020 challenge. We'll see how good I am at maintaining it.

Mistr gets more creative (part two) In an earlier challenge I worked on foresight and making better choices. That went reasonably well. I've been much less stressed about getting ALL THE THINGS done. I want to keep working on the balance of doing useful things and creative things. Since the useful things have guilt attached already, I'm concentrating my goals on doing creative things. I'm also going to need to get creative to work out at home the last week of the challenge. Main goal: work on creative projects at least 3 times a week Bonus points for finishing projects Extra bonus points for weaving My main project right now is spinning fiber from my stash. I checked off two items last challenge. I'm on a roll. I just finished an alpaca 2-ply yarn. Final step is to wash and block it. My current spinning project is angora/merino wool fine yarn for knitting gloves. I'm blending the fibers on hand cards which is time consuming. This will probably take more than three weeks to finish. That's fine, I'm thrilled to be using up the bag of merino that has been in my stash for years. I'm free to choose any of the bags in my stash when I'm done with this yarn. It is all fair game. Other projects include: knitting a pair of socks - nearly done with the leg of sock #2 embroidery - large counted cross-stitch picture of a sorceress anything from my unfinished objects bag - must finish socks first. I might just finish the sock before I have the yarn finished for gloves. Current mending counts because it is sitting out and I started it a couple weeks months ago. This kind of involves being creative with a needle. (1 item completed last challenge, two to go) Check things off goal: Things that need doing and mostly stay done. Taken from @Xena's sushi list idea Swap out summer/winter clothes, take bins back to the attic Put up the new shelves in the laundry room Sort one box from the garage. Bonus points for more boxes sorted. Wash the bag of used gis that showed up at the dojo. Make an electronic list of articles that Dumbledore has on paper (linked to the journals). Recycle the paper and use the file cabinet for things we actually should keep. Donate the stuff that is accumulating next to the coffee maker. Keep up good habits: Lay out clothes the night before Pack lunches and breakfasts ahead of time Do something for exercise every day. I'm struggling to do weight training regularly because it takes a lot of time, even though I enjoy it. Yoga or walking is fine if I'm feeling stressed. Zen every day. This can be after work or at lunch if I'm running late in the morning. Saturdays have been a problem - do zen early in the day. NO CAFFEINE. Exceptions allowed on Saturdays and during winter break. Plan for down time after work. Maybe even take a brief nap. Better to take a break than to drag for the whole evening. Make short lists of things I might do and pick the top ones. Wash, rinse, repeat. I'm also planning on doing a lot of aikido. That is not a goal, it is part of my regular life at this point. My weapons training partner is getting ready for his second-degree black belt (nidan) test. I can get in a lot of high-level training by attending all the advanced classes over the next two months.

Mistr gets creative Last challenge I worked on foresight and making better choices. That went reasonably well. I've been much less stressed about getting ALL THE THINGS done. I want to keep working on this. I had an interesting week doing zen and not needing to worry about doing anything. The thing I missed most while I was away from normal life was working on creative projects. I want to maintain the good habits that I've been working to establish over the last year, but with a bit more flexibility. Main goal: work on creative projects at least 3 times a week Bonus points for finishing projects Extra bonus points for weaving My main project right now is spinning fiber from my stash. I just finished spinning the singles for a three-ply silk yarn from silk I dyed in February. Next step is to ply it. I have alpaca yarn in progress on my wheel. I have half of that done and am working through it fairly quickly now that I figured out to pick out the bits of vegetable matter before I start spinning it. This will become a 2-ply yarn. I'm free to choose any of the bags in my stash when I'm done with these two yarns. It is all fair game. Other projects include: knitting a pair of socks - nearly done with the leg of sock #2 embroidery - large counted cross-stitch picture of a sorceress embroidery - packed so long that I've forgotten what the picture is about anything from my unfinished objects bag - must finish socks first. Current mending counts because it is sitting out and I started it a couple weeks ago. This kind of involves being creative with a needle. Check things off goal: Things that need doing and mostly stay done. Taken from @Xena's sushi list idea Swap out summer/winter clothes, take bins back to the attic Put up the new shelves in the laundry room Donate or discard the cooler packs in the trunk of my car Sort one box from the garage. Bonus points for more boxes sorted. Wash and donate the dojo lost & found (currently in my car) Make an electronic list of articles that Dumbledore has on paper (linked to the journals). Recycle the paper and use the file cabinet for things we actually should keep. Donate the stuff that is accumulating next to the coffee maker. Keep up good habits: Lay out clothes the night before Pack lunches and breakfasts ahead of time Do something for exercise every day. I'm struggling to do weight training regularly because it takes a lot of time, even though I enjoy it. Try adjusting my schedule to do weight training before or after work. Yoga or walking is fine if I'm feeling stressed. Zen every day. This can be after work or at lunch if I'm running late in the morning. NO CAFFEINE. I broke this rule yesterday and am regretting it (again) today. Yes, I like coffee. No, it is not worth it. Herbal tea is fine. Plan for down time after work. Maybe even take a brief nap. Better to take a break than to drag for the whole evening. Make short lists of things I might do and pick the top ones. Wash, rinse, repeat.

Mistr works on foresight My last challenge focused on looking at my choices. Looking back over the past challenges gives me plenty of hindsight. Now I need to put that to use to make better choices moving forward. There are two forces at work here: I have a pretty good idea of how my common actions are likely to pan out. I also know that things are going to happen unexpectedly. I know that I'm happier when I have a plan and when I'm not too attached to the plan. Overall my goal is to make good choices and pay attention to what is happening NOW. That often means looking at how I am feeling. Sometimes the smartest thing to do is give up all my project goals for the evening and go to bed.

Starting with Sundays My main challenge goal is to make good choices for how I use my time. I want to make good choices all the time of course. I'm starting with Sundays because over the last several months I've been dreading Sundays. I feel like I always run out of time and am disappointed that I didn't meet my goals for the weekend. I have complete control over what I do on Sundays, so there is no external reason for me to have issues. The underlying problem is that I want to do more things than there are hours to do them. I've been like this since I was a teenager. It is time for me to acknowledge that the world is full of fascinating activities and I have to choose. I also know that I tend to underestimate how long it takes me to get things done. All the more reason to be selective. Rather than setting specific goals, I am going to treat this as an experiment. I will track my choices and evaluate how they work out in the short term and over the weeks of the challenge. I already know the things I want to do. I will add more notes on how they sort out for easier analysis. Closer look at what and why Fitness activities: What varies over time. Right now it is mostly strength training with a little cardio, core yoga and leg exercises from my physical therapist. Why is so that I can move without pain. My knees feel vastly better than they did two years ago. That is entirely because of exercise. No miracle restored the cartilage in the joints. Another reason to keep doing strength training is combating my fears of aging. I've seen the charts that show substantial decreases in strength for people starting in their 50s. That's my age and I need to address it NOW. Life support: Cooking, laundry, household chores. All these activities let me live a comfortable life. I like having an uncluttered environment, clean clothes and good food. My family is getting better at contributing on these. Elf, Hermes and I just talked about cooking and agreed that we all want to have a good selection of healthy food in the house. We also agreed that we are not including Dumbledore in the planning. He is welcome to eat what we cook or not, we will just make more food as needed. On the cleaning side, I'm going to plan on doing 70% of the work. I'll choose tasks based on what bugs me the most. Mental health: Sleep, zen, fiber arts and video games. The difference between enough and not quite enough sleep is starkly obvious in my productivity at work and attitude at home. Zen is a longer term project. I don't see the results on a daily basis, but Dumbledore tells me that it makes me calmer. From time to time I get glimpses of encouraging side effects, like catching things before they fall to the floor. My teacher tells me that consistency is key for making progress with zen. I really, really hope that will work for me. So far I feel like sitting zen is a mental struggle every time. Fiber arts and phone games are the fun things I do most often. Other things for mental health would fit here too. Sitting by a lake, for example. Social connection: Real-life spending time with people. My on-line social connections are mostly here on NF. I'm working out the introvert balance between connecting with people and time to myself. Aikido contributes to my social connection time too. I know that part of the reason I'm willing to give Elf rides to and from work is that I get 20 minutes of conversation each time. Elf usually disappears into their room when they get home. Once or twice a month is plenty for seeing other friends. Responsibilities: Work, financial planning, getting things repaired. Generally staying on top of things. Why? Peace of mind. Bad things will happen if I don't do these. Some in the short term and others in the longer term. Self improvement: Aikido and zen. I love aikido and enjoy learning the skills of connection and internal power. I was fascinated with the idea of enlightenment when I was in college. Zen combines a chance at that along with a history of improving performance in martial arts. Those are the categories I can think of right now. I'm curious to see if I come up with more over the challenge.

Summer 2019 After five years in NF I have a solid foundation, but my base still needs some work. Maintain: Good eating habits. I am at my goal weight. I could stand to lose a few pounds but not more than 5. Eat mostly veggies and protein. Make good desserts so that I can avoid the junk candy at work. Do fun things instead of eating sugar for happy brain chemicals. No caffeine. Drink tea in social situations where coffee is tempting. No caffeinated soft drinks. Aikido 2-3 times a week. Work on ukemi - keep connection with my partner and keep my mouth shut. Only give advice when asked (when not teaching). Post chore sign-up sheet and assign tasks for Elf, check in with Elf weekly Gardening 2 x 30 minutes a week. More if time and weather permits Build/improve Get to bed early. I'm waking up when it gets light out at 5:30am. Sleeping in is not a good plan. Stick to my bed time on weekends. Sit zen every day. Preferably in the morning. I know I struggle to fit it in later in the day. This relies on me getting up on time. Strength training 2-3 times a week. Break up exercises between three sessions if time is limiting. Work on finances 2 x 1 hr a week. More would be great. Face the scary facts and make a plan to deal with it. Sort stuff. Dumbledore and I promised to sort one box from the garage each week. Make this happen. Do one recurring and one non-recurring chore each week (dishes don't count) more is okay but not necessary. Productivity at work. Continue efforts to front-load the day. Take project time for myself at least twice a week and go to a quiet conference room to work. Fiber arts - take sanity breaks to spin and knit most days. Social connections. Organize video evening for dojo friends. Go out for coffee with at least one person. Watch fireworks with my BFF. Organize family get together. That comes to four things over four weeks - timing is flexible.

Tsune is a Japanese term which roughly translates as "Everyday habits." I read about it first in a martial arts/Budo book by Dave Lowrey, and kind of glossed over it for a bit. I re-read the essay recently, and felt a great deal more attached to it than I initially felt. The basic idea presented is that when trying to follow Budo, a practitioner will eventually reach a point where it has permeated their life so much, it becomes almost mundane. Something you don't think about. Something that even when you don't want to perform it, you do so anyway, because you almost feel lost without its presence. My training habits, by and large, are my tsune. Go a few days without some form of activity, and I get anxious, nervous, and grouchy. Make me miss time on the mat, and I go extra hay wire. Otherwise, my regular habits of lifting, November Project, and aikido have become so subsumed by me that I cannot imagine a moment without them now - a vast difference from two years ago when I started here. My habits are well established, and I have goals, but most of these are longer-term goals than a 6-week challenge would allow (besides an over arching Main Goal). So I'm creating this to document my tsune, and to help me see my progress in the long run, rather than a short snippet of time. Longer term goals, in no particular order: ~BW Squat (~210 pounds) Accomplished 01/31/15 ~2BW Dead lift (~420 pounds) ~Learn to properly Clean and Jerk and Front Squat ~Get below 200 pounds in weight Eh. Ish. Accomplished 09/24/2016 ~Run Harvard Stadium (37 sections) in under 40 minutes Accomplished 02/17/2016 ~Run 50 sections at Harvard Stadium Accomplished 05/9/2015 ~Run Harvard Stadium in under 36 minutes ~Ruck a full tour at Harvard Stadium ~Run a consistent 8 minute/mile pace ~Prepare to run a Spartan Super race ~Run 50 sections at Harvard Stadium in under an hour Accomplished 08/17/2016 To furthering my tsune and beyond.

Mistr catches up My challenge goals are pretty much the same as last time, so I'm putting those below. I'll start with catching up. Week 1 What I did on my summer vacation by Mistr age (old enough to know better) I took week one off from work because I had friends visiting. I knew Dumbledore would be busy with the first week of summer session. That was a good decision on my part. I thought I would have lots of time to get things done on my task list from last time. Hahahahahahahahahaha It was a fond hope. So what did I really do? Reread Night Watch by Terry Pratchett. Realized I had not read Monstrous Regiment so I got that out from the library and read it too. Gardening: weeding x 3; planted herbs and flowers in pots, planted cilantro and basil seeds around the herbs and alyssum seeds around the flowers. Planted swiss chard and basil in the main garden between the rows of salad greens. Shopping: groceries x 3; hardware store; pet food; garden center; clothes Spinning - finished plying lace-weight yarn for my friend, got it washed and blocked to send home with her. When I weighed it I noticed it was only 65g. I started out with about 90g. There is very little loss during spinning. Then I found a box with more fiber in it, ready to spin. I must have prepped that last summer and put it in a safe place. So much for being done with this project... Socializing with friends who were in town over Memorial Day weekend Knitting and spinning silk on my drop spindle (mostly while socializing) Driving Elf to work and errands Laundry - I did three loads of sheets and towels to prepare for and clean up after guests, even though it is officially Dumbledore's turn. Cooking: Lots and lots of cooking. Cabbage and ground turkey hot dish; coconut macaroons, hard boiled eggs; coconut milk custard with chocolate or peanut butter - made into ice cream; grilled chicken and asparagus; roast carrots; couscous; grilled turkey; broccoli salad; stuffing; strawberry-rhubarb pie (with rhubarb from our garden!); meat loaf; roast pea pods; lime bars; bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with feta. Cleaning: dusted upstairs; swept hard floors; cleaned the bedroom for guests. Elf did most of the vacuuming and cleaned the bathroom. I washed all the cooking dishes except for one evening, when our guests pitched in. Mowed the whole yard I was going to have a goal to keep exercising while on vacation. Good thing I didn't write that down because there was no way I could have made it to the gym. I didn't even have time or space to do yoga until after my friends left. No zen either. I picked up both this weekend. Friday night aikido was rusty but not horrible. I was pleased that my rolls felt smooth on Sunday. Zen wasn't great, but was still better than a couple months ago. I did not get to any of the things on my task list. I was feeling good about gardening before my friends arrived, so I bought a bunch of impatiens to put in the front garden. I figured it was full of holes from pulling dandelions, so I might as well put flowers in them. That will make it look like a garden with some weeds instead of a sad neglected area around the maple tree. The flowers are still waiting. I was grouchy about having to do all the mowing. Elf said they would do the front yard, then weaseled out. They did cook a batch of roast potatos for me while I was mowing for them. By the time my friends left on Friday, I was done with being responsible for everything. I had time to do some of the errands Friday and Saturday, but had no motivation left. I did reading, gardening and aikido. I wanted to get this written, but ending up doing other things. I had almost no online time all week. On Sunday I did aikido, zen and spent time with Dumbledore. In addition to starting the summer session, he had to finish submitting grades for spring semester. We went for a long walk and went out for dinner. We agreed that we had both been running as fast as we could.

Reinforcing better patterns Last challenge I made some progress on setting up better patterns at work and at home. My goal for this time is to keep up the momentum on those things. Work habits: Get emails done right away No social media Project work first thing in the morning No caffeine No snacks between breakfast and lunch Go exercise right away at lunch time. No "just this one thing" first. Leave on time - I can read the internet at home if I really want to. Home habits: Take time after work to do something fun before doing chores. Do knitting or spinning for 15 minutes before playing games or reading social media. Pack breakfasts and lunches in the evening or on weekends. Lay out clothes earlier in the evening. Do finances first among weekend chores In particular, I want to build on the momentum from last weekend on dealing with finances. Each weekend I want to make progress. I can do them early if I want to take time in the evenings. April 20-21 update spreadsheet of regular and one-off expenses for the last four months April 27-28 submit HSA reimbursements May 4-5 Balance checkbooks, get business tax info from Dumbledore May 11-12 Discuss priorities with Dumbledore, change allocations appropriately Task list: Spring/winter clothing swap. Get the boxes back into the attic the same weekend this time. sand and oil bokken and jo Get the dry cleaning done Mend two sweaters Clean the toaster oven (or get someone else to do it - it is disgusting) Gardening - one or two 30 minute sessions a week. Keep this from getting overwhelming Questions to ponder: How do I want to spend my time between friends, aikido and projects. There is also a financial component to this question. Aikido seminars cost money. Dumbledore is supportive, but that does not mean we have funds for everything I want to do. This weekend we are visiting friends several hours away for a party. We are getting a hotel room because they don't have crash space and we don't want to drive home in the wee hours. The following weekend a friend from the dojo will be taking his nidan test at a seminar 3 hours away. I could crash at the dojo for free, but the seminar costs money. Being gone two weekends in a row makes it hard to keep up with food and laundry. I'm also considering spending some time at a zen retreat at the beginning of May. That would be more time and money. Time is not such a big concern because I have plenty of vacation time. In fact, I could plan on taking some time for doing projects at home. Having too many demands on my time makes me want to say no to all of them. Hmmmmm.

Mistr wrangles weasels My last challenge was about establishing a new sense of normal. I am happy with my progress so far. I have been getting more sleep, sitting zen more often and doing more spinning. Other things need more work. Having a checklist here worked well last challenge so I’m doing that again. The main thing I’m adding this time is dealing with brain weasels. Mine and my family’s. Cast of characters Starting with my own issues, I’m feeling a lot of imposter syndrome at work. Most days I am just getting the immediate pressing tasks done. On bad days those pile up. I am not planing ahead and taking time to actually check in on and coach the people I supervise. I feel guilty about not being more proactive. I have a nagging sense of dread that someone is going to notice how much I’m slacking off and I’ll lose my job, which is the main economic foundation of our household. On the home side of things, I have not been keeping up with budget analysis. I’m scared of what I think I’ll discover. I tend to do other good and useful tasks and let finances slip to the bottom of the list. Weasel wrangling round 1: Break my bad patterns at work - Wait until after lunch to check my non-work email. No FB at all. Get my support emails done early because they tend to drag me down at the end of the day. See how these three changes go for two weeks before adding anything else. Be selective about what I work on at home. I really don’t have enough time to cook, clean and take care of all the tasks I wish would get done. Rely more on frozen veggies and pre-packed salads for the next several weeks. Be patient and give Dumbledore and Elf time to do cleaning. Give positive feedback to Dumbledore and Elf for all the good things they do. Keep my temper and don’t expect anything. Even if we do consult and they agree to do stuff, the timing is likely to be slower than estimated. Know that this happens and roll with it. Watch out for the get-it-done weasel in the evening. Do prep for the next day early so that I can relax and go to bed on time. Last week at work there was an invited speaker who gave a management training. He talked about how to take control of one’s life and make positive things happen. A lot of things he said are familiar to everyone here - get enough sleep, eat healthy, exercise, have clear goals. The one part that struck me was about being positive with the people around you. I have been using my challenges as the place where I can vent my frustrations. I will continue doing that. I’m going to be very careful about sharing my frustrations at home. I will make a conscious effort to give positive reinforcement to at least one person at work and home every day. I already work on this when I teach aikido. I will keep working on NOT giving feedback when I’m not teaching. Non-weasel goals: Exercise: strength training twice a week yoga or bodyweight and mobility training once or twice a week aikido at least two classes a week (not counting teaching). My training partner had knee surgery a week ago and is ready to get back to gentle training this week. Lots more internal power work and weapons katas. Usually two days a week. Food: No caffeine. Minimize dairy. This is a test to see if my GI tract and joint inflamation gets better. Stick with 10/14 IF most days. Keep eating lots of veggies and save the desserts for at home. There will be exceptions - work on having fewer of them and not feeding the brain weasels. Tasks: file taxes budget analysis sand and oil bokken and jo take holiday lights off the bushes buy storage box, pack up clothes on top of dresser wash and store wool sweaters (already partly done) mail yarn samples to my friend in England All the other things can wait until these are done. In particular, worrying about the other things can wait. If something actually important comes up, I can add it to this list.

And so it Begins. The countdown to Shodan, that I have probably been trying to avoid for the better part of a year now. I didn't want to test in April (I had other fitness goals/baselines I'm trying to return to before the exam), but with Sensei apparently being okay with me teaching without a blackbelt and many, many, many people ganging up on me to test, I pretty much have no choice outside of a massive injury. And so here we are. My approach to my beginning degree. And as is typical, my body is still kind of a mess, so this challenge is all about preparing for the exam and the strain I'm about to take over the next 5 weeks. 1) Shodan Prep - 8 hours of class a week, plus yoga and November Project It's been a long, long time since I've been this active. I suspect it's going to suck, but I need it to polish things on my test, plus help with my flexibility, and up my endurance. I initially put myself as having 9 hours, but it's been so long since I've done more than 5 hours in a week, I don't want to burn myself out. Saturdays I have the ability to train for 4 hours in classes, and will probably do so as all of those classes involve people who I really like having eyes on me for Shodan prep. I figure I can make 4 additional hours otherwise pretty easily during the week, even if I take it light. 2) Physical and Mental Selfcare - Thursday night intensive selfcare. So I figure with all this activity, I'm going to be exhausted, mentally and physically. Mentally, I'm blocking off all Thursdays until the exam as hermit-time. I love the dojo, but it also means I'll be dealing with people for longer hours than I'm used to, even if the people involved tax me less than the general public. I also will take the time to do whatever stretching, foamrolling, and sleeping I need that the other days haven't covered. 3) Better Fuel - Paleo-centric Intermitent Fasting (16-8ish), Food purge I liked the 16-8ish window I had going on last challenge. Company being here screwed that up, but it works well for me otherwise. What doesn't work well is that Company shows her love in gifts, and in this instance a lot of the gifts were junk food. So I need to find everything she left behind and either store it out of sight or just straight up toss it. I feel bad, but when we started dating had told her after a while that would happen. Otherwise, mostly-paleo is the plan. I might try to figure out some easily prepped lunch plans, too. 4) Big Events: Major tasks and events for the upcoming challenge March 16th: Dojo cleaning and St Patrick's day gathering March 28th: Kanai memorial class at dojo March 30th: Kanai memorial seminar at NEA April 5th: Final Fantasty Distant World's Concert April 6th: Friend's shodan exam April 12: Shodan Exam April 13th: Sioux memorial seminar at Harvard Aikikai Figure out hakama size, order that and belt Schedule windshield tank repair March 25 Schedule 2 massages before exam March 20 April 10 Get haircut before FF Concert Final Jamaica vacation logistics So very busy the next several weeks. Plus side is that work is going smoothly (or at least as smoothly as science allows), so I can focus on all this stuff rather than having a split attention and panic. Onwards and upwards and to the Start.

New Year - New Attitude Looking at the last year, some things have gone well and others are stubbornly the same. Time to look at root causes for the difficult parts. My initial thoughts on this were almost identical to last year. Been there, tried that. Secret of the Samurai #8: More of what's not working does not work. Change it up. Starting from the positive side: Exercise and training are going well. I started weight training last challenge and am enjoying it. Core yoga is still making my abs cry for mercy. Continue with the current mix of aikido, strength training and yoga. Doing evening prep earlier makes a difference. Keep up the good habits. Zen is getting better. Keep doing it consistently. Things that need to change: Stay off the caffeine. Repeated tests prove that even decaf messes with my sleep. I am avoiding tasks I don't want to do by saying that cooking is more important. Useful perhaps, but not important. Back off on the cooking. Keep working with Elf and Dumbledore on sharing responsibility for household stuff. We made a start and then dropped it. Get back on good eating habits. Give myself more time. I do not have to go to all the aikido classes and seminars. I can choose my social events. Our house is living proof that no one will die if the cleaning does not get done promptly. Sleep remains key to having energy to do things and a positive attitude. My overarching goal is stress management. I've spent a lot of time avoiding things and being frustrated about not getting stuff done. So I need to make better choices about what I decide to try to do. I get a lot more satisfaction out of tasks that have a finished product. Things like darning my socks and mending a pair of exercise leggings. They may need attention again, but I can wear them this week and probably for months. As opposed to cooking food and washing dishes. Having a clean kitchen and good food is far too temporary to be really satisfying. For right now I will track doing the positive things. Bonus points for every nagging task that I get done. For this weekend those should include: Replacing the tail light bulb on my car Putting up shelves and rearranging the laundry room so we have space for the treadmill that will be delivered on Monday Cook something for the zen potluck on Sunday Update Gnucash and do filing so I can see my desk

Setting up the new Normal The groundwork has been laid but there are lots of things to be done to get my life looking as I imagine it. There is always a lot of talk in January about setting your goals and steps to reach them. Dumbledore and I talked about this and agreed that for the most part we have a good life. We both want to rush less and have more time for creative projects. Foundations to maintain: Exercise routine of lifting Tues/Fri, aikido study Mon/Wed, Thursday open for yoga or make-up lifting, core yoga on weekend days when I don't do aikido. Aikido 2-3 days a week Drink tea instead of coffee or hot chocolate. I stocked up on Peppermint Bark tea when it was in the stores for a week this past December. Batch cook protein and veggies. My family is on board with this now. Prep clothes and food early in the evening so I can get to bed earlier. Life improvements: Do fiber arts instead of playing games on my phone. Ten minutes of spinning is enough to make me feel like I've accomplished something. Sit zen in the morning. My track record for actually making time later in the day is dismal. Mornings work well. Cycle through different kinds of tasks to feel progress and manage stress. Some things are really urgent, other just bug me. Rotate recurring cooking/cleaning chores with things that stay done and actual creative project and reading. Minimize white sugar and white flour. Part of me wants to cut these out until I'm back to my target weight range. Another part of me rebels and wants to eat all the sweets. Remember that I can't snack when my hands are full of yarn. Add 5 minutes a day of silk reeling to my routine. Right before bed might be a good time. Task list: - Take my summer clothes to the attic. I know I will need them in March. It is still worth it to put the bins away for a month. - Organize my sweaters in the closet - Drop off the dry cleaning - Finish filing the 2018 HSA reimbursements - Put together a file of tax info - Find missing tax info - Do the damn budget analysis - Take the ice cream maker to the attic - Clean the corners of the floor in the bathroom (technically Elf's job, but I want it done so I can put down a clean rug and have warm feet in the morning) - Scrub the bathtub (Elf and I traded for this one) - Mend exercise leggings - Finish turning the heel on my sock - Pack up my nylons and repurpose that drawer - Deal with the stacks of stuff by my desk. Points for each stack removed. - Find a drop spindle I can use for spinning silk. I can buy a new one if I get five tasks on this list done. - Finish spinning fine wool singles for my friend. - Send her samples of 2-ply and 3-ply to see how she wants it finished. I can add more if other things come up that need to be done or are really bugging me. Anything new has to be more pressing than the stuff listed above.

Winter Solstice Reset I have been working on leveling up for the last several challenges, without much progress. Instead of trying harder, I am going to take this challenge to reflect. Observations from last challenge: Elf noted that I am more stressed than I was a year ago, and Dumbledore confirmed it. I have been struggling to keep up with things at work I have been eating comfort food I slept 9 hours a night over Thanksgiving weekend I have not been sitting zen regularly Signs point to my routine needing adjustment so that I can be happy and relaxed. 1. Evening prep Getting enough sleep makes a huge difference in my attitude and effectiveness. The trickiest part is actually getting to bed early. I've noticed that it takes me about half an hour to put things away, wash and get to bed. I think it only takes 15 minutes, and that is just not realistic. Getting to bed early lets me sit zen in the morning when the house is always quiet. I already do the things on this list most of the time. I just need to do them earlier and more consistently. Set out clothes for the next day Pack lunch, breakfast and fruit Pack clean gi and exercise clothes Foam roll legs if they are tight 2. Exercise Aikido is going well as it is. I'm doing 1:1 study twice a week for 30 minutes at lunch, plus two regular classes a week. Just keep working on all the things. I'm seeing good results from the core yoga and I miss it when I don't do it for several days. Keep that up. I tried doing Elements again and got frustrated with the length of time required per session. Not a good fit for my schedule. I need a plan for Tuesday, Thursday and Friday that takes 30-40 minutes. Monday/Wednesday - Aikido weapons and principles practice Tuesday/Friday - Starting Strength and mobility Thursday - Yoga or PT Saturday/Sunday - Aikido or yoga @Urgan has been encouraging me to start strength training for ages. Now seems like a good time. The weather makes me want to stay inside. I can always go for a walk on Thursday if by some miracle we get a nice day. A third of my PT is bodyweight squats. Doing weighted squats should fill the same fitness goals. Another third of the PT is airplanes and kicks. I can do those while resting between sets on lifting days. That gives me a free day to do other yoga or the NF handstand course. The core yoga sessions are only 20 minutes. Perfect for busy days. 3. Zen and holding still When I'm stressed I tend to fall into a trap of thinking I have to do all the things or they won't get done. The majority of those things can wait a bit. I also can be better about communicating and sharing the work. Elf has had a stretch of good days. Hopefully that means that the new meds are working better than the old ones. We have an app for sharing household tasks. Hermes is around more and might be able to help. Dumbledore is making an effort to do his part. I can concentrate on the things that are just my responsibility. I can even take time for myself without worrying about my world falling apart. Sitting zen helps my brain reset. Zazen at least 10 minutes a day Knitting instead of playing games on my phone Reading for fun on weekends, more educational reading before bed 4. Randori with All The Things Make good choices and keep moving. There will always be more things that need doing; that does not mean I need to deal with them right now. Set them aside with notes for later or other people to do them. Take time to do things that will make me and my family feel better.

Step 2.5 In step 1 I made some progress on moving to the next level, which will require getting into really good shape, having good knees, good meditation habits and pursuing internal power in aikido. Last challenge I made only a little progress, so I'm going to keep working on most of the same things. Sustain success: No caffeinated beverages. I'm extending this to include decaf coffee. Apparently the residual caffeine is still enough to mess with my sleep. 1) Deal with my mess (updated) In the last challenge I actually did get the house clean. For this challenge my goal is to get my financial records cleaned up. I made a little progress last time so it is not quite as scary. I still have a lot to do. Get the records current, the files put away and a budget analysis done. 2) Exercise progression - same as 2.0 The last round of physical therapy has made a difference in my squat depth and hip strength. I want to maintain this and continue strength and mobility progression. Do exercises in rotation with PT (bodyweight squats, airplane/kick flow, side-steps with band) at least twice a week Core yoga at least once a week Pick up GMB Elements again. The last time I tried it I got frustrated because I could not do the “frogger” movement because I couldn’t get into a low squat. Now that my squats are much better, Elements will add a variety of movement and strength applications. The Elements program is set up as a 6-day a week series with strength one day and recovery/mobility the next day. Substitute yoga for the recovery/mobility sessions. 3) Level up daily routine Making time for those “just 5 minutes a day” things. Some days life will interfere, so my target is 5 days a week. Stop doing projects and chores by 9:00pm on work nights. Between 9:00-9:30 do: Foam roll legs and do stretches. Hopefully this will help decrease hip and knee pain at night. Dropping this one in favor of relaxing for a few minutes knitting or spinning. Prep breakfast, lunch and clothes for the next day. Can be done earlier in the evening. Sit zen if not done earlier Morning: get up at 5:30am except on bad days. Sit zen Do silk reeling exercises - Extra bonus points for starting this. I've been saying I'm going to do it since June. 4) Juggle everything else Aikido, cooking healthy food, household chores, doing fiber arts and ALL THE THINGS. Life is randori. Make good decisions and keep moving. Aikido has been going really well. Keep that up. Continue to work on better communication with my family. One happy thing there is that Hermes will be working first shift so we might see him and he can contribute to chores. That will mean more cooking, but also another person doing dishes.

Step 2 Last time I made some progress on moving to the next level, which will require getting into really good shape, having good knees, good meditation habits and pursuing internal power in aikido. Sustain success: No caffeinated beverages Clean eating at work 1) Deal with my mess (continued) Plenty of mess still remains to be dealt with. Primary objective is to get my house clean enough for guests by September 24. My spinning group will be meeting at my house that evening. Secondary goal is to clean up the bedroom in anticipation of an upcoming houseguest. 2) Exercise progression The last round of physical therapy has made a difference in my squat depth and hip strength. I want to maintain this and continue strength and mobility progression. Do exercises in rotation with PT (bodyweight squats, airplane/kick flow, side-steps with band) at least twice a week Core yoga at least once a week Pick up GMB Elements again. The last time I tried it I got frustrated because I could not do the “frogger” movement because I couldn’t get into a low squat. Now that my squats are much better, Elements will add a variety of movement and strength applications. The Elements program is set up as a 6-day a week series with strength one day and recovery/mobility the next day. Substitute yoga for the recovery/mobility sessions. 3) Level up daily routine Making time for those “just 5 minutes a day” things. Some days life will interfere, so my target is 5 days a week. Stop doing projects and chores by 9:00pm on work nights. Between 9:00-9:30 do: Foam roll legs and do stretches. Hopefully this will help decrease hip and knee pain at night. Prep breakfast, lunch and clothes for the next day. Can be done earlier in the evening. Sit zen if not done earlier Morning: get up at 5:30am except on bad days. Sit zen Do silk reeling exercises 4) Juggle everything else Aikido, cooking healthy food, household chores, keeping on top of our finances, doing fiber arts and ALL THE THINGS. Life is randori. Make good decisions and keep moving. I have several aikido events coming up over the next few weeks. This weekend is an instructor's seminar at a dojo 3+ hours away. It is being offered by one of the 7th dans who is on the instructor's board for our organization. She is the person most likely to oversee my next test, if that ever happens. I like her, but her style is a little different from my sensei's. I am looking forward to hearing more about her teaching philosophy. The weekend after that I am responsible for organizing fall cleaning at our dojo. That will take the better part of Saturday. October we have our semi-annual beginners class. That means I should attend all the Mondays as well as my usual Wednesday class. October 6-7 my zen teacher is doing an aikido friendship seminar along with other regional instructors. I've never trained aikido with him and would love to do so. October 14 is yudansha class at my dojo October 19-21 is a seminar in Milwaukee, led by the same top ranking instructor. A person from my dojo will be taking his shodan test. I was only planning to go for one day until I learned about the testing. I should go to support him and take ukemi. I may crash at the dojo to save money and drive time (1.5 hours each way). The first weekend of November a different senior instructor will be giving a seminar only 30 minutes from home. A seminar a month is stretching my budget for time and money, but I said I'd go anyway. Considering how many weekend aikido things I've got planned, I'm going to give myself more slack about taking evenings off. Getting enough sleep and actually taking some down time are my major priorities. I'm hoping that by emphasizing those two things I will have less stress -> be more productive at work -> have less stress -> eat less comfort food -> get back to my target weight -> have less stress.

Mistr attacks step 1 This challenge marks my 5-year anniversary in NF (and @Teirin's)! Many things in my life are better, but I still have a long way to go. The next level includes getting into really good shape, having good knees, good meditation habits and pursuing internal power in aikido. I might test again. Dumbledore is pressing me to test. Sensei is not. I need to get to a much better level of aerobic endurance AND aikido skill before I would consider it. Leaving off the scary long-term goals, here are some nice clear short-term goals. 1) Clean eating at work. I was dismayed by my weekly weigh-in this Monday. Time to get back to the good habits that helped me lose weight before. In a perfect world I would drop white sugar and white flour completely. I don't have the mental fortitude to do that while work remains stressful. I can avoid the temptations at work by promising myself that I can have more time to play with fiber and eat good* food at home. Specifically: No treats containing white flour or white sugar (in any form) at work. Fresh fruit is okay. Tortilla chips and salsa is okay if I don't overdo it. I can have 100% chocolate or cocoa nibs for snacks if I really want chocolate. [Edited to add] *Good food includes all the things we cook at home. That includes home-made ice cream and desserts. It might include other treats like pizza. I can have buns with my burgers and brats. Purchased junk food is not good. No store-bought cookies, candy, potato chips or packaged bread. I am not allowed to buy the good chocolate-covered almonds from the co-op until my weight is back below 154. 2) No coffee or caffeinated tea Coffee is contributing to sleep problems as well as eating extra sweets. Plus I suspect that the cream is giving me gas. I can still have coffee-flavored ice cream, but only in the morning on weekends. 3) Deal with my mess This is a longer term goal that I need to start now. My spinning group is meeting at my house on September 24. I am going to be at an aikido seminar the weekend of September 22-23. I need to deal with as much stuff as possible before then. Happily, Dumbledore made good progress on the living room last weekend. We have talked about clearing out a couple drawers in the file cabinet in the garage for papers we need to keep. I could move this project forward by scanning Dumbledore's stash of scientific articles and recycling the paper copies. Tedious but not difficult. Any other projects to clean the house count. 4) Juggle everything else Keep up with exercise, PT, aikido, zazen, cooking healthy food, going to sleep early enough, doing fiber arts and ALL THE THINGS. Life is randori. Make good decisions and keep moving. Stars for doing the good things, black checks for wasting time to avoid things. Taking time to relax is a Good Thing™.

Lately, I've had energy?? For the longest time, I was tired and foggy daily. I've been the type of person who can easily take 3 naps a day. But lately, if I take a nap it's out of habit (or procrastination) rather than any actual need for a nap?? I have no idea what's going on, but I'm ON FIRE these days. So I'm going to run with that. Last challenge, I restarted aikido AND started doing crossfit. I also signed up for a Japanese class that starts in 2 weeks or so. ALL THE THINGS. Regular fitness: 7 mobility mornings/week (20 sessions over the challenge earns me some sort of mobility reward - a class, a tool, etc.) 2 Crossfit sessions/week 2 Aikido sessions/week 1 Startbodyweight session/week 1 smaller muscle session/week (little stuff for muscles in hips, feet, etc.) - this can be combined with the startbodyweight session or broken up throughout the week 2-3 GST stretching sessions per week Walk 16 miles/week (12 to pass, but 16 earns $10 towards hiking/backpacking gear) Run weekly (shins allowing) Mobility Supplementation: Toe touch sequence daily Shoulder stretching daily Squat movement daily Yoga weekly? Soft tissue work as often as possible/needed "Triathalon" Goals GET MY FRIGGIN' BIKE TUNED UP AND RIDE IT ALREADY. SHEESH. Go swimming 3 times Other Goals: Stand OR sit on the floor to work 3 hrs/workday Do something weekly to connect with my father Continue to check off tasks on the nutrition program I started last challenge Put on clothes by 9AM on weekdays

Hi So there were some setbacks. I'm trying to deal with them and get back on track. 1. Selfcare - Try talking to friends and not try to handle everything alone - take breaks - DON'T blame yourself 2. Exercise - 3 workouts a week - go to Aikido on Fridays - everything else is a bonus 3. Study - do a little every day - 20 hours a week would be a nice - 5 pages a week would be ideal 4. Snacks no snacks didn't work. I'll try once a week this time 5. Art at least one piece I'm going to post it here:

Challenge ? - Mistr figures things out I was on the right track last challenge. This one is mostly the same with a few tweaks. I need to get a bunch of interlocking things to work together. And get some things done before May 24, which lines up nicely with the end of zero week after this challenge. A) Fit in my clothes. My weight has crept up alarmingly. I have made some progress on cutting back on snacking. That helped a little but not enough. No white sugar, no white flour for the first two weeks. Exceptions allowed for special occasions and desserts I cook myself (within limits). No snacking. Specifically nothing between breakfast and lunch; nothing between lunch and 4:30pm; nothing after 8pm unless I miss dinner completely. No caffeine unless critically needed to survive work. Continue the effort to add mostly vegetable dishes to our meal rotation. Make time for important things. Everything fits better when I get enough sleep. I am vastly more likely to do meditation in the morning than after work. Make that happen. Stop doing things at 9:00pm, get to bed by 9:30pm. On Friday and Saturday nights I can move this back by an hour. Get up at 5:30am during the week. On Mondays when I have aikido I will get up at 5:00am. Do zen in the morning. My follow-through rate on doing zen in the evening is dismal. A short sit in the morning is better than nothing or staying up late. Exercise at lunch or before work. If my work schedule does not have time at lunch, get off the computer and go do other things. Leave work on time. This will give me more time to do things before 9pm. Yes, the traffic is worse during rush hour. That is still better than wasting time on the computer at work. C) Fit in a variety of exercise. I've been very happy with doing yoga and aikido. Strength training and cardio have been lacking. Balance it out. Aikido at least twice a week in addition to classes I teach. I'm backing off some on aikido to make time for other things. Add at least one session of cardio a week. This can be HIIT, biking or swimming. Options open, just get my heart and lungs working. Strength training two days a week. I have Starting Strength and fractional plates. Get on with it. Yoga. I've been willing to do yoga when I'm not motivated to do other exercise. Keep working that. My balance and flexibility are getting significantly better. Download more sequences to my phone and tablet. D) Fit in the important things. Triage time. Several things have been neglected and others are time critical. Let the dust bunnies roam and get these done. Buy mulch and put it on all the landscaping beds. (Should have been done two years ago). Remove major weeds first, ignore the rest of them. Slash and burn if needed. Budget analysis for major purchases. We recently purchased a new refrigerator and dryer. Dumbledore's car needed hundreds of dollars in repairs and is on its last legs. Now the washer is making bad noises. We made a list of all the things that need fixing. Figure out how to finance it all. Plan vacation travel. We bought plane tickets right before everything broke. Figure out where we are going and who we are staying with on our trip. We want to see more of England and France this time. Pack early. That will avoid a rush at the last minute. I will be living out of a suitcase for three weeks, I can live without wearing those things for the prior couple weeks.

April 23 to May 20 Routines are sexy. I read this sentence somewhere and wrote it down as a motto for this challenge. This challenge I’ll start writing my thesis and getting some data at school. I’ll have to keep the momentum of last challenge to get this task done and keep going for my studies. I’m curious how well I’ll handle these tasks. Goal One: no snacks! I’ve been snacking again. So I’ll try to cut the sugar again. No chocolate, chips, cookies, or other artificial stuff for me. If I really need something I only get a cocoa. I should look up, what sarakingdom wrote about the cocoa in one of her old challenges. Goal Two: Exercise Aiming for three workouts a week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. I can try to get in a missed workout on Sunday, but I don’t want to make that a habit. Bonus: Go to classes 2 to 3 times a week. Goal Three: Study So it’ll be 25 Hours this challenge und I’ll try to get in 20 pages during this challenge. Let’s see, how that goes. I’ll need a page tracker. Some old habits I had accomplished and how well I did last month:

Mistr's Spring Cleaning Challenge Several things need to get cleaned up in my life. Thankfully I'm not facing as daunting a task as pictured above, but it will take some work. A) Clean up my eating habits. My weight has crept up alarmingly. The odd part is that I don't think I've been eating much more than I need. Certainly there has been more pizza and chocolate than strictly necessary. The free cappuccinos from the machine at work may be contributing. I know I've been eating a lot of chocolate at work. The other thing I changed this year was taking supplements. Vitamins, fish oil, magnesium oxide, glucosamine, often melatonin. I can't really say if any of them are making me feel better overall. My knees are still having frequent bad days. I do think they are doing questionable things to my GI tract. Out with the old: No vitamins, no supplements, no caffeine. Ibuprofen is allowed. No snacking. Specifically nothing between breakfast and lunch; nothing between lunch and 4:30pm; nothing after 8pm unless I miss dinner completely. In with the new: Cook more vegetables. (Not really a new goal, but at least fresh food) Make desserts that feature fruit. I don't want to blame the cheesecake I made last month for my current woes. However, I could make treats that have more nutrition and fewer calories per gram. I bought a new bag of cacao nibs. The previous batch had an unpleasant diesel odor. Replace all the sugared chocolate in my desk with fresh cacao nibs and unsweetened chocolate. Clean up my schedule. I've been struggling to get to bed on time. That means that I'm not getting up early enough to do things before work. Sometimes I get those things done in the evening. Too often I stay up late to get some things done and get even more behind. My previous strategy of making time for fun things helped, but not enough. Stop doing things at 9:00pm, get to bed by 9:30pm. On Friday and Saturday nights I can move this back by an hour. Get up at 5:30am during the week. On Mondays when I have aikido I will get up at 5:00am. Do zen in the morning. My follow-through rate on doing zen in the evening is dismal. A short sit in the morning is better than nothing or staying up late Leave work on time. This will give me more time to do things before 9pm. Yes, the traffic is worse during rush hour. That is still better than wasting time on the computer at work. C) Clean up my aikido. Sensei was pointing out some shortcomings at the advanced classes this weekend. In addition to the constant reminders to watch my posture, bend my knees and keep my center forward work on: Seminar notes. I'm going to seminars at the beginning and end of the challenge. Write notes each day and put them somewhere that I can find them. Probably Google Docs. Hamni and line. Keep my feet and center facing where they need to be, engage my hips. Ukemi. I have been getting a lot of feedback on improving my ukemi. Stay engaged and be aware of places where I am open. Learn not to move to unsafe positions. Take beautiful ukemi even when my partner is struggling to do the technique. I can leave the teaching for the nights when I'm the instructor. D) Clean up my home. The regular house cleaning is in pretty good shape right now. Well, at least the areas I'm responsible for. Areas we don't use every day have been neglected. Clean up the garden and yard Organize the guys, buy mulch and put it on the gardens (this should have been done last year. Or the year before. Waaaaaaay overdue) Find homes for boxes in the mud room Other things need to get done too, notably filing taxes. I'm going to give myself a reward for getting them done early. TBD

Mistr follows the light challenge 35 The last two challenges got me back on the path. I just need to keep following it. My new people start doing real work at the end of this week. There is light at the end of the tunnel for work being insanely busy. 1) A detour into the brush last challenge showed that I need to do more aikido. My first goal is to do three classes a week (counting the one I teach). More is okay but not necessarily better. There are no seminars coming up in the next four weeks to throw off this schedule. 2) Cook good food. I'm making this a goal again to give myself credit for the time I put into cooking. My family member Elf and I do almost all the cooking. I do about 60-70% and Elf does the rest. Elf likes doing the protein component for our batch cooking. That gives me primary responsibility for vegetables and desserts. "Desserts?!?", you may ask. Yes. My strategy for avoiding all the treats and junk food that show up at work is to have better food of my own. That means making high quality desserts. Cooking more veggies has been one of my challenge goals for years. I've come a long way. This time I'm going to document it. 3) Keep doing fun stuff. I am halfway through Yarn Quest: The Steam Age, a knitting roleplaying game. I'm having a lot of fun with it. Being able to do something creative for just 15 minutes and see progress helps me take breaks and relax. I will post photos occasionally. Other fun stuff counts too. 4) Make good use of my time. Sometimes that means going to bed early, sometimes that means getting critical work done. It does not mean goofing off. Doing regular exercise, zen household chores and dreaded tasks all fit in here. 5) Keep track of it all. I got back on track with logging last challenge. Having notes helps me recognize that I did indeed get stuff done. Keep it up. I would like to post here more often as well. That depends on things calming down at work. Fingers crossed but no promises.