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This glorious geeky bastard, y'all. Life goals. I know exactly why I walk and talk like a machine. Goal: Sleep. Measurement: Hours. Frequency: Daily. (Night before.) 4-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I'm doing badly on this one lately, and need to recover some ground. I've replaced my missing fitness tracker so I can quantify sleep better and report it to my ADHD coach. Also, feel free to harass me if you see this number averaging under 6.5-7 hours. Seriously. Want it fast, want it hard. Goal: Aikido. Measurement: Full points for attendance or reasonable substitution. Half points for any substitution. Frequency: 3x/week, or as possible. 0-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x//_-x-_-x-x-_-x I'm doing reasonably well on this one, though I've been skipping classes for work reasons lately, which isn't great. (If I get the ADHD handled better, this will happen less.) The x's are there for adding in extra visits to the gym, which I'm going to try to step up when I get back from my vacation. Less for fitness, more for my brain. Goal: Intermittent fasting (fast, get it?). Measurement: Full points for LCHF+IF. Half points for one or the other. Frequency: Daily. 5-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I'm pretty reliably LCHF 90% of the time or more, but IF has slipped. I'd ideally like to do both. I find both at once challenge, so that's this challenge. One track mind, one track heart. Goal: Focus meditation. Measurement: Yes/no. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Recovering lost ground again; I considered a more challenging measurement, but I realized I've meditated maybe twice in the past month, which is no bueno. Anything goes. Goal: Focus, and do some ADHD shit. Measurement: WTF, I dunno. Frequency: Daily. 10-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Yeah, I don't know how to measure this one. On the one hand, it's things like "did I successfully use a strategy or do something biggish like see my coach", and on the other, it's, like, did I do a little educational thing that may or may not move the needle. (And, to be honest, my coach and I are running out of ideas, a little. I still get more done working with her around, but the coaching isn't going on so much.) I'm not sure. I'll take suggestions. I feel like I'm the worst, so I always act like I'm the best. Goal: Metta meditation before bed. Measurement: Yes/no. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ This is a two-birds-one-stone kind of thing. I'm hoping it helps with some of the sleep problems by centering me a little at bedtime, and I'm hoping to spend a bit less time feeling like I'm the worst. Bonus: Practicing a certain Doctorish arrogance. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I don't know what this looks like, but I think it's worth doing. Maybe I'll just practice saying some really arrogant shit about myself. I know exactly what I want and who I want to be. Goal: Timepunk lifestyle reboot. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises/daily. 2-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Bonus: One-off timepunk lifestyle reboot shit. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 5-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I don't really know what to do here. (Yes, the goal quote is a lie.) I'm sort of going, "I'll know it when I see it," except then I sometimes don't see the opportunities. Any suggestions on this one? I think I might need a blazer of some kind. (Summer is not good time for layering, WTF.) Fortunately, it's sunglasses season and I have light-sensitive eyes, so I'm getting back in the sunglasses habit. Wouldn't kill me to break out the punk albums again. But that's all low-hanging fruit. If I'm really clever, maybe there's something here about using the ADHD traits in an actually useful way, cuz that dude's the ADHD poster child. Bad grades, distractable as a cat, poor impulse control, doesn't handle authority well, into adrenaline sports... but he makes it work somehow. (I'm counting the activity tracker acquisition, because any device that analyzes my activity and vibrates to extend my senses while looking like jewelry is surely a futuristic cyberpunk marvel.) TV taught me how to feel, now real life has no appeal. Goal: Writing. Measurement: Full points for 10 minutes or 10 words. Frequency: Daily. 0-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ Time to make with the fictional worlds again. Starting small to get the habit going again. If you are not very careful, your possessions will possess you. Goal: General possession-ranching, particularly organizing and repairing. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: Bi-weekly. _-_//_-_//_-_//_-_//_-_ I wasn't going to, but the song's pretty clear on it, and it's not a bad goal, so just a few stuff-husbandry goals. Not acquiring. Acquiring is not the point. In theory, I do this, but in practice, I wouldn't notice if it slipped, so this is the weekly reminder. Don't do love, don't do friends. I'm only after success. Bonus: Points for social activity. Measurement: Sliding scale. Frequency: As arises. 3-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_//_-_-_-_-_-_-_ I have a habit of getting way too stuck into work, and then hibernating when I have time off. Right now, I'm just tracking and awarding bonus points, but at some point, it'll be more goalish. I will count aikido, because it's social and seeing people outside of work - any outside club activity counts. This looks like a long one, but it's mostly data-gathering, or nudging existing habits back into place. TL;DR on the audience participation: Hassle me if I don't average 7 hours of sleep a night. My ADHD goals need measurability. My timepunk lifestyle reboot needs both goals and measurability. I could also use a little help being arrogant, frankly.

Mistr takes it on the road - Challenge 29 I will be travelling for the last two weeks of the challenge (plus the previous weekend). My goals for before then are to get everything together so I can leave with no worries. Phase I = weeks 1 and 2 1) Trip planning Make sure my travel SIM card will work. It did not work as advertised on my trip in January. Investigate car rental in England Wish list of places to visit in England Wish list of places to visit in Paris Get out luggage, make sure it fits size restrictions Print and download maps Buy power converters Set out clothes to take Buy travel insurance Call financial institution Make sure Dumbledore and Elf have phone cards that will work Get VPN apps installed on phones and tablets Read more travel guides Buy water bottles 2) Home front tasks Write to-do list for Hermes Make sure bills are set for auto-pay Take care of loose ends at work Work on garden Clean house before we leave Make granola bars and trail mix packets to take along House meeting to come up with a working system for sharing cooking responsibility. May have to be scheduled for after we get back. 3) Exercise/Aikido Not a goal so much as documenting maintenance activity. Continue the Gold Medal Bodies Elements program. I expect to finish the seventh and last week of the program by the end of week 1. Continue with exercises in week two, adding lots more core work. Aikido as usual 4) French This one is to keep my momentum up. I've been enjoying learning some French with Pimsleur audio lessons and DuoLingo. See how much I can learn before we leave. Today's lesson is on asking for directions. I can see where that will be good to know. 5) Meditation/Food/Sleep Keeping life together. All of these are essential and not quite where I'd like them to be. Make good choices. Phase II = weeks 3 and 4 1) Be flexible. This will be the first time Dumbledore, Elf and I have traveled together. I've done long trips with Dumbledore many times. Dumbledore and Elf have done several trips and got along well. We will be going places that none of us have ever been and doing new things. Practice my best blending and observation skills to have a great time and prevent tension. There is no way to see everything. Don't get attached to any specific plan. 2) Maintain good habits while travelling. I did pretty well with this when I traveled with my mom earlier this year. My travel food strategy is to eat veggies and meat as much as possible, avoid filler carbs (bread, rice, potatoes, etc.) and have all the dessert I want. Pack fruit and granola bars. Meditate Exercise. I have yoga videos, the GMB program worksheets and core routines. No excuses. I'm sure we will walk a lot. No scoring this time. Post here for accountability.

So my life has been pretty damn interesting in the past week. I had a batter of interviews, lots of angst about my finances dropping to critical levels, lots of making peace with moving away from my home and dojo and comfort zone to move to halfway across the country to a state that’s the polar opposite of mine, and then, when all hope seemed lost, a ridiculously amazing job offer just dropped into my lap like manna from heaven. So I accepted the offer and then did the totally irresponsible thing and bought an expensive plane ticket to visit Company before I have to start work on Thursday. Story behind the spoiler that is not (entirely) related to the challenge: So this challenge is entirely a “How to balance work and life” Challenge again. That includes making sure my food intake is reasonable, my workouts still happen, and my self care remains on point. 1) Less Work is More Work Clearly Aikido is still a massive priority to me. What just had me geeking out is that according to Google, at peak traffic hours, I am roughly 10 minutes away from my dojo leaving work. TEN. And it is mostly along back roads that aren’t heavily traveled. This is ridiculous. Um, so, THAT particular tidbit aside – I’m going to aim for 5 hours of class a week still. That’s likely Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday (all of these days have double classes), and gives me wiggle room to go light one day. Being so close and almost required to drive past the dojo to get home means I could probably swing going every night, but let’s aim for slightly less for now. Goal: Five hours of aikido classes a week. 2) Working on an Empty Stomach So I’m going to try my not-quite Intermittent Fasting routine for the job, for at least this month. I want to play with batch cooked lunches that are actually warm, or at least warm for 2-3 meals a week. Since I usually feel like warm meals are more calorically dense, I want to use IF as a way to counter that. That said, I’m still going to be really working on being okay eating more (by adding a certain amount of calories based on my activity level that day), and being a bit more paleo/primal overall. Not eating until 10 or so has been pretty normal for me, so I’m not too concerned. Mostly I’ve had a bit of fruit early in the morning with coffee, which still is mostly okay on the IF front (Sisson says if you’re having less than 100 calories, it’s kinda hand waving a bit. Not entirely a fast, but also not enough to do much to the IF benefits, and if it keeps you going, so much the better.) So let’s give this a shot. Goal: Intermittent Fasting-ish during work week (last meal around 8:30 or 9, don’t eat meal until 10-12pm following day). Still maintain ~2800 calories per day, plus 100-150 calories per aikido class, or +600 calories post-Lifting and post-Stadium. Three warm lunch meals batched cooked by the end of the challenge per week. 3) Work out that Iron Speaking of lifting. I’m dropping down to one lifting workout a week for this challenge. I don’t want to try and shoehorn something that’s a distant second priority into my life while I’m trying to get my feet under me at a new job. That said, I don’t want to totally lose what tiny gains I’ve made over the last couple months (even though I’m not really progressing right now because life keeps getting in the way of my regular lifting schedule). So a single, whole body workout a week involving iron is needed. If I’m trying to pull back a tiny bit on aikido, that’s actually pretty simple. Goal: One lifting session a week, slightly longer than usual – three lifts, at least 2 accessory exercises. 4) I Work best Alone I need to focus on selfcare. Like, seriously. Just because I have entered a new phase where I’ll probably immeasurably less anxious and depressed than I have been for month does not mean I am allowed to forget about good selfcare habits. So first off, I need to make sure I get to bed at a reasonable hour and get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep a night. I also need to make sure I remember that I’m going to need to be meeting and interacting with a lot of new people, so I need to be okay with countering that extroversion with my hermit cave tendencies. But I also need to get out a bit now and then. So trying to remember alone time, balanced with social and professional extroversion is going to be important. Goal: Get to be between 10 and 11PM every night. Read 30 minutes before bedtime. At least 5 hours of complete me-time on the weekend (Batch cooking does not count. Aikido does not count. Running errands does not count. This is time to revel in things I *want* to do, not tasks I *have* to do. Sleeping in totally counts towards this.) Time to get to Work.

Keeping it simple. 1) Time to Cut: Drop to an average of 2600 calories per day by the end of the challenge I haven't been on a (major) cut since I left for Camp back in September. By and large, I've figured out that at 3,000 calories a day my body is pretty content to hover around 210 pounds, with a gut measurement of 36.5 inches. I'm less concerned about the weight this time, but I'm not feeling that gut measurement. At my thinnest I was measuring a hair under 35.5", and ideally I'd be slightly under 35" and in the 15% bodyfat range. I'm just feeling doughy around the middle more than I'd like. Add in the fact that mid-June I have a wedding I want to look extra spiffy at, and I think now is a good time to see how my body handles a cut. Also I now understand why cuts are terrible, because I'm ravenous at 2500 calories usually these days, so this is going to go a bit on the slow side. Week 1 I want to angle for about 2800-2900 calories a day. Week 2 I want to angle for 2700-2800 calories a day. Week three I should be hitting between 2600-2700 calories. And that last week I should be more around 2600 pretty consistently or lower. Going to measure my weight twice a week (Sunday and Wednesday) for tracking purposes, and also my gut measurement once a week. Nothing too crazy. 2) Back to the Grind: Three Non-aikido workouts a week The last month and a half has been not exactly ideal for me in terms of my regularly scheduled life. I was injured, then traveling, then sick, then training for the exam, then sick again. Today marks the first time I've lifted in almost 2 weeks. Prior to that I had lifted only once about two weeks before then. But we are also getting really nice weather now, so I may start rucking again through the woods instead of lifting on Monday and Friday like I normally would. Still aiming for 5-7 aikido classes, but that's been constant for the last 5 years, so I don't exactly see that changing any time soon. 3) Getting Deep: Squat mobility every day Jonathon Mead is one of the Headmasters I met at Camp NF. Awesome guy, and very big on getting people outside and moving and being natural. Very MoveNat-like. He recently posted a Primal Squat mobility guide for free. I've always felt my squat and my depth were the weakest part of my lifts, so I figured I'd sign up and give it a whirl. Goal is to do this every morning of the challenge, probably just before my coffee/while the kettle is heating up. I figure that should give me plenty of time to do the routine and then I get the coffee after the fact as a reward. Mmmm. Coffee. 4) Anti-Hermit: Stop Hermiting as much Okay, doing something super different and challenging for me. My anxiety has been through the roof (shocking, I know). It has mostly impacted my sleeping in terms of insomnia and really obnoxious amounts of sleep to be a functional human. I also am aware that I hermit pretty hard in the best of times. One shocking thing I've noticed is that now and again, I actually like being able to see my friends. I guess I'll credit @Big_Show with the revelation, since this dawned on me while I was having a skype chat with him not long ago. So my goal is to be social and/or have two skype chats/hangouts with people a week. The skype hangouts are pretty low key even for me, and shockingly seem to do a large amount of good for my introvert mental state. Weird. Also I'm not allowed to count going to aikido as being social, unless I actually go out with people afterwards. Driving people home does not count in this regard. So yea. Something simultaneously not crazy AND crazy for me this time around. Imagine that. Doing a challenge properly. Weird.

Mistr explores the next level - Challenge 28 After a year of concentrating on leveling up in aikido, I am taking some time to explore new things. 1) Exercise: Follow the GMB Elements program. I started this last week as my reward for all the test prep training. So far it seems to be mostly mobility work. Also arm and shoulder strength. Both of which are good for me. Aikido twice a week plus weapons practice twice a week and teaching Wednesdays. I'm scaling back from practicing Friday-Monday to doing either Friday & Sunday or Saturday & Monday. There are two seminars during the challenge which will disrupt this schedule a bit. Hiking and core work. Now that it is really spring, I want to get outside more. I can skip Elements once a week to get outside on a nice day. The bonus Core program that came with my Elements subscription is too much of the same thing. Add in hollow body hold and plank work on the short days. 2) Explore food choices. In this case, vegetables. I did no cooking for the last two weeks and the fridge shows it. Dumbledore has been talking about cooking more, but he is overscheduling himself doing other things. Elf will do a fair share of the cooking. The guys are pretty good with meat and weak on vegetables. Cook at least three vegetable dishes a week. At least one will involve several ingredients. Bonus points for new recipes and unfamiliar veggies. 3) Explore the nooks and crannies. Inside - my house and garage are full of boxes and piles of paper. Deal with at least one box/pile a week. Outside - the yard and garden need serious TLC. Spend an hour outside dealing with one section, twice or more a week. I'm limiting this to small areas at a time because the whole thing is too overwhelming to contemplate. 4) Learn a new language Duolingo French lessons, at least 10 minutes a day. I started this last week and am enjoying it. Pimsleur French audio lessons. Do at least four lessons a week. The Pimsleur course is all verbal. Great for speaking practice. This is a good complement to Duolingo, which has the written words. That is especially important for French, where the written and spoken words have little in common. 5) Explore my inner space Continue zen meditation practice. Every day would be great, but sometimes it just won't fit. Put more effort into doing meditation early on weekends. 6) Fun and friends I felt isolated from my friends and family while I was training all the time. Do more social things Do more creative things either solo or with friends Positive reinforcement scoring = 10 points for each thing done.

Last challenge, @Tanktimus the Encourager and @fleaball had an interesting discussion about rewiring your brain by picking an archetype that you want to emulate. It wasn't immediately obvious to me what kind of archetype I would pick if I followed the process, so I thought about it for a while and eventually realized that all of the archetypes I thought of had one thing in common: they were guardians. And when I had that realization, a lot of other things clicked into place: I scored "guardian" on the reebok be more human test a while back (I think) I keep coming back to the mantra "courage, honor, self restraint" I ALMOST NEVER get angry about anything and avoid conflict, except if someone is mean to my little sister or something So it works. The qualities of a guardian I admire and want to emulate include: A relentless, headstrong commitment to hard work and self improvement - to the point of stubborn refusal to compromise on any goal Faith that if they trust the process and do the work they will gain the skills they need Genuinely interested in and attentive to other people (as long as they're not trying to enter a forbidden realm) In their developmental years, they learn & grow alongside peers on the same journey, engaging actively in their training As they gain skill, they gladly guide & nurture others and think nothing of it Takes delight in the simple things in life. A happy day is just talking and being heard, and confirming our present happiness. Driven by the urge to help others Peaceful/zen except when defending others or facing obstacles Completely willing to fight with people when provoked Loyal to their people Honest Brave despite fears. Always. Focused outward - interested in other people and events around them and being in the world as their primary way of interacting with the world Physically balanced between strength/agility/endurance Examples of guardians: Pretty much every Tamora Pierce heroine ever, but especially Alanna from The Lioness Quartet and Kel from The Protector of the Small Dragons. Dragons protecting princesses and elder/mother dragons looking after their tribe/family The leader/seer/healer of a tribe who makes decisions based on how to protect their people Keepers of lore/wisdom/secrets/hidden places who do their jobs at all costs Monsters guarding the entrances to hidden realms Knights Priestesses Gargoyles? Background Every challenge this year, I am focusing on just one new habit. There are 10 challenges in the year, so by the end of the year I'll have TEN NEW HEALTHY HABITS. Challenge 1: Walk every day and/or aim for 16 miles per week Challenge 2: Morning routines Challenge 3: Eat a smoothie for breakfast and a salad for lunch every day Also, my theme for this year is honesty. That doesn't just mean honest in the sense of not lying. It means facing into things when I'm feeling the urge to withdraw because I'm self-conscious. It means being true to myself even when I want to act differently because I'm afraid people won't like me. It means showing up and doing the work even though I want to procrastinate or avoid it because something stresses me out. It means honestly making the effort. It means listening to my body and listening to my heart. It means feeling my feelings. I feel like 70% of my anxiety in life comes from situations in which I'm not being fully honest. And if I can learn to embrace that honesty, I can drastically improve my life. @Ensi made a comment a while back about how she just needs to be honest and brave, and I still think about that. Courage, honor, self restraint. Challenge Goal So in general this challenge is about getting into the habit of acting like a guardian. But obviously I need something more specific than that to work towards. So, two things: 1. Start every morning with a mantra/affirmation/whatever that I am a guardian, to help set the tone for the day 2. Work. I started working from home full time in April, and I've been struggling with switching to and from work mode. I'm also working on a very stressful project at the moment that has me really nervous and self-conscious. So, like a guardian, I want to face into the work. I want to relentlessly and uncompromisingly work hard every work day. I want to stop delaying the hardest things for last because of stress. I want to be driven by how I can help other people with my work. Honesty. Courage, honor, self restraint. And so on. Other Things So, they aren't goals, but I'll also talk about a million other fitness/health things that I work on, including: Aikido Running GMB Elements program Bodyweight strength workouts OCRs Yoga Food habits - eating primalish Reading Mediation Spending challenges Previous challenge habits: walking, morning routines, smoothie/salads Icebreaker I read a book a while back about a family that gave up sugar, including honey, fruit juice, and artificial sweeteners, for an entire year. Once per month, they would have a dessert that contained sugar. But that's it. Each family member could also pick a single thing with sugar in it to keep for the year. They chose things like wine, soda, and jelly. So I'm curious. If you had to do a challenge where you could only eat one thing with sugar for a WHOLE YEAR, what would you pick? I'm personally torn between ketchup and tea lattes.

Mistr gets it done - Challenge 27? something like that. My focus for the first three weeks of the challenge is getting ready for my second degree black belt test in aikido. The last week of the challenge will be a rest and recovery week. Final approach to test day goals to keep everything on target: 1. Sleep. I've been struggling to consistently get enough sleep for ages. I don't have time to be tired and groggy. Suck it up and go to bed. Avoid coffee if humanly possible. 2. Meditation. Sitting zen helps me cope with pressure. Even 5 or 10 minutes is better than nothing. 3. Exercise and aikido. Back off a bit to maintain rather than build. Mix up exercise as it seems best day to day. Keep up with mobility work even if I don't exercise. 4. Time management and adulting. Not only do I have a dan test, I am hosting the after-seminar party at my house. I also volunteered months ago to have a dojo meeting at my house this weekend. Oh yes, and taxes are due by the end of the challenge. And work has been busy. Do the things. Tracking: 5 points for each thing done. Positive reinforcement only for now, I have enough stress.

The long-awaited moment has arrived: it's time for the CAT TAKEOVER challenge! A bunch of forum veterans banded together and decided we would all do cat-themed challenges this time. If you want to join, please do! Anyone can pepper their thread with copious numbers of cat gifs! And who can deny that cats are worth emulating?? They're good at stretching, eating well, and getting enough sleep. They've got athleticism, grace, and poise. They've got high self esteem on lockdown and they don't let anyone tell them what to do. When they want something, they go after it. "I daresay, old chap, cats ARE rather impressive." So let's all be cats, yo. I'm going to emulate one of the thing cats are best known for: BALANCE! And I'm striving for balance in two senses of the word: Literal: my actual balance kind of sucks. Since I'm into rock climbing and just started aikido, I have good reasons to try to improve it. Figurative: a balanced life is a happy life. I've made recent progress and I want to keep it going. I need sustainable progress in various areas, all in balance with each other. THE QUEST FOR UNCANNY FELINE BALANCE 1. EAT LIKE A CAT Cats don't eat junk. I will emulate their good judgement by: - Continuing my no chocolate rule (exceptions for restaurant desserts, or if a friend bakes me a gift) - Limiting takeout to once per week - Keeping a calorie deficit (on average) to keep losing weight - Tracking my food 2. GET FIT LIKE A CAT Cats are the ultimate natural athletes. I am not. It will be a long quest to match their might. I will: - Continue working out every day as part of my morning routine - Continue stretching every morning as part of my morning routine - Do bodyweight strength training twice per week - Rock climb once per week and go to aikido at least twice a week 3. CHILL THE FUCK OUT LIKE A CAT Cats are much better at relaxing than I am. I will embrace my inner feline by: - Getting enough sleep: stick to 12am bedtime/7am wakeup time (exception: on weekends can sleep in until 8:30) - Going to therapy every week - Writing in my Hobonichi and journal for at least a few minutes each day 4. WORK ON NOT SUCKING AT BALANCE BECAUSE SERIOUSLY CATS ARE SNICKERING ABOUT IT ATM I love rock climbing and I just started aikido. Both require elements of balance and, let's face it, it doesn't come naturally to me. I need to strengthen my stabilizer muscles and improve my balance. So I am issuing myself a daily dare: pick a balancing pose (e.g. standing on one leg with other extended) and hold it for as long as possible. Work to improve the length of time I can hold the pose over the course of the challenge. Let the cat frenzy begin!!

I was gonna do a bunch of gifs, but I'm kinda lazy right now. This challenge is going to be in two parts. Part one is from now until March 25, essentially a Vacation Challenge. Part two is my "Back to the Grind" part. Vacation Goals: I have a lot of free time on my hands here while I'm waiting for Company to get out of work. So I may as well be productive about it, eh? Apply to at least two jobs (I have several saved that I'm interested in, so this isn't a crazy task) Look into the people I'm going to be interviewing with when I get back Listen to 7 Python Bible lectures Start/Finish my Taxes Stretch EVERY DAY (deal with my tight quads and knee pain) At least two walks with Company's dog Partially these are just to pass the time, but also to make sure I am still somewhat productive in this week and stave off some anxiety issues. --------------------------------------------- Back the Grind: Adulting: A Good chunk of Adulting to accomplish this time around Look into UFYH Interview on March 27th Reschedule Doctor's appointment 10 Minutes of Python a day Deal with a parking ticket (I actually think I already screwed this up, so I think I'll have to pay even though I shouldn't have to) Look into free guides for carving projects Limit video game times to no more than 2 hours on weekdays (Mainly because Mass Effect Andromeda comes out next week and I want to try and not have it eat me). Aikido: Test for First kyu! Look into posture and balance exercises to work on before the exam. Focus on blending. Write out 10 techniques (names only) for the "target" techniques for the exam. Food: This guy is the monster this time around. My eating habits haven't been that great the last several weeks. I've essentially been doing a dirty bulk, and I don't particularly like it. So I want to skew a bit more Paleo/Primal than I have been, and focus on upping my healthy fat intake over trying to spike my calories with carbs. So no more poptarts or cereal binges at night just to get calories fixed. I'm going to aim for 2800-3200 calories a day, but not worry about hitting that the first week or two back from vacation. I'd honestly like to go to like 2400 for two weeks, see how my body handles a mini cut. But I'll just take eating clean as an acceptable version, regardless of caloric intake. Really, I just need to not eat crap (Girl Scout cookies, punch, pop tarts, etc etc) and try to disguise it as either fuel or a reward for "surviving," which I've been doing a lot lately. So I'm better off just starting from scratch, as it were. So yea. Food, aikido, adulting to hit when I get back from vacation. Sounds like a decent challenge, right?

This has been the story of my life for the past 6 months... So my life has been a bit hectic. Unemployment, lots of interviews, getting injured, suddenly losing a roommate, losing unemployment insurance, finding a roommate.... I'm really in need of having some stability in my life. Things aren't looking up for the next month, unfortunately, so I need to work at making my own stability. Because as today has been going, the universe is just going to keep lobbing shit at me. 1) Python, 10 minutes a day: I finished my Automate the Boring Stuff python course that @The Most Loathed had pointed out to me a while back the other day. I feel like I can at least look at Python code and understand what it is aiming to do, but not confident enough that I can actually use the code. So I dropped $15 on another udemy course that's a more project based thing, and want to start working my way through that. The 10 minutes is a minimum goal, and I suspect that when I set up I'll do much more coding/learning than that. But figuring it's better this way to keep it small and easily movable in my schedule. Okay, it's not the gif I had imagined using, but Hunk getting eaten still relates to food 2) All about the Food: Okay, this is my most.... questionable goal. I've been eating pretty regularly 2800 calories a day, regardless of workouts. Little more on lifting days, little less on aikido. I'm being pretty stable at 211 pounds, and my gut measurement is also fairly stable. I'm currently torn on if I'm going to be doing a mini cut this challenge. Just two weeks, take measurements and photos, and see how the chips fall. It would be nice to see myself get a tiny bit leaner, as a few of my hallmark "I'm thinning out" traits have been hidden since I started eating more. Of course, I might also just keep eating where I'm at, and try to change my workout plans instead. I'm going to talk to a few people and see what they think I should do or how to best tackle things, physically and mentally. 3) Time to Fight: I'm testing in April. That's 2ish months away. I'm not actually worried about the exam, because I'm definitely well versed enough that I should breeze through it. I seem to be one of the few soon-to-test 2nd kyus who is confident in their ability to have a range of techniques. But that aside, I'm going to do something that scares the crap out of me. I'm going to go ask my various sempai what they want to see me nail on the first kyu exam. A lot of it is going to be answered by "do all of this which is going to take a lifetime," so I need to make sure I ask for semi-reasonable things. I'll report back here and then just keep writing about my aikido classes about how things are going. 4) Go. Be Great (at Adulting): I have more than a few adulting tasks I need to do before the end of the month/challenge. So I may as well keep myself accountable here. Ongoing: 3 "UI" unemployment tasks a week (Job hunt, job applications, networking, interviews, phone calls, etc) Ongoing: 10 minutes of tidying things away before bed (dishes, mail, junk on the counter, etc etc) Ongoing: Remember to take your medicine Get my UI paperwork squared away Send UI paperwork to MassHealth so I can keep MassHealth Coverage Get a new script for my anti-anxiety meds Schedule physical/doctor appointment if needed to get the meds Clear out Basement of junk Clear out Pantry of old items Organize the Pantry Clean apartment before new Roommate moves in Make sure the Landlord doesn't hold up the new roommate moving in Contact all apartment applicants and let them know they weren't selected February 28th: If I didn't get the good job I'm banking on, start applying to bank teller/mover/grocery store positions So. That's the plan for this challenge. Hopefully it keeps me sane. Or at least fills the days with something to do. We all ready for this?

Mistr ramps up I have a firm date for my nidan test: April 8. I want to be in the best shape I can possibly be by then. My goals are pretty much the same as they have been for the last year or two, with the addition of more aikido training. 1. Practice as much as possible. This means going to the dojo five days a week. Saturday and Sunday training is no longer optional. Which dojo does not matter. Seminars count. There are several friendship seminars coming up over the next month. More training with more instructors is great. I have never met the senior instructor who will be supervising my exam. I'll just have to show clean technique and hope he doesn't care about style. 2. Meditate. Every day would be ideal, six days a week is more realistic. Meditation helps me cope with stress. Maybe even the stress of multiple people attacking me with weapons. 3. Strength and endurance training. Strength training makes me feel better overall and helps my knees. Endurance training will keep me from dying during randori. I barely kept up a maintenance level while I was travelling last month. Get back on track with working out five days a week. I just started doing a round of physical therapy to regain range of motion in my left shoulder. Those stretches count here as well. 4. Sleep. Be good about going to bed on time, especially on weekends. Getting enough sleep has been a problem for a variety of reasons. My knees have been cranky from lots of aikido after a long break. I need to get the chores done early in the evening so I don't have them as an excuse to stay up and get one more thing done. 5. Food. I finally got down to my target weight. I want to stay at 150±2 lbs. I can see that I still have some extra fat on my hips and thighs at this weight. Eating healthy is more important than appearance right now. That said, I have a terrible nagging fear that I am going to gain back all the weight I lost over the last three years. I need to get my family on board to keep good food in the house. Dumbledore has said he wants to improve his eating habits too, but he does not have a cooking plan yet. I just talked to Elf about helping getting that going. With all the extra aikido time, I won't be home enough to cook as much as I did last fall. I may need to find some backup prepared food to keep at work in case of the guys not doing their part.

Four years ago I started my first challenge here on NF. To my best accounting, this is going to be my 28th challenge thread. And for once, I think I'm going to keep it simple. Like, mostly one challenge goal per, well, goal. And I'm a fan of the Expanse series, just started reading Book 6, and the second season on Syfy is about to start. So it seemed like a good theme. That, and isolation in space doing weird things. Anyway. Meet The Rocinante: A Martian Navy Corvette class attack ship, less-than-temporarily borrowed by the central characters of The Expanse series. Those 4 crew members are the only crew who pilot the ship, though it's been known to take on passengers, willingly or otherwise. Each crew member has a primary job, and I figured I'd use them as guidelines for my challenge goals. Also because it just makes it more fun. 1) Holden The Captain of the Roci, Holden has a slight problem with keeping his mouth shut. He also often acts as the conscious of the crew, and holds them together more than they often realize. I'm using him to represent my self care this challenge. I still need to focus on it, but I think I need to be more open about it as well. I've not been well really since November, and either this month will make or break me in either direction. So selfcare blogging is going to be happening a lot. 2) Naomi Genius engineer and software writer, Naomi is the XO on the Roci. She has written miles of beautiful code and seen it all go to shit before. I'm just starting this coding thing and I'm about half way through my course, so I'll be aiming to do one Python lesson a day. Bonus points if I find a way to get some homework or something with an answer behind it so I can practice without going totally insane. (Or if we have programming Nerds who want to assign me a task in a bit and would be okay with looking over my code afterwards, also cool.) 3) Amos The mechanic on the ship, but also kind of the powerhouse. He is the attackdog of the crew, strong and able. I'm strong, but working towards being stronger. In this instance, I'm focusing less on the direct strength, and more on the feeding of the strength. I'm still working on eating well above what I've grown accustom to surviving on, and this goal is going to make sure I keep on that path for at least a bit longer. Eat according to how active I've been each day, and don't eat less than 2400 calories in the off chance I take a rest day. Take some progress photos each week. Bonus points if I can nail down a program that isn't SS or SL or 5/3/1 to help push me forward. 4) Alex Alex is the pilot of the Roci, and he makes her fly like no one else. I've been injured since early/mid-November, and have really been bad at doing the PT stretches suggested to me. So I'm going to make sure I do them every day, when I get up to fill my water bottle. That.... will make me do them a lot. But it's one of those "better to overload" things. TL;DR? 1) Holden - Selfcare once a day minimum, openly blog about selfcare and anxiety issues. 2) Naomi - One Python lesson a day. (Bonus of finding "HW" to get more practical coding experience.) 3) Amos - Eat according to my activity level and take progress photos. (One aikido class ~2700 calories, lifting and stairs ~3000, mix of aikido/Stairs/Lifting AT LEAST 3200 calories, no less than 2400 calories on rest days.) 4) Alex - PT stretches for my shoulder every time I refill my water bottle. I have very few major goals this year. The biggest is making sure I'm ready and uninjured by the April exam to test for 1st kyu. The second is that I lift, by December 31, a total of 1,000 pounds in my big three lifts (Squat, Deadlift, Benchpress). I'll need a 315 squat, a 445 deadlift, and a 240 benchpress. The only one of those that scares me is the squat, and I'm working on that. After that, I really just have a few go out and travel/adventure goals (Races and seminars and Nerd visits that aren't in Massachsetts/the Boston area), but those are on hold until employment happens and I have disposable income again. But in any case. Let's start 2017 with a bang, shall we?

Challenge 26 - Mistr keeps it together My last challenge was to make more slack. That was largely successful. December will be a test of all my balancing act skills. Normally I get worried about the holidays. This year I'm worried about being out of the country for three weeks in January. I need to make sure that my usual responsibilities at work and home are all covered. Not to mention planning part of a vacation to exotic locations. The holidays get to take a back seat this year. Goals: 1. Maintain a positive attitude. I can do this. Be nice to my family and coworkers, no matter what. 2. Meditate when I can. Exercise when I can. 3. Be strategic about holiday sweets. The world will be full of sugar for the next month. Eat lots of veggies and healthy food. Work on coping by methods other than sweets. Invest in some flavored teas. 4. Take some time to do fun things. There are more than enough tasks to occupy every minute of my day. Keeping my sanity is more important than getting everything done.

I really should have been screaming into the side of a koalasheep more the last few months So, Selfcare challenges. I apparently have the habit, after looking over my old challenges (this is my 27th challenge on NF, by the way), to really need a self-care focused challenge every, eh 5-6 challenge rounds. Given how stressful the last couple of weeks have been and the fact that the holiday season is on us, it's probably good if I force into my brain that selfcare is an every-day thing, and not a "sometimes" thing. Add in that I'm also kind of injured (shoulder, foot doing a bit of planter facitis or something), and I should really zone in on those things to get better. So, the goal isn't quantity right now, it's quality, and focus-on-me levels of it (that'll come into play in a bit, you'll see). Just gotta do ONE thing. Per day. But ONE thing. 1) Self Care: Perform one of these tasks, once a day. · Meditation (10+ minutes) · Reading · Early bed ( 9.5+ hours sleep total) · Extended no-electronics time (4+ hours) · Walks (unweighted) · Hermit DAY · Cooking experimentation · Python lessons? These are all things that destress me. You'll note that the dojo is not there. That's because while I love my Mat Therapy, it still involves interacting with people, and while I love them all, sometimes it is a bit much (looking at you, OG...). I never regret going to the dojo, but it does sometimes require me to drag myself there and the effort required to ramp myself up to movement is really hard when I'm feeling low. So I'm not discounting it as a selfcare act, but I also don't want to be selfish with my mat time and make it all about me. The other oddball thing here is the Python lessons. I've wanted to learn some programming/coding for a bit. When I was picking hobbies, I had options between coding and wood carving. I went woodcarving because it's off the computer, but I'm currently buffering up against the fact that a lot of the things I want to do carving wise require some more tools and equipment. If I have ideas I want to be able to implement them, not get frustrated with subpar tools when I can get my hands on them otherwise. It's just the otherwise is Christmas, so the carving is on hold. So I'm going to start coding. I'd like to say it would be an hour or a lesson, but I'm not sure which I'm doing. When I floating programming ideas, @The Most Loathed suggested I look into the book "Automate the Boring Stuff" and so I already grabbed that book and downloaded Python and started playing. I don't feel like the lessons in the book are super hard, but it's early. And then I might try to find a class to audit on Python. So. That's just stuff to do. Anyway, doing these tasks once a day should help maintain my sanity. 2) Workouts: Do one Workout Per Day · Aikido (one class) · Rucks · Lifting · November Project · Stretching/Yoga In all likelihood, since I've included aikido in this, I'll probably still make 2 workouts a day. But I want to get it into my brain that if I only do one thing I'm not a giant waste. Which is why self care is there - to take up the time the second workout would have. 3) Eating: Primal Holidays Okay, not exactly a "One" theme here. Goal is to eat mostly primal, or well measured non-primal things (like oatmeal and rice), hopefully mostly veggies. I want to be able to go to the couple of holiday parties I have without feeling like I blew everything that week, and stricter eating will be key on the non-social side of things. So only crappy eating when at social parties. And thankfully, I no longer have any wiggle room in my budget to be social, so I can flat out refuse going out now because I have no money! Unemployment is fun! That about covers it. Mostly focusing on taking care of myself. I sense I'll need to do a lot of that in the coming days.

One Hundred Floors. Each one more challenging than the last. It's like our Challenges here, each one incrementally getting more difficult, more straining than the last. But we will conquer them all in the end with persistence and skill. 1) Kirito - Strong, persistent, and sometimes stupidly stubborn. He keeps moving forward. I need to log a great deal of hours in training before December for my exam. I also want to get stronger. So right now, Kirito is going to represent going to aikido 6 days a week, Stairs, and two lifting workouts. The only way to get better is keep pushing forward, and at the moment this is the way I will push. 2) Asuna - Calm, focused, multitalented, and a damn good chef. Asuna is as much of a figher as Kirito, but rather than always spend time fighting she has also maxed out her cooking skill. She's going to represent a more solid focus on my food intake. I have done well with my Mostly Primal, but I think I am going to buckle down and go more-or-less full tilt on it this coming challenge. No more than 5 non-Primal treats a week. The except to this will be oatmeal , which I'm still counting as a treat, but only half of one. It's a comfort food for me, as well as actually good for you, and,. a good source of carbs for heavy training days. It's silly to completely remove. In addition, I want to craft a new meal each week. And I'm not talking about changing the spices, I mean a whole new meal. Something besides my typical starch/steamed veggie/meat combo. Something that will in fact take a little while to make, but should be delicious and yummy for that effort alone. 3) Yui - Mental Programming Unit for Players Benefit. When introduced, it's assumed that Yui is a small child in the game who lost her parents. It's later revealed that she is in fact an AI, tasked with trying to help the players' mental states when needed. The holidays means a lot more social interaction, which means I will need my alone time, as well as be mentally prepared for being asked how the job hunt and unemployment is going. So I need to spend time being okay with answering those questions. This self-care goal is multifaceted. Try to get into bed by 10:30PM, read for a bit, and lights off around 11PM. Wake up at 8AM (except on Stairs Days), and start doing functional things by 9AM (ie - don't sit and sip coffee until 10 or 11AM, and then try to rush and do everything). Work on wood carving (blade sharpening, pattern thoughts, actual freaking carving) because I need some physical, hands on craft hobby at least one hour a week. And so, I have a lot of things to work on, in a very busy month: November 11th - Nerd gathering and my 30th Birthday GORUCK Novermber 19th - ACTUAL birthday and probably gathering with folks November 24th - Thanksgiving Hopefully somewhere in there will be a job start date. But I won't hold my breath. Short version of the challenge: 1) Aikido 6 days a week, lifting twice, Stairs once. 2) Primal eating, no more than 5 non-primal treats per week, one new meal a week. 3) Self care, self care, self care. Time to log on, Nerds.

Challenge for November, 2016: Make more slack I marked my third Nerdversary (along with @Teirin!) back in September. Lots of things are better in my life because of the challenges and support here at NF. That means I've done most of the easy stuff already. Now for the really tough ones. Very most important goal: Make slack in my life. My typical mode is to do All the Things. I convince myself that Bad Things will happen if I don't get everything done. In truth, most of the things I need to do are not time critical. Sure, we need food and clean clothes, but we could eat cheese and crackers and wear those annoying clothes from the back of the closet every now and then. Recent conversations with my family made me realize that me being busy all the time is causing problems. Clearly I have been more of a stress bunny than I wanted to believe. The whole point of all this is to have a happy life. I need to get my focus back on that broad forest and not on the trees. Implementation 1. Take time every day to do something fun, relaxing or creative. Reading novels of dubious quality counts. Reading the newspaper at the kitchen table does not count. Spending time with family and friends totally counts. 2. Meditation. I'm relaxing from the you-must-meditate-every-day-or-else pressure. Sure, more meditation is good. That doesn't have to mean more time. I talked with my Zen teacher about the stories that feature monks meditating for years without a break. He said that the goal is not to sit all the time, but to keep the same concentration one can get from sitting zazen in other activities of daily life. Zen while driving is a good example. We worked on breathing exercises in the most recent class. He suggested doing them while commuting. You have to breathe anyway, so why not concentrate on keeping a wide focus on the road and do tanden breathing? 3. Sleep. I will continue with the Black Ribboners. Sleep is key to a happy life. I learned in my last challenge that giving myself some slack on sleep times made me less stressed. It's okay if I get 7.5 hours some nights instead of the holy grail of 8 hours. I'd prefer to make up the sleep deficit during the week and not wait until the weekend. That said, my goal is 56 hours of sleep for the week (or more). Naps count. 4. Aikido. Throwing my friends around the room and rolling on the floor makes me a happy camper. I was buying into the standard martial arts advice that one must train like a maniac before a test. Some people may find that a good method. I'm on the winding trail that takes the scenic route to the top of the mountain. I will go to class as much as I can, but not stress about it when I can't. For the last couple months I've tried to go to Friday-Saturday-Sunday-Monday classes. Plus the class I teach on Wednesday. That might have been helping my aikido, but it eats too much family time on weekends. I'm going to back off to just doing some of those classes, flexible depending on what else is going on. I'll make an effort to get to advanced class on Saturdays and other more intense classes in preparation for my nidan test. 5. Exercise. Keep up regular exercise to keep my knees and the rest of my body happy. This is already a habit. I may do more hiking instead of inside things as we get into the last weeks of above-freezing weather.

This challenge, I am going to do the dreaded thing...a sleep challenge. The thing is, I sleep OKAY. Most nights I manage 7 hours, sometimes 6 on bad nights. But when I sleep naturally, I sleep 7.5 hours. I read all these things about how important getting your FULL amount of sleep is and how it affects just about everything. I'm often really groggy. I'm alert for maybe 2 hours after waking up, and then I get sleepy. I am a napper who could easily take 3 naps a day if schedules allowed. And I pretty much only have the mental clarity to really talk well with other people when I'm NOT tired. So in theory, if I get enough sleep, my workouts will have more energy, I will have more willpower to resist junk food, and I'll be better at talking to people. That's why I'm taking this on. Here are the goals: Goal 1: Get enough sleep (7.5 hours a night is my natural pattern) I already get up fairly early, so I have to work on inching back bedtime. I struggle with that, so I've avoided doing a sleep challenge up until now. But with constant travel and running around, it just feels like time. So on most nights, I'll aim to... Sign off of my computer at 9ish Meditate, do any chores or reading I feel like for a while to unwind Try to sleep by 10ish but it's ok to stay up doing non-screen things if I can't sleep. On bootcamp days when I wake up at 5 instead of 6, it will be more like 7 hours of sleep vs. the ideal 7.5. I won't worry about that for now...I'll just try to stick to the routine above. Travel's going to fuck me up because my boyfriend is a night owl, so I'm just going to ignore that can of worms for now too. Goal 2: Do whatever the hell exercises I feel like. Do them with love. Do a lot of them. Last week I added in an extra workout (4 vs. my usual 3) and I LOVED IT. I'm generally aiming for the same 3 workouts per week, but I'll try to get in that 4th workout when I can. I'll continue running once a week, with at least an hour of yoga required before I'm allowed to run again. I'll continue working on focused flexibility. If I get through my Aikido test in November without crying, I can buy a sledgehammer and I might start doing some shovelglove. Yadda yadda. I'm not tracking or scoring any of this. I've done 3 workouts per week since January, and I have no intention of breaking my streak now with the end of the year so close. ...And that's IT. "What??" you say, "You usually have like 20 elaborate steps for every goal!" I decided enough was enough for now. I don't need to lay out the workout goals, because I've got those down. As for food, my food vibes have been terrible since July. But last week I just suddenly hit the right buttons and started getting back on track again after watching some meal prep videos on YouTube. I think SEEING healthy food and reminding myself what a healthy diet looks and feels like did more for me that scoring or tracking or any of that nonsense. If there's anything I've learned by experimenting with different kinds of tracking this year, it's that I KNOW when I'm eating healthy and when I'm not. I don't want to keep fighting myself and feeling guilty, so I'm just going to go with the flow while I'm feeling it. If the switch turns back off, I'll go back to scoring food. In the long run, this makes sense. I don't want to track food for the rest of my life. I generally want to eat paleo/primal because that feels best for my body, but I'm going rogue and not setting any goals about it for a while. There are times when variances make sense, and it's hard to capture that in a scoresheet. So I'm just going to keep learning how to eat in a sustainably healthy way. Let's do an icebreaker! Do any of you have any weird sleep habits or sleep experiences? I'm a cuddly sleeper so I have to hug either a stuffed animal or a blanket or a pillow when I sleep

Mistr rides the line - Challenge #24 The line in question is the one between the two tomoe (comma-shaped sections) in the taijitu figure. The line is where the forces are perfectly balanced. Sometimes it is 90% yin/10% yang, sometimes it is 30%/70%. Or in Chinese numerology, 1+9, 2+8, 3+7, 4+6, 5+5. It does not matter what force is presented, the martial artist must accept it and balance it with the appropriate response. Goals: 1) Balance sleep and wakefulness. I vill join de Black Ribboners led by @sarakingdom. Dat means I vill get 7.5-8.5 hours sleep every night. Riding the line: sometimes that may mean going to bed by 9:30pm so that I can be up at 5:00am. Other nights I can stay up later and get up later. No running a sleep deficit. 2) Balance motion and stillness. Meditation helps me stay on the line. Make time to meditate before I do chores at home. Experience has shown over and over that I care more about the dishes than anyone else. I can leave them and no one will get mad at me. Someone else might even wash them. Take initiative on meditating and let go of guilt. 3) Balance exercises Knee exercises, strength training, HIIT, walking, stretching, swimming, yoga. Do what I need to so that my body stays functional. Once my knees stop being cranky my goal will shift towards getting more fit. Right now I am still in recovery mode. 4) Training and tango Aikido as much as I can plus tango once or twice a week. My sensei asked me to share my Wednesday night class with one of the new shodans. That means I will get at least one night a month to join Elf at tango class. I can go to classes on Tuesdays. We agreed that we would compare notes and practice on weekends. I want to take tango lessons to learn how to relax and let go while practicing body awareness. In aikido I am practicing relaxing and taking my partner's center. Lead and follow. Follow and lead. My longer term objective is to get ready for my nidan exam. Current projection is for February. My family is supporting me in this by taking over more of the cooking and household chores. I feel like I am already riding the edge of what I can do in a week. I have less free time than any time since grad school. The difference is that I am not stressed out about it. I keep looking for an extra 10 minutes to sit and spin. I did not find that last weekend. I am choosing to spend more time with my family and friends. Monday night I gave a friend a ride to a reading and went out to dinner afterwards. (She just got her first novel published and is on a book tour! Go check out Everfair!). My time at home barely overlaps with Elf's and Hermes', so I take time to talk with them when I can. Dumbledore's schedule has gotten more complex. We are planning ahead to spend time together and making more effort to keep other things from impinging on that time. I am continuing to work on making good choices so that I am doing my part at home, staying in touch with people and maybe even sneaking in some down time.

So I got to Camp Nerd Fitness early, even though I'm not a helper, and trying to be helpful. While waiting to be helpful, I figured I'd toss up my thread since I know what's going on. In two months, November 11th, I have a GORUCK challenge. How much training have I done for it you ask? Precious little. On top of that I want to test for first kyu in December. And on top of THAT I recently hit my fabled goal of a stable 200 pounds, so I want to try and transition my diet to a much more reasonable maintenance level. So how to approach these things: 1) GORUCK training 3 times a week. @raptron pointed out the GORUCK challenges have a 6 week training course. They assume you do nothing but train for this, so it's a bit crazy. I'll grab two of its workouts each week (or merge some together and create two), and then Wednesday at November Project ruck instead of whatever workout they do. I also aim to over train, rucking probably 45-50 pounds / 8-10 bricks instead of just six. Make those six bricks feel crazy light. 2) Ikkyu Prep The general consensus at the dojo is I'm going to breeze through the exam. My only (loose) barrier is I need to acquire 90ish hours more before I can test. At the moment, I'm unemployed still, so I can train ALL THE TIME. And if I do get a job, I have plans to still get a good chunk of hours in. So the goal is to get 10 hours a week. That's both classes on Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday, plus another two hours between Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Very doable. That said, I may have a goal of asking Sensei to test even if I fall short, because everyone says he would tell me I can test. But let's try to get the hours first. 3) Mostly Primal i recently realized my body stabilized at 200 pounds. It's a goal I've had since I started here at NF, and the few times I've seen the number it's been fleeting. I spent the last week pretty solidly at 200-point-change that I'm okay with calling it a win. So time to up my food intake and see what happens. Few plots for this -Going mostly primal. So meat, veggies, fruit, some yogurt and cheese. -Starchy sides like rice, lentils, quinoa are allowed but only twice a week. -No weight measurement during the challenge. Just before and after. But keep measurement of my gut. -No calorie counting. I can estimate fine these days, so let's try to not go crazy there. And that's it. Simple, busy challenge. Starting immediately after CNF. Huzzah!

Mistr rocks randori - Challenge #23 The main event for this challenge is a 4-day randori intensive over Labor Day weekend. For those who are wondering what on earth aikido randori is, there are videos here. Short form: multiple attackers - 5 attackers for open hand or 3 attackers with weapons. I might have to stay on the ground and work from kneeling with the attackers upright (hamni handachi). The title of my challenge is totally inspirational. I am terrified. Goals: Interval training twice a week for the next three weeks. 6 sessions, 20 minutes each. I might get killed in randori because my skills are lacking. I should not die because I get winded. Meditation - sit at least 10 minutes every day, more is better. Maintaining focus in the eye of the storm is an essential skill Sleep - get at least 7.5 hours a night Being tired will not help me deal with stress. I need to keep reminding myself of that. The chores can wait. Cook vegetables and travel food. Cumulative total of batches made. Eating healthy will help me feel better and keep my weight down, which will make it easier for me to move quickly. For those just joining this saga, the cast of characters in my household are given here. Oh yeah, just to spice things up a bit, I have a dance demo at a local music festival a week from Saturday. I'm the demo coach. I expect I will have to be dancing because I don't have enough dancers. I will count it a success if we all keep smiling and no one gets hurt. Especially me. As icing on the cake, friends are coming from England to visit for a week. They are flying in the same day that I leave for the randori intensive. Dumbledore insists that he told them I'd be out of town, those were apparently the dates they could get vacation time and cheaper flights. Our house is not in what I would consider clean-enough-for-guests condition. More like We are going to have a party so that they can see all our mutual local friends. That means I need to get my part of the cleaning done over the next two weekends. Did I mention, I'm going to an aikido seminar with a 7th degree blackbelt from Japan? This weekend? At a dojo 90 minutes away? No? It looks to be a calm and relaxing next several weeks.

Hi! I'm NTB and my special talents are oversharing, bop-it extreme, and getting headphones really tangled in a very short time. Let's do an icebreaker! What are your special talents? And also, will you remember that I asked this by the time you get to the bottom of this post? I was planning a slightly different challenge for this month, but after my post-vacation struggles with food last challenge, I haven’t been feeling as aggressive. So. I read an article a few years ago that mentioned a culture where people consider anything that is too perfect to be an insult to the gods, because only gods can be perfect. I thought that was neat, and the idea stuck with me even though I remember literally nothing else about what I read. I’m not a perfectionist like some people around here, but I do get frustrated easily when I start to backslide. My only benchmark is myself, but I have had some pretty awesome challenges in the past, so there’s still a lot to live up to. Last challenge I tried to be a king, and that failed miserably. So I guess this challenge my goal is still to do pretty much all the same stuff as usual, but also to remember that not every week will be my best week, and that’s the way it should be. Goal 1: Food Goal 2: Maintain Fitness Workout 3x/week (usually two at-home bodyweight workouts and 1 bootcamp class) Run 1x/week - After the Spartan is over, I’m going to resume experimenting with sprinting. I also get points for remembering to do ankle alphabets before and after each run. Walk. My walking is usually really strong, but that’s suffered lately too. So instead of walking 16 miles/week this challenge, my goal is just to walk deliberately every day, even if it’s just a loop around the block. Goal 3: Movement Focus I don’t actually have any formal goals this time. This is just kind of a mishmash of things I want to do and might potentially get around to: Leading up to the Spartan: prioritize frequent yoga, excessive walking, miscellaneous burpees, and trying to climb stuff September: I’ve been daydreaming about trying out a GMB program for months now, so I am thinking of trying either their elements or flexibility program. I have 0 plans for integrating this into my current exercise schedule and complete #doallthethings rangerbrain about it. I would still like to haul the bike out and get riding, even if it’s just in the parking lot next door. Goal 4: Life Goal - Swimming This should be the easiest life goal ever. I’ve been wanting to take swim lessons for ages since I never learned to tread water. I don’t even have to sign up for anything yet. I just have to contact at least once place and get moving on this goal already. Bonus Goals: I get a bonus point for each week I accomplish one of these goals, but I cannot complete these goals at the expense of others: Meditate daily Yoga 4x/week Clean the sink 4x/week Go to bed around 10pm on Sunday nights

Greetings fellow Monks! As I wrote in the Rebels Introduction thread, I'm planning to continue my aikido practice after several months out of training. This time I hope to find a more balanced way... But the Dark Side is always there, so wish me luck, please ) The timing of this 4 Week Challenge is perfect for me, because the dojo reopens on the 23rd of August after the Summer holidays. So my 1st Challenge will consist of the following: Training: Attend 3 aikido classes a week (bonus points if I attend more) Nutrition: No buying alcohol (I really like good French wine... but I'd better use the cash for seminars and wellness-related things) Level up your Life: Begin working at about 8.30 a.m. (I work at home and I am a night owl, so my working/sleeping habits tend to get messed up) I'm intentionally keeping it very simple so as not to crash and burn as I have so often done in the past. Good luck to everyone else with their Challenges!

Hi everyone, And thank you for creating such a warm and welcoming place here (as far as I can tell, having been reading the forums for a couple of months). I am looking to change my approach to training and a bunch of other things in my life, and joining your community seems like the right thing to do at the moment. I have always been more of a lone wolf in my life (and a lurker on forums and such), but it seems to me now that walking the way together is actually much more fun, so to speak... I am rather anxious now, trying to step out of my comfort zone, but that's the whole point of it, anyway To cut a long story short, in June 2015 I passed my black belt test in aikido after about 5 years of training. I had spent a year and a half before the test attending 4-6 classes per week (sometimes it was 7 per week when there were seminars on week-ends). I enjoyed it immensely, but in fact, without me really noticing it - giving all my energy to this all-consuming passion for aikido - I left a whole lot of work-related issues unattended (I am a freelancer), which led to quite a disastrous professional situation later on (meaning that I REALLY slacked on marketing my services and hunting for gigs, and at one time found myself almost without work for several months in a row). It took me some time to recover from that, find new clients, etc (actually, still recovering, but it's much better already). I've been almost completely focused on work for a year since then, and my aikido training suffered a lot. I've been out of training for several months (coming to the dojo 2-3 times a month doesn't count as training for me). It's obvious for me that I have to find some kind of balance between work and training, but my all-or-nothing attitude really makes it much more difficult than it should be, I guess. So I hope to establish some kind of accountability here which should also help me to see things in a different perspective (well, if I attend aikido classes 3 times a week, it's definitely not 6 as I would like, but already much better than 0! LOL). I will also post in the 4 Week Challenge thread - Monks Guild, I guess? Or should I post in the Rebels Guild since it's my first 4 Week Challenge here? I am definitely a Monk though, and an aspiring Padawan returning to the Temple... I mean, to the Dojo. Thanks for reading, and if any of you have aikido-related questions that I can answer (given my humble level), I will be glad to be of service P.S. Sorry for my English, it's not my mother tongue. P.P.S. Oh, and by the way, I am currently living in Southern France.

Ayup. Not a damned clue. I suspect I'll just be rambling. Maybe crosspost my workout logs in here from my battle log. But since I got tossed into FUNemployment last week, my brain is just focused on surviving. For the moment, I made a few key decisions on how to tackle my current predicament. One, I still need to watch what I eat - my goal is to be below 200 pounds or 15% body fat by the time Camp rolls around. Totally doable. So eat well, work out. Goal is two workouts a day, barring either a heavy workout (read: Stairs) or holding back because of an injury-feeling thing. Two, I need to get some adulting out the way. Like getting my car inspected. You know. The car I've been saying get inspected for like, 8 challenges now. I also need to clean the apartment and prepare for a new roomie, and cleaning my room would be great. Three, the actual job hunting is going to be a bit more lax this time. I burnt myself out job hunting last time, looking/hunting for 10 hours a day most of the time. So I'm going to tackle it one search engine at a time. Exhaust them for things that look interesting, and then call it a day. My goal is to keep sanity moving. Not burn out. And maybe come out in a better, slightly more stable place than before. Oh, and get a bunch of aikido classes in. Or maybe the phone call I have scheduled on Friday is a job offer, and I don't even really need to worry about this stuff. Like I said. No idea what's going on. -------- Some Guidelines to follow for myself during the challenge: -Two physical activities per day -At least one productive Adulting task -Drink at least 4L of water during normal work hours, excluding water consumed during/immediately prior to working out -Eat ~1300 calories prior to aikido

First off.... Ha, word pun. Second of all.... How weird is this? An all (mostly) aikido-based challenge? What is this nonsense? Well, the reasoning goes like this. I have a lot of things I need/want to work on. I have a whole bunch of training I need to do, all for various things. I decided that most of the is going to go live in my Battle Log (which is apparently almost 2 years old. Whaaaat?) for the foreseeable future. It's lots of stuff I want to do regularly, but at the end of the day, it's really just extra fluff for me. I'd rather keep it semi-low key and then not be stressed about it. I have enough other things in life to stress about instead. So what is this challenge about? Mainly getting myself in the mindset to test relatively soon for first kyu. Ideally, that'll be in December. Realistically, I think I may have to test in April 2017. That said, I may, provided I'm close to the number of classes required and feel confident enough, I may dare to ask Sensei if I can test missing a few classes. Rule I'm setting for myself is that I'd have to have less than a month's worth of classes remaining. And actually feel comfortable with everything. And I have to run it by successive levels of senior people before I actually ask Sensei. That's the current State of Aikido address. For the Challenge, it's pretty straight forward. 1) Weapons practice once a week I'm really bad with weapons. Like. really bad, guys. I kind of know the long jo kata. I want to get the actual kumi-jo kata (both parts) organized in my brain. My bokken work is shoddy at best. So. Just grab a weapon and find someone who knows what's going on at least once a week. 2) Self Care Stretching every day + 1 day of solid mobility work. PLUS Get freaking insurance. I'm currently in the middle of a "Dear gods, knots EVERYWHERE" type thing. Which means it's been a few months and I started slacking on my mobility work and stretching. Lets try to fix this with say, 5 minutes of stretching right out of bed. I can do 5 minutes, right? And one day a week, do some major mobility work. I'm talking LaX balls, foam rollers, pain canes, car buffers. I'll probably be talking to my PT friend and he can give some suggestions, too. Also health insurance. I should probably get some. 3) 60 minutes of extra mat practice a week. What it says on the tin. Assuming 4 days of class a week, that's 15 minutes of extra practice after class. That's not a crazy amount, and I'm totally willing to count the weapon work in with this stuff to make it count. 4) Create a list of all tentative techniques to be performed on the exam So the exam for first kyu isn't dictated to you. You're just told to do 5 techniques out of every attack. The reality/safety is that you should have 10 techniques that can show up without much thought. I do, for the most part, have that. But I want a nice, organized list for these things so I can really start sitting down and polishing the crap out of them. Biggest things for this goal is I 1) need to describe any kokyunages (literally: Breath throw) so I know which one I'm talking about and 2) I really need to learn the specific names for the koshinages. Onwards and upwards then, right?