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TALVI's NINTH CHALLENGE: On the wild track! Time for a shiny new challenge and a shiny new game! Ark survival is a game that has just been released for early access. To be honest, I don't know much about the game yet. But I do know that the idea is to survive and thrive on an island covered in dinosaurs. Particularly excited about taming velociraptors and riding enormous alligators around, and the game may have infiltrated my challenge theme. I should probably introduce myself: I'm Talvi and and these challenges have really helped me enjoy fitness particularly with my first push-up, starting and improving in climbing, my first 5km, my first 10km and recently my first chin-up and pull-up. I've also used these challenges to improve my Spanish and to learn some programming. At the moment, I'm playing Ark survival and whilst I am a long-time DOTA player, I'm trying some LoL and HotS on the side. So let's get down to business. I want to develop six skills which will coincidentally help me to survive on a dinosaur-filled island of doom: 1) Dinosaur! Argh, just keep running... Whilst I'm not convinced I can outrun many dinosaurs, running will certainly be more useful than standing still. Unless there is a T-Rex… But we'll cross that bridge should I ever come to it. To train myself, I want to try running twice a week (approx. 4 runs) in preparation for a 15km race in the gardens of Versaille on the 21st June. It is only two weeks away, so I just need to practice being comfortable running that distance again. Not too bothered about running for the duration of the challenge, but it would be nice to run a couple of times in the last 4 weeks. Also I need to get a certificate from a doctor before hand - I must remember to do that! 2) This isn't working, try escaping vertically... Should the running not shake off any velociraptors, my plan B is to climb to safety. I could escape by trees, boulders or mountains! But I will train mainly on boulders. I want to practice bouldering once or twice a week with the goal of playing with blue routes (the next level up) each session until I can actually do one. 3) Flight isn't working, so what about fight? To be honest, I'm not sure how I'd approach fighting a dinosaur. So far in Ark Survival, I have punched a pterodactyl and it killed me. I'm going to assume that in this survival scenario, that strength will be pretty important. I did my first chin-up a couple of days ago (I was so very surprised) and literally just did my first pull-up an hour ago! 5 pull-ups in a row is on my epic quest list for 2015, so I am going to work towards that by trying different bodyweight workouts, tailored exercises or pull-up bar play. Whatever takes my fancy on the day as long as some practice gets done each week. 4) It's a UNIX system, I know this! I don't know about you, but I'm not going to be eaten just because I didn't know my way around a computer. Plus, there is definitely some tech in Ark Survival since there are some mysterious towers in the distance. I'm made some progress in past challenges in learning Python, but this time my overarching goal is to finish the Edx MIT course 6.00.1x "Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python". 5) Cuidado, hay un dinosaurio! In this game, you can get teammates by joining tribes and then working together to survive longer and make more epic things. Makes sense. Expect that the boyfriend's tribe are all Spanish. The plan here to use my HP audiobooks, Anki apps, online grammar practice, Spanish book lessons and speaking practice to improve. 6) Dear reader, if you have found this diary then... Now this is the MOST IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE of the challenge: to write down what I have done towards this challenge EVERYDAY (+/- 2 days). There is nothing really new in this challenge, so I know that I can do these quests if I give them the time they deserve. Writing down what I do everyday has been really helpful in past challenges: it makes me more accountable and makes me review each day in the context of my goals. Overall challenge set-up: To level up in the challenge, I will only have to complete my 6th quest aka. post everyday about the challenge. STAT points will be allocated depending on the successes in the other 5 goals. Ideal allocation: 1. Running 5+ times: + 3 STA 2. Climbing: 11+ times: + 2 DEX & + 1 STR 3. 5 x pull-ups: + 2 STR & +1 DEX 4. Completed the first 6 weeks of programming course: + 3 WIS 5. Acceptable progress in Spanish: + 3 CHA Thanks for reading and I'll see you guys on the forums. Good luck with your challenge!