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Prologue: Who is this Guy? So, hello everybody! I'm not a person who normally posts on a board, but I'm also not a person who normally sticks to his fitness plans long enough to see results. Therefore, time to change. My name is Scrum and Villainy (Scrum for short). It's my Derby name from roller derby, where I am the Head Non-Skating Official for a top 20 WFTDA league and I also help out with the nation's number 2 MRDA league. My basic job is making sure all the stats are gathered during a bout. I am what they call a Derby Nerd. That being said, I'm a life long nerd. My older brother had me into TT RPGs before I can remember (D&D, then TMNT, then onward). I started LARPing when I was 14 in what would later become the Camarilla. I have played M:TG at tournaments, WoW for the first 3 years starting with beta, Starcraft in a Korean PC Bang, and my first computer game love (Ultima IV) I played on a Commodore 64. I am a fan of Lovecraftian Horror, semi-classic sci-fi (Ender's Game is my favorite book of all time), board games (History of the World will always have my heart), turn based strategy, statistical analysis, critical jurisprudence.. you get the picture. I'm a nerd. A little over five years ago my life sort of fell apart. I lost my job, my relationship, and went through my savings. It took me over four years to find work I could survive on, and by that time I was a host of bad habits, bad self-esteem, and bad health. There were days I didn't know where I would sleep or what I would eat, so when I got back to working I started eating all of my paychecks. I paid rent, but most of my money went into eating out, drinking with friends, treating the people who had treated me. My weight (which had yoyod over the previous years) has settled down higher than I care. My clothing, which hasn't been supplemented in years, is a little tighter than I was comfortable with and becoming thread bare. In short, I am still lost. For years I've wanted to be healthier. I have done little changes in my diet for a bit, maybe go to the gym regularly for a couple weeks, and then I drop off. There are excuses, good excuses, for why. Aren't there always? In truth, I've been in bad need of getting my head screwed on straight. For the first time in my life the majority of the people I interact with are in pretty damn good shape. They drink, party, eat burgers, a couple even smoke (luckily one bad habit I never picked up). They are real people. But for most of them most of the time they are the healthiest people I've ever met. And what more, they'd like me to be. They keep asking, "So Scrum.. when are you going to come skate?" I usually say its as soon as I get skates, but the truth is I know I'm in no shape for it, but how long will I let that excuse go on? Behind this are those deeper goals. I’d like to be a father, and I would rather have positive healthy habits established before having children. I’d like to live a long life with my friends and my hobbies to enjoy this world. And, of course, I’d like to look good naked and possibly even in a costume. Main Quest: The Taming of Ouroboros Ouroboros, the Dragon Who Consumes His Own Tail, protected Ra during his trip through the underworld, and is a symbol that out of every death is a birth, and every retreat is a return. My quest is to tame this (conceptual) beast, marking my own return. The wyrm stands also as a reference to the circular nature of the roller derby flat track. I will know I have achieved this goal when I get certified for contact by my local derby league. Chapter One: Take One Level in Badass (Accepting the Call to Adventure) Quest A: Ubiquitous Capture (Wisdom) If I'm going to make it to my goals I'm going to have to be wise as to how I work. I like numbers (in case you couldn't guess), and I know I'll have to gather them all if I want to feel in control of this. To this point I will take body measurements weekly (on Sunday), a front and side photo (again on Sunday), and I will keep a daily record of what I eat, how I work out, and my daily bank account balance. This quest is about control. Metric: My weekly grade will depend on how well I keep track of my metrics. As with all task, there will be a maximum of 100 points achieved each week, earned in the following manner. Weekly measurements: 25 points, minus 5 for each day late. Photos: 25 points, minus 5 for each day late. Daily Record of Food: 35 points, minus 2 for missing a meal, 5 for missing a day. Exercise Log: 10 points, minus 3 for any day missed (minimum 0). Finance Log: 5 points if done every day, 0 if a day is missed. Quest B: 100 Push Ups (Strength) To be successful in derby you have to be strong. One man on the local men’s team embodies this – Neil Death Experience. I’ve seen this man knock another down with a flick of his shoulder, or ‘assist’ one blocker by jettisoning him towards an opposing jammer to knock them out. He’s a beast. I am a long way from being a beast. So I will start with the 100 push up challenge. Tomorrow (Saturday, August 3rd) I will perform my calibration test. Metric: My weekly grade will depend on how well I stick to the schedule laid out in the 100 push up challenge. There will be 100 points to be earned for doing every day the challenge asks for, reduced proportionately for each day missed. I will post the schedule at the beginning of each week. Should I not be ready to move up a level at the end of the week, 10 points lost. Quest C: Zombie 5K (Constitution) From paying attention to the stats in derby I have noticed something. The team that wins is the one that holds it together the longest, as measured by endurance. If I want to be successful at this sport I have to stop being winded by a 60 second run. Therefore I will engage in the Zombie 5K training to train up my endurance. Metric: Like Quest B, my weekly grade will depend on how well I stick to the schedule laid out by the Zombie 5k training. There will be 100 points to be earned for doing every day the challenge asks for, reduced proportionately for each day missed. I will post the schedule at the beginning of each week. Should I not be ready to move up a level at the end of the week, 10 points lost. Sidequest: Conquering My Own Personal Tribble (Intelligence) As I mentioned above, I have had a tendency to eat all of my pay check lately. To combat this I will work on planning my meals (which should help with Quest A) and eating out less. Metric: 50 points each week for planning out my meals and buying the needed groceries. The other 50 points are earned based on the number of times I ate out that week: 1/week – 50 points, 2/week – 40 points, 3/week 20 points, 4/week 10 points, more than 4/week – 0 points. Drinks out with friends count as eating out, while a meal out while on a business trip does no. This weird curve accepts that I am likely (for socializing) to be called on to eat out once or twice during a week, but I should really try to keep it under control. Grade Score GoldA 90+ 15B 80- 10C 70- 5D 60- 1E 0- 0 Loot As a gamer I respond well to treasure, so I decided to incorporate this in my quest. There are two types of treasure in this chapter of the quest – store items and quest items. Store items are things I want to pick up – sometimes they will make me more effective at one of my quests (equipment), sometimes they will help me out otherwise (miscellaneous magic), and sometimes they are vanity items (customization). This is what I spend my quest reward gold on. Not wanting to be overly clever, or to over spend, I am currently translating each gold into a dollar. Items which are most definitely in the store are new running shoes (equipment), a good cookbook (miscellaneous magic), and a new bowtie (customization). I hope that anyone out there who follows this will help me with advice on what sort of items the store should be stocking. After all, we all love to look through the magic item lists! Quest items are those things needed for Derby. We might consider this a gear set, and they will include Pads, a Helmet, and (of course) Skates. Through the next weeks I will put together a A, B, C tier set (A being the best, and again I would love input and help) and, at the end of the 6 week challenge, should I get a C or better average, I will pick up the appropriate level set. And so it begins… I know I got this on here a little late (but still in the first week). The challenges for me will begin on Sunday of this week and move forward. I hope you have as much fun following this as I hope to have posting about. Motivations toughen up to play with friends longevity to love life longer habits to be a good role model look great naked