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See? It's topical. Sorry I'm late. As I like to say, I think of challenges as things that we do first and foremost, and I started the challenge but I never posted it. So here are the big goals for the year: I want to get my freaking apartment cleaned up finally. I want to lose a significant amount of weight, because I have a significant amount to lose. I want to graduate to pain free movement. I want to complete a draft of the novel and get it before some beta readers. I want to go to therapy. I want to start dating again. A lot of these goals are... in progress already. After asking @The Most Loathed and thinking about it some, I decided to download the Renaissance Periodization diet app. Not because I need someone to tell me what to do but because I think it's useful to have something to help me track general trends in weight and tell me, "Hey, this is looking good," or "Hey, this is looking not so good and maybe you should change some things." I started up a weight loss phase for myself officially on the 17th and so far I'm looking good. You wouldn't think having a line chart trending the proper direction would make a big difference, and maybe it doesn't make a big difference for most people, but it sure does help me. My training, in the meantime, is helping my knee feel better, and work got off my back enough for me to start making mat time again, which is heckin' dope. So, looking back at my goals, I'm kind of vibing with the cleaning goal the most. It feels appropriate to the season, and a bunch of stuff kind of started to happen to convince me that it's just time: found some apartment repair opportunities that I don't want to haggle with my landlord about and I'd rather do myself I'm meditating more lately and it's cleaning out my headspace something nice I got another calcium score for my heart and it looks like there's more calcium in there despite our best efforts. This is an early warning of potential coronary artery disease, and given my family history of heart attacks, it's only a matter of time. After talking it over with my primary care provider, we're looking at starting up EDTA IV treatment, which is something that's normally used for things like lead poisoning and the detoxification of other heavy metals. It's not guaranteed to do anything about my heart, but it's not contraindicated either and there's a chance it could do me some good. I'll be paying out of pocket for it, I think, but that's what my HSA is for and I'm always under budget on that thing anyway, so it's not like I can't afford it. I think. I guess we'll see. So, just a lot going on to make me feel like it's time, and with the onset of spring, I figure, what the hell? The goal is a riff on my standard thing. Normally it's been clear up one piece of trash or properly store one thing. The riff is, I'm going to double that - two pieces of trash or 2 things properly stored, or a combination thereof. Each of these is going to be from the 2 spaces in my apartment: one from my job space, and one from my personal space. I'm also going to spice this up with some rewards, too: I picked up a book on home repair and it includes some tool lists for some of the jobs I want to get done. Every week that I do 80% or better, I will reward myself with a trip to the hardware store to pick up a tool. By the end of these 5 weeks, I should have the tools I need to start on the repairs I want to do. Whether that starts or not at the end of those weeks is gonna depend on where and how I find myself, but that'll be a problem for future Kishi to solve when he's collected enough data and changed his circumstances enough to make an intelligent decision. As I said, I've been at this now for a bit and the stats are as follows: Goal: 2.5/4 That is not 80%! So, I'm going to have to pick up (harrrr) my pace a bit if I want to get what I need to get my work done. The week's been decent so far. I've been missed at the academy, which warmed my heart some to realize, and so this week I've been pushing myself to get my "Strength At Length" work done in the morning. It's worked the past couple days, but it didn't happen today, so tonight is strength/rehab and rest. I've been recommitting to home drilling too to keep myself honest and sharpen up a little bit. Today's been kind of shit show, enough to derail my training but not more or worse than I've complained about before here. And hey, it's a short week on account of Good Friday, so a 3-day weekend will be nice. Only bad part is, they're gonna hold me to a full week's worth of productivity without a full week to do the work. That's never fun. But that's par for the course, and I did manage to solve some significant problems today. So that's good news. This is fine. Yup. Nothing to see here, folks. Just keep on moving. Fire cleanses, after all.

Honestly, I didn't plan this, it just kind of happened on its own. Hello! I'm Kishi, sometime GL of the Monks and newly itinerant wanderer. Nice to meet you. I've wandered into the Assassin's Den because I'm trying to learn how to play with movement, and I hear y'all the best around for that kind of thing. Specifically: I am learning myself how to juggle. Why? Because I want to. And also because it's got a lot of benefits that should in theory carry over to martial arts. My situation is thus: I have settled down at a local academy that teaches both BJJ and kickboxing; it bills itself as a Muay Thai school but it is, in fact, Dutch-style kickboxing, which means less knees and elbows and more long combinations whilst standing in the pocket. I enjoy it very much. It's a new set of challenges, and coming from my background it's a lot to adjust to. But there's a problem: we have a space that is too small for the amount of students that we have. So we can't actually spar, which means that as much as we drill and drill and drill, it's actually really hard to develop the skills I need to develop myself further. Since I can't get what I need at school, I'm on my own. And my belief is that the attributes required to juggle - hand-eye coordination, mental processing, relaxation, fluidity of motion, etc. - will have carryover to my main thing. It's no replacement for sparring or anything like that, but perhaps when the time comes I will find that I'm a little sharper than I thought. And worst case, I'll have some fun along the way. As far as goals go, I'm more of a process guy. Ideally, I'd like to pick up a three ball cascade: But I don't have a deadline for it. The journey will get me there when it does. The real trick is showing up. So my goals will be as follows: Goal 1: Juggle 10 Minutes A Day Most likely to be done as two five minute sessions at different times of day. Half credit for one session, full credit for both. Goal 2: Shadowbox Mostly with the idea of staying up on the balls of my feet and keeping my pelvis scooped so that I have tension in my stomach. This is opposed to my Shotokan upbringing, which is big on these long, fencing-style lunges. They can work together. But they won't if I don't put in the work to make them. Goal 3: Grappling To be broken up again between standing work and ground drills. Half credit for one, full credit for both. Goal 4: Clean 1 thing per day So, I've had an issue with my place which is that I have entirely too much stuff. I don't like it. I don't like the lack of space and I don't like how it makes this place feel. I want to be rid of as much of it as I can. In the past, I've tried to go through an entire box of stuff, but that turned out to be too much. Gonna try again with this and see about getting rid of just one thing per day, with the idea being hopefully to finally start clearing some space out. Rewards Because I find that I like them, especially those things that help me get better at what I want to do. 80%: Juggling Balls. I decided to start with tennis balls. That was... a choice. By showing up to practice, I will unlock tools that will make the whole thing easier. That'd be dope. 90%: New Rashguard. Something like this. I like the design, and I could use more. But definitely make sure it's white, because it's a signifier of rank, and I'm crazy, but not stupid enough to show a rank I haven't obtained. I'd get beat up for that. 95%: Djembe Drum. Another thing that would help my martial arts and also make me a more expressive human being. Drumming is a good way to study rhythm, which is better than speed. Depending on how much space I clear out, there's a whole range of options to choose from. Nothing too fancy, though. I'm not looking to master it. I just want to play. And... yeah. That'll do it. I'll make my round to everyone as I can. See y'all when I do!

vs Was debating in-between Avatar Last Airbender or Winx Fate themed... Fairies are winning for now, in the end this is the Realm of the Rebellion... I can come up with my own world of combination of both. For this challenge its the whole forming habits, while taking the medicine I've been told to take for a while.... Some background, this is my first Fall of not only being out of school but with a full time job (supposedly graduated idk where my degree is though). I'm still living at home with my mom and official stepdad (they just married) where we are finishing the move by Halloween (exactly 4 years from when we moved into the apartment). I work as Security, and for once don't feel overwhelmed (or incompetent) but seeing it as a place to settle for a year (unless I like security). Last few challenges even if I wasn't here I found if I just meditated daily or listened to a chanting music video. I was doing better, wasn't getting energy tied up in areas that don't match my life. So what would happen if I got started on most of the list? Mind/Spirit (aka Grounding)-- Everything in life seems to fall in place when I take this seriously. Sometimes tough stuff, but these are key factors -Listen to chanting music for first 30 mins in bed -Meditate or Qigong for 5 mins -Bed by midnight (if O/T bedtime within an hour) Nutrition -- Following a Naturopath's advice, and seeing strengths for eating from home. -Follow Naturopath Diet Guidelines with "no 2 in a row being the goal" (50% of the time avoid flour and sugar foods) -Follow Med Supplement Plan when I get them -Eat only from home at work Fairy Tower -- (Konmari in a smaller goal, as I pick up the mess I make daily and try to find new habits. While moving more stuff from my old apartment). -Do some picking up/putting away/declutter around my room All of these are daily goals 🌱 I will be tracking daily on weekly counters, and get the percentage each week. 🎃- Mean I hit it 👻 - didn't hit the mark. If I hit 50% good results on all these goals, I will have $100 to spend for fun at the end of the challenge. If not, it goes straight to student loans... One thing I did in 2021, have a good budget and know I can have this easily by the end of this challenge (and a too long wish list to spend). If I do hit 90% or higher... I will double the winnings. Above will have saved me enough money/time to give a 6 week reward! Also! One more mini challenge: 👻 🎃"Not-so-Halloween Mini Challenge"🎃👻 So we're moving, but things are being taken care of. Only biggies is getting certain paperwork changed like addresses and Insurance. I've been dragging my feet. So I'm putting $60 on the line to help myself! I get this right away, if I don't finish goals by Halloween (which I have listed somewhere). I will not get the money because I have to cover other fees. So I'm busy... but may have more time on the forums because I may get bored at work Edit: Update to focus on major goals 10/31

Oh look, I'm doing this thing during 0-week. Most excellent! It's almost like my life is falling into some semblance of order. Almost. Y'all what been around a while should know that it never lasts. The big thing that's causing me to change is that I'm dealing with some ongoing gluteal pain that's responding to stretches and home treatment, which is why I'm not going in for PT just yet. It's mostly okay, but there have been some times where it's got to be a bit much. Like, on my recent drive to Gatlinburg, I basically spent 5.5 hours sitting in the car and it got pretty painful, to the point that it actually impacted my mobility until I was able to stretch out some. Also, I'm a little dissatisfied with my current training regimen. For those just tuning in, I've been using Pavel's strength-endurance program The Quick and the Dead for my base and been doing that 3 times a week. For the other four days of the week, I've been rolling 4D20 and scheduling random work and rest days based on the results. Work days have morphed to mean the GMB vitamin program (15 minutes) plus another thing, generally skipping rope or Turkish Get Ups. There are some other minor add-ons based on my specific situation, but even so, everything's done rather remarkably fast and I'm glad. Believe it or not, I actually really like this way of doing things. I think my prior drive to "work every day" was based on old programming principles or else were based in some unaddressed insecurities that I've been working to meet and manage, and I feel like compliance is super-easy and I'm totally not burnt out. But it's not perfect. My dice, it turns out, are very generous to me, and I tend to roll a lot of rest days. (oh no, what a nightmare. 🙄) And based on both recommendations and prior experience, I tend to give skipping rope priority, because if I'm only getting one work day a week, it feels right to give it there. What that's working out to is less time with TGUs. And why does that matter? Well, in the short term, TGUs are to grappling what skipping rope is to striking: a kind of fundamental full body movement with a ton of carryover and benefit to the sport. I don't want to leave that benefit on the table. In the long term, I'm going to want to get strong in TGUs because one day I'm going to want to try to build some muscle with kettlebells and pretty much every source I can find on the matter aims for low reps and heavy weight. Enter the Kettlebell, the Ur-program in such matters, requires a 32kg swing and a 32kg TGU before allowing adherents to begin. What's a boy to do? Well, I feel like the answer to this problem lies in this program here, which I've referenced before. You might notice that he combines Quick and the Dead (QD) with another program, Simple and Sinister (SS), which is a swing-TGU focused program. His setup involves two SS sessions and one QD session per week of training. I think there's something to this for me, so that's what I'm gonna do. As to the other 4 days of the week? Well, there's GMB like I said, which at this point is mostly about movement quality and skipping rope. I did, however, buy their recovery programs, and I feel like I could be using those rest days to actually dig into recovery work and also work on flexibility and stretching. So. Enough navel-gazing. Let's get to the brass tacks. Goal 1: Training Seems appropriate to make a training goal again since I'm switching things around. Also, I have come pretty close to some compliance issues recently, and I want to smooth that out if I can. Goal 2: Meditation This was a struggle last time. I got toward getting better at it, but I really feel like I do better with a meditation habit, and I want to cement this in place. So. We will remain at 8 minutes this time. Goal 3: Clean Goal remains because I've still got a serious lack of floor space and a serious surplus of dirty surfaces. I'm getting better at both, but that's breeding some complacency, and I know me too well to let myself off the hook on this just yet. The prior arrangement of cleaning and moving a box per week (as a boss) worked good. No reason to mess with it now, beyond expanding what surfaces I clean. And that's that. Should be good.

Is challenge time, yes? Very well, then. So this looks like another clean up challenge, and I've not done those very well in the past, so it's worth asking why I came back to this. I would answer that things are different this time and that I've got more investment in cleaning things up. After completing the GMB Elements program, I got into Vitamin because I wanted to focus more on bodily control versus some of the other stuff. Vitamin is best understood, really, as a 'intro to tumbling' course. I like it a lot. But it requires a lot of room, and a lot of my space is taken up with useless objects that have really been needing to be disposed of for a while now. In order to facilitate this, I'm allowing myself a reward if I get the thing done: a double-end bag. Astute observers will note that this is not the double-end bag I linked to last time I mentioned anything about this; the reason is that I found a local outfitter who does this kind of thing. I've bought from them in the past. They have good-quality product and I like to keep the money local if/when I can. Only catch is, a double-end bag requires a lot of space to work because of the way it bounces and moves, and I'm going to need room to move around it, so. The only way the reward makes sense is if I complete the challenge, but it's also something that I want. So... yeah. So, I'm going to have to clean things up. But there's more to cleanliness than just the physical thing itself. There's also cleanliness in sleep and cleanliness of mind, among other things, and these are things I need to work on too. The set-up, then, is as follows: 1) One Box Of Stuff A Week Exactly what it says on the tin. I think I could probably do more than this - and I may have to, even - but I want to make compliance as clear and as simple as I can. In service to this, there's a sub-goal - keep my kitchen sink clear of dishes. I can do this on the daily, and have been for about a week or so, and I'm surprised at the itch it builds to actually get things done. I say, as I do absolutely nothing else. 2) Bedtime by 01:00 This is a longer-term goal. With 1/2 vaccinations done for me and with my loved ones being vaccinated or else exposed to the point that they're apathetic, I'm going to be able to return to the mats in a meaningful way sooner rather than later. I'm going to be returning to the MMA place I was going to before. They've changed their schedule somewhat and they're allowing for no-gi grappling in addition to the gi stuff and the striking stuff. Only catch is, it's early - like, 18:00 as opposed to 19:00 or 19:30. I don't get out of work now until 18:00, and I won't be able to do anything about that for a while yet. But, I can get to bed earlier, and I can get used to being up earlier too. Worst case, I just get some extra sleep. 3) Meditate 6 Minutes A Night 5 minutes was dope. 6 will be doper. And, that should do it. I'll log training here as well, because why not? I've been keeping up with the Apple A Day kettlebell program, and in order to keep my sanity, I've allowed myself to start rolling a D8 to figure if I'm doing 1 or 2-arm swings that day. My longer-term approach is to eventually work in kettlebell snatches and Dan John's Armor Building Complex, but the hold-up right now is that I haven't got the point in Simple and Sinister where I'm doing TGUs with the 8-kg bell yet. That's the neat thing about Simple and Sinister - you get a good base of GPP and also get good at the fundamentals of kettlebells, so it can be used to limit yourself to stuff you can actually reasonably handle. This is something I need help with too. And, uh. Yeah. I think that should actually do it. In life news, I'm looking at trying to do the work of building a Tenant's Union around here after my landlord decided to get rid of my (admittedly shitty) neighbor under sketchy pretenses. Because she doesn't deserve that, and also, it's a gatdang pandemic. Should be interesting.

Suddenly the machine was wobbling... In a few hours the shops out there were expecting deliveries, and they weren't going to arrive. The government couldn't sit this one out. A city like Ankh-Morpork was only two meals away from chaos at the best of times. Every day, maybe a hundred cows died for Ankh-Morpork. So did a flock of sheep and a herd of pigs and the gods alone knew how many ducks, chickens and geese. Flour? He'd heard it was eighty tons, and about the same amount of potatoes and maybe twenty tons of herring. He didn't particularly want to know this kind of thing, but once you started having to sort out the everlasting traffic problem these were facts that got handed to you. Every day, forty thousand eggs were laid for the city. Every day, hundreds, thousands of carts and boats and barges converged on the city with fish and honey and oysters and olives and eels and lobsters. And then think of the horses dragging this stuff, and the windmills... and the wool coming in, too, every day, the cloth, the tobacco, the spices, the ore, the timber, the cheese, the coal, the fat, the tallow, the hay, EVERY DAMN DAY. And that was now. Back home, the city was twice as big. Against the dark screen of night, Vimes had a vision of Ankh-Morpork. It wasn't a city, it was a process, a weight on the world that distorted the land for hundreds of miles around. People who'd never see it in their whole life nevertheless spent their life working for it. Thousands and thousands of green acres were part of it, forests were part of it. It drew in and consumed... ...and gave back the dung from its pens and the soot from its chimneys, and steel, and saucepans, and all the tools by which its food was made. And also clothes, and fashions and ideas and interesting vices, songs and knowledge and something which, if looked at in the right light, was called civilization. That's what civilization meant. It meant the city. Was anyone else out there thinking about this? Was anyone important thinking about this? Suddenly the machine was wobbling, but Winder and his cronies didn't think about the machine, they thought about money. Meat and drink came from servants. They happened. Vetinari, Vimes realized, thought about this sort of thing all the time. The Ankh-Morpork back home was twice as big and four times as vulnerable. He wouldn't have let something like this happen. Little wheels must spin so that the machine can turn, he'd say. But now, in the dark, it all spun on Vimes. If the man breaks down, it all breaks down, he thought. The whole machine breaks down. And it goes on breaking down. And it breaks down the people. Terry Pratchett, Night Watch My machine is wobbling, and little wheels must spin so that the machine can turn. Right now, it all spins on me. If I break down, it all breaks down.

SYRRAN: [My name is] Arev. T'POL: That means 'desert wind'. SYRRAN: Does it. Why are you here? ARCHER: We could ask you the same thing. SYRRAN: I follow the path of Surak in meditation and study. Challenge goals: Walk Meditate Study Bonus: Do logical things when there is emotional resistance. Challenge Tasks Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Walk Meditate Study Cleaning Meditation Intermittent Fasting Logic Over Emotion (stretch goal) Yoga (stretch goal) Mindful Sleep Don't Forget Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat Sun Meds Mail Monday ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ Trash Tuesday ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ Wash (clothes) Wednesday ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ Food Friday ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖ ✖

This challenge was rudely interrupted by a pandemic last year. However, now that we're settling into our post-apocalyptic plaguescape for the long haul, it is yet again time. This challenge, I will endeavour to become the Disc's second greatest lover. "My name's Casanunda," he said. "I'm reputed to be the world's greatest lover. What do you think?" Nanny Ogg looked him up and down or, at least, down and further down. "You're a dwarf," she said. "Size isn't important." This challenge, I'm working my way up the rankings of the world's lovers by leveling up my international playdwarf lifestyle. (Or, as a previous challenge put it, do things with elegance. Strangely, despite years of aikido and years of urban myths about people being told to do things elegantly, I had to re-derive the principle in another way before I realized this was not about aesthetics but about managing to combine mindfulness with emptying the mind.) Some of these may seem like odd choices for a fitness/life level-up (like increasing alcohol consumption, and, I dunno, taking life advice from the worst possible people), but there are three factors at play here: first, this challenge needs to be fun, cuz this us what we do instead of vacations in plague years; second, it's addressing recovery from a certain amount (which is to say, lots) of cutting corners on self-care in the broader day to day living sense and getting by on "acceptable"; and three, it's addressing the (narrative) causality between good habits and seemingly unrelated projects and lifestyle choices. Or, as Vetinari would have it, all the little wheels must spin so the machine can turn. And this is a timely challenge. I've really been struggling with self-care lately. Part I: Casanunda Training There are two first steps to becoming the world's greatest lover: First, yoga warmups with lots of hip openers, for obvious reasons, and, second, get into bed as often as possible. (For sleep, of course. I don't know what you're thinking.) If I'm going to be a soldier of fortune, I need to work on mental stillness and physical prowess. Walking and strength training, to start with, and some meditation. Tasks to be checked off: rewatch Casanova and take notes. Part II: Be a Better Lover Than Lord Rust "It was a Guild of Assassins, after all. Black was what you wore. The night was black and so were you. And black had such style, and an Assassin without style, everyone agreed, was just a highly paid arrogant thug." While Assassin-School-trained, Lord Ronald Rust did not particularly benefit from the lessons on style. So I think I can outdo him here on the things that make an Assassin an Assassin. The projects I will do here include repairing and replacing bits of my wardrobe with a focus on rotating in my higher quality clothes, leveling up my daily grooming from ultra-practical to something attempting a little actual style, and more aperitifs-and-tapas. This will also involve getting back in the habit of making actual things with recipes and planning and cultural connotations, rather than just going with the fastest and most basic form of slapping nutrition onto the table, and managing my pantry better. Also, getting back to my macros and IF schedule. Part III: Be a Better Lover Than Rufus Drumknott "I believe he collects different types of stationery," said Vetinari. "I have sometimes speculated that he might change his life for the better should he meet a young lady willing to dress up as a manila envelope." All this lifestyle-leveling-up requires a certain amount of organization and schedule-wrangling. Being the world's second greatest is demanding. And for me, leveling up the bachelor pad is going to center on organizing: not just finding the right place for everything, but finding the right use for everything, and the most efficient way to organize it all. Where the Lord Rust half of this focuses on making everything I own beautiful, the Drumknott portion involves making it all useful, and also includes recycling things I don't use into things I do. Things will fit into the storage I already have, be more organized, and work better. Also, the habits I use to clean and organise it will be streamlined.

Sooo holiday vacation was MUCH needed. I mentioned in a previous thread if unplugging from responsibility for most of the break didn't reset my brain I would pull in a pro but it seems to have been the reset I needed despite the Roof Issue (which has been dealt with). This month's challenge is going to be around cleaning up, both literally and figuratively. Splitting into 3 areas: 1. Cleaning up and crafting my habitat So if I don't have ADHD, I at least have a lot of ADHD traits. My sister got diagnosed because she was more classic ADHDer in that she struggled in school - for me everything was chalked up to one part micropreemie and one part gifted kids are weird. One of the ways my symptoms manifest is in a huge difficulty maintaining my space. That tends to be a bad feedback loop for me so I am once again looking for a system that will let me actually keep my space clean. But first things first: I need to dig out of my mess, which I started today with a 6-hour power cleaning of my kitchen (and my partner, who has similar issues with me around keeping things tidy for different reasons helped with power decluttering of a couple other rooms). That's the focus of this challenge: get my space sanitary and down to a functional level of clutter. 2. Clean up my eating habits. Last fall when my mental health started to slide I let my eating go and it's showing on the scale. Lost all my progress since I hurt my back. So healthy food and keeping healthy food on hand and keeping junk food to Sunday game day only. 3. Clean up my Kata and training. Because I am carrying more weight my Kata are affected because my balance and size are different. I need to tidy up my technique.

Want to Play a Game? Who's in? This has helped me get things done in the past; so I thought I'd introduce others to it. There are various games & different time limits. I'm on the east coast USA; but am willing to "call" games for other time zones even if I've finished my tasks for the day.

FIX'ER UP This is a follow on from last time where I went to the Moon through House Flipper the game. Well, I'm back on Earth, but instead of fixing houses in the game, I'll be starting to fix things around our own place. Seeing that it is now winter and all, the season for fixing. So I'll be fixin' myself up, as well as fixin' the house up. Same formula with a little tweak here and there: Bible study every day Weighing/Measurements (preferably on a Sunday/Monday morning) Cleaning (the house): floors, dusting, wiping, washing... Fixing: I actually have June-July-August for this Clean windows; Wash curtains (I did a lot of curtains about end of last year, only had front rooms left to do); Fix dining room table (Brandt) - I have to sand and re-varnish, etc. Varnish front door frame, and other wood surfaces as needed; Paint security gates properly (I painted the rusty spots a month or so back); Paint garage door; Replace window putty around glass, and repaint (two weeks later after putty dried); Sleep: In bed by 21h45. Exercise: At least twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday, or as possible) Jump Rope 30x Walking Lunges (10x15m) Pushups 10x Tire Rope Pull 10x15m~ Russian Twist w. tire 10x Sit-Twist Stretch Tire weight is 7.7kg

Seriously, just realised now (4 May) is International Star Wars Day May the fourth be with you! (A trying to be funny tall tale, made up on the fly. Don't think too much if you read it, just go with the flow...) ... ... Moving to the Moon (This is the house I bought on the Moon in the House Flipper game) I have to work out a new routine for my responsibilities, old and new: My usual To Do's: Bible study/Pray/Quiet time; [every day] Weight (and measurements when I remember) (there is artificial gravity, I don't need extra weight ); [Monday weigh] Sleep (before 21h45, preferably 21h30); [every night] Cleaning (No vacuuming when Brandt has to talk online with colleagues - we have more of an idea of their schedule now) [vacuum Sunday - dust Monday]. New Moon Duties: Shooting (dry fire practice for security) [Monday] Chosen workout (modified from Darebee's Chosen One workout) [Tuesday] SpaceLann workout (modified from Darebee's Spaceman, and Lannister workouts) [Thursday] Gardening/DIY [Friday and Saturday] Chosen Workout (modified to suite me better): Jumping Jacks 10x High Knees Twist 10x Reverse Lunges 4x (each leg) Side-to-Side Lunges 2x (each leg) Side Leg Raises 5x (each leg) Reverse Lunges 4x (each leg) Calf Raises 4x Plank Rotations 4x (each side) Mountain Climbers 10x (each leg) (put foot down in front, no foot touch) Sit-Twist stretch Butterfly stretch Butterfly fold over stretch Rest 2min. after this set, before continuing on with the 2nd set. SpaceLann Workout (modified to suite me better): Jumping Jacks 10x High Knees Twist 10x Wide hands Push ups 5x Diamond hands Push ups 5x Shoulder taps (no push ups) 5x (each side) Jumping Jacks 10x Side-to-Side chops 10x (each arm) Straight Punches 10x Standing Band Row 10x Sit-Twist stretch On Knees in ball hold (5 count) Superman hold (5 count) Rest 2min. after this set, before continuing on with the 2nd set. Dry Fire Training (Shooting): Unholster/Holster firearm (f.a.) Practice Israeli grip and point Magazine load, unload from f.a. Garden/DIY: We are still not allowed to buy any DIY things if we are not a registered builder, plumber or electrician with a valid permit. We don't have a lot of things left to do DIY with (paint, varnish, seal...) but we'll go on with what we can. My main focus will be in the garden, pulling out weeds, cutting back, mowing (last month before winter). Things in that line. Welcome to my Moon Base!

Mozzies aren't on Lockdown Yes, I know, they are insects and don't know better. Just like the monkeys in our back garden, they are wild animals and don't know about lock down. Just like some petty thieves in the area - they don't understand (or adhering to) lock down. I'm not going to say much about Corona. I think all has been said, that could have been said by now. I'm trying to find the lighter side of the situation. So I'm sitting on my stoep, enjoying sundown with a steaming cup of coffee, minding my own business, and this reckless, arrogant mosquito zooms around my head! The gal of it! Doesn't he know about lock down? A couple slaps later I realised that I have instigated a rebellion, because a horde of mozzies joined their first comrade, and were having a feast. Me. I realised then it was time for Ms ElvinFoxRyder to come out of retirement (or an impromptu holiday of sorts) again, to face these mozzies down! There is always something to be thankful for! ----------00---------- Here are the ways I'm going to try to outmaneuver the squadrons moving in. Move! Don't be an easy target. BW exercises two maybe three times a week. Walking (inside our property), OR Mowing the lawn. Cleaning: Don't leave them any space to lay eggs in any watery areas. Clean the house, clean out any watery depths (even as shallow as the dogs' water bowls), laundry... you get the gist. All together five days a week. Sleep: Keep up the energy levels to continue the good fight. Go to bed between 21h30-21h45. Weightloss: Make a smaller target, less sweet blood. Not so appetizing. Weigh and measure on a Monday. I've already lost 10kg+ since November. Trying to reach under 90kg this challenge! 👀 Count the Gifts: Stay positive! I'm literally taking a (calendar) page out of the book A Thousand Gifts, and trying to find 3 things they ask for every day. Since the world-wide Corona lock down has brought our emigration plans to a halt (temporarily), I need to find and stay positive with the situation. Not just point out the negative that happen. So nevermind the mozzies, nevermind the criminals, nevermind the government, I'll try to find three things every day to rejoice in, or be thankful for, or just notice. To be continued...

Hi All, I'm back for the 2019 Holiday Challenge and I'm wanting to go back to the basics: walking, snacking, sugar & cleaning. Nutrition Quests Limit the amount of sugary products per day – I will get the hang of this sugar beast at some point… Baked goods (biscuits & cakes) = No more than the size of my palm or Loose goods (chocolates & lollies) = No more than half the size of my palm or Packaged goods (ice cream & chocolate bars) = No more than one package size Slow down after work snacking – I have a morning and afternoon snack at work but also find myself hungry or fake hungry out of habit when I get home but I usually end up eating something way too big to be classed as a snack and this would definitely be helping me not lose weight and actually gain it. Don’t eat anything that doesn’t fit into one of my Tupperware snack cups or Don’t eat anything that doesn’t fit onto a single rice cake Fitness Quests Walking – I was walking in the mornings but it’s now too warm and it was only a short walk, but I used to do some real walking daily back in my early 20’s and miss the amount I used to walk. Walk to the dog park after work while my dogs get taken their by car, I’m not sure but the walk may take 20 minutes max or less I want to work up to walking 5 days a week there and back but start with 3 days a week one way Level Up Your Life Quests Daily Cleaning – I have really let go here and when you have two dogs one of which malts it’s required, I also don’t want to waste my weekends cleaning either so I think if I do a little every day than that will work. 10 minutes per day minimum Check my (Habitica) app for my list of daily to do’s Check (Flylady) website’s Flight Plan and Daily Focus for more daily to do’s

Clean desk! Clean desk!

Elize, Elvin Broom Ryder Elize and her trusty fox left the Misty Mountain training lodge for their first assignment: Stop Evil C.Roach from getting the three factions (Antzies, Dusti-Mites, and Fleashies) to work together, to overpower and eventually rule The World. She wasn't sure exactly how this would work, as she would have to venture into the world of the Minimoys. They were a minuscule, African tribe, barely 3mm tall, whereas she was a normal human of 1.74m! During this assignment she would also be responsible for two Minimoys Warriors in Training, called Adamus, and Roccodemus. Elize sighed and looked over the dry, dusty winter landscape. The path she was shown to take out of Misty Mountain Training Lodge, was into new territory. She had only a short distance to travel with Foxy, before she (once again) had to leave him behind, set forth into the mini-world, and start saving the world, one step into the dirty underworld, at a time. --------------00-------------- Elize couldn't believe she was twirling around a wet mop as weapon. The emperor of the Minimoys had quickly found out that the Magic Dust that covered the critters, protected them against normal metal weapons. Made their hides impenetrable. It was however susceptible to water. That was why she was carrying a mop, and other protectors following in the tunnels, were carrying all kinds of cleaning equipment, from feather dusters, to brooms, and wet cloths. Unfortunately the Magic Dust also gave the wearer the power to multiply exponentially as soon as they stepped foot above ground. They had to stop and wash off every single particle of dust from each critter. "The other warriors have the rebels surrounded in Evil C. Roach's hide out!" Adamus whispered urgently to Elize. "He is giving them the "We shall conquer and overcome!" speech," added Roccodemus in just as quiet a voice, jogging next to her, trying to keep up. Elize nodded in acknowledgement of the information and gave quiet hand signals to her brothers in arms behind her. Although the critters were still small, they each had their own natural defenses that had to be faced. Dusti-Mites had a bite that left you with red, itchy welts all over your body. The Red-Antzies were an off shoot of fire ants and therefore a pinch with their mandibles didn't just remove your body part, but also made it feel as if hot coals were burning into your skin, wherever they touched you. Fleashies? They could jump, and kick worse than an ostrich. One kick hitting you square on a bone could easily break it in half! No, it wasn't going to be an easy fight at all. From left to right: Roccodemus, Adamus, and Elize (in Minimoy-form) The protectors crept quietly into the hideout, but stayed hidden in deep shadows on the outer rim. This hideout, although aired via small ducts, were still dank, not much better than the tunnels they had come through, but the dampness was in their favour. It made the magic dust less effective. On Elize's signal the protectors stepped forward as one, drawing the attention of Evil C and every rebel in that hole. A cacophony of shouts erupted that nearly burst her eardrums, but the only outward sign she gave was to start twirling her mop round and round in her hand. The protectors to her sides stepped clear, making space, and planted their feet securely. Minimoy warriors stepped back and lit candles in cornices, then fell in beside the protectors they were assigned to, wet cloths at the ready. The plan: the protectors catch and hold the critters, the warriors wipe the magic dust off the outside shell, without anyone being bitten or injured, if at all possible. The great white beasts would refill water buckets as well as the plant gel water that numb limbs. With a high pitched screech a Dusti-Mite stormed Elize. It was about knee height, with an almost translucent body, which helped it to blend in with its surroundings if it stood still. Dim light reflected off its body to blind her momentarily. Elize cocked her head picking up sounds, hearing the footfalls, focusing on the movement around her, the way it created a swirl of motion in the air. She twirled her mop like she did her favourite bo staff. The Dusti-Mite's head was sunken into its body, with just its two mandibles sticking out in front, ready to pinch a piece of skin. The business end of the mop hit it squire in the beak between the mandibles, and forced the critter to a grinding stop. It tried to pull the mop hair out of its mouth, disgusted by the taste, but couldn't get any grip. Instead its mandibles got stuck in the filaments and it became ever more anxious. An icy cold sticky drop of gel water dripped on its back, slowly sliding down the body, down each leg, effectively immobilising the dust mite, as it numbed the limbs. More water splotched onto him as the warriors hurriedly wiped the critter down with soggy rags. The mop was pulled from its face but just as quickly brought down on the top of its body, forcing its underside down into the drop of water that had pooled underneath. Two great beasts slowly dawdled closer, grabbed the Dusti-Mite and carried it out. "Eek! You'll pay for this, Elf!" it screeched loudly while trying to spit the last of the disgusting woolly filaments out of its mouth. Elize's one eyebrow raised a little bit before she turned to meet the next critter full on. The first one forgotten already. Again her mop twirled around, again, and again, another critter immobilised, more magic dust washed off. Big pack beasts carried the immobilised creatures out of the hall, straight to holding cells, giving the protectors and their respective warriors more space to fight and clean up any magic dust they could find. Hurtling over ants, sliding underneath mites, kicking the legs of a Fleashie out from underneath itself. On and on Elize fought, side by side with her protector colleagues. As she slowly stretched herself to her full height, she faced off with Evil C.Roach himself. He was the last critter standing in the hideout, grinning like the Joker from ear to ear. What ace did he have up his sleeve, she wondered before slowly starting to circle him. She had a long thin rag in her one hand. The mop long since been bitten in half by another critter. The rag looked very similar to a lasso, except there was more material, and it was sopping wet. With slow careful movements she started twirling it in small circles above her head. Drops glinted in the firelight, flying every which way. Faster she spun it still, until she reached her ideal pace, all the while also circling Evil C. He on the other hand, was monologue-ing! Telling them all just how ingenious his plan really was, and that they would never find his hidden stash of magic dust. Evil C. Roach Quietly the other protectors started moving in, closing the circle like a noose around his neck. Then in a blindingly fast move Elize let go of the lasso-rag. It almost whistled as it flew through the air, and settled high around Evil C's shoulders. His one useless shell of an arm hang limply by his side, but his other hand had cruel, sharp claws, which he had no trouble using to try and cut the rag, or scratch and infect protectors. With a sharp whistle as signal to the protectors, Elize advanced with a second lasso, and as Evil C angrily high stepped to take a jumping start in her direction, she threw the next lasso and it caught his legs, bringing him down like a rock. One protector secured the first lasso around Evil C's arms, while another used the lasso and trailing material to immobolise his legs. Some Minimoy warriors stood closer but preferred to use long handled mops to wash him clean of magic dust. No one wanted to be a victim to those poisonous claws. A huge sigh of relief filled the hideout from almost every soul in there. Then excited babbling and slaps of congratulations filled the air. The danger had been averted, although they still had to find the hidden stash of magic dust. But that was a job for another day. --------------00--------------

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.

Goals: Fitness: Workout 3x a week using the Startbodyweight Routine Health: Drink 2 liters of water everyday & 1 apple and ~100 grams of strawberries every day. Hobby: 100% Rayman Origins & start with 100% Darksiders Warmastered. Social: update atleast every 2-3 days here on the forums and comment on 1-2 other challenges. Skill: Practice Juggling & German language So last challenge i made a decent start with getting back into shape. Above are a few stuff i want to do during this challenge. Lets explain a bit more about the goals: Fitness: at the end of the last challenge i started again with SBR (StartBodyweight Routine) and i want to continue it in this one. Get that difficulty in again. Health: I want to drink more water, most days i barely drank any fluids or it was some soda/energy drinks. I want to eat more fruit, so an apple during work and the strawberries with breakfast or as a snack. Hobby: Started last month with Rayman Origins and got far but didnt have a moment specific to play it. I'm gonna play it on 1 day for a few hours at a time where i know i have time and wont be distracted. After Rayman is done i'm gonna start with Darksiders Warmastered. Social: Last challenge i didnt update a lot and i think this also made it hard to keep track of my goals. And because i didnt focus on my own i didnt comment/support others with their goals. So this time id'm gonna update my own a bit more and support other more. Skill: havent practiced a skill in a long time. I have a few juggling balls and i want to practice juggling again because its fun and kewl to do. German language is one that i'm on/off constantly, but i want to get good with it because my brother lives in Germany and if i come to him i want to be able to speak with his german friends/colleagues and not having him to translate. My father has a whole college book on how to practice German and hopefully i can borrow this from him. Oke, those are my goals and i'm gonna do "more" my best to do all of it.

Hey All, I'm back. Last challenge went well, I didn't hit everything I wanted to, but life is a process. Big Picture *Current Weight: 240lbs *Goal Weight: 175lbs swinging for the fences here, I haven't seen this since high school 16 years ago *Short Term Goal: Weigh 235lbs by the end of the challenge. Adulting: *Two items from Flylady's detail cleaning per day *One more thing that is adultish here Movement: *Simple and Sinister 5 times a week *Fighter Pullup Program 5 times a week Eating: *Practice 16/8 Intermittent Fasting 5 out of 7 days *Track food using MyFitnessPal

I’ve been hit or miss with challenges lately. Mostly it’s getting online to update and just being too lazy to turn on my computer or feeling overwhelmed with updates. I need to get over that. This challenge I’m going a little more complicated but nowhere as complicated as I have in the past. I want to work on a lot of stuff and since I’ll be starting another new job halfway through the challenge I figured I’d really stress myself out. I need to find a good way to deal with stress anyways so I’m going to force myself to get it together. No Duh! routines (Points per each subcategory = 5 for all, 3 for some, 0 for none) MORNING : 5 mins stretching, brush teeth, hair, makeup, get dressed AFTERNOON: NF check-in, cleaning, workout, Bujo EVENING: clean face, brush teeth, get an outfit ready What’s your Damage? (Points per each subcategory = 5 for all, 3 for some, 0 for none) DAILY: Straighten Bed, Put away dishes, clean off counters/tables WEEKLY: Vacuum, Trash, Bathroom, Laundry, Sheets (bi-weekly) MONTHLY: Clean out Fridge, Microwave, Wipe baseboards, Scrub tub and toilets Grindage! WEEKDAYS: Paleo M-THUR except for special occasions, 2 coffees WEEKENDS: Try for Paleo except for special occasions Toooh-tally bitchin’ budget (5 points for the initial budget, 5 for sticking to the budget for the whole week, 3 for sticking to some, 0 for none) Create a budget and stick to it. Pay down debts. Bodacious bod exercise plan (5 points per exercise) 8 days of exercise for at least 20 mins

I'm rewatching through Boy Meets World right now (thanks Hulu) and I decided to make my theme this challenge based on my very first original TV spirit animal - Topanga Lawrence! There are so many reasons I love her but I think the above two quotes pretty much say it all. If I have a moment of non-motivation during this challenge I'll just ask myself What Would Topanga Do? Be a badass independent woman and do what needs to be done, that's what. Prologue My first love is powerlifting, and have recently-ish started getting back into trying to lift heavy instead of just for maintenance. I'm still living the Stronglifts life right now but will probably be looking to graduate to an intermediate program before the end of the year. I also have semi-seriously been getting into ballroom dancing since December 2017 and it's kind of taken over my life. I love it. I'll be doing my first competition on my own (ie not with the formation team I'm on which I've done one competition with earlier this year) the end of the first week of this challenge doing a waltz to Hedwigs Theme. I recently did a huge decluttering of my apartment and am trying to settle on a good method of keeping-it-that-way. Last challenge I tried small daily tasks, I don't think it worked for me, so this challenge I'll be focusing on a new approach to this. I am really also into mobility (ROMWOD and Unbreakable Feet are my two go-tos, I've been dabbling in GMB's Focused Flexibility program) and fit that in where I can. I am a sufferer of Rangerbrain and earlier this year had to declutter my goals in order to focus on a smaller amount of things more seriously. I'm thinking of maybeeee trying to squeeze one of those things back in maybe before the end of the year? Things I wish I could do but just don't have time for and had to cut out but have potential to bring back: yoga, OCRs, rucking, boxing, rowing. Honestly I've got my eyeball on boxing but we shall see. It may make an appearance this challenge. It may not. I also volunteer for HRC and it takes up a lot of my non-work time. I've got meetings every week if not twice a week with them and then have to actually do the thing aside from that. Between that and dance my calendar is pretty much always full. I like it that way though. Goals 1) Lifty Lift Lift Strength Train 3x/week Self explanatory methinks. 2) Dancey Dance Dance Practice outside of dance class/lessons 1x/week I'm going to go to dance class and take lessons regardless of this challenge. I literally rearrange my social calendar so as to not miss classes sometimes so I'm in no way worried about that. I think the next step in upping my game is practicing things I'm struggling with at home. I'm not going to go too hard on this, I just want to get a feel for what it would entail. So 15 or more minutes once a week is all I'm shooting for for right now. That's enough time to practice one figure or something a few times. Or run a routine a few times. 3) Cleanity Clean Clean Comprehensive maintenance cleaning 1 day a week. No more daily tasks, do all of them in a few hour block once a week, for now scheduled for Friday but I think it might switch between Fridays and Sundays depending on the week. Reward I think I want to get a pair of practice dance shoes. I don't really neeeeeeed them, I have a pair of latin (strappy sandal-y) and a pair of smooth (closed toe and bendy) shoes but for days when I'm doing a few classes in a row and my feet hurt, or for salsa and hustle where I don't really want to be wearing either my latin or smooth shoes and feel weird when I do... I would really like to have a plain practice pair. So if I 100% this challenge I will get them - which sounds like a lot but I'm really only asking myself to do 2 things a week (ie goals 2 & 3, lifting is in my habit now so it's not something extra I'm doing but I'd like to keep track of it here), one of which is a 15 minute thing... so 100% is reasonable. I'll probably get black but like, there are also some crazy ones that I really like. I almost certainly won't get them, but look how cool they are: There are also ones with lips all over them hahah. Not sure if I'd absolutely love wearing them or regret it instantly. Anyway, that's my challenge. Here we go!

HAPPY ZERO WEEK! Once again I was considering not doing a challenge. I'm not 100% sure on why I've been meh on the challenge front, but I think it has something to do with being over/underwhelmed in that - treading water - kinda way. I appreciate those of you who have reached out to check on me, wondering why I'm not rocking zero week like we all know I love to do. ZERO WEEK!!!!!! ZEROOOOH WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK But I digress. I really do have some things I need to do. I think I'm a tad overwhelmed with the tasks ahead of me, and lethargy and laziness have been settling on my shoulders. I seem to be on the same field trip to Six Flags as @Taddea Zhaan with the rollercoaster highs and lows with everything going on... One week I'm up with a ton of DO THE THINGS energy, the next I'm feeling desperate to recover. SO. I need to break things down a bit. I find that once things get going, the tasks aren't nearly as enormously insurmountable as they first seemed. CLEAN THE FUCKING HOUSE Not like, sweep or dust. CLEAN OUT THE FUCKING HOUSE AND GET READY/MOTIVATED TO MOVE. Here is the spoiler/painful version of everything that needs to get done that will absolutely take more than a month to do. MAAAAAAN seeing that all in one place! No wonder I'm overwhelmed. Getting this biz done means breaking it into small bites. This challenge I will create a list of small, bite size tasks that chip away at this megalith that's been weighing me down. I will attack with gusto, at least 2 items on that list every week. I like the idea of working on the list for a few minutes every morning as a way to seize control of the day. I will try this in the beginning and see how it is. COACH STUFF Next up. 20 Seconds in spoiler cause dayum. TLDR: connect with Coach Lauree, move forward as appropriate. TOUCH HANDS In workout news, I did my thing until evil tooth came out, then I rested like a good girl. Then I got back to work and sort of was super blah and uninspired by it until I touched hands (kung fu stuff) with a willing coworker/lifter bro. After a short session I hit the weight room with great focus and energy and verve, all the things! It was a great workout and I really enjoyed it, and touching hands kicked it off. I'm going to strive to touch hands with someone once a week for this challenge. This may be a little challenging, but I think I can make it happen with at least coworkers. ONE AND DONE Contact the finance guy and the realtor I was recently referred to. This requires getting Mr Red involved. Involve Mr Red. Make him do whatever he has to do to get things started. Do it. This is so easy. Just. Fucking. Do. It. SELFIES Lastly, I've been having some body image pushback. One selfie set per week. Bonus points for vlogs. (Remember when I used to do vlogs???) You got it. - we're doing a selfie challenge! And by we I mean me. Unless you want to join me? It's a great practice for anyone struggling with body image issues, truly, my first time was eye opening! I HEREBY CHALLENGE YOU TO POST EMPOWERING SELFIES ON YOUR CHALLENGE!!! 1 REDSTONE POINT PER SELFIE Just like, tag me on it and I'll keep track somehow. Cause I just decided I will. So anyhoo... in the spirit of Zero week...

I have a few short points to make before I dive into what I will be attempting to do this challenge. I have several bad habits that I need to break because they are breaking me I have no support net at home or in my local group of friends I refuse to let other people in my life manipulate me into doing shitty things that I don't want to do I refuse to sugar coat my problems I refuse to sugar coat other people's problems I will be channeling my inner Villain and pulling a @Teros this challenge Now! On to the bad habits I have held on to that are on the chopping block of life this challenge Smoking Frivolous spending Neglecting the cleanliness of my home Eating like a jackass Not getting regularly scheduled sleep Smoking This is just a bad plan all around, it is in no way beneficial to me, it makes me and my clothes smell terrible and inhibits my sense of smell and taste. I'm a social smoker and it does nothing for me other than give me a small thing I can do with a very small set of people that we can do together for 3-5 minutes at a time here and there. I can just go outside with my smoker friends and hang out without having a smoke myself. So I'm finishing off the pack I have and just calling it a day. I will not accept a smoke from my well meaning but manipulative friends and I will not spend money on smokes for other people (my girl-friend and my room mate specifically) Now I will guess that a few of you will be thinking "Well why not just throw them out now and start faster?" There's a selfish reason: I already spent the money on them so I'm going to enjoy them until they are gone. Frivolous Spending I work 42+ hours a week for a low, but decent wage. My monthly expenses are way less than my monthly income and yet I always seem to be a bit broke and I have nearly nothing in savings for fun things (vacation, new computer) or emergencies (vet bills, replacement glasses, medical crap) So I'm giving myself a small budget for pointless spending, paying my bills as soon as I get them, and not waiting until their due date, and then when my next pay comes in, 2/3 of my remaining pay is going into savings and the other 1/3 is going to paying off a debt I have. I'm thinking that $20 for pointless food spending (Iced Coffee with my assistant manager/bestie) each week is reasonable. $20 feels like a sensible amount of money since it gives me $4/day for iced coffee which is what my preferred size/drink costs. I'm also not going to be purchasing cosmetics, accessories, clothing or permanent physical objects this challenge unless they are actually required. Exceptions are things like: replacement work clothing, hair ties (the god damned cats LOVE them), work/gym shoes (I have damaged my feet and will potentially need new footwear to correct the issue) Neglecting My Housework I live in a small 2 bed room apartment with three other adults humans, as well as 3 cats. Today I took two HUGE Ikea bags full of recycling out to the dumpsters that were full of drink containers, cat food tins, take out boxes, and shitty boxed food containers (sugar cereal, pop-tarts, KD etc) and that all had been in my kitchen for longer than I can honestly remember. I also swept the floors and got something like 3 cups of debris off the kitchen and hall floors (general dirt, cat hair, kitty litter, bits of random small trash, cat food etc) and I still need to vacuum tomorrow (my sinuses can't handle any more dust being kicked up today) and We're not going to talk about the state of the bathroom and the fridge. I cannot neglect to clean out the kitty litter and leave it all to my room mate Jordan. They are NOT his cats, they are NOT his responsibility and as nice as it is that he will clean the box, he shouldn't have to unless I'm out of town or something. I know that I am one of four adults who are responsible for the mess in this place but I feel like I'm the only one who really cares so I'm just going to take care of it. I'm sick of asking them to clean up, I'm sick of them not cleaning up their mess and I'm just going to get that shit handled. Although I swear to the gods, if my sister bags up trash and leaves it in the kitchen again I'm putting it right smack in the middle of her bedroom floor and telling her to throw out her own fucking trash. She is a grown ass woman and she's fully capable of walking down the fucking hallways and throwing out her personal bedroom trash. I don't care if she doesn't want to get out of her pjays and put on a bra. Jordan is NOT responsible for keeping her fucking room clean. So yeah, you'll likely never see this oh roomie mine but guess what? Clean up your own fucking mess. But back to me again... check and clean the kitty litter daily sweep the hall and kitchen floors daily vacuum weekly clean the bathroom weekly take out the recycling as soon as the bin is full do the dishes daily Eating like a jackass I snack on cookies and diet pepsi all day at work 5 days a week. I routinely get take out food when there is perfectly good cookable food at home that I have already spent money on. I'm keeping this simple, and just saying I will not eat any more cookies at work. I will drink 2 glasses of water for each glass of diet pepsi when I am at work. I will eat food I've already bought 5/7 days a week. Heck, I'll post stupid food photos on here to prove it. I suck at sleeping Bed time is 10 pm the night before any work day and 1 am on any other day unless previously agreed upon social events run late. Bonus Task I'm going to pick one container each week and purge all the useless shit it contains that I forgot I owned, don't use, don't really want or need. That colouring book someone I live with gave me for Christmas that I will never use? Recycling bin. CDs that I will never listen to again. They're toast! My ever growing yarn pile that I will never, ever get through? Tossed. The shoes my room mate has bought that cause her feet to bleed that she refuses to throw out. Opps! Sorry... one of the cats puked all over them so I threw them out... (obvious lies, but they're just taking up space and in our tiny, TINY home. Exceptions: objects that belonged to my Dad that hold strong sentimental value. Containers = book shelves, dresser, storage bins, cabinets Not going to burn it or anything, but I will likely take pictures of the before and after of the spaces and possibly the piles of stuff I'm purging from my home and my life. Wish me luck Nerds. Also fair warning. I am not going to censor myself for anyone on here and I will likely rant quite a bit because it's cathartic and it will hopefully keep me accountable to anyone who cares to follow me this time around.

Hello friends. This challenge I am focussing on some goals which are a little more Druid than Ranger. Given that I have friends here and am used to the Ranger way, I hope that I am still welcome despite that… I am focusing on building my mental armor, backing myself and keeping myself safe. Affirmations, to reinforce my brain, “I am a strong and resilient person. I am a good worker. Toxicity will not change who I am”. Freggies, medicine, and vitamins reinforce my body and will keep me strong and healthy. Yoga will keep me flexible as well as giving me time outside if the weather is nice. My habitat impacts my mental health directly, as such I will spend ten minutes a day following the UFYH suggestions, I will also water my plants every day, I need more green in my life. Weekly I will do my readings for my management class to ensure I maintain my distinction average. Twice within the challenge I will be paid, and I will continue to pay down our debts, if I can squeeze out some extra cash from can collection etc I will roll it through to extra debt reduction. Summary of Goals: Daily: - Affirmation - 5 a day freggies -Meditation or yoga 5mins (outside if possible) - UFYH 10mins - Water the plants - Medicine and vitamins Weekly or one-offs: - Pay down debt (2 paydays in challenge, bonus from cans/other cash influx) - MGMT969 readings on Sunday Let' s do dis.

My goals are geared toward preparing for my introvert hiking adventure in June! I am super stoked for the trip. I'm hoping it will be rejuvenating and that I might learn a thing or two about myself. Last challenge my physical goals were: Move your feet, Endurance, and Strength. I did great on moving daily, pretty good on endurance, and pretty lack luster on strength. I feel that everything needs a bit more work to really settle into habit. Because they went well last time I combined daily movement and endurance into one maintenance task. Strength got it's own task because I really struggled with it. Physical Health: 1. Maintain progress made in last challenge Move your feet - get up an move daily (walk, hike, ruck, run, etc). Endurance 2 times a week - run/walk or ruck 2. Strength train 2 times a week - weights, body weight, core, or ruck. 3. Make it out for a hike at least twice during the challenge. Somewhere other than the little local nature preserve. Life Goal: A Cleaner House - do a 5 minute clean up daily before bed. Set a timer for five minutes and clean/tidy up. If I'm traveling I can clean/tidy up my luggage, hotel room, or car. If I'm sick in bed I can throw my pile of tissues away or something. I'm considering making this a 100 day project. On Going Projects not part of this challenge: Daily Fiddle Practice: This is a 100 day project - the goal is 100 straight days. Read 24 books in 2018: Only two completed so far Introvert Adventure Planning