Search the Community

Kuros, through passed down stories that have become nothing more than legend, is known to most as the "Knight Warrior of the Books of Excalibur," but few would know it upon meeting this unassuming hero. Less bulky warrior and more agile ranger, with a mind sharper than any blade (except Brightsword, of course), Kuros is a servant of light, far more humble than the picture this old keeper of lore will paint for you. Always cloaked and seldom seen, it would be easy to mistake him for an assassin (a poor one at that if he is indeed seen), or a scout. Alas, this is not the case. Jack of all trades, but a master of none, except maybe stillness of mind. The sum total of his attributes is what makes him a force to be reckoned with. Any obstacle or any foe can be conquered, and the only limiting factor is his force of will. With the proper application of blade and bow, mind and manners, Kuros can equally well disarm both the hound of Hades or the daughter of Zeus. Ironically though, given his tremendous capability and power to sway the forces of evil, Kuros has not been seen for many years, and as we approach our darkest hour, the world needs all the heroes she can get. Whispers on the wind have become widespread rumor, and these tell of a broken husk of a man that was once humankind’s staunchest advocate. It is said that he has withdrawn from the world, grieving for a loved one who has passed from this life. If Kuros happens to be reading this right now, know this. This world is merely a doorway to the next life. You will see your beloved again, but not yet… not yet. Take heart. There are many more beautiful lives to preserve and the darkness is ever encroaching. The bell has been rung and the hour is now. The time to reforge ourselves into something new, something stronger, is here. I call upon all the hesitant and all the eager heroes of the world. Our world is at your mercy. Will you not answer her call? Hello everyone and sorry for the over the top RPGing. I had serious fun with that. I'm really looking forward to this experience. Such a cool site and idea. Anyways, my real name is Mike, I'm 27 years old and I'm looking to get fitter than ever. How fit? Like Gimli and Legolas had a baby and that kid grew up in the wild raised by wolves and surrounded by orcs level of fit. I like to do a little bit of everything to be honest with you. Traditional strength routines, cross-fit style circuits, sprint workouts, distance running, and climbing. If anyone's in the Idaho Falls area (just about to move out there from Virginia), let me know if you're looking for a workout partner. Also, that list is by no means exhaustive. I also like to snowboard, play ultimate frisbee and competitive online video gaming. My xbox live gamertag is Terra Unu if anyone wants to add me. Right now I play Overwatch and Left 4 Dead 2 (yes I know it's old) mainly, but I also occasionally get on Battlefield 4, Halo 5, Destiny, Diablo III, Titanfall 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops III. My favorite games of all time are Rygar, Wizards and Warriors, Donkey Kong 64, Goldeneye, Nightfire, Halo, Left 4 Dead, Jak and Daxter, Champions of Norrath, Fusion Frenzy, World of Warcraft, Counter Strike and the original Star Wars Battlefront games. This last part I'll end up posting in a more appropriate section of the forums, but I thought since I'm introducing myself, I might as well introduce another idea that I think would be great for the site (or terrible, not sure yet). What do you guys and gals think about all our character profiles and quests being accessible via a facebook-like network? I personally think it would be cool to check out and gain inspiration from other people's profiles and keep in touch with one another via a facebook-like interface, but in the style and format of this site with this specific community. Or should I just shut up and go use facebook? Ha, anyways thanks for reading and rebel on. Mike (AKA, Kuros) https://www.nerdfitness.com/character/191847

Hi all. So I sprained my knee (grade 1 MCL sprain) last week doing some sight-seeing while on a work trip in Europe. Basically I tripped on a thing and my foot/ankle went one way and my knee went the other as I fell awkwardly and my MCL was what gave. The good news is that it's a very mild knee sprain as far as knee sprains go. The bad news is that I have to stay off my feet as much as possible for 2 weeks and then phase stuff in "as pain allows". I am very bad at "as pain allows". My pattern, when I'm injured, is either do nothing* or "tough it out" by out-stubborning anything that can be out-stubborned and get reinjured. I don't really do moderation well. Sometimes I'll alternate the two and overdo it one day and then do nothing the next. Regardless, this is a bad pattern, and I know it's bad. Both for recovery and for general fitness. So I am looking for advice on what I can do (without swimming - my asthma reacts to chlorine which means I can't swim at any of the pools in town except for the Y which is outrageously expensive) to keep up my activity level in a region where the roads are still ice-covered (which rules out biking - I am not skilled enough a cyclist to be able to ride safely in wintery conditions) and avoid losing too much ground on the fitness front while my knee heals - and for advice, especially from runners, on how to phase activity back in on a knee sprain seeing as how I'd signed up for a 10K at the end of May and I'd like to try to still make it if possible. I know I can prep for a 5K in a month so if needed I'll drop to the 5K, but I was hoping to keep the 10K but I dunno if that's reasonable (see above about out-stubborning anything that can be out-stubborned.** My default approach to injury setbacks is barrel through and hurt myself. I'm trying not to reinjure myself this time). *I'm a Maritimer and a base brat and so I had a less polite phrase here on my first draft - OT but how much cursing is acceptable here? I'm ok with self-censoring but I just am curious if I should do. **I ran my first 10K last fall on three hours of sleep and a raging asthma attack which had me at 65% of my normal lung capacity. My time was terrible and I damn near landed myself in the ER and it was a very bad idea to even try, but I finished. I am not kidding about outstubborning anything that can possibly be out-stubborned. I need someone to metaphorically smack my hand and tell me no when I have a bad idea like running a 10K in the middle of a moderate asthma attack. Or doing my shodan grading with a lung infection instead of waiting a year. Or I could go on.

Hello, It's kind of funny how I wanted to write a post here so i could get help and suggestions and now I've been sitting here for about 10 minutes trying to figure out how to start this lol. Probably should start with some basic information I'm 25 currently and I weigh around 115kg and have a bad back due to a fall in 2013 and naturally the weight also wouldn't be helping my back. I generally have discs shift out of place around the T5 section so middle of my back, I generally have a disc in my neck move out of place and generally either twice my hip bone or a disc in my lower back comes out of place so every month I'm at the chiropractor to have it put back in place and then most the pain goes away. I can exercise I just cant do things like sit-ups or crunches etc so no bending my back in that way and no like dead lifts though i can do squats with light weight. I've always found exercise hard, daunting and frankly it hurts. I've been trying to loose weight my own way for well honestly the majority of my life and its clearly not working. I tried seeing a weight loss clinic which proceed with telling me what to eat and when and i was eating around 10 meals a day and constantly drinking and well I felt the worse I've ever felt and it was like i was stuffed and bloated all the time... Tried this for 2 months and nothing seemed to be happening besides me feeling quiet ill so i left. I changed my diet and it seems rather good to me, i generally have 1-2 bottles of water a day 500ml generally. I have maybe 1 glass of soda stream a day which was changed from regular softdrinks. Ive stopped drinking juice, I rarely have a hot chocolate and I don't drink coffee often. Food wise I pretty much toast or cereal in the morning, cereal is normally nutrigrain, milo or cheerios. Lunch is generally a cold meat sandwich or a cold meat with salad sandwich and dinner normally always has a salad or veggies with it. I'm also taking the Healthy Care Ultra Strength Garcinia Combogia pills, Healthy Care Green Coffee Bean pills and 2 table spoons of Apple Cider Vinegar in water 30 min before dinner to help boost my metabolism and well reduce fat intake. Take-away foods is maybe once a month if myself and my partner have had a long day and really cant be bothered cooking or cleaning. Currently routine with exercise is.. 30 min DDR so a dance game I have for fun 45min walk with my partner and my brothers dog Digger Jumping rope x100 10 squats Abtronic 3 times a day on a low setting mostly to massage and move my muscles figure it feels good and hell if it does something good then cool. Just ordered a waist belt to wear as i do the above to heighten my core temperature apparently it helps. I'm also unemployed currently and money is pretty tight. Equipment I do own are... Treadmill which is used if i cant go on my 45 min walk due to rain or heat. Ankle and Wrist weights A weighted 2kg ball Skipping Rope My living environment makes things hard with support. My partner is great and we have a little room out the back of my mothers place which gives us privacy but things like the kitchen, bathroom, laundry etc are shared so daily when you enter the house you can smell the take out my brother has just bought, the fridge is full of softdrink which we don't drink as its not ours but the point is there's alot of temptation.. Exercise is limited to my room generally unless people actually have gone out and i can use the backyard feeling without being teased by family. My family are pretty negative and blunt and will put you down without knowing there doing it, even when you point it out its basically taken as well I'm just telling the truth kind of thing. Tough love i suppose. I have the want and desire to lose weight, I have a goal, smaller goals and a time frame. I even have a vision board of what i want to remind me everyday. Tried Hypnosis too for weightloss and self motivation so kind of not sure what to do now besides what i'm already doing which is why I joined nerd fitness it seems difference and being a frequent player of WoW the quest idea kind of hooked me in lol. Well I think Ive ranted enough and hopefully someone might have a suggestion, advice, exercise routine that can help or something I'm not thinking of. Thank you

As we last saw Red, He was hit by a poisoned arrow... *Cough* "What are you doing?" Red asks, lying on the bed. "You were hit with an arrow containing a virus, it's not life-threatening, but you can't do anything until you rid yourself of it." Baron answered, "What I'm going to do is help you." Baron runs back and forth gathering ingredients and putting them into a pot to boil, "Here drink this." Red takes a big gulp, "BLECH!! That's terrible!" "Yeah, I know, but it'll help. Drink more." Hesitantly, Red gulps down another rancid drink. "How long does this illness last?" Red asks lying in bed. "Well, that depends on you. The more you push yourself, the more energy you'll take away from fighting off this illness and the longer you'll be sick." "Great -_-;;" So there you have it folks. My challenge this time will be to move as little as possible and reserve all of my energy fighting off this disease. Drink this - I have to make sure I consume as much fluids as possible! No soda, nothing that can hinder my health, So that means LOTS of water, tea, and Theraflu Don't Move - Only until I'm better. I have to take my time with work (which requires me moving around all over the place) and when I'm not at work, I'm going to park my butt on my bed and stay still. Things I still have to do - I had plans on meeting with the Financial Aid Counselor, but instead, I'm just going to email her, hopefully, this can resolve that business. And at the current moment, I can't think of anything else on this list, so I'll resolve them as they come back to memory.

So, not gonna lie, 2016 was not my year. I had a lot of health problems and I was recovering from the worst depressive episode I've had in almost 15 years. I still have my struggles, but I feel like I'm finally getting a handle on things. My tight budget and getting kicked off my food stamps has forced me to do a lot more cooking at home, so I continue to slowly lose weight. And I'm starting up the habit of using my kettlebell I bought last year to do swings and TGUs in my room in the morning. Beyond that, I'm putting some real steam into my performing career now. I've settled on a decent niche for myself as a thinking nerd's performer, couching my demonstrations heavily in real science and a humanist perspective. This is partly done by making my focus this year on muscle reading. Between that and the expanded ghost tours, I may be able to finally pick myself up out of dire financial straits this year.

I sit at my desk surrounded by the remnants of the first binge of this year. Chinese food boxes and bags, forks, crumbs from a package of Combos, wrappers of food I stole from my roommate while she was asleep. My stomach hurts so bad that I consider skipping my afternoon class, but I know I won't actually skip it; if I did, I'd be confronted with the idea that eating this way is actually affecting my life. But I look around at the mess on my desk and I can already see that truth plainly. I look to the left at my familiar appearance in the mirror: tousled brown hair, green eyes behind big brown frames, headphones and an oversize teeshirt. I look the same as I did before I ate this food, but I know I'm not. I know I have ruined a month of success. I know I need to change. This is my first ever 4 week challenge on the forums. I'm hitting the metaphorical start button on my health goals. As was suggested, I made three health goals and one non-health goal. 1. Actually win the DietBet I am playing (by reaching 188.5 lbs by March 6) (+1 WIL) Stay at a 1,000 calorie deficit (or more) every day Make sure to recover from any mistakes by exiting every week with a 7,000 calorie deficit (or more) 2. Work out at least five times per week (+1 DEX) Go to the gym first thing in the morning on weekdays Exercise even on weekends 3. Drink at least 100 oz of water each day for the majority of challenge days (+1 CON) Carry my 20 oz water bottle everywhere I go Order water instead of diet pop at restaurants 4. Save money by reducing spending (+1 WIL) Don't order food for delivery Take advantage of my job perks by eating my one "free" meal at work (Pita Pit) Wish me luck! I know I have this in me.

Today's slice: Walk 10 min to gym Warmup - walk 5 minutes 2 Rounds of: 10 bodyweight squats 10 push-ups 10 situps Cooldown - walk 5 minutes Walk 10 min back to work It aint much, but it's a start... I have officially gone from couch to standing

Had a good challenge last month, but my long-term goal is for lower cholesterol numbers in April. This month: tighter diet controls, some intermittent fasting, more accountability, and a hardier attitude against adversity. Really working to emphasize my essential Vimesiness. 1. Foot Chase Vimes was a runner by nature, and knew all the ways to make progress in the city's crowded streets. He dodged and leapt, jinked and weaved and, where necessary, barged. A rope tripped him up; he rolled upright. A stevedore barged into him; Vimes laid him out with an uppercut and speeded up in case the man had chums around. -- Thud! Goal: Run 3 times a week, at least 1 run per week on a trail. 0/12 Dallas winters are legendarily weird ("we don't have seasons, we have fronts") but this one has been particularly neurotic. Still, it looks like we're about to hit a rare and lovely stretch of weather that is perfect for early morning runs. Goal: Stick to New Blood bodyweight training plan (2 sessions per week) 0/8 2. Old Stoneface "Commander, I always used to consider that you had a definite anti-authoritarian streak in you." "Sir?" "It seems that you have managed to retain this even though you are now an authority." "Sir?" "Vimes, that's practically zen." -- Feet of Clay Goal: Meditate every day 0/28 3. Lean Against a Wall “I let you sleep, Sam," said Lady Sybil. "You didn't get in this morning until after three." "Everyone's double-shifting, dear," said Sam. "I've got to set a good example." "I'm sure you intend to, Sam, but you look like a horrible warning," said Sybil.” -- Thud! Goal: Maintain or increase average sleep time of 7 hours Last challenge, I increased my average sleep time from (approximately, I wasn't tracking) 5.5-6 hours per night to a pretty steady 7:09 per night. I'll try to sleep more during the week, sleep less on the weekends, and remember to wear my sleep tracker all the time, but mostly this is simple maintenance. If I can get closer to 8, that would be lovely. If not, that's fine. Special Long-Term Quest: Cholesterol Vimes carefully lifted the top of the bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich and smiled inwardly. Good old Cheery. She knew what a Vimes BLT was all about. It was about having to lift up quite a lot of crispy bacon before you found the miserable, skulking vegetables. You might never notice them at all. -- Thud! Goal: Lower cholesterol numbers by April. The main focus this month will be on diet. I'd like to do at least two IF days per week (not on running days, obviously) and generally avoid sugar/candy/cookies/donuts as much as possible. My new job is great in many ways, but there is always someone, somewhere, with a box of donuts "for the office." I've got to turn them down. Cracking the 200-pound mark and venturing into the upper 190s this month should be easily doable.

OMG I just attempted the Beginner Body Weight Workout for the first time!! and can I just say... It kind of kicked my ass!! But this is definitely woot worthy for me because I was sitting here on the sofa just checking some emails and suddenly a nerd fitness email popped up that said : YOUR FIRST QUEST: Complete your first strength training workout! And, tbh, I wasn't really feeling it. . . Buuuuut then I did it anyway! I only completed one circuit (I couldn't do it three times) but I am still going to congratulate myself on giving it a try and pushing myself. Yes, I had to pause for multiple seconds between each push up (even though I had to do the alternative one on my knees it was still SO hard) but I did ten of them! Yes, it might have taken 8 minutes or so to do those ten, but I still put in the effort and got em done! By the end of the workout I was panting, sweating, and feeling a little dizzy, so I decided to cool off and stretch. In the past I would have forced myself to do the workout three times, I would have felt like a failure, I would have felt guilty, but this time I remembered what nerd fitness is all about. That its about small changes and maintainable effort. It isn't about killing yourself or pushing to the point of pain. And because I didn't push myself to the point of pain or "this isn't fun i hate it", I'm actually looking forward to doing it again this weekend!!!! So woot woot!

The last few months I've done the bare minimum exercise. My gym buddy hasn't had time for the gym, so I haven't gone. My hiking buddies haven't had time to hike, so I haven't gone. That changes this month. I've also noticed how boring and repetitive most of my cooking has gotten when I'm not hunting for a new recipe. Finally, a goal I set for 2017 is to rebuild a social life, since I am tired of feeling lonely all the time, the way to fix that isn't sitting on my couch thinking about how lonely I feel. Goal 1: Hit the gym 3x a week No more waiting for the gym buddy. I'm paying for the membership, I should use it. There is no reason I can't go 3x a week or more. Goal 2: Hit daily step goals As I did last month, I'm setting the goals as 10k on non-work days and 15k on work days. Goal 3: Cook a good variety I've noticed I tend to make the same 8-ish meals over and over. This month let's see if I can cook at least 15 different dinners. Then next month we can up it to 20 and so on. Goal 4: Start rebuilding a social life Instead of spending my weekends at home in my PJ's, let's go see people. We'll say 4 social events for this month. Yes, I'm setting this one very low. That is because it terrifies me and I want to start small. Challenge Spreadsheet

Valkyrie approached the cliff face, eyeing the sheer surface askance. "I can't do this," she mumbled, shaking her head, "it's too hard." Doubt gnawed at her like vicious rats. Looking over her shoulder, she thought, "I could stay here, it's comfortable, and safe and easy." But she knew it was a lie, because what lie behind her was a mirage, and the comfort would be fleeting. No, she must press on. "I can do this," she said softly, then again, in a louder, stronger voice, "I can do this!" Rise of the Valkyrie: Val's Take on Tomb Raider (the Reboot) Playing the Tomb Raider reboot inspired me to get strong, because if Lara couldn't do a pull up, she'd have been dead about a hundred times. Throughout the game, she is faced with insurmountable and terrifying obstacles, to which she responds, "I can do this..." And she does! I'd like to be Lara Croft when I grow up, but barring that, I want to be able to do cool things, including, eventually, a pull up. That means I need to be consistent and keep trying hard, all the time! I've split my goals into skill tree categories: I have 2 fitness goals and 2 nutrition goals which fit into the Survivor, Brawler and Hunter skill trees and come with their own points, which cumulate to affect my rank at the end of the challenge. I start out at Rookie, and if I get enough skill points I level up to Hardened, and then Specialist. If I get to Specialist, I get a prize! (which I have budgeted for, in compliance with my ongoing goal of Budgeting). There's also a Domestic Rangering goal, which I'm listing under Make Camp. The domestic rangering goal is, unfortunately, one of the most important this time around. I HATE to clean. I am, truly, a slob. It's unfortunate that it takes so much before mess starts to bother me, because now I'm floundering in clutter and mess and I feel overwhelmed and end up not doing anything but adding to it. But I need to clean it up before my boyfriend arrives in February. I need to make it a nice livable space for my own peace of mind. I need to declutter and organize to make the packing process easier for my move later this year. So, it's gotta be done, and it gets it's own category and point system, and a reward that I'd really, really like to get. Make Camp Clean bedroom 10' a day (1 point per day, 35 points total) Reward: 90%+ compliance (minimum 32/35 points): Lipsense Lipstick (I want so, so much) Survivor Drink 100 oz H2O daily (1 point/week, 5 points total) Brawler Complete Scheduled Exercise Days plus Yoga(1 point/week, 5 points total) Exercise will progress: 3 days, 4 days, 4 days, 5 days, 5 days Hunter Track all scheduled days (1 point/week, 5 points total) Tracking: 3 days, 4 days, 5 days, 6 days, 7 days Extra Credit Extra days tracked: 1/4 skill point Extra Workout Days: 1/4 Skill point Total Available Skill Points 15 Ranks Skill Points Reward Rookie: 0-6 N/A Hardened: 7-13 Self Respect Specialist: 14+ Workout Clothing Item (soccer shorts or nerd shirt)

A meaningful life For some time now I've been slacking off and saying to myself there will be time for my goals later... A stupid thing to do when you just turned 40. Procrastination and laziness, added to my floating anxiety episodes, have made me feel a little sad lately. Despondency and criticism have appeared. But I don't want my life to be dictated by my thoughts or my feelings, so I've been taking the time to ponder and write about my values and the kind of life I want to live. I must say I don't know whether I got the right answers, but at least I've come up with some steps I want to take in different areas of my life, and some of these steps will appear in this challenge. For my main goal, this is, living a meaningful life: · I won't let bad feelings or anxiety dictate my life. I will accept those bad feelings and the anxiety, and will experience them. I won't ignore them, nor fight them, nor pretend I can control them or change them into some other thing. I'll stay with them and will let them express themselves. But they don't get to decide how I live my life. · Same goes for anxious, negative thoughts. They will be acknowledged, brain will be thanked for offering the information but I won't buy it. I won't argue with my critic nor will try to refute whatever comes to my mind. These thoughts are not the ones making the decisions here. So, I can be anxious, but I can also have a life, despite being anxious. For all of those described situations, I'll rely on the exercises I've learnt these past weeks from a couple of ACT books I've been reading, and which have proved themselves extremely useful. Everytime I'll find some resistance to take action, or want o leave things for later, or put excuses to justify procrastination, I'll use these exercises to help me. Barriers I think I may found: · thoughts: in the form of excuses, like, I'm too tired, it's too late, it's too cold, I don't feel like doing "X"; or in the form of discouraging thoughts: it's too difficult, I can't do that, I don't know how to do it, I will fail... · emotions: anxiety, fear, despondency, guilt, boredom... · sensations: cold, cold feet, jaw tension, knot in the stomach, hunger... · memories: from times when I've failed or quit · behavioral tendencies: procrastination, mindlessly spending time on the internet, eating sugary things, refusing to eat... I'm someone who cares about improving both her mental and physical health 1) Do some type of physical activity everyday Actions: · attend self-defence lessons twice a week. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: ONLY ONCE. SICK WEEK 2: ONLY ONCE. AWFUL NECK PAIN AND HEADACHES WEEK 3: ONLY ONCE. SICK WEEK 4: NOPE · take note of every move for subsequent practice at thome. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: there were no new moves WEEK 2: no new moves WEEK 3: there were no new moves WEEK 4: NOPE · practice self-defence at home at least once a week. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: SICK WEEKS 2&3: AWFUL NECK PAIN AND HEADACHES WEEK 4: NOPE · do at least one strength workout per week at home. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: SICK WEEKS 2&3: AWFUL NECK PAIN AND HEADACHES WEEK 4: NOPE · go to the woods and walk briskly for a while at least once a week. Biking is ok too. I can be excused from this action if the weather is really bad, like heavy rain or strong winds. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: SICK WEEKS 2&3: AWFUL NECK PAIN AND HEADACHES WEEK 4: NOPE · clean or declutter at home. WEEK 0: UH-OH WEEK 1: SICK WEEK 2: JUST OK WEEK 3: OK WEEK 4: OK 2) Frequent use of meditation Actions: · meditate for a minimum of 10 minutes everyday. Ideally meditate once in the morning and once in the evening. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: DONE! WEEK 2: DONE! WEEK 3: NOPE, only short meditations (3-5 minutes) WEEK 4: DONE! These goals start right now. I'm someone who cares about her students learning while having fun 3) Prepare this year's technique competition GOAL ACHIEVED! Actions: · look for some maps on the internet, or find some map generator DONE! · make some first drafts of the map DONE! · think of how many good, bad and neutral squares I want the map to have, and which drawings will be on them DONE! · think how I want the deck of cards to be, how many cards and with which content and difficulty no cards. It would make the game far too complicated. I'll be using one dice to decide the random aspects of the game. · define more clearly the game's rules DONE! This goal starts on week 1. I'm someone who likes to be in constant development and who has considered taking a step forward in her performance career 4) Do your technique everyday Actions: · Just. Do. It. WEEK 0: DONE! WEEK 1: SICK WEEKS 2&3: AWFUL NECK PAIN AND HEADACHES, but managed to do it 3 days each week WEEK 4: DONE! This goal starts right now. 5) Make a plan to start working on e-minor Bach's sonata Actions: · make a clean copy DONE! · listen to several recordings and take notes WEEK 1: DONE! WEEK 2: NOPE WEEK 3: DONE! · analyze the piece. Don't go mad on this, just a few lines each time WEEK 1: DONE! WEEK 2: DONE! WEEK 3: DONE! · devise a study plan DONE! · follow said plan ON IT This goal starts on week 1. 6) Find some time along the week to read, and/or to work on icelandic Actions: · choose a book from the pile on the desk fellow rebels will help me pick (18 pending books so far) Chosen book: FLOW · read said book for 10 minutes at least twice a week WEEK 2: DONE! WEEK 3: DONE! WEEK 4: DONE! · take notes WEEK 2: DONE! WEEK 3: DONE! WEEK 4: DONE! · choose an icelandic lesson (from grammar book, comicbook or whatever) WEEK 2: DONE! (Ástríkur!) WEEK 3: NOPE WEEK 4: NOPE · work on said lesson for 10 minuts at least twice a week WEEK 2: DONE! WEEK 3: NOPE WEEK 4: NOPE This goal starts on week 2 OR week 3, depending on how much work I've done on goal 3. I don't want to get overwhelmed. This area included another goal: writing an e-mail to a new teacher to book a lesson, but I've done it already. Now just have to wait for an answer, keeping my composure if possible to avoid checking my e-mail twenty times a day. To reduce pressure, every action can be divided in smaller steps whenever I need it, such as reading for only 5 minutes and leaving the remaining 5 for another moment, listening to only one movement of the piece, dividing the time to clean or declutter in short periods along the day, and so on. Points available: Goal 1: 2 STR, 1 STA, 1 DEX. Goal 2: 1 WIS. Goal 3: 1 CHA. Goal 4: 2 DEX. Goal 5: 1 WIS. Goal 6: 1 CHA.

Hello my friends! The Plan: Leading up to the silly season I will make an effort to continue on with the positive changes I have made so far and not slide back- there will be situations where it will be tricky (compulsory work Christmas parties, Friend’s Christmas Eve, potentially Family Christmas also…) particularly in terms of food, but instead of just chalking the whole month off into the ‘too hard basket’ I will do the best I can around those commitments, and try not to go too wild on those days particularly in terms of my kryptonite: fizzy beverages. I will aim to take TWO glasses only and otherwise drink water, juice, or tea. The final week is a concessional week at work as the university is closed, so I will make an effort to keep up the good work without the structure of actual work. The way that I aim to achieve this is such~ The List (aka adulting): I am going to trial having a checklist to mark off of an evening to try and encourage a few daily habits I want to incorporate by end of the year ready for a nice fresh 2017. Similar I guess to a bullet journal/ checklist I’ll write it with a whiteboard marker on my bedroom mirror to check off of an evening before bed: water plants, water self, 15min hot-spot clean (with photo!), take vitamins, brush teeth, sleep (go to bed by 10pm on non-game nights), daily affirmation (I will think on this and write a statement/battle cry/ self-care statement to read each morning). It seems like a lot, but none of these things will take very long to complete. I will take a photo each evening of the list with ticks rather than writing it out again every day. The Exercise: I will continue with 4 gym sessions/week (ROAR on Mon/Wed/Fri plus boxing on Thurs) and add one ‘bonus activity’ (eg swimming, bike ride, walk, ZRC25K, back strength program ) of a weekend/Tuesday. Being active is really helping my mood to not be too awful and I’d like to continue that, I’ve also been reminded of just how much I really like boxing. Unsure if the Monday ROAR on Boxing Day will be running or not, if not I will sub in another bonus activity. In zero week I will find out whether my gym membership will allow me to visit the sister gym in my parent’s home town just in case I end up travelling back to go to any Christmas shindigs (unplanned at this stage, aren’t we organised!). The Food: Mr and I will be trying out some new recipes in an attempt to stick to our calorie goals (roughly 1500 for me and 1800 for Mr). We have signed up for a meal plan from our gym and already day one meal one and packing for meal two Mr has things he won’t eat (bananas, any fish but sushi, eggs unless an omelette) so he is looking to find some recipes to use instead of ones with those ingredients. For now I’ll eat on without him and hoping to develop one we can both follow together by end of zero week. In terms of the great giftmas celebrations I will first have a plate of meat and veg/ devilled eggs, wait a polite amount of time and then decide if I’m eating anything else on offer once I’ve already got food in my belly. I’m planning to take a box of cherries to any ‘bring a plate’ type deals so there will definitely be some fruit. Sub goal - I will weigh and measure waist at the beginning of each week so that I have an idea of how I'm tracking rather than finding out at the end of the challenge whether it was working. (Not my tree, but suited the nerdy Christmas theme)

So, December is my least favorite month. I've never been officially diagnosed or anything, but I suspect that I have a touch of Seasonal Affective Disorder. I sometimes struggle with bouts of depression and the struggle gets much worse in the winter months. Basically I just want to hibernate and have little motivation to do anything. On top of this, I struggle with bad feelings about the holiday season, because I'm not personally that into the whole thing for a slew of reasons I won't bore you all with. Nothing awful or traumatic, just a bunch of personal idiosyncrasies really. But I also feel the need to make an effort because of my family and also just feeling like only grumpy assholes don't like the holidays. It all just tends to become a downward spiral of depression, stress, and anxiety in which I feel bad for feeling bad because after all it is THE HAPPIEST TIME OF THE YEAR (TM). Every year I joke about just going away somewhere, but this year I'm going to figure out how to make it work for me and not be miserable. Goals for this challenge: EXERCISE AND SELF-CARE 1. Go to yoga class once a week. I was going fairly regularly to yoga but started slacking off in the fall once they changed the time of the class I was going to regularly to 15 minutes earlier. I'm awful at mornings and 15 minutes earlier just doesn't work, but there are a bunch of classes later in the morning that I can certainly go to. I went today and realized how much I had missed it and how good it is for me. 2. Stretch. At least 15 minutes of stretching a day, focusing on working toward splits and preventing ongoing shoulder problems resulting from computer overuse. 3. Meditate with sunlamp. I've been really good about this and I think it's helping! Keep meditating at least 15 minutes a day, with sunlamp to fight the SAD. 4. Other exercise. If I don't have an aerials class or yoga, do at least 15 minutes of exercise every day. Pullups, pushups, abs, weights. SURVIVE AND THRIVE THE HOLIDAYS 1. Daily check-in. Is there anything holiday-task related that I need to do today? Is there anything that I am dwelling on that is making me upset? What can I be positive about today? 2. Prepare for the New Year. As much as Christmas makes me unhappy, I totally look forward to the New Year- starting over, making new plans, etc. Part of my plan for December is to try to view this as a period of cleansing/planning/trial by fire in order to start the New Year fresh. What can I do to be ready to enact positive changes and new projects in the New Year that will stick? This year I'm also thinking of rituals to do on New Year's day that will hopefully become a tradition. So far I'm planning on doing an hour-long meditation and going for a long walk in my local park (assuming the weather isn't bad enough to create unsafe conditions, but it's a paved 4.5 mile loop trail so as long as its safe to drive there it should be ok to walk.)

Snickie has not fared well in the first half of season 1 with the Crystal Gems. Let's hope she can turn things around and get out of Pearl Point debt! Amethyst - Food Gems don't need to eat, but I do. Gotta make sure that what I'm putting into my very human body is actually good for humans! Amethyst isn't a good example, but she can put away all the junk food I don't eat. Record each meal and snack in my handy dandy spreadsheet. +1 point per paleo (Wahls) food group represented in substantial part Wahls groups: leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, colorful fruit/vegetables, meat/poultry/fish, seaweed, etc. -1 point for non-paleo food group represented in substantial part non-paleo neutral: plantain chips, oatmeal, vodka sauce from a jar (I checked the ingredients mkay) New scale effective on Week 6! Steven - Music Steven is a friggin' musical prodigy, and heaven knows I don't practice enough. The Gems all have their own musical talents and leitmotifs as well. One day I can hope to be as good as Steven. +2 points for the first full 60 minutes of practice (0 points if less than an hour), +1 point for each additional 30 minutes -2 points if I don't practice at all Exception: illness; 3 hours or more of rehearsal Connie - Academics Academics are life right now. College and stuff. I'm terrible at completing large assignments on time and actually studying, so here: +1 point per 30 minutes per subject (partial credit given) studied or assignment worked on PDE: +1 point per problem worked (since these tend to take a long time anyway) -n points on the (n-1)th day after it was due and not turned in +1 point if Japanese was studied Garnet - Physical Jasper is out there somewhere. I need to be in top physical condition to be able to combat her when she comes. +1 point per exercise type attempted (at least 10m) +1 point for dance - dancing is important for fusion. +1 point for NF mini-challenge items -1 /day if non-exercise streak exceeds 1 Exception: illness, injury The Human Population of Beach City I'm human, so it's important to do other human things. +1 for getting 7 hours or more of sleep at night +1 for each additional hour, not to exceed 10 hours -1 for each nap taken -1 for getting less than 6 hours of sleep +1 for each 15 minutes of meditation +1 for each day that I make my bed Peridot - Logging If I don't log about it (or at least throw down numbers and details in my spreadsheet), then does it really exist? o_o How am I supposed to keep track of all the good things I've been trying to do if I don't, you know, log them?! +1 for each day that I log things into my spreadsheet +1 for journal entries Handdrawn images coming soon! (No more broken IMG codes and no more ZIBBITs. )

Last Time: F A I L. Not sure what happened. Time got all scrambled again. Brain is a bag of fish. Started taking supplement, it hasn't helped so far but it might still do something. Options will be re-evaluated once the supplement runs out, according to the results. In the meantime, time to get up and try again. again. This Time: Unfortunately for everyone who knows me, I finally saw Captain America: Civil War. Have not yet stopped screaming about Bucky. My brother is probably going to punch me through a wall if he hears me say 'Bucky', 'Avengers', 'Civil War' or 'Sebastian Stan' one more time. Bucky Barnes, man. Most personally relatable character since Merlin. Also utterly heartbreaking and everything about him makes me want to cry. Also gorgeous. Currently at the forefront of my ever-shifting lineup of most favorite/pondered/analyzed characters. Largely due to being the most recent to grab my attention. (Note: if anyone wants to shriek and flail or even actually calmly talk about anything related to Bucky or Civil War or anything of that sort (hell we can even talk about Jefferson) please. I'm here fo dat.) Logical Course of Action: We bout ta do a Bucky Challenge. The Set-Up ____________ It's become apparent this week that I'm on unsteady ground and will have to shrink my theme to suit. Gonna run this Challenge in two sections; Maintenance and Missions. (ERROR: currently in a quagmire again, not sure how this is going to go, will edit this for better stuff once I no longer feel like crying hysterically for no reason)

Despite not sticking to my challenge goals super well...I HAVE consistently been losing weight, which is taking me towards my longterm goal of decreased body fat percentage and then building muscle, and I ran 7 minutes without stopping on Friday, which is a record! So, not a total failure, there has been some progress made. This challenge, I'm gonna keep it simple. Water. Exercise. Water and exercise! (And a couple other things...) 1. 100 oz of water every day. 2. Exercise a minimum of 4 days a week, at least 2 lift days and 2 cardio days (with an option to combine a lift day and cardio day one of the 4 days, that worked out really well on Friday!) oh, and 3! Check in on a few of my NF friend's threads every day. =) Edit: Goal 4. Deny negative self-talk, pessimism/worrying, and woe-is-me-isms any space in my head. I need to exercise some discipline over my thoughts.

I've always been interested with the concept of the assassin. I've been trying without much success to really branch out and utilize my time more wisely - less netflix, more other. I made the commitment to learn the guitar by signing up for a month of lessons - so far that's working. Glad I read the Level Up your life book, Steve was right I was a bit down with how I hadn't been doing the MovNat exercises when I planned them, but I'm feeling sore and achy - combination of age, sinusitis, and marching band season starting. My daughter is in the guard and I am one of the dads that helps haul all of the props and equipment to and from the field for their show. It occurred to me that I was doing a lot of exercise, it just wasn't the type I was planning. So I'm going to incorporate it into this challenge, especially since her season doesn't end until the end of October. I am going to prepare myself to become one of the brotherhood of assassins. Just to be clear (not great at all of this yet) I don't plan on taking anyone out Perfect the weapon Weekend Hone the clay into the mold for the spirit - Haul and load the props, instruments, and other gear for the saturday shows. This is the equivalent of pushing 50lb sled about a mile per show. Act and react with perfect balance and speed - Get in and out of the truck whenever possible. Essentially, I'm jumping down from a 4 foot shelf with good posture at landing. I'm also essentially doing a wall pushup and turning my body so I can sit. In the beginning, I can sometimes vault into the truck with one foot catching. Every other day http://darebee.com/workouts/assassin-workout.html Eating - cleanse the body to make it the perfect weapon Stop eating gluten free and go full paleo again eat hashish drink more water Meditation - refine the mind and spirit to make the perfect kill Pick a target, someone local and after scouting out their location, examine the terrain and determine best approach Practice glowing ball technique - visualize a ball to move along skin, physically trying to relax the muscles under the ball while trying not to let mind wander (*squirrel*) practice this at night before bed to rest the mind Scan crowds at events and see who is trained and hiding, and who is not - scope out enemy. Writing - know yourself/know your enemy research topics Arthur Hashashiin Knights Templar Telekinesis When I have completed these tasks, I will be ready to take out my target. (Sneak up on my neighbor without him seeing me)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Intro ~ *Third time editing this hoLy c r o w * What's Going On: We have one more possible help for the Bad FeelingsTM, but don't get to order until early October. I'm really hoping that it works. But this Challenge won't be about that. This Challenge is about trying to get better at living with the Bad FeelingsTM and managing them. Which I've been trying to do pretty much all year and so far, not so much. But I'm trying again because I understand there's a chance they might not ever go away, and I need to be able to function. So I'm re-visiting what I know helps a bit, and also giving some new things a try. The main goal is to hang on and be productive instead of floating in this interim of waiting for potential solutions. There's also heckofalot of school stuff right now. Which is added stress that won't dissipate until it's done, so I really do have to at least manage well enough to actually get some effective studying done. Um...it's basically guaranteed there will be a lot of back-and-forth in this thread from reasonably cheerful to mega-angst to "I-don't-want-to-be-here" and all that...I try to refrain from posting that stuff but sometimes it feels better to tell someone...still, will be trying to manage that better too now the Challenge has officially begun. __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Set-Up ~ Okay, one of the shows I've recently been sucked into is Voltron: Legendary Defender. A friend watched it with serious enthusiasm, but I thought it sounded corny and stupid even if the fanart she was posting was fabulous. Then an acquaintance started to watch it and complained for the first half or so of the series, but then her tone changed and before long she was really into this show an just completely won-over. So I watched it with my brother and we thoroughly enjoyed it, even if there was a nasty cliffhanger. Several weeks later, I'm being buried under plot ideas for fanfictions. Thought I had avoided that, but no such luck. Anyway, in Voltron, you've got your villain, Sendak, who takes over basically the entire universe and proceeds to rule for 10,000 years. After a certain point, all resistance stops and he's just left to do his thing. Then these five adorable Earth children rescue a guy who just got back from having been abducted by aliens, find a gigantic blue robot-lion, wind up on a foreign planet, find four more giant robot lions, and become the main resisting force against the villain and his army of really cute but also hideously evil minions. So we've got teenagers piloting colorful cats around space while they fight evil purple koala-cats. Sounds intense, right? These kids are called Paladins and, for the next four weeks at least, that's my class, too. Each Paladin has different skills, flaws, strengths, weaknesses...they also each have their own Lion that they can operate independently, as well as a unique weapon. The coolest thing, though, is when they form Voltron. It takes all five of them to do that, so if even one is missing, or out of sync with the others, it's just not happening. Similarly, it's going to take all of my goals working together to make any real, solid progress. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ The Challenge ~ Each week, there will be a new Villain to fight, each one stronger than the last. For every Task I complete, I earn Attack Points, which lower enemy Health. In turn, failure to complete Tasks earns Attack Points for the enemy, lowering my Health Points. There are also Bonuses to be unlocked, which will come especially handy in later Battles. Scoring: Task Completed = +1 AP Task Failed = -1HP Combo - two or more Paladins' full Task Lists completed. = +5AP per Paladin Form Voltron - all tasks complete. +25AP Bayard Bonus - Paladin's Bonus Task Completed. = +10AP Coran Bonus Quest - +10HP. Can be stacked. Paladin's HP are tallied independently. Voltron's is their cumulative total. HP does not reset between Battles, but may be recovered through Bonus Tasks. If a Paladin reaches 0HP, they are Unconscious until the next day, and a -5AP penalty is incurred. If all Paladins lose consciousness, Voltron falls and the Overall Challenge Score goes down. Downtime: Even Paladins of Voltron can't always be fighting Battles! Saturdays and Sundays are Permitted Rest Days. All non-essential Tasks are optional. There are Five Permissible Days of Weekday Leave which can be used at any time, but not consecutively. If by some miracle an enemy is defeated early, Idk man didn't plan for that. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ ~ Goals ~ Keith: The Red Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Fire. Said to fight like a Galra Soldier, his Primary Trait is his skill in battle, and the fierce conditioning required. He will represent the 'Body' quests: Walk two miles Workout 100 oz water Track food Do not cause injury Bayard Bonus: Run One Mile Pidge: The Green Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Forest. Pidge's Defining Trait is her intellect, particularly concerning her affinity for all things technical. She will represent 'Mind' Quests. Study Math Study French Study Spanish Study Italian Study Code Bayard Bonus: Memorize Times Tables Lance: The Blue Paladin.Guardian of the Spirit of Water. *info* 'Spirit' Quests. Plot/Write One Story Plot/Write One Fanfic Practice Hobby Journal Yoga Bayard Bonus: Organize Writing Life Hunk: The Gold Paladin. Guardian of the Spirit of Land. *info* 'Soul' Quests. 5 Bible Chapters Time in Prayer Keep up with Friends Read "Do Hard Things" Practice ASL Bayard Bonus: Complete new SaltLight Routine. Shiro: *Image Later* Week One: Reading Challenge Week Two: Improve Handwriting Week Three: Improve Posture Week Four: Positivity Challenge Coran Bonus: Clean Bedroom Clean Kitchen Clean Bathroom _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ *Will finish later because I really need to get to work and also find some food*

For those that didn't read my intro thread (although I'm sure all of you read it, because I'm such a fabulous writer; in fact, it's probably gone viral while I wasn't looking), here's where I'm at right now. I just turned 53 last month. I'm in recovery from alcohol and opiate addiction, and I take Suboxone (which causes constipation, sorry but that's important to know), along with Lexapro and Remeron for depression, Neurontin for anxiety (400 mg 3x a day), and Prilosec. The Remeron was supposed to be for sleep, but I find that it's not working, and I don't want to rely on a substance to put me to sleep on a daily basis anyway (even if it's non-narcotic), so I'm stopping that this week (gradually). I've had 3 children (sadly, my 7 year old was killed by a drunk driver while riding her bicycle last Labor Day), I'm a freelance writer so I sit at a computer pretty much all day, and I live in a house with 9 other adults. I have a very limited income. That's also important to know. Over the past year that I've been sober, I've gradually gone from 125 lbs. to 194. When I saw that number on the scale, I lost my mind (that was June 1, still haven't found it). I joined Planet Fitness and started going every day, along with restricting my calories. I've suffered from anorexia/bulimia in the past, and I was weighing myself every day, twice a day (once in the morning, once again after the gym), so I put the scale out of sight and decided to focus on how I looked and how I felt instead of the scale numbers. My workouts consisted of at least 60 minutes of cardio. After two weeks, I added the upper, lower and abdominal machines at the gym, alternating days between upper and lower/abs. I'd gotten down to 170 lbs. and was pretty freaking proud of myself, but then I weighed myself the other morning and it said 185. WUT??????? Apparently, you can't eat fatty snacks every night after starving all day and maintain weight loss. I've been getting a lot of conflicting information about what's the best way to go about losing fat and adding muscle. Obviously, since I'm like a delicate little hothouse flower, I don't want to get bulky. But I've gathered from everyone here that the best way to achieve my goal of fat loss, muscle addition and toning, is the do more weight work and maybe a little less cardio. I know that equipment like the weight machines at Planet Fitness are frowned upon in these here parts, but I don't have a clue what I'm doing with free weights and I don't want to hurt myself. My plan right now is to stack heavier weights on all the machines and do fewer reps at higher weight. I'm not cutting out my cardio, but I'm going to alternate the upper and lower/core workouts. Is that the right way to go about this? Should I be working my core every day? I'm struggling to do 10 reps with the majority of the machines stacked at 50-70 lbs., and I've been doing 3 sets of 10 reps on each machine. (Note: On the hip adductor/abductor machines I press 130 lbs.) I'd appreciate any advice you guys can give me. I dropped my cell phone in a pot of water and it's not working right now, so I can't bring video workouts with me to the gym at the moment (that's another $100 I don't have going to my phone company on the 1st of August to get a new phone. lol?) I want to really get moving here, but I'm scared of hurting myself by lifting the weights incorrectly. I already tore my left pectoral muscle just by putting too much weight on the fly machine. Thank you all for being here. This is an amazing site.

Well, okay, I'm not a space pirate. Mark Watney is. But saying that I'm the space pirate is more interesting. ...Anyway. I've already seen the movie of The Martian, and it was fantastic. Now I am reading the book, and it is EVEN BETTER. ~*~*~hnnnng~*~*~ I was at a loss for what my theme for this challenge should be, but then I started reading this gem of a book and my decision was made for me. So. Stranded on Mars. Priorities in an emergency - food, water, shelter. Shelter is taken care of - the HAB is still intact. Food and water? Well, he has a little bit, but not enough to last him until he can get rescued. So he's gonna have to get creative. Mark Space Pirate Watney had to do a heckuva lot of hard manual labor in order to take care of the not-enough-food-and-water issue. So my goal for this challenge is to do my own type of manual labor - start working out again. I've only got one goal this time, because I found in the past that singular goals are what I can handle best. For whatever bug-brained reason, I stopped using that strategy, and my health and fitness habits went immediately down the drain. So, I'm starting again by grading only one thing at a time. I'm going to try to start eating better too (if I can't quell the Rangerbrain, I may as well put it to good use) but I'm not grading anything except this: Do some kind of physical activity 6 days per week. Monday/Wednesday/Friday should be gym days, so days other than that can be whatever. Go for a walk. Do a fitness video. Do some yoga. ANYTHING to get me moving. Let's go kick some ass! (And here's a funny for your enjoyment, because this book is frick-frackin' hilarious.)

hey everyone! i have a question regarding yoga. Yoga is the only form of exercise i absolutely adore and can see myself doing for the longterm, (i also enjoy walking in the mornings and i'm hoping to eventually build up the endurance to start running). I've tried my hand at bodyweight circuits but i'm just personally not a fan of them. I've tried them countless times, but each and every time I feel exhausted both physically and mentally. Yoga, on the other hand, especially when doing vinyasa flows, keeps me calm yet invigorated. I do both vinyasa, hatha and sometimes relaxation. Most of my classes range between 30 to an hour and a half, but on average I usually go for about an hour. My general workout schedule is: vinyasa yoga - mondays, wednesdays, fridays hatha yoga - tuesdays, thursdays, saturdays relaxation yoga - sundays so this brings me to my question: is yoga enough? does it provide a sustainable amount of proper fitness? will yoga, along with a proper/clean diet give me the aesthetic i desire (slim, toned)?

"I won't give up, no I won't give in 'til I reach the end and then I'll start again. No I won't leave. I wanna try everything. I wanna try even though I could fail." I'm returning after a month hiatus for my next challenge. This song has sort of been my anthem for the past couple of weeks. It makes me smile and gets me pumped up too Here are my goals for this challenge. Goal #1 Physical Activity I would like to do some sort of physical activity at least 6 days a week. I know this sounds like a lot, but it could be as simple as a five minute walk. Out of these six days, at least two should be a little more difficult such as cardio or strength training. Goal #2 Healthy Eating/Meal Prep I would like to prep my lunches every Sunday for the week. As a teacher, I sometimes skip lunch, by cooking my meals for the week beforehand, I hope to prevent skipping lunch. My meals will include a protein and a vegetable. So I should be eating a veggie at least five times a week. Goal #3 Perseverance This is where the song comes in. Realistically, I will have days that I mess up on my goals. I'm really not trying to be pessimistic here, but it's likely that I will at times fall. The issue is when I fall, I beat myself up and get discouraged. When this happens, I'm going to listen to this song, and remind myself that I'm not giving up on myself. Like the song says - "Don't beat yourself up. Don't need to run so fast. Sometimes we come last, but we did our best." Goal #4 Look At The World With New Eyes Now I'm bringing Zootopia stuff in here *Some minor spoilers follow* One of my favorite scenes of the movie is when Judy gets on the train to Zootopia. The amazement on her face as she sees this large city for the first time gets me every time. I want to see the world differently - as a fantastic and beautiful place. So I'm going to search for something beautiful everyday. *End Minor Spoilers* In summary, I'm looking forward to this challenge. Now everyone sing with me "I won't give up no I won't give in 'til I reach the end and then I'll start again. No I won't leave. I wanna try everything. I wanna try even though I could fail. Oh oh oh oh oh Try everything!"

I have been struggling a long time with self-discipline and computer addiction (which increases my body’s feeling of weakness and tiredness). I make plans all the time to do better, I make lists almost every day of things to do but I never follow through. I have made many challenges but failed, it's a cycle of overeating-computer addiction-body fatigue(from just sitting, and being out of shape) I want to change, I want to do better. Instead of doing challenges, I want to do a log for the rest of 2016, which is of changing habits. This log will initially be for August 15th 2016-January 20th 2017 I will log: Computer time Food (and how many servings) Exercise

Yes, I'm doing another twenty one pilots themed challenge. I am still off in faraway lands doing cool things with lasers, and I'm still homesick and anxious and sad, and these awesome dudes are still helping me stay sane. And it just so happens that this beautiful song (one of the first songs of theirs that I fell in love with) has a few lines that relate directly to my goals for the challenge! PERF~ PRIMARY GOALS ~ i'm taking over my body ~ I am so done with dorm food, oh my lordy lord. There are so many delicious things and ALL OF THEM ARE BAD FOR ME. I am done letting food control me though! I'm taking aggressive control of what I put in my mouth. During zero week, I'm going to attempt Cold Turkey (mostly!)Paleo. Last challenge, I tried limiting myself to one dessert per day, but here's the thing - you can never have just one! I've found that going cold turkey has worked for me in the past, so I'm gonna give it another shot. Depending on how zero week goes, I may re-evaluate this goal. ~ it probably happens at night, right? ~ Everything here happens at night. Wanna go to a cafe? Wanna watch a movie? Let's go to a concert! Let's play a game! Let's go jam in the music room! I'm not used to having such a vast social life all of a sudden, and it's been really fun, but I haven't gotten to bed before 11:00pm in, like, 5 weeks. I'm tired all the time, and my mental health is suffering. The goal here is to be in bed, TECH OFF, by 10:00 (with the exception of maybe weekends). SECONDARY GOALS (not graded) ~ entertain my faith ~ Another reason, I suspect, that my mental health has been suffering is because I haven't been reading my Bible very much. Most weeks, church on Sunday and small group on Wednesday are all I get during the week, and that is NO BUENO! I'd like to read/meditate on a chapter of Proverbs every day, if possible, per a reading challenge that was issued by the church I've been attending. ~ time to move our feet ~ I have totally fallen of the exercise bandwagon, and it's really frustrating. I was doing so well during last semester! And then final exams rolled around, and ever since then I've hardly exercised at all. I'd like to have a physical activity 3 or so times per week at least, but ideally every weekday. I brought my yoga mat with me and bought new workout clothes before I came here and everything! Time to put them to use!!!