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Hello, hello! This challenge is mostly going to be a retread of my last one. It's probably going to get off to a bit of a slow start, though. I had a busy weekend full of lots of family stuff, so I'm feeling pretty drained right now, and I'm going on a prayer retreat at the end of this week, so I won't hit full speed until week 2. But before we get into all that, a quick reminder of the game plan. Like any good ranger, I enjoy wooded trails, quiet moments in nature, and trying to do ALL THE THINGS! And since my life is unfortunately not an actual game of D&D, there's no DM to yell at me when I try to do 5 actions in 1 turn, so I have to do it myself. In other words, I've categorized my projects/hobbies so that each day I get a movement, action, bonus action, reaction, and free action. It's not so much about getting one of each in as it is not trying to do too much, so no more than one activity in each category. Movement: I've been doing a lot of walking on my lunch break. Planning to keep that up, but also going to shoot to fit a little more hiking/biking in. Wooded trails count double as my favored terrain. Last challenge I got 55.25 miles in, looking for more this time around. Action: Not much has changed here since last challenge, sticking with D&D actions for theming purposes: Attack: Get a workout in. This is going to be prioritized more this challenge, because I'm switching up my reaction, but I don't want to ignore my pull ups for the next 5 weeks, so I'm going to aim to get 3x3 pull ups in two or three times a week. Any other workout counts here as well, but that's the primary one. Gathering Swarm: As a Swarmkeeper Ranger, when I take the attack action, my nature spirits can swarm. This is anything that involves homesteading plans. Probably going to do the bare minimum here for this challenge, trying to free up more space for Attack and Dash. Dash: Go for a run. Any other cardio will be Attack, this is specifically to track running. Only got 1 run in last challenge, planning to prioritize it more this time around. Help: Social obligations. Whether or not they take up the action category for the day or can coincide with another one primarily depends on where my social energy level is and whether I feel like I have the spoons for it or not. Search: Cleaning. Last challenge I let myself count it for even just a bare minimum of decluttering, this time it has to be a focused effort, partially to make more progress on cleaning, but also just another way to free up more action slots for Attack and Dash. Disengage: This is a planned rest day. When I feel like I need a break, I can disengage. Hide: This is an emergency rest. I hadn't planned on taking the day off, but things went south and I bailed. If I start seeing too many Hide days, that's a clear sign that I need to rethink what I'm doing. I made it through the entire last challenge with 0 hide days. Not necessarily expecting it to happen again this time, but it's proof that the system works, at least some of the time. Bonus Action: Hobby time! Going to focus on animals, writing, and cooking this time around, but leaving them all up here as options. Shooting: Rifle or Archery. I enjoy both. Probably going to lean more towards the archery side, as my gun range has a tree down on it, but that also might get taken care of this challenge. Creativity: Writing or Music. Both of these are fun for me, but I also have a tendency to put too much pressure on myself to do them on a fixed schedule, and then I lose my motivation to do it at all. So no pressure this time around, just a fun time if I feel like it. Animals: I used to be much more intentional about spending time with my horses. I've let that slide on the excuse that my barn building has taken up that time/energy slot, but there's really no reason I can't do both. Cat and dog time can also go here. Cooking: I like to bake, and when the mood hits I also like putting together a meal, not just the actual cooking, but also fussing around with setting a nice table and everything. Last night I lit a fire, baked bread, and turned a chicken carcass into some delicious chicken and rice soup, and it was so cozy. It reminded me to take the time to enjoy the whole process of a meal, instead of just gulping it down for fuel. Crafting: I have not done any crochet in a while, and no cross stitch in even longer than that. Both of them are good evening activities that I can use to keep my hands busy instead of doomscrolling. Reaction: I really liked my grease the groove progress last challenge, but I'm feeling a bit burnt out on pull ups, so this challenge we're switching to pushups! Same basic premise, I'll roll 2d4 on week days and 3d4 on weekends and do that many sets of 3 pushups spread throughout the day. It does have a big advantage over pull ups in that I don't have to be around a pull up bar to get them done. And like last challenge, I'll take one rest day per week as needed. Free Action: Barn building continues. 1.5 walls are done. Not really setting a goal here, as a lot is dependent on weather. I do think I'm going to slow down a little, though. I wanted to have the horses moved in before this prayer retreat, which obviously didn't come close to happening, which means my next deadline is September, so lots of time now. And both my dad and I are starting to drag, so probably a good idea to back off a bit. I mostly took zero week off, but I did track it on my spreadsheet, because I was worried that if I completely skipped out for a week, I'd lose all my positive momentum. So here's what it ended up looking like: Movement: 7.75 miles in on my lunch breaks. I'd like more than that for the challenge itself, but for zero week, I'll take it. Action: Disengaged for the beginning of the week and then lots of social time at the end. Again, for zero week that's fine. Bonus Action: Lots of cooking, but I did get some animal time in, and when my D&D game was cancelled on Friday, I actually got a bit of writing done! Reaction: Took the whole week off. It was a good call. Free Action: Between weather and company, missed a bunch of days, but still got 2 windows in and trimmed and got a couple rows of siding up. Today's Plan: Going to walk a little on my lunch, but I am tired today, so might just stroll to a quiet spot and then sit and read or listen to a podcast for a little while. The house is a bit of a mess after the weekend, so action will most likely be cleaning. For bonus action, going to spend some time with my animals tonight, especially my cat, who does not tolerate company well. Rolled a 6 for pushups and not going to have my dad available tonight, but hoping to get drip caps on the 2 south windows, which should be fine as a solitary job and also (knock on wood) shouldn't take that long. Let's do this!

Happy May and Happy New Challenge! I've been super excited about my D&D challenges, and they've all kind of fizzled out. I think because, as fun as it is to play a bard or a barbarian or a wizard, I am a Ranger. And you know what they say, Rangers gonna Ranger. But I'm also trying to balance not exhausting myself by doing ALL THE THINGS! So here's the plan for this challenge: I can do anything, but I can't do everything. Following the action economy of D&D, every turn I have a: movement, action, bonus action, reaction. I do not have to do one of each every day, the point is more that I am going to try to not do more than one in each category so that I think a little more about what I'm doing and how I'm using my time. Movement: Hiking, walking, or biking. Ideally averaging 1 mile/day. My favored terrain is forest, so wooded trails count double. Action: For theming purposes, I stuck with D&D actions for this section. Mostly these are things that I like doing but often struggle to follow through on. Attack: Get a workout in. My main workout goal is going to be my reaction (see that teaser?), but this can be any other activity, whether it's a full workout, boxing, jump rope, yoga, anything goes here. Gathering Swarm: As a Swarmkeeper Ranger, when I take the attack action, my nature spirits can swarm. So obviously, this is my gardening goal. Dash: Go for a run. Any other cardio will be Attack, this is specifically to track running. Help: Social obligations. Whether or not they take up the action category for the day or can coincide with another one primarily depends on where my social energy level is and whether I feel like I have the spoons for it or not. Search: Clean. Mostly indoor cleaning, but I might do some property clean up here. Or maybe that falls under Gathering Swarm. I'm making this up as I go. Disengage: This is a planned rest day. When I feel like I need a break, I can disengage. Hide: This is an emergency rest. I hadn't planned on taking the day off, but things went south and I bailed. If I start seeing too many Hide days, that's a clear sign that I need to rethink what I'm doing. Bonus Actions: These are my hobbies. I have a lot, some of which I've neglected lately. I don't have any set goals here as far as how much I do of any of them. The point is 1) to prioritize hobby time over empty phone time, and 2) see which hobbies I'm gravitating towards these days. Since these are fun, fulfilling activities for me, I might cheat a little and let myself do more than 1 a day, but we'll see. I am trying to reign myself in this challenge. Shooting: Rifle or Archery. I enjoy both. Probably going to lean more towards the archery side, as my gun range has a tree down on it, but that also might get taken care of this challenge. Creativity: Writing or Music. Both of these are fun for me, but I also have a tendency to put too much pressure on myself to do them on a fixed schedule, and then I lose my motivation to do it at all. So no pressure this time around, just a fun time if I feel like it. Animals: I used to be much more intentional about spending time with my horses. I've let that slide on the excuse that my barn building has taken up that time/energy slot, but there's really no reason I can't do both. Cat and dog time can also go here. Cooking: I like to bake, and when the mood hits I also like putting together a meal, not just the actual cooking, but also fussing around with setting a nice table and everything. Last night I lit a fire, baked bread, and turned a chicken carcass into some delicious chicken and rice soup, and it was so cozy. It reminded me to take the time to enjoy the whole process of a meal, instead of just gulping it down for fuel. Crafting: I have not done any crochet in a while, and no cross stitch in even longer than that. Both of them are good evening activities that I can use to keep my hands busy instead of doomscrolling. Reaction Opportunity Attack: Just one option here. I am not going to fuss much this challenge about getting regular full body workouts in, especially since I should be active enough keeping up with all my other hobbies. But I have hit a plateau with my pull ups, and I want to keep progressing, so we are doing Grease the Groove training! 2 reps per set, 4-12 sets per day. And how will I determine sets for a particular day, you ask? That's right - it's time to roll some dice! 3d4 pull up sets per day. Although, in defiance of D&D etiquette, I shall be fudging if needed and will probably take at least 1 day a week off. But I dug out some appropriately Ranger-y d4s to use. Free Action Barn Building: Yup, this shall be ongoing. But it doesn't count towards anything else this challenge, because the whole point here is for me to get some balance back into my life and make time for stuff I enjoy doing. Not that I don't enjoy building, but I am getting a little tired of making it my sole focus. And here's my nice little spreadsheet to track everything, which shall be appropriately color-coordinated and updated at the end of each week. Zero Week M T W R F S N Movement Action Bonus Action Reaction Free Action Not planning to track anything today. Will I start tomorrow? Maybe! Who knows?

This challenge has no theme. This is unusual for me, but, I can't seem to find anything that's really motivating me "theme" wise...and you know what? THAT'S OK. I am currently working from home for my day job, still working weekly at Costco because there an essential business, and doing my best not to succumb to absolute bored-ness during this quarantine. Life is... strange, as I'm sure many of us are experiencing. But, I'm gonna make the best of the situation! I had originally had plans to do a Division Themed challenge this go round, but because my working from home productivity is so Important, I don't have a lot of extra time during the day to write up an epic challenge, and until I can do that, I don't won't to half-ass it. One of the hardest parts about this quarantine is: no hair cuts. I need one. BAD. I didn't have any intention on growing my hair out, so, I'm gonna need to figure something out lol. I'm loving working from home, though. I get to spend some much needed quality time with the Wolfpack™ and I couldn't be happier there. Going to Costco isn't all that bad. We're busy, that's for sure. And lucky for me, they have designated shopping hours for employees so we can get our essentials as well. It's usually at the ass-crack of dawn, but that's good with me. Get in, get out, and move on with the day. I've made do with no gym. I do a lot of "grease-the-groove" throughout the day and will be attempting a 3x a week calisthenic program from Athlean-X that covers full body for a rotating A and B workout. I tried one of the workouts the other day and found it pretty challenging, so, I know I got my work cut out for me. This challenge is all about the No Theme Quarantine Discipleen! (And I spelled discipline that way to rhyme with the other words ) Discipleen #1: Stay the Course Simple. Follow the workout program 3x a week. I have a better schedule to work around now, so, utilize it! Possible Stat Points: +1 STR, +2 DEX, +2 END Discipleen #2: Don't Eat out of Boredom Simple. Don't needless snack and eat junk. Eat quality food 90% of the time. And...NO SWEETS. PERIOD. Possible Stat Points: +2 WIS, +3 CON Discipleen #3: Flexibility for Sexibility Simple. Do yoga 1x a week minimum. Stay limber. Stay flexible. Stay Sexy. Possible Stat Points: +1 STR, +4 CON Actually, you know what? I do have some motivation during this challenge. He goes by the name of: Kumail Nanjiani He'll be starring in the upcoming Marvel movie, The Eternals, and the man has NEVER looked like this a day in his life. He's very average Joe and he's also 42 years old! I realize he had access to the best trainers and nutritionist money could by, but it was his mental fortitude that got him through the day and allowed him to kick ass for a solid year and get this incredible body. I can only HOPE to look that good at age 42. Kamail would mantra to himself when workouts were really tough: Leave your Body. And it didn't always work. He would still be sore. He would still experience pain. And soon, his mantra would become, "Chase the Pain". That's what this challenge is about. Chasing the pain to become a better me. Let's get this party started! (also, check out this ARTICLE from Men's Health about Kumail's story.) Wolf

R153 0F 7H3 H4CK71V157 (Rise of the Hacktivist) CH4PT3R 1: EM41LS W0lf, You ever get the feeling you’re being watched? That light graze across the subconscious that lets you know someone has their eyes on you...Yeah, I get that feeling too. No matter what I say or do, I know someone is aware of my actions and reactions and honestly...that’s some scary shit, bro. Blume controls ctOS 2.0 and ctOS 2.0 controls everything, man. It’s a giant spider web of data at their disposal. They use our friends, online purchases and even shit we type in Nudle to track us...to ‘watch’ us. The injustices need to stop! What happened to our basic freedoms? I’ll tell you what happened...we’re being robbed of them right underneath our noses. And no one's doing a damn thing about it... but DedSec is. Oh yeah! We’re in it to win it playboy! I’ve heard about you. You’re new, which may seem weird I even know you exist, but see, DedSec is everywhere and we’re always looking for new recruits to train up. I heard you might be interested in joining the cause? Actually, I head you might even want to head up the Dallas division of DedSec. I can dig your drive, but you got lots of work to do if you wanna be Alpha W0lf in Dallas, bro. So, here I am, offering up my services along with my team of highly trained individuals. Periodically, we’ll all reach out to you and make sure you’re given the best opportunity to help us and DedSec succeed. Since you’re already working through A+ (yeah, I know), the best advice I can give starting out is to finish it and move onto some more advanced stuff. If you can’t hack...I hate to say it, bro, but if you can’t hack it...DedSec will find someone else. I bought you some time because I know potential when I see it. It’s gonna be grueling at first. I won’t lie to you, it may even be downright boring, something like where you want to punch a fuckin keyboard. But I promise it’ll go fast. I went through the gauntlet before.. I self taught myself ya know? And so can you. How bad do you want to help, W0lf? How bad do you want to join DedSec? Retr0 0ut! His blue eyes scanned the computer screen, bloodshot from the lack of sleep these last few days. The excitement of the email was enough to make the corner of his mouth twitch upwards into the slightest of smirks but he couldn’t hide the giant grin underneath any longer. Are you going to respond or just drool over it? “What do you think?” W0lf said outloud, answering his own question. With a brief moment to collect his thoughts, the would-be hacker began to fold his laptop screen down then flipped it back up in a flash, revealing the email staring back at him. He drew in a long, deep breath, filling his entire chest cavity and lungs with fresh oxygen then blew it out with a huff. “Fuck it. What’s the worse that could happen…” and with a small click, W0lf hit the reply button, forever changing his fate from that moment on… Hello and welcome to the first installment of a 3-part series I will be doing entitled R1S3 OF THE H4CKT1V1ST. It may even extend beyond the 3 challenges but for now I want to stick with the original 3 and not overwhelm myself. I’m so excited you’re here, btw! I don’t normally introduce myself because I feel like most of you already know me and my story but now I am starting a new chapter in my life and want to kinda start things off fresh, so here’s a new introduction to where things are at right now (and where they’re going): My name is Wild Wolf but the Rangers tend to prefer Wolfie I am going on 29 years old this November (SCORPIO!) and I am married to my best friend and love of my life, Heather. We have 3 handsome boys, Racer (6), Declan (3) and Orin, about to be 2 August 26th! I’m coming off a Type II AC Joint shoulder separation that happened at the end of January when I was playing Quidditch down in Austin. You heard that right, Quidditch, lol. Brutal sport. Sad I got hurt..but it introduced me to an awesome couple who then introduced me to Gaelic Football. I’m finally back to some normalcy and I’m able to workout and do things I love to do again (like working out or playing with my kids)-I get to be ME again. It’s been nice, lemme say. Plus, Pokemon Go... How many miles have I walked trying to catch Pokemon? A lot. MOVING ON! I am an avid learner in the ways of the world and like to try new and exciting things-Hold your tongue Sparrow -and these next 3 challenges (if not more) will be about putting some consistency in my life and learning something (a skill) I’ve always thought was awesome and intriguing: learning to be a hacker. Luckily I have some friends on here whom have done such things or trained/learned to be a hacker. I’m looking at you @Volki and if I remember correctly, @darkfoxx and @EricMN know coding and that’s hacker stuff right? Anyways, lots of people in the NF community know about this stuff so I think I’ll have some help on here :). Right now, I’m hacking my way through CompTIA A+. (Lol, like what I did there ←) I’m at 20% right now but after I’m finished I’ll get my certification and move onto the next stage of my training. I realize that hacking is something that can take YEARS and even DECADES to learn and get good at and that’s fine, I understand, but I still wanna get on the path TO learn, ya know? I’m a n00b if there ever was one, but you gotta start somewhere. Edit: I use the free website Cybrary.It for ALL my training needs. You can't beat free! I needed a good challenge theme and thought, what better theme than my current obsession, the upcoming Ubisoft title Watch Dogs 2. The story is about a brilliant young hacker named Marcus Holloway and his hacktivist group called DedSec whom take on an evil corporation among other swanky things. The game comes out the day after my birthday, November 15th, so it will be a nice birthday present to myself because I’m excited about playing! I’m thinking I want to pre-order the Collector's Edition that comes with some cool in-game goodies as well as some awesome extra vanity items like your own robot that you can control with a phone based app! No lie- Check it out. This series of challenges will be based off me training to be a hacker and helping out Marcus aka Retr0 and the hacktivist group, DedSec take down the bad guys: Blume Corp. as well as various other corporations like Blume. Ubisoft (the company that made the game) did a good job of creating these fictional companies that somewhat resembles our RL companies. Like instead of Google, there's Nudle. Haha. Anyways, I want to combine elements from my last 3-4 challenges because I think I can find a synergy in there somewhere and maybe not do ALL the things but at least do ALL the things I want to do. I will have story elements for your viewing pleasure as well as some fun co-op things that won’t be hard or anything. If your name is Mr.Willes (or Mr_w as I will call him) then your co-op task will always be cold shower related #KiddingNotKidding The way the challenges will work is they will be based off growing 3 skill trees that are from the game itself: The C0MB4T H4CK3R, GH0ST H4CK3R and TR1CKST3R H4CK3R skill trees as well as keeping a semi-tight schedule on getting my IT/hacker certs. I will give myself some leeway since I am a family man and work a full-time job but this is where some mad discipline skillz come into play. Getting up early and using my lunch hour to train/study will be crucial. Hell, using ANY free time I have not interfering with family time is crucial! I’ve made a Google Sheet that lists all my daily/weekly tasks that I can complete, how much each task will be worth (points wise) and what skill tree it coincides with. I’m going to be introducing Progress Bars for these three skill trees and as I grow my RP hacker, W0lf, the skill trees will grow as well. Example of how the points will work: +3 to CH (C0MB4T H4CK3R) for completing a KB workout, +5 to GH (GH0ST H4CK3R) for getting 6+ quality sleep cycles, etc., etc., Another thing I will be implementing from Watch Dogs 2, aka WD2, is what’s called, “The Follower System”. Basically, completing assignments each week will gain me followers and the more followers I have, the more damage I can eventually do to Blume and ctOS while adding to my RL skills. This system is a double standard too because it relates to me being a follower of threads. A good goal is to be able to check in with all my friends at least 1x a week. Catching up may be out of the question because of time, but at least let them know I’m still there supporting them. I know this isn’t required but it’ll make me feel better. I will start a Nail Biting Accountability thread Here is the link to the Nail Biting Accountability thread. Just like Rangerbrain, I will eventually conquer this mother. I’m really excited about getting my certs and learning this as a skill because I’m wanting to expand beyond my current job right now. I dunno where I’ll be at towards the end of 2016, but I want to have made a huge dent in my training and blazing a path towards a career I would actually enjoy. I’m thrilled y’all are along for the ride! W0lf

Alright! New term, new challenge, new home! Well, I've still seven weeks before we even get the place, but it's a pretty big deal. I'm going to keep this challenge pretty short this time though. Exercise: Grease the Groove: Pull ups and dips have been added to my routine, but they are not proceeding as quickly as I would like. And, on my pull ups, I'm not quite getting to the bar. I feel like I'm getting the full range of motion in my elbow (i.e. I can't flex my arm any more). Maybe I need to widen my grip a bit to allow my back to move more. (Maybe I need to film it?) Plan? Grease the groove. Pull ups and dips before and after every sword class (which means I need to go twice a week), as well as at the gym (now that I have time for three days a week there too). Rest Days: 2 (separated) sets of Weeks 1, 2: 3 Week 3: 4 Week 4: 5 Gym days: 2 sets of 5 (or exhaustion) 1 set to exhaustion If I start the challenge this Saturday, that gives me five days a week, for four weeks, so twenty days. Standard school grading on this then. I need to be getting my chest to the bar each time by the end of the challenge! Diet: Frutta ed Vedura: I did alright last time. But this time, more! I need to get a couple servings of fruit and at least one of vegetables every day. Also strict school grading here! Maybe I should make some carbonated fruit like in this gif. Life: Rasettare: We're moving and I need to get rid of stuff. So, this is a checklist of things to pitch (or give away): Clothes: I've a fair amount I don't wear anymore. Maybe I can get some dough for them too. Comics: Get rid of those extra books that I have lying around. Find some I don't care about and sell them/get store credit. Something! Papers: Clean up desk, get rid of papers that are lying around. Notebooks and Sketchbooks: Pitch old school notebooks. Find something to do with that multitude of sketchbooks I have. Games, CD's and DVD's: get rid of cases of the ones to keep, and get rid of ones that I don't want. Get storage materials for the GameBoy and DS cartridges (recommendations welcome) Toys: Try to see if I can part with any of the toys we have. (Probably, but also probably not much) Additionally: add to Delicious Library all the media that I am keeping. Bonus points: Creatività: I was really wanting to create after C2E2! So, I need to draw or write or practice ʻukulele more. Ideas to kick this off would be appreciated,

I HAVE ALLOWED MY BASIC HUMAN VEHICLE TO EXPERIENCE THE EMOTIONAL HIGHS EARNED IN THE LAST CHALLENGE. READ ABOUT IT HERE. THE BEST BLACKBOARD MONITORS ARE NOT EFFICIENT - THEY ARE EFFECTIVE. THEY DO NOT WIPE WELL, THEY WIPE THE CORRECT THING AT THE CORRECT TIME. SO I SHALL TRACK MY DIET VIA THE MEDIUM OF PHOTOGRAPH. I SHALL NOT LOG RUTHLESSLY AND EFFICIENTLY - I MERELY NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS ON THE PLATE, BEFORE IT ENTERS MY ORAL CAVITY. ALL WISE BEINGS PLAN. AS IN SELF-HELP BOOKS, SO SHALL IT BE UPON ENGLAND. I WILL PLAN ALL EVENING MEALS ON EACH SUNDAY, AND I WILL PLAN AT LEAST 2 OTHER MEALS PER WEEK (SNACKS CAN COUNT AS MEALS). I ENJOYED TRAINING ONCE PER WEEK FOR THE PREVIOUS CHALLENGE. I TRAINED 3 TIMES MORE OFTEN THAN PLANNED. SO THIS CHALLENGE I WILL TRAIN AT LEAST TWICE PER WEEK. FINALLY, I WILL AIM TO GAIN 100XP PER WEEK FOR DUOLINGO SPANISH. THAT IS ONCE PER DAY, PLUS THREE EXTRA SECTIONS. THERE WILL BE A BRIEF, PLEASANT CHEMICAL REACTION IN THE SIMPLISTIC ANIMAL BRAIN OF THE FIRST HUMAN THAT GUESSES THE MYSTERY BONUS TASK I HAVE SET FOR MYSELF.

anyone who is familiar with the Terminator franchise has probably realized that Sarah Connor changed quite a lot from the first to the second movies. [if you haven't seen The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, shame on you! go watch them right now. i'll wait here.] so, Sarah's transformation. she pretty much goes from confused and constantly crying noob to total badass. from this to this right now, i'm probably closer to being the Sarah we find at the end of the first movie: getting smarter and stronger every day, starting to be cool and not so scared all the time, etc. however, i'd like to kick as much ass as Sarah 2.0. and so i am dubbing this challenge "from Sarah to Sarah" FROM SARAH TO SARAH main goal: 21% bodyfat right now i'm somewhere around 27%. and ultimately, i think i'd like to be around 19%, but i want to make my goals more attainable, so i'm aiming for 21 for now. this has been my goal ever since i joined NF back in July, but for some reason i didn't realize that it was ok to admit that that's what i've been working towards, which resulted in a lack of focus. but now, with two challenges under my belt, i understand myself more than before and i know how to get to where i want to be. i'm ready to put in the work to get what i want. let's do this! 1. prep for judgement day - parkour training M/W/F, HIIT T/TH, 1 jog/week previously, i had a certain routine that i would do every single M/W/F of the entire 6 weeks. i ended up getting bored and discouraged. to combat this, i am allowing myself more freedom in what my training will look like. it might be the bodyweight routine i've been working on already, it might be a different but similar bodyweight routine, it might be a cross-fit kind of thing, whatever. i realize that it's more important to be having fun and staying active than to torture yourself with a routine that has grown stale and predictable. same goes for HIIT. i had just been doing sprints, but it got so boring! i'm opening myself up to the possibility of replacing the sprints with mountain climbers, burpees, going up and down the stairs, anything i feel like, as long as it gets my heart pumpin'. 2. weapons cleaning and maintenance - greasing the groove this goal covers a lot of ground. i'm kind of worried about how much i'm giving myself to do, but again, in this challenge i'd rather overwhelm myself than let myself get bored again. so, i'm going to be greasing the groove with A LOT of things: handstands, pushups, pullups, splits, and playing my violin. i'm sick and tired of not doing these things because i feel like there isn't time for it. there IS time! if i spend 5 minutes max doing each of these, that takes up less than a half an hour. there is absolutely no excuse for letting these skills go untended. 3. contribute to the humanness of humanity - write 2 books committing to writing 2 books in 6 weeks sounds a lot more insane than it actually is. i'm only talking about writing a few 60,000 - 80,000 word stories. i'm not aiming for the next great American novel, i just want to make a few dollars on the side with writing. this will be the mega-fluffy chick-lit and romance stuff you see in airports, but even that calibre is a bit lofty. my boyfriend [who, i proclaim, will henceforth be known as Skinny Legs for the purposes of this thread] makes almost enough to live off of from the romance books that he writes. i know i can do it too, and i want to, but it's just hard to get going. i have solid ideas for 3 stories, but i only want to have to focus on writing 2 of them up. this is one of those rare things that i'd rather ease myself into than start too quickly and get burned out on after 3 books. and as far as the whole "contributing to humanity" bit goes... haha that's a bit of a stretch. if they were going to be 2 fine specimens of literature, or art, or great music, fine. but as it is, i don't think chick-lit counts as "meaningful" to the human experience... life quest - write down everything i eat that isn't paleo simple enough. now i just have to do it... i'm hoping the act of writing it down and seeing on paper how much or little i've gotten off track with my diet will encourage me and push me towards being better. i also want to track my caloric intake for at least the first week to see if i'm anywhere close to my target. grading goal 1: A - 5 days of workout/week, B - 4/3 days/week, C - 2 days/week, D - 1 day/week goal 2: A - 5 out of 5 for 5 days/week, B - 3-4 out of 5 for 3-4 days/week, C - 2 out of 5 for 2 days/week, D - 1 out of 5 for 1 day/week goal 3: A - 2 books published, B - 1 book published, 1 being edited, C - 1 book being edited, 1 being written, D - 1 book being written, 1 not even started i'm so ready to rock this challenge! i know my goals, however big and seemingly daunting, can be achieved. and i know that there's no fate but what we make for ourselves.