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Guten tag Assassins! Main Quest: Rather vague, but my main quest is to improve my gymnastics skills. I was doing really well for a while, but got fat and lazy and regressed. I can still do most of my skills on the tumble track that I was doing before, but basically can’t do anything on the floor anymore. I blame this largely on weight gain. I lost a bit during the course of the last challenge (I read the dates wrong and didn’t end up participating in the challenge ☹) and really notice a difference! Specific Missions: 1. Lose weight by tracking Weight Watchers points and staying within my weekly goal 2. Exercise enough each week to equate to 50 activity points when logged into Weight Watchers (number subject to change - not sure how easy or difficult this will be). 3. Stay out of the food cupboard at work Going back to basics! I am basically redoing my very first challenge as an assassin…wow…four years ago! Side Quest: Emerald City Comic Con in Seattle: March 1-4. I am remaking my Nightcrawler costume…this time from scratch! I am sewing a body suit myself by altering a Yaya Han pattern. I need to get this done before 2/28…16 days!

Story: Nightcrawler's best friend growing up was his adoptive brother, Stefan. Even as children, Stefan could feel a growing darkness inside himself. Terrified of this, he forced Kurt into a blood pact, swearing that if Stefan were to ever give in to this evil, Kurt was to stop him at any cost. Not believing his best friend and brother ever capable of such darkness, Kurt immediately pushes the thought from his mind and forgets about the silly pact. Now, as Nightcrawler heads home from his long struggle escaping the imprisonment and abuse of the freak show in the American circus, that promise is the furthest thing from his mind. He reflects on the changes he has seen within himself these last several weeks. He is now much more flexible, which will aid in his tumbling and acrobatic skills when he returns to his home circus. Equally, if not even more exciting, Nightcrawler has developed a new ability: Teleportation! With conscious effort, he can envision himself in another location and, in the blink of an eye and a cloud of smoke, he finds himself there! He can't wait to show his family his two incredible new skills! His excitement is quickly forgotten as he arrives home and finds the village nearby terrorized by a recent string of murders. Upon investigation, Kurt learns that Stefan is the one responsible and has been killing children from the village! The promise made years previous comes back to him as Nightcrawler prepares to confront his best friend. It will take all of Nightcrawler's willpower and determination to face his closest friend. I was originally planning to take a martial arts class, but my work schedule just does not allow for me to commit to anything. Instead, I will focus on the determination required of Nightcrawler in order to fight his friend and brother. Main Quest: Back handsprings continue to be my main goal. I made great strides in the last challenge, landing two back handsprings on the floor and adding a back tuck after the back handspring on the trampoline! This is the last full challenge before Rose City Comic Con, which lands two weeks after the end! Last chance to move my back handspring to the ground so I can handspring down the hall at the convention! Missions: 1. P90X. I will be following the P90X program for the duration of this challenge! I will be giving myself some leeway in the interest of time. With the con coming up, I have a LOT to get done. On days that I will for sure be able to make it to gymnastics, I will not be doing the P90X workout. I am also choosing not to do the optional stretching video on Sundays. 2. Protein. Carrying this over from the last two challenges. 130 grams of protein per day every day. 2. Willpower. NO MOVIE THEATER POPCORN! Probably the biggest obstacle for my weight loss at this point! This will be VERY difficult for me because I LOVE going the the movies and eating popcorn!! 3. Stretching. Carrying this one over too. I WILL get into the splits by the end of this challenge and hopefully have progressed enough to actually be comfortable in them. One minute hold in six different stretches and each type of split EVERY DAY. Life Quest: Finish my Nightcrawler costume!! LOTS to do before the convention!!

Story: Having achieved his goal of holding handstands and making considerable advances with his back handsprings, Nightcrawler now plays a major part in making the small circus he was adopted into a success. People are flocking from around the globe to see The Incredible Nightcrawler! A wealthy businessman from Texas takes notice and buys out the circus, moving it to America! However, after learning that his demonic appearance is not a costume; rather, his natural, crazy-awesome form, the new owner cages Nightcrawler, drugging him and forcing him to a part of the freak show instead of the acrobats. Crazy, right?! How could you waste such amazing talents as handstands (ok...so they arent held for very long and not very consistent...) and back handsprings (ok, so these aren't mastered yet either,,,but are definitely improving!) on the freak show?!? Nightcrawler should be the star of the show!! Determined to escape his imprisonment, he immediately starts fighting the effects of the drugs. He will need his mind working properly if he hopes to escape! Freedom from his barred cell will also require flexibility and a lean body. And so the struggle begins! Main Goal: Still working on back handsprings. This is my ongoing goal: To be able to do these on any ground, consistently and with proper form. I worked on shoulder strength and range of motion with handstands in the last challenge, this time I will focus on leg flexibility. The goal will be the splits! I don't expect to actually accomplish this within six weeks, but I am going to try! Specific Missions: 1. The solution to pollution is dilution! Time to nix the drugs holding Nightcrawler back and flush the system! a. No more artificial sweeteners! The exception to the ban on artificial sweeteners will be protein shakes to get enough protein in (I already have a large tub that is sweetened with sucralose) b. Drink more water! I will drink at least one Nalgene bottle per day of WATER. 2. Flexibility! Getting out of this tight confinement, Nightcrawler will have to increase his flexibility! I will work on the following set of stretches for achieving the splits: a. In straddle position, lean to each side and center for 1 minute each b. Hold pigeon stretch for 1 minute on each side c. Hold butterfly stretch for 1 minute d. Attempt each split as far as possible for 1 minute each This set will be completed once daily on work days and twice daily on my days off (three per week), making a grand total of at least 10 sets per week. 3. Lean body! Nightcrawler will have to be in shape and get rid of unwanted body fat in order to fit through the bars on the cell! This will be achieved via: a. Tracking Weight Watchers points daily b. Earning at least 30 exercise points weekly (up from 20 last challenge) c. Including at least 130 grams of protein in my points allowance daily (This is changed from 170g on workout days and 100g on off days as this ended up limiting my exercise for the week, choosing not to do a workout so I could eat other foods that didn't contribute to the large protein goal.) Life Goal: 1. Bilingual! Continuing work on ASL interpreting certification. I do not believe I require any more pre-requisites to get into the program, but found a class that would definitely help with review and getting me back into ASL thinking. I will sign up for this class or a similar one if that one is not offered this term. 2. Teleporting! Continue the ongoing search for a car. I will search car ads weekly to find the right match. Utilizing my parents' car at the moment, but will have to return it come October. Fine Print: My birthday falls within the span of this challenge and reserve the right to take time off from my goals to celebrate! I have requested the weekends before and after my birthday as well as the day itself and the following day off from work...During this span of a little over a week, I will continue with the challenge as stated on days I do not have celebration plans, but I plan to eat/drink what I want when partying with friends!!

Story: Parents presumed dead, Kurt Wagner grows up in a small Bolivian circus. Admiring most the acrobats with their badass feats of strength and agility, Kurt decides: “Heck! I could do that! Ich bin fantastisch!!!†And so his training begins. Kurt is determined to become the best acrobat in the show. In order to become the best, our favorite blue elf will of course, need to be able to perform the awesome tricks the acrobats are performing, requiring strength and a diet that will both keep him lean and provide enough protein to develop the muscles he is working so hard to build. Main Quest: Overall main quest is to move my round off-back handspring from the trampoline onto the ground so I can do this anytime. This will likely take several challenges to complete, so my goal for this one is to be able to hold a handstand. This will help develop shoulder and core strength, which will definitely help with my back handsprings. Specific Missions: 1. Earn a minimum of 20 Weight Watchers activity points per week with at least three strength workouts built into this. 2. Track Weight Watchers points daily and stay within my weekly points allowance. Within this, I will require a minimum of 56 100 grams of protein, increasing to at least 90 170 grams on days that I am doing a strength workout. If I earn more than 20 activity points in a week, I will allow using these. 3. At least five minutes of handstand work daily Side Quest: 1. Our friend Kurt is bilingual, fluent in German and English. I will need to work on this ability as well. My language of choice however, will be American Sign Language. My goal will be to sign up for and (hopefully) get accepted into one of the two remaining prerequisite classes required for the ASL Interpreting Program. 2. His most renowned ability is that of teleportation. This is how he travels from one location to another. For me to do this, I will require a car. I am car-less at the moment, but will be borrowing my parents' car for a few months while I search for the right one to become available within my price range. This is ongoing challenge to challenge until I find the right car now that I am able to borrow one.

Guten tag Assassins! Main Quest: I want to move my back handspring to the floor. I want to be able to do it anywhere! I just moved it from the tumble track at gymnastics to a mat on the springy floor after about a year attending adult beginners gymnastics classes (only 1-2 times per month working on floor stuff), but my car got totaled and I have not been able to go since then. I expect this will not be something I will be able to accomplish during this six week challenge as it is still hard for me to get to gymnastics. Because of this, my goal will be more to get back into shape to be able to do this as it has been a few months since attending. Specific Missions: 1. Lose weight by tracking Weight Watchers points and staying within my weekly goal 2. Increase fitness by exercising enough each week to equate to 20 activity points when logged into Weight Watchers. 3. Discontinue the bad habit of eating in bed. For my last challenge (which was also my first), I tracked my WW points, but did not have the stipulation of staying within my points allowance. With some effort, I did stay within those points anyway, so I feel this is an acceptable goal to have this round. I also worked to make exercise a habit, but did not dictate an amount of activity; just that I had to do some form of physical activity daily. I believe I averaged about 15 WW points per week. I feel increasing by five points is something doable for me. Side Quest: BUY A CAR! I have been without a car for a couple months and am just too indecisive. I need to do some serious searching and get one soon! Missing out on a lot of things just because it is hard to get to them (such as gymnastics!) Motivation: Nerd alert! I made a Nightcrawler costume for Rose City Comic Con last year and will be remaking parts to improve it for this year's con in September. I want to be able to do a back handspring while in costume!