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Welcome to the Magical Holiday™ edition! This round we will be kicking off a spell of celebration as an Act of Will. Yes, the Night is dark and filled with terrors, but we can be Heroes, just for one day. The Spell: Hero’s Feast You bring forth a great feast, including magnificent food and drink. The feast takes 1 hour to consume and disappears at the end of that time, and the beneficial effects don’t set in until this hour is over. Up to twelve creatures can partake of the feast. A creature that partakes of the feast gains several benefits. The creature is cured of all diseases and poison, becomes immune to poison and being frightened, and makes all Wisdom saving throws with advantage. Its hit point maximum also increases by 2d10, and it gains the same number of hit points. These benefits last for 24 hours. 6th-level conjuration Casting Time: November 27-January 1 Range: The Loft Components: V: Deck the Hall Decorate the Loft! It’s a Celebration time! My plan is to spend the next six weeks in full-on celebration mode. Everything is wonderful! The Universe loved us all year and we are happy. Look for Black Friday events of Assembling Christmas Tree, hanging stockings, playing games, and unveiling the advent calendar S: On Your Merry Way With You Go out and about on your Merry Way! Movies in the theatre, hot chocolate in the Loft, downtowning, books and bookstores and sweet shops, o my. M: Stab With Glee Those pesky debt-monsters. Stab them, we will. Bonus from: Find Familiar Dogsitting to help slay the debts

Goals: finances, gym, philosophy, Evening Rest This is going to be an Introverts Challenge — I’m depleted and need to refocus and restore. This is not the time to add in new things or extend my reach, especially not with things that involve being out of the Loft. This is the challenge where I channel my inner Library Cat and just curl up and do what needs doing and nothing else. Last challenge I started tracking what I do with varying points and categories, and it really helped me see that I already do a lot, and also that medical appointments are taking a huge chunk of time and energy as well as money. I’m going to continue tracking in the same way, since it makes sense and also allows me to see how the little daily things tend to slip first when I’m flagging, and this is a good way to notice early on when I need to make an adjustment before everything falls off the rails. Druid Things - weekly tasks: returning the compost pail; picking up the milk or the farm share; acupuncture; housekeeping. +20 each. Ideal: 100/week Cantrips are my daily tasks: making my bed; logging in to work; forum posting; laundry; dishes; you get the idea. +1 each. Ideal: 35/week Philosophy: - PhD things: +20 each Philosophy Reading spell; +10 each personal reading spell. Ideal: 80 Philosophy points/week; 20 Personal (optional). .303 Bookworm & other spells: I am tracking how often I have to cast a Rebalance, Restore, Fortify, or Gumption spell or take a Maxalt (potion), and this has helped me see when I’m getting depleted. Having a disabling condition is a weird thing. Tracking helps make the invisible more visible.+10 each spell. Ideal: track each day. Gym: just going for a morning walk and hitting the steam room and the sauna has done wonders for helping smooth out the TBI issues I was having, and I’d like to continue this. It’s simple and available, and as long as I spend a little time (30-60 minutes) each morning, it has a cumulative effect of helping me be whole. I have come to think of this as my “commute” since I work from home and the gym is next door to my building. +10 each trip to the gym Ideal: 50/week Finances: Weekly payment to medical or debt. +25 each Ideal: 25/week Seize the Day: 5000 Steps by noon (preferably before logging in to work) is a pretty big stretch goal, 10 points; Evening Rest (because rest is sacred work), 10 points. Ideal: 50 points/week each. Medical Appointments just about did me in last challenge, and I’m taking a step back from the medical carousel that comes with disability. Social +20 each Marching Band Boosters, Pinball League, and High School Football all happening at once is a lot, Friends. I’m not certain I’m up for all of that, and I’ll definitely be glad when the social calendar calms down a bit. In the meantime, these alliances make a difference in my small world. Ideal: 20/week. Beware any week with more than 40. 80 is right out. Stats Constitution: 13—good food and good rest continue to allow me to have a greater capacity for recovery and healing. Thank you Universe. I don’t expect this to go up much. Maintenance is the focus and the goal. Strength: 16 — the job wobbles left this a -1, so we’re starting at 16. Definitely looking to improve this. Intelligence: 17 — the cognitive impairment from last challenge was largely due to all the many appointments and assessments. It will likely take a year to get this back to 18 Dexterity: 15—constraints, o my! Took a major hit at the end of last challenge. Improving this is my primary focus Wisdom: 16—a step down because of the constraints situation. Seems like the things that happened in Zero Week affected everything, because they did. Charisma: 17 — one of the few scores that survived last week. Very glad to see that this is as powerful as it is. Stamina: 9, and woo hoo me! I didn’t think this would hold, and I’m pleased to note that small efforts applied consistently did in fact work. (Who knew?) TL;DR: YES: forum posting, gym, rest, healing, daily tasks, Druiding. NO: additional anything. Just stop and let things be for a minute. GET THROUGH: Band Boosters, Pinball League, the job thing.

With the changes happening, I cannot pinpoint what is my main quest. I have never been one to work on just one life goal. For example, I am currently working on two (FBI and PHD) and doing the preliminary research of a third (Teaching Aboard). So I foresee this challenge being a bit harder than others as I've enjoyed working on both and now three. However, because this is a fitness forum, I will stick to a fitness adventure quest for this challenge. Main Quest - By the end of the year I would like to be able to pass two out of the four FBI fitness requirements. Goal #1 – Strength Configuration Part 2 (45 Push Ups, Non-Stop)! How and Why: Continue with my pushups. In my last challenge I was able to finally do 60 push ups from the tabletop. In this challenge I will be going down a bit more. This time my pushups will be from a height that is around my mid-thigh. My grade will be based on how I do the Monday morning that I am supposed to report in: Week 1 – 1 min, 30 seconds rest for 3 reps Week 2 – 1 min, 20 seconds rest for 3 reps Week 3 – 1 min, 10 seconds rest for 3 reps Week 4 – 2 mins, 30 seconds rest for 3 reps Week 5 – 2 mins, 20 seconds rest for 3 reps Week 6 – 2 mins, 10 seconds rest for 3 reps Grade: A = 45 B = 40 C = 36 D = 31 F = 27 Stats: +1 Sta, +2 Str Goal #2 – Stamina Configuration Part 2 (45 Sit Ups, Non Stop!). How and Why: Again another FBI fitness test is based off of the sit-ups but in one minute (I need 57). In my last challenge I was able to finally do 31 sit ups. In this challenge I will be going faster and often. The only way to keep going is to do them as often as possible which is where I get in trouble. Week 1: 3 reps twice a week Week 2: 3 reps twice a week Week 3: 3 reps three a week Week 4: 3 reps three a week Week 5: 3 reps four a week Week 6: 3 reps four a week Grade: A = 45 B = 40 C = 36 D = 31 F = 27 Stats: +1 Str, +2 Sta Goal #3 - Defeat round two boss, Coke Cola! How and Why: So I was able to start drinking 6 cups of water BUT the caffeine still has a hold of me. In the last challenge I was able to remove myself off Starbucks. I went 31 days without Starbucks. I have the following cheats (as in going drinking coke): Cheats: Week 1: 3 Week 2: 2 Week 3: 2 Week 4: 1 Week 5: 1 Week 6: 0 Grades: A = 33 Days B = 30 Days C = 27 Days D = 24 Days F = Below 21 Stats: +1 Sta, +2 Con Life Quest: One Does Not Simply Step Into Their Doctorate Program Part 2 - Read a book every two weeks. (+.5 WIS for each book) <- 1. - Practice for the GRE Test every two weeks (+.5 WIS for each test) <-- 1st test completed on 8/11/2013, - Start Internship (+.33 CHA) <-- Completed on 8/27/2013 - Save $200 for transcripts (+1 CON), Update: $132.00 - Sign Up for Russian Language Classes (+.33 CHA) <-- Completed on 8/5/2013 - Visit Formal Professor (+.34 CHA) <-- Completed on 8/30 - Write Personal Statement (+.5 CON) - Write Statement of Purpose (+.5 CON) Stats: +2 Con, +1 Cha, +3 Wis