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Decided to wait on starting my first challenge post until after my camping trip was done. Anywho, the last one basically petered out. I lost steam with the "project" approach, probably because it got to be way too much to keep up with. It ended up being way too granular which, though it got me off to a good start, turned keeping up with this stuff into a chore. More importantly (and in keeping with what Mrs. Keys learned from her nutritionist), it resulted in having things occupy my waking mind that didn't need to be there. (She told my wife that she wasn't in support of tracking food-She said it causes you to think about food all the time. You should do your best to eat good food, but then when you're done, don't think about it). And it's way too easy to get wrapped around the axle with my own shame issues of having to follow "the rules" (even my own ones) way too precisely. So, I'm going to think of things at a much higher level. My only real activity for the challenge will be to post here each night. That post is going to entail an evaluation of my progress towards my goals-Eat better and do creative things. Yes, they're not goals--not the SMART kind--fine, call them "mission statements" or whatever. I intentionally want them NOT timebound, NOT specific, NOT measurable... Think of them more like stars or the rise in terrain away from a river when you're trying to make it back to the road. They represent the general direction that I want to head, and by virtue of checking in each night and evaluating how I handled the day, I can at least know whether I moved closer to where I want to get or farther away. And I know this works for me because I've already seen it. At the beginning of this year, I decided that I wanted to step up my cooking game, and over a few challenges, I tracked some things, yes, but then I stopped paying attention to it and stressing about it. Yet I still made progress toward that goal because I enjoy cooking, and separate from my challenges, I started practicing more and learning more and thinking more strategically about my cooking. Yes, committing to X meals over the course of 5 weeks lit a fire under my butt, but it was all the other stuff that's much harder to measure that kept it lit. I experimented, got curious, my wife went to see a nutritionist and learned stuff, not to mention I've been doing my own therapy work, learning to accept my mistakes, not to mention reading up on the principles of cooking, etc. So, here's the plan: I'll evaluate my meals-Breakfast, Dinner, and everything else. I'll also evaluate my progress towards piano and my other various flights of fancy. No structured scale. Just this: Am I moving closer to my goals (eat better and do creative things) or am I moving further away, and how do I feel about that? Only one rule: Post each night (unless something more important causes me to miss a night, in which case, that's okay, too)

I was on the fence about starting this one now. On the one hand, I do want to add more of a narrative flair to my challenges, complete with characters, a story arc, etc. On the other...well, the idea machine just ain't working right now. I don't want to let my writer's block get in the way of building some healthier behaviors, so I'll start with just my mini projects for now and will build in the narrative stuff later once I have the time to sit down and come up with some better ideas. So here goes: Mini projects: 1. Clear headed: No beer until Saturday the 29th. 2. Reconnaissance: Every day, until Saturday the 29th, go for a walk somewhere. No minimum distance. 3. Lore: Do 1 hour of work reading on Sat the 29th (so it must be done on Sat. The goal is to get me accustomed to doing little bits of weekend work.) 4. Well supplied: Finish organizing garage. (The garage shelves are finished. Now, I just need to put the garage back together and get my things in their new home. Might also use this time to brainstorm some new construction projects.) 5. "Tea. Earl Grey. Hot": Daily minimum 5 minute piano noodling each day until Sat the 29th. I've got an event I'm going to on Sat (nothing major-just a hangout with the bros), so that will be my day to update mini project progress.

RAISE THE BAR !!!! ^CHORD This challenge is going to be about raising the bar! And that includes working on the F bar chord in guitar too, because boy - that thing is a little punk. For a long time NF challenger, it's very easy to get into the place of just doing the same old same old. And that's great. But it's time for me to add a few rings to my tree trunk, -er, I am talking about 'growth', not putting weight on lol! I've coasted a bit and want to get back into growing as a person; improving myself physically, emotionally, spiritually and relationally. That's too much to try and do all at once, so we'll break it down into smaller things that get focused on per challenge. When one gets leveled up, we work on the next, and so on. I am also setting a long term goal here, in writing. I want to compose and record an original song before I am 50. (Honestly, I think I can nail that one far before the expiration date, but I didn't want to feel pressured - I want to enjoy the learning process, so we're setting this out there a few years.) Now for the list of longer term things I want to start working on over the next few months. Understand Starpuck, be the best Starpuck I can be. Step 1: Read "The Road Back to You" (An Enneagram Thingy) Conquer fear of change, and move out into my own place - be it an apartment or a house. Step 1: Rework budgets, set savings goals and plans, use envelope method for 'allowance/eating out'. Find guitar teacher, take a short term session of lessons. Step 1: Reach out to Perry's music. Stop judging teachers by awful pictures, lol! Go meet them. 5 WEEK CHALLENGE GOALS Goal #1 - FOOD! In 5/4 Timing - What? This means, aim to eat 5 times through the day, with quarter note sized meals lol. I was debating if I wanted to track calories, but coming from a total free for all, I don't want to swing too hard to the other end of the spectrum. I think just being mindful will get me back to a good 'starting point'. Plan: Eat Breakfast, Lunch, Snack, Dinner, Snack each day. Avoid adding extra snacks, especially in the evening or on weekends. Track It: Must note when I overdo the snacks, otherwise, each day assumed to have been 'in time' with the band. Goal #2 - Groove and Move - This is about keeping my physical body up to snuff. I want to be healthy and active long term, and that means putting in the work now. I also have noticed that over the past several years, the better my nutrition and sleep have been, the less illness I've had to face. That seems like one heck of a perk there. Groove is for strength training (not that I'm doing grease the groove) and Move is for any other intentional movement. I want to keep my cardio/pulmonary working well too, so getting heart rate up and lungs kicking is a goal, but it can be chill like walking or hiking too. (Not that either of those will be happening during the midst of winter. Plan: 2-3 Strength Days / Week. (Winter means less options for cardio, so a great time to increase strength days to 3.) 2+ other activity days. Track It: Yeah. Easy track here. Did I do them, or skip them? Goal #3 - Pick, Pluck, and Pen - This is the creative ensemble. It covers my music practice, which, I have set a pretty decent achievable goal of 2 hours / instrument per week, and 3 hours of art. I often go over, but this allows me to still hit targets on weeks that have extra changes in the line up, or outings, or hiccups that make practicing harder. Plan: 2 hours / week of guitar, bass and piano. 3 hours of art. Track It: Use Timelog app to keep track of this. Great app! 10/10 would recommend. General To Do's - Boldness, Books and Budgets - This final goal is just to track that I am remembering and paying attention to Step 1's of some of the longer term goals. I don't want to put "weekly" rules and requirements on this, so they will just be general to do's, and check marks that I am, in fact, putting some time and thought into them. Continue search for guitar lessons, check Perry's out. Local is a + and they are cheapest I've found. Read the book. Take it slow. Add notes in the side or on Post-Its. Use this to continue to sort out my challenges and learn to overcome my repeat hurdles. Create budget. Set up house savings / move money monthly into this. Create envelopes and use them. (app, or actual cash?) Start planning for 2023 vacations. (Hawaii still on radar?) Smaller trip / via car somewhere. Start working on the audio interface and software. Take it slow. Don't panic. Also - after original excitement about this theme, lol, I might change it in a week or so. My mood is all over the place right now! LOL. Short Bio

Let's keep the music themes going eh? 8 weeks till Vacation, or 4/4! And I've set myself four goals to chart. I still haven't gotten my consistency underfoot, but I got really close to nailing it this last week. (Then had a really stressful weekend and by Sunday, I needed liquid courage and woops.) So, this challenge will be a continuation of trying to get my chops back. Figuratively. Exercise Goals - 5x a week. I do best with strength twice a week and random intentional movement on at least three occasions. Some weeks a third strength is fine, but I know I don't do well with 3x every week right now. Music & Art - I was able to get 4 sessions for each instrument in most of last challenge, and, since I want to improve my skills, I do need to aim for this kind of thoughtful amount of time spent. Monday's and Tuesday's work great for getting lots of music in, so do Friday's and Sundays. The rest of the days, if I just strum a bit before other commitments, cool beans. I would also like to get pencil to sketchbook again too, but no pressure on this. Food - Either track, or don't eat like an ahole. Pretty straight forward here. I know what I should be eating, and how much. Just need to do it. Socials & Self Time - I need to work on two things. Getting social and being with people, but also carving out time for myself to unwind and reflect. This can be tallied up in an easy, totally contradicting phrase. "Start saying yes -- Start saying no." Going to track on here, because that should have me checking the forums more often lol! Weekly trackers below. **ALSO! I want to start doing the recreate gifs thing, so look for that! EXERCISE 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 FOOD 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 ARTSY STUFF 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 PIANO 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 BASS 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 GUITAR 🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲🔲 SKETCH/DOODLE

Yeah, I'll still be climbing and talking about climbing, but there aren't any climbing goals that I wasn't already going to be doing. Instead, the focus will be on cool art and crafts projects. Recently, I bought a 3d resin printer! It's so incredibly cool! I'm still a noob, but I'd be totally happy to answer anyone's questions about 3d printing. So far, I've printed things using other people's 3d files. Now, I want to learn to create my own 3d models. I also have to paint all of the family D&D campaign minis. And I have crochet projects. And I have a piano to practice and songs to record...... So..... 1. 10 Blender tutorials per week. It's probably the best free 3d modeling program out there, and I need to learn how to make better use of it. In the short term, I want to design my own chess set and Catan pieces. Eventually, I want to be able to use it in conjunction with MakeHuman to create my own character minis. 2. Finish painting the family D&D minis. We custom printed 4 minis using Heroforge to customize our characters. I've painted my husband's character, and I posted the pics in my last thread. Now, I have 3 left. I will also post pictures of the finished pieces. 3. Do some sort of crochet project. I haven't yet decided what... When I figure it out, I'll post pics here. 4. Record and post a video of Chopin Nocturne #8. I need the added pressure of a deadline to try to clean up the piece. Also, I need to stop feeling like nothing is ever good enough to post. 5. (In some ways, this is the most important). Stop debating and arguing with people on Internet forums. It's a huge time waster, and it does nothing for my mental health. I will completely avoid a couple problematic forums, and instead use that time more productively.

Hi. Long time no see, everyone! I finally have the time and am in a mental space where I'm ready to return and get back into shape. On the bad side, moving + covid means I no longer am doing parkour. There isn't a good gym nearby, and I'm at the moment injury-phobic enough that I don't want to risk outdoor play. I'm still battling very low energy levels and weight gain (ugh, tamoxifen), but I'm still in remission! On the good side, hiking has been nice, I've started cycling, and I'll be joining a climbing gym soon. The kids loved their new school last year, and they're both in a great place socially and academically. I'm keeping the challenge simple: 1. I need to do one of the following every single day: yoga, cycling, hiking, climbing, or weight training. No excuses. It might be hot as balls throughout August, but I still can do the yoga, lifting, or climbing. 2. Fasting from 8pm through noon the following day. No more evening snacks. 3. Music: Playing the piano is one of my primary forms of mental self-care. I need to take the time to play at least 15 minutes every day. I'm currently working on Liebestraum (Liszt) and Nocturne #8 (Chopin), as well as accompaniment pieces for my son, who plays cello. Having him progress so quickly and so well in his music has been inspiring me to play, and we have a great time jamming together. 4. Sleep care - Tea + reading at night, since that's the only thing that helps for my insomnia 5. Trying to be a great parent. - For my 13 year old: Help them be more active. Make the time to help with homework. Kiddo wants us to use they/them pronouns, and even though it's a bit hard for me to remember, I need to try to do my best. Both kids are taking Algebra II this year, and I need to make sure the 13 year old doesn't feel insecure about their abilities compared to the 11 year old. - For my 11 year old: 11 year old wants to make it to Nationals for Mathcounts and also wants to qualify for AIME. I need to help him study for his math contests. Also, I need to help support him with his cello.

Warriors' Barracks: Run 2 5Ks before challenge is over Exercise 4x a week Monks' Temple: Professor Grant Horner's Bible reading lists: Monday - Thursday Memory verses every day Athenaeum: NASM course - take test on Module 3 & start Module 4 Piano - 175 hours per week or 35 minutes 5 x a week

I'm keeping this one really simple and focusing on eating habits. For the last year, I've been trapped in this vicious workout cycle, where I push too hard because I want to do the things I used to be able to do, I strain something, and then I'm sidelined for a bit. So, I'm backing away from pushing myself in the physical arena and instead pushing myself with better eating. Also, the kids start (virtual) school next Thursday, so I need to keep things easy and loose this challenge. Goals: 1. Delay the meals. Whenever I have a yogurt and coffee at 7:00, lunch around 1:00, and dinner around 7:00, I end up not needing an evening snack. The evening snack has been a huge source of extra, unneeded calories, so eliminating it would be great. Right now, the kids and I swim around noon and around 5 or 6 each day, so that has helped tremendously with pushing back meals. 2. If I'm hungry, I need to drink a glass of water, wait 30 minutes, and then only get a snack if I'm still hungry. 3. Eat more veggies! My husband got a green egg, so we've been grilling. Grilling is a great way for me to fill up on veggies for dinner. I've also been trying to eat more salad, and we've also started our garden. So, the plan is to eat at least a couple servings of veggies for both lunch and dinner, and turn to carrots + hummus first as a snack. 4. Exercise wise- Do stuff, but don't push. In the last 4 months, I've had problem areas in my lower back, left elbow, and hip/glute. The plan is to continue trying to do things, but the moment anything hurts at all in an unhappy way, rest and let it heal. My back was finally okay enough to do some yoga today, a full 3 weeks after my first issues, largely because I didn't rest it right after straining it. 5. Complete things in my nerdy checklist: -Learn the piano part for the 2nd movement of the Breval sonata in C, so I can do the duet with my son. -Record at least some piano piece. Ideally, it will be the first movement of the same Breval sonata, but it might be something else. -Have at least 2 outings where I drive somewhere with less light pollution and stargaze. -Focus on Saturn with my higher mag eyepiece (already managed with the lower mag one). -Find neowise -Research other cool things to view with the telescope. -continue coaching my kid for math contests. He's also trying to self-teach high school level geometry. -Get antifog, nearsighted goggles so I can truly swim while still seeing things. -Research what my family needs to do to get scuba certified. -Get the 3d printer working again, and print cool things. -Finish my Norbert the Dragon crochet.

I wanted to start on date but as always, Monday came and went... and here I am, at least not a week late xD! First of all, hope you're having a great start of the year. South here we were having great summer, beach days until a polar front passed over. So we went from over 30ºC to almost 10ºC. Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own. – Bruce Lee My mantra this month. Losing weight. I can't count calories, I've tried... but I've failed. So I'm sticking with dish sizes, portion and not having seconds. No alcohol on week days and checking my cravings, having healthier alternatives for those late night sugar wishes. Run, run, run. Once a week I'll go sprinting. Most likely hill sprints to make it easier on my knees. (Having run two 10k I know long ones make me bored so, fast and hard). Preferably, on Wednesday. Lift KTB workouts thrice a week (Is that how it's called three times?). Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. Yoga and mobility Having to deal with a pubalgia I'm having lots of mobility and strengthening exercises that I'll pair up with my personal yoga sessions. That will be every day. Write I want to write every day, and I've found many resources. I'm aiming high, I'm aiming big. I'll try journaling at night, to reflect on day. And writing 500-750 words during the day. The more the merrier. So... let's begin. This afternoon I'll make the first checking in.

I wasn't sure whether I would participate in this challenge, and I'm going to aim more for fixing my mindset than specifically doing more. Over the last year, I've had a bad tendency to stick with the easy path, rather than challenging myself. This is possibly why I've been so meh with everything. So, I'm going to avoid the low hanging fruit and make a point of challenging myself. 1. Exercise: Whether it's parkour, jogging, yoga, or just a home strength workout, the goal is to push myself in some way or try something new. For parkour, I need to try new moves or new sequences. For yoga, I need to return to hand balancing or challenging routines. For jogging, I need to push my pace a little more or push myself to just keep running after I want to stop and walk. For home workouts, I need to push for more reps or harder moves or something new. Every workout must involve pushing at least a little bit in some way. 2. Coding: I'm teaching myself python right now (as well as SAS), and I've once again been sucked into Project Euler. I've solved 61 of the problems, but they've mostly been the easy pickings. The goal is to push myself by completing at least one challenging problem each week (along with at least 10 easy problems). 3. Piano: Every time I sit down to practice, I need to either work on polishing up some challenging sequence that I've kind of been cheating on/slopping through/pressing the pedal while playing stuff and hoping for the best , or I need to work on a new, challenging song. That's it. Keeping it simple this time.

Welcome everybody! I'm a 26-year-old British guy who likes gymnastics, climbing, calisthenics, circus, weightlifting, ... and generally try to do too much. Last August I quit my job as a software engineer to go travelling around the world, volunteering for charities, learning new skills, and generally chasing excitement Brief summary of my journey since starting at Nerd Fitness: Jan 2014: joined the forums and planned to learn backflips outdoors by February. Hahaha that did not happen, but gymnastics and weightlifting happened lots Jul 2014: reached 10 seconds for handstands and recorded my progress [video] Oct 2014: bought gymnastics rings and went through a phase of training lots with these Aug 2015: reached so far my peak in gymnastics and made a compilation [video] in the Summer Aug 2015: moved house and got lazy Challenged with the Warriors and I don't think I even made it to a gym haha Jan 2016: decided that I needed more excitement and that in 2016 I was going to get it Aug 2016: quit my job and backpacked around Slovenia and Eastern Europe Sep 2016: competed in the Mental Calculation World Cup in Germany Oct 2016: studied Spanish in a language school in Valencia Nov 2016: competed at Memoriad in Las Vegas. Flew to Nicaragua to volunteer as a volcano tour guide for 3 months Feb 2017: backpacked around Nicaragua and Guatemala - both really nice destinations May 2017: spent a month in Barcelona learning more Latin dancing and learning to how to create websites - currently working on HyperBirthday Jul 2017: volunteered as an Engineering tutor in a Summer School in Oxford Now I'm back at home with my parents without a plan for the future. Comfortable, but boring and not where I want to be sat for long. Luckily for the duration of this I've got plenty of things going on, so my basic schedule is: finish composing a piano version of Sahara (Nightwish) [video] make plans for the Autumn compete in the Mind Sports Olympiad in London go to two weddings I'm not in the habit of doing any physical activity (except cycling) when I'm at home, so I'll need to put an effort into doing that! Also my social circles aren't really around at the moment so I'll award points to ensure I get as as much as I'd like. My last challenge used a complicated points-based system, and it was pretty effective. This time my plans are more complicated and uncertain, so I'll use a simpler points-based system to allow myself the flexibility. any substantial workout (1 point each) count: 9.5 any social engagement (1 point each) count: 7 find a good place for practising handstands (1 point) find a better place for gymnastics rings training (1 point) try my old hurdle training (!) (1 point) go climbing (1 point) complete figure-of-8 handstand walk (3 points) 10-second static handstand (2 points) pretty au batido (2 points) 12 ring dips (1 point) ring forward roll (1 point) 30 push-ups (1 point) 40 push-ups (1 point) make travel plans until 30th September (3 points) make travel plans until 15th November (3 points) make travel plans until 31st December (3 points) finish Sahara composition & sheet music (3 points) record Sahara composition (2 points) create Sahara video (1 point) create a salsa/bachata routine and use it (3 points) trial MSO calculation paper (3 points) make strategies for all MSO calculation categories (1 point) reliably memorize 20 random words in under 3 minutes (1 point) reliably memorize 60 random words in under 10 minutes (1 point) trial MSO names & faces event (1 point) do any actual practice for MSO order of pictures memory (1 point) basic market research for mind sports presentations (1 point) fix HyperBirthday on mobile (3 points) implement HyperBirthday /result/<date> framework (4 points) third HyperBirthday blog post (1 point) fourth HyperBirthday blog post (1 point) fifth HyperBirthday blog post (1 point) add full moon counter to HyperBirthday (4 points) TimeGhost to HyperBirthday (4 points) Total points: 49.5 That's 60 points + social and workout points, so I'm going to do a simple 6 points <=> 1 stat point award system, maxing out at 10 stat points but it's unlikely I'll get that far Using more lenient grading this time because last time I got only 30% despite a pretty good challenge! I'll start immediately and finish whenever in September seems a suitable end-point. Good luck everyone!

Hello everyone! So excited to be back with the Rebellion and doing these challenges again. I tend to take about 4 or 5 attempts at things before they actually stick but you know what they say, try try again and all that. This month's challenge will mainly be focused on nutrition. I am going strict paleo. There, I said it! On my last thread I talked about how I feel like I am no longer just a beginner. I've been working on myself for long enough and seen changes in myself often enough to want to kick things into high gear. I currently possess the body that I thought I never would have when I wasn't even that much heavier. I can see muscle definition in my arms and I'm on top of my diet to the degree that I'm no longer sick all the time. But I want more. And I don't want to half-ass it. I would like to whole-ass it. Because there are people out there who look amazing and do amazing things and it's just occurred to me that with enough training and dedication I could possibly be one of them! A truly shocking realization. The same one which prompted me to apply for a theater program. Because up until recently I thought becoming an actual paid actor was about as likely a career as unicorn breeding. But somebody's gotta be an actor, why not me? If somebody can go from 25% body fat down to <20% body fat, why can't I? So I am hereby declaring that I am no longer simply a beginner and am capable of more drastic and difficult challenges. With that in mind, here are my goals for this challenge: Exercise Crossfit 3x a week. Strenuous exercise class 1x a week, could be lifting, gym, zumba, body combat or another crossfit class. Just keeping it diverse and interesting. Diet Follow a strict paleo diet for this month. Drink only water or tea. Giving up peanut butter (you will be sorely missed). Level up your life Learn to play one new song on the piano. Let the pain begin.

TW: depression, anxiety, hopelessness What. An. Incredibly. Shitty. Day. Let me just start by saying that I have depression and anxiety. It's relatively mild, in fact the official term for my level of depression as explained to me by my doctor and therapist is "sadness". It seems to be mostly manageable and I have good days and bad ones. Most of my bad days correlate with work. I really do not like my job. I work in a retail store in a mall, we sell mostly household items. It is a mindbogglingly boring job that mostly involves dusting and human communication, both of which I don't enjoy unless in very certain circumstances. I feel guilty for hating my job so much, after all it's a pretty basic, alright paying job. My boss is kind and some of my coworkers are fun to be around (others not so much) but still I am emotionally drained after each shift and dream of quitting every single day- even though I only work 3-4 days a week! I'm ashamed that I feel this way. After all there are other people in much worse situations complaining much less. But feeling guilt over my sadness because others are sadder is the logical equivalent of not allowing myself to be happy because other people are happier. Now isn't that just ridiculous? I'm tired of my life. I have a BSc in psychology, a field I don't like at all and shouldn't have studied to begin with. I wasted three years of my life and haven't progressed at all towards any kind of meaningful work. I don't know what I want to do with my life but I picture it involving some kind of performance, theater, writing, stand up.. But when I mention that people constantly remind me that performance arts are difficult - as if the only reason I would pursue them would be out of laziness. Then there's the added anxiety of actually being on stage, what if everyone laughs at me? Assuming if I even get into a theater program, which I'm not even sure I truly want? There are three things you need to make it as an artist: talent, discipline and passion. And I am scared that I only have an ounce of each. Passion especially. Life seems dull and grey and I don't even know if I have passion for anything. I just feel like an ungrateful, spoiled little brat who doesn't want to work for anything. I don't know if I have what it takes to be an artist, and if even I don't fully believe in myself why the hell would any producer or director? I just hate this feeling of not having a purpose, a goal, something! Frodo didn't feel like he had a purpose and then bam! Take the ring to Mordor. There's your ultimate life's mission. Can someone give me a quest, please? I want to change my way of life, figure out what I'm supposed to do, and I want to do it right now! Because otherwise I have to go back to work tomorrow and continue leading my boring ass life until I eventually kill myself.

For once, I'm keeping things short and sweet. I need to focus a lot more on being more organized with my life and being more efficient with my time, and a lot less on chasing shiny things. Of course, I'll still be posting about parkour and my normal stuff, and I'll still be eating right + exercising. I just don't want to make that a huge focus. Goal 1: The morning routine - Each morning, right after sending the kids to school, I will complete the following morning routine before letting myself get distracted by other things: -Brief (or longer, if I feel like it) yoga flow -Take care of any dishes or laundry that need to be done -make the daily to-do list Goal 2: The To-Do list: Each Monday, I will make a List of the things I'd like to accomplish that week. Also, every day during my morning routine, I will make a list of things I want to accomplish that day. This list will hopefully keep me focused on the important things. Goal 3: Decluttering and purging: Each day, I will declutter some area in the house and throw away as much as I possibly can. I have too much random junk, and the only way to bring a bit of order to the house is to start throwing things away and stop decluttering by relocating things from one part of the house to another. Goal 4: Coding and piano - Each day, get at least something accomplished or spend some time with each of these. No slacking and no excuses. Goal 5: Batch cooking or complicated cooking project - At least twice/week. This should ensure that I'll have healthy food without necessarily requiring a huge time expenditure per meal. Goal 6: Stay connected - I've been feeling a bit less connected to NF over the last many months, so I'm going to make a huge point of posting at least every day in my thread, and posting in at least 3 other people's threads each day. I'm also going to try to stick with the mini challenge and any PVPs people post.

I fell in love with fencing. Obviously this calls for a Utena-themed challenge. So last challenge did not end so well for me. I was getting burned out on life and everything, and then tragedy hit and I just couldn't with anything anymore. After giving myself the past couple of weeks to regroup and recuperate, I have a clearer path going forward in all sorts of things, which makes my summer less panic-inducing (if you're just joining in, work is going to be crazy busy PLUS I'm going to be in rehearsals for Evita starting on May 22), and I know what I want to do with my fitness goals. Because I love fencing, my workouts will all now be tailored towards conditioning for the sport. But I'm also dealing with a back muscle injury of sorts, which is thankfully just a benign injury of the strain/spasm/knot variety, so I need to make sure I take care of that, too, while also making sure that it never happens again! I'm too young for back pain... So, without further ado! MAIN QUEST: Maintain my sanity as I rehabilitate my back, juggle work and rehearsal and life and fitness, and continuing to pursue my newfound love for fencing! QUEST ONE: ENDURANCE TRAINING [+2 STA] In fencing class, my strength is great, but cardio is kicking my butt in ways I did not expect. Seriously, when you’re a very fit person and you have to sit down because your cardio is sub-par, it is a super embarrassing thing. So, twice a week, I will dedicate my workouts to cardio training. It doesn’t matter what it is, as long as my heart rate is pumping, I’m calling it good! A = 2x/week of cardio | C = 1x/week of cardio QUEST TWO: BACK CONDITIONING [+1 DEX, +1 CON] As mentioned, my back has been bothering me and it's been preventing me from doing a bunch of exercises like working through pull-up progressions, toes-to-bar progressions, and sometimes even bench presses and other variations of push exercises. Also, working on anything that deals with back flexibility has been a no-go. The doctor gave me a list of stretches I need to do every day, and other self-care tips, of which I intend to follow through on. So I'll do this quest in two parts: 5x/week I will do the flexibility exercises, and 5x/week I will give my back some heat therapy and/or some massage/foam rolling loving. A = 5x/week | B = 4x/week | C = 2-3x/week | D = 1x/week If my back is completely back to normal before the end of the challenge, part one will continue but part two will either be revised or given a pass for the remainder of the challenge. Here’s hoping that this is a bridge I WILL have to cross! QUEST THREE: SMART SNACKING [+2 CON] The winter months are over and I can no longer use my “I’m a mammal so I’m mammaling” excuse for eating like an asshole. Therefore, over the course of the challenge, I’m allowing myself 8 non-freggie, non-protein snacks. Basically: popcorn, chocolate, candy, ice cream, drinks that aren’t water or tea or my chai latte, Snapea Crisps (SOB THIS IS GOING TO BE THE HARDEST THING – and no, I’m not counting is as a freggie), etc are all restricted. Chocolate milk is okay ONLY IF I consume it within an hour of a workout. A = 8 or less snacks | B = 10 or less snacks | C = 12 or less snacks | F = did you even try to control yourself LIFE QUEST: SPRING CLEANING [+2 WIS] My summer is going to be super busy and there is going to be a lot of things in my life outside of work and rehearsal that will fall by the wayside. That will include keeping a clean home. So that my apartment doesn’t fall into complete chaos and disarray over the coming months, every week I will focus on each area of my house and give it a nice, good, and hard spring cleaning treatment. The four areas will be: bedroom and home office, bathrooms, kitchen and laundry room, and the living/dining room. A = 4 Areas Cleaned | B = 3 Areas Cleaned | C = 2 Areas Cleaned | D = 1 Area Cleaned SIDE QUEST: PIANO PRACTICE [+2 CHA] I’ve been itching to relearn the piano again for years now (I used to be so good, I don't understand why I quit, wtf 11-year-old me), so why not start now? At the very least, I want to master a song, and that song will be the theme song from Tonari no Totoro because as my family and friends will tell you, I am a Totoro fanatic. No joke, 50% of the things I own are Totoro-related. Over the course of the challenge, I will log at least 240 minutes towards practicing, which averages out to be about 1hr/week. This won’t get me from Zero to Hero over the course of the next four weeks, but it’s a start, at least! A = 240+ minutes | B = 180+ minutes | C = 120+ minutes | D = 60+ minutes Ready to do the thing! If you binge-watch the show, you seriously start to get super annoyed at how often they reuse this particular animation sequence...

Welcome everyone If you followed my previous challenges, this is going to be familiar, but for everyone else here's a brief introduction: I'm 25 from the UK, and I specialize in gymnastics, weightlifting and bodyweight skills of various styles (video: summer training sampler). I'm also a software engineer, mental calculation competitor and amateur composer. I put way too much chili sauce on everything. Mmm Because my topic titles are clearly now just calendar-related puns, here's an infographic depicting a variation of the March of Progress that I do not want in my life, and I'll get right on with my challenge: Goal #1: the list: yep, I'm having another list of goals and workouts, because this format seems to work well for me . I'm hoping the weather will soon improve so I can so more outside as I was slacking during February. +0.25 for each, maximum of +6.00: weightlifting (double points!) bodyweight (10 exercises) jumping training (6 exercises) <-- something I need to focus on for gymnastics bouldering 1-arm push-up, handstand or bar muscle-up training session <-- summer 2016 goals! gymnastics class And bonus items - mostly stolen from my previous challenges - are: cartwheels: learn decent cartwheels on each side round-off: learn this gymnastics move front handspring: do this consistently on floor front flip: land this safely on floor front flip: bonus points for landing it on floor handstand walk: do a full 360-degree rotation in a handstand without immediately falling over handstand: 10 second static handstand bar muscle-up: I'm working towards it! back squat: 105kg (PR) change phone contract: I should be able to move to a cheaper one and I've procrastinated this for 2 months... create piano cover: of the death metal piece "Lost Reality" by Mercenary. It's the heaviest song that I actually like, even though it starts with some aggressive vocals. In fact, that's one of my reasons for wanting to make this piano cover - I wanted to find a way to provide an equivalent effect with a piano (whilst hopefully making it pleasant to listen to). I've finished working out roughly how to play this on the piano, but I need to tidy a lot of details and create the sheet music. create piano cover: bonus point for making a piano recording of this. Done - here's the video new sport: try some new activity - yep, did roller-blading new sport: try another new activity No goals this time for mental calculation since I'm taking a short break from that - last challenge I got to where I wanted to be for now Goal #2: pull-ups: I've neglected these over recent months, and while last Summer I could do them weighted with 30kg, now I find sets of 5 bodyweight ones a struggle... So for this challenge, I want to do 3 sessions of pull-ups each week. Minimum is: 20 pull-ups each set must be 5 or more reps These can be parts of workouts I'm already doing - just extra motivation to get out and train +0.25 STR per week Goal #3: rest properly: Laptop off by 01:00 every day. I did this last 2 challenges, and I had much more energy and was happier and more successful as a result. It means I'll get about 8 hours of sleep but won't have rush around brush teeth etc. just before sleeping! Scoring: for each week: 7 days with laptop off by 0100: +0.25 CON two "cheat" days are allowed anytime during the 4 weeks I'll start this at 2015-02-29 01:00:00 for 28 nights. Goal #4: eat clean: recently I've been eating like a moron, and now my body expects 50g of sugar during the afternoon Furthermore, lots of my energy is coming from poor-quality sources like chocolate bars. It's not good for my body... I get sugar dips now and my face feels fatter because that's where I carry extra fat, and my skin quality has deteriorated. Anyway, in March I shall have a cleaner diet and I'll get back to how I've been for most of the past 3 years I shall use the following rules: no soda or chocolate bars from the vending machine at work at most one dessert or pastry per day (usually I have 2-3) drink before eating if dehydrated Every week I get the following points: broke rules 2 times or fewer: +0.50 CON broke rules 4 times or fewer: +0.25 CON Good luck everyone!

Whoa, for the first time I'm actually late posting my challenge Anyway, welcome everyone - if you followed my last challenge, this is going to be quite similar, and for everyone else here's a brief introduction: I'm 25 from the UK, and I specialize in gymnastics, weightlifting and bodyweight skills of various styles (video: summer training sampler). I'm also a software engineer, mental calculation competitor and amateur composer. Goal #1: the list: yep, I'm having another list of goals and workouts, as this format seems to work well for me This time I'm adding in a few extra things that count as workouts. +0.25 for each. Overall we have: weightlifting (double points!)bodyweight (10 exercises)jumping training (6 exercises) <-- something I need to focus on for gymnasticsbouldering1-arm push-up, handstand or bar muscle-up training session <-- summer 2016 goals!gymnastics classAnd bonus items - mostly stolen from my previous challenge - are: cartwheels: learn decent cartwheels on each sideround-off: learn this gymnastics movefront handspring: do this consistently on floorfront flip: land this safely on floorfront flip: bonus points for landing it on floor800-metre run: in 02:50 or less (02:47 into a headwind yay)fix my bike: the gears are getting slowly worsechange phone contract: I should be able to move to a cheaper onecreate piano cover: of the death metal piece "Lost Reality" by Mercenary. It's the heaviest song that I actually like, even though it starts with some aggressive vocals. In fact, that's one of my reasons for wanting to make this piano cover - I'd like to find a way to provide an equivalent effect with a piano (whilst hopefully making it pleasant to listen to)create piano cover: as above - but just the first 00:55create piano cover: as above - but just the first 03:25create piano cover: with recording and sheet music Goal #2: mental calculation: I compete internationally at mental calculation, and I have two potential competitions this year: Mental Calculation World Cup 2016 (September, Germany)Memoriad 2016 (November, Las Vegas)I'm only going to enter if I think I'll perform well (the standard is much higher than when I last competed, in 2012) so I'm currently training for that. Firstly I have a challenge to train using some of the custom software I've created. For each week: 5 days with 5 mins training before midnight: +0.25 WISThere are also some specific goals to be scored alongside the list for +0.25 WIS each: calendar dates: 42 in a minute (before challenge, 41)calendar dates: 44 in a minutecalendar dates: 46 in a minutecalendar dates: 48 in a minutecalendar dates: 50 in a minutesquare roots: second-best score of 315 (during challenge, improved from 308 to 325+)square roots: second-best score of 330square roots: second-best score of 345square roots: second-best score of 360 (maximum possible)binary digits: learn algorithmbinary digits: memorize 500 digits in 30 minutesbinary digits: memorize 750 digits in 30 minutesbinary digits: memorize 1000 digits in 30 minutes Goal #3: rest properly: Laptop off by 01:00 every day. I did this last challenge, and I had much more energy and was happier and more successful as a result. It means I'll get about 8 hours of sleep but won't have rush around brush teeth etc. just before sleeping! Scoring: for each week: 7 days with laptop off by 0100: +0.50 CON5 days with laptop off by 0100: +0.25 CONI'll start this at 2015-02-01 01:00:00 for 28 nights. So I'll never complete all of this before the end of the challenge, but I'm hoping to make good progress and get 8+ of the available stat points. Good luck everyone!

Main goal: Climb all of the things! Parkour all of the things! Thumb my nose at gravity! Make and post videos of all of the things! My schedule is already really full, so I'm not biting off too much this challenge, fitness-wise. I already spend a lot of time doing parkour, rock climbing, and yoga. When I can manage to squeeze it in, I also like hand balancing, playing with weapons, hiking, rucking, and playground workouts. I'm also trying hard to remember that rest days are important, too. Even if I don't have so many direct fitness goals, I tend to log and talk incessantly about the parkour and climbing and other shenanigans. Because PARKOUR!!! and CLIMBING!!! Goal 1: Stick to strict rations (food goal) Between all of the holidays, the Halloween candy, football booze, and my body trying to convince me to fatten up for winter, it's really tough to avoid eating like an asshole. But, for once, I don't want to just brush off this season as a "dirty bulk". So, it's time to stick with (what is for me) strict rations. 1a. Fix that breakfast. I typically eat an apple, greek yogurt, and some sort of breakfast bar. Not only is the breakfast bar unhealthy, but I'm also usually hungry well before lunch time. So, the goal is to have 5 days/week where I avoid any sort of breakfast bar or cereal, and instead replace that by cooking eggs or some oatmeal. 1b. Continue loving the crock pot. The goal is at least 6 batch cooked meals over the course of the challenge. Having healthy food in abundance tends to encourage healthy eating. 1c. Don't overdo the booze. I'm not being as strict as last challenge, but I'm still only allowing myself 12 drinks over the 6 weeks. Also, whenever I'm in a social drinking situation and don't really want to drink, but go along with the crowd, I lose a point. I can re-gain that point by either foregoing one drink for the challenge or by making a point of passing up some social drinking. Goal 2: Jump like I'm in Martian gravity. (fitness goal) At this point in my parkour training, I really feel that my jumping ability is holding me back. I was a decent (but not great) jumper before the knee blowout, and I unfortunately still haven't managed to even regain my old abilities. One of the better ways to jump higher is to add some weight to that squat. So, twice/week, I will do some sort of squat session. It might be goblet squats. It might be assisted pistols. It might be weighted bulgarian split squats. I also need to take better care of my knee(s) if I want to continue with training hard. But, I learned last challenge that if I don't make a goal of doing my prehab work and foam rolling, I just end up not doing it. So.... Goal is twice/week squat session and 5x/ week prehab. Goal 3: Science! (Life goal) Now that the kids are in school, I have much more time to return to my scientific roots. One of my future goals is to make a bunch of science and math educational apps. I have a lot of ideas. What I lack is some of the coding knowledge. So, the goal is to completely finish my Xcode 7 and Swift course. Goal 4: Become a data nerd -> Hack my headspace. (Life goal) Most days, the kids are in school, the husband is at work, and I'm spending too much time like this And to be fair, I am very productive. I just don't always deal very well with too much alone-ness and too much unstructured time. I'm prone to anxiety. I also have bouts of being overly pissed off and some bouts of seasonal affective disorder. Anyone who has followed me for any length of time knows that I'm the antithesis of being a data nerd. Usually I just wing everything and more or less remember what's what. But for once, I want to keep better notes, so I can see a pattern. The goal for this is to track what effects any of these have when I'm having mood issues and want to re-gain control of my headspace: calming tea, playing the piano, yoga, guided meditation, taking a nature walk, and any other methods I can come up with. I'm not going to expect results this challenge. I just want to get in the habit of recognizing the signs of a bad mood, trying something, and tracking how well it works. And here is the spreadsheet. Bonus: #1 - Get back in the habit of playing the piano. At least 60 minutes/week. Hopefully, this can double with goal 4 in helping with the headspace. Bonus #2 - Be resourceful! I'm going to shamelessly steal Raptron's Catch-em-all hand balancing fest. Because I can. Bonus #3 - Actually participate in the guild mini this time. I'll probably have some strong edits for this later. The new challenge thread was already exploding, and I wanted to get in on the action right away!

One of my all-time favorite movie series was Peter Jackson's version of The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien. Such a rich story, brought to life in a way that was beautiful and amazing on so many levels. Not to mention shot in my favorite place, New Zealand. Anyway, what better way to frame my upcoming challenge than through the richness that is the fellowship of the ring. 1. The grace and beauty of the elves: Music We just got a piano! I used to play... and I want to get better. So I'm going to practice. Five days a week, I'll practice 20 min or more. Starting with some Hanon finger exercises and then working on reading music (I can read music, but I can't sight-read very well) and playing pieces from actual music, not fake books. Once the 20 min is up, I can move on to improv or fake books or whatnot... but the rigor needs to be there first. six weeks x 5 sessions = 30 sessions total. A= 27-30, B=23-26, C=19-22, D=16-19, F=15 or less +3 CHA Flexibility I need to keep at my flexibility regime. Hamstrings, calves and "splits", six days a week. six weeks x 5 sessions = 30 sessions total. A= 27-30, B=23-26, C=19-22, D=16-19, F=15 or less +3 DEX 2. The stubbornness of the dwarves: Keep at it, I say. The dwarves are nothing if not stubborn. I need to embody some of that stubbornness to increase the strength I've developed over that past nine months. I've been going to the same gym for a long time now, and my family and I just switched to a new one. So I need to keep going to the gym, even if I'm not used to it or it's not right next door to my house. I'll go to the new gym twice a week, and create a new habit. While there I'll either work out on the weights or take a class. One or the other. six weeks x 2 sessions = 12 session total. A=11-12, B=9-10, C=7-8, D=5-6, F=4 or less +3 STR 3. The simplicity of the hobbits: I'm going to eat a little more simply over the next few weeks (though it's hard to connect the idea of eating simply with hobbits...), so here goes. I'll eat paleolithically most of the time. Weekends I can take off, and "special occasions" (I'm thinking my birthday, and our forthcoming trip to the Colorado Renaissance Faire) too. But I will eat plants and meat and fats, and plenty of them, and that's it. Not grains (not even muesli, or oatmeal, except maybe on weekends), no dairy, and no processed stuff. six weeks x 2 days = 12 days of non-paleo eating. 12 or less = A, 13-14=B, 15-16=C, 17-18=D, 19+=F. As mentioned, I don't have to count my birthday. +3 CON 4. One does not simply walk into Mordor... One should ride! It's bike to work month, so I'll ride my bike to work three times per week, minimum. That's 300 calories extra per day and a half hour of good cardio. Not to mention I'll probably end up bringing the kiddo home in the trailer which is even more work. six weeks x three days = 18 days. 17+=A, 15-16=B, 14-15=C, 12-13=D, 11 or less = F +3 STA There it is. Rewards TBD.

Challenge Number Three! These goals have been set on the assumption that I get to start my driving lessons within the next couple of weeks, and so a lot of my evenings will be taken up with this. If not, then I'll revise them accordingly. I'm also away visiting home for a week, during which I'll just have to improvise with the training. Main Quest: Summer holiday on the beach! I say this every year, but I'm really focussing on it this time; in August I'm going on holiday with my family. We'll be going to the beach, we'll be going swimming at least one other time, and I've absolutely had enough of feeling self-conscious about being seen with my shirt off. I am going to get myself into a shape I am happy being photographed in, and that's going to guide everything I try to do over the next half year. 1) Squat Mobility - do Hip & Ankle mobility work at least three times a week: +2 CON, +1 DEX By the time the next challenge starts I should have everything in place to be able to join a gym, at which point I'll be booking a PT and learning how to lift with proper form. The upper body work will be fine, but at the moment legs are horrendously tight and inflexible - quite probably as as result of all the running and cycling over the last ten years. So I've done my research and found some good stretches & foam rolling work I can do, and if I do it consistently over the next six weeks i should hopefully get some good improvements. 2) Time/Volume Bodyweight Training - two sessions per week (one of each bodypart split): +2 STR, +2 CON This one's quite self-explanatory; I've been seeing improvements during the introductory period, and I want to carry this on for the full six weeks to see what kind of strength & hypertrophy gains I can get. After that it'll be back to the exercise progressions for the next challenge. 3) 5k training - minimum two session per week, one of which being quality speedwork: +2 DEX, +2 STA I've entered the Doha Dash in mid-February, which I believe handily falls in the middle of Week 6. I want to build on the last challenge's 10k training and see if I can get back under 20mins; I did 21:06 during the first lap of the 10k last month, and then carried on to the same distance again while feeling strong, so if I train accordingly I should have a good shot at it. LQ) Piano Practice - 10 minute of scales and studies per day, every day: +3 CHA, +1 DEX Now I've finally got my piano I want to get back into the habit of practicing. But I don't want to get fed up and end up resenting it so I'm going to commit to just ten minutes of practice every day (apart from the week when I have no access to a piano, obviously!), at which point I can stop dead and do something else. If I want to carry on then fine, but a minimum of ten minutes focussed practice per day. I'm really looking forward to this challenge starting. Motivation is currently riding at a nice high, and I'm going to do everything I can to keep it that way. Bring on the training!

My Main Quest is to use my work as an escape from ‘life’ rather than use ‘life’ to escape from work. Let me explain. I’m lucky enough to have a really creative degree and I tend to procrastinate from doing the work (which I love but am self-conscious about) by picking irrelevant things to fix in my life. Like healthy eating or fitness. My fridge will be awesome, with meals prepped and healthy snacks while my work suffers neglect. Problem is, I’ll go too far and end up eating broccoli and tofu for a week straight while running and doing SS. So I’ll burn out and crash, all the while not even having progressed creatively. So I’m not good at my work, so I feel uncomfortable doing it, so the cycle begins again. My goals are: To begin Start Bodyweight and incorporate the additional exercises – I’ve discovered that ‘doing cool stuff’ is more important to me than improving my lifts.To stop myself being crazy with food. This is more measurable than I first thought – any time I feel ingenuine or stressed or weird because of my eating habits, I will stop and rethink. This applies to overeating, not balancing a meal, snacking on food I don’t want just because it is there, stress eating at social gatherings, etc.To write something that isn’t self-analytical each day. I’ve noticed a pattern in my writing, which is ‘So. Stream of consciousness writing. Creativity. Hmm. Nothing. I’m so uncreative. Why am I so unoriginal?’ ad nauseam. My Life Side Quest is To be able to play Gipsy Rondo on piano.I’ll focus on practising this once a day. Literally one song – It’s by Joseph Haydn. I need to play it on stage for an upcoming production. So if anyone can help me out with any tips I would love it. I just have to muscle memory learn that one song, rather than learn piano in general.

Hello everyone, and thank you for clicking on my thread! I find it hard to believe that I'm on my third challenge already, time really does fly. My last challenge started out well but I really fell off the wagon towards the end, and I want to do better this time around. During the last two months of summer my daily and weekly schedule would change all the time, and the inconsistensy of it made it hard for me to keep up a workout routine. Last week my studies started again, and after a whole week of being back at campus every day and still not taking time to work out, I'm tired of my sloppiness. I want to get back into a routine, get myself moving again and hopefully begin to feel better about myself. QUEST 1: Habit builder There are many small things I want to get into the habit of doing, that all will help improve the quality of life somehow. 1. Floss. I want to take care of my teeth so that they will last my whole life with a minimum of dental work. Flossing is too easy to forget or neglect, so it's time to do something about that. I will start small and work my way up. Week 1&2 - floss once a week Week 3&4 - floss twice a week Week 5&6 - floss three times a week 2. Wrist work. My wrists are quite weak and can sometimes start hurting when I'm doing pushups, handstand work or dips. Best case scenario they recover immediately (this is the usual case), but worst case is that they stay sore for several days, and during that time I can't put any extra strain on them. I have talked to a doctor, and she gave me a list of exercises I can do to strenghten the muscles in my wrists. Week 1 - do 10 reps of each exercise once a day Week 2 - do 12 reps of each exercise once a day Week 3 - do 12 reps of each exercise twice a day Week 4 - do 15 reps of each exercise twice a day Week 5 - do 15 reps of each exercise three times a day Week 6 - do 20 reps of each exercise three times a day 3. Skin care. Even though I don't wear makeup every day, I want to wash my face every night to get rid of the sweat and dirt that has gathered during the day. A clean face means less clogged pores and less zits to worry about. REWARDS: +2 CHA +2 WIS QUEST 2: Fitness I want and need to start working out regularly again. Strength training and my dance squad practises are a must, but I also desperately want to enjoy running. I completed a 10k race two weeks ago and I'd like to get better at running that distance. Getting out on the run is usually the hardest step, so I recently purchased Zombies, run! in the hope that the missions there will get my gaming mind hooked and make the getting out-process easier. My schedule will look something like this: Monday - strength training Tuesday - dance practise (+ running) Wednesday - strength training Thursday - running Friday - strength training Saturday/Sunday(whichever fits better that current weekend) - running Fortunately I have quite few classes this fall, but I suspect the workload on at least two of them will be quite heavy. Therefore I need to try getting my workout done before I start any schoolwork. I know myself well enough to know that if I leave the workout for last I will have spent all my energy doing everything else, and no workout will be done. In other words, bring on the morning workouts! REWARDS: +2 STA +2 STR +2 CON QUEST 3: Music I started taking piano lessons when I was five and stopped when I was sixteen, and by now my skills are way below the level I had when I stopped playing. Since I stopped taking lessons I've played occasionally, but I want to get into it again. I used to be able to play so many beautiful pieces almost perfectly, and I really, really want to be able to do that again. To accomplish this, I will spend at least 15 minutes playing anything I feel like on my keyboard every other day. I have lots of sheet music and my sister has more, so there should be no shortage. REWARDS: +2 WIS +1 DEX The Heart Asks Pleasure First was one of my favourites to play. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dPS-EHl-FE LIFE QUEST: So you think you can plan Fun fact: I love calendars. I love writing down at what time everything should be done, and I love having a schedule to follow. Logically it then follows that I'm good at getting stuff done too, right? Well...the problem is I get distracted. By a video, an interesting discussion nearby, an instant message, these forums, you name it. I also think I sometimes don't realise how much time I spend trying to do something, but it amounts to nothing because the actual working time is maybe 10% of the total time I've spent doing it. So, I want to try a kind of reverse planning: I write down what I spend my time on so that I afterwards can see how I really spent my day. Yes, this means writing down "spent 10 minutes checking Facebook" when I do that. Yes, I totally stole this idea from Batwoman's challenge. It was too good not to take. I hope this also will give a better idea of how much time I need to reserve for the important things like schoolstuff, and how much I can spend on fun activities like visiting my parents or fangirling on tumblr. Then I will also know if I have the time to help out in the student restaurant when they ask me for help or not. REWARDS: +1 CHA +1 STA

Blah blah blah torn acl blah.. I'm going to try to focus on non-injury stuff here, and if you really want to follow the injury rehab, go to my daily battle log. For the time being, my Main Quest and Motivation are the same: rehab the damned knee and do it right. Try to stay sane and productive while riding on the rehab road. I'm not even going to think about my real quest and motivation until I'm over this roadblock. I am, however, finally at a point where I can actually make plans and set goals, rather than structure my life around regaining some sense of normalcy and reducing stress. 1. If I can't go down, go up (Pull-ups): I may not really be able to work my lower body, but the upper body is all mine. I'm going to get back into the swing of things with the 20 pull-up challenge training program. The plan calls for 3 sessions each week, so the grade is # of sessions completed/18. I was at about 5 pull-ups per set before getting hurt, but I haven't done much in the last 6 weeks, so it'll be interesting to see how this works for me. 2. Get a grip (Rice Bucket): I may not be allowed to climb, but I can still work at and preserve my grip strength. The goal is to do the Iron Fist Rice Bucket workout twice per week. Grade is the # completed/12 3. Compliance (rehabilitation) - Do everything I'm supposed to do and nothing I ought not do. I'm at a point in the rehab where it's easy to try to push things, because you start feeling much better and much more capable. I'm also at a point where the rehab starts to get kind of boring. So, this goal is just a reminder that I need to fully do my physical therapy exercises each day (which will be easy), and that I'm not allowed to do anything outside of that unless I've cleared it with my physical therapist (which will be harder). So far, the only extracurriculars I'm permitted to do are: upper body or core stuff not using the legs at all, light cycling on a stationary bike, short distance walking on safe terrain, and walking in the swimming pool. That's it. The grade for this will be a daily pass/fail out of 42. Life goal: Piano I took lessons for 12 years as a kid, but since then, I've been much more sporadic in my practicing. For 10 years, my wrists were frequently sore from hapkido joint locks, and then my hands were sore and blistered from climbing. Now that I can't climb, I'm free to get back into the swing of things with my music. I have a tendency of sitting down, playing for a couple minutes, and then deciding that I'm "not feeling it" or that my fingers are "too uncoordinated" that day. But, if I make myself really warm up, things tend to go well. So, the goal is to play a minimum of 10 minutes each day, in the hopes that I'll warm up into it and play for much longer. The grade will be a daily pass/fail out of 42. Ungraded: Balanced strength: Horizontal and vertical push as well as horizontal pull a couple times per week at the gym, to keep things in balance. My pull strength is significantly stronger than my push, which could lead to imbalance issues if I don't address this. Diet: Be more mindful of what I eat. For the last 2 months, I had enough on my plate and didn't choose to add any food related stress. I still want to keep things low stress, but I want to be much more mindful of clean eating and less snacking.

I'm not doing karate this challenge. But I am going to do this challenge right. It's going to be challenging. It's going to take effort. And it's going to be worth it. I'm going to keep this simple. No exceptions. No codicils. Just a goal to reach and a prize to obtain. LONGTERM GOAL: 6 PACK CARDIO! What: Run 100 miles Specifics: None, really. Just run 100 miles over the course of the challenge. Sprint or jog, outside or treadmill, it doesn't matter. Why: I'm signing up for a half marathon in September. A coworker told me that I have time to prepare for the Chicago Marathon in October, but I'll wait until the end of the challenge to decide if I'm crazy enough to try that. Points: 4 STA+DEX (To be adjusted based on how much sprinting/jogging I do) Motivation: Bike - My plan is to buy a nice hybrid one once I get my tax refund and have someone hold it over my head until I finish my 100 miles. STRENGTH! What: Strength training 3x per week Specifics: Circuit of jumping rope, pull ups, push ups, RPoD, and bulgarian split squats Why: I'm vain? Points: 4 STR Motivation: Kettlebell - I've wanted one for a while. If I complete this challenge, a nice new one will be mine and I can use KBGirl's tutorial to train with it next challenge. DIET! What: Lose 5 lbs (Starting weight: 154.4 lbs.) Specifics: <=2,000 kCals daily and post daily calorie count on here. Why: Abs are made in the kitchen. I'm getting somewhat close to my goal weight, so I'm not sure if I can do 5 lbs in 6 weeks, but I'm damn sure going to try. Points: 3 CON Motivation: Clothes shopping. I have very few decent and even fewer nice clothes that fit. A new suit is in line once I hit my goal weight (140), but I need some clothes to wear to semi-formal occasions like khakis where the legs aren't like twice the diameter they need to be. LIFE! What: Practice piano or violin daily Specifics: Minimum 2 minutes of playing. This should get me involved that I'll continue more often than I'll stop. Why: I know I should pick one and work more on that instrument, but I really can't decide. I plan to use this challenge to see which one I choose to work on more, since obviously that's the one I prefer to practice. Points: 5 CHA Motivation: Sheet music for the instrument of my choice. I have a little bit for both, but most of it is way out of my skill level, so this would allow me to get some stuff I might actually be able to play. I want to play mostly classical (though with some ragtime on the piano: I love Scott Jopin), so a lot is available for free online, but I would rather have something I can trust to be accurate. SIDE (NON)GOAL! What: Prepare for my trip to Germany Specifics: Apply for a passport, learn basic German Why: My company is going to fly me to Germany for a week in July to look at some equipment we're going to be installing. I need to get the passport done soon so I get it in time. I don't actually need to learn German, but languages are fun and being able to practice constantly for a week or two (I want to take a week or so of vacation and stay for extra time, since they're already paying for the flight) will be incredibly beneficial if I get a basic grounding before I leave. This isn't really a goal, just something that I'm going to be working on throughout the challenge. Motivation: Somebody else is paying for me to go to Germany. Considering I love travelling and I've never been to Europe, I really don't see what could be more motivating than that. So those are my goals for the next 6 weeks. It seems like there's a lot of them, but it looks like I'm have a decent amount of free time during the week, which will be awesome. Run | 1.5/100 | Lift | 2/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 | 0/3 | 1/18 Nom | 6/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 2/42 Play | 6/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 0/7 | 3/42 I'm also going to add quotes to my updates. Some will be amusing/jokes, and some will be inspiring. And some will be really long and you'll think it's going to be a joke and you'll be waiting for a punch line that never comes. Because I like to watch the world burn.

HERES JOHNNY!!! Nah its just me again. Im back, but this time im taking it down a notch. Last challenge, i had a few too many thing to focus on and things fell through the cracks. So im only doing four this time. And heeeeerrrrre they are 1: Practice soccer once a week +1 STR +1 STA Im probably not going to play school soccer this year, but will probably try out next year, so i have to keep in shape. 2: Drink two bottles of water a day +1 CON Ive stopped drinking all soda ( ) so ive been drinking Arizona teas and water. I want to drink more water this year because last year i was dehydrated ALOT 3: Start meditating +1 WIS +1 CHA Ive heard alot about meditation on here so i figured id try it out 4: Update a story twice a week +1 CHA +2 WIS I havent really been doing enough on my stories, and if i update i the chapters arent long enough so i figured this would be good Goals ok? GOOD Joker PIECES