Search the Community

INTRO 'Olo, you lot! Welcome to my quiet little corner. I am Haniya (pronounced Hun-nee-yah) a Nerdy, Sporty, DND[currently watching Critical Role]loving, Comic book enthusiast with a penchant for arts, Video games, Books, Disney movies, music and Mystery Murder shows [Stranger Things, Sherlock, Killing Eve, The Umbrella Academy and Elementary anyone?] also Neil Gaimann because good omens is a fantastic show and is worth fangirling about. Today I have entered as a ranger to challenge myself. Hopefully, my experiment will help me build my habits and my body. I feel like my true self best fits in this sneaky, lean, strong and dangerously cool class because strength and stamina are the two things that I ideally want and we all wish to master. Hence, here I am and here I go! BACK STORY TIME: WE all know how our health is the MOST important thing in the world--physical, emotional and mental as well--especially when you've been obese half your childhood. Its hard to get back on that health horse when like half of your house hold isnt primed for it at all. Regaining my good healthy self has been a massive struggle, no less a bumpy roller coaster ride of high and lows. Well, I've been at it for quite a while with the NERDS--actually listening and enjoying the company of the people--thus, naturally, I come running back to thine fine health, happiness institute of fittitude! [Gedit] Even though i hate typing, i do try to update as often as I can. Well, anyways! I live in Pakistan (south east asia) where carbohydrate is as important and as common as air and I am not joking! OUR DIET AND CUISINE IS JUST FULL OF IT AND EVEN IF YOU TRIED, YOU JUST CANT SHAKE IT OFF AND IGNORE IT! BUT. I. WANT. TO. CHANGE. MYSELF. I DON'T WANT TO BE ADDICTED ANYMORE AND THAT'S MY MAIN MISSION HERE! BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY! I will go slow this time and not overwhelm myself as much as I am prone to so I'll just go over the basics of my mission. Cus. I. Can. And. I. Love. To. Sound. Very. Official. OH, SHALL WE MOVE TOWARDS MY BASE OF OPERATIONS?! *drumroll* OP 1: Take control of the wheel, agent! As the new agent of SHIELD, it is your duty to physically take care of what you put in your body. Filling in the shoes of Natasha Romanoff is going to be a hard job, recruit, so I suggest you take those shoes seriously and work hard! *There we go, guys. Big shoes to fill* So, clean eating and portion control is the key. Refined sugar and fried stuff is your ENEMY. IT'S YOUR HYDRA! You must defeat the bad side! *telegram* Recruit! We are not that cruel, you know, so we are allowing you a two day cheat treat. Aren't we cool?! Of-course, we are, we are SHIELD! OP 2: Find the lost Tomb of Rorustan You want to be the next Lara Croft? You want to go on adventures and move mountains like her, yes? Change the course of time and history like her? Then, you got to train like her! Her strong and Charismatic body took years and years of hard work and perseverance! Can you keep up? *CanI?* Journey to the lost tombs, human and bring forth power! My objective is to run and do body weight exercises (darebee and skipping rope) 3-4 times in a week with two days rest period. Walk for 20-30 mins daily. CAN YOU HEAR THE SPIRITS TALKING? YES! I DO! I CAN HEAR LARA CROFT! MASTER, I CAN HEAR HER WHISPERS FROM THE INSIDE, SPEAKING OUT TO ME (awksslipawaytoyonder) OP 3: Bend it like Korra! Before she was the avatar, Korra knew nothing of her powers and how to control them but with the help of her teachers and peers, she blossomed into the strongest being we know today! Want to Bend it like Korra? *Heck Yeah* then you must dedicate some time to your education; to learn and grow like the avatar. Daily one or two videos that'll inspire you or give you knowledge about the world and beyond. Study spanish: Duolingo and Memrise streaks, audio lessons from Pimsleur and YouTube video lessons. Dont forget to make notes in your notebook. Meditate to calm your souls. A clear and tension free mind is a happy mind! TAI CHI PRACTICE! Watch David Dorian Ross videos and practice along. New videos everyday to build your 103 long form practice. OP 4: "Be as flexible as Kamala Khan" SUPERHERO BY DAY, REGULAR GAMER CHILD BY NIGHT! Balancing your hero and human life takes a lot of work but you have to do this in order for the world to make sense plus, fun time is fun time! So, here are my humanly duties towards a good future:- Journal writing: habit tracking, Spanish progress and recording my days key features as bullet points to make my life easy Updating nerd fitness with my journey in the form of ratings A-F [A being super awesome and F Epic Wamp] and supporting new people and their journies! *POWER RANGERS, METAMORPHOSIS! Oh, wrong fandom* Read more books by adhering to the 50 books a year challenge: Give 1-2 weeks maximum to my current read by reading everyday for 20-30 minutes Focus on your hydration: Minimum 6glasses to up to 8 glasses. More water! LASTLY NEVER GIVE UP! Speaking of giving up, we all need some kind of push on our behinds, right? That's why I have certain ideals. Certain role models that I look for inspiration and motivation when I am feeling particular down in the ditch. These forces of good are there when i need them the most, to guide me through my epic quest I call life. Someone who I want to be: Inspiration Dice I have so many role models that I look up to! People who have proved to be gigantic and so bad arse--who don't need to be reminded of their worth! People who are amazing enough to inspire and motivate us all to follow our dreams and challenge our limits. They teach us that being kind, resolute, strong and brave--in the face of danger--is the most noblest of things you can do. So, so talented, so powerful and so stupendous. I want to be them and I am honoured to call them my idols: Lara Croft, Black Widow, Korra, Ellie Goulding, Aveline De Grandpre, Aloy, Merida, Captain Marvel, Avatar Aang, Dr 13 and Yasmin Khan, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jim Kwik, Shuri, Okoye, Kamala Khan etc. I am not promising here but i will try to keep you guys up to date with my daily shenanigans and what-nots. Apart from that, I want to THANK you for YOUR precious time! And I might need you guys to help me with this challenge because my focus on them has been very rocky but I am ready to CHANGE MYSELF FOR THE BETTER! I SWEAR ON MY PRETTY LITTLE HANDS THAT I SHALL TRY MY HARDEST! *CUE RICK ROLL SONG* p.s: i love DND even though i am a complete beginner so talk to me about it or if you are looking dnd players then lets band together! I am all for an epic dnd session!

I just picked up a copy of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes. I'm still on the first chapter, but it looks like a chunk of the book will focus on mindfulness and how being more aware and more alert can keep your brain sharper. The book jacket says the author explores Sherlock's "unique methods of ever-present mindfulness, astute observation, and logical deduction." Has anyone read this book? If so, what did you think? Are you a Sherlock Holmes fan? Comment below.

While this theme began as an excuse to get more Cumberbatch into my life, it has turned into a solid plan. Rules of the Game: There are 12 action items (each worth 2 points) that can be completed each day: Egoscue Back Exercises Hip Flexibility Take Prescription Sunlight Strength Training Cardio/Walking Pull-Ups MFP tracking No Sugar No Grains 5-6 Small Meals a day 4 Cups of Not Coffee There are also chores that I can do around the house worth an additional 3 points should I need the bonus points: Master Bath Clean Tile Floors Dust Master Bedroom Wash Bedding Clean Wood Floors Wash Cat Boxes Clean inside of Car Dust Sunroom I need 120 points a week to defeat Moriarty and get to the next level of his evil game. If I finish the challenge with a full 480 points I beat Moriarty at his GAME and win a prize TBD.

Hello, Assassins! This challenge is starting a bit late, given that I was "off the grid" for spring break to live for a few days in a rural farmhouse... long story... Since this is my first challenge with the Assassins' Guild, here's a little about me: - My previous challenge - My backstory TL, DR version: 24-year-old former (soon-to-be-current?) parkour enthusiast, Washington, DC inhabitant, with slightly insane long-term endurance running goals. I hope to get involved quickly and get to know more of you soon! Now, without further ado... Talos Builds His Arsenal This challenge will probably be a step down in intensity from my last, since I'll be kicking it off by finishing the big goal that most of the prior month was building toward - my first half marathon! With that out of the way, though, I'm hoping to build up my "arsenal" of bodyweight skills, now that I'm joining the Guild. For starters, I'm going to shoot for improving some basics that I've tried at in the past, but failed due to not having a dependable practice schedule. Reliability is something I improved on a lot with my last challenge, so I'm going to use this month as an opportunity to take another stab at these. Ideally, I'd like to post a video as proof of each of these! Skills: - Complete a round-off. A couple years ago I picked up a slight hip injury that really killed my ability to do some basic skills I used to enjoy, e.g., cartwheeling and round-offs. Previously I was working on aerials, which I would love (LOVE) to actually achieve in the future - but first I need this foundation. Thus, re-learning the round-off. - Five handstand wall push-ups. This is just basic strength improvement. My shoulder strength is one of my weak spots, so this will help with the next goal... - 15-second freestanding hand stands! 'Nuff said. Something I've tried in the past, improved on, but just never practiced enough to get good at. No reason I can't pull this off if I stick with it. Life: - Build 20 'mind palace' rooms. This one probably sounds weird, but I'm serious. Remember those scenes in Sherlock where he goes into a trance to pull up some random bit of information? That's actually a real thing; it's a memory training technique called the "Method of Loci", and it's been used to win memory championships and memorize huge amounts of texts. Anyway, it's a skill I've picked up and want to develop to a fuller potential - because let's face it . . . an Assassin's best weapon is his mind. Each "room" holds a handful of pieces of information, usually related. I have maybe seven or eight set at the moment, and am a bit rusty, so this will be a fun return to form. Oh, and I'll still be running and stuff, because long-term goals. But this will be a fun challenge.

So the new challenge started early! I am sure someone at NF Headquarters heard me sobbing softly as I contemplated challenge withdrawl. I am so glad I had my challenge already sketched out on the back of a napkin (that may or may not have been from a doughnut shop... I'm not telling) Okay so here we go.... Yesssss... this challenge will be Sherlock Holmes themed! And more specifically, "Hound of the Baskervilles" because it's one of my favorite Holmes stories, and "Release the Hounds" jokes never get old. So in true detective fashion, let me lay out my case.... My main goal this challenge is to ride in, and more importantly COMPLETE, the metric century at the Savannah Century cycling event. If you've followed any of my other challenges, you know that I have made 4 attempts at a metric so far and have had to drop out of all of them at various distances. If my inability to finish the last 10 miles of these rides isn't a crime that needs investigating, I don't know what is. So almost all my training this time around will be focused on that one goal. The ride itself is Sept 6th, so that dovetails with this challenge nicely. My two prongs of attack - my Sherlock and my Watson, if you will - will be physical training and eating. I've gotten a TON fitter over my last challenges, and I'm really happy about that, but I need to drop some of the extra fluff WITHOUT compromising my performance. So I am not going to cut carbs ( I currently seem to need about 200 grams a day to sustain my workout load) but try source them intelligently, and investigate a small detail each week that may lead to a larger solution. (See what I did there? More bad detective allusions to come, I assure you!) Also, I'm going to ramp up my milage on the bike each week, because 62 miles is a long freaking way, and to amuse myself I'm going to track how many round trips between London and Devonshire (home of Baskerville Hall) I make over the six weeks. (It's 175 miles each way, in case you're interested.) My training plan looks like 2 gym workouts, 3 bike workouts per week. The bike workouts are one hilly ride, one intervals (speed) ride, and one long-ass why-am-I-doing-this ride. Here we go... WEEK ONE: The investigation begins! - I need to do a set of progress pics, a set of measurements, a body fat measurement, and a blood pressure check. "Data! I need Data! I cannot make bricks without clay!" Also I am going to start keeping a food diary and posting it here, so I can really get a handle on what I'm eating. (Spoiler: it's too much) I will hate this. Week one mileage goal: 80 miles. WEEK TWO: The Curse of the Baskervilles! Or in my case, The Curse of the Basket of Chips. In an attempt to eliminate empty carbs, I am going to go grain-free. I don't have any gluten issues, but I do tend to mindlessly munch pastries and chips, so I'm hoping this will force me to eat only nutritious carbs that fuel my workouts, rather than make me want to nap. Holmes made Watson go to Devonshire and send him reports while he investigated in town. In that spirit, I will do a measurement/pics report at the end of week 2. Week two mileage goal: 90 miles. WEEK THREE: THE LIGHT UPON THE MOOR One of the sub-mysteries in HOTB is the convict, Seldon, who is hidden on the moor by his family, Baskerville's servants. One of my personal sub-mysteries is how I am expending 4,000 calories a week and not getting any skinnier, and I suspect the culprit is liquid calories. I've gotten a bit too dependent on Gatorade during and after workouts, and lately I've been drinking soda here and there. So this week's goal is to cut out all liquid calories, with the exception of cream in my coffee in the AM, because I don't want to lose my will to live this early in the challenge. But I'm going to cut it to one-half cup a day. Week three mileage goal: 100 miles WEEK FOUR: FIXING THE NETS Sherlock refuses to arrest the villain in HOTB until he's cleared up all the loose ends. In that vein, I will use week four to get any residual sugar out of my diet (ketchup and BBQ sauce, I'm looking at you) and possibly give up cheese. This may be a hound too far, however. I will get a tune-up on my bike if I haven't done that already. Also, week four will be another Report from Doctor Watson (pics and measures) Week four mileage goals: 100 miles, with one 50 mile ride to prep for big ride. WEEK FIVE: RELEASE THE HOUNDS The Ride is at the end of this week (Sunday Sept 6th) and so I won't make any big changes this week, except to aim for 9 hours of sleep a night and taper my training so I am coiled like a spring and ready to go. WEEK SIX: A RETROSPECTIVE This week I will analyse my progress, do a final report (pics and measures), soak in a hot tub somewhere, and eat pizza. I will do the pics and measures before I eat the pizza, just like my IQ was normal. Well that was certainly exhaustive. If you're short on time, here's the cliff notes: I'm going to ride my bike a lot and not eat like a pig.

Yup... last challenge went swimmingly until the last couple of weeks. Don't get me wrong, progress was made and I'm actually pretty happy with how the challenge turned out, but I just plain wasn't done with it. So with a few mods, it's going to look a lot like a repeat. Main Quest - slaying the anxiety dragon part 2 - poking the health problems SQ 1 - Running. Zombie Run Couch to 5K will be my coach on this, I had to stop on week 6, but it's been a couple of weeks since I ran so I'm going to go back to week 3 or 4. I'm thinking 3, less chance of injury and joint stress. SQ 2 - Food. I need to keep planning my meals at least 1 day in advance, then sticking to them. This will take a bit of adjustment on my part, not only in planning and prep time but in allowing extra calories on the days I'm going to need them so I don't over restrict my caloric intake after runs, or protein after strength. By the end of this challenge I hope to be several steps closer to having me week pre-mapped. I'm also taking part in a CSA this summer, only a half share because a whole share is friggin' ENORMOUS, but I get a bag full of local fresh veggies every week and have to figure out how to eat them - NO WASTING! First batch came last Thursday SQ 3 - Strength. THIS WAS MY BIGGEST FAIL LAST CHALLENGE AS A WHOLE. Seriously, feel free to poke me with a stick over this one. Or even a baseball bat. I'm crazy weak, and I HATE it! 2x/week this challenge because I'm not sure my body can take 3 right now. This was probably the thing I did worst on last challenge, so I'll need to focus extra on it this challenge. Each strength day will have a core/balance component (yoga/Pilate's) and a bodyweight component that I need to set in stone by sometime tomorrow, and will put on here once that's done. Life challenge - Meditation and devotions. SECOND BIGGEST FAIL. These went awesome 2 challenges ago, but I seriously dropped the ball on them last challenge. Sadly, I need to implement bedtime again. Not making it part of the challenge because it's just part of my life right now. (Alas, not this challenge, as I have very little to no free time) Also, last challenge I didn't write my silly little green posts. At all. Sad day. This time it will be better. Plus I can promise pony pics

Sorry, haven't been able to keep up with my green text posts like I'd like to (for anyone other than me who actually follows my ADD fangirl story following an immortal khajiit currently lost in a time machine with a madman), but will update it to where I wanted it to be here in my next post. Suffice to say, the TL;DR version is basically that the Doctor helped NW find someone who can help with her current issue - figuring out who the spider at the center of this web actually is. So last challenge went really well for the most part, not perfect but much better than I'd been doing overall last year. But I did realize that I'm trying to address a lot of problems the wrong way; primarily I'm trying to deal with everything with pure brute force, which is my natural tendency - I'll reason it through, develop a plan, then smash the problem with the plan and pure willpower. (I swear, I need a green ring.) Problem is, I need to be dealing with things where they're sprouting rather than where I'm seeing the outward issue; I need to treat the disease more than the symptoms. And that means a lot of mental and emotional work. Yuck. But sadly, brains and brawn won't beat stress and anxiety into submission. Main Quest: Slay the anxiety dragon SQ1: Meditation. Again. I need to set aside time every day this challenge to do this, starting at 5-10min for week 1, but getting toward half an hour by week 6. Scores out of 7/week, +2 Cha, +3 Con SQ2: Yoga/pilates. I need something that's gentle on my body, but going to build the strength that I need for other aspirations later - both of these have the balance of both qualities. I'll also be adding in some BW strength training 2x/week, trying to keep the number low to prevent another injury until my body regains some more muscle. So yoga/pilates 4x/week, strength training 2x/week. +3Dex, +2Str SQ3: Study quests have been failing miserably recently, so I need to be more mindful of making sure that my brain gets its exercise too. I'm going to try to keep the hours low on this so I don't burn out, but I also want to make sure that they actually HAPPEN, since this has been the #1 thing I've been failing on the last couple of challenges. +1Wis, +1Cha LifeQuest: Devotions daily; I need to be focusing more on my emotional and spiritual aspects, and this is a huge part that I've been completely ignoring for no good reason other than I've been stressed and therefore showing avoidance toward anything and everything. +2 Wis, +1 Con Can't wait until spring so I can get my bike back out & work on my endurance (not to mention burn fat rather than gas for transportation), but right now as I stare out my window at all this lovely snow I know that's not going to happen for a little while yet. But it is almost time for me to start getting an indoor garden kit for starting plants But, if you want to see some ridiculous awesomeness in the snow... here's a mini horse pulling us on sleds! Also sorry about the lack of keeping up with my logs due to lack of compy, I'm going to try to be a little more patient this challenge and post most days with food and activity logs

I decided I needed a challenge this go-round! It’s been too long and my fitness “plans†are turning into more floundering and soon I’m not going to know which way is up! Goal 1: Training this is a multi-faceted goal in that I’d like to continue incorporating short runs, yoga, and BW circuits in my training. However, the biggest part will be trying to include at least one real lifting session per week. Since I recently moved, I lost the use of my previous gym. I’ve been making up for it with plenty of BW work, but I miss the weights. Ultimately, I’d like to get the following in in each week: 1 weight session – will involve finding somewhere to do this 1 yoga session 2-3 short running sessions 2-3 BW circuit sessions Goal 2: Food Depending on how much I work out each week, I’d like to stay between 12,000-13,000 total cals. Given that, this goal also includes some other restrictions: NO packaged crap candy – it was starting to creep in too much here and there as Fall maturedLimit THREE pints of ice cream over the six weeks – this might seem silly but I need it. It’s starting to become a habit that I go get myself a pint of frozen yogurt every weekend. NOT okay. Goal 3: Money/Adult Beverages I’d like to cut back on how much I’m spending on alcohol. If I looked into it, I probably drink every weekend. Maybe every other weekend this includes city bars where drinks are just too expensive. When I know I am going out, I will set a beverage budget of $40.I will offer to be DD whenever one is necessary.I will set a 6-week budget of $100 for liquor stores.I’ve never done this before so I’m not sure if this is too much leeway, but I think just tracking how much I’m spending and being aware of it will help with this one. The game is afoot!

Cheechoe is Sher-Locked This challenge demands constructive goals every week; Each bringing me closer to that which I seek; To be a monk who is reaching her peak; And also Fucking Awesome. Always searching - motivation, self-actualization, wisdom.....call it what you will; this Monk is on a mission. Throughout this challenge I will be unraveling, deducing, and deciphering the small habits that are keeping me from my utmost form of awesome. Every week I unLOCK new habits will lead me closer to my full potential. Elementary, My Dear Nerds. My Challenge is Simple: 1. You Do Count Going to do a cut, my friends! I am going to allow myself a baseline of 2000cal per day which I will enter into MyFitnessPal to keep up with my goal. (Shamelessly stolen From Risen Phoenix). Since I am I fairly active person, I will adjust my calories depending on the exercise I did that day to avoid energy loss and other deficiencies. I thought about keeping a simple cut to 2000cal/day, but on days when I have multiple workouts or go on a long run, I can burn over 1000cal... and a cap of 2000 is just not enough. Furthermore, on days when I work or days I make rest days (hahahahahahahaa......) 2000cal is on the liberal side of PLENTY. The adjustment is just necessary. How will I adjust it, you ask? I will enter the workouts I did for the day (conservatively) into MyFitnessPal which will adjust my caloric allotment. I will allow myself ONE CHEAT DAY per week. (With a cap of 3000cal) Oh, and here's the kicker... *drum roll* NO NUTS OR NUT BUTTERS ON ANY DAY OTHER THAN A CHEAT DAY! For those of you who know me and my crack-whore tendencies toward almond butter and the like....this is a BIG DEAL. I also added the cap on my cheat day because I could easily make out with consume 1000cal worth or more of almond butter in one sitting. This is my attempt at breaking that habit. Edit: Easter and my birthday are free cheat days. I don't make the rules..... +2 WIS; +2 CON 2. Wake up and Workout I have already gotten out of the habit of working out before work. Lame. My weak-morning-brain always seems to justify needing the extra sleep for my 12 hours shifts. Yes, I need sleep, but I know I have more energy throughout my shift when I get up to workout before work. It gives me a boost, and I also sleep better that night. I really need your help with this one, guys. My weak-morning-brain is winning!! Goals to help actualize this challenge: - Set a second alarm on work nights so I have two alarms to snooze (God, this is sad...) - Attempt to go to bed as soon as I get home from work on consecutive work days - Allow myself ONE WORKDAY PER WEEK when I get to sleep in. Otherwise I only get the extra sleep on off days. (Or....or....Kishi gets to pick my punishment! ) (Oh God, why did I just type that?) +1 WIS; +1 CON; +1 CHA 3. Take the Rape Stairs Elevators are evil. They slowly suck the soul out of you with every vertical oscillation. I am fairly certain they displace part of your essence, leaving it to rot on some certain level and spitting your slightly-more-empty body back out into life with a slightly-more-pointless destination. There was a point where I wouldn't think twice about prematurely ending a conversation because someone didn't want to take the stairs with me. "Oh...you're taking the stairs? Ok....bye now!" *shrug* Unfortunately, I have gotten out this habit; particularly at work. Lame. I noticed this one night when I was walking to the parking garage with a co-worker and she said "Please don't make me take the stairs,". I didn't, of course (what....she asked nicely...). Anyway, it made me realize how much I have gotten out of the habit for myself. This must be remedied. There are multiple series of staircases in my hospital and in the parking garage across the street which I have come to refer to as The Rape Stairs. This is because the only way of describing them is somewhere between A-Hot-Mess-of-Chaos-That-Surely-Leads-to-Narnia and No-One-Will-Hear-Me-Scream. I shall conquer these Rape Stairs and any other staircases in buildings I find myself exploring. HUZZAH! TO THE STAIRCASE, WATSON!! +1 STR; +1 DEX; +1 STA 4. Get Ready With the Monkage. Of course, I need to get ready for my International Tournament in Italy this year. WOOT! I will attempt to focus more on my workouts that I have been so lame about the past couple of challenges. - TaeKwon-Do 3X/week (excepting when I am in Boston. I hope to have a place to Monk, but 3X that week is not realistic) - One LONG run per week (Long = 5+ miles) - Heavy Lifting 3X/week (delaoding Starting Strength and Heavy Crossfit WODs count) -At least one boxing workout per week I used to post my workouts here fairly consistently, but stopped because I realized no one really reads them. Buuuut I also realized it would help me to keep track of my progress. So.. I am going to attempt to post them again. For accountability. For Monk. For Science. +1 STR; +2 DEX; +2 STA Let's Do This! Thus endeth my super long post that will hopefully lead to an unforgivable amount of gifs and computer lagging. And I leave you with this as my Mutant Enemy Sherlock... "Grrrrrrrr.....Arrrrrghhhhhh"

This time I will have a Sherlock themed challenge, as it fits my goals. Main Goal: Become a legend Goal 1: The Ubiquitous Spreadsheet (+5 CON) My weakness appears to be a combination of needing to do or thing of something daily to keep at it, but also of hoping to do so much as to cease any productivity. At the end of the previous challenge I began a 30-day challenge to check off 9 out of 16 items per day. Each item is some small change or task, and/or from a previous challenge that I wish to continue. After the 30-days it will be more flexible for change but is intended to continue after such a review for the entirety of this challenge. Points awarded by percentage of success days after week zero. Some items on the list include: Exercise and Stretching Tidying - despite dust being a good marker of tampering Sleeping habits - when they do not interfere with a case No Mindless Eating - focus needs to be on the information, not ordinary needs Studying and Writing - to hone my abilities, "Education never ends Watson, it is a series of lessons" Method of Loci - what detective is incapable of recalling the most vital pieces of attic furniture? none. "I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it." Posture - How one holds oneself changes one's ability to blend in or glean information Walking the Dog - there is no better method of infiltration, except that it is fairly memorable to observers Draw - as a method to correct poor spacial reasoning and something that is the nearsightedness (compared to blind) side of face-blindness Complete a project already started - a goal that will end up decluttering the to-do list, and my head-space News - As a Global Studies major I am shamefully oblivious at times, but still deplorable for any person of society. Goal 2: Conquering the Mathematics GRE Subject Test (+4 WIS) The April date for the subject test is directly preceding this challenge. Although I am pessimistic about my ability to be prepared I do intend to try and at least be motivated to review the knowledge I will need in graduate school. I even signed up for a Coursera Calculus class. Benchmarks: (One stat point each, with the test specifics combined into one) -Calculus Textbook -Linear Algebra -Differential Equations -Practice test -Sign-up and pay for the test Goal 3: The Ninja Assassin (+5 STR) (John quote about Sherlock not seeming to workout despite his abilities that I cannot find) I have a tendency to vastly prefer my working out being noticed, and overall being a ninja about it. Being ninja-like is not terribly strange, is it? I make a second spreadsheet with grouping of two or three (mostly 3) exercises to do throughout a day without attracting notice. Groupings: Squats/Box Jump/Long Jump Chin-up/Plank/Hollow Hold Bridge/Wall Sit/Leg Lift Jumping Jacks/Burpees/Ground Kongs Crow/Pk Roll/Handstand Push-ups/Warrior 2 <- link has photos, vid, and real name Benchmarks: (One stat point for each reached) *one full push up *hang with bent arms for chin/pull up 15s *hold crow for 15 sec, twice *move while in bridge *back bend from standing without props Life:The Poised Baccalaureate (+1 CHA) No more computer-age slouch for me, I need to work on holding myself respectably. More than just the check-cell in a spreadsheet, looking better extends to apparel. My clothing preference is loose, ill-fitted, and ill-fitted for the current societal expectations of a respectable personage. I am okay with this, I relish in it, but given that I no longer have just three pants it is time to start looking at the articles that are short, that I rarely wear, or that I favor too much (and display such favoritism negatively) critically. Not only will I attempt to correct my posture during this challenge, but also to clean out my clothing. Replaced articles (white T-Shirt for another without stains) will not count, only removed articles. Significant time organizing such as determining articles to retire for messy chores and sleepwear is acceptable. This will be a difficult goal for me, so I will set it at 50 instances of acceptable activity. This means that if I work on posture every day I need only 5 articles sorted for removal, but I can make up missed posture days with more articles of clothing.

Hello Everybody!!! I'm excited to be starting my second challenge here in the magical forums of NF. I loved the first challenge and got a real taste for what can be achieved if I just stick with a healthy and active life style. MAIN QUEST I plan to loose 5% of my overall body fat, thus fitting into my "motivational pants" of which I have two pairs. I plan to achieve this quest by building lean muscle and eating a healthy mainly Paleo diet. SUPPORTING QUESTS Strength training: 2 days on 1 day off (+5 strength to earn)Sprint at least 2 times per week (100 meters) (+2 stamina to earn)Meditate for around 20 minutes each night before bed (+2 wisdom to earn)Yoga everyday (morning or night) for at least 10 minutes (+2 dexterity +2 charisma to earn)6 alcohol free days a week (bonus earned for 7 AFDs in a row) (+2 constitution to earn)> For my point system, I'll be giving myself a grade at the end of each week for each goal (a, b, c, etc) and the number of points earned per goal at the end of the challenge will be based on the average grade. LIFE QUEST My life quest is to finally perfect my new website, it's a digital wedding artwork site with templates and fun things, specifically I want to hit 200 templates added by the end of the 6 weeks (currently at 35 templates) and earn at least $100 from the site's sales. MOTIVATION I'm getting married in August (yay!) and want to solidify healthy habits (particularly around exercise) so I don't slack off during busy times leading up to the wedding, the honey moon, or our move to the US in the months following. Looking forward to getting to know fellow adventurers! Any advice regarding "plans" around sprinting (is it better to do more shorter faster sprints or do a few longer sprints as fast as you can? does it matter?) as I have been a long distance runner in the past, but never a sprinter. Good luck everyone, I hope week 1 is going well!!!

My Wife has been watching The Killing (Danish version) on Netflix and I watched a couple of minutes of one of the earlier episodes just to see what was going on. I pointed at one of the characters and asked who they were. I then gave a briefly explanation as to why I thought they were the murderer ( based on purely an ocular pat-down) and left her to it. She just watched the finale last night and it turns out I was correct! Just call me Sherlock!