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Avatar: The Last Airbender is one of my favorite stories of all time and for my first NF Challenge, I want to invoke Aang and laugh at gravity. {For those who aren't familiar: The show was originally written for kids and aired on Nickelodeon, but it was so good much of the regular audience was made up of over 18s. My local bar in Brooklyn actually packed in a huge crowd when they played the final four-episode finale. The premise of this world is that there are four main superpowers in existence, and four separate nations or groups of people: The Water Tribe, the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation, and the Air Nomads. Special people from each can "bend" their own group's element. Fun fact: The bending styles are based closely on four Chinese martial arts, respectively: tai chi, hung gar, northern shoalin, and baguathang.} My friend and roommate, C, introduced me to this show the very same week she took me and our other roommate, L, to a medley martial arts class. We joked about what kind of bender we'd be and I was the last one to figure mine out. C already knew she was Waterbender (a natural at Tai Chi, sensitive, graceful) and after a few classes not even the giant dudes could knock L down, even though she's tiny. She's totally an Earthbender. It wasn't until we started using holds that I found I could escape almost any situation, particularly with spinning moves. I'm a goddamn Airbender. Fast forward a year, I'm no longer in New York (which makes me happy and sad at the same time) and no longer taking martial arts classes (which just makes me sad). I will again once I'm settled into a new city, but for now while I'm being a bit nomadic I have to do my Airbender training solo. And Airbending is a lot of acrobatics. In the past I've done exercise I didn't love: Running, swimming laps, lifting weights—along with (excessively) restricting food. It never works for long because eventually my resentment that I have to slog through it every single day outweighs the benefits and I start making rude hand gestures at the whole endeavor. The irony in all this is that the times I've been fittest in my life have been when I've done only the things I like. Mostly? Acrobatic, gravity defying stuff. Here on in I will no longer be dragging myself to a gym. I will no longer fight myself. I am going to do what I enjoy. I need to ditch the desire to be routine. Many people seem to take comfort in consistency and repetition. For me routines are shackles. So instead of trying to do a series of movements or circuits a certain number of times a week I'm going to learn specific tricks. Task 1 Upside down things 1: Learn to drop into a backbend. Aim to practice every day, with a minimum of four times a week. My starting count in an up-from-the-ground wheel is a max of 10 "mississippis" in this pose, I'll aim to stay up just a few longer than feels comfortable at the time and take a count at the middle and end of the challenge. 2: If I master drop-backs before the end of the challenge, I'll move on to practicing my crow/frog stand and bound headstand balance times. I'm currently at about 3 "mississippis" for each. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Strength: 2 Stamina: 1 Dexterity: 1 Task 2 Get bendy Splits are a mainstay of acrobats, ninjas, and basasses of all stripes, including Airbenders. And I want in. My starting yet-to-split measurements are right leg front: about 30 centimeters left leg front: about 30 centimeters horizontal: about 23 centimeters To get lower I'm going to do the following stretches (each for a total of at least five minutes) throughout the day as I take breaks from working and/or before bed: Forward bends Butterfly Pancake Pigeon with quad stretch Frog stretch Reclining Hero Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Strength: 1 Dexterity: 2 Task 3 Slash at the thyroid monster with food I have a bit of a tendency to restrict my eating when I want to see results and it's problematic, especially because I have a mostly-dead thyroid. In my early 20s (I'm in my late 20s now) while my thyroid was secretly doing the hereditary death-rumba, I found that to lose about a pound a month I had to workout at least an hour a day, seven days a week, and eat less than 1200 calories a day. I did this on and off for years until my thyroid totally died about a year ago and I gained at least 30 or 40 pounds in a couple of months while barely eating at all. It was awesome. Of course, once I got on the right thyroid medication and threw out the grains, things started to change without the need to starve and exercise to exhaustion. I promise to eat. I will eat when my stomach rumbles. EAT. EAT. EAT. Like Appa and Momo. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Constitution: 1 Life goal Fight the complacency beast I'm a freelancer, which means buckets of freedom, and that's great. But to get more (and more interesting) work I need to do some hard self-promotion including cold emails, and that blows. I'd rather bathe in leeches than "network" but I really like having a bed indoors, so I will spend five hours a week pursuing new work. Points up for grabs in first 3 weeks: Charisma: 1 Wisdom: 1 Ready? Set? Yip yip!

“IT HAS BEGUN!†1- FOREWARD TUCK ROLL What I can do now: A sloppy sideways tuck roll To get better: Attempt 10 times a day DEX +2, STA +1 “GET OVER HERE!†2- SIDE SHOULDER ROLL What I can do now: Fall over To get better: Attempt 10 times a day with a partner or wall guide DEX +2, STA +1 "FINISH HIM!" 3- SPLITS Currently not even close To improve I need to focus on stretching DEX +2 “VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!†4- lose another 10 lbs To do this I have to maintain my dietary habits, go to my crossfit group at least 2 times a week, and continue my MMA and BJJ classes 5 times a week. CON +2, CHA +2 "FLAWLESS VICTORY!" Life Goal: finish the backyard patio WIS +3

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.†~ Chinese Proverb Last challenge I bit off more than I could chew in the perspective of the other changes happening in my life. I'm terrible with time management and without proper planning, I couldn't fit everything in. It made me think of Steve's article about a Robot's Guide to healthy living. If this Than that. I realized I really need to work on creating a daily routine, at least a loosely structured template, that will move me towards my goals. Take the brain out of the picture, and just DO certain things. Especially because I'm moving during this challenge, and this involves 3 weeks of planning, a week long road trip, staying with friends in five states, and 2 weeks setting up my new place and getting settled. Habit goal: IF it is morning THEN I will get up and go for a walk. It doesn't matter how far I walk or for how long, the point is to get myself out of bed and out the door immediately to get my blood pumping and get some vitamin D in the form of sunlight. 50 jumping jacks can be substituted for extremely inclement weather. Emphasis on extremely. Why its a challenge: Despite all of my work from last challenge, I still hate mornings. Why I want to do it anyway: I used to feel really good running every morning, and when I did this I just kind of fell out of bed into my running shoes and walked out the door. No thought involved. I just DID IT. Also I believe my gorilla workouts will be easier to start once I'm warmed up and woke up by a walk. Methods: Keep shoes by bedside. No options. Also if i'm really really zonkered, I'll grab a cup of coffee and drink it whilst walking. Double duty. No excuses. Grading: 35-42 days = A 27-35 days = B 20-27 days = C < 20 days = F Strength/Endurance Goal: IF it is Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday, THEN I will do push ups. The goal is to get back to TEN FULL PUSH UPS WITH PERFECT FORM. Why it's a challenge: These gorilla workouts for the last month and a half doing only knee push ups has wrecked my ability to do full push ups. I can now do like four. And they are wicked hard. Wobble arms. Mega sad. Why I want to do it anyway: I love push ups, they are fun, I want to be stronger, and I want to beat my best friend's husband in push up contests. End of story. Method: Mon-Wed-Fri regular gorilla workout, Tue-Thu-Sat 100 pushups challenge. Grading: 10 = A 9 = B 8 = C <8 = F Skill Goal: IF it is nighttime THEN I will stretch. Primary goal here is working towards Front splits and Backbends. Why this is a challenge: I'm wicked tight. I've never been able to get into a split, even during two years of gymnastics as a kid. Why I want to do it anyway: A. splits and backbends are good party tricks 2. My problem areas (places I have the worst posture and get the most pain) are my hips and upper back/shoulders. I can already feel after three days of splits and bridges, these areas are strengthening, my posture is improving, and i'm in less pain. Methods: 15 minutes of stretching every night before bed. Every day. No going to bed without stretching. Grading: -3 inches on splits, 30 second bridge = A -2 inches on splits, 20 second bridge = B -1 inches on splits, 15 second bridge = C Anything less = F This is where I'm starting for splits: Life Goal: IF I am practicing the violin THEN I will do drills for playing in tune. I will be working on learning the chorus for Crystalize (is it called a chorus in an instrumental piece?), but also focusing largely on perfecting the part I already know, and doing- hopefully daily- exercises specific to playing in tune. Why this is a challenge: It's a very difficult song, and I often have a tendency to go too fast and hit sour notes. Why I want to do it anyway: I love the violin and I want to be awesome at it. I want to play the things I hear in my head and not have them come out sounding like dying cats. Methods: I am hoping to have time on a daily basis to play the violin. This is especially awkward for the first 4 weeks so I will have to be creative with this. I'm staying with friends since I left my apartment, and don't want to subject them to me screechy practicing. I'm thinking of buying a practice mute (probably not for a while, i have no mailing address) or going to the park to practice after work (more likely) or a combination of both. I want to search the internets for "playing in tune" tutorials. I've also considered fretboard tape, however half the sources I read says it delays learning by ear and half of them say it speeds up this process. I don't know what to believe. I couldn't figure out a measurable part to this (S.M.A.R.T goal) as far as quality goes, so I'm grading on how many minutes of "In-tune exercises" I do per week. I'm aiming for 30. Grading: 30 minutes / week = A 20 minutes / week = B 15 minutes / week = C < 15 minutes = F So here are my four little rocks I'm going to carry away from my mountain for the next six weeks!