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Greetings, Rangers! This is Geek, reporting for duty! I've finally completed a full challenge and am back for more, though I'm expecting more of a butt-kicking this time, for reasons that will become clear below. Here's a hint, though: Two events are overlapping my challenge this time around, one at the beginning and one at the end. To start with, my 4-week semester starts today. I'm taking 3 classes to get myself into an Alternative Licensure program, which will lead to a license to teach High School-level Biology. That's a lot of reading and classwork to get done. At the end of the challenge, I will be entering Camp NaNoWriMo for the July session. Lots more writing and some research to be done! There will be three days in which all THREE of these things overlap…if I survive, you'll hear from me on the 4th of July, barring a family picnic. So now it's time to take chances, make mistakes, and…GET MESSY! Here's the main quest, as stated in my previous challenge: Get back in shape, as defined by four things: 1. NOT getting out of breath when heading up the hill to the barn in a hurry. 2. Be comfortable with the idea and undertaking of hikes/walks that last over an hour. 3. Lose the extra pudge I've picked up over the past few months. This is an issue of body image and visual aesthetics rather than a true 'health' thing, but it is important to me. 4. NOT breaking into a panic when a family member insists that I 'go out and DO something'. That said, here are the three subjects we'll be covering this time around: 1. Document my eating habits 5 days a week- 5 being the minimum, and leaving room for days where I'm so busy I can't do anything not related to work and school. This will help me gain a better awareness of how healthy my diet actually is, and where I can improve. Worth +2 CON and +1 STA 2. Get OUTSIDE and do something twice a week. It's summertime in Northern New Mexico and I'm surrounded by beauty. I ought to take advantage of that. Potential activities include bike rides, hikes, swimming/tubing the river, taking the lift up the mountain and walking back down, and gardening. Worth +1 CHA and +2 STR. 3. 5 days a week of yoga. With summer on us and a serious overpopulation problem at the shelter where I work, my work days are long, hard, hot, and leave me sore and stiff. Yoga will help ease the stiffness and encourage me to relax and separate myself from the troubles of the day. Worth +2 DEX and +2 STA. Extra Credit! (Level Up My Life) Complete the Jolteon Plush. I have a lot of butt-spikes and collar-fluff to hand-sew on, and the raw edges of minky fabric shed everywhere, so I've been putting it off. FIELD TRIP! Optional but epic possibilities for Goal 2: - Bandelier National Monument - Great Sand Dunes - Colorado Gator Farm -Wild Rivers Recreation Area Places like THESE: SO HERE WE GO!

Heyo, fellow Nerds! Geek here, reporting for duty. Again. I've been out of the game for awhile, trying to get my life and everything else on track. I can't say for sure if I'm headed in a straight line yet, but I've got a job again and if all goes well, I'll be in school for a license to teach high school biology this summer. With that out of the way, I've been encouraged (read: poked by Stooshie) to rejoin the ranks of the NerdFitness challenge. I do sort of keep up with my Academy work, at least. Or I did until I started working Pods at work. Something about hauling 40-60 pound dogs around all day while they try to eat each other made me not want to do anything involving muscles when I came home. I know, naughty Geek. So here's the Mission! Quest….Thing Get back in shape, as defined by four things: 1. NOT getting out of breath when heading up the hill to the barn in a hurry. 2. Be comfortable with the idea and undertaking of hikes/walks that last over an hour. 3. Lose the extra pudge I've picked up over the past few months. This is an issue of body image and visual aesthetics rather than a true 'health' thing, but it is important to me. 4. NOT breaking into a panic when a family member insists that I 'go out and DO something'. With this quest in mind, and those criteria, my three goals for the challenge are as follows: 1. Exercise 5 days a week, with three of those days involving a walk of some kind lasting 30 minutes or more. The other two days can be anything exercise-y that lasts the minimum of 30 minutes. Right now I'm looking at time at the gym, Academy and Circus Yoga workouts, and the Jillian Michaels DVD a relative sent me. I'm going to be using The Walk on my phone to help track most, if not all, of my walking, since the incentive of making exercise a game really does help me. Completing this quest will net me +3 STA and +1 CON. 2. Practice yoga 3 times a week. This won't count as part of Goal 1, but as a supplement to it. Two of the three days will likely be the non-exercise days, and the third on a day off when I have the time to devote to a longer practice. The yoga will serve two purposes: first, to manage and expand my flexibility; and second, to remind me to take time out to breathe. Breathing is good, or so I've been told, and even more so at this altitude (nearly 8000 feet). Completing this quest will be worth +2 STR and +1 DEX 3. DO something 6 days a week. Especially on my days off, I'm very guilty of finding somewhere comfy to hide and just sit still most of the day. This is a baaaaaaaaad habit that I need to ditch. DOING something means doing something that requires my conscious attention and participation. Watching movies and television are out. So is reading. My one day of 'rest' will be on Fridays, when my family settles in to watch a movie together. Party Night has been an institution since long before I was born, and is one we've handed over to the extended family. You do NOT miss Party Night unless it's a dire emergency. End of story. Activities that are likely to take place include….quilting, sewing projects, learning to knit (a la Stooshie), cooking/baking, cleaning and organizing, and gardening. Completing this quest will be worth +2 WIS and +1 DEX. Exception: If Friday happens to fall on a day off work, I may DO something anyway and save my one day of couch potato-ness for a really bad day at work. Level Up Life SideQuest (Or, Leading the Ents to War, if we meander along in Stooshie's footsteps) Complete the patches for the wedding quilt I'm assembling for a wedding in July. It's a split rail, 5 colors, 56 patches with 3 patches already complete. Bonus: get 50% of the patches for Stooshie's LOTR-themed quilt assembled and ready for Stage 2. And there you have it! This Geek is going to try her damnedest to complete these goals and take a few steps towards the end of the Quest. Stay tuned for updates and a list of rewards (because holding something overhead while the victory theme plays should not be reserved only for video games).