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Five weeks, you say? FIVE WEEKS?! So since CAMP NERD FITNESS falls directly in the middle of this challenge, I am hereby dubbing this a five week challenge. Because my challenge for camp week is going to be JUST ENJOY CAMP! Period. I don’t want to have to think about goals or grading when I’m kayaking or on some ropes 60 feet above the ground or swordfighting someone or leaping through a waterfall. NOPE! Five weeks. Let’s do it. So I’m sitting here trying to come up with a theme that has to do with the number five. Hmm. Lots of thinking. What am I currently into nerd-wise that can work with the number five?............ Aaahahahaha yes YES EXCELLENT. STRONG WOMEN THAT DON’T TAKE NO SHIT. ALL RIGHTY THEN. Mad Max: Fury Road. If you haven’t seen it, it’s ok, we can still be friends. This movie has quickly rocketed into my top films of all time - brilliant characterization, a stunning musical score, impeccable and creative craftmanship, 99% CG-free crazy wild stunts with real humans and acrobats... and of course, blowing things up and a DESERT CAR CHASE YEEEAAAHH!!! These are the five Citadel Wives that the warlord Immortan Joe had taken and imprisoned for his own “personal use†(ugh) to breed him pure children (read: boys) to carry on his craycray warlord lineage and leadership. But when they break out on a risky road to freedom, they’re anything but delicate flowers. They fight and load weapons and work on the vehicles and lug heavy shit around and it’s JUST RAD. This challenge will be structured a little different than usual - mainly I’m breaking my quests up into a total of 5 instead of 4, and the point division will be a little different. But you’re not here to hear about the technicalities. You’re here for GLORY, SHINY AND CHROME. (hey there might be spoilers in this post if you haven’t seen the movie, so there’s that.) The Splendid Angharad (+3 STA) Splendid is the unofficial “leader†of the wives, she’s Joe’s favorite and throughout the movie always keeps a cool head, no matter what the situation. (Like, you know, if she’s about to have a baby in the underbelly of a truck that’s going 500mph and being pursued by Bad Dudes, or when she flings herself onto the outside of a war rig as a pregnant human shield to keep her friends from being shot, idk.) She’s graceful and grounded, and I want to take an opportunity to work on my mobility and flexiness with some yoga balance poses. Balance has always been a strong point of mine, and I think this will be a great opportunity to test myself, and expand my mental/physical “rootsâ€, if you will. I’ve chosen three balance poses to work on and will practice 3 times a week, and will also make it a final goal to hold each one at the end of the 6 weeks for as long as I can. Poses in no particular order are: Royal Dancer (otherwise known as Lord of the Dance), Crow, and Eagle. (I think I subconsciously listed them from most challenging -> least challenging, ha!) A - Practiced 3 times a week. B - Practiced 2 times a week. C - Practiced 1 time a week. Capable (+3 WIS) Capable is probably my second favorite of the wives. She’s gentle, kind, and compassionate. The way she treats Nux when she discovers him hiding on their rig - with compassion and not anger or disgust - and how she continues to support him steadfastly throughout the film speaks volumes to her character. Her words and actions are subtle yet full of a quiet inner strength. She’s just great, y’all. GREAT. (Her costume is also my favorite. That hair. Yass.) Anyways. I need to be a little more compassionate with myself and check in with myself a little better each week. Life’s about to get a little hectic - I’m going to Camp at the end of the month, then flying home for a long weekend in October, so that combined with my usual hijinks makes me err on the side of more self-care than usual. Plus, my favorite season is coming (autumn yo), and I want to be able to be present and mindful to enjoy as much of it as I can amidst the chaos. Like balancing, meditation is something I’ve been well versed in from an extremely young age, so I’ll try to describe my mindful experiences in detail here. A - Meditated once at the end of the week. F - MEDIOCRE. (Sorry, MM pun, this means I screwed up and didn’t do anything.) Cheedo the Fragile (+3 CON) Guys. I am literally Cheedo the Fragile. Seriously. This quest is probably going to be the most important one out of them all. Cheedo went from being timid and pretty darn naive (and actually wanting to go BACK to her terribad yet coddled lifestyle at one point, girl, you a strong wasteland woman that don’t need that junk) to using her 20 Seconds of Courage to trick Rictus into helping her onto his rig, thereby helping Furiosa on so she could kill Joe. Ballsy. While I won’t be spearheading any warlord assassinations, MY BACK IS FRAGILE, YO. Holy crapola. I need to get on this NOW and do it right, and stop saying, “Oh, I’m going to do this lala~†and just dooooo it. I don’t want to be someone that’s constantly sidelined by injury because I failed to take care of myself the right way. Consistent stretching and low back exercises has proved very helpful in the past, and I need to make it a priority. This will be a combination of targeted stretches along with strengthening core work. A - 5 days of low back stretching/strengthening. B - 4 days of low back stretching/strengthening. C - <3 days of low back stretching/strengthening. Toast the Knowing (+3 STR) How can you not like a chick named Toast. For reals, yo. Toast is a survivalist. She doesn’t beat around the bush, there’s no sugar coating here. When the other girls were flipping out over Angharad, Toast kept her cool and had her eyes on the prize, reminding them that they didn’t have any time to stop because they were going to the Green Place. She reloads guns and puts together weapons like a seasoned pro. She’s tactical and the first to suggest blocking the pass on the way back to the Citadel, to keep the War Boys from catching up to them. Toast just does what needs to be done. In the spirit of doing what needs to be done - I like gaming. A lot. We recently built some super fast mega charged pew-pew Shiny New PC’s for just such a thing, and as much as I love a nice long weekend gaming session......... I need to hold myself a little more accountable with my screen time. For each hour spent gaming on the weekend I owe myself 15 minutes of being up and mobile. Any type of exercise that suits my fancy - cardio, yoga, jump roping, practicing my barrel rolls (?), shadowboxing, vigorous spell-casting, whatever works. Turning into a Weekend Screen Warrior (literally) is a blast but if I spend too long on the computer I get fuzzy, lethargic, and spaced out. And that’s no way to survive. Speaking of survival, this quest is pass or fail ONLY. A - Every hour of gaming met with 15 minutes of exercise. F - You done screwed up. The Dag (+3 CHA) I love The Dag. I think she might be my favorite of the wives. She’s sassy and feisty and mouthy, and with all the bad juju she’s endured it hasn’t dulled her fire. She hisses at people and spits on them and doesn’t hesitate to let you know where you stand. Conversely she’s also very intuitive and creative, learning how to take care of the seeds from the Vuvalini, and always being keyed in to her environment and knowing when the enemy was approaching. For my Life Quest I want to spark my own creativity and use my fitness Instagram more!!! It’s something I’ve been slacking on and I really want to do more with it, but just haven’t had the drive to. Hey, it’s time! Follow me here for accountability and motivation, if you are so inclined. A - Instagram 3 times weekly. B - Instagram 2 times weekly. C - Instagram once weekly. Throughout all of this I plan to continue my lifting at least twice a week, but that's so ingrained now that I felt it silly to make it an actual challenge. Besides, variety, etc. Hop on my War Rig, rebels, and let's take this journey down the FURY ROAD TO VICTORY!!!! I LIFT! I REST! I LIFT AGAIN!!!!