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Guess who's back? That's right! Me, good ol' Korra. It's been a little over 6 months since I went awol, but I just couldn't stay away. Once a rebel, always a rebel. And guess what? I graduated college! I've got that milestone over and done with. No thanks to my university. I'm pretty salty about the whole college experience. Heck, my college cut over half the classes in the college of the liberal and fine arts leaving half the professors with barely a working wage and the other half were either forced to find work elsewhere or into retirement. And don't get me started on my personal career advisor. Since my original one was on leave I was given a new one. At the beginning of the semester, everything was running smoothly when he told me I had everything in order to graduate. Then all of a sudden I get an email a few weeks before graduation stating that he had overlooked a few things and that I was suddenly missing credit hours and couldn't graduate. And this was after I sent out the graduation invitations and ordered my ring. I wasn't sent un-invitation cards to everyone, waste another semester and add a few thousand more dollars to my already crippling student debt because of this. I filled out paperwork for graduation, crammed for a few CLEP exams, and walked the stage and earned my diploma. Now the only problem is finding a job. I've got a shiny new degree and no career to follow it up with. Ah, the struggle of a post-graduate. And I still live with the folks and work retail. At least I made the main goal of my last challenge. I graduated and that's all that matters. 2016 was a grand dumpster fire, though. During that year I: - Got my first real b/f -was dumped by said b/f -pledged for a fraternity disguised as a business organization (for a friend) -got rejected by said fraternity (and said friend made it in and hasn't spoken to me since) -I got a job at a pet store (and still have it) where I get paid to hug puppies -gotten carried away with Pokemon go -forgot how to socialize my last semester out of fear of failing a class - cut 19in/48cm of my hair off -did a summer internship at a non-profit and witnessed some top notch burnout my hair use to look like this now it looks like this 2017 is gonna be different. During this year I'm gonna: -find me a real career -be able to afford my own teeny tiny studio apartment -start making payments on my student loans -go back to college for grad school -lose some weight -run a 5k -run a 10k -run something bigger -think about writing that book that's like HP meets Attack on Titans meets Soma meets D&D where the origins of magic is macabre and the definition of what it means to be human is really questioned But hey... baby steps. It's only a few days into the new year and I've already signed up for Rising Heroes and gotten a months subscription to a new yoga studio with the fam. By the end of the week, I hope to persuade them to start meal planning. We sorta already had to change out eating habits around Maleficent (aka my stepmom) since she had 80 percent of her stomach removed for weight loss surgery. That's life. ~~~ for now, I'll stick to the small things Main Quest: Get a job Health Quest 1: Food -Drink +72oz of water per day Health Quest 2: Exercise -workout x4 a week Health Quest 3: Sleep -get +7hrs of sleep Level Up Your Life: Language -practice duolingo x4 a week let's do this

Arrowan’s Eighth Challenge: For the Rebellion! Stay on target Themes: Focus, Discipline, Hope Name: Arrowan Class: Adventurer (but I'm sneaky and like to hang out with Monks) Faction: Volo Starting point: Weight: 155 lbs, Height: 5’6” Introduction: I’m back after another leave of absence. Even when I’m away from the challenge forums, though, I’m always fighting for the Rebellion. I never forget about my fellow rebels—you guys inspire the hell out of me. Anyway, I want to do more challenges this year in order to keep my goals structured and be a part of the community. I’m now active in Rising Heroes, and I’m incorporating it into the challenge, because otherwise I’m likely to get overwhelmed with all the various goals and missions and posts. I’m heading into a period of change in my life, so I have to stay focused and disciplined to maintain fitness goals and keep my life in balance. There are dozens and dozens of goals on my “master list” of things I want to accomplish, but as always, I need to narrow it down so I can actually make progress on some of them. So here are my official challenge objectives: Challenge Goals: 1. Stay on target with Rising Heroes missions 2. Eat more Paleo 3. Study Japanese 4. Job hunt Side Quest: Daily meditation, 2-5 minutes a day Strategies: 1. Rising Heroes—This just started but it’s turning out to be tons of fun. The missions include physical challenges, so I’m just going to keep up with them and count that as one of my challenge goals here. 2. Eat more Paleo—I would be making this a goal about counting calories, but right now I don’t want another thing to have to log into the computer. Eating Paleo sounds like way more fun. I’m going slow, so I don’t lose interest or willpower. Each Saturday will be entirely Paleo. With each progressive week, I’ll do three more meals that are Paleo only – but they don’t have to be three meals on the same day, they can be spread out during the week. Week 1=1 day of Paleo; week 2=1 day of Paleo + 3 meals; week 3=1 day of Paleo + 6 meals; week 4=1 day of Paleo + 9 meals. You better believe I’ll be hitting up the NF recipes for ideas. 3. Study Japanese—I am brand new to this, and I’m intimidated as hell. Why do I want to learn this language? Martial arts is on my to-do list (I’ve been dabbling for a while, just haven’t committed yet), and learning the language would be a nice complement to this goal, allowing me to pick up terms for movements and have a better insight into the culture. I know it’s one of the most complicated languages I could pick, but it’s kind of like being faced with an enormous mountain. You know it’s going to be difficult as hell to climb, but the allure of the view from the top, and the feeling of accomplishment when you get there, is just too much to resist. Also, Ninja Turtles. Strategies…I’m working on it. I’ve flagged some websites and I’ll have to see how it goes. But the specific challenge goal is to work on this for at least 10 minutes every day, and at least 30 minutes 3 days a week. 4. Job hunt—Man oh man, do I NOT want to have this as a challenge goal again. But I keep taking on temporary jobs, so I continue to have to search for the next one. My current job is pretty menial, although I get to walk all day, listen to music, and I like the people I work with. But the position ends in March, and I’m not guaranteed full-time hours each week, so I really need to move on as soon as I can. The goal is a minimum of 2 job applications submitted each week. I’m aiming for something in the wildlife field, but I’m out of touch, so I’m also going to read 1 journal article each week relevant to wildlife research. Side Quest: Meditation! Two minutes to start but working up to at least 5 minutes a day. Hopefully this will bring a little clarity and focus into my messy brain. Grading: A=100% B=75% C=50% D=25% F=0% 1. Rising Heroes: grade will correspond with percentage of missions completed 2. Eat more Paleo: Three points for each Saturday of Paleo meals (12 total), plus a point for each additional meal (3 in wk 1, 6 in wk 2, and 9 in wk 3) makes a total of 30 points. Grade will correspond to the percentage of these points that I actually earn. 3. Study Japanese: One point for every 10 minutes of study; if I stick to the goal of 10 minutes a day, and 30 minutes on 3 days a week, that would make 52 points (the 30-minute sessions include the 10 minutes for that day). 4. Job hunt: One point for each application submitted, plus one point for each article read, for a possible total of 12 points. (I’m skipping the starting and ending attributes this time, because accomplishing these goals is a reward unto itself. I don’t get much out of allocating the points.)