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Hello everyone! I'll make an attempt at brevity but... well you know how it goes with introduction threads sometimes. 😅 I stumbled upon this site in search of like minded individuals to both learn from and help out. I've been on my fitness journey for some time already, but have few like-minded individuals to do it with. Which is why I largely stopped using the public gym and started building out a home gym. Difficult to find people to talk D&D and Warhammer with in the typical gym environment... Timing couldn't have been better given recent worldwide pandemics. So my journey into fitness actually started due to health reasons. When I was 20 years old I had to get my gal bladder removed, which is a fairly mundane and normal procedure, but not on people that young. In the post-op the surgeon gave it to me straight, said "don't plan for retirement, you wont reach it at this rate." Pretty sure he's not supposed to speak like that... but I'm glad he did. As it shoved me in a very positive direction. Here's what I would of looked like around that time: Was hovering around 300lbs at that time and could barely accomplish most basic movements. But I persisted, and while there's been plenty of ups and downs along the way, 15 years later I'm still just as driven to keep pushing and improving. I look forward to participating in the community here! I want to learn from all the people who've had success and contribute to the success of others where I can. And hopefully talk about tabletop from time to time! 😉

What’s this you say. A Nerd Fitness challenge about wanting to be a Librarian. Nonsense. But…ah ha! Not just any Librarian. I want to be a LIBRARIAN. See, one of those. Especially the axe wielding one. Okay well I’d like to have him and be him but that is neither here nor there. I want to be one of those Librarians. They kick ass, save the world and do it all with books and brains and bullets and fists. (Couldn’t find a B word for fists. Except big fists. I digress.) However I lack the skills necessary to be one. So while my aspirational goals are there my current goals do not meet with being a Librarian. But they will be. Oh yes they will be. Because a Librarian is my first step to Shield Maiden and from there to Valkyrie! (Girls got to have goals!) So my goals this challenge revolve around Librarian powah! Uhm. Working on gaining the skills to even be considered a Librarian some day. Yes, that’s what I meant and is much more eloquent. So Librarians focus for a bit as this will train my brain and body! And who better than Jacob to model myself after. (Eve was a close second but he’s pretty much Eve + Flynn is all I'm saying. And hot. And to be honest I’ve enjoyed the actor since the days of Angel in my much never discussed Buffy and Angel obsessed early teen years.) So how does one train to one day eventually be a Librarian? Body and mind? Its not just about reading books. Well to start I just got the okay from my cardiologist to start doing activities again. Ie exercise. Nothing too intense. (Crossfit is on hold at least another 6 months he said. Minimum. I go with the flow for now but will revisit this depending on how I feel in 3 months.) So goal 1 is to try out varying forms of exercise to get my body going again. This means I will try one new physical activity each week to try and decide which one works for me. To that end I have some fun stuff lined up. This week: Fencing class! Yes, I am going to learn how to use a sword. Or at least. Try the class and see what happens. Next week I’m debating archery or some rock climbing. After that some scuba class is a possibility or shooting classes. Nothing too strenuous. I’ve run it all by the doc and got his yes. So that’s my physical goals to becoming more like a Librarian. Goal 2 is to stretch the brain muscle to match the body muscles. This means learning new stuff. I had been prepared to head to Copenhagen to work on a PhD but that went to the wayside. So for now Ill just be taking Coursera courses online to stretch the brain in areas Im not used to. More than likely some art history to go in line with my history and maybe some astronomy or physics to go a new direction. My goal is to sign up and begin one new class and have a second as least signed up for by the end of this challenge. It’s not PhD level stuff but one of the side effects of treatment has been memory issues so trying to retrain my brain and stuff some more knowledge in there. I will also be re-reading all my old textbooks from classes to get back into the brain game. Can’t be a Librarian level expert if I forget my basic knowledge. Goal 3 isn’t really tied into Librarians (though I did try and stretch it into the theme believe me) This is simple. I will continue to prep my food for the week ahead at work on Sunday and meet my calorie goal of between 1650-1900 calories per day as recorded on MFP. A more personal goal is to just try and read some of the books that have been on my list for awhile. Not to learn new things but just to read to enjoy reading. Its not a hard and fast goal more an extra credit thing to keep in to and catch up on my reading. Ive been getting too much mental stimulation from Netflix. (Though let me tell you. Altered Carbon….Hell. Yeah.) So read some more books it is. Im looking at A Viking World edited by Stefan Brink and Neil Price. It’s a scholarly academic look at Viking Life and history but as a scholar and academic it’s my idea of fun. Seriously. It really is. For something full of information and not as scholarly and kind of heavy (I must admit) The Sea Wolves: A History of the Vikings by Lars Brownworth is a good one. Though it focuses on Vikings more war like aspects it’s a good place to start and jump in. Of course never fear. My list also includes some not so academically focused. I have some William Gibson, some Brandon Sanderson, some Glen Cook and some Genji Monogatari chilling by my bedside. Those will be read, again in many cases, this month as well. If I manage a B or better, or 80%, then I intend to reward myself. With this. So for people excited by Librarians and Level negative 10 shield maidens and wanna be Valkyr....here we go!

Seriously, how do normal people do it? Ever since I've started my second job in august and have been working full time for the first time in my life, I'm in awe of people who manage to work a regular job and still find time to work out, pursue their interests, socialize, learn new stuff... when I get back from work, I'm just exhausted. I've been sleeping more than ever these past few weeks (and I've always needed more sleep than other people) and feel like working 150% more than before requires 150% more energy than I have. There were days when I got home and lay down on the couch for a while just to wake up 1,5 hours later, eat something and go to bed. Ugh. But, I will not let this new situation control my life. Partly because I don't want to believe that I'll only live on the weekends from now on, but also because I've come so far this last year with NF that I don't want to let all these gains and skills and experiences slip out of my hands, just because I work regular hours now. I want to get those free standing handstands. I want to learn crazy new yoga poses. I want to see my body change and get stronger and healthier every day. I want to get back at drawing and singing and also learn new stuff (calligraphy and brush lettering being very high on that list). I want to do things that I enjoy doing. Not that my new (or old) job isn't enjoyable, but I don't want it to be all I do with my life. Lately, I've let things slide. I stopped bullet journaling, stopped working out, gave up on my morning yoga practice, didn't eat as healthy (but managed to stay away from the fast food for the most part) and let my flat become a mess. This has got to stop. I'll take baby steps this time, little steps that I'll be able to stick to. I won't go over board and plan to do all the things (and some of you know how hard this is for me). Easy does it. For starters, I'll get back to my 3x15 plan that worked pretty well before the evil forces of working full time pulled me back into the Empire's grasp: Move. Learn. Tidy. 15 minutes of moving a day. I'll do yoga, go for a walk, run, bike, skate, swim or even do a workout if I feel up to it. Any kind of movement for the sake of movement counts. I'll do this because I know I feel better when I do. My lower back has been bothering me a bit lately and my knees are still not quite right, and I know that light movement helps. Yoga definitely helps. And I feel accomplished when I've finished my daily dosis of moving my body. I want to feel proud of my body and what it can do. So I'll move. 15 minutes of learning a day. I'm studying french on duolingo just because I feel like it (and I've been able to stick to that one thanks to morning commutes and mobile access), but I might also read stuff for work, practice existing skills or try out new ones. I want to always continue learning and growing. There are so many things to know and learn. And if I exercise my body I should not forget to exercise my brain. So I'll learn. 15 minutes of tidying a day. I have a list of housekeeping chores that need to be done to keep our flat clean and somewhat presentable. There have been a lot of arguments about this with my boyfriend but I know from experience that 15 minutes a day is enough to get my share of chores done and make both of us feel more relaxed and comfortable in our home. 15 minutes is a small price to pay for nice surroundings and peace of mind. So I'll tidy. I'll track these in my bullet journal. For further motivation (and because I'll never get anything done otherwise), my computer is OFF LIMITS until all three of these are done. If I decide I don't have 15 minutes for moving on any given day, that's fine, but then I' don't have time for facebook, either. If I manage to get these done 80% of the time, I'll reward myself with a new fancy water bottle that's lightweight enough to take with me. If I manage to get these done 95% of the time, I'll reward myself with a flex nib pen for calligraphy practice. Oh, and guys... I'm back!!

Not exactly weight or fitness related but here it is, I am 19 years old and up to a few months ago i never knew how to ride a bike, i always wanted to learn but never did and I went out and spent hard earned money on this really nice brand new mountain bike. i learned to ride, i love it, i ride to work and back ( used to just walk its only about a mile away) and its something that im really happy about. woot! learned to ride a bike, now i need to find some bike trails to ride around on. and my second woot which even bigger, i got accepted into my school of choice! went to community college for a little out of highschool and i just got accepted into my school of choice in NYC. gunna take alot of hard work to make the commute and do well but its going to be so worth it. thanks for taking the time to listen to my woot.

i have never much cared about cars. they were little more than a transportation vehicle to me. growing up, the cool kids were into sports and cars, while i was into video games. because i was a nerd and was picked on, i associated cars with my enemies and developed an irrational animosity towards the subject of cars. this past weekend, I changed a tire for the first time in my life. at age 30. it was a fulfilling experience. it was an epic win, if you may. i gained so much satisfaction from that experience that now, all of a sudden, i feel stangely compelled to learn more about cars. what resources would you be able to recommend to me? is there a site like NerdFitness but about cars instead of health/fitness?