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I'm PinkNinja. I've been a monk since 2013, when Adventurer was a little less literal. I've not done martial arts regularly since, well, 2012. But It seemed like a good fit. When they changed the classes, I started to swap, but to be honest, new people are scary, and at the time, I put a foot in the door, but decided I wasn't up for it. Sorry! I'm sure you guys are GREAT, I just was having a weird moment. I'm a park ranger, and I love my job. I get to share the outdoors with people. I worked on a mountain for 6 years, but this past year, I was in a different position where I moved to a different park every 6-9 weeks. Now, I'm more permanent at a lake park. There's quite a bit of office work, but I get to lead hikes & kayak tours, too. Pretty much all of my challenges have been centered around losing weight and going on adventures.I love to backpack, and have even gotten to teach college courses on backpacking (paid to hike in not one, but TWO different jobs, how do I get so lucky?!) I camp, hike, kayak, I used to work in the park that was our state's highpoint, so I caught the highpointer bug and am trying for at least 40 of them. I've only got 3 under my belt, but I'm planning #4 soon, like probably next challenge. No, I haven't thru-hiked any of the cool trails. I have to work too much for that. I'm planning a thru-hike on the Buffalo River trail. It's shorter, and I'm even considering a hike upstream and a float downstream, but we'll see. Tell me about yourselves, please! I've been stalking your challenges, and it sounds fun. Are you up for taking in a nomadic monk? Challenge 1 of 2017 Health 1. Eat Better: Plan, plan, plan! I need to get back on track with planning my food for the week. I'm aiming for level 4 of the NF diet, so I'll keep that in mind. But I know if I planned ahead and went to a real store for groceries, it would help my nutrition and my budget, instead of the store here with their apocalyptic produce section and frightening supply of meat (seriously, I can't find a real lemon in this town, but I can get every part of the pig from the pickled lip to the salted foot) Each week, have my level 4 meals planned by Wednesday for the next week= 5 pts per week (20 total) 2. Sleep Better Go to bed before 10:35. I'm going to set reminders to shower and get ready for bed, and then another reminder to go to bed. I'll use my UP and my phone. I work on waking up earlier later. Hopefully just getting to bed at a decent hour will naturally help with that. Be in bed every night by 10:35= 1 pt (28) Wealth (or lack of) 1. Stop buying stuff! Seriously. STOP. Not going into my financial past, but I just consolidated a lot of debt off of some credit cards. I was doing well at not using them, then Christmas happened. And now I haven't stopped. I got a K-cup type coffee pot as a gift, so I bought a stand with drawers for it and enough to tea pods to more than fill said stand. Crap like that. I'm already moving into a smaller house and trying to downsize. WHAT is wrong with me?! So I'm uninstalling wish.com, amazon shopping app, and ebay from my phone. I don't have internet at home, so whew, safe on the laptop and Kindle. I will delete all my credit cards from online storage, so no more "Buy it Now- 1-click" If I don't want it badly enough to get up and go get my card, I don't want it enough to spend the money. Don't buy anything that isn't fuel for me or the Escape. Every dollar spent on something that is not fuel = -1pt 2. Get my Side Hustle On I have 3 classes approved at a local university to teach Beginner's Basket Weaving Workshops, one each in Feb, March, and April. I need to figure up my costs, write proposals for at least 3 more classes on either basket weaving, soap making, or something outdoors & fun, I'm thinking a camp cooking one or maybe an alternative fire starting or a combo, or something like that. But I haven't used a bow drill in at least 2 years.. Also, now that I'm not a pseudo homeless park gypsy, I need to get my Etsy store stocked again. If I stick to my Happiness #1 goal, I'll start producing things. But I've got to weave my mom's coasters. Though, since she doesn't know which color she wants, I'll get two sets finished. She can pick one and I can post the other for sale. But she likes fringe. Ugh. Prepare materials & handouts for first class, research & plan 3 classes for next quarter, and find out when proposals for next quarter are due. =10 pts Sanity 1. Get back on track with my 20/20/20. A few challenges ago, I was working on balance and so I started dedicating 20 minutes to cleaning (short term stuff, like dishes), 20 minutes of organizing(long term-like one day finish unpacking), and 20 minutes of creating. That got all thrown off in December because it got a little crazy, holidays, then had to help sister with an emergency move. So I need to get back to finding that balance. The rest of my evening is spent however I see fit, but I have to do AT LEAST 20 minutes of each, except for Tuesdays, when I wear Batman jammies and snuggle with my couch cause it's my Friday. Every day I am home that is not Tuesday, I will stick to the 20/20/20 rule. =1 pt per day (22 ish total) 2. Inventory & Organize Or at least start on it. I still haven't finished moving in and stuff. keeps. happening. Like holidays and company and travel for work, and then I'm ARGH! and I run away and play in the woods (ok, so that last one is all me). I'm going to pick a home inventory app and start filling it up. I'm going to start with my camping gear because that'll make me happy and because I need to reorganize it. I had some of it in long term storage, and then as soon as I started moving, mom needed some to "decorate her classroom". I got it all back (I THINK) But my DOTH bag is all scattered, and I'm feeling an itch to use it soon. Plus, I got a couple of cool new toys for Christmas and I have to give them their home. (Like a really cool collapsible solar lantern, A BOWCASE! & NEW ARROWS!, and a manufactured underquilt! I can retire my butchered wal-mart sleeping bag!) Inventory and organize all of my backpacking & camping gear by Feb. 4th. Make sure it is mostly all added into KnowYourStuff- = 20pts *Adventure Bonus* I have everything I need to kayak in colder weather. It's not top of the line, but it's adequate. I have put off using it for at least a couple of years. That's going to stop. I WANT to do it, I just talk myself out of it. I'll go kayaking between now and Feb. 2nd (to clarify, on flat water)