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(It's been forever since I did a themed challenge, but I always had fun writing them, and the story aspect gave me an extra motivation to get things to go in the right direction. So, here goes nothin') NightWatcher woke up and looked around. The area seemed quiet, which was strange - the last thing she remembered was a loud clatter, a screaming hollow, and a sudden dull pain in her chest. She glanced over at the fire, then down at the mark branded into her skin, and groaned as the memories flooded her mind - the undead asylum, the flight, and the warning that if she didn't restore her humanity, she would eventually lose her mind. Looking at her shriveling hands, she pulled a soul from her inventory and inhaled as life flooded her limbs again. Slowly, NightWatcher pulled her feet back under herself and forced her body back to standing. Weary, but not done, she started from the fire to find the last place she had died, and reclaim what she had lost there. This challenge is basically the same as the last one, structurally speaking - in large part because I wound up getting bronchitis early on in the last one and not getting as much done as I'd wanted last time. I still have a bit of a cough, but hopefully when I go in for my follow up appointment on Wednesday the doc will be able to get a better idea as to why I'm still coughing and I can kick this stupid thing to the curb. For now, while trying to get some extra rest in, I'm also going to try to get my next steps on this goal done. And for anyone who hasn't played Dark Souls, the entire premise of the game is try, try again. And again. And again... Main Quest: Grasping the sword (getting up and fighting back against my mental and physical issues - when I set this for the year, I didn't expect it to be **quite** this on the nose) Sidequest 1 - Rekindling the Flames (exercise) : Daily yoga practice; I have my practices scheduled at 11am, but due to my bizarre schedule and the fact that I've been sleeping extra due to illness I've wound up doing them after work at 12:30/1am a lot of the time. The tracking aspect of this is just getting the yoga in for now, with a possible bonus point if I get a run in - for now, runs are 100% a bonus though, the yoga is the main goal. Tracking - 1 point/session of yoga, aiming for 7 points/week. 1 bonus/grace point for a run Sidequest 2 - Fighting off the Hollows (food tracking) : Working on slowly getting some of the extra weight I've gained back off - which at least for now, means tracking calories so I can get enough of a deficit to be losing weight, while making sure I'm eating enough and also gives me a record to look back on and see both good and bad habits. Tracking - 1 point/day of food tracking 2 points for getting food prepared ahead for the week for work -1 point for each weekday trip through a drive through Aiming for 7 points/week Sidequest 3 - Linking the Fires(community) : No one succeeds completely alone, and we all need to spend time around bonfires swapping stories with the other folks around. Both for my own accountability and to help others in this community, I want to make sure I'm getting out in there and encouraging others <3 so I want to make sure I comment on at least 10 threads per week besides my own. I think I'm actually going to try to schedule specific time for this, since otherwise I tend to slip into "I'll-do-it-later"-itis. Tracking - 1 point/thread, aiming for 10/week Lifequest - Know your Armory (organization) : going through the game and getting all the shiny new armors (or 50 broken swords and about 20 copies of Baldor knight shields... tomato, tomahto)is all well and good, but it's not super useful unless you know which weapon will deal enough damage to that annoying knight in the way, or which suit of armor will protect you from the fire that witch casts & let you roll out of the way before you die. Again. All that random flavor text to say I need to organize my house & schedule a bit better. Since this is week 0, I'm going for schedule this week, then more physical organization starting on week 1. Tracking - This isn't a scaled thing; either the thing I pick at the beginning of the week gets done, or it doesn't. This one is tracked out of 5 points. Point scale - 29+ points: A+ - estus flask boost 25-28 points: A- - not terrible, but could be better. At least you're still human though. 20-24 points: B - ok, we need to work on this a bit, you're starting to go hollow. 15-20 points: C - are you alright? You're starting to look a bit... Vacant. Here, have a soul, you kinda need it. >15 points: OK, I need to step back and look and see if there are some factors I need to reign in in my environment or schedule. This is not how progress is made I'm also going to try to update this at least every other day, if not daily, so feel free to poke me with a stick if I go too quiet without giving some form of reason beforehand