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Thank God for that autosave-thing. Well, I knew my home is ... rural, but a power failure for 30 minutes in bright daylight without any thunder and lightning and derooted trees and stuff? Uhm ... I didn't think Below-Franconia (yeah, I know, but it is supposed to hurt) was that low. Well, I'm sure my expression was priceless as I just was about to click on "Post" and my screen turned black ... The courier slowly opened her eyes. "What the hell did just happen?", she thought as she realized her uncomfortable situation. She lay flat on her face in dust of the Mojave, bound hand and foot, and every single muscle, tendon and ligament in her body seemed to be strained and bruised. So was her pride. She tried to get rid of her bonds, but they were much too tight. "Great. Now I'm lying around here in this god-forsaken place waiting for the sun to roast and the geckos to eat me. Or maybe the raiders will come eat me. A glorious death for a courier", she mumbled to herself, frowning. Then she suddenly heard steps and a cow bell. Could it be ... she managed to roll over and get a glimpse onto the nearby road. It really was a merchant from the Crimson Caravan with his http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Brahmin'>brahmin walking to her. One of its heads gently nudged her and then licked her all over the face, leaving her with a quite blank expression - exactly that expression people have while getting trolled and not being able to believe what just happened. She stared to the merchant, who had a pretty hard time trying not to burst into laughter. "You know, please understand if I don't think of this being that funny", she said calmly. "Yeah gal, I ... sure see your point", he giggled. "Well mister, I would be delighted if you could lend me a hand getting rid of these bonds." "Sure, me gal." "Stop calling me that. And don't do something funny." He didn't which kinda surprised her. Without the bonds, she managed to convince her legs that it actually is a good idea to get up. She took a look at her pip-boy attached to her left arm. At least the device was still working. But looking at her health display ... all her limbs were damaged, and she was more dead than alive according to the really unhappy face of the vault boy on the screen. To be precise, there was exactly one bloody HP left. After a few moments of rummaging around her pockets, she found one last stimpak which relieved the pain a bit, at least for the moment. She brushed the dust off her leather armor and her long hair, under the interested looks of the merchant. He was a man in his early thirties, tall, with a huge sniper rifle on his back and a big 44-magnum and a combat knife at his belt - a man who knows his business and can take care of himself. "Could you please stop staring at me?", she snapped and cursed the tight fit of the dark armor. She really didn't want to know what was going on his brain right now. "Of course, fair lady. Want to talk about what happened?" And he handed her a bottle with fresh, cool water. Her expression softened a bit. She gave him ten caps for the water and downed the bottle in one. "You mean, what happened before I got my first french-kiss by a mutated, double-headed cow?" He laughed. The left head of the brahmin, acting innocent, mooed. "Yeah, before Abigail french-kissed you. Where are you headed for?" "New Vegas via Nipton and Novac." "Let's travel together. I could use the company and you tell me who or what screwed you up so bad." "Why not ... I am helpless anyway - without my weapons", she thought and took a deep breath as she realized her varmint rifle was gone as was her beloved black katana she found beside a skeleton in a lead-inforced fridge. "I am a courier of the Mojave Express, and I have to deliver a small package with an expensive poker chip to the New Vegas Strip. The first four weeks of my travel went quite well. Just arrived in Goodsprings, I helped a girl named Sunny getting rid of this damn geckos by the well, but there were too much of them and my rifle didn't have that good punch. Not to mention my aiming *cough*. They chewed me up pretty well, so my legs were screwed. On my way staggering back to the village to see the Doc, I was robbed and knocked out by an &%#hole in a checked suit and his Great Khan bodyguard dickheads. And then you found me as a quite pissed damsel in distress, bonded, dehydrated, half dead. End of the story." "No, that isn't the end. The bond, pissed damsel hasn't told me her name yet." She rolled her eyes. "Okay, casanova, it's Isabell. If you call me Bella, your balls will make the acquaintance of my boot." Damn, that retarded grin again. What was it about her that she always seemed to attract creeps? "Richard, from the Crimson Caravan. Well me darling, seems like you had a pretty hard time and barely survived the tutorial level. But hey, you are still alive, aren't you?" "I think so ..." "Now gal, that means ..." "That means I am going to rip the dick into pieces who stole my delivery and left me bonded." He grinned. "That's the spirit, sweetheart, although I kinda liked the bonded part. Tell me your plan." "I will if you stop calling me sweetheart." "Your wish is my command, sweetheart." She sighed. Why on earth must her saviour happen to be such an effin' troll?! There is no justice. This little story (inspired by Fallout: New Vegas) is supposed to symbolize how my first challenge worked for me. The first three weeks were fine, but then ... university happened. I struggled with the exams (and lost most of the time) and I collapsed emotionally. Nothing serious, it was just that my willpower and motivation were gone to maintain regular, painful bodyweight workouts and healthy eating. Some of the old patterns crashed in again. Old patterns from my time I suffered from a severe depression in February/March 2013. Anyways, I am absolutely unwillingly to give up just because I fell down the first time. The goals are pretty much the same as in the old challenge: 1. Continue healthy eating habits: Paleo/Primal-conform meals as far as possible (I am with my parents, and I won't force my mother to cook special meals for me, so I just pick the things I can eat, which works pretty great so far, as she always cooks some kind of vegetables, so avoiding grains and other carb bombs is quite easy. My father is not convinced of what I am doing, but so what. I am 21 so that mustn't bother me too much). 2. Regular workout: Since I am at home at the moment, I have no access to a Dojo, so I can't practise Taekwondo - so there is just the Bodyweight Circuit (with real dumbbells this time) every other day - starting today - and going for a long walk the days without BWCs. This are my fitness related goals for the next six weeks. Getting healthier and get my ass moving regularly to shed at least five to ten kilogram of body fat as a longtime goal. Maybe not all by the end of this challenge, but I think 2-3 kg are feasible - if I take it serious. At the moment, 73,5 kg and 1,69 m of Isabell are sitting in front of the screen typing this. Info concerning the documentation of this challenge: I have a Daily Battle Log, where I will do all the documentation-related stuff. Here I will give you a weekly report (maybe I manage to continue my Fallout-esque story) - and of course respond to any comments. If I write here on a daily basis, I will just gossip and write the same boring stuff all the time. 3. Develop a need for order - get some structure into your daily life. You know the changelings from Star Trek? The shapeshifters with an almost neurotical need for order (look at Odo from Deep Space Nine). I want my days at home to be productive, so I kinda set a timetable - not by the clock, but by ... "marks". Inspired by a Star Trek character ... but hey, we're on Nerd Fitness, so what? ;-) Get up by 8AM at latest. Work out (either BWC or walking). Study until lunch. After lunch, study until afternoon tea. By that time I should have worked for 6-7 hours. Then there is time to play the organ and then the evening is free to be online, watching TV etc until 23PM to midnight. The point of doing this: If procrastinating was an olympic discipline, my chances winning the gold medal would be excellent. So I try to force myself into beginning work by that lighthouses during the day. I "developed" this plan today, so today of course didn't go like this. I hope this plan has both rigidness and flexibility enough so it is successful. (Why studying in my holidays even if being washed out of university is imminent? Because even if that happens, I want to be an engineer, so I will continue my studies at another university....) 3a) Clean up after yourself. I don't expect me to be the brilliant example of a tidy housewife by the end of the six weeks, but if I manage to force my lazy self into keeping my desk clean and putting things were they belong, that would be awesome. Now the mini-challenges of the guild leader: I don't know if they are all doable for me, the present one can be included into my BWC; the less time between the single sets as possible; rushing through strength training doesn't sound good to me, as the most BWEs are much more effective if performed slowly. My main quest by the way is not especially to lose weight or something - it is about being persistent and disciplined in all aspects of life. A more particular way to express "getting stronger physically and mentally" as the title of my first challenge said. Let's hope the tasks I listed above will get me nearer to that long-term goal. P.S.: My sincerest apologies to the-13th-letter for stealing his idea to turn the challenge reports into a little novel but I just couldn't help to write it. Now you know, Courier6 is a little evil faker.