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Alliance with who, I hear you asking? Well, you, of course! And also my doctors, husband, teachers, new co-workers, new boss, local librarian, probably the baristas at my favorite coffee shop that just reopened... This summer for me is really the pinnacle of the idea that no man is an island - with all the transitions and new tasks going on, I'm going to be depending on the people around me more than ever: One grad school semester just ended, but a new one is starting soon (May 17th) and I'm taking twice as many credit hours as usual so I can get started on my thesis. My current job will be ending very shortly (May 28th) and then I will be slowly transitioning to a new one over the summer, complete with writing my own programs from scratch. I'm also having surgery on June 2nd to repair a persistent issue from my c-section back in 2017 (laparoscopic and out-patient, but surgery nevertheless...and honestly barely-not-experimental surgery, this procedure has only been around for about 4-5 years). While it won't be healed this summer - it takes a minimum of 3 months to heal, so at least September before I'm ready for anything else - we will also be discussing our next steps RE: infertility treatments... ...while simultaneously welcoming not one, not two, but THREE family babies this summer. Two of which live close enough that we're fully expected to visit. And apparently provide gifts for, which no one told me until yesterday but that's a whole other story. Also doesn't "Summer Alliance" sound kinda badass? Or is that just me? Anyway, that means that while my quests are focused on a few different things, I'm trying to find ways in each one to build some of those alliances with others so they're nice and strong for the variety of tasks they have to survive: Quest One: Walk (or maybe run) This will obviously need to pause right after my surgery, though I'm not entirely sure for how long. But family walks are a favorite of my kid and it's good for all of us (plus it should be easy to score a few points with another camping trip planned in May, we always hike at least one trail!) I got the Walk to Mordor app...I think 2 challenges ago now? and we are about 5 miles shy of Buckleberry Ferry. I'm also going to start including personal walks and runs, if I go on (m)any, but my RE says I'm under no circumstances to go more than 14 miles a week. Why 14, I'm not actually sure, it seems rather arbitrary. But he's the expert who I am paying literally tens of thousands of dollars for his help, so a 14 miles per week cap it is. If I got to that cap exactly every single week, it would actually get me precisely to the doors of Bree...but I'm definitely not going to get that cap every week even before I consider the fact I'm also having surgery, so I'm setting my goal at being captured by the Barrow-wight instead. Though if the surgeon says I need to sit on my butt more, I might stop at Tom Bombadil's house. I have my pre-surgery consultation at the end of May and should be able to ask her then. Quest Two: Begin Tackling the Sugar Beast Boo! Hiss! I don't want to do this...which probably means I need to do this more than just about anything. Holy cow do I eat a lot of dessert and it only gets worse when I'm stressed. I'm going to be stressed a LOT this summer. But I also managed to gain weight my last challenge despite my goal being to lose a tiny bit of weight, so...yeah. It has to be done. Going to start on easy mode: no more than 3 servings of dessert a day, preferably 2 but I'll forgive 3 if I'm really struggling. "Servings" to be determined as I go but that's mostly so I can't like load up an entire plate full of cookies and call it one dessert...because that is, admittedly, something I would actually do. Not kidding y'all, I have a real problem. This admittedly doesn't help me connect with anyone but it'll make me feel less like a disgusting slob, so that's also good, right? Quest Three: Be Social Every day, I need to reach out to folks. Somewhere, somehow. Could be on here. Could be on Instagram (where most of my social media contacts/friends/former students/a few family members are). Could be my infertility support group. Could be chatting to a grad school classmate on Teams, not that that happens very often at all. Could be meeting with my new co-workers and/or new boss to set up stuff for next school year. The only person who doesn't count is my husband, because I rely on him too much and part of the goal here is building more external network. Also I literally chat to him every day already, duh. (Also, just liking posts doesn't count. I have to actually say something. Should be obvious, but with me you never know.) Quest Four: Make Something Yeah, yeah. I said I was going to simplify this challenge. And you believed me? This is simple for me, that's one reason why I fail at so many of these hahaha. What can I say, ranger brain is a real thing. Anyway, this is legitimately a connections thing as well. My son has been waiting very, very patiently for me to finish the shirt I started sewing for him literally months ago, and I also have 2 projects to do in his bedroom (2 book rails and a shoe organizer). I feel AWFUL that he's waited this long, but he hasn't complained even once, and I'd like to prove to him that mommy can indeed come through...at least eventually. I've also debated making crib quilts for the expected babies, because patchwork is a happy place for me and dammit, I just can't handle shopping for baby things right now with where we are on our infertility journey. (I actually hate the rest of quilting, hahaha, but love making patchwork. Apparently it's genetic, because I have an entire bag full of quilt tops that my great-grandma made the patchwork for and never actually finished turning them into quilts). Also, I'm convinced that the fastest way to make social headway into a new job is offering some baked goods or other food treats - gives you a reason to stop by a bunch of random desks, it's an easier topic to talk about, and most people are happy to enjoy something homemade they didn't have to actually make. There's zero percent chance I'm doing all of that this challenge, so my goal is to make something. Literally one thing. Or very good headway into that thing, if I do a quilt (because those can take quite a long time and my free time is at a real premium until I graduate next May).

Book 6 – Prologue (Previous act) After a few minutes of noise, the siren died down suddenly. From afar, I could hear footsteps approaching us. It was probably the guard team they had called for just now. I gulped. We were both underequipped and outnumbered. Things would be getting ugly any minute now. It was just me, Emma and the guard team now. “Sweetcheeks.†“Yes, Emma?†“You ready for this?†“I hope.†“You… hope?†“It’s better than nothing, right?†“True.†A second of pause. “Sweetcheeks.†“Yes, Emma?†“You know, the real fun begins once we’re out of this mess. But first, let’s focus on the mess.†“Wait… what? What do you mean, ‘real fun?’†“Your ninja training.†“Ninja training? That stuff again?†“Yup. Only this time, it’s for real.†“What that supposed to mean? Are you saying all the pain I went through so far has been for nothing?†“No, it hasn’t. That was your entrance exam, remember?†“You’re kidding me.†“Totally not. Oh, and also, congratulations on passing that exam!†Emma gave me a big hug. Or rather, a squeeze. A tight squeeze. “Th—thanks.â€, I replied, deflated. “You’re welcome, sweetcheeks. From now on, the fun will only increase, now that you’re a probationary ninja.†“You’re… you’re making me a probie?†“Yep.†“Oh boy…†“Tee hee, I’m glad you’re happy too.†“That’s not…†“Well, as I said, the fun will really begin once we’re out of this mess. So let’s do that first. Here they come!†*sigh* “Aye-aye, Coach.†Challenge goals For the first week: survive, with no lasting damages. I’m on a business trip. Or whatever you’d call “get your butt kicked by a grandmaster for 9 days straight, until it’s the shape of his footâ€. For the following weeks: track everything, intensify and socialize. Track everything. Write the following into my journal every day, so I have a clear view of how I spend my time:strength training (Am/ToD)[1]martial arts (Am/ToD)wake-up timePhD application work (Am/ToD)(computer) programming (Am/ToD)TV/video games/YouTube/etc. (Am/ToD)Progress on goals #2 and 3 below.Intensify. Do the above-mentioned things (except items #6 and 7) in higher intensity. This means more reps/whatevers, or more frequent sessions, or earlier time of day, or more proactive work. Yes/no mark, on a daily basis, per item.Socialize. Comment intelligently on a single person’s thread from my accountability group, and on a single person’s thread not in my group, preferably Monks and Assassins. Optionally strike a 2min+ small talk-ish conversation with A Real Human™… you know, like, face to face, and stuff. Yes/no mark, on a daily basis. “Overachiever†mark for also managing the optional.Rationale (Not for the first week… The rationale for the first week is “they promised me cookiesâ€.) The big theme here is “step up my game.†I already do things #1—5, just mostly haphazardly. So now, I’m adding intention and difficulty. As for the “socialize†goal: I’d describe myself as “cyclically socialâ€, meaning that I have phases where I am very sociable and phases where I’m socially distant and shut off.[2] For my own taste, I’ve spent too much time in a former phase. I’d like to return to the latter. So then. Let’s get dangerous! 1amount/time of day 2Interestingly, the latter phases tend to happen when I’m involved in video game sprees, or Bachelor/Master theses. Coincidence…?

Hi all! Can't believe it's a new challenge already. Just came back from my holidays and now trying to get back into my routine. Difficult, it is. I'm already late for this challenge so no theme this time. Although I'm still slaying the White Walkers in my head. Before: This is my third NF challenge and I'm switching to the Warriors guild as strength training is all I can think about. Last time I was with Rangers and completely ignored my endurance goal so thought I might actually belong here I started kettlebells in June and barbell training in August. By the end of the last challenge I deadlifted my bodyweight and was pretty proud. Hoping to increase the weight this time. I'm now back at uni so this will definitely make everything harder so I'm keeping it simple this time. Also, as I said, I'm back from holidays which means I didn't do much strength training for the past two weeks and I need to get back on track. Main Quest: Get stronger, obviously I want to increase my weights in deadlift, squat and press. How: 1. Barbell training twice a week. I won't manage to do more with my work, studies and life. Also, my gym gets too crowded sometimes. My stats: deadlift 90kg (although I'll start with 80kg now), BP 35kg, OHP 32kg, squat 52,5kg. I'm not sure how much progress I'll be able to make (any suggestions to what healthy goals to set?) as I'm still a big n00b. 2. Kettlebells twice a week. I just love the class, I'm not leaving it. I now use a 16kg kettlebell, I want to use a 18kg one by the end of this challenge. 3. Paleo. I'm on and off with Paleo since June but I always fall back to my stupid habits. I'd like to eat Paleo 6 days a week. Maybe being broke student will help a bit. Fitness side goal: I know it's stupid but I still can't comfortably do a press up. So I'd like to learn that finally. Life side goal: Be social. I love being alone but it doesn't really help to level up my life. I want to join a few societies in uni, try to get a volunteering place in my department and just be more social in general. I'm not going to repeat my mistake in setting up too many goals so I'm keeping this simple too. I'll just be happy if I make a few more friends by the end of this. Side notes: First week will be a little different as it's the Freshers Week at uni and all the smart people keep out of gym during the Freshers Week. I'm studying full-time, working two jobs and trying to get fit at the same time. It gets hard sometimes so bear with me. Also, anyone in similar situation? Would be nice to see I'm not alone with crazy schedule I have so many tiny little goals but I feel like I'm already taking up too much (as my year at uni will be reeeeally busy). Anyway, here they are, it's entirely for myself so I could remember: re-learn how to cross stitch and crochet, paint something, sign up for Russian language courses, clean my flat, plan my 2014 summer.