Juliebarkley is ready for adventure

[juliebarkley]

"I don't know what to think about this."

 

Julie and Master Tun Tiang sat in the uppermost room of the lighthouse, enjoying a pot of delicious lemon tea. The transformation in the lighthouse over the last few weeks was dramatic. All the books were placed neatly back on the shelves, and the place was livable again. It wasn't perfect - there were still a few stacks of unsorted papers, and a pile of junk to be carried out for disposal - but it was coming along nicely.

 

A few days ago, the books that Julie had come to the lighthouse to find had finally turned up, hidden under an upturned potted plant and a heap of loose papers. However, the identity of the footprint was not at all what Julie had expected.

 

"I thought for sure that it had to be a dragon of some kind. Big footprints that suddenly disappear into thin air... what else could it have been?"

 

"That." Tun said, pointing.

 

Julie looked more closely at the picture in the book. "It has to be. The footprints match. They must have looked bigger than they really were because the mud spread out the shape when it sunk in. Or it's a really big one. But it didn't attack anything. And it's so far from its usual habitat. What could it be doing out here?"

 

Tun thought about this for a moment. "They're native to rocky and mountainous areas, and there's nothing like that near here. I know a few people who train them, but none of theirs are missing. It has to belong to someone, and has either gotten lost or been sent on a mission of some kind."

 

"I guess my next step is to try to track it down then. I hope it hasn't gone too far."

 

"Sparky will help you find it. There can't be more than one lurking out there." The crow ruffled its wings proudly.

 

"All right buddy, let's go find us a gargoyle! Thank you for your hospitality, Tun."

 

"Not at all! Your help cleaning this place up more than repaid my meagre hospitality. You and Sparky are welcome any time. I can always put you to work if you're up for it." Tun grinned. "But I do have something else I can to do help. Once you find the gargoyle, send Sparky back here. I have photos of the gargoyles I know of in that pile over there. " He gestured at a box of loose photos in a large leather chest. "Give me a couple of days, and I'll find them and pack them up for you. Then you should know where it came from."

 

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I have let my habits get a bit lax (no, very lax), so I would like to reinforce my core habits this time around. I'm also going to go for weekly story updates, with passing my challenges each week resulting in a better outcome. Hopefully, this will give me some accountability and help motivate me even more!

 

I am dropping Konmari from my challenge, not because I am not doing it, but I have been doing it so reliably that I don't feel I need it as a challenge right now. I'm working on papers (which is dull), but I'm going to start some komono soon. My paper pile is so big (2 rough totes, and many pieces are little scraps of ideas for things) that if I wait until I'm done processing it to do anything else, I'll lose all of my momentum. I do need to reread part of the book to remind myself of the spark joy philosophy (and for inspiration). I will continue to report on my progress.

 

I'm also dropping my walks. The daily walks are a solid habit. The longer walks were meant to be training for my big adventure (see below).

 

My big adventure. Okay, I am planning to walk from my house to Parliament Hill this Thursday and Friday. This means that I will be walking for about 20km per day. I'm a bit scared, and a bit excited, not gonna lie. I had hoped to spread this over 3 days, but there was nowhere else that I could stop for the night. It is a long walk each day, but almost totally flat, I will not be carrying heavy things, so it'll be okay, right? Right?! :anxiety:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

 

1. Current bodyweight workout. 3x per week is a pass, unless I am sick.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. This starts next week, after the big walk. I'm gonna call 2x in a week a pass, because going from zero to three is not very easy.

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. This is a bad thing to be lax on, and my gums are telling me that I must get better. 6x per week is a pass; any day with no brushing (yuck) is a fail for the week.

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. I really let this slide badly, so I am dialling it back. With only two in the mix, I should be able to do it almost all of the time, but Wednesdays are even trickier for me now as I am signed up for Tai Chi. 6x per week with no zero days is a pass.

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. I have been bad at this. I am bad at keeping in touch, checking in in real life and online. I would like to do better here, for myself and to motivate others. One post to my own and one to another thread to pass.

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. I need to build a new random encounters list, as my old one is now outdated. But it is a lot of fun!

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. I have my fingers in a bunch of online ventures, and I need to put some time into them. I want to build a habit of doing a little every day that I can build on.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. I haven't actually done one of these yet. I want to check it out!

 

Scoring:

5 passes: The gargoyle is friendly and cooperative.

4 passes: The gargoyle is not hostile, but is injured and harmless.

3 passes: The gargoyle ignores me and flies off.

2 passes: The gargoyle is hostile and will not let me approach.

1 pass: The gargoyle is hostile, and attacks.

No passes: I cannot find the gargoyle at all.

[J3NN]

Love the story idea. What a great way to incorporate in writing. I may have to consider this.

Good luck on your big walk, sounds like an adventure indeed. What inspired it, if you don't mind my asking?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk

[WhiteGhost]

Hi! Following again  

[juliebarkley]

2 hours ago, J3NN said:

Love the story idea. What a great way to incorporate in writing. I may have to consider this.

Good luck on your big walk, sounds like an adventure indeed. What inspired it, if you don't mind my asking?

Sent from my Pixel using Tapatalk
 

I'm not a writer like some of the people on here (can't promise riveting plot or sizzling dialogue), but I created my character as a sort of "D&D in the real world" adventure, and it is fun for me to imagine.

 

Thanks! All good adventures should be kind of scary, right? I actually saw it in Level Up Your Life, I'm pretty sure. An example adventure was "walk across your town", and when I read it, I thought, "Who would want to do that?". A few days later, I realized, "I want to do that!". If it goes well, I may try walking across it the east-west way next year - about 70km or even longer, so it would be an even bigger adventure!

 

2 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Hi! Following again  

Always good to have you on board.

[juliebarkley]

Forgot to mention, challenge starts tomorrow, so a week will run from Wednesday to Tuesday. Because that won't be confusing at all....

 

I gotta start my threads on time.

[Loveable_Bouncer]

13 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Forgot to mention, challenge starts tomorrow, so a week will run from Wednesday to Tuesday. Because that won't be confusing at all....

 

I gotta start my threads on time.

However, if this works for you to decide your own terms is helping get started, maybe just allow it.

 

 

I'm always so jealous of your storylines, but I can see DnD background being helpful for this. I personally tried to wrap my head around it earlier this summer, but realized I was having a hard time relating the story to my own life goals. May try again though while following you.

 

Also that long walk adventure sounds fun! I did a similar walk back in May to cross two cities in my area from work to my brothers. That was only 6 miles, but definitely confirmed my interest to work toward longer hikes.

[juliebarkley]

9 hours ago, Bouncer the Resilient said:

I'm always so jealous of your storylines, but I can see DnD background being helpful for this. I personally tried to wrap my head around it earlier this summer, but realized I was having a hard time relating the story to my own life goals. May try again though while following you.

 

Also that long walk adventure sounds fun! I did a similar walk back in May to cross two cities in my area from work to my brothers. That was only 6 miles, but definitely confirmed my interest to work toward longer hikes.

Aww, thanks! I have only been playing DnD for a little while, but I had to start out as the DM, so I learned fast. If you want ideas, feel free to message me! I am not the world's greatest writer, but I like coming up with new ideas! Only do it if it's fun, though, not if it'll just stress you out. Your challenge (to me) looks like - discipline in many forms, self-discovery, and walking - a vision quest or a pilgrimage would be a good fit.

[juliebarkley]

Week 1, Day 1:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. None yet.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. Not started yet.

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. Ooh, I still need to do this!

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. On track; still need to do the last one.

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. Working on it *right now*.

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. No.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. No.

 

Long day, and then made final preparations for the big walk tomorrow. No time for anything else. I still can hardly believe that 1) it's tomorrow, and 2) I'm doing it! I will post on Thursday assuming I have internet access, otherwise I shall see you again on Friday!

[juliebarkley]

Week 1, day 2:

 

Short update, as the wifi here is pretty poor. I made it to my stopping place! I think it was about 25 km today, and my feet are happy to be resting now.

[juliebarkley]

Week 1, day 3:

 

Another short one. I made it! I am back but exhausted, and my phone is about to run out of juice. On track for all of my challenges; woo!

[juliebarkley]

Will post a better trip update in a few hours, I swear.

 

I am going through some papers for KonMari and just got to a folder labelled "Jerry". This was my cat who died 10 years ago (maybe 11). I loved this cat so much, I knew this might be emotional. The first batch of papers was pretty easy in there; apparently I just shoved in anything cat-related, like black postage envelopes and advertising leafets, old vet bills. Easy. Got a sheet of memories I wrote up; easy keep. Feeling good. Then, I look at the welcome letter from the vet. It gives the usual, happy to have you as a customer, here are our office hours. Then, a contact number at a bigger local office for out-of-hours work, because "unlike some other practices in the area, we continue to do all our own out-of-hours work. So if you do need help in an emergency you will always see someone you know and who has access to Jerry's records. We hope you will call us whenever you need assistance." And now I can't stop crying.

 

My poor cat died from a urethral obstruction (he had crystals in his urine and couldn't pee). The first time, it was a Saturday night I think, we didn't even realize anything other than he was squatting funny and didn't move much all Sunday. He had a regular appointment late on Monday, when they realized immediately and rushed him in for surgery. Changed his diet, hoped it was fine now. Happened again, again on a Friday or Saturday evening, but we were able by gently pressing on his stomach to get him to pee, so I think medically it was better this time, though it must still have been agony until then. The third time, I think it might have been a Friday night and we had to wait till Monday to get him to the vet (I hope I am misremembering, but it was at least 24 hours). And we knew he was in agony, and exactly what was wrong. But, after the first two surgeries, we had very little money as me and my ex were just out of school and not yet employed. The only emergency vet thing we knew about was from a leaflet we had, and the place was a hour away by car and cost I don't even know how much, and this is a cat that would both pee and poo in the carrier in the 5 minute ride to the vet just up the road. If I had known that I could have called the bigger surgery out of hours, which info was on the letter that I so carefully stashed away, my cat might have lived. At the very least, he would have been spared hours, days, of excruciating pain. I feel so guilty. I feel like a horrible person. And I can't stop crying.

 

I didn't know. I just found out now. Oh my god, Jerry, I am so, so sorry.

[Loveable_Bouncer]

I'm sorry to hear about the sadness you found in the paperwork. I had a similar situation with two dogs that passed on a little over in a year from each other a few years ago when my family didn't have much money to help them. That I still have days where I wish I could have done it differently to at least help the dogs that went through such a hard time, but were still loyal.

 

I guess from my own experience is be happy on what a great vet you had (finding even more resources just shows you how much they were helping to help work with you back then), and still all that love you feel for that cat (and that cat probably more than knew the love you had for him). 

 

Hope your evening gets better! Along with a restful weekend!

[juliebarkley]

All right finally: trip summary!

 

I had reasons to be nervous at the start of the trip, above the physical challenge. I planned out the route beforehand on Google maps (with some modifications) and took notes on all of the turns as I wouldn't have any other way to find out where I was after I left. I didn't bring a map; only these written instructions on when to turn. Also, when I called the only B&B anywhere near my route to book a room, the experience was very odd. First, the place was listed as permanently closed on Google, despite having a review only a week before. When I called to book a room, the lady who answered didn't even ask for my name, but just said that it was reserved for that date. I was less than certain that I would have a room when I arrived. Plus, the SIM for my phone had not yet arrived, so I would have no way to call for a ride home if the B&B flaked on me. Also, my son had decided to come along a few months before, so any mishap was doubly scary. However, we took the plunge and began! We had only one small bag with a change of shirt and underwear each, toiletries, phone, and three peanut butter and banana sandwiches (and a couple of small items). We each had a water bottle in each pocket of our jackets, which we tied around our waists. These were our "saddlebags" for the duration.

 

We left at 10 am. The walk started out very ordinary, as we followed the usual daily walking route from home and then the walking route to work. However, and the walking path, we turned left rather than right for the first time ever (on foot at least), and had a very cool LoTR "if I take one more step, I'll be farther from home than I've ever been" moment. The walk along this very straight, very long path took up most of the rest of the day. But that doesn't mean that it was boring! We saw SO MANY butterflies, as well as grasshoppers, frogs, chipmunks, squirrels, and a couple of tiny snakes. It was a beautiful warm day, but we were shaded by the trees, so we weren't hot at all. And there was almost no one else about, so we were alone with our thoughts as well as having some great conversations and being able to be silly in public.

 

Before leaving home, I had looked on Google Maps to figure out the approximate quarter, half, and three quarters marks of our first day, so that we could tell whether we were making decent time and predict a time of arrival. The quarter mark was G--- Road. We walked and walked, took several breaks, but hadn't reached G--- Road yet. I knew that a modification at the beginning of the route would have added an extra km, maybe 2, and I didn't know how long we had walked as I have a crap sense of time. So we were making bets on what time it would be when we arrived at the quarter mark. We felt like we were moving at a reasonable pace, the trip was great, and we weren't going to check the time till then. We finally arrived at G--- Road, sat down to rest, checked the time and... 3 pm. 5 hours to our quarter way mark. We were shocked dumb by that. It had to be wrong. Didn't it. How late were we going to arrive? What had we gotten ourselves into?

 

We cut our rest quite short after that, trying to convince ourselves that this had to be some horrible mistake. In about a hour we reached our "half way point" (it wasn't actually the right road, but we didn't find that out until later) and were both confused and relieved. After thinking back on it, I realized what had happened: when I picked out landmarks on the map, I found the halfway point first, then the quarter and three quarter from that. Except that I didn't. G--- Road was the halfway marker (except that it was more than halfway because of the route change at the beginning), but when I calculated the remaining two points, I somehow messed up and measured them as if G--- Road was the quarter marker. It scared us silly, and after realizing my error, it became a happy memorable moment of the trip.

 

The rest of the day was uneventful, though the trip up the road to the B&B was longer than I remembered. We were happy to arrive at 7:15, find out that we did indeed have a reservation (though this involved calling the lady I spoke to), and lying on our comfy, comfy beds. And as my son kept reminding me, to get here, all we had to do to get here was walk out our front door! I had only a tiny blister on one toe and a hot spot on the ball of my foot; my son was in perfect condition. Rinsing your feet in warm water after a long walk is bliss. Walking across the street to buy supper is not (though the food was good, and the family there was super nice). I sent a message to my mother to say that we hadn't been murdered en route using the WiFi connection I now had, and to come and pick us up at a pre-arranged point after the walk the next day between 8 and 8:30 pm, based on the time it took us that day.

 

After a pleasant breakfast, we left at 9:30 am and began the less familiar part of the walk. This was the part I was most nervous about as the Google Map was unclear. I had to get onto a local walking path and follow it around the correct side of a lake, and it seemed that you got to it by walking through a transit station and into a construction zone. Half of my written directions are basically how to get on and stay on the path. I needn't have worried; as long as I followed the basic "stay on the left side of the lake near the big road" it was easy to keep on the right route. At a later point in the path where I was unsure, there was a helpful map, and indeed I would find numerous helpful maps along the way as we travelled into more built up areas. It was much hotter Friday, but we had the sun at our backs the whole way as we were walking north. This made the unseasonable warmth bearable. There was much less nature on this pathway, but it was still beautiful. I would like to come back sometime and do the full circuit of the lake.

 

The paved road portion of the journey was not terribly exciting - basically, find a bridge and then walk north until you run into Parliament Hill. However, my son jazzed it up by finding a stick, which he thwacked on something and gave a lengthwise crack. His mission was to get the crack to run the entire length of the stick before getting to the Hill (he failed; that stick was sturdy). The stick became a feature of the trip. At around the same time, I noticed a tiny feather stuck to one of the band-aids preventing a hot spot. It stayed with me all the way home. and made me think of Sparky supporting me on my trip. We also saw lots of interesting shops on the road north - I even saw a small stone gargoyle outside an antique shop! We took a little detour to visit the dinos and mammoths outside the Museum of Nature before getting back on track.

 

We arrived at the Hill at 4:30. We were still feeling pretty good as we poked around the statues and walked around the building, but stairs were getting painful for me - the ball of my left foot was hurting some now. However, my son brought up a stretch goal that had now taken root with me: what if, after we got a photo of the giant spider at the National Gallery, we went over the bridge to Quebec so that we could say we had walked to another province? We were never going to get that opportunity again unless we repeated this walk. We had to do it. So we did. We made it to the Quebec side by 6:00, starting to suffer, but so happy to have done it. A guy with a rickshaw even approached us on the bridge, offering us a free ride to Quebec because he was on his last trip and was heading that way anyway. We were very tired but had to turn him down or fail our mission! On the way back, the stick rang out on the railing like the bells of the Peace Tower. Victory!

 

We were pretty slow walking back due to soreness (really, we were waddling, or at least I was), but we picked up some McDonalds (victory McDonalds!) and caught the bus to our meeting place. Apparently my son has only been on the bus a couple of times before; he was kind of excited about that, too. Got back to our meeting place at 8:20; right on time. However, there was no ride, and no way to call for one. We waited, used Walmart's WiFi to send another email after we used their bathroom, and waited some more. Ride finally arrived at 9 pm. The email with our plans never arrived, and after waiting, my mom remembered that I had said in the phone call the night before (when I borrowed the phone of the super nice restaurant people) that we would probably arrive around 8-8:30, so she came. Thank goodness I made that call!

 

My son is still totally unscathed, if achy. I however, have three blisters on my toes (which do not bother me at all), and one reasonably large one on the bottom of my left foot right below my second toe (which does). I'm stiff and sore today, but that's to be expected. I have a tiny feather as a souvenir, my son has a stick, and we both have good memories and something to brag to the grandkids about!

[juliebarkley]

Now, a proper challenge update!

 

Week 1, Day 4:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. None yet. It would have been Friday, but that was not going to happen. I think I did enough exercise to cover it. I will not be doing squats in my workout tomorrow, but arm and core stuff will be fine.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. Not started yet. When my blister has healed enough that I am comfortable running.

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. 2/7. Did on Thursday before leaving, and did brush on Friday, but couldn't bear the thought of standing at the sink to do the rinses. Will do tonight, but haven't yet.

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. 3/4. Missed Thursday due to the trip, so I have to stay vigilant for the rest of the challenge week!

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. 4/4. I managed this even on travel days, thanks to WiFi.

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. Today, yes!

Bonus: Assassin Mini. Put my name in the spreadsheet, but not assigned to a team yet.

[WhiteGhost]

What a great experience for you and your son.  I expect this is the kind of experience that will stick with his whole life (especially the part about walking to another province!).  And a great victory for you as well.  You definitely earned a level up from this adventure  

[juliebarkley]

We both felt victorious after our adventure. Today on our daily walk, he asked what the next adventure will be (!). I have no idea, but I feel like I want more now!

 

Week 1, Day 5:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. 1/2.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. This would not have been a running day anyway.

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. 3/7. Still need to do.

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. 2/7. You know how I said I did this yesterday? I counted my chickens before they hatched. I fell asleep and only did one for the day. I'm only going to get one done today too, so this goal will need some improvement next week.

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. 5/7.

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No. I did find my old sheet in my paper pile, though. Inside my DnD planning notes, for some reason.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. No.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. Put my name in the spreadsheet, but not assigned to a team yet. <--- still

 

Still have a lot of challenges to check out. So many people doing interesting things!

[J3NN]

On 9/23/2017 at 5:46 PM, juliebarkley said:

I didn't know. I just found out now. Oh my god, Jerry, I am so, so sorry.

I've been through the loss of three cats in just over twelve months. I'm so sorry you trudged up these feelings. I remember those feelings. They still hit me out of the blue sometimes. Hugs.

 

On 9/23/2017 at 9:38 PM, juliebarkley said:

My son is still totally unscathed, if achy. I however, have three blisters on my toes (which do not bother me at all), and one reasonably large one on the bottom of my left foot right below my second toe (which does). I'm stiff and sore today, but that's to be expected. I have a tiny feather as a souvenir, my son has a stick, and we both have good memories and something to brag to the grandkids about!

This is so awesome! I'm so glad you both had such a good experience. You earned your adventurer badge no doubt about it! Way to go!

[juliebarkley]

2 hours ago, J3NN said:

I've been through the loss of three cats in just over twelve months. I'm so sorry you trudged up these feelings. I remember those feelings. They still hit me out of the blue sometimes. Hugs

Three in a year. I'm really sorry to hear that. That's a tough thing to go through. Really tough.

 

Week 1, Day 6:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. 1/2.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. Blister is almost but not quite gone.

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. 4/7. Still need to do. Really, I need to do this earlier. But at least it is getting done.

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. 2/7. Still need to do, but on track for the day.

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. 6/7. I have been all social and friendly-like.

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. No.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. Assigned to a group now, but some of my cells are messed up. Greeted two new babytime participants today (parents, not babies).

 

I have also not updated my KonMari journey at all! Basically, I am sitting on a mound of papers -a Rough Tote full. This is a combination of recycling, filing, todos, things to reasearch, ideas for random things, websites, etc.I have decided that the best way to tackle this is to go through the pile and get rid of anything that I can deal with easily and quickly: recycling, adding to a list in Notes or as a todo in Firetask, or filing in a file that currently exists (most of them are currently being emptied). For everything else, I am deciding on the next action for the thing, writing it on the paper, and making a new pile. When I'm done, I'll work through the tasks a little at a time while starting komono. I'm hoping this will make the pile significantly smaller and less daunting, and get things on the way to getting done. I got rid of the contents of most of a very fat binder today, so my recycling pile is getting fatter.

[juliebarkley]

Week 1, Day 7:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. 2/2. Woo!

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. Starting this on Thursday!

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. 6/7. Woo! I did it!

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. 2/7. Boo! I didn't do it :(.

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. 7/7. Yes!

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. No.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. Will add on today's Tabata (my Tabatas unfortunately do not give a lot of minutes to my team; sorry, team!)

 

 

 

Week 1 Summary: 4 passes (if you count #2 as my walk; I haven't started it yet as written), 1 fail. Not too bad!

[WhiteGhost]

28 minutes ago, juliebarkley said:

4 passes ..., 1 fail. Not too bad!

Not bad at all.  

 

For your prayers, is there something you can do to help remind you to do it?  I struggle with stretching (either I forget or just cba) but then I added abs in the evening, which I feel more motivated to do, and then I just tack the stretching onto the end of my abs to make sure I get it done.  So far it has made a huge difference.  It seems that you are doing better with the brushing & rinsing, can you pair a prayer together with that?  I know the timing may not match up perfectly, but it may be something to think about.

[juliebarkley]

22 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

For your prayers, is there something you can do to help remind you to do it?  I struggle with stretching (either I forget or just cba) but then I added abs in the evening, which I feel more motivated to do, and then I just tack the stretching onto the end of my abs to make sure I get it done.  So far it has made a huge difference.  It seems that you are doing better with the brushing & rinsing, can you pair a prayer together with that?  I know the timing may not match up perfectly, but it may be something to think about.

I already pair the brushing and the last prayer (because the nighttime brushing is the one that's been happening and pairing them works really, really well). The trouble is that there is a specific window of time for each prayer, and I procrastinate. I look at the clock like, oh, I have another 50 minutes. I can do this thing first. And then of course, look at it again and... oh crap. And to make it worse, the windows are getting shorter as the winter approaches. I think if I picked one and committed to that one (in addition to the before bed one), it should be easier to remember within the window. I hope. That is my plan, anyway. I guess this week will show how well it worked?

[WhiteGhost]

I hope it works out!

[juliebarkley]

The crow caught an updraft and soared, dancing in the breeze and clearly enjoying itself. It had flown ahead and found the gargoyle. It had proven remarkably easy to find from the air, as it had left broken branches and smashed shrubs in its wake before landing in what was now a large dent in the ground. The crow had flown in to attempt to communicate with it, but it had retreated into itself and would not move or communicate. On closer examination, the crow could see a crack in the gargoyle's left wing. He didn't know much about gargoyles, but he didn't think that it would be feeling very good right now.

 

He had already stopped in to give Midnight directions to the gargoyle. It'll take her a few days to get there, he thought. I should be able to make it to Tun's, to pick up the photos, and return before she gets there. Maybe Tun will have some of that delicious lemon tea ready for me. He might even stroke my head and call me Sparky like he does. That would be nice. Not that my name is really Sparky, of course, but it will do. It's not as if humans have the graceful, curved bill needed to pronounce my name properly anyway. They don't even have a syrynx!

 

Another draft caught his wings, this time coming from the east and throwing him off course. Time to stop daydreaming and focus on getting to that lemon tea, he thought, finding an updraft again.

 

--------------------------------

Scoring:

5 passes: Tun has photos that match this gargoyle, and Sparky makes it back in good time. After his lemon tea.

4 passes: Tun has some photos, but none are a perfect match.

3 passes: Tun has some slightly helpful photos, but Sparky hits rough weather on the way back and arrives late.

2 passes: Tun has only a few photos, which are not very useful.

1 pass: Tun can't find any photos, and Sparky decides to hang out with him for a while and be pampered rather than helping me.

No passes: I mess up Sparky's directions and can't even find the gargoyle.

[juliebarkley]

Week 2, Day 1:

 

Physical: Strength for the journey.

1. Current bodyweight workout. 0/3.

2. Original Couch to 5k Zombies, Run! 3x per week. Starting this on Thursday!

3. Brush teeth with rinses once per day. 0/7. Not yet. In a few minutes, though.

 

Spiritual: Find peace amidst the chaos.

4. 2 prayers per day. 1/7. Happy start!

 

Mental: Don't journey alone.

5. Post to Nerdfitness every day. Post on someone else's thread everyday. 1/7. Yes!

 

Random Encounters: Anything can happen on the road.

Bonus: 5 random encounters/week. No.

Bonus: 30 minutes of online work/day. No.

Bonus: Assassin Mini. Added some Tai Chi and reading for my team.

[Red1263]

I'm late but I'm here to see your fantastic story unfold!