Sciread77 Posted September 26, 2018 Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 1. Sleep 7+ hours per night. I'm basically always tired. This is, critically, my functional minimum average. 2. Quality time with my wife. She's freaking wonderful and I love being with her, but it takes logistical effort. Our 8th wedding anniversary is coming up this challenge. I think we're doing a nice dinner and pottery, which is sort of our usual. 3. Vive en español. Yeah. I'm moving into a new group that works primarily in Spanish starting Monday. While it isn't strictly required, it's the only way to advance there and I'd feel incredibly stupid in wasting the opportunity to use another language on a daily basis. We had a meeting with the larger organization this week and my group speaks amongst themselves en español, and I want to be part of that group. I could understand a lot of what they said (and I can read Spanish fairly well) but speaking and listening are the source of tremendous anxiety. Especially at conversational speed. Just because I can get by in a restaurant or in the limited phone conversations I had doesn't mean I'm where I want to be. I think it's important to face your fears, especially when it comes to being open to new cultures and languages. I spent years hiding from Spanish and most other languages, and one of my few regrets is being as closed off as I was when I was younger. I've sort of made a career out of doing things that scare me, including talking on the phone with strangers, public speaking, coaching, leading teams, reading aloud, and making judgment calls that can have legal consequences. Working in my L3, however, is my biggest one. Spanish isn't even that hard, it's just a series of mental things I must defeat. Vive en español will be an ongoing challenge goal. My whole family is joining me, so we're shifting from French (which is hard because there are fewer French speakers in our lives). I'm excited. My wife has six years of formal training and spent time in El Salvador, on top of a natural knack for languages and accents. So. Nervous excitement. 4. Unpack. Still got a lot to do, and most of our holiday decorations are still packed. That's gotta change. 5. Diversify. My wife started selling Norwex cleaning supplies, and I'm helping. I'm also working to advance my voice over, which has been hard because my big project is about twice as much work as I anticipated and thus sucked up every spare second I've had. I need to finish it by the beginning of October, then move on to the website and auditioning for new stuff. 3 Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
TimovieMan Posted September 26, 2018 Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 Great challenges! I agree that quality time with the missus is *very* important. Good luck en español! 1 Quote Active challenges: New(ish) routine | Walk to Mordor - (spreadsheet) | DailyDare | Weight Loss PVP 10/12 lbs in 10/12 weeks - (spreadsheet) 2023 threads: Challenge VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII 2018-19 & 2021 threads: Battle log | Challenge I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted September 26, 2018 Author Report Share Posted September 26, 2018 51 minutes ago, TimovieMan said: Great challenges! I agree that quality time with the missus is *very* important. Good luck en español! It is, especially since quality time is her primary love language. This isn’t my first challenge with this at a goal, but (like sleep) it’s important enough that I’be made it a consistent goal. Gracias! Tengo hambre. Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted October 3, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 3, 2018 Update: 1. I’m getting the same amount of sleep but I’m not feeling so incredibly tired these last few days. I honestly think it’s because I’ve had a solid career move to a much healthier team atmosphere. Also, there’s no tv blasting politics and coked-up weirdos making crap up about why the stock market is or isn’t doing what it is or isn’t doing. 2. I’m feeling distant. We have plans for the anniversary and she’s working most days until then. I need to steal us some time. 3. Failed the first practical test of Spanish. Turns out these business communications can be are complex and differ from restaurants, libraries, and Moana. Previously I’ve been able to get by with basic courtesies and asking a few questions with well-defined answers or it’s been reading but without time pressure to do so. I’m feeling pretty good about it altogether, though. I did better than I expected and now I’m surrounded by Spanish speakers. In a month I’ll be training with the 100% Spanish speaking group for a full week so that’ll be intense. Until then, I’ll be fighting through Spanish economic research reports and brochures. I’m going to ask to be put on the Spanish language email box too. And my boss and some of my coworkers are going to speak with me. They even promised not to be offended if I say something idiotic. (Laughter is guaranteed though!) 4. Halloween mostly unpacked. And mostly decorated. Partially ready for El Dia De Muerte, which we’ll be celebrating this year. The oldest boy has always loved it. Coco really cemented that for us this year too. 5. Working on it. I’m slogging through my project and my wife is knocking it out of the park with her stuff. I found out that work is looking to downsize and there’s really not enough work to go around, so the Spanish is also some solid job security since there are far fewer people to do it. 1 Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
WolfDreamer Posted October 4, 2018 Report Share Posted October 4, 2018 Hey, I promise I'm not avoiding you. Been really busy with school and life stuff. You understand. Sorry to hear about the Spanish test. I have the MAT coming up at the end of the month, and I'm genuinely worried about it. Keep in touch. 1 Quote Who am I? -- My NF Character Current Challenge: WolfDreamer Returns (For Real This Time) Past Challenges: Spoiler Winter is Coming, Wolfen Strengthens His Heart, Body, Mind, and Spirit, Wolfen Becomes One of the People, Wolfen Strengthens His Chakras, Wolfen Welcomes Summer and Gets Primal, Soulcon and Spartan, Wolfen Develops Mental Toughness, Wolfen Joins the Wander Society, Soulcon, Spartan, School, and Stranger Things, Wolfen Becomes a Warrior Elite, Wolfen Goes Here and There and Back Again, Wolfen Becomes a Soulcon Warrior Elite, Wolfen Returns to His Roots, Wolfen Wanders in Soul, Spirit, and Body, Wolfen Owns the Day, Wolfen Searches for His Wild Heart, Wolfen Runs for His Life, Wolfen Hits the Trails, Wolfen Becomes an Explorer and Joins the Resistance, Wolfen Goes Back to the Source, Wolfen Begins the Hero's Journey, WolfDreamer Returns to the People, WolfDreamer Pushes Back, WolfDreamer Prioritizes, Burpees, Books, and Brainwork, Burpees, Books, Brainwork, and Bodywork, WolfDreamer Masters the Four Elements, WolfDreamer Continues to Master the Four Elements, WolfDreamer Returns to Sparta, WolfDreamer Returns to Middle Earth, WolfDreamer Continues His Middle Earth Adventure, WolfDreamer and the Fall, WolfDreamer Forges His Own Path, WolfDreamer Has Hope, WolfDreamer Returns to Middle Earth, WolfDreamer Reads Harder, Breathes Harder, and Journals More, WolfDreamer Embraces His Wild Poet, The Mad Poet Becomes Supernatural, WolfDreamer, The Mad Poet, Becomes Superhuman, WolfDreamer Elevates, WolfDreamer Becomes IronBorn, WolfDreamer Wakes the White Wolf, The Mad Poet Recovers by Keeping it Simple, WolfDreamer Clears His Mind to Find His Wild Heart, WolfDreamer Resets, WolfDreamer Strives to Become an Eminently Qualified Peaceful Warrior, WolfDreamer Springs Forward, “I'd rather sing one wild song and burst my heart with it, than live a thousand years watching my digestion and being afraid of the wet.” -- Jack London “I wanted movement and not a calm course of existence. I wanted excitement and danger and the chance to sacrifice myself for my love.” -- Leo Tolstoy "I feel love rising in my chest again Rising like a burning sun into the day..." -- Gungor, "Hurricane" "...wherever the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." 2 Corinthians 3:17b Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted October 7, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 7, 2018 On 10/3/2018 at 8:38 PM, Wolfen said: Hey, I promise I'm not avoiding you. Been really busy with school and life stuff. You understand. Sorry to hear about the Spanish test. I have the MAT coming up at the end of the month, and I'm genuinely worried about it. Keep in touch. No worries. Life keeps us busy. Fortunately, the Spanish test was both informal and extremely high pressure by design. It doesn’t help that I’ve spent the last 2 years immersed in French. But I’m already feeling better about it all. What I’m bummed about is that I’m currently in the middle of a full arthritis flare, and we leave for Disney World Friday. I’m actually only awake right now because of pain and swelling, and I had to remove my wedding band. I’ve been pretty exhausted and depressed lately, and in the last week developed weakness and bone-jarring pain in my hands and wrists. Last night I couldn’t even hold myself on a pull up bar and lost a battle with a bag of green beans. Bah. Hopefully it will begin to subside soon. I’m calling my doctor Monday morning to see what else can be done, if anything. It’s really been the best of luck that this didn’t trigger earlier during the remodeling and moving, and it’s been a long while since I even had a bad flare up. So I really can’t complain too much, all thing considered. It’d just be great to not ever have to deal with this again. 2 Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted October 14, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 14, 2018 Disney World: Day 1 It was a long day, but I made it. I had some additional prescriptions along with a metric butload of ibuprofen, which I’ll be taking a long break from (along with the other NSAIDs) after I return. The joints have been achy and painful, but not too bad with the additional meds. No more weakness, which is good. I’ve a fairly high tolerance for pain so I don’t mind it as much provided I know it’s not telling me something important, such as, “Stop dummy, you’re destroying your joints.” My muscles and cardio have been fine. It also helps that we found a way to make our big stroller fit all 175lbs of kids that we have. I love WDW, not just for the incredible performances put on by so many people day after day. Not just for the cleanliness or the ease. I love the massive smattering of people we meet. I love hearing lots of languages that aren’t mine, sometimes from people who don’t even really speak English but who are united in spirit anyway. It’s really, really hard not to feel optimistic as hell coming out of the parks, and sometimes I need that. I try to be realistic but lately I’ve felt depressed and pessimistic. The kids loved it. We’re going to the Halloween party tomorrow night. That’s gonna be lit. And that’s probably the only time I’ll get to say that about something I’m doing. For the official record, this time I got Jack Skellington Mickey ears. 1 Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted October 15, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2018 I spoke too soon. About four hours later I got hit by a terrible stomach but. So now I’m usually dehydrated and can’t really keep food down. On the plus side, the nine of the thing I was worrying about seem to be hitting me right now. I mean, stay tuned for tomorrow lol. Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
Sciread77 Posted October 18, 2018 Author Report Share Posted October 18, 2018 Day 3: Hollywood Studios This day was pretty great too. No problems from anyone. We largely took it easy and regretted getting the basic meal plan instead of the deluxe meal plan. Fortunately, Disney helps make things right when something goes awry. Part of why I like vacationing at Disney with young kids is that it’s sort of like fun insurance for your adventures. It’s always fun and with things go sideways they help fix it. It helps get the younger Adventurers some XP in a safer zone before moving on to the more advanced adventuring like free form travel and nomadism. Wrap up: I’m pretty happy with the trip overall. We had a great time, learned a new travel trick, and survived a terrible stomach bug. Well, 3/5 of us are well, my wife and the 3-year-old Dino are at home with it today. The poor little guy couldn’t even wake up for school. Aside from the bug, we felt physically better on vacation for the most part in spite of eating lower quality food (even the healthier options were usually doused in oil and sugar). My joints hurt a lot less and I didn’t suffer from such bad exhaustion. My wife’s hip basically stopped hurting while we were gone. So now we’re troubleshooting, because it seems clear that something about our regular routine is making us physically hurt. I suspect lack of vitamin D/outside activity for me and I suspect the settings in our car were altered by a small Dino, which is causing her to sit weird during her long school commutes. 1 Quote Adventurer, Half-Dwarf Chaotic-Good Paladin Ne me dites jamais les chances! ¡Nunca me digas las probabilidades! Character Sheet Training Logs Challenges Prepping for Adventure Prep, Adventure Prep Fall Baby, When Are We Again, Anyway?, Whirlwind, The Leaf's Locus, Harnessing Hamingja New Roots More Beginnings, More Roots Cleaning Up Facing The Hailstorm Yo Ho Yo The... Keto Life For Me? Taming the Beast Another Step Towards the Future Baking, Suburban Homesteading, and Health, The Adventurers of the Lucky Vale I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII VIII, IX Spoiler Perennial goals: Sleep 7+ hours a night, retain (and continue to learn) French and Spanish as a family, increase Spanish Proficiency for work and play, read like a maniac on my own and with my kids, carry heavy stuff Long term goals: Cut to 13-15% bodyfat, And now that I'm grown I eat five dozen eggs, so I'm roughly the size of a baaaaarge! -> Someday I'll challenge a Disney world Gaston to a push up contest and win Link to comment
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