[Keladris]

Keladris had sunk into the call to rest that comes with the winter snows, settling herself into village life. She was found most evenings in the tavern, enjoying a mug of something warm by the fire. For the time being she had stopped her wandering, knowing that the adventure would continue just as soon as she was ready for it. As the year turned anew, her mind drifted again to the road. Now was the time to start preparations: to regain some strength for the climbs ahead, and to learn a new song or two. The nights may still be long, but that wasn't going to stop her gathering an audience around the fire to spin a tale.

---------

 

Happy to be back with a challenge after a few months without. New Year always motivates me, and I have gone back over my battle log and epic quest thread which has been a really great way of realising that I have made progress this year!

This month I want to put some good building blocks in place for my epic quests. I have two main goals:

 

1. Weekly strength training (10XP per session)
This should get me closer to my  fitness goals (get a push up and pull up, and one day a handstand) and also support my dance training

2. Submit the monthly acting challenge to the drama club I am in (30XP)
I really want to improve my acting, and that takes consistent practice and craft. I want to submit every month this year, and that starts with January!

 

And I am adding some side missions:
3. Creative missions - violin practice, vocal workouts/warm ups, writing, drawing (1XP for each day I do something)
4. Physical missions - stretching, going for walks (1 XP for each day completed)

Trying a levelling system I roughly threw together. There is a total of 132XP available this month, and I am saying I need 120XP to level up!

Will deffo be barding it up with my fellow bards here! And I will remember to track any walks in Walk to Mordor.

 

 


One needs determination, a plan, motivation, support, and dedication to walk to Mordor! And as Jaskier knows, you gotta practice and prepare your songs before you become a hit

 

[Artemis Prime]

The monthly acting challenge sounds cool! I've been thinking about looking into community theater this year.

[Alanna]

Following! I look forward to seeing your push up and pull up progress

[Shello]

Following!   Nice set up for your goals!  I'm looking forward to seeing you level up. 

[Keladris]

Thanks for the support folks! Having a few followers deffo helps with the accountability!
 

12 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

The monthly acting challenge sounds cool! I've been thinking about looking into community theater this year.

Do ittt! I started acting on zoom during the pandemic and I just love it so much and I feel like it is making me a better, happier person haha.

Today a went for a walk, and last night I did some drawing. I wasn't going to start point tracking until next week, but kinda tempted... 

[Jarric]

Hey Kel! I love the sound of your goals - what do the acting challenges involve?

[Shello]

14 hours ago, Keladris said:

I wasn't going to start point tracking until next week, but kinda tempted... 

It's good to see you're excited to get started! 

[Keladris]

On 12/30/2021 at 5:40 AM, Jarric said:

Hey Kel! I love the sound of your goals - what do the acting challenges involve?

Basically each  month there is a project theme with a range of suggested scripts and you have to film a scene or monologue and send it in for feedback! It's a nice community with some great coaches and they also do weekly voice workouts and other classes and things

Today I did some writing! So that's another 0 week ghost point! Got to say, I am feeling more excited about the creative stuff than the workout stuff, but that might be the Christmas layabout still being active haha.

[Jarric]

12 hours ago, Keladris said:

Basically each  month there is a project theme with a range of suggested scripts and you have to film a scene or monologue and send it in for feedback! It's a nice community with some great coaches and they also do weekly voice workouts and other classes and things

 

Oh that sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to see if I can find something like that to have a go at.

[Keladris]

On 12/31/2021 at 11:45 AM, Jarric said:

 

Oh that sounds like a lot of fun. I'll have to see if I can find something like that to have a go at.

I recommend! The one I'm with is called Stagemilk.

Progress update: two rounds of stretching so far this week   So that's 2XP. so far. Not yet picked up my violin... Workout is scheduled for Sunday. 

[Alanna]

How did the rest of Week 1 go?

[starpuck]

I missed ya over yonder here on these boards.

HI!

Am here now.

 

[Keladris]

On 1/11/2022 at 2:08 PM, Alanna said:

How did the rest of Week 1 go?

Well! I did my workout on Sunday, despite not feeling like it/being tired. 

It's been a while since I did strength training, I have mostly just been dancing. I found that my legs are stronger than they were before, but my upper body and general stamina has gone down a bit (my lungs hurt by the end!) But It felt great to get going again.

I did three rounds of:
Squats (20)
Lunges (10 each side)
Push ups (8, then 6 and 6)
Inverted bodyweight rows (8)
Planks (30 seconds)
Flutter kicks (20s)
Jumping Jacks (20s)

10XP! Yay!

I have been doing voice work (I have started accent coaching to learn how to do general American)  pretty much every day, sometimes singing too. I haven't track exactly but I think I have done at least 5 in week 1. So that's another 5XP.

I also stretched on Sunday after working out, as well as Monday and today. Another 3 points! I'll add up my total and put it in my signature.



Going to aim to record my scene for the acting club this weekend - doing Sam from Birdman.

[Alanna]

Great job with Week 1!

 

Voice acting sounds really interesting - will you graduate into American dialects once you get the standard version down? 

[Elastigirl]

Great job at earning those points!

[Keladris]

On 1/13/2022 at 2:31 PM, Alanna said:

Great job with Week 1!

 

Voice acting sounds really interesting - will you graduate into American dialects once you get the standard version down? 

Yeah I would deffo like to do that, as well as working on various British regional accents (I can naturally do London and RP but there's a whole lot more to explore!) and Irish. 

Been a bit quiet, last week I didn't manage my workout due to shark week kicking my butt. And then I've been sick this week after my 3rd vaccine dose. All better now though and completed my workout today! 10XP

3 rounds of:
20 squats

10 lunges each leg 
8 push ups
8 bodyweight rows

30 second plank

20 second flutter kicks

20 second jumping jacks

 

Push ups are so hard! Might make them a specific focus of a future challenge.

I also submitted my monthly acting project! Wohoo! I'm pleased with how it turned out, and I put a lot of prep into it which I've learn a lot from.  30XP

I've lost track a bit of my side quest. But I've deffo done at least 5 vocal work outs since I last posted, and 3 lots of stretching. 8 XP

I'd love to pick up my violin again before the end of the challenge.

[tei_]

Ohhh I love this challenge! I love that you started acting during the pandemic, and are sticking to it even though it's all on zoom- that sounds like it's going to be a huge help (and relief!) when you can eventually start being part of stuff that happens inside or on a stage! 

[Keladris]

13 hours ago, tei_ said:

Ohhh I love this challenge! I love that you started acting during the pandemic, and are sticking to it even though it's all on zoom- that sounds like it's going to be a huge help (and relief!) when you can eventually start being part of stuff that happens inside or on a stage! 

I also started dancing on zoom last year aha! And both of those things are now a big part of my life  

Got my vocal warm up, singing and stretching in today. I also did some creative audio experimentation...  You know what, I'm going to take 3XP for that!  I have a cool new planner and I've put a little tracker in there for daily habits (right now stretching and voice work). 

I think the workout yesterday helped my ballet today, everything felt stronger and better aligned. Got another class tomorrow ^^

[starpuck]

This is so cool.

You are doing so well, branching out, new things, new social circles and the like,  ALL THROUGH ZOOM.

A serious inspiration. 

Thanks for that Kel!!
Keep up the great work.

[Keladris]

Awwwh twin!!! You inspire me too with your strength and bardyness ❤️ 

 

On 1/25/2022 at 12:00 PM, Starpuck said:

This is so cool.

You are doing so well, branching out, new things, new social circles and the like,  ALL THROUGH ZOOM.

A serious inspiration. 

Thanks for that Kel!!
Keep up the great work.

 

[Keladris]

Not done very well lately. Last weekend I was too exhausted to do my workout. And all this week I have been struggling with some sort of throat infection. So I only managed one day of ballet class and stretching. 

Honestly, feeling a bit conflicted about Sunday workouts. I don't enjoy them and I keep not managing to consistently force myself to do them. I also think I kinda don't want it enough. I'm much more driven by dance goals, or something like getting my splits.

 

I DO really want to get a push up. So I am wondering whether maybe I should switch to daily push up practice, which I could see myself doing around dance classes without exhausting myself. Hmmm... 
 

[Alanna]

21 minutes ago, Keladris said:

Not done very well lately. Last weekend I was too exhausted to do my workout. And all this week I have been struggling with some sort of throat infection. So I only managed one day of ballet class and stretching. 

Honestly, feeling a bit conflicted about Sunday workouts. I don't enjoy them and I keep not managing to consistently force myself to do them. I also think I kinda don't want it enough. I'm much more driven by dance goals, or something like getting my splits.

 

I DO really want to get a push up. So I am wondering whether maybe I should switch to daily push up practice, which I could see myself doing around dance classes without exhausting myself. Hmmm... 

 

Hope you feel better soon!

 

Realising that Sunday workouts don't work for you is good progress, and shorter, more frequent workouts are a good alternative . It's also difficult to get enough stimulus to progress on things like push-ups with 1x/week workouts, especially for women, so I agree that the shorter, more frequent workouts would be better for your goal! I would suggest 3x/week for push-ups rather than daily ones, though, at least at first - it takes time to adapt to high frequencies, and the rest days are also important for recovery. You could also consider keeping an upper body pull movement, such as the bodyweight row - high amounts of pushing alone could lead to some muscle imbalances and injuries long-term. And upper back strength can also be really helpful for progressing with pushing movements! 

[Shello]

On 2/6/2022 at 10:21 AM, Keladris said:

I DO really want to get a push up. So I am wondering whether maybe I should switch to daily push up practice, which I could see myself doing around dance classes without exhausting myself. Hmmm... 

Just in time for a new challenge! 

[Keladris]

Wrapping up

 

Definitely made progress this week, but lessons learnt too! 

 

I have done at least 5 stretches and 7 vocal workouts since I last tallied them up. So that's another 12 points. Brings me to a grand total of 83! Not quite a level up, but I'll take it

Progress

• Made solid progress towards my splits, the floor gets ever-closer
• Worked hard on my acting this month, and got some super helpful feedback from my acting club submission
• (Almost) daily voice workout and/or singing habit

 

Lessons

• Sunday workouts are not for me right now! Going to switch it up for some smaller-sized but regular work on upper body to add to my dancing
• I need to release some tension because my throat is straining sometimes with my workouts and singing. Expect meditation and sleep to feature in my next challenge.
• There is only so much time in the day! I've had a super creative month dabbling in many things, but I also have a new planner which I'm using to get better at prioritising and time management

Onwards and upwards!

 

[Shello]

Great job!