[WhiteGhost]

 

OK, maybe not everything, but that isn't the point.

 

Last challenge @Killashandra shared a blogpost from Steve about sucking less at stuff and I decided I wanted to do a challenge focused around that.  There is a bunch of stuff that I suck at and my intention is that by the end of this challenge I will suck marginally less at them.  So here is the long list of stuff I suck at, broken down into general categories

 

Fitness:

Stretching - I have always struggled with trying to get more limber, but after having done pretty much nothing but sit on the couch playing video games for the last 3 months has really made things a lot worse.  I may not get much more flexible than I am now but at least I can mitigate some of the inflexibility I have accumulated recently 

MyFlex - I signed up for the MyFlex program but I have not made much use of it.  I want to see if I can do at least a session a week to build up my end ROM strength to prevent future injuries  

Mobility - I have always wanted to do more quadrupedal activity but I have avoided it because I feel stupid with my poor mobility and it also hurts my wrists.  Not caring how I look and actually just doing it at my sucky level will probably do good things for strengthening my wrists

Dancing - A few challenges ago I started trying to learn Shuffle dancing.  I kind of gave up because I felt like I sucked too badly, but the only way to suck less is to do even though I suck.  

Skateboarding - Inspired by @Mad Hatter , I want to get my skateboard out again and work on learning to ollie now that the weather permits.  

 

Music/Art/Skills:

Piano - I used to dabble in piano when I was younger but I was never any good at it.  I have been inspired by our downstairs neighbor, though, and have pulled my keyboard from the basement and want to get in some practicing.  Hopefully I will suck a little less by the end of this challenge

Singing - I wish I was a better singer.  I have never been very good at carrying a tune, but just wishing isn't going to make me suck any less.  Time to look up some tutorials and see if I can reduce the suckage a bit

Beatboxing - I don't know the first thig about beatboxing but it looks fun.  Youtube has some tutorials so I am going to see just how badly I suck 

Sketching - This is something I used to work on a while back but I quit because I sucked so bad.  Time to embrace the suckage to suck just a little bit less at it

Juggling - I learned how to juggle 3 objects many years ago and I still can, if only for a few seconds.  After getting inspiration from @Happienumber and @Kishi  I am going to see if I can suck just a little less at it.

 

Lifestyle:

Healthy Eating - I have gone from 20% body fat to 25% body fat over the last 3 months, mostly due to overeating, even though a lot of the foods have been "healthy".  I need to figure out both portion control and meal planning

Scripture Reading / Prayer - I am really sporadic at this and I want to make it into more of a habit

Going To Bed On Time - Going to bed at 3am and then getting up at 6am is a recipe for either going back to bed and sleeping until noon or being miserable all day.  Neither is a viable long term strategy so I need to start getting to bed earlier

Sex - I have discovered that this is something that just doesn't happen spontaneously after you have been married a while.  I need to make more effort to make this happen because otherwise it just won't, and more sex is better.

Accountability - My last several challenges have been little more than blog posts and goals set at the beginning of the challenge were immediately forgotten or ignored.  For this challenge I am going to track my goals, with a pass/fail for each day.  A passing score for each day happens if I do any 1 thing from all three categories.

 

Realistically I expect to continue to suck at these and will not be good at any of them by the end of the challenge.   

But that's OK    The point is just to try and suck a just a little bit less

[Mr_Willes]

I am really curious how this challenge will go. I have thoughts about it but i want to keep them to myself for now.

 

Also there is just too much in here to make fun of!

On the other side i really want you to succeed, so let's not start by making fun of you!

 

I'll introduce that gradually throughout the challenge

[deftona]

 

I had to really think about my phrasing for my gif search today. 

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Here's hoping you suck less.

[Shello]

Following for a less sucky challenge?    

[Sloth the Enduring]

[Epsilonte]

Happy sucking!

Looking forward to see you suck (less and less over time) xD

[WhiteGhost]

16 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

I'll introduce that gradually throughout the challenge

You wouldn't be you if you didn't  

 

16 hours ago, deftona said:

 

I had to really think about my phrasing for my gif search today. 

 

11 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Here's hoping you suck less.

Oh man, it has been way too long since I have seen that movie

 

6 hours ago, Shello said:

Following for a less sucky challenge?    

Still pretty dang sucky right now  

 

5 hours ago, Sloth the Enduring said:

 

2 hours ago, Epsilonte said:

Happy sucking!

Looking forward to see you suck (less and less over time) xD

It is very gradual, unfortunately  

 

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Yesterday got off to a good start, I was at the park for a workout after a long hiatus and it was nice to see the crew again.  I had to take it pretty easy and only worked on front levers and handstands, with a few pushups thrown in for good measure.  Having gained about 10 pounds over the last few months, everything was particularly difficult.

 

I had grand intentions when I got home to start sucking less at stuff but I booted up Cyberpunk and ended up doing that for the rest of the day.  I am really starting to suck a lot less at Cyberpunk, but that doesn't count towards my goals    I did cook some food for dinner and ate only a reasonable portion, and avoided snacks all day.   

 

Fitness: Fail

Art/Music: Fail

Lifestyle: Pass

 

[WhiteGhost]

I thought yesterday was going to be another big fat fail.  We got a notice the night before that the pipes in our building were being replaced and that we would not have any water between 9am and 6pm.  Not wanting to come home from the park and not be able to shower, I spent the morning playing Cyberpunk instead.  The morning turned into the afternoon and by the time Ghostlet got back from school I had done nothing else.  At that point I was ready to write the day off but after making dinner (chicken tacos) I decided to spend some time practicing the piano, and then when Ghostess got home and started to do her tabata I joined in for 20 minutes.  I don't have regular aerobics as a goal but it was pretty much just dancing so even though it wasn't shuffle dancing I am going to count it anyway.  I even got to bed on time  

 

Fitness: Pass

Art/Music: Pass

Lifestyle: Pass

[Mr_Willes]

Small wins are wins nonetheless!

[WhiteGhost]

14 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

Small wins are wins nonetheless!

Gotta take them when I can  

 

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

 

Yesterday I woke to a freeing cold house.  There were rumors that Beijing would keep the heat on until the end of the month  (it usually turns off March 15) but nope, it turned off during the night so the house was an icebox when I got up.  I did not feel like doing anything so I climbed under the blankets and hung out in bed for most of the morning and then got up and sat in front of the heater for the whole day.  There was a huge update to the game and I couldn't play for a bit while that downloaded so I used the time to get some piano practice in.  I cooked some stir fry for dinner and got to bed on time, so there were some wins there.

 

Fitness: Fail

Art/Music: Pass

Lifestyle: Pass

[Jupiter]

Sounds like a good challenge. Following.  

[Ranger Hal]

3 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

Yesterday I woke to a freeing cold house.  There were rumors that Beijing would keep the heat on until the end of the month  (it usually turns off March 15) but nope, it turned off during the night so the house was an icebox when I got up. 

The city decides when you get heat?

[Mr_Willes]

5 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

The city decides when you get heat?

 

Some cities have a central heating system here too, i don't think it gets shut off, but it's a central system too. I can imagine that a city decides to deliver heat for the coldest part of the year.

[Ranger Hal]

7 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

Some cities have a central heating system here too, i don't think it gets shut off, but it's a central system too. I can imagine that a city decides to deliver heat for the coldest part of the year.

Huh, I guess that makes sense. Except for a couple years in college, I've always lived in the suburbs where a heating system like that probably wouldn't be very efficient, but I can sort of imagine it working in big cities.

[WhiteGhost]

22 hours ago, Jupiter said:

Sounds like a good challenge. Following.  

Glad to have you here

 

20 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

The city decides when you get heat?

No, the national government decided when we get heat - Nov 15 through Mar 15 - and that applies to all cities in the northern half of China.  The cities can make adjustments to lengthen the period as needed based on weather but I don't think it can be less than this.

 

15 hours ago, Mr_Willes said:

 

Some cities have a central heating system here too, i don't think it gets shut off, but it's a central system too. I can imagine that a city decides to deliver heat for the coldest part of the year.

How does it work there?  Here you have a water heating plant for every few neighborhoods which supplies hot water to surrounding communities.  The water is pumped through pipes in all of the residences so it is either on or off, there is no way to regulate the temperature in the central heating system.  If it gets too hot we regulate by opening windows.

 

7 hours ago, Ranger Hal said:

Huh, I guess that makes sense. Except for a couple years in college, I've always lived in the suburbs where a heating system like that probably wouldn't be very efficient, but I can sort of imagine it working in big cities.

Yeah, I can only see this system working for high population density areas 

 

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

 

Yesterday I was back to the park for a workout but the DOMS in my lats was so sever from Monday that I could barely do even the simplest front lever progressions.  Instead I mostly did just handstand and planche related stuff, with a little bit of ab work.

 

In the afternoon was back on the xbox and have now 100%ed every region of Night City except Westbrook and Santo Domingo.  The only things I have left there are a few gigs and a couple of random side missions.  All NCPD scanners are completed.  I have made an interesting discovery in this playthrough:  If you are completely antagonistic to Johnny you will miss out on loads of content.

 

Dinner was some baked chicken linguine marinara but I cooked it for too long and the chicken completely dried out   

[WhiteGhost]

I forgot to do my summary last update.  I did some stretching after my workout  and cooked food but didn't do any art or music

 

Fitness: Pass

Art/Music: Fail

Lifestyle: Pass

 

Yesterday I went to the park first thing and did a leg workout.  I haven't done Leg Day for a looooong time and I am paying for it now    After my workout I hung out with a yoga instructor there and he helped me with some hip/ankle exercises to increase mobility.

 

I then went on to spend the entire rest of the day playing Cyberpunk and finally 100%ed every district and finished the main quest.  I made a lot of different choices this time and the story turned out very different from the first time.  I love how much variety this game has in terms of options and that the choices actually mean something.   Actions you do at an early point significantly impact later side quests and random encounters.  I also read every data shard that I found and it is really cool to see how all of the seemingly random encounters you come across are all interrelated.  For example you stop at a crime scene and read the evidence shard and see some names and plans.  Then later in another crime scene you come across some other actions by that person that led up to the first crime scene you saw, etc.  

 

Fitness: Pass

Art/Music: Fail

Lifestyle: Fail

[shaar]

I thought I posted here but I did not!  JEEZ; hi friend I am following!

 

I played Cyberpunk on my PS5 at launch and gosh I wanted to love it so bad (<3 that aesthetic) but it was just too... I dunno, kinda twitchy and buggy and it didn't feel as immersive as I would have liked, I think??  I think I got right to the end of the first chapter before I stopped, but I'd really like to pick it up again when I have more time and give it a whirl again.. (I nicknamed my V "Brad" because he was a total frat bro corpo)

[WhiteGhost]

15 hours ago, shaar said:

I thought I posted here but I did not!  JEEZ; hi friend I am following!

 

I played Cyberpunk on my PS5 at launch and gosh I wanted to love it so bad (<3 that aesthetic) but it was just too... I dunno, kinda twitchy and buggy and it didn't feel as immersive as I would have liked, I think??  I think I got right to the end of the first chapter before I stopped, but I'd really like to pick it up again when I have more time and give it a whirl again.. (I nicknamed my V "Brad" because he was a total frat bro corpo)

Apparently they have done a lot of upgrades to fix bugs with a lot of the problems finally getting cleaned up in version 1.5.  Also, I didn't really start loving the game until the stat of act 2 and the only reason I stuck with it was on the recommendation of Deffy who has never led me wrong on a game recommendation.  It may be worth giving it another try now.  

 

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

 

Yesterday my DOMS kicked in and left me feeling like a 90 year old man.  I slept in for most of the morning and then spent most of the afternoon in the kitchen.  Ghostlet wanted me to make his some banana bread so I did that, and then I made another high protein / low carb banana bread for Ghostess.  The low carb version was actually not bad, but when you have it right there compared against the original decadent version it really doesn't stand up.  

 

In the evening I was back in Night City starting my 3rd playthrough, this time doing a Panam build (Nomad Sniper)

 

Fitness: Fail

Art/Music: Fail

Lifestyle: Pass

[Terinatum]

Hey Ghost!

Love your theme. I'm doing the 'good' sucking at learning the violin. It's doesn't help that I can't tell if I'm on pitch very well. Ah well.

Following and smiling!

[WhiteGhost]

19 hours ago, Terinatum said:

Hey Ghost!

Love your theme. I'm doing the 'good' sucking at learning the violin. It's doesn't help that I can't tell if I'm on pitch very well. Ah well.

Following and smiling!

Ah, the violin.  I have one in my basement and I thought about adding that to my list of things to suck less at but the pole inside has fallen down and I can't be bothered to go get it fixed.  I hope you suck less at it by the end of the challenge  

 

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

 

Yesterday was Sunday which meant church all morning and it was enjoyable.  In the afternoon I practiced piano (and ukulele) for a bit and then spent the rest of the day doing productive things like laundry, hanging out and talking with the family and planning a surprise birthday party for Ghostess with her friends.

 

While I was talking to Ghostlet, he was trying to explaining the difference between pull and push rod suspension on F1 cars and I just wasn't getting it.  He then spent about half an hour in his room and came back out with a working model of the F1 suspension system that he had built out of components scavenged from his pencil bag

 

I was super impressed and, more important for him, instantly understood the difference he was trying to explain by seeing how they differ on his model.  I think I really need to get that kid into some engineering/robotics classes

[Scaly Freak]

2 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

 

While I was talking to Ghostlet, he was trying to explaining the difference between pull and push rod suspension on F1 cars and I just wasn't getting it.  He then spent about half an hour in his room and came back out with a working model of the F1 suspension system that he had built out of components scavenged from his pencil bag

 

Robotics class, at a minimum.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

50 minutes ago, WhiteGhost said:

I was super impressed and, more important for him, instantly understood the difference he was trying to explain by seeing how they differ on his model.  I think I really need to get that kid into some engineering/robotics classes

The dude just MacGuyver'ed an F1 suspension system out of alligator clips, I'd say you are correct.

[Mr_Willes]

On 3/25/2022 at 12:38 AM, WhiteGhost said:

How does it work there?  Here you have a water heating plant for every few neighborhoods which supplies hot water to surrounding communities.  The water is pumped through pipes in all of the residences so it is either on or off, there is no way to regulate the temperature in the central heating system.  If it gets too hot we regulate by opening windows.

 

I am not quite sure but i think something similar though i think you can regulate by cutting yourself off of the hot source with some sort of switch. I have never had it myself but i have had colleagues that had (living in the city of Eindhoven).

[Mr_Willes]

4 hours ago, WhiteGhost said:

I think I really need to get that kid into some engineering/robotics classes

 

Echoing the others, definitely do that!!!