sarakingdom Posted November 26, 2022 Report Share Posted November 26, 2022 When the stockings are hung by the fireplace, and the snow is falling, and the mince pies and sherry have been left out for the Hogfather, and everyone is settled in for the end of the year, there is only one question left: have you been naughty or nice? That's it. That's the challenge. Along the way, I'm going to lean into hibernation. A week of meditation retreat, a week of extra sleep, a week of intermittent fasting (and feasting). I'm going to lean into all the martial arts/meditation "soft is better than hard" and "do less" mottos, and treat every under-performance or attention failure as a reason to rest more. I'm going to try to solidify my evening workout and metta meditation before bed. What I'd like to add is consistency with a daily walk, preferably first thing in the morning, and for mindfulness meditation. And I'm going to aim for a lot of holiday cheer. As close to a fatal dose of winter hygge as I can manage. Mandatory hot cocoa. Day Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 M28 Winter clothes Digital job Fix Christmas lights Xmas movie Warm socks next to the bed T29 Wrap early gifts Schedule Doctor Who Xmas specials Xmas movie W30 Online zendo hours Get dates for events Redo work schedule Xmas movie Th1 Winter clothes Start all the yule logs Xmas movie F2 Find winter boots Get out lights Xmas movie S3 Garden task 12/5 prep Xmas movie Su4 Seasonal baking Find a timer Restock the hot cocoa stash Xmas movie Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎁 M5 Date to watch Xmas movie Batch of eggnog week T6 Start meditation week Time scarcity week Xmas movie W7 Th8 F9 Finish project A S10 Su11 Seasonal baking Plans Hogswatch Cheer ⛄ M12 IF week Test morning routines T13 W14 Th15 Date to watch F16 S17 Su18 Seasonal baking Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 M19 T20 W21 Th22 F23 S24 Su25 Hogswatch #1 Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🕯️ M26 Day off T27 Annual review Annual plan W28 Th29 F30 S31 Hogswatch #2 Su1 Tracking template: Spoiler Day Naughty Nice 💀 M28 T29 W30 Th1 F2 S3 Su4 Naughty Nice 💀 M5 T6 W7 Th8 F9 S10 Su11 Naughty Nice 💀 M12 T13 W14 Th15 F16 S17 Su18 Naughty Nice 💀 M19 T20 W21 Th22 F23 S24 Su25 Naughty Nice 💀 M26 T27 W28 Th29 F30 S31 Su1 (And we'll find out if I've been too tricky with the CSS...) 12 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 27, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 27, 2022 Pre-Hogswatch Jobs: Day Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 S27 Order presents Make list of presents Warm socks next to the bed I'm putting off baking cranberry muffins, because I'm still working on the pumpkin-cranberry cheesecake from Thanksgiving. Also, I am lazy today. Day Naughty Nice 💀 S27 Sliiiight macro slip (but on decent food) did not do the Xmas gift job Good night's sleep Post Hogswatch challenge Yule fireplace Xmas movie Sort of rested when tired Yoga Meditation 3 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Mad Hatter Posted November 27, 2022 Report Share Posted November 27, 2022 What nice trackers you made there. 🙂 1 Quote Link to comment
Elastigirl Posted November 27, 2022 Report Share Posted November 27, 2022 I love the Hogsworth cheer! 1 Quote Wisdom 22.5 Dexterity 13 Charisma 15 Strength 21 Constitution-13 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind' Luke 10; 27 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted November 27, 2022 Report Share Posted November 27, 2022 Here's wishing you many macro compliant pork pies. 6 4 Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 5 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: Here's wishing you many macro compliant pork pies. I should make pork pies. AND I WANT A SWORD. 2 4 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
MaeradCase Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 23 minutes ago, sarakingdom said: I should make pork pies. AND I WANT A SWORD. Don't we all? 1 Quote Link to comment
deftona Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 MAKE THE PORK PIES. It ain't Christmas without pork pies. 1 Quote If it's not siesta or fiesta, I'm not interested. Profile picture credit : NF's resident super artist - NinjaKitten Link to comment
Harriet Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 On 11/27/2022 at 12:28 AM, sarakingdom said: When the stockings are hung by the fireplace, and the snow is falling, and the mince pies and sherry have been left out for the Hogfather, and everyone is settled in for the end of the year, there is only one question left: have you been naughty or nice? That's it. That's the challenge. This doesn't obviously meet the SMART commandments for goal setting (I'm not sure what we even, or how to... but maybe it even does, just unexpectedly like an enthymematic premise?) but I like it a lot. ETA are we going for nice? or naughty? just checking 10 hours ago, sarakingdom said: I should make pork pies. I am always disappointed when British people mention mince pies and I imagine Australian beef pies, but then remember that they mean boozy dried fruit, which in my opinion utterly ruins the fruit, and the booze, and the pie. 1 3 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
MaeradCase Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 16 minutes ago, Harriet said: I am always disappointed when British people mention mince pies and I imagine Australian beef pies, but then remember that they mean boozy dried fruit, which in my opinion utterly ruins the fruit, and the booze, and the pie. Hahaha, sounds like you wouldn't care for fruitcake either. There are good brands for it, though. 😉 1 Quote Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 6 hours ago, deftona said: MAKE THE PORK PIES. It ain't Christmas without pork pies. I'm at a slight disadvantage due to dietary restrictions, but a pork pie is definitely possible, with some creativity. I'd 100% be tarred and feathered for heresy in Melton Mowbray, but as my first choice of crust alternative involves a lot of cheese, and cheese and pork go together like, well, ham and cheese, they might just have to catch me first. 3 2 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 Week 0 Day 1 Day Plans Hogswatch Cheer 🎄 M28 Done Done T29 Wrap early gifts Schedule Doctor Who Xmas specials Fix Christmas lights Redo work schedule Xmas movie Warm socks next to the bed W30 Online zendo hours Get dates for events Redo work schedule Garden job Xmas movie Th1 Winter clothes Start all the yule logs Xmas movie F2 Find winter boots Get out lights Xmas movie S3 12/5 prep Xmas movie Su4 Seasonal baking Find a timer Restock the hot cocoa stash Xmas movie Day Naughty 💀 Nice 🎁 M28 Irresponsible sleep choices Slow day (probably cuz tired) Skipped workout Skipped meditation Hot cocoa Virtual fireplace Make list of presents Make a bar list Order more presents 1 Digital job 1 Xmas movie Order more presents 2 Garden task Digital job 2 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 🎁 T29 W30 Th1 F2 S3 Su4 These may be too big to keep outside spoiler cuts, but I'm experimenting with having the whole week in front of me. Guys. I need to make a booze list. I need booze for eggnog. I need wine for secondary fermentation into sparkling wine. (I need the practice, and it's the right season.) What is the most aggressively Victorian winter shit I can buy for Hogswatch that is not sherry, which I hate? Brandy? Should I be learning wholesome and warming brandy drinks? What, in short, would Vetinari drink? (I have a few weeks till Christmas, I could also infuse something. Pear liqueur? Pear and cardamom liqueur?) Also, I'm thinking of redoing my work schedule for increased simplicity, and moving different projects to different days so that my daily project list is literally three things. It's not ideal, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by choice fatigue lately, and I'd like to remove that for a few weeks. I have seen several sources recommend that sort of short list for ADHD, and there is an added component of time scarcity and practicing more intensive deep work by restricting the days I have to work on a project, so it's not an experiment wholly without justification. And it's in keeping with my hibernation challenge to simplify for a few weeks. 4 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
deftona Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 1 hour ago, sarakingdom said: I'd 100% be tarred and feathered for heresy in Melton Mowbray, but as my first choice of crust alternative involves a lot of cheese, 1 Quote If it's not siesta or fiesta, I'm not interested. Profile picture credit : NF's resident super artist - NinjaKitten Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, deftona said: Hey, if my food allergies/autoimmune shit magically disappear, I'll go authentic. I'd love to. Until then.... that's the best approximation of that type of crust I can do, and you can get in line behind the tarring-and-feathering department of Melton Mowbray's town council. Also, bonus cheese. 1 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 1 hour ago, sarakingdom said: What, in short, would Vetinari drink? I don't recall Vetinari drinking any more than sober Vimes. For Victorian's beverage of choice, what social status and geographic region? If we are talking working class Yorkshire, probably scumble, if the chalk, probably sheep liniment, if London, probably ale. For the upper crust, Brandy is probably correct since Sherry is out, unless Port is an option. Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 7 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: I don't recall Vetinari drinking any more than sober Vimes. Then you do not recall Unseen Academicals, where he explicitly gets so drunk at a wizard dinner that he's still drunk the next morning and has a whole conversation with Drumknott about how well he imitates sobriety and is doing his crossword drunk, and later he has a bottle of wine with Margolotta. (And I think he tries to drink in Guards Guards, but I'm not sure his beer ever arrives.) I mean, he's definitely very anti-booze when he feels like it. Even in the same book, I think. But his embrace of sober living is clearly utilitarian and circumstantial. (Apparently so is his embrace of drunkenness, though the verdict is out on his dinner drinking.) The ultimate lesson is, I believe, one from Men At Arms, which is that no sensible person should go around trusting what they overhear Lord Vetinari say aloud, at least not if their life depends on it. 10 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: For Victorian's beverage of choice, what social status and geographic region? If we are talking working class Yorkshire, probably scumble, if the chalk, probably sheep liniment, if London, probably ale. For the upper crust, Brandy is probably correct since Sherry is out, unless Port is an option. Ale is out for allergy reasons. Port is an occasional option, and I think I have a bottle somewhere I'd forgotten about, so that's a good reminder. Sheep liniment is easily accomplished, because I can spend $5 on a 1L bottle from the bottom shelf, but I still need to decide on a nominal type of sheep liniment. Scumble is sadly highbrow in these parts. There is also gin, which spans social classes, but I don't know any winter things to do with gin. (Which is odd, since it's flavored with evergreens.) Brandy is probably the most utilitarian option to start with. It goes into eggnog, and probably various warm restorative beverages. 2 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 I've only read unseen academicals once. I'm starting a read through again (on Equal Rites) 1 Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
Harriet Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 5 hours ago, MaeradCase said: Hahaha, sounds like you wouldn't care for fruitcake either. There are good brands for it, though. 😉 No, no, fruit cake is great. I mean, I like it a lot less than fruit, and a lot less than cake. But other than that, it's great. 4 hours ago, sarakingdom said: Guys. I need to make a booze list. I need booze for eggnog. I need wine for secondary fermentation into sparkling wine. (I need the practice, and it's the right season.) What is the most aggressively Victorian winter shit I can buy for Hogswatch that is not sherry, which I hate? Brandy? Should I be learning wholesome and warming brandy drinks? What, in short, would Vetinari drink? (I have a few weeks till Christmas, I could also infuse something. Pear liqueur? Pear and cardamom liqueur?) You're making your own sparkling wine? That sounds splendid! I don't know about Victorian but I like mulled wine (glühwein). It's Christmassy and old fashioned. It might have cloves, citrus peel, and things. Flavoured liqueur should always be chocolate flavoured. 1 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 59 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: I've only read unseen academicals once. I'm starting a read through again (on Equal Rites) Gosh, it'll be at least two weeks before you get to Unseen Academicals at that rate. I'm fond of Unseen Academicals, because it has a great theme about choosing who we become and living rewarding lives, even if that's not who others expect us to be. And the focus on the invisible working class of the city is wonderful. Also, Vetinari gets drunk (and lives up to his revolutionary youth), and Rincewind is pretty heroic. And the Librarian is the Librarian. One day I will do a Pepe challenge. It will involve a lot of champagne and street fighting. 1 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 3 minutes ago, Harriet said: You're making your own sparkling wine? That sounds splendid! I do the secondary fermentation, at least. I'm not great on serious bubbles yet, but I get some fizz and the flavor is hugely improved. 4 minutes ago, Harriet said: I don't know about Victorian but I like mulled wine (glühwein). It's Christmassy and old fashioned. It might have cloves, citrus peel, and things. Oh, I like that, too! Yes, I should definitely do that. And Vetinari would definitely drink it. Red wine and Uberwald. 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Harriet Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, sarakingdom said: Oh, I like that, too! Yes, I should definitely do that. And Vetinari would definitely drink it. Red wine and Uberwald. I feel that he wouldn't have cheap stuff from the market, though. It would be fine. Worth pouring into a nice glass and admiring briefly (but not excessively) before drinking with a guest. He would say something intimidatingly knowledgeable about the economics and or politics where it's produced. Like, I dunno, how the shortage of cloves due to unseasonal numbers of clove eating beetles in town A led to discontent with the mayor of town B, because their glühwein didn't sell as well without the cloves and the mayor had promised to use their, um, glühwein taxes to help rebuild the bar after a freak accident involving some very flammable strong apple drink which is now banned in a 20 mile radius of the twon. Anyway, the wine would have more than a mere origin or location in space, it would have provenance and a story. 2 Quote Let cheese and oxen and mead crowd out our secret desires for power and domination - Harriet the Viking Just be bold, fluid and unapologetic, not small, hairy and indecisive - Harriet the Artist You can absorb me! - Harriet the Contextless Guru Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 10 minutes ago, Harriet said: I feel that he wouldn't have cheap stuff from the market, though. It would be fine. Worth pouring into a nice glass and admiring briefly (but not excessively) before drinking with a guest. He would say something intimidatingly knowledgeable about the economics and or politics where it's produced. Like, I dunno, how the shortage of cloves due to unseasonal numbers of clove eating beetles in town A led to discontent with the mayor of town B, because their glühwein didn't sell as well without the cloves and the mayor had promised to use their, um, glühwein taxes to help rebuild the bar after a freak accident involving some very flammable strong apple drink which is now banned in a 20 mile radius of the twon. Anyway, the wine would have more than a mere origin or location in space, it would have provenance and a story. Yes, very much like that. His would definitely be mulled in the palace kitchens by respectable cooks who feed the civil service, with a decent but not exorbitantly costly vintage, because he chooses to balance snobbery with responsibility to the taxpayers. And if he did not have a story about how the shortage of cloves in Klatch could be turned to the political advantage of Ankh-Morpork, you can be sure he'd have a metaphor about how governing the city was a glass of mulled wine, with all these lumpy bits that don't mix in and most people would spit out, but one must respect that that is where the flavor comes from; or you take a wine from Quirm and spices and fruit from Klatch and an idea from Uberwald and stir it all up in a melting pot in Ankh-Morpork, and that is what the stodgy old order calls "venerable Ankh-Morpork tradition". 4 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 59 minutes ago, sarakingdom said: Yes, very much like that. His would definitely be mulled in the palace kitchens by respectable cooks who feed the civil service, with a decent but not exorbitantly costly vintage, because he chooses to balance snobbery with responsibility to the taxpayers. And if he did not have a story about how the shortage of cloves in Klatch could be turned to the political advantage of Ankh-Morpork, you can be sure he'd have a metaphor about how governing the city was a glass of mulled wine, with all these lumpy bits that don't mix in and most people would spit out, but one must respect that that is where the flavor comes from; or you take a wine from Quirm and spices and fruit from Klatch and an idea from Uberwald and stir it all up in a melting pot in Ankh-Morpork, and that is what the stodgy old order calls "venerable Ankh-Morpork tradition". After hearing said metaphor the narration would cut to Vimes' thought proccess which would go something along the lines of "What Vimes thought it actually meant was that people in this town would drink bloody anything. He then swirled his lemonade and sighed." 3 2 Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
MaeradCase Posted November 28, 2022 Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 2 hours ago, sarakingdom said: Gosh, it'll be at least two weeks before you get to Unseen Academicals at that rate. I'm fond of Unseen Academicals, because it has a great theme about choosing who we become and living rewarding lives, even if that's not who others expect us to be. I've gotten my husband hooked on the Night Watch series, but he hasn't had the energy to read, so he hasn't even noticed that I got us the missing books from that series. I'll have to peek into Unseen Academicals. I've read a smattering of his books, but certainly not all. Quote Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted November 28, 2022 Author Report Share Posted November 28, 2022 1 hour ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: After hearing said metaphor the narration would cut to Vimes' thought proccess which would go something along the lines of "What Vimes thought it actually meant was that people in this town would drink bloody anything. He then swirled his lemonade and sighed." It definitely would. That is exactly what Vimes would do, and no one ever appreciates Vetinari's political metaphors. 54 minutes ago, MaeradCase said: I've gotten my husband hooked on the Night Watch series, but he hasn't had the energy to read, so he hasn't even noticed that I got us the missing books from that series. I'll have to peek into Unseen Academicals. I've read a smattering of his books, but certainly not all. *nudges Hogfather in your direction* Unseen Academicals shouldn't work, but it does. There are a couple of scenes in the book where I can sense the turn things are about to take in his final years, but only briefly. (I think it's the last book before you can see his illness in the work.) And the rest of the book is unexpectedly great. The end of a very solid run of books. It's a heck of a twist on the way he's portrayed Ankh-Morpork in previous books, precisely because all the protagonists are wildly unlikely choices with nothing at all special about them. (Well, one of them, a bit, but it's really the others that the book is about.) But it's kind of the message of the book, how we become the protagonists of our lives and what actually is special about ordinary people. Even down to the wizards who really shine, it's about the people who get overlooked and why they're actually who's important, and how to not be talked out of owning that. *also nudges over Going Postal while no one is looking* 4 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
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