[Jarric]

  

On 12/29/2022 at 9:58 PM, Jarric said:

2023 road map

 

Last year I decided that, rather than post my road map for the year in a battle log and then forget about it, that I would put it at the top of my first challenge for the year, and then repeat it in every subsequent challenge. That worked fairly well, so I'm sticking with it.

 

I also decided last year to divide the things that are important to me into 5 pillars, and map each of those pillars onto a D&D stat. For how that went you can see my 2022 wrap up here, but the final result was as follows:

 

Level 17 Wood Elf Ranger

STR: 12  -  CON: 10  -  CHA: 3  -  SAN: 7  -  INT: 11

 

This year I'll be following a very similar format, trying to earn points to increase those stats as much as possible. I'll also be including some specific benchmarks within some of the pillars - not necessarily goals to hit (though I might well have challenge goals working towards them), but to see what I can tick off by the end of the year.

 

Exercise (Strength)

This pillar is all about the physical activities I do, be that OCR, climbing, crossfit, running, swimming, whatever. It also encompasses activity that enables those things, like yoga, physio, foam rolling etc. I don't separate between STR and DEX, because I don't really think that makes sense for the kind of things I do.

 

Specific benchmarks I'd like to hit:

• Complete Strong Viking in June
• Complete Man vs Mountain in September
• Climb a font 7A
• Climb a font 6A outside
• Get reliable ring muscle ups
• Get reliable bar muscle ups
• Handwalk 12ft
• Learn to kip up
• Squatmas: 50 reps at 75% bodyweight, unbroken
• Deadliftmas: 50 reps at 100% bodyweight unbroken

 

I also need to plan out a few more OCRs, maybe a triathlon or aquathlon. I'd like to do a novice strongman competition too.

 

Nutrition (Constitution)

This is about putting the right things in my body (hey, if a joke ain't broke, don't fix it). That includes food, obviously, but also alcohol and caffeine, not smoking, basically whatever I consume. Currently I'm trying to bulk up a bit, and at the moment I anticipate cycling cutting and bulking for the year.

 

Creativity (Charisma)

This is a stat I didn't hit much all year, so I'm really keen to boost this stat in 2023. I think being creative is really good for me, and it's something I want to do more of. In order to enable this I'll probably also need to redress my work/life balance, to give me some more creative energy. This includes drawing/art, music, and D&D stuff.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Publish some of my own D&D content online
• Be prepared (enough) for every session of my D&D campaign
• Complete Inktober this year
• If I reduce my working days, use the extra day creatively

 

Self-care (Sanity)

2022 was a trying year, and 2023 is definitely going to have its challenges (though fewer of them would be nice). With that in mind I need to keep on with the little things that keep my mind in check - brushing my teeth, keeping in touch with friends, tidying my house, getting out of work on time. I got most of my points in this last year from brushing my teeth, a habit I hope I may have finally cracked (at the age of 33!). This year I want to get more points in this stat, and get them from more different activities.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Sort out the outhouse, and run power down there
• Get a price for the porch
• Paint my office
• Go away with friends

 

Learning (Intelligence)

I like learning stuff for pleasure, and I need to do it for work. This encompasses my professional qualifications, language learning (currently learning Dutch and French), and anything else I want to study.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Complete professional qualification
• Achieve extra qualification status
• Converse in French with a francophone
• Converse in Dutch in The Netherlands

 

*    *    *

 

Under the hood

Each challenge goal will have stats assigned to it, which I earn on successful completion, and over the course of the year I want to get all of my stats as high as possible. My character level is determined by XP (and has been for possibly all of my years on NF) - each stat point is worth 5XP and I level up every 100XP. There's no requirement to hit all of the stats every month, I can mix and match depending on what I need at the time.

 

Each month I will budget £250 as a bet against my goals. On pay day I will split that money. For the percentage of success I've had on my goals since the previous pay day I get to keep the money in my savings or spend it on something nice. For the percentages of goals I fail I have to transfer that money as an extra payment off my mortgage. The idea is that if I'm not improving future Jarric by hitting my goals I'll improve things for him by reducing his debt instead. This runs payday to payday, rather than with the challenge cycle, because it ensures that I actually have the money to pay the bet when it's due.

  

I haven't done a wrap-up of last challenge, and now is not the time for it. In short, it very much petered out towards the end and I got very poor scores in the last 2 weeks. Average goal completion for weeks 2-5 (which is what set this month's budget) was 41.34%, so I only got to keep £103.34 for my savings, and paid £146.66 off of my mortgage.

 

First challenge this year I had far too many goals, which I acknowledged when I set it up. Last challenge I thought I'd pared it down enough, but I still ended up drifting away and by the end I wasn't even attempting a lot of my goals. So, this challenge will be all about fewer goals, less work, more pedantry about the correct use of the words less and fewer.

 

The cartographer [+2 SAN, +1 CHA]

 

This is all about self-care, which I'm hoping will help me de-stress and feel more focussed. Do something, every day, for myself, and record in my bujo what I did. Options include:

• Draw
• Read a book
• Play computer games
• Play guitar
• Journal
• Whatever else that involves taking time for myself

 

No minimum time requirement on this, just a little something every day.

 

The camp maker [+3 SAN]

 

This one is about caring for my home. I find I'm less stressed when the house is tidier, and I have less hayfever issues if I hoover occasionally. Do something, every day, to clean or tidy the house, and record in my bujo what I did. Again, no minimum time requirement, I just need to do something.

 

And that's it, just two daily goals, and both around getting my headspace together. I'll still be doing, and talking about other stuff of course; crossfit, running, climbing, tracking calories, essay writing, language learning etc., I'm just not tracking them. So, challenge starts tomorrow, let's go!

 

(Side note: I've just posted this thread in the wrong challenge section. Twice! For some reason the 'current challenge' button was taking me there, and I was so tired I didn't even notice.)

[KeysMcGee]

Following along. Respect the focus.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Glad you got a challenge up

[starpuck]

Nice approach Jarric.   I should take a follow on this one, but man, I am so behind I need to sharpen the sword so to speak.

Maybe I will find that following you, as you focus and de-stress, will help me.

[Sovalis]

Here to follow along! I think I should add the recording of activities for my "Fun" and "Adulting" in my Bujo... Thanks for the inspiration!

[Jarric]

13 hours ago, KeysMcGee said:

Following along. Respect the focus.

 

Thank you! Good to have you. 

 

13 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Glad you got a challenge up

 

Thanks, I'm glad you reminded me - that little bit of accountability helped.

 

13 hours ago, starpuck said:

Nice approach Jarric.   I should take a follow on this one, but man, I am so behind I need to sharpen the sword so to speak.

Maybe I will find that following you, as you focus and de-stress, will help me.

 

Thanks, I hope it does help. Don't stress about following though; I've been miles behind on people's threads for ages.

 

8 hours ago, Sovalis said:

Here to follow along! I think I should add the recording of activities for my "Fun" and "Adulting" in my Bujo... Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Good to have you. And no worries!

[Jarric]

Weekend zero was a good weekend. The open beta for Diablo IV went live at 4pm Friday UK time, so I spent a chunk of Friday evening playing that until 1am. Then I spent quite a lot of my Saturday playing it, until 1am Sunday morning. I played Diablo II to death as a teenager, on my own and with friends over LAN in the days before we had high-speed internet, so I'll always have a soft spot for thise games. Managed to get my barbarian past level 20, so I've unlocked the world's cutest backpack if/when I buy the actual game.

 

 

Outside of that, I went to Parkrun on Saturday morning, and scraped in 1 second under 27 minutes for a 5k. I also ran on Sunday, a casual 4.5 miles in the afternoon sun.

 

Saturday afternoon I also went to a climbing competition at my local climbing gym. It was really hard, and I scored pretty poorly. To be honest I wasn't really feeling it, I was getting anxiety-like symptoms early on and then just felt grumpy and frustrated after that. Still, I got in a couple of tough climbs, and it's nice to tale part in these things.

 

Sunday afternoon I ran D&D. The party were introduced to whiteghost's new characters, a druid and her warrior sidekick, and then I almost killed them immediately in a big fight with a wizard that they foolishly left alive :S . 

 

I think that's about it, all in all a decent weekend.

 

Not sure what's going on with tagging on my phone, so sorry for the miaplaced tag 

@WhiteGhost

[starpuck]

That IS the cutest backpack ever.  Oh man!     Nostalgia gets ya good on games.  I have the same thing... our group used to play Heroes of Might and Magick, hot  seat, at my house, back in the mid to late 90s lol.   To this day, the castle building menu music gets me right in the feels.

 

 

[Rhovaniel]

20 hours ago, Jarric said:

Managed to get my barbarian past level 20, so I've unlocked the world's cutest backpack if/when I buy the actual game.

It's.... adorable!!! And I kinda want to put my cat in a baby sling now!

 

Good to see you Jarric  

[Jarric]

8 hours ago, starpuck said:

That IS the cutest backpack ever.  Oh man!     Nostalgia gets ya good on games.  I have the same thing... our group used to play Heroes of Might and Magick, hot  seat, at my house, back in the mid to late 90s lol.   To this day, the castle building menu music gets me right in the feels.

 

 

 

Exactly! Music is so powerful too; I use the Diablo II  music for D&D sometimes and it's such a good fit.

 

3 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

It's.... adorable!!! And I kinda want to put my cat in a baby sling now!

 

Good to see you Jarric  

 

90% sure trying to put your cat in a sling will end up in severe lacerations, unless he's a lot more chilled out than mine

 

Good to see you too  

[Jarric]

Monday - week 1 day 1

For myself, I went to bed early to read (currently reading Amongst Our Weapons by Ben Aaronovich)

For my house, I spent a few minutes clearing up my floordrobe

 

Yesterday (Nibsday, as @starpuck has christened it) was a good day. Crossfit first thing was front squats, and I built to 70kg x 2 x 3, then 75 kg x 3 x 3. Then the workout was 7 => 1 thrusters and bar muscle ups for time. I subbed chest to bar for bar muscle ups, put 40kg on the bar for thrusters, and it all felt pretty rubbish but I got through in 7'24".

 

Work was busy - everyone's in the office on a Monday so there's always lots of distraction catching up with people, on top of which I had a report that I really wanted to get finished and off my desk. I thought I'd do that report by about 2pm; ended up finishing up at 6.30pm and going home late.

 

In the evening WW cooked chicken and parsnip risotto, which was lush, and we chilled in front of an old episode of Taskmaster ahead of the new series starting this week. Then I went to bed early to read, mainly to tick of my self-care goal, but also because I was knackered and everything else seemed like more effort.

[Rhovaniel]

2 minutes ago, Jarric said:

90% sure trying to put your cat in a sling will end up in severe lacerations, unless he's a lot more chilled out than mine

Rufus? Absolutely, that one will send me to Urgent Care for stitches. Frodo, he's wayyy more chilled. I can and do scoop him up and snuggle him like a baby. He's also the only cat I know that will see me approach and roll over to expose his belly for belly rubs. Most cats, this is a trick to attack your hand. Frodo just starts purring  He is hella wary of strangers though. The doorbell goes and the cat flies to the nearest bed or cabinet and parks himself under it till the audacious visitors or delivery person have left. 

[Wild Wolf]

On 3/27/2023 at 7:00 AM, Jarric said:

The open beta for Diablo IV went live at 4pm Friday UK time, so I spent a chunk of Friday evening playing that until 1am. Then I spent quite a lot of my Saturday playing it, until 1am Sunday morning. I played Diablo II to death as a teenager, on my own and with friends over LAN in the days before we had high-speed internet, so I'll always have a soft spot for thise games. Managed to get my barbarian past level 20, so I've unlocked the world's cutest backpack if/when I buy the actual game.

 

 

Cheers brother! If you do get the game, let me know. We can link up and slay demons together  #CrossplayFTW

 

Wolf

[Jarric]

23 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Rufus? Absolutely, that one will send me to Urgent Care for stitches. Frodo, he's wayyy more chilled. I can and do scoop him up and snuggle him like a baby. He's also the only cat I know that will see me approach and roll over to expose his belly for belly rubs. Most cats, this is a trick to attack your hand. Frodo just starts purring  He is hella wary of strangers though. The doorbell goes and the cat flies to the nearest bed or cabinet and parks himself under it till the audacious visitors or delivery person have left. 

 

Everything about this post is 100% adorable and I love it ❤️

 

20 hours ago, Wild Wolf said:

 

 

Cheers brother! If you do get the game, let me know. We can link up and slay demons together  #CrossplayFTW

 

Wolf

 

Definitely! Well up for slaying demons with you.

[Jarric]

Tuesday - week 1 day 2

For myself, I did nothing (1/2)

For my house, I did nothing (1/2)

 

Yesterday was a good day. Ran first thing; 4 miles at a gentle pace.

 

Tuesdays are tricky with goals, because after work I cook, eat and then immediately leave straight for Pathfinder. So no goals ticked off, but I did at least get a chunk of essay writing done at work (you know, that essay I planned to finish in week 2 of last challenge...).

 

Pathfinder was fun. At the end of last session almost all of us were unconscious, and the wizard had heroically jumped out of a window to escape. This session started with us all having weird dreams, all different but mostly featuring a weird fanged shadow creature. Then we woke up, bruised, battered, and covered in blood, to find the goose who is most definitely not Zeus in disguise asleep with a very full stomach.

 

We have also all got one eye with a black eyeball and a red pupil, which is concerning. The rest of the session was spent feeling pretty tense and exploring the rest of the building.

[DarK_RaideR]

37 minutes ago, Jarric said:

We have also all got one eye with a black eyeball and a red pupil, which is concerning.

[starpuck]

4 hours ago, Jarric said:

We have also all got one eye with a black eyeball and a red pupil, which is concerning.

This seems VERY concerning.  I love it!

I totally hear you on trying to get things marked off on days that involve in person/online D&D/gaming.     Just gotta roll around them.  Hehe.

 

[Jarric]

23 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

 

Very impressed you managed to find such a perfect gif - it's even the correct eye!

 

19 hours ago, starpuck said:

This seems VERY concerning.  I love it!

I totally hear you on trying to get things marked off on days that involve in person/online D&D/gaming.     Just gotta roll around them.  Hehe.

 

 

Yeah, looking forward to seeing what the cost of our survival was

 

To be fair, you seem to do about 300 things every day - I couldn't possibly keep up!

[Jarric]

Wednesday - week 1 day 3

For myself, I did some foam rolling in the evening (2/3)

For my house, I tidied some leads that have been laying around for weeks (2/3)

 

Yesterday was a good day. At Crossfit we had 3x5 bench press, and I set a new 5RM at 70kg (154#)! The three sets were 65kg x 5, 70kg x 5, 70kg x 3, so I've got a bit of work to do to hit that weight for more than one set.

 

After that we had 75 second intervals of 200m ski, max reps ring dips. The ring dips felt seriously hard after skiing, but we did 3 intervals and I managed to get 5 reps every time, which I was very happy with.

 

Work was busy - so near the end of the financial year I can almost taste it. In the evening WW cooked pork belly with potatoes, and then I went to write my essay for an hour. I finished the first draft of the essay, it just needs a couple of hours proof-reading and editing and I should be able to submit it this weekend

 

I also managed to spend 56 minutes clearing up some leads which have been lying on my office floor for weeks, and then I went and foam rolled in front of the TV, so I hit both of my goals. All in all, a very good day.

[starpuck]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

To be fair, you seem to do about 300 things every day - I couldn't possibly keep up!

Someone's gotta take @Raxie's job when she's not challenging formally.   LOL.   And my job lets me sneak much on the side during the day, or I'd be doomed.

 

Solid Wed there too my man~  way to nail it.

[juliebarkley]

18 hours ago, Jarric said:

I finished the first draft of the essay, it just needs a couple of hours proof-reading and editing and I should be able to submit it this weekend

Woohoo! Must feel really good to have that draft out in the world!

[DarK_RaideR]

20 hours ago, Jarric said:

Very impressed you managed to find such a perfect gif - it's even the correct eye!

I may or may not be a gif wizard who may or may not actually be a goose who may or may not actually be Zeus

[Rhovaniel]

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

Yesterday was a good day. At Crossfit we had 3x5 bench press, and I set a new 5RM at 70kg (154#)! The three sets were 65kg x 5, 70kg x 5, 70kg x 3, so I've got a bit of work to do to hit that weight for more than one set

Very well done, sir. I look forward to you crushing the crap out of the course at StrongViking!

 

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

Work was busy - so near the end of the financial year I can almost taste it.

Does it taste like celebratory beer or the metallic tang of cold coin?  

 

21 hours ago, Jarric said:

I finished the first draft of the essay,

  

[Jarric]

21 hours ago, starpuck said:

Someone's gotta take @Raxie's job when she's not challenging formally.   LOL.   And my job lets me sneak much on the side during the day, or I'd be doomed.

 

Solid Wed there too my man~  way to nail it.

 

Yeah, although as far as I can ascertain @Raxie's technique is just to bever sleep . But having time at work to do stuff works too.

 

 

4 hours ago, juliebarkley said:

Woohoo! Must feel really good to have that draft out in the world!

 

So good! It's my last one, so I'll get it submitted and then be holding my breath for a month or so waiting for my final result.

 

 

2 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

I may or may not be a gif wizard who may or may not actually be a goose who may or may not actually be Zeus

 

 

1 hour ago, Rhovaniel said:

Very well done, sir. I look forward to you crushing the crap out of the course at StrongViking!

 

Does it taste like celebratory beer or the metallic tang of cold coin?  

 

  

 

Thank you! I'm really looking forward to running it with you!

 

It tastes like the metallic tang of cold beer, so I guess I'm on the Guinness tonight?

[Rhovaniel]

2 minutes ago, Jarric said:

It tastes like the metallic tang of cold beer, so I guess I'm on the Guinness tonight?

I went to tell the barkeep and he already had a pint of the black stuff waiting for you