[JediNickD]

GONE TURBO

I've always had big plans to make a website, blog, podcast, etc to put myself and my philosophy out in the world to influence more people.  I've implemented so many of these things and gotten myself outside my comfort zone to do it.  With all these changes I've made in the last few years, it feels like I am not just in a new world, but like I am playing a whole new game.  I'm taking a page from the movie "Wreck-It Ralph".  I've Gone Turbo jumping games.  

 

So now, here we go with another episode of The Exciting Adventures of JediNickD! It was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away that I joined this site and started my first challenge.  As a Ranger, I tried to Do-All-The-Things in World 1, my first extended stay at NF through 22 challenges where I learned how to develop and pursue health and fitness goals utilizing daily, weekly, and monthly routines.  I took a hiatus from NF and came back with a better focus for my goals where I warped to World 2, which I defeated in an Epic Boss Fight slaying some mighty big life goals. In World 3, I strafed over to the Assassins and continued to develop my fitness, getting my body in the best shape of my life, even with the Degenerative Disc Disease, Arthritis, Disc Fissures, and more.  Through physical therapy exercises and karate, I have maintained my core and back muscles to ease the pressure off my spine, but in the end, I defeated World 3 by transforming my life into a new form.  With chiropractic care healing my spine, reaching the black belt at karate, blazing through the new Toastmasters education program called Pathways, and completing Novice rank at IJRS, World 4 was something new every day.  I have moved over to the Monks to reach for more diversity in my workouts and culture as my physical and mental training focus has been more on my karate training.  As I actively took on more responsibility of coaching, mentoring, and teaching in all aspects of my life, I formed a different me on World 5.  Now, I have Gone Turbo into World 6.

 

Every day, I just keep on L-I-V-I-N: fighting the good fight, lighting it up, and leveling up my life! 

 

Challenge Lesson:  "Budo, Empty Hands"  

 

I like themes so I'm going to continue with my karate dojo's creeds where I left off.  The next one is for our Blue belt rank.  The creed is below:

I come to you with Budo, empty hands.  I have no weapons, but should I be forced to defend myself, my principles, my honor, or my family, should it be a matter of life or death, or right or wrong, then here are my weapons, Budo, empty hands.
 

 As a martial artist, my body is my weapon.  Any tool in my hand is just an extension of my body.  My body can cripple my opponent or deliver mercy as I see fit.  I must not be reckless as I could hurt myself.  I must exhibit control and be precise while understanding my anatomy and skeleton to best protect or maim when necessary.

 

My Main Quest and Mission:

My mission is to be the best Jedi I can be. My main quest is always to enhance my overall health, fitness, and knowledge to be prepared for whatever challenges life could throw at me.  As a Jedi, I need to be able to help people, whether that is a life-threatening situation or just a charitable one.  There is no end in Jedi training for every light cast a shadow somewhere.  Instead, it is a journey of self-discovery and compassion for others.

 

World 6 Level 5 Challenge:

FITNESS:

Cardio: Speed and Stamina - Run twice a week.  Include sprints, agility drills, and distance running.  Get on the treadmill if I have to.  

STA +1, DEX +1
 

Walking: Fortify the Spine - 10+ min with good posture, daily.  Do some stairs too.
CON +1
 

Exercise: HIIT, Weight Lifting, and Bodyweight - 20+ min twice a week. 

STR +1, STA +1
 

Flexibility: Stretching and Physical Therapy - Daily exercises.  Focus on hips, hams, and splits. 

DEX +1
 

Karate: Training and Practice - Three classes a week plus every spar class I can attend. Practice for 20+ min twice a week.  
DEX +1, STR +1
 

DIET:

Lean Body - I need to lose some weight, which starts with what I eat.  5+ cups of fruits and veggies.  Cut down flour and corn-based carbs at lunch and snack time.  Fill up on spring mix.  
CON +1

 

LIFE:

Write some new stuff for Journey2U.org website.  Work on revamping the site.  Edit podcast interviews for "Evolving in Toastmasters".  Schedule more interviews.  Start researching speeches for second podcast "I Evaluate U".

WIS +1, CHA +1
 

Edit and publish videos from last year's gameplay.  Record gameplay clips and edit videos for Madden custom league.  

WIS +1, CHA +1

 

Epic Quest - Complete something EPIC!  I want to be able to look back at my four week challenge and say, "that was the challenge I did X".  My challenges tend to be a lot of the same old.  I've given myself plenty to improve in small steps, but I also want to see big strides in the things I've been working on.  What box can I check?  What have I been procrastinating?  What am I focusing on?

WIS +1, CHA +1

[Kishi]

Well, howdy! Welcome back! I feel you on that flexibility goal - being able to kick high is just fun, and you don't get that without some active work there. Hope it works out!

[Elastigirl]

Congrats on all your wins you've already had, and looking forward to cheering you on to more wins!

[JediNickD]

Flexibility and Weightlifting at the gym this morning.  I've made it a goal to get to PR 50 pushups.  I'm at 40 and aiming for 100 a day.  Also, working on pull ups, getting my shoulders straight after an injury and regression.  I can get 5 unassisted right now.  After pull ups, chin ups, dips. and lat pull downs, I added barbell bicep curls and over the head press.  Walking at noon.  Karate classes tonight: Black Belt and Master Weapons (Bo Staff).  Worked on editing a YouTube upload.  Arranged a Podcast interview for tomorrow.  Things are in motion.

[JediNickD]

3 hours ago, Kishi said:

Well, howdy! Welcome back! I feel you on that flexibility goal - being able to kick high is just fun, and you don't get that without some active work there. Hope it works out!

In the last few years, my splits and high kicks have improved dramatically.  Consistent effort is the name of the game.  I feel like I could have both legs flush with the floor in 7 or 8 years ;-).

 

[JediNickD]

Ran 1.25 miles.  Walked 0.5 miles inclined.  Light stretching.  Felt pretty good.  I am dealing with an ankle sprain recovery, but I think I'm in the clear to stress it.   I'm helping with the karate test on Sunday, which should be fun as we have 4 black belts moving up (one to 5th degree!) and 10 going to probationary black!  Going to get some exercise working them over ;-), though I haven't done spar since June before I hurt the ankle.

Scheduled a podcast interview for tonight, but she flaked again.  Should have toughed it out last week when I had to cancel because I was exhausted.  Just need to get started with editing and publishing the three I have while I wait for this one to happen.   I want to have them live in September.

 

 

[JediNickD]

Phew!  It's been a busy week since my last post.   I hit all my goals last week and got off to a good start this week.  The weekend comprised of so much epic stuff.  Saturday was a day-adventure (4-5 hours) for LARP.   Lots of running around in the woods.  We had a giant battle at the end where I did a great job holding up a flank, pulling people together to form up ranks, and protecting a few of our braver fighters when they got overwhelmed.  In the smaller battles, I stuck with my bow and didn't miss a shot, but in the woods, I didn't have many moving targets.  My rogue got into battle as an NPC under the control of an illithid and in the first fight of my day, I died on a nest for a swarm of ground bees.  I got 8 or so stings on my right leg.  Since I was marked, the bees keep hovering around me.  Fun.   It was a long and hot day to be kitted up, but I had a blast.  

Sunday was the longest karate test I've attended at 8 hours, but not the longest for the dojo.   It was a great experience as we saw some of our best students at the advanced ranks show off their stuff.  The 5th degree tester got put through the ringer all day physically on the mat and mentally in a bunch of ways.  She taught three lessons to the entire class and got quizzed on Budo principles other students demonstrated throughout the test.  My favorite was the flexible tool lesson, where we learned to use our belt as a tourniquet.  I applied some skills I learned in first aid training to pass on some stuff to the other students, such as keeping the patient talking by asking them to describe the person who hurt them or who they would need us to contact.  Keeping them talking helps them remember the incident to describe later to police if necessary while also giving you a verbal indication that their brain is working right and they haven't passed out.   It was a really fun exercise because the victims got to act and ham it up.  
 

On another note, I PRed pushups at 48 on Wednesday.  I'm so close!

 

I got some work done on my Madden videos.  I also played some and recorded some great clips.  I need to set a rule that I edit for an hour before I play a game or something.  I have such a huge backlog of content, that adding to the backlog just feels wrong.   But the game is too fun to not play!

 

[Kishi]

Wow, man. Sounds like you had a really amazing weekend! I've always heard marvelous things about LARPing and the adjacent stuff like SCA and other recreational medievalism. Must have been a lot of fun. Except for the bees; I can't really tell if they were real or if that was a LARP thing.

[JediNickD]

On 8/9/2023 at 3:30 PM, Kishi said:

Wow, man. Sounds like you had a really amazing weekend! I've always heard marvelous things about LARPing and the adjacent stuff like SCA and other recreational medievalism. Must have been a lot of fun. Except for the bees; I can't really tell if they were real or if that was a LARP thing.

 

Oh, the bees were real.  The stings finally stopped itching today.  I'm not allergic, so it was just painful in the moment and really itchy the next day.  

[JediNickD]

I'm working on my red stripe for third degree which is for judging spar.  We had spar class last night and it went really well.  The instructors said they were nitpicking, but they suggested I move more to see the contact better.  I found myself moving to see, but not necessarily giving myself a different perspective than the other judges.  I need to move to keep the fighters between us when the fight moves to the corners of the ring.  I can leave the fighting ring if necessary to get the best angle.  Sometimes I may need to use my body to keep fighters out of danger, so I need to get closer too.  

[Kishi]

Hey! I'm sure you're super busy, and I just wanted to drop a line and say I hope things are good.