[Jarric]

On 3/5/2024 at 1:33 PM, Artemis Prime said:

Wooo deadlift day! But also...

 

 

 

Understood.

 

On 3/5/2024 at 2:07 PM, DrFeelgood said:

I seem to remember reading somewhere that William Goldman wrote it with the intent of making it a movie someday.  I found it amusing, but I can see how the experience would be very different if you hadn't already seen (or in my case, memorized) the movie first.

 

Yeah, I can't think of many times that I've seen a film before I've read the book, but I guess it helps to be predisposed to like the story.

 

23 hours ago, sylph said:

Middling. There are many that are/were better (I'm not sure if they're still around or not). If you are short on podcast time, I wouldn't bump something else off the list for it, but if you find yourself with a gap, I'd say it's worth a shot.

 

Fair enough. Given that I've been listening to Glass Cannon Podcast for about 5 years, and I'm still at least 4 years behind on it, I might not add this to my list!

 

23 hours ago, sylph said:

It's been a bit since I read the book, but more along the lines of a very boring, political history written from a biased point of view on the relationships between Florin and Guilder as countries, I think...

 

Ah I see. To be fair, the concept of cutting political history lore dumps out of fantasy books is pretty much fine by me (the Counsel of Elrond in the LotR books was just too much for me).

 

20 hours ago, Sea-to-sky said:

 

Agreed. Book wasn't bad per say (i didnt hate it, its just not one id reread) but Movie is definitely better

the book was written after the film became so popular though. so this possibly explains it

 

@Jarric there is a book of all the madness that happened during the filming of the princess bride. I havent read it yet, but i know enough of the storys to think it will be a good read. 
for example, the guy playing the redent if extrordinary size ended up running late for the filming one day so ran down the street in full rodent costume and was arrested. they had to bail him out of jail. 

 

Oo, now that sounds more fun that the book the film was based on. I might just add it to my infinitely long reading list!

[Jarric]

Physio update

So I figured the physio session yesterday warranted a separate update. I got in, talked about the knee injury, and he had me do the usual stand on one leg, do a squat, hop up and down routine. Almost immediately he said "You've injured your right ankle before, haven't you?". Now, to the best of my knowledge I haven't, but he was immediately convinced that this is where my problems are stemming from.

 

I few more tests and he diagnosed me with a weak soleus and possibly a weak gastrocnemius (i.e. the two major calf muscles), which is causing my right foot to over pronate. It seems plausible as a working theory, and at least gives me something to target. He also said that I will still need rest for the tissue that I've irritated to recover, but the main thing is to get that muscle stronger before I try to run again.

 

With the speed that he came to this conclusion he's either extremely good at his job or foolishly over confident. Either way, I've got some exercises to do (single-leg, bent-leg calf raises and single leg squats), which should mostly fit into my morning workouts making them much easier to do every day. I'm seeing him again in 3 weeks, hoping to maybe try a run in the days before I next see him, if the exercises are going well.

[Jarric]

W4D2

Yesterday was a good day. A little yoga first thing, then physio.

 

Work was busy, not helped by the late start after physio, but I got at least one big job ticked off. I worked a bit late whilst cooking dinner (the joys of home working!).

 

In the evening  we met up with the Pathfinder group. No game as a couple of us were away, but was nice to catch up. Spent money on parking.

 

Did a 30-second doodle when I got in, and languages done. Calories tracked, slightly over so 200kcal used from my buffer. Teeth brushed. 5/6.

[sylph]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

With the speed that he came to this conclusion he's either extremely good at his job or foolishly over confident

As long as whatever he prescribed isn't counter-productive, I suppose either of these options is fine

[Artemis Prime]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

With the speed that he came to this conclusion he's either extremely good at his job or foolishly over confident. Either way, I've got some exercises to do (single-leg, bent-leg calf raises and single leg squats), which should mostly fit into my morning workouts making them much easier to do every day. I'm seeing him again in 3 weeks, hoping to maybe try a run in the days before I next see him, if the exercises are going well.

The good thing being, even if he is foolishly overconfident, a little unilateral leg work is probably still a beneficial thing to work in, as long as it doesn't cause the bad kind of pain. 

[Mad Hatter]

I wonder how highly correlated knee pain is with ankle instability/injury… 🤔Could warrant some overconfidence if high.

[Jarric]

20 hours ago, sylph said:

As long as whatever he prescribed isn't counter-productive, I suppose either of these options is fine

 

I hadn't thought of it like that, but you're right. Thanks

 

 

20 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

The good thing being, even if he is foolishly overconfident, a little unilateral leg work is probably still a beneficial thing to work in, as long as it doesn't cause the bad kind of pain. 

 

Yes, this is very true. Anything that helps with my pistol squats is a win all on its own

 

 

20 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I wonder how highly correlated knee pain is with ankle instability/injury… 🤔Could warrant some overconfidence if high.

 

Probably fairly strongly I would think? Knees are a mess of forces placed on them with all of the muscles above and below, and in my experience knee problems tend to result from either ankle issues or hip issues that pull on the knee joint in an unhelpful way.

[Jarric]

W4D3

Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was split squats with the rear leg elevated, and I did kneehab between sets. Then a horrid workout of deadball to shoulder and wall balls for 10 minutes - 2 movements that I'm rubbish at. I took it slow and focused on form, but it wasn't very inspiring.

 

In the day I fitted a new wing mirror on WW's car...

 

 

Then I renewed our car insurance, so of course I started getting warning lights on the dash 2 hours later

 

Bouldering was rubbish, everything felt lumpy and awful and painful. I called it a day early and went home to chill.

 

Did some calligraphy in the evening, languages done, calories tracked, no money spent, teeth done.

 

Sorry this post was so long - I didn't have time to write a short one.

[Mad Hatter]

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

Then I renewed our car insurance, so of course I started getting warning lights on the dash 2 hours later

Better than the other way round! Now you can get your money's worth.  

 

3 hours ago, Jarric said:

Sorry this post was so long - I didn't have time to write a short one.

I appreciate the irony.

[Jarric]

20 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Better than the other way round! Now you can get your money's worth.  

 

Oh no, the insurance doesn't cover breakdowns. If the car properly breaks down though, I'll have an insured car I can't drive

 

20 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I appreciate the irony.

 

Thanks . It was 100% true as well.

[Jarric]

W4D4

Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was farmers' walks - I managed 164kg for 100ft, and did kneehab between sets. Then, for time, 1km row, 500m ski, 100 kettlebell swings. I finished in 11'14".

 

Bought a pen at lunch, nothing fancy but the scratchy one I had was annoying me.

 

Had a very snacky day, and then WW made a great curry with coconut cream, so calories were tracked but high.

 

I worked late and then played BG3 online all evening, and I was exhausted by bedtime. Duolingo done, art and teeth not done, so 3/6.

[Jarric]

I can't quite summon the energy for an update right now, so just a placeholder to say I'm here.

 

I lost track of my goals a bit last week, but I've updated my bujo as best I can (with a few guesses) so I will have nunbers to report when I get round it to.

[Jarric]

Well, I very much burned out on this challenge towards the end. Actually I think I burned out on life in general, and this challenge was just a casualty of that. Regardless, here's a brief (ish) wrap-up.

 

The muscle

Spoiler

 

 

In week 5 of the last challenge I was out for a run, and something went in my knee. Since then I haven't been able to run - it's not a 'I probably should be resting this' kind of pain, it's a 'this hurts too much I have to stop now' kind of pain. Had a physio appointment this week and he reckons it's torn cartilage,  with an expected recovery within 6 weeks. That lines up just too perfectly with this challenge cycle, so I'm optimistic that I'll be able to get back to running training after that.

 

In the meantime I have some rehab exercises for my knee, and I'm also supposed to apply heat to aid blood flow as and when I can, and cycle for blood flow as well.

 

Goal: do my kneehab™ exercises every day [+2 STR]

Extra credit: apply heat daily, cycle 4 times per week [+1 STR]

 

Score: 26/35 = 74.3% = +1 STR

Extra credit: heat 9/35 = 25.7%, cycling 11/20 = 55% = no extra credit

 

This is the one goal that started badly and got better, in that I got new physio exercises halfway through the challenge and after that I didn't miss a day. The secret there was that my new exercises are short enough that I can do them during a gym session, so there's really no reason to miss them.

 

Regardless my knee is no better than when I injured it, which is very frustrating and is no doubt contributing to me feeling pretty tired and fed up. I've got another physio appointment next week, and we'll see what they have to say, but I'm going to have to face that the recovery on this will be a lot longer than I initially thought.

 

The decisionist

Spoiler

 

I'm still looking to cut weight, with a goal of hitting 11 stone 8lbs (162lbs, or 73.5kg) by the end of this challenge for the Weight Loss PVP, and then probably continuing on for another 8-12 weeks to hit 11 stone (154lbs, or 69.9kg) before I switch to maintenance. Really I want to see what I look like at <12% body fat (if my home scales will permit such a number!). 

 

I give myself a weekly calorie target, then divide it by 8 to give myself 7 daily targets plus a weekly 'buffer' to float across the days as needed. If you hear me talking about using calories from my buffer for a special event or something like that, this is what I'm talking about.

 

Goal: Track food daily [+1 CON]

Extra credit: Less than 18,000 kcal per week [+1 CON]

 

Score: 34/35 = 97.1% = +1 CON

Extra credit = 1/5 weeks under 18,000kcal = no extra credit

 

This is a pretty solid habit that I've stuck to, and I've lost over 4lbs this challenge and 9.5lbs since 1st January. The Weight Loss PvP was also incredibly helpful in keeping me on this. Granted I didn't stick to my calorie targets for most of the challenge, but with my birthday in the middle of the challenge and the general craziness of this month I'm happy with how this went.

 

The cartographer

Spoiler

 

I enjoy drawing, and the more I do it the more I enjoy it. Last challenge my goal was to draw 4 times per week, and I found that doing that I fell out of the habit and then kept forgetting to do it. So now the goal is to draw daily, even if it's a tiny little sketch in a notebook somewhere.

 

Things I could draw include some High Rollers fan art (I'm really getting into the new season and am already working on a complicated piece - check out High Rollers D&D if you're into D&D streams and want to get in whilst there's only 10 episodes to catch up on!). I have also been meaning to do my own drawings of the adventuring party I use for these challenges. And finally my in-person TTRPG group are starting a Pathfinder adventure path called Abomination Vaults in a few weeks, although I'm not sure if I'll get introduced to all of the characters early enough to draw them all this challenge cycle, I can at least draw mine. It also doesn't have to be character drawing, I've got a great book on animal drawing that I should really pick up again, and I can jump on whatever else takes my fancy.

 

Goal: Draw every day [+2 CHA]

Extra credit: Share 1+ pictures here every week [+1 CHA]

 

Score: 14/35 = 40% = no stat increase

 

This went well for week 1, and then very much fell off my plan. I was tired and fed up and just didn't feel inspired to draw most of the time. I think I need to find a way to approach this differently, though I also hope that life will get in the way less from the start of next challenge.

 

The translator

Spoiler

 

I'm still working on studying both Dutch and French, the former because it's interesting and feels like it's going well, and the latter because I'm going to Paris this year and I'd love to be able to use it well while I'm there. I've changed the scoring slightly on this challenge, to try and get me doing both languages every day but in a slightly different way. It might also get me higher on those pesky leader boards - I really want to win a Duolingo Diamond League one of these days!

 

Goal: Earn my early bird chest and night owl chest every day (i.e. complete at least one lesson before midday, and at least one lesson between 6pm and midnight) [+2 INT]

 

Score: 25/34 = 73.5% = +1 INT

 

Most days I scored 1/2 a point for this, which really defeats the point of the way I set up the challenge. In fact, I didn't miss a day, and I think that's because I want to keep my Duolingo streak going - I'm not sure having this as a challenge goal made a blind bit of difference. Still, practising one language every day is still pretty good.

 

The hoardsperson and the camp maker

Spoiler

 

 

This is a bit of a mashup, so bear with me. The main goal here is to spend no money. I'm fairly skint at the moment after Christmas and a few big purchases last year, and I'm also being underpaid a little bit right now because apparently my company didn't take enough tax for the past few months. Spending no money doesn't include groceries, fuel, or other necessities, it's really about discretionary spending.

 

It's going to be almost impossible to spend nothing for 5 weeks, so to make up some points I'm also going to add a focus: cleaning and tidying my house. Maybe I'll find some stuff I can avoid buying, or get round to selling stuff, but mostly I just wanted to do this this challenge and this seemed like a way to fit it in. In particular I want to get in a cleaning session on Wednesdays, as I'm a filthy part-timer and don't work Wednesdays. I have a rolling table for what to clean, so I'll get a point for rolling the dice (a D14 annoyingly, unless I reconfigure it to a D12+D3 table) and doing whatever the dice say to do).

 

Goal: Spend no money every day, clean regularly, for a total of 35 points this challenge (1/day) [+2 SAN]

Extra Credit: As above, but a total of 42 points (no spending any day, plus weekly cleaning) - change [+2 SAN] above to [+3 SAN]

 

Score: 19/35 = 54% = +1 SAN

 

I very much stopped caring about this goal towards the end of the challenge, partly because it became clear that I was going to make it through without running out of money, and partly because I started buying little things like bottles of coke at lunchtime to, I don't know, make myself feel better I guess? Buying stuff for me can definitely be a crutch when feeling tired and stressed. Quite frankly I'm amazed I scraped one stat point.

 

I did make my D12+D3 table though, and I like it. Not sure when I'll actually use it at this rate though!

 

The face

Spoiler

 

Last challenge I did really well at cleaning my teeth every day, I think because I made a rule that I had to stand on one leg whilst I did it. Brains are weird, but if it works then why not?

 

Goal: brush teeth twice daily, whilst standing on one leg [+1 SAN]

 

Score: 17/35 = 48.6% = no stat increase

 

I stopped doing this in the last couple of weeks of the challenge, and that's definitely stress and tiredness.

 

Overall not the highest scoring challenge in the world, but I did some things. Week zero, where I've had a lot less to focus on and less demands on my time outside of work, has been really helpful, so I think I'll be running a stripped-back challenge for the next cycle.

 

The brevity thing kind of worked too, until even logging on to the forums felt like too much mental load that is. I'll try to remember that I can keep my updates concise next time.

[Laghail]

Congrats on a successful challenge Jerric!

[DarK_RaideR]

Not every challenge is a resounding success. You stuck to it as best as you could and that's what matters.

[Jarric]

On 3/24/2024 at 7:49 PM, Laghail said:

Congrats on a successful challenge Jerric!

 

Thanks mate!

 

On 3/25/2024 at 7:54 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

Not every challenge is a resounding success. You stuck to it as best as you could and that's what matters.

 

Thanks man. You're right of course, and it was still better than nothing, which is something.

[sarakingdom]

19 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Thanks man. You're right of course, and it was still better than nothing, which is something.

 

Showing up is the win. That's the keystone habit, as the cool kids say. Some challenges, that's what the challenge is.

[Jarric]

5 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Showing up is the win. That's the keystone habit, as the cool kids say. Some challenges, that's what the challenge is.

 

This is very true. Thank you for the reminder.

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, Jarric said:

This is very true. Thank you for the reminder.

 

Can I tempt you with a "showing up is half the battle" challenge this go around?

 

[Jarric]

6 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

 

Can I tempt you with a "showing up is half the battle" challenge this go around?

 

 

I beat you to it by a whole 6 minutes, but you're not far off on the theme. Great minds think alike?

 

 

[sarakingdom]

26 minutes ago, Jarric said:

I beat you to it by a whole 6 minutes, but you're not far off on the theme. Great minds think alike?

 

Woo-hoo! That was easier than convincing @Mistr to let Molly into her life.

[Mad Hatter]

19 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Showing up is the win. That's the keystone habit, as the cool kids say. Some challenges, that's what the challenge is.

I feel called out. 😛 

[sarakingdom]

2 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

I feel called out. 😛