[Jarric]

2024 roadmap:

 

On 1/2/2024 at 5:07 PM, Jarric said:

2024 Road map

 

For the past couple of years, I've been writing my road map at the top of all of my challenges, so that I remember it and refer back to it when I'm setting my goals for the month. At the end of the year I then do a big wrap-up to see how I've progressed, and you can see 2023's wrap up here.

 

I don't really have a big why or a master plan, and I don't have any big overarching goals that I want to complete in 2024. I do have a few areas of my life that I would always like to improve though, and I can handily map those on the D&D stats. After last year's challenges, those stats look like this:

 

Level 20 Wood Elf Ranger

STR: 15  -  CON: 21  -  CHA: 8  -  SAN: 16 -  INT: 17

Alongside each stat I'll have some specific benchmarks, and I might add more as the year goes on. These aren't goals as such, but they are things that I would like to hit and that I can measure progress against.

 

Strength - Exercise

I don't separate STR and DEX as different stats, because it doesn't feel like a useful definition for the kind of stuff I do. STR includes going to my local crossfit-style gym, running, bouldering, taking part in OCRs and any other competitions that I get myself into, and also anything else that might take my fancy during the year like swimming, hiking, who knows?

 

Why am I focusing on this? Because I like being able to do cool stuff, and to me that means lifting heavy, doing gymnastics tricks, or completing the kinds of races that make other people think I'm mad. I also think you can never be too strong, and I want to be mobile and pain-free for a long time to come.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• March edit - rehab my knee, so that I'm no longer in pain when I run. This is a pre-requisite of a lot of the things below.
• Man vs Coast - a 25-mile coastal adventure race in the UK
• I'd like to do some kind of strongman competition, if I can find a good one
• I'm looking at Tribal Clash, which seems to be a cool fitness event if I can get a team together May edit: Tribal Clash is out, but I'll be doing Conquer the Farm instead
• Climb a font 7A March edit - Done! Got my first 7A this month
• Climb a font 6A outside
• Get reliable pistol squats with both legs May edit: I'm not sure at what point I can say this is definitely reliable, but I think I might be there  
• Be able to string together multiple muscle ups (ring and bar)
• Handwalk 12ft (2 mats in my gym)
• Squatmas: 50 reps at 75% bodyweight, unbroken
• Deadliftmas: 50 reps at 100% bodyweight, unbroken
• Squat 1.5 x bodyweight for 5 reps
• Deadlift 2 x bodyweight for 5 reps
• Row 100m in under 16.9 seconds (#oddlyspecific I know - I hit 16.9 in October 2019, and I've equalled it a dozen times but never beaten it)

 

Constitution - Nutrition

This is about the things I put in my body - food, alcohol, and cigarettes being the main ones. I've decided recently that I'm not that fussed about caffeine right now, and whilst I don't want to smoke I'm at a level where I do so rarely and can go months between cigarettes.

 

Why am I focusing on this? Because it's the foundation that everything else is based on. When I eat better and drink less I feel better, I lift stronger, I'm less out of breath, and I'm more alert. Also, I look better - it's vain but I won't apologise for that. I have a more complicated relationship with alcohol, but like food it's all about sensible moderation without needs for excessive restriction.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Get to <12% body fat (per my home scales), just to see what it's like.

 

Charisma - Creativity

This will probably be primarily focused on drawing, but also on writing D&D content, maybe even picking up my guitar again as I haven't in a while. 

 

Why am I focusing on this?  Because I think being creative is really good for me mentally, and because I think creativity is really worthwhile. In my mind there is something intrinsically valuable in the act of creation, even if it's not something you share or make money from. And because I enjoy it, I feel good seeing some of the stuff I've drawn over the years, or when I pick up the guitar just for fun.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Draw a whole D&D party for any group I run/am in
• Publish some of my own D&D content online
• Complete Inktober this year
• I have Wednesdays off work, so do something creative every Wednesday at least
• Learn a handful of songs that I could play at an open mic night

 

 

Sanity - self-care

This is about keeping my head screwed on straight, and doing the things that keep me level. That includes small things like brushing my teeth and keeping the house tidy, but might be specific self-care habits like journaling, social things like seeing friends, or big projects on the house.  It's recently occurred to me that reading more for pleasure could also be on this list, or on my INT list, and I'll consider that among my potential future goals.

 

Why am I focusing on this? Because it's been a tough couple of years - including losing a couple of friends and my dad being diagnosed with dementia - and I don't like feeling bad. These are things that I can do to feel better in myself, and feeling good is it's own reward. It also allows me to better support my family, and to face challenges as they come. 

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Go away with friends
• Sort out my office - paint, re-wire, and new carpet
• Sort out the outhouse with a new roof and door, and run power down there
• Get a price to replace the porch

 

Intelligence - learning

This includes studying for work, any side-project academic study that I feel like, learning languages, maybe even skill learning if it doesn't fit under STR.

 

Why am I focusing on this?  I like to learn new things, I find it interesting and rewarding, and it makes me a better person. It also might help my future employment prospects/earning potential, which isn't a big driver for me but it can't hurt.

 

Specific benchmarks:

• Make good progress on my last big professional accreditation
• Continue learning Dutch and French on Duolingo - I should be on an 800+ day streak by the end of 2024
• Converse in French when I go to France for the Olympics this year
• Learn a little bit of coding

 

Edit - I keep forgetting how to score this, so the percentage required to gain a stat point, based on the number of stat points a goal is worth, is:

• 1 stat point: 75%
• 2 stat points: 50%, 83.3%
• 3 stat points: 37.5%, 62.5%, 87.5%
• 4 stat points: 30%, 50%, 70%, 90%
• 5 stat points: 25%, 41.7%, 58.3%, 75%, 91.7%

 

 

Last challenge wrap-up:

  

50 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Challenge wrap-up

 

The cartographer

 

 

Score: 24/35 = 68.6% = +2 CHA

 

I'm not too disappointed with that result; I definitely did a lot more drawing than I would have done without this challenge. It's still not the regular habit I'd like, and I'm still not sure how to make it one, but as long as I'm doing a bit and I'm enjoying it that's all good. This will stay in next challenge.

 

 

Score: 32/35 = 91.4% = +2 STR

 

I got very good at sticking to this, and got some good ideas for other things to try as well. I've now had the results of my MRI, which I'll talk about next challenge but are basically fairly minor. Next challenge the goal will stay, but will include an element of pushing harder with some dedicated workouts.

 

 

So, about the other stuff:

• I started the challenge at 163.9lbs, and as of Monday of this zero week I'm 161.2lbs - not a huge weight loss in 5 weeks, but it's in the right direction.
• Duolingo streak hit 600 days today. I entirely forgot about Lingopie.
• I really need to re-do my personal budget, because I seem to be haemorrhaging money somewhere.
• The gym and climbing continue to go strong, subject to a few real life things interfering with the odd session. Cycling went less well, so it may form part of my kneehab goal next time round.
• Well we got the boiler services and new internet installed, but cleaning was still minimal. Electrical works and possibly a new carpet next challenge will make me do a touch more tidying.

Overall I'm reasonably happy with how the challenge went. It was just the kind of low-key challenge I needed, and I did an ok job of updating here (though it got worse as the weeks wore on), so I don't think I'll be putting much more pressure on myself for the next one.

 

 

Witty challenge title

I don't really have a theme this time round, my goals are pretty similar to last time, and so I don't really have a title. Oh well, let's just do this, shall we?

 

The cartographer

 

Goal: Draw every day [+3 CHA]

 

This is almost a direct copy and paste from last challenge. I've still not cracked a regular drawing habit, although I managed over 60% on this goal last challenge which is better than nothing. Still not sure how to translate that to daily drawing. Ultimately I just want to get a pen or pencil in my hand for a few minutes every day.

 

Things I could draw (just so that I don't get stuck on the thinking about what to do stage, this gives me an easy list of options):

• High Rollers fan art
• My current Pathfinder party
• My players' D&D characters (either the campaign that's just ended, or the next one when it starts)
• The adventuring party I use for these challenges
• Animal drawing exercises from the drawing book I have, or from the new drawing book WW's just given me
• Calligraphy practice from the calligraphy book WW bought me
• Draw along with the Sketching Hour on CNE Games Twitch.
• Stuff in the Quentin Blake drawing book I've only just remembered I have
• Whatever else takes my fancy

 

The muscle

 

Goal: do kneehab™ exercises every day, split as 3 full knee strength workouts and 4 quick add-ons. The plan may change once I see the physio in week 3, in which case the goal will change to match [+2 STR]

 

I buggered up my knee at the end of January whilst out on a run, and it's pretty much no better now than it was then. I've been really good at sticking to the physio exercises, by doing them as part of my morning workouts and making them a priority.

 

Last week I got the results back from an MRI on the knee, and I have a full-thickness focal fissure in the chondral cartilage at the weight-bearing aspect of the lateral tibial condyle. That's not a major problem, and is usually asymptomatic, so it's not clear if that's actually what's causing my pain or if it's just unrelated wear and tear. I also feel the pain in the medial side of the knee, so it's a bit puzzling that the damage is on the lateral side - it could be pain referring across or it could be unrelated.

 

The good news is that there's nothing in the MRI to indicate that I can't push harder with strengthening exercises to support the knee. The phone physio has given me a bunch of ideas for exercises, which largely consist of jumping or hopping up and down, forwards and backwards, and side to side, as well as some heavier calf raises and more challenging squat variations. The aim is to do a proper workout involving these moves 3 times per week (Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday most likely), and then continue my previous kneehab exercises as part of my Crossfit sessions.

 

As an aside, my Crossfit gym may be closing at the end of June. We're hoping that they'll find a way to stay open, but if not it will be very, very sad to lose that community.

 

The skirmisher

 

Goal: track how much cardio I do each week [+1 STR]

 

So this is a new one - for the longest time I haven't thought about cardio, because I was running a shitload and I wasn't really missing runs. But now that I can't run much, I want to try and keep a decent cardio base for when I get back to it. I can cycle, but I'm just a bit less excited by it. I'm not setting a particular goal to hit each week at this stage, as I want to keep the challenge pretty easy going, but what gets measured gets managed.

 

The face

 

Goal: get 4 tooth brushing points per day [+1 SAN]

Extra credit: 5+ points per day [+1 SAN]

 

I'd realised that maybe the old way of doing things wasn't working for me, and that the routine I had previously maybe no longer suits me, so I've decided to mix it up. Brushing with a manual brush is worth 1 point, as is using an interdental brush. Brushing with the electric brush is worth 2 points. To hit this goal I can use all 3 brushes once per day, and I can substitute the manual for the electric or use the interdental twice to get the extra credit. 

 

Well, I think that's enough; shall we crack on?

[DarK_RaideR]

Let's get cracking!

[Mad Hatter]

9 hours ago, Jarric said:

The good news is that there's nothing in the MRI to indicate that I can't push harder with strengthening exercises to support the knee.

Awesome!

[sylph]

Knees--why are they cranky?

 

[Jarric]

17 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

Let's get cracking!

 

 

8 hours ago, Mad Hatter said:

Awesome!

 

Yeah, looking forward to doing stuff!

 

7 minutes ago, sylph said:

Knees--why are they cranky?

 

 

I don't know who this shadow fellow is, but I wish he'd tell me!

[sylph]

17 minutes ago, Jarric said:

I don't know who this shadow fellow is, but I wish he'd tell me!

Knees (and shoulders) seem to be an inscrutable mystery.

[Artemis Prime]

18 hours ago, Jarric said:

I buggered up my knee at the end of January whilst out on a run, and it's pretty much no better now than it was then. I've been really good at sticking to the physio exercises, by doing them as part of my morning workouts and making them a priority.

That sucks it hasn't gotten better, but good job staying on top of the physio. Prepare for continued gentle harassment regarding this.

[Jarric]

2 hours ago, sylph said:

Knees (and shoulders) seem to be an inscrutable mystery.

 

I've been fairly lucky with shoulders (*touch wood*), and I do a bunch of stuff to try and keep them healthy, but they're just the most complex joint so they'll always hold some mystery.

 

2 hours ago, Artemis Prime said:

That sucks it hasn't gotten better, but good job staying on top of the physio. Prepare for continued gentle harassment regarding this.

 

Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment and the harassment.

[Kishi]

1 hour ago, Jarric said:

Thank you, I appreciate the sentiment and the harassment.

 

On the flip side, good to hear that it's not worse! Sounds like something you can rebuild overtime rather than something requiring a drastic intervention.

[Jarric]

13 minutes ago, Kishi said:

 

On the flip side, good to hear that it's not worse! Sounds like something you can rebuild overtime rather than something requiring a drastic intervention.

 

Yeah, I definitely hope so. I'm just pleased to be told I can do something to help it, as opposed to being told to do less

 

[Sovalis]

Here to cheer!

[Laghail]

Any excuse for more Jarric art TM, but great challenge besides. 

[Sea-to-sky]

Also joining the cherrsquad

[Jarric]

On 5/6/2024 at 9:32 PM, Sovalis said:

Here to cheer!

 

On 5/6/2024 at 10:38 PM, Laghail said:

Any excuse for more Jarric art TM, but great challenge besides. 

 

On 5/6/2024 at 10:48 PM, Sea-to-sky said:

Also joining the cherrsquad

 

Thank you guys, great to have you all!

 

Week 1 is going well so far. I've spent a lot of time working on yhe next D&D campaign I'll be running, as we've got session zero on Sunday. (Well, I spent a lot of Tuesday practising accents and looking up puns, but I spent a lot of yesterday prepping stuff at least.) I'm really looking forward to this one, but slightly daunted by the world I need to get set up over the next couple of weeks so the players can explore it.

 

Art was a quick snail sketch on Monday - shared in the gastropods art group - a sketch of a corpselight on Tuesday that tried to kill our Pathfinder party, and I started on a portrait of my latest Pathfinder character, Hummingbird, yesterday. Hummingbird is a gnoll bard, and I'm going to build in a sort of witchy aspect to her, as well as giving her a herbalist dedication so that she can craft potions and poltices. Gnolls are hard to draw (anything with a muzzle/snout I find really tricky), but if I ever finish her I'll share her here. She's also got a prosthetic leg, which is it's own challenge to design and draw to be in keeping with the available technology and lore.

 

Kneehab has been done. Ran one lap of the park and did a dedicated workout on Tuesday, and then the normal add-ons Monday, yesterday, and this morning. I also did shuttle runs at Crossfit on Monday, and 3 x 400m runs (3 x 0.25 miles) this morning, both of which were pain free! Still not sure that I'm going to be fit to run 25 miles by July, so I need to make a decision on whether I cancel that race soon

 

Cardio has been limited - I'm counting 30 minutes from Monday's crossfit and the 5.5 minutes of running on Tuesday, but I didn't get round to cycling.

 

Teeth are on track, 5 points every day so far this week!

[Sea-to-sky]

44 minutes ago, Jarric said:

Gnolls are hard to draw (anything with a muzzle/snout I find really tricky)

The whole box on an egg guide lines might work if your not doing it already. Helps with the angles. There are some pretty good tutorials out there for animal and anthro character faces. Worth googling as they’re so tricky.

been having a dig for drawring and perspective  turorials myself, so i keep seeing them

[Harriet]

I'm here to see you conquer the daily drawing, something I also want to vanquish. 

[DarK_RaideR]

4 hours ago, Jarric said:

a corpselight

I'm pretty sure this isn't what my mind desperately tries to tell me it is.

[ViperN7]

4 hours ago, Jarric said:

Kneehab has been done. Ran one lap of the park and did a dedicated workout on Tuesday, and then the normal add-ons Monday, yesterday, and this morning. I also did shuttle runs at Crossfit on Monday, and 3 x 400m runs (3 x 0.25 miles) this morning, both of which were pain free! Still not sure that I'm going to be fit to run 25 miles by July, so I need to make a decision on whether I cancel that race soon

 

Pain free! That sounds promising. Good luck! 

I feel ya, it's a hard call to make, looking at a race approaching and trying to figure out how much better you'll be by then. 

Personally I'm aiming to race a 5k in June...after not being up to it in March and April. It might be helpful to investigate what your options are for races a little later in the year in case you need to shift plans (although I'm sure with the distance you're looking at, it's not as simple as finding another 5k). 

Good luck to you either way. 

[Sovalis]

Hummingbird sounds awesome. I hope you get a sketch of her you like enough to share with us. 

 

Also, I love that part of your prep is looking up puns. That is amazing. 

[sarakingdom]

On 5/6/2024 at 11:09 AM, Jarric said:

I don't know who this shadow fellow is

 

ONLY THE BEST PULP RADIO SUPERHERO EVER. (And the character Batman was, ahem, heavily homaged from.)

 

 

[Laghail]

11 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

ONLY THE BEST PULP RADIO SUPERHERO EVER. (And the character Batman was, ahem, heavily homaged from.)

 

 

Just like AI image generation "heavily homaged" real artists lol!! Apparently a local boy by me did some of his voicing in the radio shows, someone named Orsen wells?? 😉  Here's some OG radio broadcast recordings from The Shadow, big fun!

 

 

[sylph]

10 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

On 5/6/2024 at 11:09 AM, Jarric said:

I don't know who this shadow fellow is

 

ONLY THE BEST PULP RADIO SUPERHERO EVER. (And the character Batman was, ahem, heavily homaged from.)

Wait, really? I thought @Jarric was using Dry British Humor (TM)

Do people really not know who The Shadow is? (I am not that old, I swear)

[sarakingdom]

5 hours ago, Laghail said:

Just like AI image generation "heavily homaged" real artists lol!!

 

Like that, yes. Although when it comes to Batman issue #1, apparently more like the Great Train Homagers. As in, they homaged the goods directly and drove off at a fast clip.

 

5 hours ago, Laghail said:

Apparently a local boy by me did some of his voicing in the radio shows, someone named Orsen wells?? 😉

 

Definitely the biggest name they ever got voicing the Shadow, although he was probably just a 20-year-old kid at the time. He sounded like a 45-year-old supervillain his entire damn life.

 

 

3 hours ago, sylph said:

Wait, really? I thought @Jarric was using Dry British Humor (TM)

Do people really not know who The Shadow is? (I am not that old, I swear)

 

I mean, I, a person who saw the 90s movie in theaters twice as a kid, owned cassettes of the radio show, and read many of the books, have not thought of the Shadow in 15 years. I'm willing to concede he's fallen into a certain amount of obscurity even in the US. And outside the US, they have their own country's pulp fiction tradition filling that slot in their brain. Jarric is probably busy forgetting the existence of Paul Temple radio shows rather than the Shadow, if Radio Four Extra is anything to go by. The Shadow probably legit never made it over there in any format, apart from maybe the quickly forgotten Alec Baldwin film thirty years ago.

[sylph]

39 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

I'm willing to concede he's fallen into a certain amount of obscurity even in the US. And outside the US, they have their own country's pulp fiction tradition filling that slot in their brain. Jarric is probably busy forgetting the existence of Paul Temple radio shows rather than the Shadow, if Radio Four Extra is anything to go by. The Shadow probably legit never made it over there in any format, apart from maybe the quickly forgotten Alec Baldwin film thirty years ago.

Fair, fair. I suppose pulp action serials are heavily localized.

[TimovieMan]

17 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

 

ONLY THE BEST PULP RADIO SUPERHERO EVER. (And the character Batman was, ahem, heavily homaged from.)

 

 

I've seen that movie! 😎

Back when I was 13, though, so 30 years ago. 😅

 

But I remember very little of it, other than "meh". But then, my initial reaction to the thumbnail was also "that doesn't look like Billy Zane" because I was thinking of "The Phantom" first. Which was from the same period, and was also "meh".  😇