ChefOtaku Tames a Dragon

[ChefOtaku]

I know, I know, I'm late. That's how I roll. Anywho... Woo hoo, Challenge #2! The first one went quite well, but I noticed that during the interim week it was waaay too easy for me to go off track. So I'm back, committing to six more weeks, to really cement in the habits I started with the last challenge, and start working on a couple more.

Goal #1- Keep the workouts going! +3 STR, +2 CON

I did great with this, and I want it to just become automatic for me. I'll keep up the 3x/week workouts, but! I want to focus on core/upper body more. My legs get plenty of exercise at work, but my arms/chest/core got some catching up to do. So this time around, I'm going to do the routine that came with my Iron Gym thingy Mon/Fri, and my bodyweight workout on Wed. I'll also continue levelling up the BW workout. (Squats have evolved to Pistol Squats!)

Goal #2- Cook real food at home +1 CON, +1 WIS, +1 CHA

You would think this wouldn't be a problem for a chef... Y'see, for the last few years, the roommate I was living with had this nasty habit of completely trashing the kitchen whenever he cooked anything, and not cleaning up at all. So I pretty much gave up on cooking at home while I was there. But now I have my own place, with a nice clean kitchen! I have been cooking at home more since I moved in, but I still find myself falling back on some of the old standbys. But for the next six weeks I'm going to keep my shopping 90% in the fresh meats & produce area of the grocery store. I see tasty casseroles, roasts, and stir-fry in my future... (Note to self: get a wok)

Goal #3- Playing with fire +2 DEX, +2 CHA

If you peeked at my last challenge thread, you probly saw that I'm learning to spin fire.

It's going well, but I usually am only practicing once a week when I go to the big group practice session. (Picture a dojo at 10pm filled with people twirling hoops, juggling all sorts of things, spinning balls on ropes around, practicing parkour moves, and people with flaming staves, hoops, fans, and rope darts in the parking lot. It's crazy awesome.) I really want to play with real fire, so I'm going to put in at least 2 hours of practice outside of the dojo each week.

But what about the dragon? I hear you cry...

Goal #4- Tame the Whiskey Dragon +1 WIS, +2 CON

This is the big one for me. I drink too much. I know this. Now, I enjoy having a beer after work, and hanging out with friends over a drink or two. I am quite good at behaving myself when I go out, because I know I'll be driving home. It's when I get home that I tend to let loose and over-indulge. And I keep kicking myself the next day when I feel like crap, yet the cycle keeps repeating itself. It's all too easy to have "just a one more". So. I think a good way to go about measuring and having a specific target is to aim for the wallet. I'm a chronic receipt-saver, so I'm going to tally up last month's hooch purchases, average it out to $$/week, and bring that spending down by 10% each week.

All right! The Goals are set, and putting up this post finishes off my To-Do list for the day! And I did start the challenge in my head on Monday, I just was swamped the last couple days and didn't really have the time to put up the official thread. Now to go raid my crock pot for the chicken & veggies in an herbalicious tomato sauce!

[shoobie]

Solid goals!!! I love the playing with fire goal!! I used to do that when i was in college just for fun! Well obviously not in a professional way... There was a professor strike for 3 months and we decided to learn juggling... I learned the devil stick.... i wasnt good at all with the others o.O

Good luck and dont burn yourself!

[Hiraedd]

You play with fire? Awesome!! Also, I sincerely respect your last goal -- bad habits are seriously hard to break, but here you are, defying the odds. Nice. I also like the manageable strategy -- if you don't buy it, you can't drink it. I like your thinking.

Good luck!!

[ChefOtaku]

Solid goals!!! I love the playing with fire goal!! I used to do that when i was in college just for fun! Well obviously not in a professional way... There was a professor strike for 3 months and we decided to learn juggling... I learned the devil stick.... i wasnt good at all with the others o.O

Good luck and dont burn yourself!

Hey, you were in college, you gotta learn something!

You play with fire? Awesome!! Also, I sincerely respect your last goal -- bad habits are seriously hard to break, but here you are, defying the odds. Nice. I also like the manageable strategy -- if you don't buy it, you can't drink it. I like your thinking.

Good luck!!

I'm not playing with real fire yet, I bop myself waaay too often right now. =P Thanks for the encouragement guys, I really need it after this weekend. Oy...

Friday started pretty typical, double shift at work, got home, relaxed for a bit then did my first Iron Gym workout (which kicked my butt!). I had to craft it basically from scratch, since the 'video' is just a demo of all the various exercises you can do, no routine at all. It's a good piece of equipment though, and I think I've got a pretty solid routine right now, lots of room for improvement. Target: 1 for-realsies pullup.

UN-fortunately, the Dragon and I decided to hang out that night, since I had a clear schedule for the weekend. So we stayed up till about 6am watching Criminal Minds, and I got completely blotto. Slept way late Saturday, basically lost the whole day cuz I felt ucky, so of course I order a pizza, dial up more TV shows to catch up on, and stupid me, break out the booze again. (hair of the dog right?) But I behaved myself better, and Sunday was another recovery day with all of season 2 of Alphas, but I told the Dragon to piss off, I have to work on Monday. And today was fine, still sore from Friday, and I was feeling a little down from failing all weekend, but I cleaned house after work, had a pretty awesome nap, did the IG workout again (OW!), and I'm feeling a bit better now. New week, fresh start and all that. And this week is booked pretty solid with stuff to do, which really helps prevent me from from going on benders like that. I've noticed it only happens if I go "Oh look, I've two days off with nothing on the calendar. I can stay up as late as I want!" Speaking of, I've got work in the am, brainstorming for an Exotic Food Night, and circus practice tomorrow, so I should sign off. Be back Weds, after my now comparatively easy BW workout!

[Hiraedd]

UN-fortunately, the Dragon and I decided to hang out that night, since I had a clear schedule for the weekend. So we stayed up till about 6am watching Criminal Minds, and I got completely blotto. Slept way late Saturday, basically lost the whole day cuz I felt ucky, so of course I order a pizza, dial up more TV shows to catch up on, and stupid me, break out the booze again. (hair of the dog right?) But I behaved myself better, and Sunday was another recovery day with all of season 2 of Alphas, but I told the Dragon to piss off, I have to work on Monday. And today was fine, still sore from Friday, and I was feeling a little down from failing all weekend, but I cleaned house after work, had a pretty awesome nap, did the IG workout again (OW!), and I'm feeling a bit better now. New week, fresh start and all that. And this week is booked pretty solid with stuff to do, which really helps prevent me from from going on benders like that. I've noticed it only happens if I go "Oh look, I've two days off with nothing on the calendar. I can stay up as late as I want!" Speaking of, I've got work in the am, brainstorming for an Exotic Food Night, and circus practice tomorrow, so I should sign off. Be back Weds, after my now comparatively easy BW workout!

Did you spot the WIN? Because I sure did (I bolded it for you)! It's frustrating when things seem to have a life of their own, but you did it; you beat it back one day....and that's what this is all about. 1 day at a time. Keep goin' Chef...there's lots more WIN where that came from!

[ChefOtaku]

Did you spot the WIN? Because I sure did (I bolded it for you)! It's frustrating when things seem to have a life of their own, but you did it; you beat it back one day....and that's what this is all about. 1 day at a time. Keep goin' Chef...there's lots more WIN where that came from!

Thanks, Hiraedd, damn right that's a win! And this week is coming along nicely. Got a new move to work on while at whirly-twirly practice yesterday, was reasonably productive around the house today, and cranked out my BW routine. Fell a little short on that (just 1/2 an inverted row, and I've decided to scale back the pushups to 10, but with the hand position shifting from narrow->middle->wide) but I'm not letting it get to me. Can't stick around tonight, I still have to scribble on a birthday cake for tomorrow, and nom on the mesquite pork loin I just pulled out of the oven.

[Hiraedd]

Hey Chef, how's it going? Make sure you keep us updated!!

[ChefOtaku]

I'm still here! Yesterday was just non-stop from wake up till bedtime- 11 hour shift at work, shopping trip, drop books at the library, workout, then cleaning for today's day of RPG-ness. And today was an awesome day of hanging out and some good ol' tabletop roleplaying. =D Tomorrow's lookin' good with a Turkey Day on the Weekend Party with the friends-who-might-as-well-be-family. I'll be making a cream cheese, parmesan, and crab dip w/ garlic and red pepper.

As for official goal progress-

Workouts: check! Hit 'em all, still tweaking the IG workout, I still suck at chinups/pullups, and my abs still ache a wee bit.

Homestyle Cookin': Not too bad, I've got a batch of the bacon-wrapped egg muffins in the fridge which I freakin' LOVE. I saw the recipe (on here actually, from Spezzy I think!) like a year ago. Finally made some, and now I'm like "why didn't I do this a long time ago?" Two or three is a good meal, and they're still tasty cold as a snack. I think the worst I've had this week (in my mind) is my standby of mini cheese snausages browned up in butter- easy, tasty, and quick, but I want to creep away from the processed stuff when I can.

Fire Spinning Practice: Not so good on this one. Didn't get any extra practice in last week, and I've gotten nothing extra in so far this week either. There's still tomorrow, and I know I'll be up well after the party lets out tomorrow, so I'm thinkin tomorrow evening. It's a little hard, because my ceiling is a wee bit too low to do full range of motion, so it's either awkward practice inside, or bundle up and go play outside. Hope it's not too cold tomorrow!

Dragon Taming: I was well behaved this week, mainly since I had so much on the to-do list. I still haven't done the math to see if I'm sticking with the goal as I've written it (bad nerd!), but I've scheduled myself to do finances on Monday, so it'll get rolled into that. I also started reading The Power of Habit this week, and just the first few chapters have really got me thinking on ways to turn the drinking habit into something better for me. (Like reading! Seriously, I crushed a 500-ish page hardcover in 4 days.)

So, all in all, not perfect, but pretty damn good, especially for a Crazy Holiday Week.

[Hiraedd]

I'd actually say really damn good, actually, Chef!! Even if it had been a non-holiday week that would be a solid result. As it is? I'd call it spectacular. Keep up the hard work -- it's already paying off! (And I like the idea of turning one habit into another...its much easier to replace one than to break one, so I think it's a sensible approach). Which tabletop RPG were you playing?

[ChefOtaku]

I'd actually say really damn good, actually, Chef!! Even if it had been a non-holiday week that would be a solid result. As it is? I'd call it spectacular. Keep up the hard work -- it's already paying off! (And I like the idea of turning one habit into another...its much easier to replace one than to break one, so I think it's a sensible approach).

That's the core theory that I'm getting- Habits never go away, but they can be modified. You just have to identify the trigger (what you want/need), the response, and the payoff. The key is to change the response but keep the reward. Quick example for me: Get home from work, want to unwind -> pour a drink and read/internet/TV -> relaxation. Looking at it like this, my goal is to relax, what else is relaxing? I like me a cuppa tea, so I'm working on switching out hooch for chai. Same trigger, NEW response, same reward. The two big maker/breakers (at least from what I've read so far) is to keep up the new response until it become completely automatic, and to really believe that you CAN change this habit and become a better you. I really recommend tracking this book down if you can!

Which tabletop RPG were you playing?

We've got a monthly game going using the Cortex system, which is a flexible, use-it-for-anything system. The storyline we're playing is (stop me if you've heard this one): a new super awesome, fully immersive VR video game system has come out, and as we play scenarios, things start to get a little too real. So yeah, we're playing a game about playing a game.

Monday's Update!

1- Today's workout was good, managed to do better at pulling myself up into the air!

2- Burned Willpower points to not stop and grab a pizza while I was out running errands; instead it was the leftover half of mesquite pork loin chopped up with bell peppers, onion, and garlic, all tossed in the wok, with a splash of asian BBq sauce. Nomnomnom!

3- I did get about 45 min of extra practice in yesterday, yay! And I have the big group playtime tomorrow, hopefully I can make the whole thing. (there's a weird work schedule dealie where sometimes I have to go in for a couple hours at the end of the night, which cuts into circus practice. It makes for a weird and kind of unpredictable day.)

4- Crunched the numbers, came up with what I'm allowed to spend on hooch for each week of the challenge, and how I've done so far. Results? Week 1- FAIL. Like 3x over Fail. Why? That was the weekend I was hanging out w/ party-happy friends right before I went to a con. Still, big fail. Week 2- WIN! Actually came in a fair bit under budget (probly cuz I spent so much time feeling like crap!) But I decided that any under-budget $$ get's pooled for an After-challenge reward, minus any overages. And now that I think about it, afterwards I might set myself a weekly limit and a jar to save up for a really swanky reward (like the giant flatscreen I want to install in the living room...)

OK, 'nuff about me, I need to go and check subs and get a little more involved in this community!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Good job on the goals. One unpleasant suggestion might be to stop buying whiskey all together. You mentioned tea instead of whiskey, the best way to make going for the tea automatic is not to have anything but tea to go to in the house. Then perhaps after you've made a habit of going for tea, then you could try having whiskey in the house again. Great job on the other goals. Keep up the good work.

[emptyknight]

Glad to see you back with us! I didn't see you at the beginning of the challenge and wondered if you'd fallen into one of the Great Lakes. Busy now, so I'm mostly commenting to subscribe. Keep up the good work on your goals!

[Hiraedd]

That's the core theory that I'm getting- Habits never go away, but they can be modified. You just have to identify the trigger (what you want/need), the response, and the payoff. The key is to change the response but keep the reward. Quick example for me: Get home from work, want to unwind -> pour a drink and read/internet/TV -> relaxation. Looking at it like this, my goal is to relax, what else is relaxing? I like me a cuppa tea, so I'm working on switching out hooch for chai. Same trigger, NEW response, same reward. The two big maker/breakers (at least from what I've read so far) is to keep up the new response until it become completely automatic, and to really believe that you CAN change this habit and become a better you. I really recommend tracking this book down if you can!

...

We've got a monthly game going using the Cortex system, which is a flexible, use-it-for-anything system. The storyline we're playing is (stop me if you've heard this one): a new super awesome, fully immersive VR video game system has come out, and as we play scenarios, things start to get a little too real. So yeah, we're playing a game about playing a game.

...

Monday's Update!

1- Today's workout was good, managed to do better at pulling myself up into the air!

2- Burned Willpower points to not stop and grab a pizza while I was out running errands; instead it was the leftover half of mesquite pork loin chopped up with bell peppers, onion, and garlic, all tossed in the wok, with a splash of asian BBq sauce. Nomnomnom!

3- I did get about 45 min of extra practice in yesterday, yay! And I have the big group playtime tomorrow, hopefully I can make the whole thing. (there's a weird work schedule dealie where sometimes I have to go in for a couple hours at the end of the night, which cuts into circus practice. It makes for a weird and kind of unpredictable day.)

4- Crunched the numbers, came up with what I'm allowed to spend on hooch for each week of the challenge, and how I've done so far. Results? Week 1- FAIL. Like 3x over Fail. Why? That was the weekend I was hanging out w/ party-happy friends right before I went to a con. Still, big fail. Week 2- WIN! Actually came in a fair bit under budget (probly cuz I spent so much time feeling like crap!) But I decided that any under-budget $$ get's pooled for an After-challenge reward, minus any overages. And now that I think about it, afterwards I might set myself a weekly limit and a jar to save up for a really swanky reward (like the giant flatscreen I want to install in the living room...)

OK, 'nuff about me, I need to go and check subs and get a little more involved in this community!

LOL to the game within a game! That is awesome. Like a fractal of games. And hooray for your Monday -- it looks fantastic! For the reward, I don't think you should do it minus the overages, because it gives you an excuse to spend more one week if you've underspent the week before. Instead, that overage money needs to come from somewhere it hurts to come from, and you need to reward yourself with the full amount of under for a good week. Just my two cents, anyway. Keep up the great work, Chef! You'll be a tea drinker before you know it!

[ChefOtaku]

Good job on the goals. One unpleasant suggestion might be to stop buying whiskey all together. You mentioned tea instead of whiskey, the best way to make going for the tea automatic is not to have anything but tea to go to in the house. Then perhaps after you've made a habit of going for tea, then you could try having whiskey in the house again. Great job on the other goals. Keep up the good work.

Thanks for the support! I will probably try that at some point soon, now that I'm really focused on changing this habit. And I just thought of a good prize to reward myself with for coming in under budget! [goes and writes it on the board]

Glad to see you back with us! I didn't see you at the beginning of the challenge and wondered if you'd fallen into one of the Great Lakes. Busy now, so I'm mostly commenting to subscribe. Keep up the good work on your goals!

Glad to see my fellow Nightwalker again! Falling into a lake is a possibility, since it's right across the street, but it's definitely not a Great Lake. More like an Epic Pond...

LOL to the game within a game! That is awesome. Like a fractal of games. And hooray for your Monday -- it looks fantastic! For the reward, I don't think you should do it minus the overages, because it gives you an excuse to spend more one week if you've underspent the week before. Instead, that overage money needs to come from somewhere it hurts to come from, and you need to reward yourself with the full amount of under for a good week. Just my two cents, anyway. Keep up the great work, Chef! You'll be a tea drinker before you know it!

That's a good point, except I don't know where I could 'take it from', except my projected prize. Everything else is basically bills and groceries. Hrm. (of course, just this bit of typing gets the gears moving... maybe I could match any overages as an extra deposit into my IRA, which is $$ I won't see for a looong time...) Will definitely ponder this. And I've always been keen on tea; on a day off I can blast through a gallon of iced tea without trying. And with the cold weather settling in, I've got the single-serve 'coffee' brewer nestled into it's new home on the counter. I'm even setting it up the night before, so it's pre-loaded with chai ready to go when I wake up in the morning.

Update! Weds, Day... whateveritis

Good day today, even with sleeping in two hours (yay day off!), reading for a couple hours, then 'resting my eyes' for two hours. =P But then it was all sorts of good stuff: library, visit the folks, comic shop, grocery shopping, workout, couple fiddly projects at home.

Goals!

1- Today was the BW workout, and I managed to squeeze out an extra 1.5 Inverted Rows, and got all 3 planks up to 40 seconds! Woot!

2- OMG I spent $100 at the grocery store today, which is unreal for me! Found a bunch of good stuff on sale, so I've plenty of stuff to work with for cooking. Boneless pork ribs will be put in the crock pot, skirt steak will become fajita-style yumminess, more eggy muffins will be made, and I've got a solid stash of chicken snausages and cheesy smoked snausages for Lazy Meal Times.

3- Circus practice yesterday kinda didn't happen... I did have to go back in to work, and the guy who's working with me was just getting over being sick, so instead we hung out and did 'research', which was watching youtube vids of firespinning and talking about techniques and such. So I definitely need to get some real practice in this week.

4- Looks like I'll be coming in under again this week, so I can add a bit more to my reward pile. And, I had an "Aha!" moment and put the box of yummy, soothing mint & chamomile tea right by the whiskey to remind me "Hey! Tea is awesome too!" This should definitely help, since I'll be looking at the tea first, whenever I go for another drink.

Ohsnap, 4am, time for bed! This is what happens when I just let myself ramble on the internet...

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Good job on the fitness, and 2 points for putting the tea by the whisky. Get some rest.

[ChefOtaku]

End of the week check-in time! So, yesterday, after a looong day at work, and spending probably 45 mins in the parking lot outside chatting w/ a coworker, I got home extra late, and was just too bushed to work out. So that pushed to the awesomeness that was today: Slept in till like 5, then futzed around, did some catching up on comics books, then headed out to a nearby Irish pub to do a NF meetup with some new friends! (Hi guys!) Good times were had, and I'm looking forward to meeting up again! Then it was exercises (I'm at like 85% of a pullup!) and yummy steak stir-fry. Got a little Twirly practice in too, turns out it works really well as an upper body warmup! I just have to be careful not to bop the ceiling fan... Woo! Good day today!

[Hiraedd]

End of the week check-in time! So, yesterday, after a looong day at work, and spending probably 45 mins in the parking lot outside chatting w/ a coworker, I got home extra late, and was just too bushed to work out. So that pushed to the awesomeness that was today: Slept in till like 5, then futzed around, did some catching up on comics books, then headed out to a nearby Irish pub to do a NF meetup with some new friends! (Hi guys!) Good times were had, and I'm looking forward to meeting up again! Then it was exercises (I'm at like 85% of a pullup!) and yummy steak stir-fry. Got a little Twirly practice in too, turns out it works really well as an upper body warmup! I just have to be careful not to bop the ceiling fan... Woo! Good day today!

So jealous of the crew you get to meet up with down there, not going to lie...glad you could go, though. And woohoo for 85% of a pullup, and twirly practice! Good job. And you either have to watch out for the ceiling fan or be prepared to install a new one....how did the dragon taming go?

[ChefOtaku]

So jealous of the crew you get to meet up with down there, not going to lie...glad you could go, though. And woohoo for 85% of a pullup, and twirly practice! Good job. And you either have to watch out for the ceiling fan or be prepared to install a new one....how did the dragon taming go?

Pretty good, got to toss a few extra dollars in the jar. And today, I just went ahead and bought this week's allotment, so I have it in my head that "That's my stash for the week, savor it, make it last." Always trying new strategies!

No big news today, workout was good, still calling the pullup 85%. Actually finished it a bit quicker than ususal (but that's cause I'm expecting a couple friends to come hang out in a bit, so I was all motivated.) Food is looking good, currently nomming on my new favorite after-workout snack, apple slices w/ chunky peanut butter for dippin'. And there's BBQ boneless pork ribs in the crock pot for later. This week is looking pretty good, though I can pretty much guarantee the Friday workout is going to get bumped again, since there's a big houseparty Friday night. And these guys are said to throw some pretty wicked parties. (It's my circus buddies from work, so I'm inclined to believe them.)

[Hiraedd]

Yay for monies in the success jar!! Trying new stratgies is good as long as you stick to them long enough to see if they're actually making a difference...and is there another day you could move that Friday workout to so that you can still get it in, or a way you could do it before you go out? Just a thought.

Keep dominating!

[ChefOtaku]

Aaaand it's a week later. =/ Well, I'm not gonna lie, last week wasn't fantastic. I was just not feeling motivated at all for the exercisey goodness. Did my BW workout Weds, but I was all 'bleh' about it, ended up taking me longer than usual. And the Friday workout on Saturday just flat out didn't happen. And not because I was hungover or anything, just didn't feel any motivation. No extra fire practice either. Food goal was 90%- At the store on Thursday, was tempted to buy more hooch (even though I still had some at home), instead I got me a pizza, and it was nummy. And I didn't go over my limit, so a little more scratch in the jar. =) So, it was a mixed week, some ups, some downs. But, dust yourself off and keep going, right? Still not really pumped today, but I did do my workout (way earlier than usual too! ) so I won't let the laziness snowball.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Hey, way not to give up! Good job maintaing the dragon slaying goal and it was really smart to do your workout early!

[ChefOtaku]

Wednesday check in! Keeping it short cuz I actually have a couple projects on the burners at the moment, one of them literally! Today was relaxing AND productive: Yay for sleeping in and catching up on internetty time sinks, and I got my secret santa gifties for the work party squared away. BW workout went well, if a bit long again, but I got it done, with some improvement to the Inverted Rows. Got my "Italiano Chili" on the stove right now, and I've got a tab open to do what last-minute online xmas shopping I can. So I'm off to pay homage to the god of Commercialism! ThinkGeek here I come! =D

[ChefOtaku]

End of week 5! I may be a day late, but there's good news! Yes, I pushed the Friday workout to Saturday again (work literally used up all my patience/willpower/goodwill towards men), but after running my errands for the day, wrapping gifties for the work party tomorrow, and falling asleep reading on the couch, I made myself get up and do my workout, since I had absolutely no excuse. And because of that, I did my first pullup evar! [Dashes over to the Woot Room]

Food was pretty good this week, I even brought home some baked acorn squash, and sauteed chicken w/ tomato hollandaise from work. (yum!) Poi practice not so much, it would be so much easier if it wasn't winter, and if I could see in the dark. I want to get some light up LED poi, that would make it much easier to practice outside at night. Dragon taming goes well, though next week is the most restricted, and I've found my lizard brain is pretty good at finding ways around my imposed restrictions. But still, I'll stick with it, the Stash-for-the-week plan seems to work pretty well.

One more week to go!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Awesome! That's great about the pullup. Keep up with the other goals as well.

[ChefOtaku]

Final week... and I'm also doing a little experiment: I've scheduled the workouts for Tu/Th/Sa, to see how that meshes with the work/life schedule. I'm liking Tuesday so far, since I'm usually done working in the 5 o'clock range, and sometimes have to go back in at 8 to help close down. So that's a good 2-3 hour window to come home and stay active instead of vegging out on the couch. (Win!) And now I can poke around the site while I wait for the phone to ring...