Aeryn's Perfect 10 Challenge

[Aeryn]

So this is my tenth challenge, which means I've had a lot of goals… some repeated, some totally failed, some awesomely successful. This time I'm using 10 as my theme, and I'm also trying to reclaim my free time - last challenge was eaten by an opera (heh, fun mental image!), but now the performances are over and I don't want to fall back into my previous time-killing, internet-surfing and tv-watching habits. 

 

GOALS:

 

10 pull-ups a day. Right now these'll happen in sets of 2, since that's how many I can do. There'll be a few days around Thanksgiving where I won't have access to a pull-up bar, so those don't count, but if I'm at home, I should be able to get these done. Every day.

 

10 handstands a week. Handstands are an ongoing goal of mine, and this seems like a good time to increase the volume of them, see if I can find the balance point a little more reliably.

 

10 minutes of art a week. This is a minimum, just to make me sit down and focus on personal art at least once a week. Being a graphic designer means I'm not always motivated to do my own art when I get home - but I love it when I actually do.

 

I'm still climbing, swimming, and doing coworker workouts, drinking no more than 3 non-water drinks a week, and tracking macros/calories/measurements, but those aren't goals anymore, just stuff I do.

[Angelcakes]

OOoooh!  Opera!  Which one?  What role did you have?  What vocal part are you?!?!

 

I've always dreamed of being in an opera...but, only one or two people (the ones I really should have listened to) ever thought I'd be able to do it.  I'm a Spinto-Coloratura, but I rarely sing arias anymore.  I do, if I can find backing tracks!

 

Congrats on starting your tenth challenge!  I'm going to follow this so I can watch your awesomeness and hope some of it rubs off on me.

[obax]

Congrats on the Big 10! Looks like you've got a nice little challenge here, simple yet effective. I'm lookin' forward to following along!

[Elastigirl]

Love the 10 theme! I think you should also juggle 10 clubs for your side goal  

[dntspard]

this is actually an ingenious set up, good work on the theme challenge. What type of art do you plan on working on?

[Aeryn]

OOoooh!  Opera!  Which one?  What role did you have?  What vocal part are you?!?!

 

I've always dreamed of being in an opera...but, only one or two people (the ones I really should have listened to) ever thought I'd be able to do it.  I'm a Spinto-Coloratura, but I rarely sing arias anymore.  I do, if I can find backing tracks!

 

Congrats on starting your tenth challenge!  I'm going to follow this so I can watch your awesomeness and hope some of it rubs off on me.

We did Wagner's Flying Dutchman - I was in the chorus, and I'm a mezzo-soprano. This was my first opera, but hopefully not my last - and I've sung in choirs and ensembles forever. It was amazingly fun, but it also took all of my free time, so I'm still adjusting to it being over!

Thanks! Assassins are automatically awesome, hadn't you heard?

 

Congrats on the Big 10! Looks like you've got a nice little challenge here, simple yet effective. I'm lookin' forward to following along!

 Thanks! Definitely trying to keep it simple but doable this time around.

 

Love the 10 theme! I think you should also juggle 10 clubs for your side goal  

 Thanks! 10 clubs may be a bit out of range, but I did try really hard to come up with a juggling thing that fit the 10 theme. Total failure, but I'll still be juggling as usual, just not as a challenge goal.

 

this is actually an ingenious set up, good work on the theme challenge. What type of art do you plan on working on?

Thanks! I've got a logo project I need to do, a couple of empty frames in my gallery wall, a half-planned thing involving tissue paper butterflies, a chunk of sandstone I've been thinking of carving… there's a wide variety of options!

[Aeryn]

Coworker workout today:

20 minutes on rowing machine:

5 min warmup

2 min 75% speed

1 min 100%

1 min 75%

2 min slow

1 min 75%

1 min 100%

1 min 75%

1 min 100%

5 min cool down

Pushups: 20/15/10

Pull-ups (assisted): 2(3), 2(3), 1(4)

Dips: 15/15/15

Hanging leg raises: 10/8/8

Squats: 50, 10-sec hold on every 10th.

I played inner tube water polo at lunchtime today… and it was filmed by ESPN! Evidently they do 20-30 sec clips of intramural-type sports for some of their commercial breaks, and we're going to be on one. Don't know yet when it's going to air, but kind of cool anyway!

[Nymeria]

Congrats on reaching level 10!  I love the simplicity of the challenge goals.  For the pull-ups, I bet you'll be amazed at how quickly you can add to your max reps.  I went from 1 pull-up to 5 in a set relatively quickly from doing it GTG style.

 

I like the handstand goal, but 10 a week doesn't seem like enough to really practice the skill and see any improvement (unless you're doing wall supported holds for time, rather than freestanding ones).

[Red1263]

COOL! I'm diggin' this 10 theme! I have to admit, when you said eaten by an opera, I imagined this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgZXiHfNt0M

[Aeryn]

Congrats on reaching level 10!  I love the simplicity of the challenge goals.  For the pull-ups, I bet you'll be amazed at how quickly you can add to your max reps.  I went from 1 pull-up to 5 in a set relatively quickly from doing it GTG style.

 

I like the handstand goal, but 10 a week doesn't seem like enough to really practice the skill and see any improvement (unless you're doing wall supported holds for time, rather than freestanding ones).

 Thanks! Pull-ups have kind of been my bane recently, so I'm hoping just doing a lot of them will work. For the handstand goal, I am doing wall supported holds right now, and 10 is a good number to get me on the wall every day, and sometimes twice a day.

 

COOL! I'm diggin' this 10 theme! I have to admit, when you said eaten by an opera, I imagined this:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgZXiHfNt0M

Hahaha! I was kind of waiting for her to jump off the castle, since it's amazing how many operatic heroines fling themselves off towers/cliffs. Awesome.

[dntspard]

Thanks! I've got a logo project I need to do, a couple of empty frames in my gallery wall, a half-planned thing involving tissue paper butterflies, a chunk of sandstone I've been thinking of carving… there's a wide variety of options!

 

and on that note...I'm raiding a damn hobby lobby. But damn, carving sandstone, go you

[Devyn]

Opera!  I knew you were awesome. I'm an alto...you sopranos kicks ass. I don't know how you do it. Also you have to be a kick as singer to be in an opera!

 

Happy tenth rebellion challengaversary.

[OrangeJorwell]

I think you should also juggle 10 clubs for your side goal  

I think you should try it! But what do I know? I can't even juggle 10 clubs if we're counting in binary.

 

I played inner tube water polo at lunchtime today… and it was filmed by ESPN! Evidently they do 20-30 sec clips of intramural-type sports for some of their commercial breaks, and we're going to be on one. Don't know yet when it's going to air, but kind of cool anyway!

Woo! You're going to be famous! Someone needs to record it and make a gif of you playing.

 

I'm a mezzo-soprano.

How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb?

Four. One to hold the ladder, one to screw in the light bulb, and two to say, "Isn't that a little high for you?"  

 

 

 

Congrats on your 10th challenge!

[Mad Hatter]

I'm impressed by anyone that can sing! Can't hold a note to save my life.

[Aeryn]

and on that note...I'm raiding a damn hobby lobby. But damn, carving sandstone, go you

Hobby Lobby is a dangerous place - I can't go into a craft store without spending alarming amounts of money.

 

Opera!  I knew you were awesome. I'm an alto...you sopranos kicks ass. I don't know how you do it. Also you have to be a kick as singer to be in an opera!

 

Happy tenth rebellion challengaversary.

Thanks! This is where we run into naming confusion - I'm an alto, too, it's just that altos don't exist in opera - mezzo-soprano is the lowest female voice part. Technically, with my voice range, I can be a tenor!

 

I think you should try it! But what do I know? I can't even juggle 10 clubs if we're counting in binary.

 

Woo! You're going to be famous! Someone needs to record it and make a gif of you playing.

 

How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb?

Four. One to hold the ladder, one to screw in the light bulb, and two to say, "Isn't that a little high for you?"  

Congrats on your 10th challenge!

Oooh, I should totally do 10 clubs in binary - that's something I can easily do!

 

I'm impressed by anyone that can sing! Can't hold a note to save my life.

Thanks! Singing is one of my favorite hobbies - been doing it forever, and plan to continue forever.

So rowing apparently hits some muscles I haven't been using much - everything associated with my ribcage hurts today. Interesting.

[obax]

If you think about it, 10 is a multiple of 5, therefore your 5-club goal is still related to 10... Though juggling 10 things would be pretty epic. Is it even possible...?

[Devyn]

Thanks! This is where we run into naming confusion - I'm an alto, too, it's just that altos don't exist in opera - mezzo-soprano is the lowest female voice part. Technically, with my voice range, I can be a tenor!

 

Shows you what I know. I only have experience as a choral singer and soloist from schools and competitions. I was an Alto II so I had tenor in my range too. Sopranos are so full of themselves that they call everyone a soprano even when they're an alto! Gah!  

 

[Aeryn]

If you think about it, 10 is a multiple of 5, therefore your 5-club goal is still related to 10... Though juggling 10 things would be pretty epic. Is it even possible...?

True - 10 catches of 5 clubs is an eventual goal of mine, but it's not going to happen this challenge, since it's too cold out to practice in my backyard, so I only get to work on it once a week.

10 things, yes - balls, not clubs. Current world record with clubs is 9, with 9 catches.

Current record with balls is 13, for 15 catches.

For both of those, notice how high they're throwing - there's a theory that we'll reach an upper limit on numbers juggling pretty soon just based on how high people are physically capable of throwing.

 

Shows you what I know. I only have experience as a choral singer and soloist from schools and competitions. I was an Alto II so I had tenor in my range too. Sopranos are so full of themselves that they call everyone a soprano even when they're an alto! Gah!  

Hee. I was very weirded out when I joined the chorus and realized that the score had 4 soprano parts - like, seriously, just call the lower 2 alto, why don't you? But that's not how they do it. Very odd. And hah, I love that gif.

[Aeryn]

Official Day 1 complete - did two handstands, 10 pull-ups. Pull-ups were a little rough, I think partially because I climbed yesterday... But they're done.

Went to a real climbing gym for the first time yesterday - got a little intimidated by the awesomeness of the other people there, but also climbed a couple routes I really didn't think I could do at first, and met some cool people. Not sure if this will be a regular thing - it's a bit of a drive to get to, and costs money, unlike my campus climbing gym. But it is nice to have a whole new array of routes to throw myself at, and people to learn from.

[artemiscuous]

Following! I love your art goal. So true that when you get home it's hard to get motivated to do your own work. I miss drawing.

[KB Girl]

The climbing gym could be an occasional thing when you need a boost of inspiration.

Love your challenge, 10 pullups a day is great, i bet you'll improve really fast! Congrats on level 10

[Nymeria]

I really love trying out new climbing gyms, just because the walls often have different features, and every setter has a different style.  So, there's a high likelihood that you'll encounter things you've never seen before from climbing at your usual gym.  There's also usually more variety in types of climbs at the bigger gyms, making it easier to find routes that are more female friendly (balance, technique, and body awareness based), rather than just climbing "guy routes" (brute force and power moves).

 

I'm glad you had such a great time!

[Aeryn]

Following! I love your art goal. So true that when you get home it's hard to get motivated to do your own work. I miss drawing.

Excellent! Yeah, it's easy to lose focus on your own work when you spend all day doing creative work for other people. I'm hoping this will work to get me back into my own stuff more.

 

The climbing gym could be an occasional thing when you need a boost of inspiration.

Love your challenge, 10 pullups a day is great, i bet you'll improve really fast! Congrats on level 10

Yeah, I'm definitely thinking the climbing gym will be an occasional thing, though I also like the chance to connect with other local climbers. Oh wow, I hope I improve quickly with the 10 pull-ups a day thing - right now I'm just sore from yesterday and not so much looking forward to doing 10 more today!

 

I really love trying out new climbing gyms, just because the walls often have different features, and every setter has a different style.  So, there's a high likelihood that you'll encounter things you've never seen before from climbing at your usual gym.  There's also usually more variety in types of climbs at the bigger gyms, making it easier to find routes that are more female friendly (balance, technique, and body awareness based), rather than just climbing "guy routes" (brute force and power moves).

 

I'm glad you had such a great time!

Yeah, it was cool seeing the types of problems they had - the walls were a little odd because they'd just had a bouldering competition, so routes weren't rated, just numbered. Once people started trying them, though, it got clearer which ones were harder/easier. They also have a huge top-roped area, which was fun to try, though feels very different from bouldering to me. Also, I feel guilty having other people belay me when I'm not belay-certified, so I can't return the favor.

[thatgirljj]

Aeryn and the epic challenge of 10s.  I like it!

 

I played inner tube water polo at lunchtime today… and it was filmed by ESPN! Evidently they do 20-30 sec clips of intramural-type sports for some of their commercial breaks, and we're going to be on one. Don't know yet when it's going to air, but kind of cool anyway!

 

Now that's pretty cool!

 

For both of those, notice how high they're throwing - there's a theory that we'll reach an upper limit on numbers juggling pretty soon just based on how high people are physically capable of throwing.

 

Oh interesting.  I had not thought of that, but obviously, it's a limit.

[Mad Hatter]

Interesting, never thought of the physical limit. But even though the multi-stuff juggling is impressive and all, I have to say that I much prefer to watch say 3 ball juggling but with lots fun tricks.