Vella Swings Higher

[Vella]

So, last challenge was a bit hit and miss.  Some stuff worked, some stuff didn't.  But that's what these challenges are for!

 

If there's one thing I did get from last challenge, though, it's some direction.  Unlike last time, I have an actual idea of where I want to start.  And as such:

 

Main Goal

 

I want to get better at Parkour.  I'm taking up Capoeira later this year, so I want to have at least baseline competence before that.  Therefore!

 

1.  Sleep

 

 

I really do need to fix this sleep thing.  Last time, that worked out alright, but we still have a long way to go.

This Challenge, I'm reversing the challenge.

This Challenge, there is no such thing as a Snooze button.

 

One of my worst sleep habits is to hit snooze button for about *mumblemumbleamountoftimemumble* before getting up.  This shall stop.  This challenge, the alarm shall go off, and then I shall get out of bed.

 

2. Bike!

 

 

My cardiovascular fitness is letting me down right now, and my bike is getting rusty.  To that end: I shall ride my bike to class at least one day a week for these six weeks.  Not to Parkour, because I tried that, and I damn near died.  But to class, I think, will work just fine.

 

3. Wall Climb!

 

 

You beat me last time, Wall Climb, but no longer!  I shall conquer you by the end of these six weeks, see if I don't!  THERE SHALL BE A RECKONING!

 

 

Bonus Life Goal:

 

 

Well, I could always use more money.  Let's go with that one!

I have a freelance editing job, I also tutor sometimes, and I do ghostwriting and such things.  What I don't do is enough of it.  I really need to be earning more money than I am now.

To that end, every week, I will advertise in one new place, at least.  I need to get my name out to get jobs.

 

 

 

You might have noticed I'm not Real Life Roleplaying this challenge.  I'm not really getting into it, and it's not doing much for my motivation level.  I'm dropping it for now, though I might start up again later, if the whim so takes me.

 

And with that, let the web fly and the challenge begin!

[elsfaire]

Looks like some well-thought out goals. Learning and applying the lessons from your last challenge is taking a step forward!

You can do it!

[Sea Level]

 

 

 

I think that, in all of recorded history, this is the cutest thing ever.

 

 

You might have noticed I'm not Real Life Roleplaying this challenge.  I'm not really getting into it, and it's not doing much for my motivation level.  I'm dropping it for now, though I might start up again later, if the whim so takes me.

 

It's certainly not required.

 

Are there ways you can make avoiding the snooze button easier? I've had some success with some things, but wonder what your strategy will be?

 

Good luck!

[maenumania]

Hey fellow spidey

Wish you good luck on your parkour goals!

 

 

 

Place your alarm away from your bed, so you'll have to get up to hit the snooze button, and since you're already up, it is easier to start your day than go back to your bed

[Vella]

Looks like some well-thought out goals. Learning and applying the lessons from your last challenge is taking a step forward!

You can do it!

 

Thanks!  I'm looking forward to it

 

Are there ways you can make avoiding the snooze button easier? I've had some success with some things, but wonder what your strategy will be?

 

Good luck!

 

 

Well, given that Challenge Day One started with me waking up, hitting Snooze twice, then falling back asleep, I think we've officially established that step one is don't work until 3am, and step 2 is do something other than what I did this morning.

Tomorrow, I put my alarm clock on my bookshelf opposite my bed.  I sleep on a loft bed, so making myself climb off it to switch off the alarm might work.

 

Hey fellow spidey

Wish you good luck on your parkour goals!

 

 

 

Place your alarm away from your bed, so you'll have to get up to hit the snooze button, and since you're already up, it is easier to start your day than go back to your bed

 

Yay, more spider-people!  *heads off to check out your thread*

Definitely making my alarm more difficult to get to tomorrow morning...

[Batwoman]

I've seen phone apps that make you do math or a puzzle type thing before you can hit snooze. Gets the brain flowing and then wake-up is inevitable.

 

[Jittersthe.Clown]

[trendywendypdx]

Yeah, I found you (thanks to Batwoman)!

 

I have no idea about the Real Life Roley Playing anyways so I'm with you there

 

Happy First Day of the challenge!!  Excited to be following along!

[Elastigirl]

You will conquer that wall!

Good for you for doing the challenge the way you want. If it motivates me and I have time, I like to do a story line, but sometimes it is just easier to just get my goals out there-which is the main point of the challenge

[AlexCold]

Herrro!

[Vella]

I've seen phone apps that make you do math or a puzzle type thing before you can hit snooze. Gets the brain flowing and then wake-up is inevitable.

 

 

...I can't decide whether I should look for those or whether I'd end up putting the cursed thing through a wall first...

Might give it a shot, though.

 

 

Excuse me while I use that phrase more often.

 

Yeah, I found you (thanks to Batwoman)!

 

I have no idea about the Real Life Roley Playing anyways so I'm with you there

 

Happy First Day of the challenge!!  Excited to be following along!

 

Yay!  Thanks!

The RL Roleplay was a bit of fun, I guess, but the challenges are just as fun without, so I figured I should put the effort into all the tabletops I run...

 

You will conquer that wall!

Good for you for doing the challenge the way you want. If it motivates me and I have time, I like to do a story line, but sometimes it is just easier to just get my goals out there-which is the main point of the challenge

 

Heck yes, I will conquer that wall!  I'm interstate this week, so wall-conquering will have to wait, but my parents have some backyard spots I can have a go at climbing.  Maybe pop down to the park on the corner and try there.

 

Herrro!

 

Herrro!  Thanks for popping in! 

 

 

 

Well, this morning we were down to one Snooze press and an overlong sleep in...  Tomorrow looks like I'll actually have an incentive to be up and about, so we'll see how we go!

[Vella]

Update

 

Sleep:

Look, the important thing is, I've maxed out at two Snooze buttons per morning at the moment. Haven't set up the glorious alarm bookshelf plan because I haven't slept in  my own bed for two nights (socialising with friends into the wee hours). I shall tonight, though, and see how we go. I have stuff I need to do, so getting up early is definitely in my best interests.

 

Bike:

Not having class is what holidays are for, and also my bike is 8 hours' drive away. Instead, I walked to do the groceries today.  Not a huge walk, but it was enough to stretch the barefoot capabilities of my feet.

Besides, did I mention I got Vibrams? Because I totally got Vibrams. They are a little big, I think, but so damned comfortable!! I seriously enjoy wearing them.  So nice. So sock-like. So much better than my beat-up old hiking boots, though it pains me to say it.  I had some good times with those boots, and they were my favourite shoes in the universe for many years, because they were so comfy and awesome and boots are obviously superior to any other form of mainstream shoe. But then barefooting came into my life, and they suddenly feel clunky. Their soles are coming off, and there are holes nearly all the way through them. So goodbye, I think, to those hiking boots, and long live Vibrams!

 

Wall:

Not much for that, except working hard at the gym this week to be stronger and more explosive in my jumping up. I think I've determined another technique thin that may get me the extra few inches over the wall.  I'm so looking forward to testing it out!

 

Work:

Got an ad via a site I've signed up to for a new place to look for work, so tomorrow, I'm going to check out some user reviews and possibly put my name out there.  I have some extra work this week because a client had a nice windfall, so can pay me to work quicker.

 

Wish me luck folks - I'm running a new tabletop system for some friends tomorrow, so I hope they have fun! I'm also introducing them to Paleo pizza, which should be good. I've tried this dough recipe before, and it's pretty great. We're playing Numenera, if anyone was curious, and I am super excited to have a new world to play in.

 

Hoping to be around more these next couple of days.  Sorry this is a bit brief; having a bit of One Of Those Days today  But I'll be better tomorrow?.

[Batwoman]

That looks like a cool game. Future earth!

 

I always thought those toe shoes looked weird and now I want them. They sound awesome.

 

Hope you feel better

 

[Vella]

That looks like a cool game. Future earth!

 

I always thought those toe shoes looked weird and now I want them. They sound awesome.

 

Hope you feel better

 

 

It looks pretty amazing - the system will be different, too - it's based on the idea that there should be as few die rolls as possible and the characters get a lot of free reign over what they can do.  I generally play a bit fast-and-loose when gaming anyway (I don't plot my games so much as present problems and let the best answer work), so this looks like it'll be a pretty good fit.

 

My mum was a little worried about me wearing the toe shoes in public, but all these years have taught her that fashion doesn't really have any bearing on what I wear anyway, so I only really got the token protesting.  They really are very comfortable!

 

Yeah, I feel a lot better today.  Amazing how the possibility of gaming improves one's mood

 

 

...I should probably feel a lot worse than I do about that Spidey pic.  Partially because I laughed a bit too hard, and partially because that's totally the tone of my interaction with children.  "What, you mean they *don't* know not to eat the game controller?  Look, I explained every...thing... what do you mean "don't speak, so can't be reasoned with"??"

[trendywendypdx]

Hoping that the gaming sorted out your day and that today is (was?) lovely!

[Vella]

Gaming did indeed sort out my day.

 

As did going to see the new Spidey movie!!

Not a perfect movie (for spoilery reasons) but holy heck was it good.  I'm just always going to be a fan of Garfield's Spidey over Maguire's, so there's that.  But I really loved the tone of the movie - it did a really great job of incorporating humour.

And oh my word did it ever not pull punches, and I love it for that, because if there's one thing I am, it's a media masochist.

 

Sleep was a two-snooze-button morning, but then gaming did go until 3am, so while I'm still not a huge fan of it having happened, I can see why.

 

I've got to do some work before dinner (here's to getting paid!)  I'll be back for more updating tomorrow.

[maenumania]

I saw the new spiderman too, I liked it somehow better than the first one of Garfield, but still likes Tobeys better

 

[Nuala]

Having some fun is always great to improve the mood, I don't know why I often forget that. On to a second week full of no-snooze and fun!

[Batwoman]

Ooooo new spidey movie. Went to see Captain America: Winter Soldier before we left for our trip. It was AH-MAZING! Forgot that Spidey was out so soon. Then Godzilla in a couple of weeks. So many big actiony movies I want to catch in the theater.

 

I agree. I think Garfield makes a better Spidey. Something about the 3rd Spiderman in the Reimy run that just tarnished that entire trilogy.

 

Time to web week 2 in the face!

 

[Vella]

In the theatre, all the ads were like "AWESOME MOVIES!!" and I was like "I want to see all of these, please and thank you, including the ones I am fairly certain will be hackneyed and awful."

 

Unfortunately, the upshot of my gaming fun seems to be "Here, run two Pathfinder games and two Numenera games simultaneously."  It'll be super fun ... but we'll see how dead I am in a couple of months  Time to run the same campaign for both Numenera groups to cut down on the building and planning I have to do!

 

I very nearly managed to get out of bed to Alarm 1 today!  I fell asleep again with my legs hanging over the end of the bed because I was halfway through crawling out.

That's supposed to only happen in movies, goddammit.

 

And back in Canberra, so biking to school is going to start happening, and I can get back to parkour!  My chin-up bar should be back soon, too!

 

Bring it, week 2!

 

[trendywendypdx]

Woohoo!  Here's to you conquering Week 2!

[Vella]

So, this morning, I didn't wake up with my alarm.

 

This was less because I slept through it, and more because my housemate woke me up two hours before it, to ask if I could drive down to her work (~15mins each way) and drop off her work apron because she forgot it.

It's setting into winter here.  It was 5 degrees (41F) inside the house.

I got 4 hours' sleep.

I earned so many housemate points today.

 

OK, so that wasn't that arduous a task.  I'm just complaining because I do that on occasion.  I did manage to purchase sufficient food to get me through to tomorrow, when the market opens and I can get better quality veg and meat from a source I trust, which puts me ahead by a few hours on things I needed to do today.

Very seriously considering crawling back into bed for an hour's nap, though.

 

But!  Tomorrow, there shall be sausages!  I have sausage skins, and a mincer, and the meat places I actually like will be open, so I'm going in to pick up some beef and make two sorts of sausages - beef curry for me and my folks for the weekend (going up to see the grandparents), and beef with rosemary and mint for my housemate, because I need to use up these sausage skins before they go off.

I tried this while in Melbourne, but I forgot to bring the mincer, so we had to use regular mince, and therefore the sausages were too dry.  This time, I'm buying a cut of meat with plenty of fat, and will probably add moisture to the curry sausages with coconut cream (no, I don't know if it will work.  Yes, it will be an adventure), and the rosemary ones with ... something.  I'll have to get creative.

 

I'll let you guys know how they turn out

[Jittersthe.Clown]

Vella, you make your own sausages?  Badass level increased!  Can't wait to see how they turn out.

[trendywendypdx]

The last time I made sausages they came out too dry as well   I'd love to hear your recipe if you are pleased this time!  Badass!!

[Vella]

Vella, you make your own sausages?  Badass level increased!  Can't wait to see how they turn out.

 

 

The last time I made sausages they came out too dry as well   I'd love to hear your recipe if you are pleased this time!  Badass!!

 

Well, I at least attempt to make my own sausages!  Still working on the particulars.  Though I'm making another batch next week, to use up the skins before they spoil.  I'm planning two types; one for me, one for my housemate to enjoy too (I love spicy food, she doesn't).  The spicy one will be made using a spice mix for a beef and eggplant curry that's amazing (my parents let me raid their spice cupboard to make a couple of servings' worth), with beef and I'll see if it looks like eggplant will work in a sausage.  Since I can buy a good cut of meat this time, rather than having to use mince because I left my mincer behind, I expect they'll be a lot better, but I might also add coconut cream, see if that works.

For my housemate, making beef with rosemary and mint, and I'm scheming ways to add fat to them, since I can't find lard in my usual shops around here, but might be able to make do with the fat off a pork belly or something.

 

Today I woke up to my alarm!  And didn't go back to sleep!  Woot!

I was also going to bike to the school library, but unfortunately, my Dad arrived early, so can't do that.  I'll just have to do some extra running or swimming on the weekend.