Lalie Fanyarendil Plays with Sticks

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

All children, except one, grow up. However, some of them grow up quite a bit less than the others. This was the case for Lalie. This does not refer solely to stature, although she did seem to have gone 'round the corner the day that height was passed out to all the other elves. She never stopped playing with her oldest friend, her best friend: Peter Pan. Sometimes she would have to play a different game for a bit—the one where she pretended to be an all-the-way grown-up, and do things like sit at a desk and put paper in the copying machine when it made that beeping noise. Peter didn’t like that game and he always went away when she played it, but at the end of the day he would come back and tell her a better game to play.

 

Lalie had been learning all sorts of new games since she got to Neverland, and she loved all of them. She knew that if she wanted to be The Pan someday then she would need to be able to beat the Lost Boys at all of them, and the grown-ups had always said that you should work to get really good at just one thing before you start on a different one. But she couldn't pick just one. That made her sad until Peter reminded her that grown-ups just say that because they can't handle more than one game at a time. Growing up makes your imagination shrivel, so just like fairies only have room for one feeling at a time, grown-ups only have room for one game--if they can even handle one. Lalie felt silly when she remembered this, but she didn't mind. On the contrary, she felt silly quite a lot and generally enjoyed it. There was no reason to try to choose. She would practice how to fight, how to fly, and how to crow all at the same time.

 

Main Quest: I have three specific, small goals that I want to achieve, but they don't tie together into an overall goal that I can achieve in six weeks. So I guess my overall goal is to make my three little goals.

 

Got to fight: Be able to do conveyor belts and fishtails with my staff.

 

I can unreliably do conveyor belts to the left, but I have yet to make that translate to the other direction. (Which frustrates me; I’m right-handed and I’m having trouble getting my right hand to duplicate what my left hand can do.) I also need to get fishtails because this is a basic technique that other things build on. For fishtails I need more forearm strength; for both I need more practice. I do set a timer for myself when I'm practicing because otherwise I'll lose track of time and keep going for hours.

 

Ability to do both moves with both hands by the end will be an automatic A. But if I can’t, I’m not counting that as an automatic failure—it would probably mean that I need more than six weeks of practice to learn them. In that case, I’ll follow the guidelines below for grading myself:

 

A: Practice at least 1.5 hours per week, for a total of 9 hours by the end. +3 Dex, +1 Wis.

B: Practice 6 hours to 8 hours 59 minutes by the end. +1 Dex, +1 Wis.

C: Practice 3 hours to 5 hours 59 minutes by the end, +1 Dex.

37%

37%

200/540 minutes

 

Got to fly: Consistently go barefoot running without hurting myself.

 

I need more practice with this before I start giving myself related goals. If I hurt myself by pushing myself too hard instead of invoking my Self-Care Is Not Laziness Clause this will be an automatic fail. If I hurt myself in a different way I will adjust my goals accordingly.

 

A: Walk/run preferred route 3 times per week, 18 total by the end. +2 Sta, +1 Wis, +1 Con.

B: Walk/run preferred route 12-17 times total by the end. +1 Sta, +1 Wis.

C: Walk/run preferred route 6-11 times total by the end. +1 Sta.

38.8%

38.8%

7/18 runs

 

Got to crow: Be able to do my bodyweight routine with three sets of ten regular pushups.

 

What does this have to do with crowing? I enjoy the crow pose (lame pun is lame!) and want to branch out from that. I need more upper body strength before I can manage other goals that will go in this section, and I generally need more strength overall.

 

A: Do bodyweight routine at least 2 times per week, 12 total by the end. +2 Str, +2 Dex.

B: Do bodyweight routine 9-11 times total by the end. +1 Str, +1 Dex.

C: Do bodyweight routine 6-8 times total by the end. +1 Str.

8.33%

8.33%

1.5/12 workouts

 

Life Quest: Try to find places to go to make more friends.

 

I only have a few friends. I'm usually happy with that arrangement, but I rarely get to see my friends anymore, and my psychiatrist helped me realize that I'm lonely. I have a really difficult time finding people who share my interests AND general moral inclinations. Usually I find that I don't have common interests with the people at church, and a lot of the other nerds don't want to hang out with me after they find out I'm religious. (Or after I don't laugh at dirty jokes.) This is a big city--there have got to be more people out there I can hit it off with. I know how to make and keep friends--the hard part is meeting people. I don't think it'd be realistic for me to expect myself to go somewhere every week, so my goal is to do something every week to find places to go, or to go to one if I find something.

 

A: Do something to find friends each week. +2 Wis, +1 Cha.

B: Do something to find friends for five weeks. +1 Wis, +1 Cha.

C: Do something to find friends for four weeks. +1 Wis.

33.33%

33.33%

 

The "Self-Care Is Not Laziness" Clause: I have a tendency to pursue goals too aggressively and end up hurting myself. Sometimes this is just due to indulging my enthusiasm too much, but some of it also goes back to a history of self-harm. This clause is to help prevent me from doing that. I will not lower my scores if I miss a day because I think I'm getting sick or developing an injury. I will adjust my plans accordingly depending on the situation. If I need to invoke this clause enough times it may result in more points going into Wisdom or Dexterity (I can still stretch when sick).

1 use in place of a strength workout.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Stats I'll get from mini-challenges:

Mini-challenge #1: +1 Str

Mini-challenge #2: +1 Con

Mini-challenge #3: +1 Str

[Kyellan]

Hi Lalie! Welcome back to the forums--it looks like you've got a great challenge set out this time. Best of luck, I'll be subscribed and will drop by to cheer you on, since you helped me so much last time

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Thank you!! And you just saved me the work of remembering which guild you chose so I could go find your thread too!

 

Second day of the new challenge and my nemesis is trying to crawl back. I felt really good yesterday and ran a lot, and this afternoon I started noticing that my calves are feeling tight and my ankles are a little bit stiff. Last time I ignored it and got mild tendinitis. THIS time I know what's coming! Tomorrow I will just walk. If I decide to run a bit I will pay VERY close attention to how it feels.

 

And I will stretch extra. I found out during the last challenge that I can get the best calf stretch by standing on the base of my desk chair. Somehow it works better than stairs. Still trying to figure out what makes it different so that I can duplicate the experience at home.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Today really, really sucked. If you knew me IRL you'd know just how bad a day that is, because I rarely swear. (And I count "sucks" as swearing.)

 

I don't remember it ever getting this cold this early in November before. I like cold, but (clothing-wise) I'm unprepared for outdoor winter exercising because exercising in temperatures like today has never happened before. After daylight savings time it's dark half an hour after I get home, and my parents didn't want me to go walking through the neighborhood near or after sunset.

 

So, I got one set of warmer clothing on the way home from work, which was a valuable lesson about body image that I'll share some other time. I figured I was good to go. It felt really freaking cold when I went out the front door, but I'd warm up once I got going! Time to get tough! Then I remembered that I should probably take it easy because I'm still transitioning to minimalist footwear running and I don't want to give myself tendinitis again like I did last challenge. I was not able to run enough to warm up, but I'm worried that I may have run enough to hurt myself again. I'm hoping maybe not since I don' see swelling. I ought to know by tomorrow morning.

 

Looked at the weather forecast when I got back. 15 mph wind, 40 degrees Fahrenheit, FEELS LIKE 31 and falling. Should have looked that up sooner. My hands were so cold they were numb (don't know how I didn't drop my music player) and I was worried I might not be able to get my key out of my pocket and in the door. I think the wind chill is really what got me. I own a windbreaker somewhere, and I can knit myself a hat to exercise in quickly. (Don't own any.) If adding those two things does not keep me significantly warmer I will FREAKING GO BACK INDOORS and plan more layers, as per the Self-Care Is Not Laziness clause.

 

That was a miserable 50 minutes, and I knew that staff practice wasn't going to work outdoors. (At the very least it's too windy and my staff will try to blow away.) I took my staff to the apartment's little wannabe-gym area to see if that'd work. Nobody was in there, but after ten minutes I called it quits. Too small, too many machines--I was really worried that I'd lose my grip and break a machine or a window. I will need to think of a new inclement weather plan.

 

None of this really got to me much. It was definitely a learning experience. The clincher was on the walk back to my apartment. There's some people who let their cat out to roam the parking lot--at least, I assume that's the case because it has a collar and will let me pet it. I'm definitely a cat person. I think they're adorable. On the way back I passed the kitty crying on a doorstep, I'm guessing due to the cold. It broke my heart. I've never actually been able to say that before. I put my staff and music player down, wrapped a scarf around my head (no hat) and went back out. I'm not sure what I'd planned to do--I'm annoyingly allergic to cats and my roommate is dangerously allergic, so I couldn't bring it in. I guess I hoped I'd be able to warm it up and maybe the owners would come looking for it. But when I went back it was gone. I'm hoping that the owners brought it in, but I just don't know and I'm worried. But there's nothing else I can do, and I'm bawling on the inside but nothing is happening on the outside.

 

Looking forward to being unconscious tonight. At least I've got an electric blanket.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Lots of good things happening today. It's helped to offset yesterday. First, I did NOT hurt my feet again! No pain or swelling or anything. So my running goals have not been impeded. I just need to keep paying attention to how my feet are feeling. It's working.

 

Second, I got new running shoes on clearance today. My previous shoes are really not meant for the amount of running on gravel that I've been using them for. After a few weeks I started wearing holes in the soles, and duct tape will only help it along so far. But, these shoes have also helped me start figuring out what I want in a minimalist running shoe. I now know that I never want to go running in shoes with a single toe box again. As I suspected from my kimono hobby, I really like tabi-toed running shoes. The ones I got today were the last pair of tabi-toed women's minimalist shoes in my size that they had in the clearance section. They are a hideous yellow-green, but for half the usual price I can overlook it; I am still exploring what aspects of running shoes work for me. The soles are thicker than I'd like them to be, but I'm just not going to find a satisfyingly thin sole that doesn't get worn through in a few weeks.

 

Third, I've realized that I had a panic attack when I got back from running yesterday. This is a good thing because it's nothing new. I didn't quite realize what had been happening until after it's over because it's been several years since I had one that severe. The worst of it was only a few minutes long but some symptoms started an hour or so before the worst of it and continued for a couple hours afterward. I can also identify several things going on yesterday that would be manageable enough on their own but not so much when combined together in the same day. The poor little kitty was what finally overloaded me. Emotionally I have been better today.

 

Physically and emotionally I'm feeling pretty drained. I wasn't able to get much sleep last night. So, in the interest of self-care, I did not exercise today. I think that I would have ended up pushing myself too far and would end up making myself sick. Instead I washed my exercise clothes, ate chocolate, and started knitting a running hat. I'm going to plug in my electric blankie and watch a few episodes of Home Improvement before I go to bed. I needed an evening to do comforting things in order to recharge. I think that I ought to be fully operational again tomorrow. I will see if I can make up the strength day, but I'm not going to stress out about it, because this is what I needed to do to take care of myself.

[Kyellan]

Glad to hear that you're taking care of yourself, Lalie. I hate panic attacks... I've been through that a few times. Once I actually thought I'd died, because as far as I could tell I had a heart attack on the couch (my chest hurt SO MUCH and I couldn't breathe... I don't think I will ever forget the feeling of thinking 'it would just be easier to stop breathing') and passed out. Thankfully I woke up shaken but not much the worse for wear since it was just a panic attack, but it was really damn scary.

 

Here's hoping that today is better than yesterday ^.^

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Yeah, before I got medicated I'd have them multiple times a week or multiple times a day. Now it's maybe one a year. Today was a LOT better. I got home from work an hour early so I went running an hour early when it was a few degrees warmer. It was less windy today, and with the addition of handwarmers, a windbreaker, and a hat, all my extremities stayed warm. I haven't finished knitting a running hat so I used the X-wing pilot helmet hat I knitted a few years ago.

 

And, holy crap, I think I've met my staff goals for this challenge! I did conveyor belts AND fishtails in both directions!! ^o^ I wonder if the handwarmers helped the staff stick enough that it helped me along, and that helped me figure out the physics of it. Whatever, I'll take it! So now I'll need to amend my first quest to "and do and catch them consistently."

 

YAAAAAAAAY!!!

[Phayze]

Woo! Awesome work, Lalie! ^^ I gotta admit, when I read "I think I've met my staff goals", my first thought was "holy crap, did she already hit 9 hours!? o_0"

Also, panic attacks suck and I want pictures of this knitted xwing helmet, because that's seriously awesome.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Might want to reserve judgment until you see it. I'd never embroidered on my knitting and I wasn't sure how to get the Rebel insignia to look okay so I finally skipped it. I need to make a new one now that I can do a much better job. I need to knit a new mohawk hat too--the yarn for the first one didn't cooperate and it's too floppy to run in.

 

 

I'm still pleased with my Vashta Nerada, though.

 

 

I think I could do nine hours of staff practice in a week if I didn't set a timer for myself. I get carried away!

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

This week for my life quest I searched the internet for local groups or upcoming events that look interesting. I did not find anything. Sigh. -.-

 

Next week I plan to go to my favorite comics/games/nerdy things store and take a look at their community board. I have not succeeded in meeting anyone there before, but they've moved to a bigger location since my last attempt, and that means more people and more possibilities for events. You'd think that if there were anywhere in town I could find like-minded people to be friends with it'd be there!

 

This first week of the challenge has been intense in ways I didn't expect, but it's getting better. I've actually got visible progress toward my goals! Or at least my staff goals and my not-hurting-myself goal. Tomorrow I'm going to sit down with YouTube and examine how I want to add on to my staff goals. I'm thinking maybe neck wraps next. Or halos if I don't need too many extra layers of clothing.

 

Also thinking I need to tack a footnote onto my life quest: "and also moisturize!" That cold snap made my hands go from normal to so dry they're bleeding in about two days. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. I'm slathering my hands with the shea butter from my soapmaking supplies and putting socks on them before I go to bed. I hope we have another abnormally cold winter but I hope it happens AFTER I re-moisturize!

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

I already did a thing for my life quest this week! Two things! I invited a coworker to get together for a movie and we made plans. It's looking like she may need to cancel, but at least I tried. I ALSO finally managed to talk to the person who belongs to the car that's always parked outside my apartment building and has a cool Star Wars bumper sticker! (I've been trying to figure it out for months and have just now managed to be outside at the same time as that person.) It's a woman who looks like she's about the same age as me and DOES live in the same building! I think she thought I was in high school. She was nice, but she spoke to me in that tone of voice that adults use when they're trying to humor a non-adult. I do look much younger than I am (people generally guess 7-10 years off) even when I'm wearing a bunch of makeup and a business suit. Oh well. We don't have to be friends. She was nice to me, which I appreciate, and I finally got to tell her that I thought her bumper sticker was fun.

 

Practicing with my staff yesterday I managed to consistently connect a conveyor belt with a rotor 360 and a shoulder roll, in that order. Yaaaay! (The rotor 360 was something I already knew how to do from my martial arts days.) I'm happy with this because it shows me that I'm getting better with my control. And it felt really FUN, so I did it lots more, until the water from the sprinklers had soaked through my shoes and my toes were really cold. I still need to improve a lot, but it's the kind of improvement that will come with more practice. I've decided to make my next goal a halo 180 and neck wrap 180. I can do a basic halo and neck wrap but I've not successfully added in the 180-degree pivot yet. I think I should probably switch out my running shoes for a pair of socks or something when I continue staff practice now--I think that my shoes are tearing at the grass when I spin.

 

I also had some confirmation today that my current lifestyle is good for me, and that's always helpful. When the nurse at the optometrist took my blood pressure it said 133/80. I got worried. My family has a strong history of high blood pressure and I'd always had a healthy one before. But, their monitor was misbehaving itself, and driving to a new place is a big stressor for me, and I'm low on sleep, so it seemed likely that the numbers could have been high. I got my own blood pressure monitor on the way home--I'd been trying to decide for awhile whether or not I. I figured that it was probably worth it due to family history. Used it on myself when I got home. 112/72 upon getting home and 99/71 after being home for a bit. I don't think I need to worry. And now I have evidence to throw back at them when they try to tell me that eating things with fat in them will give me high blood pressure. I do not regret having purchased a blood pressure monitor; it was more money than I wanted to part with right now, but considering the family history it is probably a good idea for me to keep an eye on it in general.

 

Moving out of my parents' house has continued to be the best thing that has ever happened for my mental and physical health. Hooray for me!

[Kyellan]

I did a 'biometric screening' at work a few weeks ago as part of an agreement to get money off my health insurance for next year. My blood pressure is always really low, but it came back at something like 130/80... given that I'm usually at 110/70 or lower, that was kind of a surprise... until it occurred to me that getting my finger stuck with a needle (for the blood sugar/cholesterol test) had literally been mere moments before, and if anything's likely to get my blood pressure up while my body fights to keep from passing out, that would be it!

 

It's amazing how variable blood pressure really is, and we always get it taken when we're in the most stressful situations!

[jaex]

Might I offer a suggestion for meeting people: try out Meetup. People and groups post events that are open for others to come.  They range (in my city) from networking events to board game nights to roleplaying games to hiking etc.  I have heard many good things about Meetup and I fully intend on using it myself when I move in the summer so I can find new people and not be lonely.  

 

Also that staff work looks crazy fun.  I'm looking forward to when we get to start learning weapons in my Kung Fu class (though that won't be for a while).  

 

And I'm with you on the moisturizing in the winter months... my hands dry out so quickly in the changing of the seasons and crack and it sucks so I almost always have some unscented lotion nearby.  

 

Good luck on the rest of your challenge!

[Phayze]

True story: My grandpa had some trouble with his blood pressure a few years back, but it was easily cured- they just got a less attractive nurse to check it for him. ~^

Nice work on that staff!

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Yeah, I tried looking on Meetup. There's a lot of groups for this area, but not many that both hit my interests AND are still active. (I remember finding a couple that might have been good but hadn't had any activity in more than a year.) I've thought about checking out one that is just aimed at people close to my age or something, but frankly, trying to mingle with people without many shared interests makes me MORE lonely than being alone. That's why I gave up on church groups. And dating. But I keep checking every few months.

 

I managed a couple neck wrap 180s yesterday! But they're still in the "wait, how did I do that???" phase. Also worked on anti-spins and finger spins.

 

Tried to figure out foot stalls with my dart yesterday, but I didn't get it before I broke it. -.-, I only sewed it a bit to attach the head/dart to the rope and kept forgetting to sew it more later. I'm just glad that the dart bit came off when it was headed toward the ground and not somebody's air conditioner.

[Kyellan]

I feel what you're saying about social stuff--I can't stand being in a group of people that I have nothing in common with. It makes me feel isolated and abstracted, especially because I've never been particularly good at faking interest in things that I don't care about. I mean, I can do it for a little while, but certainly not for any extended period of time.

 

I kind of lucked into the outside-of-work friends that I have, and I'm pretty thankful to have them. I hope you stumble on a group that you can feel at home with!

[Phayze]

Oh my god, not the dart!! o0!

I guess it's good news that nothing meat-based was harmed, but the real question is: have you fixed the dart yet!?

Also, your posts are making me want to build a new contact staff.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

...no, I haven't fixed the dart yet......>.>......but I've thought about fixing the dart while working on other things!

 

*Jedi mind trick hand wave* Yes, you must build a new contact staff. You must build it now. *wavewavewave*

 

I'd like to take a moment to share how awesome my flatmate is. I recently told her that I'd decided to commit to eating Paleo at least 80% of the time as a permanent lifestyle change. We usually share our cooking, so I wanted to explain why I probably wouldn't be eating much of hers anymore and, therefore, would not want to share as much of mine. After I explained what it was she thought that most of it sounded reasonable and included some food choices she'd been wanting to work at. (More fresh vegetables, less pre-made things.) This week she checked out a copy of The Primal Blueprint (which I actually have not read) from the library. I don't know if she's planning to jump on the bandwagon with me or if she's just trying to get a better idea of what I'm doing, but either way it's very considerate. (We've both been busy so I haven't had a chance to ask her yet, but I plan to.)

 

You know you're a strange little nerd when you find yourself standing one-legged on a stepstool in front of the stove stirring a giant pot of cheese curds with one hand and reading a Star Wars book with the other. And you know you've got an awesome flatmate when this behavior does not even register as something worth noticing beyond a "how's the cheesemaking going?"

 

I got in all three runs this week but only half a strength workout. I had to stop Tuesday's early due to butt-cramping and I totally forgot Thursday's and didn't feel like making it up today. (I came home from work to find we'd be without water for the next five hours. They got it back on sooner but it still threw me off. Lack of access to water is a big issue for me due to my high school experience.) I got in two staff practices. Friday's got rained out, and it's still raining today. If I'd known that all I needed to do to make it rain was adopt a regular exercise regimen I'd have done it much sooner!

 

Attempts to find friends did not result in anything this week, but at least I get to go to a ren faire tomorrow and dress up in fun things and look at shiny things. And drink mead.

[jaex]

That is great you have a supportive flatmate!  Here's hoping y'all have some delicious meals together upcoming!

[Phayze]

I've been feeling this overwhelming urge to shop for wooden dowels ever since your last post, and I don't know why! 0o

Come back and tell us how great you're doing!

[mediaguy99]

Anyone who knows what a flumph is is cool in my books

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Yay, I'm cool! I'm also sick and stuff. I mostly forgot about Nerd Fitness until just now! O.o' Last week was really stressful due to a problem at work. It was something that used to be my problem, but it's not my problem anymore and there's nothing I can do about the situation. Everyone whose problem it was did everything that they could to try to fix it, but I'm not sure it was enough. May have been watching someone become homeless due to factors that nobody can control despite the best efforts of everybody involved. I'm not sure how it turned out 'cause I got sick Sunday evening and am still sick. I've never had chest congestion that actually hurt before. I thought I was getting better on yesterday, but that was not the case, so I went to the doctor and got a shot and some antibiotics today. Those usually take a day to make me feel better, so I predict that I'll be ready to go again on Friday. Until then I'm reminding myself that self-care is not laziness, sleeping, and playing video games. Luckily I already had bones from three chickens in my freezer for future soup-making. I've been feeling depressed since last week, but I know that it is related to current situations and will go away once the depressing issues are gone.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Wow, I have been sick for a whole week now. I've been occasionally able to breathe through my nose today, so that's progress! Somewhere in the middle of the week my challenge goals changed to "just remember to freaking eat something, anything."

 

The theme for this challenge seems to be "dramatic and tragic events"--although thankfully they don't impact me much personally. First the problem I couldn't do anything about, then getting sick for a weird length of time. (That one's not too tragic, I'll get better eventually.) And then last night an acquaintance of my flatmate was killed. Murder is suspected. It wasn't anybody I've ever met or known, and I don't think it was someone she was close to, so there's not really anything I can do for her. But I still feel useless because all I really CAN do right now is leak snot.

[jaex]

So sorry to hear about the recent troubles.  And I would also have no idea how to react if a friend of a friend was killed other than just be there for your flatmate.  Such a horrible situation but there is not much to do.  

And yeah, leaking snot might not be the best answer unless you become some sort of vigilante that sickens criminals into submission.