Talvi's epic quests for 2015

[Talvi]

Epic quests for 2015

 

Can't wait to do all the things, this year is going to be awesome

Physical:

• 1 x Chin-up 31/05/2015 and I was very surprised!
• 1 x Pull-up 06/06/2015 was my first.
• 5 x Pull-up
• Beat PR for 5K run (28.44 minutes) 16/01/2015 5K in 27.40 minutes!
• Run a 10K race 22/03/2015 in 51.35 minutes
• Boulder at Fountainebleau   25/08/2015 Went for a weekend and climbed the Mont Ussy boulders.
• Climb a blue route

 

Mental:

• Read ‘Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban’  17/08/2015 managed to finish the audiobook just before I broke my MP3 player
• Be able to speak to boyfriend’s Spanish mother in actual sentences  18/10/2015
• Complete a course in Python  12/08/2015 Last deadline for the Edx 6.001x course (86%)
• Make a game using Python
• Make the perfect Mojito 01/11/2015 Mastered the recipe
• Draw a cartoon person
• Draw a landscape
• Draw something beautiful
• Understand more about the world – pick three topics (Religion/Politics/History) and thoroughly learn about them

 

Personal:

• Keep in regular contact with friends and family
• Remember when my friends’ and family’s birthdays are (Facebook had to remind me of two so far 04/04/2015)
• Get proper health insurance IT IS FINALLY DONE on 27/10/2015
• Visit dentist 03/12/2015
• Visit doctor about my knee 05/11/2015
• Sort out how I am going to pay off my student loan 01/10/2015

 

Professional:

• Make Python relevant to my PhD

• Have a (4^th author) publication  20/11/2015  Publication finally accepted!
• Make an outline of my thesis introduction
• Make a rough copy of my first 1^st author publication 30/09/2015 Review submitted!
• Make a series of infographics to describe my PhD subject

 

Travel:

• Have an adventure  25/08/2015 went on a camping trip to Fontainebleau with my sister and 11/10/2015 went to Rome with my boyfriend for a week.

[0gravity]

Sub'd - Please take some pics and/or video when you make it to Font so I can live vicariously

[Talvi]

Aye aye Captain!!!

 

It will be my début in outdoor bouldering, and I noticed you have a lot of experience.   How does one get hold of those nifty portable crashmats?  Amazon is failing me, but it is likely that I am typing in the wrong thing!

[0gravity]

Just for you, to inspire you to get on that train as soon as the snow melts

 

 

Edit to add - the section from 5:30-6:30 is my favorite!

 

As far as pads go, I use Organic - they have the best quality foam and quality construction by a small business.

 

http://organicclimbing.com/

 

I recommend the Full Pad - at $185, this is well worth the premium. The same size pad can be had from Metolius or Mad Rock for $150 but I know from experience that the Organic pads are much better quality, much more durable. The Metolius/Mad Rock pads fall apart if you so much as look at them sideways.

[Talvi]

 

I loved the jumps, but I really aspire to 3:55 - 04:05!  Such strength and control and flow - I love it.  That was really good inspiration!

 

Thanks for the recommendations too - have you ever heard of Blackdiamond or Beal crash pads?  The internet is telling me that Organic are the best, but I'm in the far away Europe  

[Talvi]

Physical:

• Beat PR for 5K run (28.44 minutes)

Completed my first epic quest thingy!   I wasn't expecting to do this so soon, but I felt so relaxed during the run that I managed to do 5K and even better - managed to beat my PR.  This was my 3rd ever completed 5K and my new PR is 27.40 minutes!!!  Woop woop!!  This bodes very well for the 10K

[0gravity]

 

I loved the jumps, but I really aspire to 3:55 - 04:05!  Such strength and control and flow - I love it.  That was really good inspiration!

 

Thanks for the recommendations too - have you ever heard of Blackdiamond or Beal crash pads?  The internet is telling me that Organic are the best, but I'm in the far away Europe

 

He's so good at keeping tension throughout his body, everything looks tight and controlled, I liked that sequence as well

 

Black Diamond are fine, if Organic is not an option I would probably choose Black Diamond.

 

Physical:

• Beat PR for 5K run (28.44 minutes)

Completed my first epic quest thingy!   I wasn't expecting to do this so soon, but I felt so relaxed during the run that I managed to do 5K and even better - managed to beat my PR.  This was my 3rd ever completed 5K and my new PR is 27.40 minutes!!!  Woop woop!!  This bodes very well for the 10K

 

Good job! 

[Talvi]

COMPLETED

Physical:

• Run a 10K race (51.35 minutes)

Done it! I did the Soli'run 10K in Paris and finished faster than I thought. Not too shabby, eh?

 

 

IN PROGRESS

Mental:

• Read ‘Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban’

Listened to the audiobook of the first film and currently listening to the second film. 

• Be able to speak to boyfriend’s Spanish mother in actual sentences

Making good progress with steady practice in Spanish

• Complete a course in Python

I recently completed my first Edx course: "Quantitative Biology Workshop".  It wasn't specifically about Python, but at least two weeks were on how to use python to sort through data.

• Draw a cartoon person

For Valentine's day, I drew some cartoons for the card.  A dinosaur and a giraffe - good practice inkscape.

 

Personal:

• Get proper health insurance

Good lord, this is complicated and ongoing.

• Remember when my friends' and family's birthdays are

Facebook has had to remind me for two friend's birthdays, so I have done looked up the birthdays of my close friends and family and added them to my diary.  The next birthdays up are for my mum and my boyfriend - I've got to sort out cards and presents in time!

[Talvi]

COMPLETED

Physical:

• 1 x Chin-up

I had just been looking at this list and so I went to play around on my pull-up bar.   Was really surprised when I was able to do a full-on chin-up out of the blue!  All the bouldering must have given me some transferable strength

 

IN PROGRESS

Mental:

• Complete a course in Python

I have set my sights on a specific Edx course that starts on 10th June.   A few friends are going to do it too, so I think I have the motivation and support to be able to finish it this time.

[Salivanth]

I just Googled for it; 6.00.1x is a great course, and I wholeheartedly recommend it. That said, if you don't already know basic programming in Python, there's a lot to learn and it'll be very fast-paced. It took me two tries to get through it; on the second try, I'd already been programming in Python for a bit, so I wasn't trying to learn a new language as well as CS concepts.

[Talvi]

Thanks Salivanth - did you finish it in time for the certificate?   Admittedly I have attempted the course twice beforehand, but I haven't yet got past the third week.  At least I've gone through the basics quite thoroughly now

 

COMPLETED

Physical:

• 1 x Pull-up

Not long after I have managed my first chin-up, I have managed my first pull-up!  Still not sure how I suddenly got all this strength, but I am not complaining!   Going to set my sights on doing 5 x pull-ups for this upcoming challenge, maybe 5 x chin-ups too!

 

IN PROGRESS

Mental:

• Make the perfect Mojito

Today I finally got round to buying my first lot of ingredients and an ice cube tray.  Let the Mojito attempts begin! -> First attempt went well, but things can and will be improved.

[Talvi]

I've been on NF radio silence over the summer, but I'm happy to say that I have managed to knock a few more things of my list.

 

COMPLETED

Physical:

• Boulder at Fountainebleau

Spent the last weekend camping in Fontainebleau with my sister.  I'll try to post a few photos within the next couple of weeks!   Fontainebleau has a beautiful palace and forest.  I don't have a car so we walked (a lot) to the nearest boulders (Mont Ussy and Montussiennes).  It turns out that I don't know how to boulder on actual boulders, but we had fun figuring that out anyway.  The fear of falling was pretty inhibiting, but my biggest problem was that I just didn't know how to climb many problems because they wasn't an obvious route.  I really need some time to play around on the rocks and figure out what I can do, so I'll try to go back to Fontainebleau soon and this time I'll see if I can pay for a lesson or a join a group for the day   It was a good adventure though!

 

Mental:

• Read ‘Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban’

I have been listening to the audiobook for a few months now.  10 minutes here and there on the metro, 20 minutes whilst I clean the house and I have finally finished!   I understand nearly all of what was said, so I would say that my passive listening skills are pretty good now.  Now just have to focus on my conversational Spanish before I see the Mother-in-law at Christmas.

 

• Complete a course in Python

I finally completed a course in Python!  I got a final mark of 86% (A) in the Edx MITx Introduction to Computer Science and Programming using Python.   I started off very strongly with the course, but it became harder towards the end when I was busier.   I made sure I listened to all the lecture material, but I missed out 1.5 problem sets.   This course together with the "Quantitative Biology Workshop" course has put me in a better position to figure out how to complete another goal "To make python relevant to my PhD".  I need to think about this, but the first thing I think of is data analysis and graphical presentations so I'll look into that. 

 

Travel:

• Have an adventure

I am going to submit my camping weekend in Fontainebleau as my adventure, although I hope to have another travel adventure to somewhere new before the year ends.   I knew I wanted to go to Fontainebleau for the bouldering, but I hadn't realised that I was going to be camping for the first time in years.    Camping, walking through the forest and visiting somewhere new with an excellent partner-in-crime = great adventure

[Talvi]

Personal:

• Sort out how I am going to pay off my student loan

I finally sat down and read all the information available and took stock on my current situation.   This didn't even take very long so I am such an idiot for having put it off for so long.   At least, I won't have any nasty surprises now.

 

Professional:

• Make a rough copy of my first 1^st author publication

Admittedly when I wrote this goal I had a different publication in mind, but yesterday I submitted my first first-author scientific publication to a journal!  This is so much better than a rough copy and I may even have a rough copy of a second publication by the end of the year. Fingers crossed!!!

[SymphonicDan]

What I like about your epic quest is that you actually make progress through it I see so many of these where various random things are listed, like:

• do a handstand push-up
• visit Antarctica
• visit all 50 states (why??)
• write a book (about what??)

...but not have any reason, plan or motivation to do any of them. You have things that are worthwhile to you and that you know you can complete... so you have an epic quest rather than an epic daydream Good luck for the remainder!

[Talvi]

Thanks Dan, I'm really proud of my list and my progress through it.  I love that quote "have an epic quest rather than an epic daydream"!  I've started thinking about next year's epic quest list with the motto "what should I do to make next year awesome".

 

I think that long-term epic quests or even 5 year epic quests are useful to write down for short-term motivation but in the long-term, it can be difficult to maintain enthusiasm and the quests may lose their relevance and meaning over time.  My yearlong quests are almost just an extension of my 6 week challenges - some overarching goals that I want to accomplish in specified period of time.  It is good reminder of what was fairly recently very important to me and to get back to work

[Talvi]

Mental:

• Be able to speak to boyfriend’s Spanish mother in actual sentences 

I did it!!!   I wasn't expecting to speak to her till Christmas, but she planned a last-minute visit.   I'm so happy about how it turned out.  We spoke all evening in Spanish.  I wasn't fluent or often grammatically correct, but when I spoke it felt natural and was an active participant in the conversation all evening.  My comprehension and speaking skills have improved so damn much in this last year.   Thanks a lot SymphonicDan for all the time you've spent practicing with me - it has paid off!!!

[Talvi]

Personal:

• Get proper health insurance

MY GOODNESS, THIS WAS THE WORST AND MOST PAINFUL AND DRAWN OUT PROCESS EVER, BUT IT IS DONE!!!  Now I can get hurt doing the crazy things I do    Also now I have no excuse not to go the doctors and dentists for check-ups.

[Gurkour]

This is great! I really like your ideas and goals. They are all reachable but still a challenge! Reading this I am thinking about opening an epic quest for the last two month of 2015 😂

I hope you will succeed with everything

[Talvi]

This is great! I really like your ideas and goals. They are all reachable but still a challenge! Reading this I am thinking about opening an epic quest for the last two month of 2015

I hope you will succeed with everything

 

Cheers Gurkour!   I'm trying to make a reasonable but fun list for next year too now - the hardest part is trying to figure out what level of progress I want to make in a whole year.  How good at roller blading can I get?

 

Epic quest away my friend, but the 6 week challenge that starts next monday is going to carry you through to the end of the year - why not start there?  You would get a lot more support for your short-term goals

 

5th November 2015

 

Personal:

• Visit doctor about my knee

This was about three years to late and I didn't find out anything that I didn't already suspect.  In any case, at least my knee has been checked by a medical professional now.   Just need to make sure I take special care of it during and after any exercise.

[Talvi]

 

And time is up!   Let's have a look at the scoreboard...

TL;DR:  Made great progress in running long distances, speaking Spanish, programming in Python, adulting and making Mojitos

 

Physical:

• 1 x Chin-up 31/05/2015 and I was very surprised!
• 1 x Pull-up 06/06/2015 was my first.
• 5 x Pull-up
• Beat PR for 5K run (28.44 minutes) 16/01/2015 5K in 27.40 minutes! (Newer PR is 27.00)
• Run a 10K race 22/03/2015 in 51.35 minutes
• Boulder at Fountainebleau   25/08/2015 Went for a weekend and climbed the Mont Ussy boulders.
• Climb a blue route

In 2014, I had done a 5km race in September but I had never before tried long distances, but this year I ran races of 10km and 15km and I'm now training for a marathon.  The difference that one year can make!  I'm still surprised!   As for bouldering,  I did boulder during the first half of the year and I did go to Fontainebleau in the Summer, but I lost my motivation to climb afterwards and so I've been on a climbing break since.  I do like bouldering, but I'm waiting until I feel excited about it again before I buy another gym subscription.    Very pleased to have finally got my first chin-up and pull-up, although I didn't particularly enjoy the bodyweight work behind it - probably we I stopped short of 5 x pull-ups.

 

Mental:

• Read ‘Harry Potter y el prisionero de Azkaban’  17/08/2015 managed to finish the audiobook just before I broke my MP3 player
• Be able to speak to boyfriend’s Spanish mother in actual sentences  18/10/2015
• Complete a course in Python  12/08/2015 Last deadline for the Edx 6.001x course (86%)
• Make a game using Python
• Make the perfect Mojito 01/11/2015 Mastered the recipe
• Draw a cartoon person
• Draw a landscape
• Draw something beautiful
• Understand more about the world – pick three topics (Religion/Politics/History) and thoroughly learn about them

Drawing was completely left by the wayside, but on the other hand, I've made tremendous progress in Spanish and programming!   I listened to 3 audiobooks in Spanish, read Benny Hill's book on language learning, learnt more tenses and starting skyping fairly regular with SymphonicDan for practice.    I'm by no means fluent, but I talk to my boyfriend's mother now so mission accomplished!    My programming abilties were boosted by doing three 6-8 week courses on Edx on programming in biology, an introduction to python and an introduction to data science.   I did start programming a simple card game (Love Letter) in December, but I haven't finished it yet.  I'm hoping to finish it and to run some simulations to find out how to improve my chances at winning

 

Personal:

• Keep in regular contact with friends and family
• Remember when my friends’ and family’s birthdays are (Facebook had to remind me of two so far 04/04/2015)
• Get proper health insurance IT IS FINALLY DONE on 27/10/2015
• Visit dentist 03/12/2015
• Visit doctor about my knee 05/11/2015
• Sort out how I am going to pay off my student loan 01/10/2015

I'm being a bit generous with myself and checking all these off.   The bottom four goals were definitely adulting jobs that seriously needed doing.  At least they are done now, and should be less painful to sort out next year as a result.   The first two goals helped me be more aware of keeping up with my friends and family.  I was not perfect with this, but it was always on my mind so that was good.

 

Professional:

• Make Python relevant to my PhD

• Have a (4^th author) publication  20/11/2015  Publication finally accepted!
• Make an outline of my thesis introduction
• Make a rough copy of my first 1^st author publication 30/09/2015 Review submitted!
• Make a series of infographics to describe my PhD subject

I did quite a bit this year, but I don't feel like I did enough.  I've begun to submit articles, which is good but feels like it was pretty independent of these set goals.   I have crossed off 'Make Python relevant to my PhD' because even though I haven't directly associated them yet, I have worked hard to learn how I could by studying the Quantitative Biology Workshop and an Introduction to Data Science.  I have certainly been picking up useful skills to use Python professionally in the future.

 

Travel:

• Have an adventure  25/08/2015 went on a camping trip to Fontainebleau with my sister and 11/10/2015 went to Rome with my boyfriend for a week.

This still seems a humble goal.   I had a lot of fun on this holidays, and now I have the equipment for future camping sessions!

[SymphonicDan]

Congratulations Precisely 1 year ago to the minute (as I write this) that you posted this Will there be a 2016 version?

[Talvi]

Ooo spooky!  It seems I only get by New Year's shit together by the 3rd

 

And thanks a lot Dan, I really wouldn't have been able to get so confident in Spanish without practicing with you, so thank you so much for that!   

 

I already have the 2016 version written up and ready to go, but I was holding back until I could see the epic quest system tomorrow.   I might post here and put the epic quests into the system...  Sounds like a plan....  I just really want to post it, now I've finished this one