BlackTezcas' 3rd Trial: An Artsy, Geeky Amazon Must FIGHT...In STYLE!

[shaar]

GOSH I'm so looking forward to hearing about your Krav Maga experience!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Strickland5]

Know a guy who teaches Krav Maga who's always posting videos on face-space-land ... very amazing and down right brutal martial art. 

Have fun!

[BlackTezca]

Know a guy who teaches Krav Maga who's always posting videos on face-space-land ... very amazing and down right brutal martial art. 

Have fun!

 

That's why I'm so interested.  It looks intense, brutal, and has a focus for defense.  I'm a teenie, meenie, tiny person, and while I have been very very lucky in life, I want to be prepared to take down someone, if I must, as quickly as possible.  I hope it works out.

 

[Jett]

But now my hair (just for the few hours I have left before bed) looks like this:

I noticed this from your avatar, but your hair pic reminds me again: You have a really great smile!

[BlackTezca]

I noticed this from your avatar, but your hair pic reminds me again: You have a really great smile!

 

 

Thank you!  Some people have mentioned that to me (hubs said it was the first thing he noticed), and I'm not sure why.  D'aww I am blushing though . 

[Oramac]

I want to be prepared to take down someone, if I must, as quickly as possible.

 

If I can make a small recommendation here: consider mentally preparing yourself for this as well.  Krav (and virtually any other self-defense technique) can kill.  It's not guaranteed, but the chance is certainly there.  Being physically able to do that is only half the equation.  Be sure you're mentally prepared for that eventuality as well.  

[shaar]

HOW did I miss your hair pictures?!?!?!?!

 

You DO have a great smile!  Your smile says, YES, I AM HERE TO BRING THE JOY (and the gifs, natch)  I have naturally straight hair that won't curl for anything, so when my stylist does it after a haircut, I get all *____* because I can't manage it myself...

[BlackTezca]

If I can make a small recommendation here: consider mentally preparing yourself for this as well.  Krav (and virtually any other self-defense technique) can kill.  It's not guaranteed, but the chance is certainly there.  Being physically able to do that is only half the equation.  Be sure you're mentally prepared for that eventuality as well.  

 

I am prone to violent revenge fantasies (all those gorey actions films growing up)...but in all seriousness, yeah I'll have to mentally prepare for that as well.  My hope that my survival instinct and the willingness to do whatever it takes to be safe overrides hesitation.  I've been blessed and lucky so far in my life but if it comes down to kill or be killed, I'd rather kill.

 

Man that's some dark thoughts.  Gif I need a gif!

(D'awwwwwwww)

 

 

HOW did I miss your hair pictures?!?!?!?!

 

You DO have a great smile!  Your smile says, YES, I AM HERE TO BRING THE JOY (and the gifs, natch)  I have naturally straight hair that won't curl for anything, so when my stylist does it after a haircut, I get all *____* because I can't manage it myself...

 

 

Thank you!  I try to bring joy and such for the most part and I like making people happy with gifs!  Yeah my hair instantly curled as soon as a drop of water touched it so it's right back to fluffy.  Funny how new things make someone all giddy! 

[sarakingdom]

If I can make a small recommendation here: consider mentally preparing yourself for this as well.  Krav (and virtually any other self-defense technique) can kill.  It's not guaranteed, but the chance is certainly there.  Being physically able to do that is only half the equation.  Be sure you're mentally prepared for that eventuality as well.  

 

It's not why I chose aikido, but one of the things I came to appreciate about it is that there is the option to control an attacker without injuring them.  For women, it's more common to be attacked by someone you know than by a stranger, and it's really difficult mentally to commit to injuring someone you know, especially if that person is a minor.

[BlackTezca]

It's not why I chose aikido, but one of the things I came to appreciate about it is that there is the option to control an attacker without injuring them.  For women, it's more common to be attacked by someone you know than by a stranger, and it's really difficult mentally to commit to injuring someone you know, especially if that person is a minor.

 

it looks like there is an Aikido school pretty close to where I work.  I'm more of a striking person but I think I'll check it out as part of my challenge

[Oramac]

It's not why I chose aikido, but one of the things I came to appreciate about it is that there is the option to control an attacker without injuring them.  For women, it's more common to be attacked by someone you know than by a stranger, and it's really difficult mentally to commit to injuring someone you know, especially if that person is a minor.

 

Absolutely.  My own self-defense training (part of which is in Krav) taught me that you act to stop the threat, simple as that.  I'm definitely not saying you have to kill in self-defense. Not even close.  Let me reiterate that: you DO NOT have to kill in self defense!  If there is a non-lethal option open, by all means take it.   

 

I'm simply saying that in any life-threatening situation, it is always a possibility, and as such, should be prepared for.  Both physically and mentally.  

 

And to echo Tez, in lightening the mood, here's a few Corgi's.  

 

 

 

[sarakingdom]

it looks like there is an Aikido school pretty close to where I work.  I'm more of a striking person but I think I'll check it out as part of my challenge

 

No harm in giving it a shot, if you're trying things!  It probably won't be your thing if you're a striking person, but it could be fun to try a couple of times.  The throws and falls can get really fun, with some experience.  There's something of an airborne quality, as you get safer in the air.  The moves are more like a sleight of hand than a strike; you think you're attacking, then they're somewhere else, and whoops, you're on the floor. 

 

It's a slow art to learn, compared to striking arts, and I don't remotely think it'll prepare me to deal with genuinely dangerous situations until I've been training a very long time, but I do think that, statistically, it's actually very good for the things I'm likely to face: falling safely, followed by attacks by people I know or am not in a position to hurt, followed by attacks where I don't have a size or strength advantage.  (It's designed to remove the size and strength advantage, and rumor is that smaller people actually have an advantage in aikido, because of their low center of gravity.)

 

Ultimately, though, it's not a striking art, and people love what they love, so it might just be a fun diversion.

[BlackTezca]

That's very informative!  You're right to assume that I may choose it as my preferred art: I'm impatient and already have done Kempo and some kickboxing, so I'm looking for how to efficient use the strikes I learn and enjoy.  However, learning how to fall safely, or using sleight of hand to knock an opponent to the floor, strength advantage, all of that is interesting and very useful, especially since I'm small.  Thus why I'm happy to see an Aikido school near...that sadly has odd hours .  But I could check out a Sunday class.  That may work out.

[Kishi]

Hokay, three things.

 

One: You should seriously check out The Dresden Files. Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, Ruler of the Winter Court figures very prominently in those stories. I think you might have a lot of fun with that.

 

The next two things, however, are not so fun. I don't mean to come across as a mansplainer or some kind of pseudo-hard-internet-badass or something like that. I'm really, really not any of those things. I'm someone who stepped into the ring, beat, and got beaten in turn. It's the kind of thing that fosters a lot of hard talk, and as I used to walk in some very hard circles, the two somethings tended to come up a lot.

 

I don't mean to speak as someone who is out to discourage you or to belittle your ambitions or anything like that. You're crazy and awesome and I respect you a ton. It's because of these things that I want to speak to you, so that you don't enter in to your training with any delusions. Though, honestly, the odds are you probably know this better than I do, so it shouldn't be anything other than a ranty suggestion.

 

I will even hide it under spoilers so you don't have to waste time reading such if you don't want to.

 

So.

 

Two: You need to be incredibly careful with the idea that martial arts and self defense can help you with threats and such. Not because they're useless as such but because violence against women typically operates in two dimensions.

 

The first dimension is the dimension of emotional intimacy. What I mean, is that statistically speaking, if you are going to have violence perpetrated against you, it will come from someone that you know and trust. Most typically, it'll be your male relations. Which means that unless you are mentally and emotionally comfortable with the knowledge that the things you learn may be used against the people you care about, you'll never be in a position where you can deploy them.

 

This leads to the second dimension, which is the dimension of physical intimacy. Barring petty crimes, violence against women generally happens in a very intimate dimension. The attacker will be up close. In your personal space. This is not a comfortable place. It's very easy for a person to shut down when violence is being committed in this space. Any training you do, then, in order to be productive on a basic level, is going to take place regularly within this space. This is typically why the grappling disciplines get sold so hard to women: because all the fighting takes place in that space. It conditions the mind to accept that space as a theater for combat, and the mind becomes fluid, able to go from the frozen state to something that can act and attack as necessary.

 

Which leads to a very uncomfortable question: can Krav help you with that?

 

And the answer is... maybe. On the mental level, the overemphasis on aggression is probably useful. It's a crude way to teach you to become comfortable with violence. That degree of emphasis would probably translate into you doing something in the event that violence would be perpetrated on you, and something is better than nothing.

 

The next question, then, is: how useful is that something? Unfortunately...

 

Three: It's probably not.

 

Krav falls under what's referred to as the RBSD paradigm of martial arts: reality-based self defense. RBSDMA typically sells itself on the idea that it doesn't rely on fair fighting and teaching you things like jab and cross and other 'polite' forms of fighting. Everything is all dangerous all the time.

 

Whigh is great. Unfortunately, the typical training methodology involves the same pre-arranged patterns and 'grab my wrist' defenses that you find in TMA and other such 'polite' forms of fighting. The difference, though, is that Krav doesn't make the distinction. It bills itself as an 'anything goes' style of fighting. The only problem with this claim being that you can't make that claim unless you regularly lace up and go with someone in an 'anything goes' kind of environment. Unfortunately, that's really really rare.

 

Krav typically insists that its techniques are too dangerous to be used in full-contact, typically pointing out the eye gouges and the groin kicks. These have easy work around - goggles and groin cups, respectively - but such training does not seem to be normal. The typical Krav mindset instead seems to be that the willingness to fight dirty supplants the skill of fighting dirty, which can only be developed by practicing fighting dirty (admittedly in a way that makes it safe to practice such techniques).

 

I mean, look. The biomechanics of most these deadly strikes get trained all the time in MMA contexts. An eye gouge is just a punch with the thumb sticking out, and the basic pattern (and its counter/defense) is trained and applied more in boxing and other such arts. Same with groin kicking. And even more importantly, in MMA, you learn that these strikes aren't instant-kills: someone who's hyped up on the pain medicine that is adrenaline can and will keep going through that stuff. It happens. It's happened to me, it's happened to people I've trained with, and if you're not ready for that and to attack through that, then you're not learning anything useful for your purposes.

 

tl;dr: I hope you have a lot of fun, but don't buy the hype.

[Odango]

Soooo, it's Saturday!

What's a Krav Maga class like?

[Odango]

Hokay, three things.

 

One: You should seriously check out The Dresden Files. Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, Ruler of the Winter Court figures very prominently in those stories. I think you might have a lot of fun with that.

 

The next two things, however, are not so fun. I don't mean to come across as a mansplainer or some kind of pseudo-hard-internet-badass or something like that. I'm really, really not any of those things. I'm someone who stepped into the ring, beat, and got beaten in turn. It's the kind of thing that fosters a lot of hard talk, and as I used to walk in some very hard circles, the two somethings tended to come up a lot.

 

I don't mean to speak as someone who is out to discourage you or to belittle your ambitions or anything like that. You're crazy and awesome and I respect you a ton. It's because of these things that I want to speak to you, so that you don't enter in to your training with any delusions. Though, honestly, the odds are you probably know this better than I do, so it shouldn't be anything other than a ranty suggestion.

 

I will even hide it under spoilers so you don't have to waste time reading such if you don't want to.

 

So.

 

Two: You need to be incredibly careful with the idea that martial arts and self defense can help you with threats and such. Not because they're useless as such but because violence against women typically operates in two dimensions.

 

The first dimension is the dimension of emotional intimacy. What I mean, is that statistically speaking, if you are going to have violence perpetrated against you, it will come from someone that you know and trust. Most typically, it'll be your male relations. Which means that unless you are mentally and emotionally comfortable with the knowledge that the things you learn may be used against the people you care about, you'll never be in a position where you can deploy them.

 

This leads to the second dimension, which is the dimension of physical intimacy. Barring petty crimes, violence against women generally happens in a very intimate dimension. The attacker will be up close. In your personal space. This is not a comfortable place. It's very easy for a person to shut down when violence is being committed in this space. Any training you do, then, in order to be productive on a basic level, is going to take place regularly within this space. This is typically why the grappling disciplines get sold so hard to women: because all the fighting takes place in that space. It conditions the mind to accept that space as a theater for combat, and the mind becomes fluid, able to go from the frozen state to something that can act and attack as necessary.

 

Which leads to a very uncomfortable question: can Krav help you with that?

 

And the answer is... maybe. On the mental level, the overemphasis on aggression is probably useful. It's a crude way to teach you to become comfortable with violence. That degree of emphasis would probably translate into you doing something in the event that violence would be perpetrated on you, and something is better than nothing.

 

The next question, then, is: how useful is that something? Unfortunately...

 

Three: It's probably not.

 

Krav falls under what's referred to as the RBSD paradigm of martial arts: reality-based self defense. RBSDMA typically sells itself on the idea that it doesn't rely on fair fighting and teaching you things like jab and cross and other 'polite' forms of fighting. Everything is all dangerous all the time.

 

Whigh is great. Unfortunately, the typical training methodology involves the same pre-arranged patterns and 'grab my wrist' defenses that you find in TMA and other such 'polite' forms of fighting. The difference, though, is that Krav doesn't make the distinction. It bills itself as an 'anything goes' style of fighting. The only problem with this claim being that you can't make that claim unless you regularly lace up and go with someone in an 'anything goes' kind of environment. Unfortunately, that's really really rare.

 

Krav typically insists that its techniques are too dangerous to be used in full-contact, typically pointing out the eye gouges and the groin kicks. These have easy work around - goggles and groin cups, respectively - but such training does not seem to be normal. The typical Krav mindset instead seems to be that the willingness to fight dirty supplants the skill of fighting dirty, which can only be developed by practicing fighting dirty (admittedly in a way that makes it safe to practice such techniques).

 

I mean, look. The biomechanics of most these deadly strikes get trained all the time in MMA contexts. An eye gouge is just a punch with the thumb sticking out, and the basic pattern (and its counter/defense) is trained and applied more in boxing and other such arts. Same with groin kicking. And even more importantly, in MMA, you learn that these strikes aren't instant-kills: someone who's hyped up on the pain medicine that is adrenaline can and will keep going through that stuff. It happens. It's happened to me, it's happened to people I've trained with, and if you're not ready for that and to attack through that, then you're not learning anything useful for your purposes.

 

tl;dr: I hope you have a lot of fun, but don't buy the hype.

 

Super informative and helpful Kishi as always

[Kishi]

Gosh, I hope so. I always feel like I'm bashing hard on arts and such whenever I speak up about this kind of thing, so I'm always scared to do so...

[blkhole24601]

This aikido studio. It wouldn't happen to be the one attached to Domo would it? Because I <3 Domo a ton.

[Teirin]

A certain level of pragmatism has to be used when evaluating the martial arts.  This thread has been quite an interesting read discussing the topic.

 

As others have requested, HOW WAS CLASS????  We must know!

 

I will second Kishi's rec for The Dresden Files.  So much awesome.  First couple of books are a bit shaky but he settles in well after that.

 

Love your pictures.  You look wonderful and so happy in any picture you post :-)

[BlackTezca]

Hey everybody!  Sorry for keeping ya'll waiting.   Friday night itself was a fun night of drinking, decent Mexican and seeing neat vendors at the Denver Spring Flea festival!  It felt less like Spring due to the weather, but overall it wasn't too bad.  Yesterday, I did go to the Krav Maga class, which I will talk about in my late Day 06 post and afterwards had family in the house, did board games, went to a birthday party...yeah I was not too good to myself diet wise this weekend, but oh well!!

 

Now to respond!

 

Hokay, three things.

 

One: You should seriously check out The Dresden Files. Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, Ruler of the Winter Court figures very prominently in those stories. I think you might have a lot of fun with that.

 

The next two things, however, are not so fun. I don't mean to come across as a mansplainer or some kind of pseudo-hard-internet-badass or something like that. I'm really, really not any of those things. I'm someone who stepped into the ring, beat, and got beaten in turn. It's the kind of thing that fosters a lot of hard talk, and as I used to walk in some very hard circles, the two somethings tended to come up a lot.

 

I don't mean to speak as someone who is out to discourage you or to belittle your ambitions or anything like that. You're crazy and awesome and I respect you a ton. It's because of these things that I want to speak to you, so that you don't enter in to your training with any delusions. Though, honestly, the odds are you probably know this better than I do, so it shouldn't be anything other than a ranty suggestion.

 

I will even hide it under spoilers so you don't have to waste time reading such if you don't want to.

 

So.

 

Two: You need to be incredibly careful with the idea that martial arts and self defense can help you with threats and such. Not because they're useless as such but because violence against women typically operates in two dimensions.

 

The first dimension is the dimension of emotional intimacy. What I mean, is that statistically speaking, if you are going to have violence perpetrated against you, it will come from someone that you know and trust. Most typically, it'll be your male relations. Which means that unless you are mentally and emotionally comfortable with the knowledge that the things you learn may be used against the people you care about, you'll never be in a position where you can deploy them.

 

This leads to the second dimension, which is the dimension of physical intimacy. Barring petty crimes, violence against women generally happens in a very intimate dimension. The attacker will be up close. In your personal space. This is not a comfortable place. It's very easy for a person to shut down when violence is being committed in this space. Any training you do, then, in order to be productive on a basic level, is going to take place regularly within this space. This is typically why the grappling disciplines get sold so hard to women: because all the fighting takes place in that space. It conditions the mind to accept that space as a theater for combat, and the mind becomes fluid, able to go from the frozen state to something that can act and attack as necessary.

 

Which leads to a very uncomfortable question: can Krav help you with that?

 

And the answer is... maybe. On the mental level, the overemphasis on aggression is probably useful. It's a crude way to teach you to become comfortable with violence. That degree of emphasis would probably translate into you doing something in the event that violence would be perpetrated on you, and something is better than nothing.

 

The next question, then, is: how useful is that something? Unfortunately...

 

Three: It's probably not.

 

Krav falls under what's referred to as the RBSD paradigm of martial arts: reality-based self defense. RBSDMA typically sells itself on the idea that it doesn't rely on fair fighting and teaching you things like jab and cross and other 'polite' forms of fighting. Everything is all dangerous all the time.

 

Whigh is great. Unfortunately, the typical training methodology involves the same pre-arranged patterns and 'grab my wrist' defenses that you find in TMA and other such 'polite' forms of fighting. The difference, though, is that Krav doesn't make the distinction. It bills itself as an 'anything goes' style of fighting. The only problem with this claim being that you can't make that claim unless you regularly lace up and go with someone in an 'anything goes' kind of environment. Unfortunately, that's really really rare.

 

Krav typically insists that its techniques are too dangerous to be used in full-contact, typically pointing out the eye gouges and the groin kicks. These have easy work around - goggles and groin cups, respectively - but such training does not seem to be normal. The typical Krav mindset instead seems to be that the willingness to fight dirty supplants the skill of fighting dirty, which can only be developed by practicing fighting dirty (admittedly in a way that makes it safe to practice such techniques).

 

I mean, look. The biomechanics of most these deadly strikes get trained all the time in MMA contexts. An eye gouge is just a punch with the thumb sticking out, and the basic pattern (and its counter/defense) is trained and applied more in boxing and other such arts. Same with groin kicking. And even more importantly, in MMA, you learn that these strikes aren't instant-kills: someone who's hyped up on the pain medicine that is adrenaline can and will keep going through that stuff. It happens. It's happened to me, it's happened to people I've trained with, and if you're not ready for that and to attack through that, then you're not learning anything useful for your purposes.

 

tl;dr: I hope you have a lot of fun, but don't buy the hype.

 

That is a lot of information to process and I appreciate the time you took to lay it all out there.  Including the discussion of Mab.  I'll need to check out the Dresden Files for her then cause she sounds like my type of woman .

 

(Always had a thing for queens)

 

As for the Krav Maga; thank you for the insight and information.  I do appreciate it and those are things I have to considered, no just for choosing Krav Maga but any Martial Art.  I will say I understand the kind of attackers women face as well as the level of physical intimacy.  The aggression and helping with getting aggressive is part of what I am looking for.  However, after taking the intro class today, I do think that while Krav Maga tries to help maximise getting space away from the attack, I'm not too sure on how it handles defense if I can't get out of close range, so maybe I do need to learn some grappling after all.  I'm still thinking about it, especially since the Krav Maga school is...

 

 

...pricey...and there are other things taking priority right now (painting house, finishing basement, etc).

 

 

This aikido studio. It wouldn't happen to be the one attached to Domo would it? Because I <3 Domo a ton.

 

It is not that one; this one is closer to Lone Tree.  However I would love to try Domo one day!

 

 

A certain level of pragmatism has to be used when evaluating the martial arts.  This thread has been quite an interesting read discussing the topic.

 

As others have requested, HOW WAS CLASS????  We must know!

 

I will second Kishi's rec for The Dresden Files.  So much awesome.  First couple of books are a bit shaky but he settles in well after that.

 

Love your pictures.  You look wonderful and so happy in any picture you post :-)

 

 

Thank you!  Heheh I try to stay upbeat in most of my pictures .  I'm all blushing now!

 

Anywho, now that I have somewhat caught up to my thread, let's do yesterdays post (todays' will be tonight and Weekly Summary maybe after that!)

 

Day 06

 

 

 

Side Quest 1: Once a week, do a SUPER EPIC WORKOUT!

Day 6 Details: Yesterday I did my Krav Maga class and only that considering that it was already a pretty tough workout lemme tell you.  I do plan on doing an epic workout either tomorrow or Tuesday.

 

Side Quest 2: Try out a martial art once a week until one is found by the end of this challenge.  If one is found before the end of the challenge, do this martial art class at least once a week.

Day 6 Details:  All right time for what everyone was clamoring for!  Krav Maga was a pretty fun class and definitely was very informative.  I was complimented on my strong legs and I was able to pick up several moves pretty quickly (how to prevent injury when being pushed to the ground, low kick, getting back up quickly and making room, etc).  Though I don't like grappling, I was a bit dismayed at not learning any moves to handle myself in a close fight if I was in such a situation and while I did enjoy myself, the price is a little more than I was hoping for (it offered a lot for that price, don't get me wrong!  I don't think it's a ripoff.  It's just at the moment, not too feasible).  So I'll still be looking around.  Maybe I'll come back to it later.  We'll see!  Wednesday is the UFC Gym type classes, which I fear maybe more fitness than defense related.  But my hope is that with such an early class (6:15), the class will be small and there will be focus on technique.  That is my hope.

 

Life Quest:  Once a week, post a photo or link to at least item to add to a spring/summer wardrobe.

Day 6 Details: I'll be doing some shopping today so this next week I'll probably have something posted!  If not, then Monday I have an eye exam so I maybe selecting new glasses anyways!  Thus adding to my warddrobe.  It all works out .

 

 

Art Quest: REQUEST TIME!!!  Have five requests from NerdFitness friends and draw (sketch, full painting, etc) that request!

Day 6 Details: I have been really busy with company this weekend so I have no worked more on Fanille.  I will definitely be working on those two today and I hope to start shading and background by the end of it so I can finish them tomorrow.  Sorry about my inattentiveness!

 

Monk Mini Challenge 1:  I did not stretch out yesterday when I woke up since I woke up later (no snooze button, yay!) and went straight to Krav Maga class, where I did stretches there .  Note I also did not do this this morning cause...well...uh...reasons .  I'll discuss that for Day 07 post.

 

Time to catch up to everyone else, watch some anime, continue some digital painting, etc, etc.  Busy day!

 

[Teirin]

What they teach may vary by class.   Classes can be expensive.  Worth it and affordable aren't the same question :-/

 

Good luck shopping!

[BlackTezca]

What they teach may vary by class.   Classes can be expensive.  Worth it and affordable aren't the same question :-/

 

Good luck shopping!

 

Yeah that is a good point.  Worth it and affordable are far different questions.  I guess I'm not sure it is worth it, not when I know there are other options out there.  It was fun, but not enough to throw the $120 a month a it.  We'll see what else is out there!

 

So today was a fucking busy day.  Plans for the basement renovation are underway ( like solidly underway now, it's kinda scary) and I was running around most of the day with my mother in law, shopping for cute things as well as random things needed for the basement.  Ugh thinking about it is making me think about the house painting that needs to be done this year as well.  Really hope we find some damn painters soon or else I'll have to go through the HOA mafia paint color approval thing.

 

(This is exactly how I imagine the HOA)

 

Oh!  I forgot mention this on my last post!  Guys guys!  I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!  Found out Friday!  Really excited for it as well as really thinking hard about the near future as well!  Don't be surprised if you see a future challenge of mine discussing the beginning of a cloning project.  I think once the basement is done, there are some family plans to be made.  But for now, I'm positive that my lil bro and his wife will make fantastic parents and have a wonderful child.  I hope to become a good aunt for that child, I really do hope I can be a good aunt and maybe a good mother one day. 

 

 

Day 07

(I felt once I woke up)

Side Quest 1: Once a week, do a SUPER EPIC WORKOUT!

Day 7 Details: I did my kickboxing and upper body bodyweight routine today, which ended in some MUCH MUCH needed yoga.  I'm ridiculously sore from Krav Maga yesterday, so while I do have an EPIC workout planned out for tomorrow, I'm not sure I'm gonna do it.  We're gonna see how I feel when I wake up, but I don't feel up to it, I'll have a back up, leg workout planned instead.

 

Side Quest 2: Try out a martial art once a week until one is found by the end of this challenge.  If one is found before the end of the challenge, do this martial art class at least once a week.

Day 7 Details: As mentioned, I have a UFC Gym to check out Wednesday morning and I signed up to try out another place.  I'll check that place out next week but they have an interesting Kickboxing/Muy Thai program where you start out with kickboxing, and then once you have the fundamentals done, you go into their Muy Thai program.  So that is intriguing.  They also have BJJ that I may check out too, if I can do more than one class.  If not, and they are worth it, I'll stick with the Muy Thai. 

 

Life Quest:  Once a week, post a photo or link to at least item to add to a spring/summer wardrobe.

Day 7 Details: I did do some shopping today AND I have bought things!  I will post them tomorrow to count towards Week 2.  I'm really happy with them!

 

Art Quest: REQUEST TIME!!!  Have five requests from NerdFitness friends and draw (sketch, full painting, etc) that request!

Day 7 Details: Oh god, I didn't get very far on Fanille today at all.  Pretty sure I'll be finishing this Tuesday and starting Rei Hino/Sailor Mars Wednesday.  They are looking pretty good so far and I got their skin and hair colored!  Check it out in the latest WIP.  Don't worry starsapart!  I'll do my best!  I promise!!

 

 

Monk Mini Challenge 1:  Man I was really bad at this during the weekend.  I slept in and completely forgot about doing stretches.  It didn't help that I got way too drunk last night and was just a mess when I first opened my eyes.  Not only that, but I was wicked sore too and only wanted to sit in the shower and steam.  At least I did this during the week day!  So partial pass maybe?  Sounds good to me!

 

Man it's already the end of Week 1!  I guess it's time for my...

Week 1 Summary:

 

Side Quest 1: Once a week, do a SUPER EPIC WORKOUT!

Results: Did this last Monday!  It was painful and awesome!  W00T!!!  I SHALL KICK EPIC ASS ON THIS!!

Week 1 Grade: A

Side Quest 2: Try out a martial art once a week until one is found by the end of this challenge.  If one is found before the end of the challenge, do this martial art class at least once a week.

Results: Krav Maga yesterday, which kicked my ass but was pretty fun.  Just not for the $$$.

Week 1 Grade: A

Life Quest: Once a week, post a photo or link to at least item to add to a spring/summer wardrobe.

Results:  I got two blouses that I posted Monday: Cute blouse from Soft Surroundings and another blouse from Hot Topic!

Week 1 Grade: A

Art Quest: REQUEST TIME!!!  Have five requests from NerdFitness friends and draw (sketch, full painting, etc) that request!

Results: Not done yet but I'M WORKING ON IT!  IT WILL BE DONE AND IT WILL BE FUCKING GORGEOUS BECAUSE STARSAPART DESERVES GORGEOUS!!!

Proof: http://artisticallystrange.deviantart.com/art/Fang-Vanille-WIP-3-528037432

Week 1 Grade: A

Monk Mini Challenge 1 Results: So I may have missed the weekend but that's like...what...4 out of 6 days since this was posted..I'm gonna give myself a pass. 

This is something I plan on continuing for a bit more, especially to help get me up during the week days, so awesome mini challenge!  One of my favorites I think!

Week 1 Grade: Pass

Week 1 Final Grade: A

Enjoying myself so far with this challenge.  It may have mostly weekly stuff, but this is helping me get my ward drobe all cute, work on my stamina and endurance with epic workouts, and I'm finally getting around to choosing a martial art!  About time right?!  Also, I'm doing the arts.  I love doing the arts .

 

See ya tomorrow!!

[shaar]

Oooohhhh that Hot Topic off the shoulder blouse is FABULOUS!!!!  I love off the shoulder stuff - I cut the necks off of the majority of my t-shirts to make a boat-neck style. XD

 

YEAH YEAH A YEAH WOOOOO!!!

[starsapart]

I was never worried - IT IS ALREADY BEAUTIFUL AND ONLY GETTING MORE BEAUTIFUL.  I am so glad I requested.

 

Also, oh boy oh boy, if you tackle the cloning project soonish, I foresee many playdates in our 2016, I AM JUST SAYING.

[BlackTezca]

IT'S LOOKING LIKE SPRING AGAIN!!

 

Will you stay this time?  Just a little longer? *checks the weather*...HURRAY!  IT MAY ACTUALLY STAY SPRING THROUGH THE WEEKEND!  Which means perhaps enjoying the outdoors with the doggies?  That might be nice.

 

I still woke up pretty sore around my arms and neck, so I nixed the Super Epic workout in favor of something still with HIIT but a little easier on me.  I'm leaning towards making that workout on Friday, which will be two days after the UFC class in the morning and still give sometime to plan out the next Epic as well as check out the other Kickboxing/Muy Thai class.  I'm actually pretty excited about that one since it's a progression, but we'll see how it goes.  There is also a Kung Fu/Tai Chi school right in between my home and my work, so there's an idea too.

 

I have my glasses appointment today which is much needed cause I'm starting to get headaches using my old glasses from time to time since the newer ones are cracked to hell.  After that is done, grab some dinner and then get my ass to work on Fanille!

 

Now time to post my update!

 

 

Day 08

 

 

Side Quest 1: Once a week, do a SUPER EPIC WORKOUT!

Day 8 Details: Planning this for Friday.  Which will be a wicked way to end my work week!  I'll have to work a bit extra so I don't end up staying too late at work on my Friday, but hey, it'll all workout, especially if I take it easy on Thursday after the UFC class.  For today's workout, as mentioned, I did a decently tough HIIT workout (squat jumps...burpee holds...3-2-1 jumping lunges...the horror...) and I also did a leg focused strength routine:

 

Long Lunges @ 14 lb per hand for 1 * 8 per leg

Squats @ 17 lb per hand for 2 * 8

Straight Leg Deadlift @ 17 lb per hand for 2 * 8

Side Lunges @ 14 lb per hand for 2 * 8

Calf Raises @ 14 lb per hand for 1 * 8, 17 lb per hand for 1 * 8

Pulse Squats @ 14 lb per hand for 1 * 8, 17 lb per hand for 1

Weighted Bridge @ 14 lb per hand for 2 * 8

Hamstring Pulls, no weight, @ 2 * 8 (8 reps per leg each set).

 

Side Quest 2: Try out a martial art once a week until one is found by the end of this challenge.  If one is found before the end of the challenge, do this martial art class at least once a week.

Day 8 Details: This is planned for Wednesday morning...EARLY in the morning (6:15 am).  Not much earlier than I usually workout, but I'll need to get up at 5:45, pack some work clothes, and get my ass to the gym.  This will be painful, but I am overall hoping for the best!

 

Life Quest:  Once a week, post a photo or link to at least item to add to a spring/summer wardrobe.

Day 8 Details: Okay so I bought some cute things!   I found a pink skirt from Soft Surroundings that at first was too long, but my awesome MIL actually hemmed it for me, so it was now the perfect length!  I also got some new cute flats from Nordstrom Rack (much cheaper than on ebay actually)!  Both of these things were stuff that I was looking for since I don't have a lot of skirts and I go through shoes like I go through cake, it's ridiculous how often I wear shoes until they break apart.

 

Art Quest: REQUEST TIME!!!  Have five requests from NerdFitness friends and draw (sketch, full painting, etc) that request!

Day 8 Details: Gonna work on these two tonight!  I am not looking forward to coloring their clothes, but it must be done!  And then glorious fun shading!  Not sure if I'll finish this one tonight, but I'll try to get close!

 

Monk Mini Challenge 2:  Didn't see one up yet!  Depending on what it is, you'll see me updating here!

 

Anywho, time for some breakfast!  See ya'll next time