Ocelot Strikes Out Alone

[Ocelot]

 

Crouching in a small cupboard, where Ocelot had flung herself to evade detection, it was hard not to groan aloud: her entire body ached with the tension. Her thumbs rubbed against the newly formed calluses on her palms in futile distraction. She could hear the guards’ conversation - snatched words, at least. They were wondering aloud about the identity of the assassin who had been haunting the fortress for over two months now. Imagine if they knew it was the new maidservant to blame, the small red-haired girl who looked as if butter wouldn’t melt, who concealed her powerful weapon-skilled arms under a brown cloak and kept her sharp eyes turned downwards to hide their rebellious flashes.

Hours had passed - they must have, for her counting of breaths had lost itself at over a thousand. She had lost all sense of time and place. But in the darkness, in the solitude and forgottenness, a plan was beginning to form.

Goal One: Ascending

 

She would escape using her best skill - her small size and relative strength, meaning she could climb to freedom.

For this goal I’m going to go on climbing based adventures!

An adventure counts if I climb something to a significant height (rock, tree, hill, mountain, building, etc) and I get photographic evidence. I need to learn to use my climbing harness and I need to get into positions from which I can hang my new rings. Time to put those pull-up muscles to action.

0-6 climbing adventures: 0 points

7-12 climbing adventures: 1 STR, 1 DEX

13-18 climbing adventures: 2 STR, 2 DEX

19+ climbing adventures: 3 STR, 3 DEX

Goal Two: Dragon Taming

 

And at the top of the tallest tower, who knew what she would find… except that she’d seen it through her window: a huge, burnt umber scaled beast, with long black tail and huge black wings… a creature she could only hope to tame with patience, time - and plenty of tempting morsels of food.

My dragon (aka, my horse) has been out to grass all winter and its about time I started his spring-grass fitness regime again… For this goal I need to go on a ride or do groundwork with him for at least 20 minutes building both our muscles up to some good long rides.

0-6 taming sessions: 0 points

7-12 taming sessions: 1 STA

13-18 taming sessions: 2 STA

19+ taming sessions: 3 STA

 

Goal Three: Feeding the Fires of the Mind

 

 

Then, with pure exhilaration they would take flight - but would she find the endurance to turn around and continue the battle for the Castle of Consistency, or exalting in freedom, leave it behind for more varied and unpredictable lands?

This is a strange goal I’m afraid. I’ve been reading about neurotransmitters and their role in improving mood and emotional wellbeing. Interestingly, even if vital proteins are in the bloodstream, apparently its no use to the brain unless given a hit of carbs in the evening to enable the uptake of neurotransmitters like serotonin etc. Having also read some interesting analysis by various authors regarding nutrient timing for muscle growth, I’m doubly interested in shuffling things around a bit. My idea is to save all simple carbs until after 6pm, or at least 1 hour after a protein based meal. I’m still going to eat the same way - ie, mostly chocolate - just change the timing and see what happens.

So, a day will count as successful diet wise if I:

• Get enough protein pre 6pm

• Save simple carbs for after 6pm

• Drink 2 litres of water

• Eat fruit and veg

• Track everything on MFP

Seems simple enough except for the timing thing which might require some mental endurance! So, we’ll see...

0-25% of days successful: 0 points

25-50% days successful: 1 CON

50-75% days successful: 2 CON

75%+ days successful: 3 CON

Life Goal: Translating dreams to reality

 

 

 

Adventures with art! Another goal all about having fun. (Are we sensing a theme?) I’m determined to rekindle my drawing habit, and find some new enthusiasm for the illustration work which I’m pretty sure is my calling in life. (Not gonna quit the day job though. Yet)

This goal is simple: go on art adventures! This means at least 20 minutes, preferably more of drawing in an unusual/public/awesome place. At least one sketch per adventure must be from life and be posted here.

0-6 artistic adventures: 0 points

7-12 artistic adventures: 1 CHA

13-18 artistic adventures: 2 CHA

19+ artistic adventures: 3 CHA

 

Mini Challenges:

 

Game of Pwns

 

I'm in House Baratheon!

[tinkerer]

This is a super cool challenge! I'm looking forward to all of the photographic evidence. Do you have any initial adventures planned out yet?

[Ocelot]

Thanks! I'm working on that now. I want to re-climb our local mountain and I am going to go looking for trees this weekend. I live near a forest so it shouldn't be hard. I haven't had any other ideas yet, except to look into local bouldering clubs to find good rock faces to climb on.

[tinkerer]

What is the local mountain like?

 

A lot of rock climbing gyms will offer an introductory climb night/lesson package and they would teach you how to safely use your harness. I've had a super fun climbing adventure at a ropes course type thing. I'm not sure what to call it so here is the link: http://tree2treeadventurepark.com/Photos.

[Ocelot]

There are zero rock climbing gyms near my house - I'm in the middle of nowhere and can't drive! The bouldering clubs are hard enough to get to, but there is a lot of adventure sports in the area so there are more of those than gyms. (Not kidding - literally zero gyms. The little, 3 mile away town has an awful machine filled room of deathly boredom and that is it)

 

This is my nearest mountain - Pen Y Fal

 

 

Its only 596m, but the view is really spectacular and it's a steep climb for the last 100m or so. Definitely an adventure.

 

As for finding more mountains, I'll have to look further afield... I'm going to Scotland in May so maybe up there I will find something... Here is the first tree I'm planning to try and hang my rings on:

 

 

I think I can scramble up the gnarls on the trunk and get them onto the lower branch... It's about 15 feet up so should be high enough.

[SymphonicDan]

Ooh, gymnastics rings are out When I set up my rings it just involves throwing the straps over the branch, and then tying the rings onto them to secure everything. This means I can easily set up rings from a 10-foot+ zipwire support (for example). Maybe this would make it easier for you too? Although if the branch is 15 feet then maybe not

 

Also, why are you planning to eat simple carbs only after 6pm? Surely they're better to have early in the day, and bad at night? For me at least, I find that if I have simple carbs early on then my body uses them, but if I have them late then they just get in the way of sleep.

[Blaze]

 

As for finding more mountains, I'll have to look further afield... I'm going to Scotland in May so maybe up there I will find something... 

 

 

Climbing things is a worthy goal.  Where are you traveling in Scotland?  I was there quite some time ago, and there are many wild hills and mountains to be climbed.  

[BellaDonna]

Climbing adventures and dragon taming! It sounds like it's going to be pretty epic

[tinkerer]

I looked up pictures for Pen Y Fal and it looks like you live in a beautiful area! It looked like there were lots of rocks to climb, too. Also, googling "Mountain Climbing Scotland" yields some pretty great inspirational pictures.

[Ocelot]

The rings are bigger than I thought! I packed them up ready to take out today, then as I was almost at the tree, I got a phone call reminding me I had a skype meeting in 15 minutes. Doh, had to dash for home.

So, no climbing adventures yet. But still, it's only day 2.

I have, however, been on a dragon taming expedition! 1 down! The horses have been out all in a wild, shaggy herd all winter and were not very keen on the idea of being caught. I trekked around the 28 acres of hillside til I found them, then tempted mine in with a bucket of nuts which he eventually fell for. He was very wild and jumpy, so I just gave him a good brushing and fed him and let him go. Hopefully he'll settle down once he's back into a routine.

More pictures of his hairiness!





Trust me, he'll look a lot less like a woolly mammoth after I'm done with him...

No progress on the other two goals... no time for art yet... and I had a terrible day nutritionally yesterday when I forgot about my rule about carbs upon being given biscuits at 11am. Whoops. And then of course I went on to eat chocolate, biscuits and doughnuts literally all day because I thought 'well, today doesn't count any more anyway!' Drat, I've got myself another 'all or nothing' goal... Oh well, how hard can it be to remember not to eat them til after 6?? It's not really like restricting. It's just about being aware of what I am doing, lol. Lesson learned. I hope.

I guess what I mean by 'simple carbs' is 'junk'! And also things like bread and potatoes if not eaten with protein. The reasoning behind it is slightly iffy broscience. I got this idea from a mixture of reading Carb Backloading and Potatoes not Prozac. It's also practical for me. If I start the day with biscuits or whatever, I have blood sugar spikes and then I have to keep going with the carbs or I'll crash. It makes me very tired. I also sleep better if I eat loads of carbs later on. Also, if I can't fill up on nutritionally void things all day, I'll naturally eat better without having to watch protein grams or anything - and I function best when following a small amount of nutritional rules! I once tried to stick to a set number of protein, carbs AND fat grams... it was a nightmare.

Where I am going in Scotland: Lanarkshire! Never been before. Exciting.
 

[tinkerer]

The rings are bigger than I thought! I packed them up ready to take out today, then as I was almost at the tree, I got a phone call reminding me I had a skype meeting in 15 minutes. Doh, had to dash for home.

I suppose it's good that it worked out that way, timing wise. It would have been more funny to try to Skype from the tree though.

 

Your horse looks awesome. Does he have a name? What kind of horse is he?

[hybrid756]

Oh, this post-cupboard expedition will be amazing, I can't wait to see more pictures. That is a truly beautiful area that you live in! I can only imagine what the view is like from your mountain. And your dragon horse is beautiful, so strong, and yes very very hairy!!

 

I'm in Lanarkshire!! Glasgow, specifically. So, the greater Lanarkshire area. I highly recommend the Campsies, if you can get up there via a car (or public transport, but I'm not sure how that goes). I believe there's some mountainous walks that you can do via a train to Lennoxtown. I can see the Campsies from here, in fact, that's what I thought of when I saw your photo of Pen Y Fal. I'll dig out some other ideas since I'm up here anyway

 

PS: If you can get to Falkirk, check out the Kelpies... beautiful, enormous metal horses. And loads of walking to be done, you can go via the Forth & Clyde Canal route from Falkirk High (train from Glasgow Queen St).

 

[tundralily]

Following you over from House Baratheon, you have some awesome challenge goals. I love your climbing challenge!! Ours is the fury!

 

[Hazard]

More pictures of his hairiness!

 

This picture. Omg...   This is just a great angle. 

[brutalbears]

Awesome challenge. I hope it is going well!

[tinkerer]

Did you find any trees to climb over the weekend?

[SymphonicDan]

Ocelot! How's it going? Hope your last week's been okay despite your absence!

[tinkerer]

What happened!? Suddenly there are no more crazy horse pictures and updates...hope that everything is OK with you and that you just got busy.

[Phoenix Rising]

Hope you are OK.