Nightcrawler_Bamff Joins the X-Men!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Nightcrawler_Bamff Joins the X-Men!

 

 

Nightcrawler awakens in the medical center of the X-Men's mansion after his defeat by the Blob.  Professor Charles Xavier is at his bedside.  

"Welcome back, Kurt.  How do you feel?"

"Like I was hit by a bus"

"You took quite a blow, but with a couple days rest, I expect you'll make a full recovery."

"I am sorry, Professor.  I failed and Blob got away."

"No, Kurt, he didn't.  Your efforts kept him busy long enough for me to arrive and telepathically subdue him.  The police were able to handle him from there."

There was a knock at the door and with Professor X's beckoning, a tall man dressed in dark blue and yellow with a visor covering his eyes entered the room.  

"Kurt, this is Scott Summers, Cyclops.  He is the leader of the X-Men."

"Hello, Kurt.  I hear you are the one we need to thank for stopping the Blob."

"But I failed.  It was the professor who stopped him."

"Without you, Professor Xavier would not have gotten there in time and there would likely have been numerous injuries, if not fatalities.  As part of a team, one is able to accomplish so much more than they would be able to on their own.  I watched the footage from the encounter; your skills are impressive.  With some training, I feel you could be a valuable member of our team."

"And you do not mind the way I look?"

"Don't hassle me about my shades and we'll call it even."

"Zen I shall give you my best."

 

Challenge 10(!!!!)

Time to start training for the X-Men!

 

Main Goal:

Slim down and tone up.  We got tickets to San Diego Comic Con this summer, so I need to look my best to try to fit in with all the amazing costumes I know will be there!

Gymnastics:  Continuing to work on back handspring combinations and aerials.

 

Specific Quests:

1.  T25!  Got the program from a friend and I will be following this workout program IN ADDITION TO gymnastics workouts.  I've done P90X and Insanity with great results, but got burned out from the minimum of one hour workouts seven days a week.  I'm really excited about this program because it is supposed to be Insanity condensed down to just 25 minutes a day.

2.  Eat right!  I will be following the Weight Watchers program throughout the challenge and tracking my food/activity points.

3.  Splits!  Haven't made too much progress the last challenge, but going to continue working on these.  Wont be devoting as much time to this as previous challenges due to time constraints (see "life" section!!).  Stretching sessions will happen once daily, seven days a week.

 

Life:

Yet another super busy challenge!

1.  School:  I'm currently taking two classes, which are turning out to have a lot of homework and will need to be my priority.

2.  Star Wars costume:  I decided on Kyle Katarn because his costume is relatively simple and goes with my friend's Mara Jade costume.  I would like to have this costume at least most of the way completed by the end of the challenge.

3.  X-Men costume:  Continuing to upgrade Gambit.  By July, I will need to have an extendable staff, boots made of foam and warbla, inside pockets added to the trench coat, and sew a bodysuit.  

Current Gambit:

[raptron]

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! CHALLENGE TEN! LET'S GOOOO~!

[SymphonicDan]

** parachutes in **

 

I was wondering where you'd got to! Good luck!

 

Until Monday I'd never met a guy who'd developed splits as an adult. Then I met a guy with a 240-degree oversplit 0MGz0rs. Anyway, there's hope for you yet. Have you thought about mixing up your splits training with some alternative flexibility exercises? (I don't know what, but I do wonder whether you're currently plateauing).

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

** parachutes in **

I was wondering where you'd got to! Good luck!

Until Monday I'd never met a guy who'd developed splits as an adult. Then I met a guy with a 240-degree oversplit 0MGz0rs. Anyway, there's hope for you yet. Have you thought about mixing up your splits training with some alternative flexibility exercises? (I don't know what, but I do wonder whether you're currently plateauing).

Thanks for returning @SymphonicDan and @Raptron!

Staying in form, I posted late, haha! I did start on time though! Just hadn't typed it up.

Wow! That's quite the splits!!

At this point I'm less "plateauing" and more "prioritizing other things." I'm sure if I had actually given my splits some actual attention, I would have seen some improvement. I just have too much stuff going on to give them the focus they really need. Mostly I'm aiming to keep the flexibility that I already have through this challenge, rather than trying to improve, though if I do improve, great!!

Aerials at gymnastics felt really good! There were several that even I thought I could have made it around without putting my hands down! Other people say the other ones would too, but I don't really believe them, haha! At this point, I think I just need to get over that fear of not putting them down! We'll see what I can do tonight!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Week 1 Review:

Working on getting back into the habit of tracking...and doing it accurately.

Ate a lot of poor choices (75% off Easter chocolate...), but tracked them all. In hindsight, I think I massively underestimated the pound values of those foods, resulting in a weight gain this week. I will be more careful from here on out!

I am loving T25! Intense workouts, but only 25 minutes! I can fit this into my days easily! No excuses!!

Missed two days of stretching because of forgetting one day and drinking game night the other. I'm ok with that and not beating myself up about it.

Classes are going great! Love my instructors, fun courses. LOTS of homework, though. For homework due this Tuesday, we had to video ourselves signing about an item/invention that has undergone at least 40 years of changes/improvements. Was working on finding something simple and a timeline to go with it...then found a timeline of the history of the Batmobile! Definitely chose that for my topic! Haha!

Game night and homework resulted in zero progress on costumes.

[raptron]

Hahah, awesome choice in the Batmobile. Glad you're enjoying your courses and your workouts.

[Sea Level]

So cool to read about your gymnastics successes.

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Thanks Sea Level! I have a blast doing it!!

Week two review:

Gymnastics: fun, but nothing too exciting to report...participated in beam Wednesday and Friday and I wasn't awful and didn't injure my manly bits! Sounds like a win to me! Did a couple passes on the extra bouncy floor of RO-BHS, but they weren't consistent and didn't end up getting the second BHS in. RO-BHS-BHS-BT still consistent on the tumble track though. No progress on aerials.

Tracking: 7/7 days (after logging all of today's food). Definitely dipped into weekly and exercise points though.

T25: missed one day because 7-7 work then gymnastics then homework at Denny's...didn't get home till after 11. Did that workout yesterday, though, so made up for it!

Life:

Finished a project early (due this Friday) for one class, studied for and did well on (I think) a quiz for that same class, finished a PowerPoint for other class, and did other random homework for that class too.

Finally had some time to invest in costuming! Worked on my peasant blouse (pirate shirt) for Star Wars costume then draped it on myself and found out that fabric isn't gonna work cuz it's too see through and you can see the interfacing through it At least I figured it out now and not after I finished the shirt. Decided to just buy a pirate shirt and tweak it to what I need - will be much less time consuming. Also ordered my lightsaber an found guns for friends' costumes at thrift stores.

Overall busy and successful week!

[raptron]

Sounds it! Good on you for taking on balance beam! There's a guy on our team who wants to compete women's for the meets that don't have men's competition available and he's started working on beam... it's hilarious and amazing. You guys are brave souls.

[SymphonicDan]

I wonder whether guys could wear a cricket box to protect themselves from painful falls I've never worn one so I don't know how much it might affect gymnastic mobility...

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Neither have I...I'll just stick to the low beam and duke out when things start feeling...dangerous...haha!

Floor week at gymnastics!!! Best class in a while!! Got RO-BHS-BHS on a mat on the floor back! Been a LONG time since I've done two in a row! Got them consistently yesterday!! Woo! Also did a run through of RO-BHS-BHS-BT on the tumble track and actually lifted my arms all the way up for my back tuck!!! Got a LOT more hight on the jump than usual!! And we worked splits using furniture sliders at the end of the class! Excited for tomorrow night to get another go at all this!!

So much stuff coming up!!

1. Age of Ultron midnight show tonight with a group of X-Men. I will be attending as Gambit!

2. Free Comic Book Day Saturday. The comic shop my friend frequents REQUESTED her and me to meet and greet in his shop for the day!

3. Sign language midterm Tuesday

4. Interpreting program interview Thursday.

5. Portland superheroes coalition was asked to have a tent for a run put on by the Make a Wish Foundation the following Saturday and I happen to have the day off so will be going!!

[Nightcrawler_Bamff]

Wow! Quite the radio silence! Sorry!! School has been kicking my butt! I've been keeping up...moderately well... With the challenge. There was a full week around midterms that I didn't even have time to fit in a 25 minute workout! And I'm not exaggerating or making excuses!! That week was tough! Chose decent eating options, so managed not to gain any weight during that week so that's a success!!

Gymnastics:

Holding proper arms for aerials on the end of the tumble track and onto a mat in the foam pit! And I was SO close to landing then on the floor!!!! Close enough that I was getting frustrated with myself for putting my hands down!

Did a really nice undershoot into swinging on the bar last week! Felt like I could have possibly done a giant if I actually tried!

Splits:

Pretty much neglected here other than stretching time at gymnastics

T25;

Missed about a week and s half in total, but am back on track!

Food;

Haven't tracked in a couple weeks, but have been conscious of my eating choices (except for the last two days - coworker's last day so lots of food at work and going away party, leftover food at work and another going away party = not enough willpower haha)

Life:

SO

MUCH

HOMEWORK!!!

TESTS!

QUIZES!

PROJECTS!

Had my test/interview to actually get into the interpreting program...went...ok....I know I could have done better, but I was really nervous and focussed too much on certain things, which made me miss other things. Oh well... It's over. Will hear back by the 10th.

Had a little time for costume stuff (have to have everything done in 6wks!! Don't think I'm gonna get everything done I wanted, but will make it work!)

Got my lightsaber

Working on carving a specific gun out of foaming insulation

Got halfway through making a shirt and realized the material is too thin and see through . Just gonna buy a pirate shirt and tweak it.

Found something that will work for an extendable staff! Not perfect, so keeping my eyes open for something better, but this would definitely work.

Free comic book day! Hung out with the Portland superheroes coalition! Was a blast! And met a girl who is working on a costume to get in who is deaf! So I got to sign a little while dressed as gambit!!

Portland superheroes coalition was incited to man a booth at the make a wish Oregon walk for wishes fundraiser!!! So much fun!! All the kids that ad their wines granted this year got to talk on stage and get an award from iron man! Deaf girl was here too, so got to sign all day! So much fun seeing the kids' eyes light up for the superheroes! Make a wish sent the head of e coalition a thank you letter saying everyone they talk to says we were their favorite part! And they are still reviving donations, but so far have raised $75,000! So proud o have been able to help with that!!

[raptron]

Aww, that's such great work you guys did with the Make-A-Wish folks. That's really awesome. 

 

AND AERIALS!!! DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS DOWN! JUST DON'T! YOU'LL BE FINEEEE! :D