mightstone2k answers the call of the wild

[mightstone2k]

Time for the week-end reminiscing and ruminating.  It starts with some funny coffee stories.  Last night at the ball game, I decided - after seeing many people in our group come back with them - to go get some french fries with what looked like some sort of mayonnaise on them.  I needed to get up and move, and wanted something tasty to stimulate my senses.  So I went walking and found -- a Streamer Coffee vendor!  It was a no joke coffee bar setup and everything.  So I waited while the barista was making drinks for two Japanese ladies who were ahead of me, and this older American gent stopped and said it was unnatural to get coffee at a baseball game.  He had a point, considering the swill that passes for coffee at most American ballparks.  But I responded by extolling Streamer's virtues; how it was the best coffee in Tokyo (in my opinion), and therefore an exception to the general rule against drinking anything other than soda or alcohol at a game.  We bantered a bit back and forth before he continued on and the barista came over to take my order.  He apparently heard my unsolicited advertisement, because when he delivered my cocoa, he also gave me a free Americano "for my dad."  We had a good laugh when I told him that I'd never seen that guy before in my life, but I got a free Americano out of the deal (easily a $3 or $4 drink at Streamer).

 

This afternoon I decided to take a walk, since my cleaning is basically done (just need to remake the bed) and it's a beautiful day.  I stopped by Word Coffee, which is a local place that I very rarely make it to.  I usually hike on Saturdays, and it's closed on Sunday.  So I stopped by for a mocha, and the barista asked if I wanted it hot or iced.  He was downright astounded when I said hot.  He had to repeat it a couple times to make sure.  Yea verily, my dude.  There is no other way to drink coffee, even if it is 80 degrees out.

 

The rest of the night will be low key.  My brother sent me a letter, which is his volley in our ongoing "build and discuss Magic: the Gathering decks by post."  I'll start my response to that, at least.  And I rented King Arthur to occupy me tonight.  I saw it years ago, but I want something not terribly taxing mentally to unwind tonight, and that'll do.  More swords than sorcery, and it will probably all come back to me as I watch it, but that's fine.

 

Weekly rule of 3 for 14-20 May

1.  Reread Simple & Sinister

2.  Write a letter

3.  Clean the house and wash my bedding

 

All three of last weeks tasks were accomplished (or will be, after dinner).  That's a successful week.

 

Weekly rule of 3 for 21-27 May

1.  SPARTAN Sprint

2.  Plan a sushi night with the office/Cassie

3.  I'll let you know next week

 

The Spartan is Saturday, and will add Asia to my intercontinental OCR list.  I have done exactly no research on the typical Spartan obstacles or course.  I'm just gonna go for it.  The sushi night is because I told Cassie in March that I'd set something up so she could meet the cast of characters in all my stories, and instead spent that week avoiding all things work - including my colleagues - outside of working hours.  So I'mma fix that this time.

 

And... that's all.  Tomorrow morning I will go to the gym.  Aside from that, I have no plans other than going to Narita.  Don't expect much chatter from me until next week.  Time for some lazy R&R:

[Machete]

21 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

Yesterday was eventful.  We closed the office early to go to a Tokyo Yakult Swallows baseball game for one attorney's going away.  It was a fun night.  I didn't get home and to bed until 22:30, which left me "sleeping in" until 06:00 this morning.

 

Training yesterday:

• OHS:  5x32L/R
• TGU:  4x32R/L

I felt good yesterday; good enough to add sets.  Today I felt vaguely slow and lethargic, and unable - or unwilling - to really focus on training.  Things suffered as a result:

• OHS:  3x32L/R
• TGU:  3x32R/L

My technique wasn't terrible.  I just felt a few steps mentally behind the movement.  It felt like I was just mindlessly rep-crunching.  My grip wasn't great.  I think I was gripping too hard again.  And I kept adjusting it on the fly.  Literally; when the swing floated, I would shift my grip before gravity caught hold again.  For one, I think that led me to grip too hard so I could feel like I was controlling the bell.  I noticed that - at least with my right - I felt a stronger grip with my first two fingers and thumb than with the last two.  I don't believe I was using the last two fingers much at all to help.  For two, adjusting my grip and vice-gripping it to make sure I didn't lose it took my focus away from the plank and hinge.  I know there were some reps I hinged too early, and I doubt I was bracing properly at the top all the time.  So all in all, not the greatest, but I'm not injured, so not the worst.

 

Pictures of my post-training palms behind the spoiler.

  Reveal hidden contents

That glorious blister on my ring finger is what I think is making my grip wonky.

 

My right isn't so bad.  I literally feel none of the blisters until after the session, except the aforementioned one on my left.

 

I definitely think I need to bring my training volume up to 100 swings and 10 get-ups.  Tomorrow I'll start implementing Machete's advice (reproduced below) to get volume up.  And maybe that will help me dial in the right grip and brace/hinge pattern.  If not, well... I see the SFG in two weeks.

 

 

Today will be a domestic.  All cleaning, really.  I don't have a cooking plan for this week, but I'll post up what I do cook after the fact.

 

Extra grip work might help. Ultimately it's probably your grip strength causing it, and gripping the 32 is definitely tough. (I have a video of a chalk-less 28kg semi-Deep 6, and my heels were coming off during the Snatch. A weak grip causes some weird stuff to happen.) It's just the way it is. You could try cycling your weights to give your hands a break--have a light, a medium, and a heavy day (e.g. Monday - 16, Wednesday - 24, Friday 32). It's those medium days that really lay the foundation. Or you could keep grinding (fewer things to think about) and double-up on the hand care.

 

19 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

I've got a pumice stone on order, and moisturizer sitting on my nightstand

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

 

[mightstone2k]

2 hours ago, Machete said:

Extra grip work might help. Ultimately it's probably your grip strength causing it, and gripping the 32 is definitely tough. (I have a video of a chalk-less 28kg semi-Deep 6, and my heels were coming off during the Snatch. A weak grip causes some weird stuff to happen.) It's just the way it is. You could try cycling your weights to give your hands a break--have a light, a medium, and a heavy day (e.g. Monday - 16, Wednesday - 24, Friday 32). It's those medium days that really lay the foundation. Or you could keep grinding (fewer things to think about) and double-up on the hand care.

 

 

Heh... Pavelisms.  The over-the-top tough guy ultra-manly persona gives me the chuckles.  I wonder what he's like in person.  He comes off much more serious in his StrongFirst videos.  Anyway, doubling down on the hand care is my plan.  I don't want to think much beyond focusing on technique.  Today's session was great.  I was up at 0500, had coffee, made it to an empty gym at 0600, and I was on.  Didn't feel distracted, rushed, unfocused, "out there," nothing.  Hit 5x32L/R on OHS and 5x32R/L on TGU.  The 5L set on OHS was my only sloppy one, and 5R was noticeably better.

 

I remembered to moisturize before bed last night, and it seemed to make a radical difference.  The gnarly blisters from yesterday's pictures were basically gone.  And then I got home and prepped Reese's breakfast cheesecake for tomorrow.  I quadrupled the recipe because I bought a 4-cup container of Greek yogurt, and I was dividing it into two containers.  Pro tip:  if you use a food processor to make this, use a dough hook or mixing paddle or something not sharp.  It makes cleaning up afterward - with your tongue - that much less fraught with peril.  And you're going to want to lick it off before you wash it, because

[The Most Loathed]

Those hot spots are pretty common and may be impossible to totally avoid. Regripping when the bell floats is a good sign and is advisable. It's good proof that you aren't death gripping the bell handle. The pinky and ring fingers are total slackers so the thumb, index and middle finger to bear the burden. A 32 kg cast iron bell tends to have a pretty think handle and they vary a lot by brand.

 

I can't quite tell from your annotation what your set/rep scheme is like so I'm having trouble knowing your volume but it looks low enough that you shouldn't be beaten up that bad. Just looking at your pictures I'd say you're actually using your last two fingers too much. You're hand isn't universally strong, let the index finger and middle finger do the work. It's hard for RKCs but work on developing the callus under you index finger. You appear to have none which meas you're grip isn't in the strongest part of your hand.

[Machete]

On 5/22/2017 at 8:35 AM, The Most Loathed said:

I can't quite tell from your annotation what your set/rep scheme is like so I'm having trouble knowing your volume but it looks low enough that you shouldn't be beaten up that bad. Just looking at your pictures I'd say you're actually using your last two fingers too much. You're hand isn't universally strong, let the index finger and middle finger do the work. It's hard for RKCs but work on developing the callus under you index finger. You appear to have none which meas you're grip isn't in the strongest part of your hand.

 

This is very interesting. I noticed the calluses all over my hand except on the entire index finger, which is still smooth as George Costanza's. (Checked with the other guys, and only one had some beginnings of a callus on the index finger.)

[mightstone2k]

On 5/22/2017 at 9:35 PM, The Most Loathed said:

Those hot spots are pretty common and may be impossible to totally avoid. Regripping when the bell floats is a good sign and is advisable. It's good proof that you aren't death gripping the bell handle. The pinky and ring fingers are total slackers so the thumb, index and middle finger to bear the burden. A 32 kg cast iron bell tends to have a pretty think handle and they vary a lot by brand.

 

I can't quite tell from your annotation what your set/rep scheme is like so I'm having trouble knowing your volume but it looks low enough that you shouldn't be beaten up that bad. Just looking at your pictures I'd say you're actually using your last two fingers too much. You're hand isn't universally strong, let the index finger and middle finger do the work. It's hard for RKCs but work on developing the callus under you index finger. You appear to have none which meas you're grip isn't in the strongest part of your hand.

 

I read your post about halfway through last week - I think - and gave it a shot during the next day's training session.  The swings felt really easy, strangely enough.  I cannot remember quite how I was gripping it, but I know my index finger was more involved.  Thanks for the tip.

 

As for notation, I write "sets x weight."  The underlying assumption is that each set is the appropriate number of reps prescribed for S&S:  swings are ten reps and TGUs are one.  Since I'm doing an equal number of sets per side, I mark that by "L/R" or "R/L," depending on which hand did the first rep.  I start with my stronger side on swings, and my less strong side on TGU, hence why the L and R switch.  So one set of swings per arm with the 32 kg bell is notated as "1x32L/R" (which means I did the left hand first).  There is rest between the left and right sides.  A full swing session is notated as 5x32L/R - ten sets of ten swings with the 32 kg bell, equally divided between the left and right side.  Two-handed swings are noted with a T.  Each practice session usually involves 100 swings and 10 TGU.

 

On 5/28/2017 at 8:50 AM, Machete said:

 

This is very interesting. I noticed the calluses all over my hand except on the entire index finger, which is still smooth as George Costanza's. (Checked with the other guys, and only one had some beginnings of a callus on the index finger.)

Now that is interesting.  Hm.  There could be an experiment in here somewhere.

 

And now for my recap, I suppose.  I'll do my week in review in this post, then do a separate post detailing the Spartan.  I cooked the curried egg salad and broccoli salad that I posted a few weeks back.  The egg salad was really good.  The broccoli salad was okay.  It was tasty, but not fantastic.  I'd make it again though.  I also made my chili cornbread casserole (on request) and a Thai chicken curry.  That curry was awesome.  I love using kabocha squash in stews because it really thickens up the broth and adds a hint of sweetness to it.

 

This week I'm making three things.  First, the V8 chili is coming back (in fact, it's simmering on the stove as I type this).  I had enough V8, tomatoes, and spices for it, so I figured I'd bring it out again.  This time I replaced the carrots with a butternut squash and a pound of beef with turkey.  And I am probably not going to add spinach because that's a mighty full pot.  Tomorrow I'm making pizza spaghetti pie with homemade pizza sauce.  And I'm going to make these protein bars for preworkout snacks either tonight or tomorrow.  Honestly, they seem more like energy bars than protein bars.  I'm guessing maybe 10-12 grams of protein per bar if I cut it down to twelve bars as suggested.  That's a spitball, not something I got from MFP or anything.  It'll be a fun experiment.

 

As for the week's exertions:

• Sunday - swings:  5x32L/R.  TGU:  5x32R/L
• Monday - swings:  5x32L/R.  TGU:  5x32R/L
• Tuesday - 16 km hike up Hinodeyama and on to Mitakesan.  That was some brutal shiznit.  Lots of incline up to Mt Konpira, then we traversed for a while along the Konpira Ridge before hitting more brutal incline up Hinodeyama itself.
• Wednesday - rest
• Thursday - swings:  5x32L/R.  TGU:  5x32R/L
• Friday - swings:  1x32L, 9x32T.  TGU:  5x32R/L.  My grip was terrible today.  It felt like the handle was literally stuck to my hand, and I could barely generate any power from my hip snap.  Or I couldn't transfer it properly.  Either way, I could barely pop the bell up to my navel.  So I stopped and switched to two-handed swings.  This was not a day where I wanted to fight to get one-handed swings to work and frustrate myself if I failed.
• Saturday - Spartan Sprint.  See write-up in next post.
• Sunday - rest
• Monday (today) - the 32 kg bell felt heavy just carrying it out, so I took today as a light day per the book.  Swings:  10x24T shadow swings (high-speed eccentrics).  TGU:  3x24R/L with a 10 second pause at each step.

Today I went in to the Pokemon store.  It was basically a ton of stuffed animals, trading card game paraphenalia, and kitschy stuff.  More or less what I imagined it would be, but now I can say I've been.  There was no Arcanine swag, but it's the place to go if you're a fan of the Eeveelutions.  Those were all over the place.

[mightstone2k]

Spartan Sprint Tokyo 2017

@Oramac I know you are an OCRaholic, so you might find some amusement in this.  And if you haven't started your season yet, here's something to whet your whistle.  This year was the first ever Spartan Race held in Japan.  One of my coworkers tipped me off about it, and we ran it:  twenty-two obstacles packed into seven kilometers.  Our wave went off at 11:00.  Our third teammate hadn't run in a while, so we walked a lot of the course, finishing in 1:20.  I successfully completed twenty of the twenty-two obstacles.  I'll try to keep my thoughts on the obstacles in the order we completed them, and sum everything up at the end.

• Over-Under-Through (O.U.T.) - fairly straightforward.  You go over the first wall, under the second, and through a hole in the middle of the third.  This was merely a way to loosen up for what was to come.
• Monkey bars - also fairly straightforward.  Traverse the bars and ring the bell at the end.  The bars were widely spaced, and the one in the middle was six inches higher than the others.  Completed no problem.  This obstacle set a personal tone for the rest of the course.  Unlike my Mudders of yore, grip strength was not a weakness.
• Barbed wire crawl - bastards.  The crawl was a long horseshoe curve, so it took a while.  The first bit was okay, but the vast majority was on rocky terrain.  A lot of people came out scraped and beaten.  I suspect this is what caused the gnarly scrape on my right ankle.  I used my hands for most of the crawling instead of my elbows, largely to avoid the pain.  After a while, I switched to the barrel roll approach, which worked wonders.

Actually, at the moment, I'm not in much of a mood to expound on each of the obstacles.  Let's leave it at what follows.  I was shocked at how freaking incredible my grip has become.  I completed the Traverse Wall, the Bucket Brigade, and the Rope Climb (despite not climbing a rope previously) thanks to a freakishly strong grip that could last what felt like forever.  Heavy swings for the win.  What I learned was that (1) I should wear long-sleeve and long pant compression gear to leave less exposed skin; (2) I should wear a hat or other top-of-head protection; and (3) I should wear trail running shoes, not VFFs.  My feet were the only part of me that got really beaten up (along with a very sunburnt top of my head).  My two teammates with shoes didn't have that problem, and they said the mud and water didn't weigh them down very much at all.  This was not a Mudder, where there is mid-shin mud all over the course.

 

Spartan Super coming up in October.  Not sure if they are doing a Beast here or not, but if they are... Trifecta, here I come.

[Oramac]

3 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

snip

 

Actually, at the moment, I'm not in much of a mood to expound on each of the obstacles.  Let's leave it at what follows.  I was shocked at how freaking incredible my grip has become.  I completed the Traverse Wall, the Bucket Brigade, and the Rope Climb (despite not climbing a rope previously) thanks to a freakishly strong grip that could last what felt like forever.  Heavy swings for the win.  What I learned was that (1) I should wear long-sleeve and long pant compression gear to leave less exposed skin; (2) I should wear a hat or other top-of-head protection; and (3) I should wear trail running shoes, not VFFs.  My feet were the only part of me that got really beaten up (along with a very sunburnt top of my head).  My two teammates with shoes didn't have that problem, and they said the mud and water didn't weigh them down very much at all.  This was not a Mudder, where there is mid-shin mud all over the course.

 

That's awesome!!  Glad you were able to run it!  To my great shame (and @Sylvaa's perpetual badgering ), I've never done a Spartan, myself.  

 

What, pray tell, are Heavy Swings?  Just Kbell swings with lots of weight?  If so, you just set up one of my new exercises.  

[mightstone2k]

 

That's awesome!!  Glad you were able to run it!  To my great shame (and @Sylvaa's perpetual badgering [emoji3]), I've never done a Spartan, myself.  

 

What, pray tell, are Heavy Swings?  Just Kbell swings with lots of weight?  If so, you just set up one of my new exercises.  

Haha this was my first Spartan. It was a lot more obstacles than running, which I liked. Heavy swings are exactly that. One-hand swings call for far more grip strength than two-hand. And when I say "heavy," I'm talking 32 kg. At least, that's my current definition of heavy [emoji1]

 

 

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[mightstone2k]

Training went really well today.  The gym was basically empty, and I trained down in the pit while the only other people there - an exercise class - trained in the open area.  5x32L/R OHS and 5x32R/L TGU.  Easy peasy on the grip.  They had uninspiring pop music playing, and I was training angry.  Well, twitchy and nerved up.  I finally kicked on The Devil and the Huntsman to drown out their playlist and tapped into my primal side.  Rawr.

 

I ate exactly nothing that I cooked today.  I bought sushi at the commissary for lunch after going in to clear out my email, and had no motivation to cook dinner when the time rolled around for my stomach to start gnawing at me.  So I went back to the commissary and bought a half chicken and potato wedges.  I just finished prepping the pizza spaghetti pie, which I will let sit in the refrigerator overnight.  I'll bake it tomorrow after work.  Tonight it's just Tombstone.  Early morning training session tomorrow and back to work.  Happy belated Memorial Day to all of you back in the US.

[The Most Loathed]

I didn't have a callus under my index finger for years. It wasn't until maybe two years ago that I shifted my grip based on a video by Valerie Fedorinko. It's still the smallest of my calluses but it's there. Hard style used to, and I assume still does, teach the user to center his or her hand on the handle and not rotate the arm then punch through. Doing it this way loads the middle and ring finger most. I tore tons of calluses, especially on my middle finger and sometimes in the middle of my hand when I used to do it that way. I tried all the things of shaving or filing my calluses and they helped but not nearly as much as shifting where I grip. I now tear a callus maybe a couple times a year and usually because I'm doing something new.

 

In sport they teach to emphasize the index finger in gripping, especially at the bottom as opposed to that monkey grip that RKC used to teach. We don't punch through either, we move the bell around our hand rather than over. That said, I know pretty much no one who has the index callus. I don't actually think that it's important. But I think that by thinking about it, it changes the swing to rely on your strongest fingers and it does shift how you hold the bell enough to let some pressure off the common hot spots. 

[Oramac]

17 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

Haha this was my first Spartan. It was a lot more obstacles than running, which I liked. Heavy swings are exactly that. One-hand swings call for far more grip strength than two-hand. And when I say "heavy," I'm talking 32 kg. At least, that's my current definition of heavy

 

  Yea, that's heavy!!  I've been doing Kbell swings 3 sets of 30 with 25 pounds (11kg).  I have a session with the trainer today, but I'll definitely try upping the weight later on! 

 

3 hours ago, mightstone2k said:

They had uninspiring pop music playing, and I was training angry.  Well, twitchy and nerved up.  I finally kicked on The Devil and the Huntsman to drown out their playlist and tapped into my primal side.  Rawr.

 

I almost never listen to the music in the gym.  It's rarely heavy enough, hard enough, or fast enough to really make for a good workout.  I recommend a good pair of bluetooth headphones.  

 

Sounds like you had a great workout! 

[mightstone2k]

22 hours ago, The Most Loathed said:

I didn't have a callus under my index finger for years. It wasn't until maybe two years ago that I shifted my grip based on a video by Valerie Fedorinko. It's still the smallest of my calluses but it's there. Hard style used to, and I assume still does, teach the user to center his or her hand on the handle and not rotate the arm then punch through. Doing it this way loads the middle and ring finger most. I tore tons of calluses, especially on my middle finger and sometimes in the middle of my hand when I used to do it that way. I tried all the things of shaving or filing my calluses and they helped but not nearly as much as shifting where I grip. I now tear a callus maybe a couple times a year and usually because I'm doing something new.

 

In sport they teach to emphasize the index finger in gripping, especially at the bottom as opposed to that monkey grip that RKC used to teach. We don't punch through either, we move the bell around our hand rather than over. That said, I know pretty much no one who has the index callus. I don't actually think that it's important. But I think that by thinking about it, it changes the swing to rely on your strongest fingers and it does shift how you hold the bell enough to let some pressure off the common hot spots. 

Hardstyle does teach punching through on snatches.  Swings don't come high enough for punching through to come into play (none of this above the head swinging!).  But I cannot tell you for sure what they teach about where to grip.  The book (p 24) simply says, "hook the kettlebell handle with your fingers, but do not grip it tightly."  I just defaulted to a full-hand grip, which means centering it in the middle and ring fingers.

 

21 hours ago, Oramac said:

 

  Yea, that's heavy!!  I've been doing Kbell swings 3 sets of 30 with 25 pounds (11kg).  I have a session with the trainer today, but I'll definitely try upping the weight later on! 

 

 

I almost never listen to the music in the gym.  It's rarely heavy enough, hard enough, or fast enough to really make for a good workout.  I recommend a good pair of bluetooth headphones.  

 

Sounds like you had a great workout! 

I don't like training with headphones, so it's rare that I play music in the gym.  The fact that I fired it up yesterday says a lot ><

 

Well, May was a month.  Not the worst I've ever experienced, but hardly the best.  Let's start with the Rule of 3 recap.

1. Run individual Tax Center reports (completed 4 May)
2. Hike Mito-san
3. Read Federalist 7-16

I sat down and knocked those reports out early.  Setting that as a goal was a very productive way to get it done.  It was first on my list and first in my mind when May rolled around.  And, thankfully, I had the room to bear down on it early in the month.  There was some benefit to my short stint in the obscure office.  Mito-san was a binary goal:  do or do not.  I did not.  I was taking it easy during the first half of the month because of my PFT.  After that, I had Cassie coming in, so I planned to do it Memorial Day weekend.  The Spartan put paid to that idea.  I was too whipped Monday and Tuesday.  No big deal.  I'll knock it out this month some time.  As for the Federalist, I read six of the ten essays, including the rather meaty Federalist 10 (on the dangers of faction).  That was a failure of choice.  I could have accomplished the goal had I prioritized reading it.  I did not, so I did not accomplish the goal.  Lesson learned.  I had great success when I made reading The Civil War a weekly goal, so perhaps that is the takeaway from this.  A weekly goal of reading two Federalist Papers may be more fruitful than a monthly goal of reading ten.

 

Outside of the Rule of 3, other things of import happened.  The most obvious of them was the PFT (obvious to anyone who read my kvetching for the first half of the month).  I'm happy to say that I passed with a 90.8, which is enough to give me a year until I must retest.  After that, I was able to get back to my kettlebell training.  And the time away - combined with the mental simplicity of PFT training, coupled with its successful result - gave me room to refocus.  I'm not here to work out.  I'm here to practice.  Practice swings and Turkish get-ups until I can perform the moves virtuously.  Strength will follow, as will the Simple goal.  I'm not in a rush to add loaded carries, a weekly run, or greasing the groove with one-arm pushups.  Not yet.  I meet with an SFG Saturday for an expert's eye on my two practice techniques.  As an aside, my training today was very similar to yesterday.  Same volume, less primal.

 

Personally, the month was not awesome.  My week as a host was less relaxing and more fraught.  I spent Monday and Tuesday emotionally exhausted and running around in circles in my head (to no avail, naturally).  No answers, lots of questions, and no way to answer them without either taking a leap or maintaining the status quo.  And I'm not sure what the right answer is.  Yes, that's deliberately vague.  I'm not quite comfortable looking at the issue any more directly than from the corner of my eye, because I don't really want to make a decision.  I dunno.  Life is short, and nothing is guaranteed, particularly not the future.  And choices have consequences.  Long term consequences, often with unforeseen downstream effects.  And I don't want to do all my thinking "out loud."  If I do that, I have to really think about things in order to put something coherent in writing.  I really just want to unplug for a week or two.  Go to work and be an officer/attorney, practice at the gym, cook lots, and get out on the weekends to do things, all without having to worry about being tied to US time zones (or FaceTime, or texting, or anything).  Eh.

 

Looking ahead to June, the Rule of 3 is fairly simple:

1. Finish reading The Civil War:  A Narrative - Red River to Appomattox (the third and final volume).  I'm in the home stretch of the war, even if the Confederacy and Union don't know it yet.  So let's get this done.  I made this a monthly goal before having my eureka moment about the relative success of weekly v. monthly reading goals.  I may spend one goal each week on reading benchmarks for this.
2. Upload my tux measurements.  I'm a ... bridesman? for one of my best friend's from law school in September.  It's a lesbian couple, which is downright fascinating for me to consider (I try to keep my views under wraps on here because ain't no one here for that (including me), but it's fair to say I'm generally conservative).  It was a running joke between us that the Catholic boy and Jewish lesbian turned out to be BFFs (and roommates as 3Ls).  Now I'm in their wedding, in some capacity.  I'm still not clear on what capacity, precisely, because despite her explaining Jewish wedding customs, I'm not sure what role an unrelated non-Jew plays in the ceremony.  Other than attendee, of course.  All that aside, I am apparently a bridesman and thus must get measured for a tux and send the measurements to the place she's renting from this month, since I can't attend the group fitting next weekend.
3. Research Fuji climbing.  I plan to tackle Fuji-san on Independence Day weekend.  I have a month to research what I need and what dangers and difficulties I'll face, and to prepare for them.  I will hike Fuji-san once, and I will succeed.  From what I've heard, doing it twice is a very special form of masochism.

I will now go upstairs and read.  The pizza spaghetti pie turned out quite well.  Prepping it ahead made things real easy tonight.  I just came home, popped it in the oven, and puttered around getting things in order for tomorrow.  One hour later, deliciousness.

[Oramac]

12 minutes ago, mightstone2k said:

reading...Federalist Papers

 

Where have you been all this time!?  I need to follow your challenges more often.  Love this goal!! 

[mightstone2k]

 

Where have you been all this time!?  I need to follow your challenges more often.  Love this goal!! 

Heh. I've been here in Battle Log Land. I fell off the challenge wagon pretty early in my NF career. I have a thing for consolidation. Keeping everything in one place makes reference and continuity vastly simpler. I even started tracking my training sessions in my BuJo instead of keeping a separate training log.

 

If you want to do a Federalist discussion group/PvP, I'd be on board. Maybe that will spur me into reading that through to completion. I was a constitutional law junkie in law school, and political philosophy is growing on me as an actual interest, as opposed to a thing that I "should" know.

[The Most Loathed]

58 minutes ago, mightstone2k said:

I'm not here to work out.  I'm here to practice.

perfect

 

 

[Oramac]

46 minutes ago, mightstone2k said:

I was a constitutional law junkie in law school

 

Oh man.  You and I are either going to agree on everything or hate each other.  lol.   

 

But yea, I'd be down for some kind of PVP.  Gotta go get a real physical copy of the Fed Papers first though.

 

EDIT: and I'm following too.  

[Elastigirl]

Way to go on the Spartan! Sounds like your Simple practice is going along well. One of the reasons I like the GMB program is that they have the same philosophy as Strongfirst, focusing on the movement and practice rather than just trying to get as many reps as possible. Since I've done that so much with S &S, it's very easy for me to do the same with my ring practice.

 

I read The Federalist Papers with my son in high school. Really fascinating. 

[mightstone2k]

On 5/31/2017 at 9:55 PM, Oramac said:

 

Oh man.  You and I are either going to agree on everything or hate each other.  lol.   

 

But yea, I'd be down for some kind of PVP.  Gotta go get a real physical copy of the Fed Papers first though.

 

EDIT: and I'm following too.  

 

1 hour ago, Elastigirl said:

Way to go on the Spartan! Sounds like your Simple practice is going along well. One of the reasons I like the GMB program is that they have the same philosophy as Strongfirst, focusing on the movement and practice rather than just trying to get as many reps as possible. Since I've done that so much with S &S, it's very easy for me to do the same with my ring practice.

 

I read The Federalist Papers with my son in high school. Really fascinating. 

Heh.  They keep getting quoted in articles - and Federalist quotes are common in constitutional law opinions - so I feel like I'm not a real lawyer unless I read and understand them.  It would be like not knowing Palsgraf and claiming to be a personal injury lawyer.  Gotta build my street cred.

 

Training yesterday:

• Swings:  2x32L/R, 6x32T
• TGU:  3x32R/L

The blisters on my right hand felt like they were ... pulling, I guess, on one-handed swings.  Mindful of the torn palm and subsequent uselessness of my right hand when I was in Florida, I switched over to two-hand swings.  If torn skin on the palm is bad, torn skin at the base of the fingers probably isn't any better.  TGU was just a case of me not being present mentally.  Better to stop than to press on and practice badly.

 

This morning was not intended to be a day of rest, but that's what it became.  Tomorrow's SFG session is "not a smoker," as he put it, so I planned to train hard this morning and have tomorrow be a light day.  Well, life happened and the SFG had to postpone.  I finished my cup of coffee at 0530, sat here for a few minutes reflecting on how I felt, and decided that I just needed a slow morning.  So I made another cup of coffee and opted not to train today.  The office is shutting down so we can go into Tokyo and do MariCar for a going-away.  Driving a go-kart through the streets of a major metropolitan area counts as exercise, right?

[Oramac]

17 minutes ago, mightstone2k said:

 Better to stop than to press on and practice badly.

 

Wisdom is a good thing to have.  You have it.  

[Kishi]

On ‎3‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 6:05 AM, mightstone2k said:

Edit to add:  to any mod who reads this (@Kishi @RisenPhoenix), can you abuse your power to change my title to something - anything - other than "Rookie"?  I've been on here for over four years now...

 

You are not the first person to bring this up, and I am not the first person to bring it up with the Powers That Be. Unfortunately, that's not in the cards right now.

 

We have no power, sadly.

 

Also glad to hear that you're being wise with SFG and that you aced your PFT! That's awesome, man, and I bet it's great to have the load off your back.

[mightstone2k]

The Rainbow Bridge is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Tokyo.  It connects mainland Tokyo with Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay.  It is open to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, so it's possible to walk across the bridge and enjoy a stunning view of Tokyo Bay and the Tokyo skyline.  It is also possible to drive across the bridge in a go-kart that hits 70+ kph.  Wearing a Stitch onesie.

 

 

Yep.  That was totally a thing that happened yesterday.  The office did MariCar as a going-away for two of our attorneys, and it was a blast.  Those go-karts can move.  And they are super low to the ground, and have no suspension.  They are completely street legal.  We were driving all over downtown Tokyo in them, past police officers and everything, and no one stopped us.  Plenty of people stopped to take pictures and wave, and we had a great time waving at cars and posing for pedestrian pictures while we were stopped at lights.  We also came close to photobombing a J-pop girl band at Odaiba, but they piled back into their limousine before we got close enough to see if they wanted to take a group picture.  There were a few times that Yoshi and I got cut off from the group.  We were the tail of our column, so a few drivers decided they wanted to move into our lane in the midst of our group.  Unfortunately, red shells were not an option.  But we were able to reform and continue on.

 

 

After everyone got back - with no injuries or deaths! - a few of us went out for drinks and dinner.  I got lucky on cider last night.  We started at the Tap Stand in Shinjuku, which had Schilling's Lumberjack cider.  After that, we went to an okonomiyaki place in Harajuku, followed by after-dinner drinks at the PDX Taproom, which has ten drinks on tap, all of which are Oregon-made.  They had Reverend Nat's Sacrilege Sour Cherry cider, which was fantastic.  I really enjoy hard ciders that use fruits other than apple, and cherry is one of my favorites.

 

So that was MariCar.  This morning I woke up and hit the gym for 5x32L/R OHS and 5x32 R/L TGU.  It's time for me to start thinking about flipping the crazy switch now.  My working weight is clearly 32 kg, so I can't run from it any more.  Perhaps tomorrow I'll do it?  I'll read the book this afternoon and figure it out.

 

Now for the drool talk.  Tonight I'm cooking a double recipe of West African chicken stew, and tomorrow morning I'll start Thai yellow curry before going in to the gym and reading at mass.  They didn't have brisket, so I got flank steak for the curry instead.  Tomorrow is going to be a bit of a day.  I need to start the curry, then hit the gym, then read at 0900 mass, then I'm nipping in to work so I can get caught up on tax stuff.  My NCOIC left for her new assignment, so it's all on me now.  I need a day where I can burrow down without distractions, so tomorrow will be it.  There will be a slight break in there for lunch.  One of our soon-to-depart attorneys and I are trying a new ramen place for lunch tomorrow.  Oh noes, the gluten!  Meh.  My Paleo life is a little loose, living here in Japan.  I refuse to let food rules dominate my life, especially when I have the opportunity to try a new culture's food.  Granted, I'm not going out of my way to get gyoza or noodles all the time.  But a mindful enjoyment on occasion will not cause me any grief or guilt.

 

Rule of 3 for 4-10 June

1.  Read to page 391 in volume 3 of the Civil War.  I am at page 243 currently.  It may seem a bit short, to only shoot for 148 pages.  But my new role at work tends to keep me a bit later in the evening.  The smart call is to adjust fire on the reading goal and see how I do.

2.  Identify the missing parts for the light drive ring.  This is the component I forgot to build for Serenity, and I am missing parts.  The set looks complete without it, but my inner perfectionist rebels at the notion of leaving it alone.  The need to figure out what parts I'm missing has been something I knew I needed to do for at least a month now, so let's get it done.

3.  Get measured for the tux.  Let's get this thing done early in the month.

 

On 6/2/2017 at 6:08 AM, Oramac said:

 

Wisdom is a good thing to have.  You have it.  

 

ALL HAIL THE WISDOMANCER!!!  In all seriousness, I appreciate this sentiment.  Wisdom has always made the most sense to me in terms of D&D attributes applied to real life.  I'd rather have wisdom than intelligence, say.  Although I wouldn't say no to both... 

 

9 hours ago, Kishi said:

 

You are not the first person to bring this up, and I am not the first person to bring it up with the Powers That Be. Unfortunately, that's not in the cards right now.

 

We have no power, sadly.

 

Also glad to hear that you're being wise with SFG and that you aced your PFT! That's awesome, man, and I bet it's great to have the load off your back. [emoji4]

 

 

So... none of that?

 

Yeah, being done with the PFT for a year is pretty awesome.  I can spend eleven months getting down with the kettlebells before I need to concern myself with preparing for the test again.  Definitely gonna hit Simple in that time, and either make legit progress toward Sinister or start working toward something else, like the pressing and snatch test goals.  Or hell, even start developing bodyweight strength.  The world is my oyster, and my goal is to crush the shell with my bare hand.

[Sloth the Enduring]

I've never really been interested in going to Japan until right now.

[Elastigirl]

That sounds like such fun! So cool that it is all street legal, that makes it even more fun. Japan sounds like a really neat place.

 

Love the West African Stew from Well Fed. 

[Oramac]

On 6/2/2017 at 8:59 PM, mightstone2k said:

The Rainbow Bridge is one of the most recognizable landmarks of Tokyo.  It connects mainland Tokyo with Odaiba, a man-made island in Tokyo Bay.  It is open to vehicle and pedestrian traffic, so it's possible to walk across the bridge and enjoy a stunning view of Tokyo Bay and the Tokyo skyline.  It is also possible to drive across the bridge in a go-kart that hits 70+ kph.  Wearing a Stitch onesie.

 

On 6/2/2017 at 11:25 PM, Sloth the Enduring said:

I've never really been interested in going to Japan until right now.

 

QFT.  Now I want to go specifically for that!