In Which Sarah Barr Increases Her Lonely Looking DEX Stat (Challenge 14).

[Sarah Barr]

Happy January!

 

I've had a Dexterity level of one since... I can't be bothered looking it up. Possibly Challenge One. I can't do my regular walking since my Achilles tendon has been throwing a tantrum since Halloween, so I think this is a good opportunity to do some carefully thought out yoga. 

 

Struggled a lot with intermittent fasting over the holidays because I don't have a solid routine like I do at work. But, I know that when I do have that routine, it works well for me, so that is what I'm doing for my dietary component this challenge again. (I'm planning to work on a holiday-only system next time I have time off work coming up.)

 

 

Goal 1:

 

 

 

- Monday to Friday – 23 hour fasting, (e.g. 7pm Sunday to 6pm Monday)

 

- Saturday and Sunday – 16 hour fasting (e.g. 7pm Friday – 11am Saturday)

 

- Aim for 1200 – 1400kcal limit on weekend days.

 

(I have some difficulty in controlling my intake during longer non-fasting windows, so setting a calorie target for those days should help.)

 

+2 CON, +2 STA

 

 

Goal 2:

 

 

Five portions of freggies to be eaten daily during non-fasting periods. (My usual secondary food goal.)

 

+2 CON

 

 

Goal 3:

 

 

Four yoga poses a day.

That's barely anything, just a warm up, cool down, and maybe four minutes of work. That's the minimum to pass. The plan, though, is to work through a beginners' yoga video lasting about 20-30 minutes long, every two days.

 

(I've been drawing a yoga poses poster over the Christmas break to pin to my wall for quick reference.)

 

+3 DEX, +1 STR

 

Goal 4:

 

 

Three pints of water a day. That's only 1.5 litres, not too difficult. But it has to be plain water, it can't be tea. I can stick ice and the odd lemon wedge in it.

 

+ 1 CON

 

 

Life Goal:

 

 

Complete at least 50% of the table below each week, to pass. This is my justification for remaining in the Adventurers now they've changed the guild description, since I love the Adventurers, and exploring the world doesn't necessarily require wading through mud. (Although, as soon as my leg's better, mud had better watch out.)

 

Cultural Scavenger Hunt

 

Description:                                                          Date Accomplished:                  Notes:                                                         

 

Read and contemplate three new poems.

 

See one new play

 

Learn one new vocal technique

 

Practice vocal techniques for two hours throughout the week.

 

Write 500 words

 

Write 1000 words

 

Watch two new films

 

Cook a new recipe from a randomly selected country

 

Have one drink in a new place

 

Read four new book chapters

 

Learn to sing one new song by heart

 

Speak to one new person

 

 

+2 WIS, +2 CHA

 

Tracking:

 

I will check off scavenger hunt items as I'm doing them, and will track challenge goals in the posts below.

 

 

Rewards:

 

 

For every successfully completed week, I get to reward myself that weekend with a face mask, manicure, pedicure, and sauna visit, if I feel that way inclined. I'm not bothering with rewards I have to purchase, because I know full well I'll just buy them anyway. 

 

 

Here's to an excellent January and a decent start-of-year stretch!

[Sarah Barr]

Week One Tracking:

 

 

Fasting:   M Y; T Y; W Y; T Y; F Y;  S Y;  S N.

 

Freggies: M 5; T 5; W 5;  T 5; F 5; S 1; S 2.

 

Yoga:       M Y; T Y; W Y; T Y; F N;  S N;  S N.

 

Water:      M Y; T Y; W Y; T Y; F Y;  S Y; S Y.

 

 

Week 1 Cultural Scavenger Hunt

 

Description:                                                       Date Accomplished:                  Notes:                                                         

 

Read and contemplate three new poems.    -                 09/01/16                       -           Life in a Bottle, by Robert Browning

                                                                                                                    -           The Neophyte, by Aleister Crowley

                                                                                                                    -           The Troop Ship, Isaac Rosenberg

 

See one new play                                                         x

 

Learn one new vocal technique                    -            07/01/16                     -          Avoiding hard consonants

 

Practice vocal techniques for two                  - 20 mins: 05/01/16; 10 mins: 06/01/16; 1hr: 07/01/16; 30 mins: 09/01/16

hours throughout the week.

 

Write 500 words                                           -             07/01/16               -             NaNo Novel

 

Write 1000 words                                                             x

 

Watch two new films                                    -              10/01/16               -            The Great Gatsby; Biggles. They were not good choices.

 

Cook a new recipe from a randomly               -               04/01/16               -             Hungarian Mushroom Soup

selected country

 

Have one drink in a new place                                            x

 

Read four new book chapters                        -               09/01/16              -            Moby Dick, Herman Melville

 

Learn to sing one new song by heart              -               08/01/16              -          Mononoke Hime (in, uh, in theory.)

 

Speak to one new person                                                   x

[Sarah Barr]

Week Two Tracking:

 

 

Fasting:   M Y; T Y; W Y; T Y; F Y; S N;  S N.

 

Freggies: M 6; T 6; W 5;  T 6; F 5; S 6; S 5.

 

Yoga:       M Y; T N; W Y; T Y; F Y;  S N;  S N.

 

Water:      M Y; T Y; W N; T Y; F Y;  S Y; S N.

 

 

Week 2 Cultural Scavenger Hunt

 

Description:                                                       Date Accomplished:                  Notes:                                                         

 

Read and contemplate three new poems.    -             17/01/16                           -           Disillusion, by Langston Hughes

                                                                                                                    -      The Maldive Shark, by Herman Melville

                                                                                                                    -       Under the Surface, by Frances something. 

 

See one new play                                         -       x

 

Learn one new vocal technique                    -           x

 

Practice vocal techniques for two                  -            x

hours throughout the week.

 

Write 500 words                                           -   16/01/16                                   - Poetry mostly.          

 

Write 1000 words                                        - 

 

Watch two new films                                    -           

 

Cook a new recipe from a randomly               -             13/01/15                      -  Random country: Ethiopia. Cooked these lovely gingery lentils.

selected country

 

Have one drink in a new place                      -               16/01/16                      - The Constitution Bar

 

Read four new book chapters                        -              17/01/16                      - A collection of Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens.

 

Learn to sing one new song by heart              -             x                                   - (Try to learn An Innis Aigh)

 

Speak to one new person                               -                    11/01/16                - The lollipop man on my walk to the bus stop

[Sarah Barr]

Week Three Tracking:

 

 

Fasting:   M Y; T Y; W Y; T Y; F Y; S N;  S N.

 

Freggies: M 5; T 5; W 5;  T 5; F ; S ; S N.

 

Yoga:       M N; T N; W Y; T Y; F N;  S N;  S N.

 

Water:      M N; T Y; W Y; T Y; F Y;  S Y; S Y.

 

 

Week 3 Cultural Scavenger Hunt

Description:                                                       Date Accomplished:                  Notes:                                                         

 

Read and contemplate three new poems.    -                                    -       

                                                                                                                    -      

                                                                                                                    -       

 

See one new play                                         -       

 

Learn one new vocal technique                    -           18/01/16                             - A series of Mezzo/alto warm ups on YouTube

 

Practice vocal techniques for two                  -            1hr, 18/01/16

hours throughout the week.

 

Write 500 words                                           -         Done, can't remember date. 

 

Write 1000 words                                        - 

 

Watch two new films                                    -           It came from beneath the sea; nothing else. 

 

Cook a new recipe from a randomly               -            The random country generated was Scotland. Cough. Next was Japan; so am making Dorayaki.  

selected country     

 

Have one drink in a new place                      -              

 

Read four new book chapters                        -            21/01/16     -   Four more chapters of that ghost stories collection by Charles Dickens. It is very good. 

 

Learn to sing one new song by heart              -             Learned, can't remember date. (Scarborough Fair, Simon and Garfunkel. )

 

Speak to one new person                               -                    

[Sarah Barr]

Week 4 Tracking:

 

See, this is why I need to update regularly! I remember fasting twice, 5 freggies, no yoga, 3 days of water and one single scavenger hunt thing (book chapters). 

 

So final scores are thus:

 

 

1.) Fasting (+2 CON, +2 STA max) = 18/28 = 64% = PASS. +1 CON, +1 STA. 

 

2.) Freggies ( +2 CON max) = 92/140 = 65% = PASS. + 1 CON.

 

3.) Yoga (+3 DEX, +1 STR max) = 10/28 = 35% = FAIL. No increase to my lonely little DEX stat after all. 

 

4.) Water (+1 CON max) = 21/28 = 75% = PASS. +1 CON. 

 

5.) Scavenger hunt (+2 WIS, +2 CHA max) = 19/48 = 40% = FAIL. No increase. 

 

3 Goals passed, 2 failed. Scraped pass overall. 

[deftona]

This challenge looks fantastic Sarah. I love your cultural scavenger hunt idea too, that's a lovely idea. 

 

KICK IT IN THE CHUFF! 

[Terah]

Stalking along

 

I love the bear doing the happy baby pose <4

[MichiruSedai]

good luck!

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

Awesome superfun bonus happy time. I shall be following along as always, your wordplay is pleasing to me.

[spooky]

Subbed for Sarah Barr Awesomeness <4 <4 <4

 

[Riverleaf]

Following Doodlie!

[Copper Rabbit]

Your cultural scavenger hunt is an awesome idea!

I hope your challenge goes fantastic and am looking forward to seeing your updates. (:

[Sarah Barr]

Welcome to the rebellion, Copper Rabbit! And thankyou!

 

 

Did some beach cleaning for about an hour today; it's very windy outside today so I might have spent a significant portion of that chasing bits of plastic sponge about (so much sponge, so much sponge), but it feels good to have both had some exercise, and been able to stuff a load of horrible junk into its rightful bin-shaped place. And there were many, many dogs. I kept turning around and finding spaniels. 

 

Didn't get round to doing as much challenge prep as I'd have liked, but my freezer is pretty well stocked with freggies and I have my yoga videos bookmarked, so I'm ready to go! 

[Teros]

Happy January!

 

I've had a Dexterity level of one since... I can't be bothered looking it up. Possibly Challenge One.

 

*doesn't want to look at his own dex stat*

 

 

 

Question about the S.H. list - is 500 words and 1000 words separate for a total of 1500, or is that a 'halfway' benchmark?

[RES]

Oh scavenger hunt! I love scavenger hunts!! 

 

I may have to borrow this idea for work!

[RES]

grrrrrr...damn double posts

[LadyWitch]

*slinks in after many months away* I love the scavenger hunt idea! may 'borrow' that for the next challenge! Good luck with all your goals!

[Sarah Barr]

Boss let me have the afternoon off since it's a bank holiday (Thanks Boss! Not that I think my boss reads my Nerd Fitness threads but it's good to show gratitude where it's due).

 

Means I had the chance to pick up a yoga mat, and I got a blue-and-purple one. Not sure how non-slip it'll be for downward facing dog, but it's definitely an upgrade from the camping mat that I'd butchered in a failed attempt to make a crappy velociraptor puppet some years ago. It is awkward using a mat that's only about two thirds the length of your body. Got a yoga block too; not so sure what to use it for and may, er, butcher it in a future attempt to make a crappy velociraptor puppet, but I'm pretty sure it'll only take me a few seconds of browsing youtube to work it out. 

 

 

Question about the S.H. list - is 500 words and 1000 words separate for a total of 1500, or is that a 'halfway' benchmark?

 

Hey Teros! Total's 1500, hoping that aiming for that number a week will get me into a regular habit. 

 

 

I may have to borrow this idea for work!

 

A genius in the Doodlie clan came up with a scavenger hunt for a PvP challenge and it worked really well for me. (I think it was LadyShello but might be wrong) I like the ability to pick and choose things, and to know that as long as I do at least half of what's on the list I've got the option to skip some things if, say, my voice goes or I don't have money to go out. 

 

 

*slinks in after many months away*

LadyWitch!! Hallo! You're alive! I am happy you are alive!

[Terah]

Got a yoga block too; not so sure what to use it for 

You can sit on it if sitting in lotus isn't fun for your legs and you can put it under your heels if you can't make them touch the ground when you're doing downward facing dog. (Spooky may have more suggestions for you though)

 

Or you can make a dino out of it off course.

[Sarah Barr]

I started creating my avatar's epic quest and then realised it was eating too much into my completing-my-epic-quest time. 

 

Yoga for the day done, and I really love my new mat. It stood up to the Downward Facing Dog Test, it doesn't smell like horrible rubber too much, and it's surprisingly comfortable for such a thin little thing. 

 

Five freggies scarfed (orange, blueberry, raspberry, onion, mushroom); fasted, and I am 2/3 through the water for the day. One more pint and I'm at 100% for day one. Happy.

[deftona]

 I really love my new mat. 

 

I am so addicted to Tiger. I went in there for a browse the other day and came out with lots of pens, party hats, a wine stopper and a kite IN THE SHAPE OF A BAT. 

 

Glad you like your new mat! 

[Sarah Barr]

IN THE SHAPE OF A BAT. 

It's the things that look like other things that are the best in there. I love the memo pads that look exactly like a cube of wood, and the fact that the labels say things like "pillow as fish". 

[SomeGuyFromScotland]

It stood up to the Downward Facing Dog Test, it doesn't smell like horrible rubber too much, and it's surprisingly comfortable for such a thin little thing.

Amazingly enough, those are the exact qualities which attracted me to SWFS.

[Terah]

Amazingly enough, those are the exact qualities which attracted me to SWFS.

Oh man, you've got me laughing to tears :D

[Leigh]

I'm curious as to why you were butchering things to make dinosaurs... >_>