Rhyme joins the Assassins -- now with progress gifs!

[Rhyme]

As I crept into the Assassin's guild for the first time, I found myself nervous with anticipation. There was no way the Assassins would welcome me. With such poor strength and even poorer flexibility, how could I possibly hope to earn a position in such a noble guild?

 

I knew I must take on a formidable quest in hopes of proving myself.

 

Must I find the knight's sword and challenge a fierce dragon?

 

No!

 

Must I rally up my brave comrades to take down our tyrannical king?

 

No!

 

Must I overcome my fears to save our world from destruction?

 

No!

 

I must DANCE!

 

 

 

 

 

No! I Must Dance!

~Rhyme's sixth challenge~

 

Hey nerds! I've always admired your sassy Assassinry from afar, and I think it's about time I hop in and get my poi quest rollin'! I just learned how to make fuzzy, poorly-saturated gifs... and well, if progress pics are a thing, why can't we have progress gifs? Needless to say I'm a complete noob at making gifs, though. If anyone has any tips, I'm all ears!

 

 

Fitness goal: Learn Crossers!

 

I recently learned crossers, and while I can technically do them, I either hit myself or destroy my planes within five seconds. Not to mention, it takes me lots of preparation to enter or exit! Here's where I'm at right now:

 

 

 

Ohh myyyy. You see that pink light? That's supposed to be parallel to the red one. Crossers are in the wall plane, which means the lights shouldn't be pointing towards the camera at all -- they should be parallel to the wall in front/behind me. Also, they're not supposed to crash into each other when I try to exit. That too.

 

By the end of this challenge, I want to be able to enter the move without pausing, sustain the move with proper form for at least 10 seconds, and exit the move smoothly!

 

 

Fitness goal: Learn the Reverse Windmill!

 

I made the poor life decision to learn the corkscrew before I learned to do the windmill both ways. For reference, here's the windmill in the direction I learned it:

 

 

 

Pretty nice! The reverse direction, on the other hand....

 

 

 

 

Ohhh myyy. You can see it awkwardly morph towards a corkscrew, which is like a windmill but down in front of you instead of over your head. I learned the corkscrew in that direction before I learned the windmill, so my muscle memory is trying to fix it. You're not helping!

 

I want to be able to perform the reverse windmill by the end of this challenge -- and the only way is to practice!

 

 

Diet goal: Garden of Eatin’

 

I want to grow edible flowers so I can make some fancy pants salads like this!

 

 

 

Or this!

 

 

 

Oh, they’re all so adorable that I want to devour them. And I’m gonna make it happen.

 

…The thing is, that’s what I said last year. And it never happened. I have a bad habit of getting awesome ideas, and then never actually trying to accomplish them? So, I want to set aside at least 30 minutes a week to working on garden stuff – be it researching, contacting nurseries, or starting seeds!

 

 

Life goal: Chem Is Try!

 

 

Oh, I’m very responsible. I always get my homework done.

 

Usually at 2AM where I turn into a rabid, sleep-deprived gremlin. And then I wonder why studying stresses me out.

 

But when I study early instead of all in one last-minute session, I actually like to read and practice the material! I just put it off because “studying stresses me out! (when I have all this crap due tomorrow and I want to go to bed)â€.

 

So, for this challenge I’m going to study for ten minutes every day. Once that book’s open I typically either get on a roll, or I make slow progress in between finding a catchy playlist and petting my cat. Either option would be great! And if I reeeeally don’t want to study, It's ten minutes and I can go back to doing nothing useful as usual.

 

 

Also, fair warning, I'll be posting obligatory kitty pics every week after my volunteer shift at the animal shelter! It's not related to my challenge this time, but it was a blast to share last challenge, so I'll keep doing it anyway!

[Rhyme]

Space reserved for progress reports~!

[fleaball]

Totally here for the kitties and shiny things. Also edible flowers sound so cool.

(Fun idea: don't tell irl people about it. Have a dinner party, serve flower salads, laugh at tech confusion.)

[StoneMonkey]

Aw, that's so cool! I've always thought Poi was awesome, but considering my 'natural grace and elegance' I'd probably knock myself out with one somehow. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

I feel you on the studying. When I'm not in the mood to study, it's mind-numbing to force myself to do it. Best of luck with your studies.

[RMDC]

I'm really looking forward to those poi gifs. Satisfies the inner laser-pointer-chasing-cat in me.

[shaar]

YAAAAAS WELCOME WELCOME!!

 

 

Your poi is just so flippin' COOL~

[Suzaqu]

Welcome to the Assassins! Love the theme, and your progress gifs are awesome! I never would have understood what all those cool moves were, but with the gifs I can see what you are talking about!

 

I find for studying what helped me was saying something like at "7pm I'm going to study" so it's scheduled and it's just something I do.

 

Nom nom flowers!

 

[Rhyme]

Totally here for the kitties and shiny things. Also edible flowers sound so cool.

(Fun idea: don't tell irl people about it. Have a dinner party, serve flower salads, laugh at tech confusion.)

 

Hahaha! Actually, I plan on doing something like that -- the cat volunteers have a monthly potluck and I want to bring a fancy appetizer sometime. In one of the books I was reading, the author talked about her friend who would accept dinner invitations "but I'm not eating any of your weird flowers!".

 

Aw, that's so cool! I've always thought Poi was awesome, but considering my 'natural grace and elegance' I'd probably knock myself out with one somehow. I'm looking forward to seeing your progress!

 

I feel you on the studying. When I'm not in the mood to study, it's mind-numbing to force myself to do it. Best of luck with your studies.

 

There's always the "safer" option of spinning tennis balls in tube socks, but I admit, I like the glowsticks so much that I just take the beating. The lights make me feel like an airbender so it's worth it.

 

I'm really looking forward to those poi gifs. Satisfies the inner laser-pointer-chasing-cat in me.

 

That... actually explains a lot, actually! No wonder the crazy cat lady is spinning glowsticks.

 

YAAAAAS WELCOME WELCOME!!

 

 

Your poi is just so flippin' COOL~

 

Thanks so much! Glad to have you~

 

Welcome to the Assassins! Love the theme, and your progress gifs are awesome! I never would have understood what all those cool moves were, but with the gifs I can see what you are talking about!

 

I find for studying what helped me was saying something like at "7pm I'm going to study" so it's scheduled and it's just something I do.

 

Nom nom flowers!

 

 

 

Awesome! I thought the gifs might help explain what I'm doing. A picture's worth a thousand words and all!

 

I'll have to look at setting a study time. It might be difficult since some days are literally just school -> work -> gym -> sleep, but I'm sure I can work something out!

[Rhyme]

Okok, so they're not cats, but they ARE fluffy, chubby, and cute! I thought I'd share 'em anyway!

 

These are the bees! My brother and I started a hive last year and we love 'em, though we've still got lots to learn. It's been "warm" outside the last few days, and the property owner told us they were out exploring a few days ago, so we went over to check on them.

 

Here's what the hive looks like! There are a couple different types of beehives, this one's called a Langstroth hive. It's the most common one you'll see.

 

 

This here's the top feeder! Bone dry. It used to be full of sugar water, but it's all evaporated so there's a layer of sugar at the bottom. If you look near the mesh, you can see little chunks in the sugar where the bees tried to bite off as much as they could. Don't worry, they're not starving! They have a store of honey to survive the winter.

 

 

Here you can see rows of frames! These frames all have honeycomb and honey on them. Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of the frames for you guys, it's still chilly and we didn't want to disturb them too much. That white stuff is medicine for the bees since they had varroa mites on them when we checked last fall. Varroa mites are the most dangerous pest for bees, and we did see at least one bee with deformed wings which is a sign of the mites. Luckily they're still alive and kickin', so hopefully the treatment helped!

 

 

More frames! The black things are hive beetle traps, and it looks like they caught a few. Too many hive beetles can destroy the comb, honey, and pollen stores. Don't worry, the beetle to the top left is dead. We also broke off chunks of sugar from the feeder and put it in the hive for the bees to munch on. You can see a few of them are already stoked about it!

 

 

Close up! They're so cute and charming in person. All curious 'n stuff. See the row of eyes between the frames? They don't seem to line up like that until a minute or two after you open the hive. Like they're all sitting there wondering who the heck is dropping by for a visit.

 

 

Filled up the feeder before we left! Eat it up, guys!

 

 

Overall, it looks like they're doing pretty good! They were all huddled up inside when we came, so they were pretty confused/curious when we opened up the hive. A bunch of them started hovering around and hanging out on our suits. No headbutting, though, so they weren't aggressive! Just curious about who could be visiting. Little known fact: honeybees will actually warn you before they sting. If a bee starts bonking into you repeatedly, they're asking you to leave. Wasps won't do that though. They just go in for the kill. Wasps are dicks.

[EVEArgent]

Those poi gifs are hella tight.

[RMDC]

Hell yes bees! My in-laws are beekeepers. Man, the number of heavy-ass hive bodies I've hauled around; the number of frames I've scraped comb from; the number of rotator cuff aches I've gotten cranking the extractor. Awesome photos. I hope you'll share more of them soon.

[Toxophilite]

Gifs and cats. Looks like you meet the Assassin entry requirements

 

Best of luck

[shaar]

AWWWW BEES!!  I love bees, they are fuzzy and adorable.  Your pictures are awesome!!  I never knew how beekeeping really worked.

 

 

Agreed that wasps are just dicks. >

[fleaball]

The bees are so cute! I will continue to freak out when I see them buzzing around me, but I'm glad you're their friend.

[Rhyme]

Hell yes bees! My in-laws are beekeepers. Man, the number of heavy-ass hive bodies I've hauled around; the number of frames I've scraped comb from; the number of rotator cuff aches I've gotten cranking the extractor. Awesome photos. I hope you'll share more of them soon.

 

Haha, no way! Small world! My bro and I are still very much noobs at this, so maybe you'll have to give me pointers when you see me doing something funky.

[Rhyme]

I'm in a very strange place right now where I'm procrastinating my math homework by doing extra studying for my chemistry quiz. It's not my fault the studying program's actually fun! I was only required to do 48 problems, but I'm on 118. I should do math. The math isn't hard, it's just memorization right now. I don't want to do math.

[Reinfire]

Not an assassin, but sneaking in to see how you do this challenge! I'm ridiculously excited to see your progress gifs!

[fleaball]

Do math. You can go back to chem as a reward.

[Rhyme]

Oh. After running around on NF, I discovered that the chemistry program logs you out if you're idle for a bit. Well played NF, making me move onto math.

[Starstuff]

Yaaaaaaas! Moar poi! And edible flowers!

 

[Rhyme]

Stayed up all night doing my math,came in today and the math quiz was moved back. I'd flip a table but I'm pretty sure I aced my chem quiz so it's ok.

Gotta do more math for Wednesday and have some chem assignments due online on the 4th. Pretty busy today (class, volunteer, gym) and tomorrow (class, work) but I'm sure I'll find the time~

[fleaball]

Boo for staying up all night but now at least you're partly prepared already!

[Jonesy]

Those progression gifs are such a great idea! I would have never had any idea what you were talking about without gifs. I'd have so many bruises doing that. I'm excited to see how you progress and can't wait to see more gifs!

 

Also thank you for sharing the bee pictures. I scared of bees but learning about them and the hives is cool. 

[Rhyme]

Boo for staying up all night but now at least you're partly prepared already!

 

Oh man I am so relieved I did most of my math already. Just gotta check the last set and do one more section!

 

Those progression gifs are such a great idea! I would have never had any idea what you were talking about without gifs. I'd have so many bruises doing that. I'm excited to see how you progress and can't wait to see more gifs!

 

Also thank you for sharing the bee pictures. I scared of bees but learning about them and the hives is cool. 

 

Happy the gifs are helpful illustrators! I'd be at a loss trying to explain some of this stuff in words.

 

I've always been paralyzed around stingy things, so one thing that surprised me was how gentle and calm the bees are! The only time they've ever given us the warning headbutts was that very first day, but that involved a.) a car ride, and b.) shaking them violently out of their box into a new beehive, so I can't really blame them.

[Rhyme]

It's Monday, and that means pics from the animal shelter! We were really low on cats today which is a great problem to have.

 

This guy's from a hoarding situation, one of the last ones left at the shelter, they've almost all been adopted! He eats his food too fast so the staff gave him this puzzle to slow him down. He knows how to work it, he just wants US to knock the food down FOR him. What a butt.

 

 

This girl was cuddly and suuuuper soft. Lynx ears and gold eyes, she'll be an awesome familiar for someone.

 

 

We filled up the birdfeeder outside and the sparrows went nuts. Held one kitty by the window and she was so stoked, chirping and everything. Tried to get a video but I guess she was camera shy. Oh well!

 

As for my challenge goals today, did my ten minutes of studying and more during break between classes! Now that I'm looking at my goals, two of them are skill-based, and the other is a once-a-week thing. I'll need to keep an eye on them and make sure they're not neglected!