[JediNickD] World 2 Level 2: "Adventure... excitement... A Jedi craves not these things."

[JediNickD]

Welcome back for another episode of the exciting Adventures of JediNickD! It seems like forever ago that I joined this site and started my first challenge. Upon my return, I have decided to revisit some of my challenge themes to turn them into lessons as I have been doing more recently.

I feel it is a good way to reflect on my own learning and progress to write about and share these lessons, but I also have another objective. I am cataloging these lessons in a document which is now up to 126 pages. The plan is to use this document as a reference for my personal Jedi training and to pass on for my Padawan training. It isn't just my Nerd Fitness challenges. It includes every Jedi-related writing I have down, training I have worked through, and documents I have collected (which are not protected but have sources noted).

So what is my story?

Well, I’ve been here before. I kicked a lot of butt progressing through 22 challenges since 2012, until middle of last year. After struggling to maintain a presence here through the first half of 2015, I struck out on my own as I had conquered many obstacles here, learned many lessons, and felt I was ready to implement a new accountability strategy for I had developed a strong supporting cast in real life to keep me accountable.

Alas, a back injury and a "layoff" crumbled all my plans. I am on the road to recovery for both. In October, I started a new job only three weeks after my old one ended. The growing pains are over and now I feel entrenched in my new world. In October and November, I took a lot of time off from fitness to allow my back to heal. In December, I started physical therapy to strengthen my back. I have occasional flare ups, but for the most part, I have my body functioning like its old self.

It is like I am back at square one, or Level 1 for my character here. Instead of hitting the reset button, I'll jump to World 2 Level 1 complete with new challenges and obstacles. Old foes may come back, but they will require new techniques to defeat them. I am still a Jedi in training, learning from the old masters, studying the new practices, and constantly improving.

Challenge Lesson:

"Adventure... excitement... A Jedi craves not these things."

This is going to seem a little off-topic, but bear with me. Last week, I wrote up my new Nerd Fitness profile and Epic Quest detailing a lot of Bucket List items. Looking at the list, there are just a lot of experiences which I'd like to have in this life time. Reflecting on the list, most I would be perfectly happy missing out on if it meant more time with my wife and daughters. The Bucket List was made with my own wants in mind thinking only of myself, which is fine for a Bucket List, but when it comes to completing the tasks, I may decide there are other priorities to spend my most valuable time.

This morning on the radio, the DJs were talking about David Bowie's Last Will and Testament where he asks for his ashes to be spread in Bali, Indonesia. It got me thinking about where I'd want my ashes spread and why I'd want my family to visit those places. I thought back on my bucket list. Personally, I'd want my ashes spread somewhere I felt important to me and important to my family. Home is the only place which really resonates with me as a logical answer. I've been to some great places and have had great experiences. I plan to go to more great places with my family and possibly have some more great experiences. None of that compares to the experiences of raising my children at home. But home is not a physical place.

I've lived in a few houses, but home is always where the heart is. I have no sentimental attachment to any particular place. I am attached to people. My wife and I found out that there are services which will convert ashes to diamonds for about $3k. We'd like to do that with our remains to create jewelry for our daughters. What happens with the rest of the ashes is trivial at that point. My remains will be kept in my family where my heart belongs.

Getting back to the quote and the lesson to take from Yoda's teaching offered to Luke on Dagobah in their first meeting, I feel life is about the journey, not the destination. Adventure and excitement are what a young moisture farmer may have been looking for when leaving Tatooine, and I'm sure any young adult can relate to that mindset. To train to be a Jedi, you are giving up on your own aspirations to help others live a more peaceful life. A Jedi craves helping people. A Jedi craves greater understanding and mastery of skills to better help people. A Jedi craves serving the light and extinguishing the dark, being compassionate to all and alleviating suffering.

Adventure and excitement will be had along any trip, but they are more associated with the goals of life's journey or the destination of the trip. The plan to get there involves people interacting. The steps to get there involve learning, understanding, practice, and growth. The plan and the steps are the journey.

My Main Quest and Mission:

My mission is to be the best Jedi I can be. My main quest is always to enhance my overall health, fitness, and knowledge to be prepared for whatever challenges life could throw at me. As a Jedi, I need to be able to help people, whether that is a life threatening situation or just a charitable one. There is no boss level in Jedi training, there is only tomorrow.

World 2 Level 2 Challenge:

FITNESS:

• Work up a sweat! – 80 minutes of conditioning training per week.

  DEX +2, STA +2

  The weekly plan is 60 minutes of racquetball on Friday and two 10 minute fast walks. Fast walks can be replaced by jogging, swimming, biking, or rowing (haven't done since my injury, but may be ready to test) depending on what I feel like doing.

• Stretch and strengthen – 120 minutes of exercises and stretches per week

  STR +2, DEX +1

  The weekly plan includes 10 minutes of stretching each day plus two 20 minute sessions of physical therapy exercises and 20 minutes of other strength training. This plan gives me 10 minutes extra if executed to its fullest.

DIET:

• Weight control - I need to meet my target weight of 170 lbs by the middle of the challenge and maintain it for the second half of the challenge.

  CON +3

  I eat too much junk and drink too much Dr Pepper. I'm fatter than I've ever been (175 lbs with a chubby gut). I'll continue to track my meals in my Battle Log and Excel spreadsheet. I want to see less entries in the Dr Pepper and Unhealthy Food columns/bullets.

LIFE:

• Read and Write – Read Jedi and Toastmasters training materials. Write about my learning in my Epic Quest thread and/or here. Read ACQ 202 material for career training (course work to follow soon). Read new Star Wars novel (I got "Tarkin" for Christmas and have been putting off starting it).

  WIS +3, CHA +2

  After reading through some of my old writings, I'm excited to write more.  I just need to make sure I don't take too long typing, reviewing, and revising.  It can distract me from other stuff.

[JediNickD]

I joined the Star Wars themed Assassin mini challenge which tests AMRAP scores on 4 basic exercise categories: Push, Pull, Legs, Core.
 
I did each for a baseline:

Assassin Push Pull Legs Core
Level AMRAP Score Level AMRAP Score Level AMRAP Score Level AMRAP Score
JediNickD 4 31 31 5 9 18 2 68 17 6 25 100

31 Standard Pushups
9 Standard Pullups
68 Standard Air Squats
25 Hanging Leg Raises

I plan to test a category a week on Tuesday mornings. Standard Pullups will be next week, while I work on improving the other scores for the following weeks.

 

 

I had physical therapy last night.  My goal is to get back to distance running.  Right now, I am gimpy after 8 minutes of running.  My therapist added three new exercises and had me walk at 3 mph for 6 mins on a treadmill, which was too easy.  I do more than that around the office.  I'll level that up tomorrow and Thursday.  When I go back on Monday, I'll have progress to report and he'll give me the correct challenge.     

[SkiBlue]

That's awesome! That mini-challenge over there looks pretty elaborate and fun.

[JediNickD]

I am making a large dent in my Toastmaster goals this month.  I completed two manual lessons yesterday leaving me two speeches away from a second Advanced Communicator Bronze, I will give a training tomorrow leaving one left for my 4th Advanced Leader Bronze, and on Tuesday I will serve as our Club Contest Chairman to complete my 5th Competent Leader Award.  I just started working on my 6th CL.

 

For my Advanced Leader Silver, I have been assigned as a Club Coach and will meet with the club on 2/18.  I am hoping for a very positive experience.  I've been a club coach previously and enjoyed it immensely, even though the club did not achieve Distinguished.  I felt I helped them re-establish their base and build a solid foundation.  Currently, it is thriving with new members and I hope they make Distinguished this year. I am hopeful I can do that for my newly assigned club.  Making Distinguished would complete the award for me, but I have to ensure I help them complete their goals. 

 

I was recognized for my awards earned in December for one of my clubs, which was really cool.  It made me feel good about my hard work and gave me the opportunity to sound off to the club members that my efforts were not special and neither is my growth.  Each one of them can go as far or further if they put in the work and commit the time. 

[EricMN]

*stalks*

 

Interested to see your progress in the Mini...

[JediNickD]

I did diamond and standard pushups this morning.  I also worked on my Hanging Leg Raise by alternating between leg and knee raises plus doing some sit-ups, oblique twists, and lying leg lifts. I plan to test Standard Pullups next week as it is likely I will not improve that score by more than one over the next 3 weeks.  The others I expect to blow my baseline out of the water if I work hard at them.

[jstanlick]

Some serious ab work there, nicely done!

 

I admire your Toastmasters accomplishments. The one thing people seem to fear more than death is public speaking, or so I'm told Way to go out there crush that kind of thinking.

[JediNickD]

Week 1 summary:

FITNESS:
•Work up a sweat! – 80 minutes of conditioning training per week. ROCKED

Wednesday = 10 min walk
Thursday = 10 min bike
Friday = 60 min racquetball

•Stretch and strengthen – 120 minutes of exercises and stretches per week. DESTROYED

Monday = 90 min Physical Therapy
Tuesday = 40 min Stretch and Exercise
Wednesday = 50 min Stretch and Exercise
Thursday = 50 min Stretch and Exercise

DIET:
•Weight control - I need to meet my target weight of 170 lbs by the middle of the challenge and maintain it for the second half of the challenge. NEEDS WORK

Poor execution over the weekend. Need to get more salad and veggies. No more procrastinating on this.

LIFE:
•Read and Write – Read Jedi and Toastmasters training materials. Write about my learning in my Epic Quest thread and/or here. Read ACQ 202 material for career training (course work to follow soon). Read new Star Wars novel (I got "Tarkin" for Christmas and have been putting off starting it). GOOD, NOT GREAT

I'm logging a lot of time, but not enough of it is worth while. My writing should pick up as I have hit some good inspiration. I just need a canvas.

 

[JediNickD]

My daughters have both been sick, so to avoid spreading germs at the gym, I have been working out at home. The kids should not be contagious anymore and I do not appear to have caught Strep or an ear infection. I hit the gym for the first time this week and knocked out some strength exercises for the Assassin mini challenges.

[JediNickD]

My weight is 171.4 lbs, which is still above 170.  By Monday, I would like to get down to 170, then maintain it.  I can do it if I watch what I eat.  Cheese has been my nemesis and I am close to just going cold turkey on it (mmm cheese on cold turkey).  So tasty on everything.  I kept it out of lunch today, because I had it with breakfast.  Let's see if I can avoid it all weekend.  How will I eat eggs, chili, macaroni, sandwiches?  The list goes on and on.

[JediNickD]

Stupid Valentine's Day and all you chocolate, desserts, and eating out.  I'll see how I did tomorrow morning.

[jstanlick]

Ah, well, the chocolate is just one day. How's the battle vs. cheese going?

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[jstanlick]

Ah, well, the chocolate is just one day. How's the battle vs. cheese going?

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

[JediNickD]

I told my wife that I want to cut back on cheese.  It is mostly a personal thing, because I add cheese to everything, but having her prepare more meals with less cheese will be helpful.  She's on board, but I don't think she realizes the extend of my cheese addiction or how prevalent it is in our meals. 

 

I didn't do great with my diet this weekend.  Cheese was in many of the meals, but quantity was not out of control.  It is the type of cheese that is the problem.  I do need cheese in my diet, because it is a good source of protein, probiotics, and calcium.  It is melted cheese, cheese sauce, and processed cheese which I need to avoid or minimize.

[JediNickD]

I'm mad at myself for being so terrible with my diet.  I've been having headaches for the past 4 weeks to go along with being sick.  I'm over being sick, but the headaches are still here.  It is similar to a hangover headache with more concentration in the rear.  I thought dehydration and sleep could be the cause but I am caught up and over done in both.  I had a doctor appointment yesterday.  Doctor said it could be stress induced (along with the lack of control in diet).  I have been a little stressed recently with a lot of stuff going on, some stuff not going well, and just not being able to relax when I want to.  After this weekend's Toastmaster training event, I'll get a little more freedom. 

 

To be on the safe side, because of some recent developments of tumors in my family (cousin and uncle) and my wife pointing to my memory not being what it used to be, the doctor ordered MRI and CTE scans.  I am not enjoying getting older. 

 

At least I have racquetball tomorrow and RPG night on Saturday.

 

By the way, I started playing my first D&D RPG in January with a group of mostly first timers.  It is a lot fun, mostly because my wife is hilarious, but I just enjoy hanging out and playing games with friends.  Saturday will be our 4th session and I'll be on my third character.  It turns out, I am very good at rolling natural ones.  My first character tripped while attacking and was burned to a crisp by a dragon, but not by a fire-breathing.  The dragon was on fire and I landed on it.  The second character almost was beaten to death by a gang of pirates after attempting to flip their boat with a grappling hook, narrowly surviving only to burn himself to death in a room full of damp oil rags after dropping a lit torch.  I'm not the only one to die, get close to dying, or create deadly situations out of nothing, but nobody commits suicide like I do.

[SkiBlue]

I would lighten up on yourself about the diet. I struggle with the same thing, and the best thing I found to combat that is to take a few deep breaths and forgive myself. I'm slowly working on my mentality about my diet (making it come from a place of self-love and care rather than drill sergeant), but it's one of those things that'll just take some time. We can do it.

 

I hope those scans go well and don't find anything. I'm sure you'll be okay. Sounds to me like the headache is probably from stress and diet issues. 

 

That. Sounds. Hilarious! It probably sucks having to keep creating characters (though the DM COULD house rule some miraculous saving mechanism for your malevolent dice), but at least it makes for some hilarious stories! Glad you're enjoying the RPG though. They can be great fun!

[JediNickD]

The funnier stories involve my wife's resourcefulness with chainmail.  She is a really dumb, but strong warrior, named Saleme (or Salami as we call her).  She picked up some rusty chainmail and used like a net it catch a small monster.  Later, she used the chainmail with the monster as a mace and crushed another small monster with it, killing both.  Then, she combined the remains to make it heavier.  Used it as a mace again.  Set it on fire as a mace.  Dumped it out and caught a small animal in it.  She also stole dresses from dead ladies using one dress to blind a dragon unsuccessfully. 

[JediNickD]

A week without an update and we are closing in on the end.  I'm down to 171.2, so progress, but not excellence.  I'm reading plenty, not writing enough (but I did do 5 Toastmaster lessons which is a considerable amount of planning and some writing).  I also planned a Toastmasters 5-hour training, two contests, and began coaching a club. 

 

Toastmasters has been so busy it is actually a little stressful.  The most stressful part is my Area 21 Director who has been MIA for 6 weeks or more. I'm dreading having to pick up his slack next week and reached out to his Area for help.  He actually sent me an email the same day!  The first one in over a month!  But it was just an FYI forward conversing no answers to the questions I've asked or updates to the contest he is suppose to be planning.  I replied almost immediately with questions, but he has not replied.  I'm so screwed and I'm not a fan of this guy.

 

I'm usually never stressed, I never worry. I never get emotional, or overly upset.  The past few months have been more of a roller coaster ride.  Earlier this month I started getting headaches, which I thought was just sickness or allergies, but I've been able to rule them out recently.  Last night, a prescription migraine medication helped a lot.  I'm still experiencing issues and the medication makes me drowsy so I can't take it at work.  I have an MRI and CTE scan tomorrow to rule out any brain abnormalities.  I know I'm a little weird, but here's hoping for some normalcy! 

[SkiBlue]

Good luck tomorrow! I hope you get some normal results as well. Maybe something in your diet is causing the headaches? I know from my own experience that when I eat something that doesn't agree with me, I tend to get migraines a lot. 

[JediNickD]

169.8 lbs! 

 

That made me feel a lot better about my efforts this month.  Maybe I won't give myself an F.  Instead, maybe I've earned a C with some important lessons learned and maybe setting the goal just a little too high in a very difficult time period.

 

I did manage to stave off Dr Pepper all week, but only because it tasted weird (another reason I needed my brain looked at).  Turns out it was probably just the 24 pack at work that had gone flat and lacked sweetness as my wife confirmed it tasted weird after I brought a can home almost a week later that I first noticed a change.  Now, I have no Dr Pepper at work, no time to go to the store, and no reason to drink it at home.  So no Dr Pepper for 5 days. 

 

Cheese was suppose to be my target to reduce, but I did pitiful there as it is in everything I like to eat. 

 

I think I forgot to mention another reason I am getting my brain checked, and that is that I keep forgetting things.  Mostly, it is just stuff said in conversation.  I'm not forgetting things I write down or need to know for functional reasons.  When I need to make a mental note of something to do later, it just doesn't stick like it use to.  I use to be able to remember what color shirt someone was wearing when they asked me to do something.  Personally, I think I am not paying enough attention to the details, because I have my focus elsewhere (not good Jedi practice!) with all my priorities, responsibilities, interests, and activities.  If it isn't important to me or something I am doing, then I have not been allocating memory for it. 

 

The summer is coming.  In July, a lot of my Toastmasters duties will be changed over.  I'll likely take on some new duties, but I will be taking steps back in most places to allow others to step up.

 

With the spring comes better weather, which means getting my home projects done.  That will relieve some tension, too.

[jstanlick]

Best of luck with your scans today. I know I have some headache triggers (improper hydration being the most common), but it is a little disheartening when you can't think of a good reason for your head to be pounding and spots showing up in front of your eyes.

 

Congrats on getting under 170. I'd take that as a win and run with it. The scale is not an easy needle to move. Well done!

[JediNickD]

I came down with a stomach bug yesterday complete with indigestion and fevers.  I slept 13 hours last night under 3 blankets with pants and sweatshirt.  The headache is worsened with the bug.  Hydrating and eating light.  Hopefully, I lose some more weight! 

[jstanlick]

Yikes! That's no good. Feel better soon!

[JediNickD]

Recovered.  Tomorrow I'll post my grades and start my new challenge.  That's the problem with a 4 week challenge with no break between.  It is so easy to get behind.

[SkiBlue]

Recovered.  Tomorrow I'll post my grades and start my new challenge.  That's the problem with a 4 week challenge with no break between.  It is so easy to get behind.

 

There's a survey out there so they can fix it if it's getting to you. Glad to hear that you're feeling better!