jburns08's challenge pt 2, the quest for more skills.

[Jburns08]

Coming off the boost of last month's challenge I thought I would make the pace change a little.

 

I'm already getting in about as much exercise as I can, so goals this challenge will be more in the personal level up catagory.  I intend to keep my diet goals from last month going, just not adding them into this officially.

 

Goals:

1 Rosetta stone module\day (mandarin)

Standing Zhan meditation at least 5min every night. working up to 30min by the end of the month.

Horse stance practice\meditation every night for as many deep breaths as I can. (no time goal here, goal is just to get it more comfortable at longer times)

 

That's it.  They are few, but things I keep putting off, so time to step up to the plate.  Diet and exercise, I just need to keep doing what I'm doing and make good decisions.  I'm about 15lb away from my goal weight so I think I need to just let it happen there.  Time to focus on some other aspects of my improvement.

[Kishi]

Getting comfy in uncomfy places is about as good a challenge as one can make happen. At least, I'm willing to vouch for it.

 

Have fun!

[Kyellan]

Whew, Mandarin. What I know of it indicates that it is quite a challenge for a non-native speaker. Power to you!

[Jburns08]

I have tried and failed in the past, mostly due to a lack of commitment.  It is super different from english, so between the sounds and the characters it is throwing.  Fortunately my sifu speaks mandarin, so I'm hoping once I get the basics I can start conversing and improving from there.

 

Fingers crossed, I've never been good with languages, but I may as well give it the old college try!

[Jburns08]

Well, not a bad start to this challenge.

 

I'm managing my Zhan and horse stance nightly.

The rosetta stone, I missed the first 2 days due to computer troubles (HDD was dying, ended up having to swap out for to a new SSD and reimage the machine ), but I'm up and running and only missed last night with the superbowl.

 

I'm also managing to keep up my same goals from last month. I'm also kicking the stretching into high gear... it hurts, but will be worth it!

 

Looking forward to another great week!

 

æ–°å¹´å¿«ä¹

Xīnnián kuàilè - Happy New year!

[Kishi]

Nice! Sounds like you've stayed busy on things this week. I imagine having a speaker of the language you want to learn in your life is a huge incentive to get better at it, and I wish you the best.

 

Don't kick the stretching into high gear... relax into it!

[Kishi]

So, how was week 2?

[Jburns08]

Very busy.  Not sure where most of that week went, lol.

Goals did not go well.  I managed to hit zhan every day, but only got my horse stance practice in on 2 days.

Only made 1 day of Chinese practice.  Work is supposed to be back to normal this week, so I'm planning on doubling up and doing 2 lessons a week.  Then I can at least catch up to where I should be in the program.

 

We're also planning on shooting some video at the kung fu school this week, so I need to dig out some time to do the editing on that, lol.  No rest for the wicked, but I wouldn't have it any other way!

[Jburns08]

Well it's been a better week than last.  Still not 100% where I want things to be though.

I made my goals on zhan, and chinese (even doubling up), but horse stance practice is still hit or miss.

I've been discussing my current diet with my sifu quite a bit lately, so I'm working on making some changes there.  I'm hoping to drop to ~200lb, maybe a touch under by June.

That means I'll need to drop my last 11lbs, which I think is doable.  So my next months challenge will probably end up revolving around that.

[Kishi]

Well, from here to June? 11 lbs is totally doable. It sounds like you and your sifu have plans for this stuff, so the only thing left to do is to do it.

 

As for horse stance, yeah, that can be pretty hit-or-miss. You will not regret getting to the point where it's a daily.

 

You can make it all work, man, I know it.

[Jburns08]

Yeah horse is brutal, and it has been a big sticking point with me for months.  I always just binge practice it to get ready for testing, then slack off again.  I want to make it a daily thing so when that 10min horse comes up when I test black, I don't die, lol.

 

I haven't been under 200 since high school, so I'm excited to get back there again.  My weight loss has been slowing the last couple of months, but I think with some diet tweaks, June is very doable!

[Kishi]

So, hey, how'd it wrap up for you this time?

[Jburns08]

Pretty middling, lol.  I feel like I have set a good habit for zhan and Chinese practice.  Horse stance I'm still only hitting about 2x a week.  That's more than before, but still not great.

I think I'll be taking the next challenge off, to keep working on my current habbits.  I'm planning on being back for the one after though.  2 days between challenges has been feeling a little overwhelming.  So I want to take some time, to work on my current things, before moving on to new fun!  

 

Thanks for cheeking in, it has really helped to keep me motivated