Jothra Conquers the Gold Monkey!

[Jothra]

It is really hard to find GIFs of this show.

 

     After yet another harrowing adventure, Jothra heard tell of a tropical island nearby. It sounded like vacation time to him! He used his ever-growing prowess on the bike path through time and space to check the place out...
     ...only to find it in a permanent state of 1930s-ness. It was like being stuck in a TV adventure series. No rest for him!
 

 
     Donald P. Bellisario first proposed Tales of the Gold Monkey in the 1970s, telling networks that a 1930s adventure show would delight and thrill audiences. He was repeatedly turned down.
     Then Raiders came out, and he gave them a big fat I told you so.
     Anyway, after a multiple-Emmy-nominated first season (it won for art design), the show was unceremoniously cancelled. Tragedy! Many, many years later, it would be spiritually succeeded by Disney's Talespin. Also great.
 
     Abridged from Wikipedia:
     In 1938 in the South Pacific, ace combat pilot Jake Cutter operates an air cargo delivery service based on Bora Gora. He flies a Grumman Goose called Cutter's Goose. Jake's best friends are his mechanic Corky, and a one-eyed Jack Russell terrier named Jack.
     Jake's love interest, Sarah Stickney White, sings in the Monkey Bar as cover for her real job as an American spy. The Reverend Willie Tenboom is actuality a Nazi spy who often finds he has more in common with the other people of Bora Gora than with his own government.
     "Bon Chance" Louie owns the Monkey Bar and is the French magistrate for Bora Gora.
     Jake's nemesis is the half-Japanese princess Koji, who has eyes for Jake. Koji's devoted bodyguard, Todo, is a fierce practitioner of Bushido and is unwaveringly loyal to the princess.
 
     Enough gab. Challenge time!
 
1.) Main Fitness Quest
My three goal-achieving-type-little-goals-that-add-up-to-a-bigger-goal-goals.

i.) Fly the Goose! except on S Days (Saturdays, Sundays, and Special Days — unless I wanna).
 

 
Cutter's Goose is Jake Cutter's Grumman Goose cargo plane. In lieu of a Grumman, I'll ride a bicycle. I have three choices here: the Blue Meanie (roadie), The Triceraton (MTB), or the Modified Thunderbolt Grease-Slapper (stationary.) Naturally, any other bicycles are fair game, but I don't own any more. __/20. [+2 STA | +2 DEX | +1 CHA]

ii.) Swing my samurai sword! Also excluding S Days.
 

 
Todo is Princess Koji's right-hand man. He is a well-trained and very...well...angry modern-day (well, in the 1930s) samurai. In lieu of swinging an actual sword around (though I have a nice foam Minecraft one from a couple of challenges ago), I'll keep shugging away with my Shovelglove. Swing that sledgehammer, Jothra! SWING IT! __/20. [+2 STR | +2 STA]

iii.) Don't overdo it, Corky! I mean, of course, food.

 

 
At some point before the show takes place, Jake's best friend and mechanic Corky drank waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much and too often. These days, he can still drink a beer now and then, as long as he doesn't overdo it. I will apply the same rules to eating too damn much. I'm aiming for a 500 calorie deficit a day, or 1 lb. a week. Ish. I will be focusing on this goal much more carefully than I did last challenge. __/27. [+2 CON | +2 WIS]

2.) LIFE SIDE QUEST
Keep the Monkey Bar clean. You know — clean.
 

 
The Monkey Bar is the main hangout on the island. The characters who don't actually work in the bar spend a lot of time there anyway. Sometimes there are brawls — after which they are expected to clean up and pay for damages. I spend a lot of time in my apartment, and let the mess get away from me during theatre season. I'm finishing the marathon clean this weekend. The challenge goal is to get in the habit of keeping it that way by cleaning up new messes as they arise instead of letting them build up. I admit, this will probably be the hardest of my challenge goals. __/27. [+2 CHA]

As per normal, I'm going to determine scores based on percentage ranges, more or less like on my childhood report cards.
A = 86-100% | B = 73-85% | C = 66-72% | D = 51-65% | F = 0-50%
 
3) MOTIVATION
Who wouldn't want to be in this?
 

[Y-Not]

And now I need to find this show too! Thanks a lot. Lol

Sent from a Rebel CommLink

[Lightning]

Hard to stay away from a challenge that includes endoplasmic reticulum.

[Jothra]

Hard to stay away from a challenge that includes endoplasmic reticulum.

And here I thought no-one read the tags.

[Jothra]

And now I need to find this show too! Thanks a lot. Lol

Sent from a Rebel CommLink

It's on DVD. *orcoughinternetcough*

[Jothra]

     After seeing Lightning's current challenge, I think I need to throw down some numbers for the food part of my challenge.

     In order to lost about a pound a week, assuming I do absolutely nothing but sit on my lazy ass, I need to take in about 1800 net calories a day. I did this for awhile during my NF blackout in 2015, and lost about 30 lbs. I did no specific strength training at the time, but I did use a Fitbit Charge HR to calculate exercise calorie burns (which it did with reasonable accuracy). Once I took up Shugging, I decided to worry more about strength building than weight loss for awhile. I gained 10 lbs. back, but my body fat percentage stayed approximately the same. Then I focused on maintenance for a couple of months while I continued to build the shugging habit. And here I am.

 

     Now I will do basically what I did before, only with the Shovelglove habit still in place. Using my Charge HR and MFP, I'll keep a properly measured minimum 500-calorie deficit. I will cap it at a maximum 1000-calorie deficit, though I doubt I'll go there too often.

 

     In weird news, during my marathon clean last night (hopefully the last one I'll have to do, as per my challenge goals) I found my original Fitbit One. The one that got away from its clip and got run over by at least one vehicle overnight in 2014. I didn't know I still had this thing. In a full-circle sort of thing, two days ago I did a switcheroo and now have a "plum" HR, which is very similar to my original "burgundy" FB1. Anyway, I finally threw out the broken old thing.
 

There is no bottom on this Fitbit anymore.

[RittenRemedy]

Seriously, where do you find these things? And more importantly, where can I??

[Jothra]

Strangely, I found out the show existed by accident while I was looking up the Grumman Goose cargo plane (which featured heavily in many of Louis L'Amour's adventure short stories). By complete coincidence, the DVD set had just been released, so I picked it up at the local HMV. It's a sight-unseen DVD purchase success story.

 

Keep in mind that, as a 1980s TV show, its eightyosities often peek through.

[Lara]

eightyosities LOL!!

Good luck with the weight loss! You've done it before and you can do it again!

[brianhicks]

Following! On the cleaning front, have you read Marie Kondo's The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up? She recommends that same strategy of doing one deep clean and then keeping things tidy by keeping them in their places. It's a really interesting read; if nothing else it shows a lot about Japanese cultural norms as opposed to us messy westerners.

[Jothra]

Born and bred in the briar patch, Brer Fox.

Seriously, though, the deep clean is going much, MUCH deeper than I'd planned. It will be like a new apartment.

[Keldream Nebula]

Thanks for visiting! 

 

Your challenge looks amazing, and I love that sort of show, though I don't understand why they cancel things like that /shakes head. Its a tragedy. Tailspin was always one of my favorite cartoons so it looks like I have something new to watch (as if there weren't enough things out there).  I enjoyed Tuner Classic Movie's showing of some classic serials like Ace Drummond--flying and adventure in foreign places, with good humor, what could be better? 

 

Following along!

[Jothra]

It's amazing how well Disney mashed the Jungle Book cast into an adventurous pilot show.

[Jothra]

S.O.P. for meetings, I guess.

 

     Jothra hadn't been on the island 20 seconds when he managed to get into a fight over...something? He wasn't really sure. It just seemed like the thing to do. When in Rome, do what the Romans do, and when on a South Pacific-esque island that feels like it's ripped from a 1980s adventure series, do what the eighties would do.

 

 

Fly the Goose: No. 0/20

Swing my Samurai Sword: Yes. 1/20

Don't Overdo It, Corky: Yes. 1/27

Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 1/27.

 

     So, Monday night I had a meeting (not work related). It was not pleasant. I went away furious. Shugged, but missed out on ideal bicycle time so I could sit through...what, exactly? Never mind. Food was good.

     I'm kind of doing a clothing and miscellany purge. It feels nice. I will never be a proper minimalist, though — I own way too many books for that, and I will not give those up.

[Jothra]

You know things are heating up when you spook a dog wearing a badass eye patch.

 

     No matter where you live, what you do, or who you are, if you are in an '80s TV show, you will eventually face an evil Anubis-worshipping cult led by a suspiciously Anglo-saxon man. That is simply the way of things.

 

 

Fly the Goose: Yes. 1/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: Yes. 2/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Yes. 2/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 2/27.
 
     Shugged at school; rode to the grocery store for white vinegar. Vinegar is an excellent cleaner, as well as giving me an excuse to tell people I am cleaning with acid.

     Still purging. It's convenient that I've got most of the apartment done; my front door's getting painted tomorrow, and I won't be embarrassed when the caretaker sees my front entry.

[Jothra]

I have to make my own GIFs. I am almost out of useful Youtube videos to make them with, too, so I may have to resort to ripping scenes from my DVD set.

[Lara]

 

 and I won't be embarrassed when the caretaker sees my front entry.

 

 

LOL, I've been there so many times 

[Jothra]

It looks like Jake's checking that guy's pulse.

 

     While exploring with a few island residents, Jothra stumbled on a lost cargo cult. One of the people in their party turned out to be a treasure-seeking spy looking for some McGuffin or another. After a long chase through the jungle, the spy fell into a swamp, where it was messily devoured by...something. No-one in the party, Jothra included, felt like going to back to find out what.

 

 

Fly the Goose: Yes. 2/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: Yes. 3/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Yes. 3/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 3/27.
 
     My shugging routine is still (per side) 25 shovels, 25 spear thrusts, 25 butter churns, 10 lever flips, 10 fireman chops, 10 wood chops, and 25 sack hoists, followed by 13-13-13-5-5-5-13, 7-7-7-3-3-3-7, 4-4-4-2-2-2-4, 2-2-2-1-1-1-2, and 1-1-1-1-1-1-1. Today I finished it in 13:42, which is a PR, I guess. I don't intend to change anything, except to add in another 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 circuit if I cut any more time off.

     Since I set up my coffee corner, my apartment smells like coffee all the time. I swear, I only use the thing, like, twice a day. I can get behind this kind of thing.

[Hazard]

Alright you Newb.  I'm here.  And I expect to see good challenge updates out of you!

 

Plus I saw Talespin mentioned.  I nostalgia'd.

[Jothra]

Talespin was so terrible, with all that adventure and sharp humour and stuff. I'm surprised it didn't give me uncouth ideas by appealing to my horrible wanderlust.

[Jothra]

Speaking of wanderlust, today I bought a tea infuser that works very well for making cowboy coffee without the messy grounds at the bottom of my mug. This will be excellent for my canoe trip this summer.

Also, Shovelglove news, but that can wait until tomorrow, when I shall have a proper batch of updates. Promise!

[Jothra]

It's all a misunderstanding, I'm sure.

 

     The whole island was full of hotheads running from something — or, more rarely, running to something, planned or not. Jothra was firmly in the second camp, though for the sake of narrative convention he had no idea yet.
 

 

Thursday

 

Fly the Goose: Yes. 3/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: 22 lbs. 4/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Yes. 4/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 4/27.
 
     Still cleansing Jothra World Headquarters. I'm still taking it in manageable, area-by-area chunks, which means constant satisfaction as I clean. It feels great.

[Jothra]

Dogs are not legally co-pilots on Bora Gora. I'm shocked.

 

     A local mechanic was shanghaied. Jothra was about 90% positive they were really after him. It was only after a lengthy rescue plot that he found out they had actually been after the mechanic all along. Strangely, Jothra felt like the kidnappers had undervalued him somehow.

 

 

Friday

 

Fly the Goose: Yes. 4/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: No. 4/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Yes. 5/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 5/27.
 
     They painted my apartment door today. It looks nice and clean.

     I was in a big hurry to get to the optometrist before closing, so I didn't have long at home. I still made sure to clean the coffee maker and washroom counter before I left. Not at the same time, mind you.

     Skipped shugging, but wait for Sunday.

[Jothra]

When even the relatively officious French magistrate is willing to turn his back at your plight, you dun goofed.

 

     Another kidnapping! This time a young man who was raised in the jungle by animals. Animals other than humans, I mean. With more of a bent-over posture than us, too. You know — large apes! I mean, large apes other than us. I mean...
 

 

Saturday

 

Fly the Goose: Off. 4/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: Off. 4/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Maintenance. 5/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 6/27.
 
     Ate too much. Not too much too much, but too much for my challenge goal too much.

     I wasn't home at all to clean, so I cleaned much of my truck cab instead.

[Jothra]

Gushie is my favourite secondary character.

 

     Sarah Stickney White, the Monkey Bar singer who Jothra suspected was also an American spy, was killed in action! Maybe? It's hard to say, but the other patrons of the Monkey Bar aren't giving up hope, and neither is Jothra!
 

 

Sunday

 

Fly the Goose: Off. 4/20
Swing my Samurai Sword: 24 lbs. 5/20
Don't Overdo It, Corky: Maintenance. 5/27
Keep the Monkey Bar Clean: Yes. 7/27.
 
     I was away from home buying contact lenses and replacing my glasses. While out, I reorganized my Saddleback satchel to fit my glasses (in a hard case) into one of the interior side pockets. To make the space, all I had to to was replace the Victorinox Climber I had in there with a Wenger SI. It doesn't sound like much, but I make it a rule that the main compartment is empty when I leave my house, so I have room for anything I find, Macgyver-style. This doesn't count a book I'm reading or my Kobo or whatever — it applies more to all the things I always have in my bag, like the mini first aid kit, the Blisters dice, or the spork and chopsticks.
     Normally, I wouldn't shug on Sunday, but as you may recall, I skipped it on Saturday, so I felt the catch-up was warranted.
     In other Shovelglove news, I found out that the "22 lb." hammer I've been using was actually only 21.5 lbs. Sad! I must have weighed it without supporting the handle properly before.
     In other, other Shovelglove news, through a series of misadventures, I accidentally found myself with a set of two 2.5 pound ankle weights from the same company that made the 1-pounders I used to weigh down my hammer. So I replaced two of the ones with them, and now have a 24 lb. hammer. I tried it tonight — it went well. I feel pleasantly sore all over, from head to toes. I'm going to run this on a trial basis; if I'm not enjoying the new weight after a week, I'll downgrade to the previous weight. There's no shame in that. But if I keep enjoying it like I did tonight...

 

The switch to blue tape is for added bluetivity and added blueneronomy.