Briniel is gonna be the very best

[Briniel]

...like no one ever was!!!

 

 

 

That's right, this challenge is pokémon themed. And spreadsheet fueled. And all kinds of awesome. Of course I'm doing all the things again, so I thought I'd hop back in with the Rangers to see what you guys've been up to but I've really been focusing on balance practice lately and I want to get more bodyweight stuff and gymnastics going on, so I've decided to move to the Assassins at long last. I've been slipping into their minis for the last few challenges anways

I'll start a new job this month (and will also celebrate my 1 year nerdversary this saturday!) so this challenge is designed in a way that lets me adjust the difficulty easily and take a rest if I feel like I need it. I'm using week 0 to figure out the details, so expect some things to change around here (we're currently on version 2.0).

 

But let's get started...

 

I used to play a lot of pokémon in my teens. A lot. I started with blue, then yellow, then silver and then I kinda grew out of it... (yes, I was around when all of these came out first, I'm that old). I was never really one for trying to catch them all, nor did I have a specific type that I liked and would collect... I just tried to get the most balanced, versatile, powerful team I could.

 

So this challenge, I will put together a team of Pokémon and train them by fighting other pokémon I come across. Each member of my team will represent a certain area that I want to improve on and each of their attacks will correspond to a certain task or activity that I want to do. These are mostly things I've done before or am currently doing, this challenge is just designed to keep me motivated and accountable. Because if I don't do these things straight away, my Pokémon will pay the price!

 

A new wild pokémon will appear each day and will attack a member of my team (these will be scheduled, I just have to make made a plan). Fights last until one opponent is defeated, so there can be several fights going on at once. In order to not over-complicate things, the game mechanics will be fairly simple: I chose which attack my pokémon is going to use and also the level of the wild pokémon, which determines how much time it will take to defeat it: each level equals one tomato/brick (25 minutes). So if a wild Lvl 3 Pidgey appears and Charmander uses Ember, I will have to do 75 minutes of bodyweight workouts to defeat it. If I manage to do that on the same day, my Charmander defeats Pidgey and possibly gains a level (getting to lvl 2 takes one successfull fight, lvl 3 takes two fights, lvl 4 takes three fights and so on). If I don't defeat the pokémon and for example only get 60 minutes in, Pidgey attacks and damages my Charmander for the number of minutes that still remain, so 15 HP in our example. If this finishes my Charmander off, it loses a level, the Pidgey scurries off back into the tall grass where it came from and I get to try again the next day.

 

 

As we all now, the number of fights in Pokémon is largely determined by your willingness to walk around in tall grass for hours on end. So whenever my daily opponent is defeated and I feel like doing a little bit extra, I will walk through tall grass and find some more pokémon to fight. Which means that this option is only available if I have completed my "enjoy the outsides" habit for the day. That suffered a bit last challenge and maybe this will motivate me to do this more often (you know, if I don't go outside, the yoga I've done in the evening might not count as a fight and I'll miss the opportunity to gain a level *gasp*). In theory, I can fight as many pokémon as I have team members at the same time, but once I decide to fight extra, I need to defeat them and they'll behave just like the regular ones. I can't change my mind if I realize I've put too much on my plate

 

In addition to these fights, I will have other options to support my pokémon:

• Every day where I show perfect eating habits (no white grain, no refined sugar, three meals, one of them warm, 2 of them with veggies, more than 2l of water) I will gain a health potion that heals 50% of the chosen pokémon's health.
• Every day where I have a perfect habit tracker score I will gain a health potion that heals all my pokémon for 5% of their health.
• Every week with a perfect housekeeping score will reduce half of the remaining HP of any enemy still in fight.

 

For everyone who hasn't followed my old challenges and who's confused about what a housekeeping or habit tracker is:

 

 

lengthy explanation in the spoiler

 

 

the things I track are:

 

• reading (ideally stuff for work (marked with an asterisk); alternatively reading in my bujo, newspapers or novels is also accepted)
• scribing (fancy TMM lingo for writing, this can be summaries of what I read, journaling or handwriting practice)
• visualisation & affirmation (these two are linked in a short planning of the day's activities. I'll visualize what I do, in which order and how I'll feel when everything is done and pump myself up for the day with positive thoughts)
• exercise (I'll start into the day with breathing exercises, yoga stretches, sun salutations or any other kind of exercise I feel like doing. I can also count the daily dare here)
• silence (meditation, mostly via headspace, or on my own in corpse pose after yoga)
• daily dare (I try to do the daily dare on darebee.com for the daily dare PvP by NTB every day. Star/asterisk for extra credit (as specified on the daily dare page))
• wrist/ankle exercises (wrist mobility exercises from NF yoga and ankle alphabets)
• balance work knee exercises (I changed this since I can track balance work in the box below the habit tracker and my knees really need some attention. I have a set of exercises printed that I will try and do every day)

 

All of these happen (mostly) as part of my morning or evening routine. The SAVERS (first 6 tasks) can be as long or short as I like, so reading for 1 minute, or doing 50 jumping jacks totally count. This is supposed to give me a good start into the day, NOT stress me out about having lots of stuff to do in the morning. I feel better when I do this and generally have a better day when started right. This will happen every single day, even when it's a work day. The parts marked with Miracle Morning need to happen before noon or they will not be crossed off (I tend to spread them out over the day otherwise and rush to get them done in the evening, which is just unnecessary stress). The rest of my daily habits:
 

• hydrate (drink at least 2l of water a day)
• no sugar or white flour (no added artificial sugar; honey or fruit is okay), star indicates a perfect eating habit day (which yields a health potion)
• 2x veggies (have two meals a day that contain some sort of veggie, no matter the kind and amount)
• enjoy outsides (go outside for the sake of being outside and enjoy the weather. Half-point for being outside because of errands or because I need to get somewhere)
• play with cats (spend some quality time with each of the cats. Bonus points (star) for clicker training sessions)
• log spendings (I have an excel spreadsheet where all my spendings go, I want to use it every day. Crossed out if it's a no-spend day)
• kitchen counter zero (Take a few minutes each night to clear the kitchen counter of any stuff that doesn't belong there, dirty (or clean) dishes included. Wipe down the counter and stove top.)
• floss (this is the only non-daily habit on here, I plan on doing this every other day. Crossed out on the days in between)
• no internet before noon (this refers mainly to NF, fb and youtube, using the internet for work is ok. But don't fool yourself)

 

All of these are either essential for my well being, my mood or my conscience, so I aim to do all of these every single day. I'm happy with 80% completion, but I'll try to beat last challenge's score (84% for daily habits, 82% for housekeeping). Steve's "don't miss two days in a row" rule applies.
 
That was an awful lot of non-pokémon talk, so:

 

Here's a list of all attacks/ things I want to do, sorted by type. For now I've chosen one attack for each pokémon on my team. As pokémon level up and gain new attacks, I will have more options to choose from on how to beat a wild pokémon.

 

 

Fire: Feel the burn. HIIT or any other type of bodyweigh training.

Water: The river goes on and on and on. I'll either swim with my pokémon or cheer them on from the (dry) shore. Swimming, running, biking, skating and anything else endurance goes here.
Bug: Lie on your bag and flail your legs. This will either be a leg workout I got from a friend or something along the line of Deftona's P:BA

Electric: Focus your energy! Work related adulting, mainly reading for work (and taking notes!), office work for my dad's company and any other paper work that comes along.

Flying: See the world from a different perspective, even if this just means being upside down Balancing work or other gymnastics.

Normal: Sing, sing, sing. Singing practice for choir or lessons.

 

There are some types missing because I couldn't match them to things I want to do or because I things I came up with weren't really important enough to me to include them here. But one type is missing because I won't use it in my team at all. It will still make an appearance, though:

 

Poison: Whenever I eat something bad, a poisonous wild pokémon will appear and attack me. Level depends on how bad I misbehaved  All my pokémon are allowed to help out and defeat it. If unsuccessfull, it will poison my team and drain 10% of their health per level each day.

 

And of course there's badges to be won!! As my pokémon grow stronger and stronger each day, they will need a little bit of an extra challenge. So whenever I feel like it, I can attempt to take down a gym leader and own a badge. Here's what I need to do to defeat them

 

• Boulder Badge (Rock): Go bouldering (duh). Friends of mine go and I've always wanted to go along. I'll have to trim my nails for this, but I think it'll be worth it
• Cascade Badge (Water): Follow the river. Run 5k in under 30 minutes along the riverside.
• Thunder Badge (Electric): Resist the magnetic pull of my computer. Stay off the internet until noon for 10 days in a row.
• Rainbow Badge (Grass): Go for a hike in the nearby mountains/woods that are really famous but that I've never been to for some reason.
• Soul Badge (Poison): Stay away from the bad stuff. Follow my eating habits for 10 days in a row. (The normal kind, not the special one that gains me health potions.)
• Marsh Badge (Psychic): Let the Sky fall! Hit that high e in a concert.
• Volcano Badge (Fire): Get sweating. Find a HIIT workout that I can do 1 round of. Come back to it later and do 3 rounds.
• Earth Badge (Ground): Get close to the ground. Then get away from the ground. Do 10 push-ups in a row.

 

I intend to keep the pokémon theme around for a while so these won't all happen this challenge. These are not set in stone yet, so if you guys have any other ideas for these, feel free to let me know.

 

 

Here's where the spreadsheet magic happen. This is and old version though, I'm currently figuring out the best way to set things up and calculate most of the things automatically. I don't think I'll stick to the attacks they have at lvl 1 as I originally intended, because I'f like to have special type-corresponding attacks from the start. Way too much office work otherwise

 

 

So, I think I've covered everything you need to know to understand what's happening. If you have any questions, drop me a note. For now, route 1 awaits

 

 

Charmander, I choose you! Charmander attacks Pidgey with Scratch (1 hour of office work today). Charmander is defeated! Geodude gains 1 lvl! Tadaaaaa

And I see a Rattata lurking around the corner, so I'll be ready for it tomorrow!

(Don't be confused, I changed some things around, so this doesn't really make sense anymore )

 

[Briniel]

Setup in my bujo, including schedule (there are two attacks scheduled for most days, not sure yet whether I get to choose one or have to do both... will probably depend on how busy I'll be with the new job)

[Maggie-Miau]

Holy snap this is the sweetest and most fabulous Challenge. *AGGRESSIVELY FOLLOWS*

[deftona]

Oh this is so cool! And your BuJo gives me major lifegoals.... 

 

Looking forward to this one Briniel! 

[Shello]

Awesome challenge!  This looks brilliant.  I can't wait to see how it shakes out.  

[fleaball]

 

I am so excited to see this play out. What a fabulous idea.

[NeverThatBored]

Yes! I'm so excited for this! 

 

You should totally add a Fairy type, because they have that now. 

[Lara]

Looking forward to this awesome challenge!

[Waldgeist]

I actually just found my old gameboy and Pokémon Blue like two days ago and played around with for the first time in years, which was great!

Go, get them, girl!

[Briniel]

18 hours ago, MiaulinTheCat said:

Holy snap this is the sweetest and most fabulous Challenge. *AGGRESSIVELY FOLLOWS*

*AGGRESSIVELY APPROVES*

 

18 hours ago, deftona said:

Oh this is so cool! And your BuJo gives me major lifegoals.... 

 

Looking forward to this one Briniel! 

Thanks, def!! I just realized that all of my pokémon have a def score. You're everywhere

 

18 hours ago, LadyShello said:

Awesome challenge!  This looks brilliant.  I can't wait to see how it shakes out.  

Thank you! I'm a bit curious myself

 

18 hours ago, fleaball said:

 

I am so excited to see this play out. What a fabulous idea.

Fleeeeaaaa! Sorry for disappearing on your last challenge, I'll catch up as soon as I can!

 

18 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Yes! I'm so excited for this! 

 

You should totally add a Fairy type, because they have that now. 

Me too!!! I think I wanna stick to the RBY universe and Fairy is not a thing in there

 

9 hours ago, zenLara said:

Looking forward to this awesome challenge!

Looking forward to having you along on the journey! *hugs*

 

8 hours ago, High Lord of the Sith said:

I actually just found my old gameboy and Pokémon Blue like two days ago and played around with for the first time in years, which was great!

Go, get them, girl!

That's brilliant! There should be a gameboy color with the yellow edition somewhere at my parents' house... but I would have to decide whether to continue the old game from years ago or start a new one O_O

 

 

I already encountered a few things that need tweaking with my spreadsheet. Mainly, I need a big spread in the background for all the calculation and a pretty spread for the current fight. Right now it's all jumbled together and it breaks when I defeat an opponent.

I also think I'll keep it simple for the time being. I can always add some more complex mechanisms later (and probably will, because it's way too much fun to figure out how to make them work), but for now, it will play out like this:

 

Any pokémon takes 60 minutes of the chosen activity to go down.

Wild pokémon attack for one pomodoro (25 minutes, I just need a reasonable constant)

No super effective attacks (yet!!!)

Any wild pokémon defeated earns my pokémon a level.

When my pokémon die, they lose a level (I might or might not change this to the pokémon actually dying and me needing to train new ones...)

Wild pokémon are always miraculously at the same level as the pokémon they attack.

 

Which means that pidgey got defeated yesterday, charmander did not take any damage and rattata is already a bit more than halfway down (I vacuumed the floor and cleaned the vacuum right when I got home for a total of 35 minutes). Look at me, changing the past

 

And look at what came up when I searched for a picture of MrMime O_O

 

[Briniel]

Oooooooh I'm so excited!! I decided on what I'm going to gift myself for my 1 year nerdversary. It's going to be awesome

[NeverThatBored]

14 minutes ago, Briniel said:

Oooooooh I'm so excited!! I decided on what I'm going to gift myself for my 1 year nerdversary. It's going to be awesome

 

Tell us, tell us! 

[Briniel]

2 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

Tell us, tell us! 

but my nerdversary isn't until saturday. If I tell you it's not going to be a surprise anymore.

 

Yes, there's a flaw in that logic, shush.

Have you read Steve's latest post yet?

[NeverThatBored]

Just now, Briniel said:

but my nerdversary isn't until saturday. If I tell you it's not going to be a surprise anymore.

 

Yes, there's a flaw in that logic, shush.

Have you read Steve's latest post yet?

 

Oooh i know what you're doing - tell me if it's worth it? Guess I'll just have to wait to find out then!

[Briniel]

1 minute ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

Oooh i know what you're doing - tell me if it's worth it? Guess I'll just have to wait to find out then!

I figured it's more worth it now than it will be from saturday on when they raise the prices... but I'll definitely keep you updated. Guess you will! Patience is a virtue, or something like that?

[Briniel]

Okay, again I have been spending an hour tinkering with the spreadsheet instead of doing another 25 minutes of housekeeping and a darebee power workout which I need to complete to defeat the rattata and the female nidoran (poison type) which appeared because of the strawberry cream cake at lunch. And because of the homemade frozen raspberry chocolate yoghurt. (It's week 0, don't judge me ) But I can't let my pokémon suffer!! Go and get them all!!

[NeverThatBored]

26 minutes ago, Briniel said:

 

Okay, again I have been spending an hour tinkering with the spreadsheet instead of doing another 25 minutes of housekeeping and a darebee power workout which I need to complete to defeat the rattata and the female nidoran (poison type) which appeared because of the strawberry cream cake at lunch.

 

 

This is a great sentence. Can we all just take a minute to appreciate what a great sentence this is?

[fleaball]

2 hours ago, Briniel said:

but my nerdversary isn't until saturday. If I tell you it's not going to be a surprise anymore.

 

Yes, there's a flaw in that logic, shush.

Have you read Steve's latest post yet?

 

2 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

Oooh i know what you're doing - tell me if it's worth it? Guess I'll just have to wait to find out then!

Don't do it! It's not worth it.

[Briniel]

41 minutes ago, NeverThatBored said:

 

This is a great sentence. Can we all just take a minute to appreciate what a great sentence this is?

Thank you?

 

17 minutes ago, fleaball said:

 

Don't do it! It's not worth it.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Why not?

[Raxie]

This is awesome!!! Following

[NeverThatBored]

27 minutes ago, Briniel said:

Thank you?

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. Why not?

 

Serious.  But I understand the confusion. 

[Briniel]

Week 0 Day 1:

I spent way too much time on working on the spreadsheet yesterday. Especially since I completely reworked it today and forgot how my functions work. Ugh. But I also did lots of adulting, went grocery shopping and cooked for work today and did lots of habit tracker things (14,5/17). Then I got into a fight with my boyfriend right when I wanted to go to bed (we have awfully bad timing when picking fights); he recently bought speed/fitness skates and hinted at skating with me but I never got around to putting new wheels on my own skates which he interpreted as me not really wanting to join him and only feigning interest for his sake while it was really just my lazy butt and the fact that I could always join him on my bike. We talked about it some more this morning and are on good pages again but the talking dragged on so long into the night that I'm operating on only 5 hours of sleep today (which is very little considering my usual 8+ hours...).

 

Good news, though: Charmander defeated Pidgey (60 minutes of office work) in the first Pokémon fight of this challenge.

 

Week 0, Day 2:

today was a work day so I was out of the house for the most part of it. Despite the lack of sleep I did not feel more tired than usual. Which means I felt pretty tired around noon and fell asleep on the commute back But I've been quite productive ever since I've come home, even if a lot of time was spend on spreadsheets again. I did some cleaning right when I got home (which felt really good because I usually end up in a post-work-coma) and then later some more to help Caterpie defeat Rattata (which was successfull!).There's still a Nidoran left because of the sweets I ate, but I'm considering attacking with Pikachu and doing that darebee workout after all (I just spend way too much time looking for darebee workouts with "power" in the title. There are so many, it's awesome!)

 

I've already come with lots of things I want to change around. I'm just a little worried all this tinkering with the challenge will keep me from actually achieving my goals But hopefully this system will prove to be a successfull motivator and stay with me for a while once it's done.

I'm really looking forward to this

 

 

 

NTB, I got it a few minutes after writing that post. I sometimes get self-concious about English not being my native language, and think there's something wrong/funny going on with the way I write

 

Oh, almost forgot: tomorrow is the appointment where I get the paperwork for the new job. I hope everything goes well, I'm curious about what the contract will look like. Fingers crossed that I'll close the deal tomorrow!

[Briniel]

Update: Nidoran was defeated.

(I did the darebee Power Core workout on level II, except for the l-sits... I just did regular bridges for those)

[deftona]

I love how much depth you're going to with this challenge! Great work on defeating Nidoran.

[NeverThatBored]

43 minutes ago, Briniel said:

 

NTB, I got it a few minutes after writing that post. I sometimes get self-concious about English not being my native language, and think there's something wrong/funny going on with the way I write

 

Oh, almost forgot: tomorrow is the appointment where I get the paperwork for the new job. I hope everything goes well, I'm curious about what the contract will look like. Fingers crossed that I'll close the deal tomorrow!

 

I was just excited because it contained excitement, spreadsheets, pokemon, and cake all in one sentence.

 

Hooray for new job papers! Well, boo for the papers but yay for the job. You've been working on this for a while now, so it's nice that all your work is paying off.