Phayze's Mecha-Minutemen Mutiny at the Mine!

[Phayze]

 

[Important note:  I'm posting now, and may be around a little for week 1, but I'm on stay-cation this week and won't officially start challenge activities until everyone else is on week 2.  I'll make up for it on the break before the next challenge... probably.  ^^;]

 

Breaking news from the Goodfellow Cluster!  Early this morning employees of the Ettin Conglomerate arrived for work at asteroid mining facility H414n and were surprised to find a group of heavily armed mobile frames guarding the docks.  A representative for the group claimed to be acting on the collective will of laborers throughout Ettin territory who have been demanding improved wages and working conditions to no avail for several years.  They stated an intent to guard the entrance to this mine against all intrusion until their demands are met, and have called on workers in other Ettin Conglomerate facilities to rise up in solidarity.

 

While rumors of dissatisfaction within the Conglomerate have circulated since it severed ties with the Free Allied Ergotacrocies over 25 years ago, this is the first such act of open rebellion.

You may recall our report last week regarding a shipment of advanced charged particle weaponry and SK-1 "Imp" mobile frames that had been reported by manufacturer Phayze Fructification, inc as "seized by pirates" during transport to the Oberon Tvier Solar Energy Collection Array.  

 

We reached out to PFi to ask if these could be those same units, and executive spokesman Destin Puck had this to say:

 

Puck: "There is simply no way of identifying the stolen units short of examining the serial numbers etched onto the inner frame on the left underarm, and I'm certain that the thieves burned those off with a plasma welder long before selling the frames to whoever has them now.  Even if these were the same units, PFi bears no responsibility for what may be done with property that's been stolen from us."

 

More on this story as it develops, but for now let's turn to Alex for the latest on the Trundleball Quarterfinals!  Alex? --

 

TL;DNR:

Pointman - Ring Row/Bridge Progressions 4x/week
GWACS - Post 2x/week to this thread + 4x/week in other threads
Ground - Movement 15min 4x/week
Pound - Meditate 10min 5x/week 

 

[/b]Pointman[/b] (???+x)


 

As the backbone of the team, this unit uses its linear grapple to pull itself over difficult terrain to crash through enemy formations or provide assistance to allies in need anywhere on the battlefield.

 

Everybody needs a strong backbone, right?  I'm going to work (slowly) on supporting mine by alternating bridge progressions with ring row progressions 4x/week.

 

[/b]GWACS[/b] (???+x)


 

The team's communications specialist uses its twin scanner arrays to gather battlefield data in real-time and keep that information flowing for ideal coordination and unit cohesion.

 

My comm skills needs some honing, apparently, because I've been a really terrible forum member since I returned from my hiatus (nevermind that I was never super active before that  ^^;).  So, I'm going to update this thread 2x per week, and participate in other threads 4x per week  - MINIMUM.)

 

[/b]Ground and Pound[/b] (???+x)


 



 

It may not be a glamorous role, but these versatile grunts are sturdy and reliable in any situation.  When things go sideways, these guys have your back!

 

We all need things in life that we can depend on when the feces strikes the oscillating rotary air circulator - for that, I have my "basic training" routine, which includes seated meditation for 10 minutes 5x/week, and 15 minutes of movement training (includes stretching and balance exercises) 4x/week.

 

Let's get rebellious!

[Phayze]

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[tenaciousglee]

Enjoy the stay-cay!

[Phayze]

Thanks, T! It's been fun, but now that it's almost over, part of me is kinda looking forward to getting back into the regular routines... it's just too bad that routine has to involve going to work. :/

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[Phayze]

Week 2 Update:

Pointman: 2/4 back training sessions

GWACS: 4/6 posts posted

Ground: 2/5 meditations meditated

Pound: 2/4 movements moved

I'm starting this week out in a weird place mentally... I'm feeling really down over some personal stuff and I have pretty much no motivation for anything outside of self-flagellation and/or trying to distract myself from self-flagellation with housework, anime and computer games. It took some convincing, but I came to accept that the whole reason we do these challenges is so that we have commitments to make good on, even when we don't want to.

Depression is a real creativity-killer, though, so even though I managed to score some points, I wasn't able to put together an update on the plight of the striking workers at the asteroid mine. Hopefully soon.

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[Phayze]

Week 2 Review:

Pointman: 3/3 back training sessions

GWACS: 6/6 posts posted

Ground: 4/4 meditations meditated

Pound: 3/3 movements moved

 

I was just starting to get my head back together a little when Mrs Phayze calls me at work to tell me that my cat is urinating blood. To be fair, I've been expecting this... she's 16 years old, hyper thyroid and has chronic kidney disease, but still I kind of wished she'd do me the favor of passing away in her sleep and making things easy on me.

 

No such luck. I had to leave work early and take Spot to the vet for the last time today. I put her to rest near the woods behind my house and built a little cairn over her so she isn't disturbed.

On the one hand, I'm glad she doesn't have to suffer any more, but on the other

... I miss my cat.

 

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[UnquietBones]

15 minutes ago, Phayze said:

No such luck. I had to leave work early and take Spot to the vet for the last time today. I put her to rest near the woods behind my house and built a little cairn over her so she isn't disturbed.

On the one hand, I'm glad she doesn't have to suffer any more, but on the other

... I miss my cat.

 

*big giant internet hugs* I'm so sorry for your loss.  I've gone through that myself and I know how hard it is to walk the line between the heartache and the happiness they aren't suffering. Sixteen years is a pretty good run for a cat, I'm sure she's left you with a lifetime of happy memories and hijinks.

[Phayze]

Thanks, Bones. ^^. There were definitely loads of hijinks!

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[Phayze]

Week 3 Update:

Pointman: 4/4 back training sessions
GWACS: 2/6 posts posted
Ground: 4/4 meditations meditated
Pound: 4/4 movements moved

 

Okay, fresh week, fresh start!  Got to begin the week by pulling a double-shift at work, which is no fun, but there are worse things, and the money is good so no regrets.

 

My fatigue levels were pretty awful last week, so there was a lot of dragging myself through my goals... which is exactly why my goals are still so easy, so that's all right.  I've worked up to two sets of 10 short bridges and I'm going to try the same with angled ring rows tonight - so far I haven't had any burn out problems, but I'm being careful not to pile on any faster than a rep or two per week.  That's Coach Wade's advice, and I'm trusting his system, even though I really really want to work harder.

 

I totally flubbed my forum posting goal, for no better than reason just not making it a priority.  I knew this was going to be my foil this month.  :/

 

I only managed a little Lego time, so I don't have anything to show... still. ^^;

[Phayze]

Week 4 Update:

Pointman: 4/4 back training sessions
GWACS: 6/6 posts posted
Ground: 3/4 meditations meditated
Pound: 4/4 movements moved

 

So, I've been putting off talking about this, because I wanted to have something worthwhile to say on the matter, but I'm pretty sure that L-glutamine is frikkin' magic.  I had been taking it for a month or two and had noticed some improvements in my energy levels, but then about two weeks ago i ran out and decided to see how I got on without... the results of that experiment were not pretty.

 

I've been extra sleepy and irritable since, though at first I put that down to stress/depression.  Mrs Phayze noticed the decline my condition, too, so we popped out and bought a bottle glutamine.  Three days later and I'm already feeling a lot better!  Still kinda sleepy, but it's much less effort to get through a normal day without collapsing on the couch halfway through, and my mood is improving, too.

 

I've been doing some research, and I'm pretty sure I'm narcoleptic, which is putting this chronic fatigue problem in an interesting light.  I'm working on some quests designed to help me manage this problem more actively, rather than just waiting for it to go away... I'm pretty sure it's not going to do that, unfortunately.

[Phayze]

Thanks, Eli. ^^. Spot was a good friend, and we'd been through a lot together.

As for my fatigue effecting my daily life, well that's kind of an understatement! I saw my doc about it last fall, and he told me I was low on a couple of vitamins (though supplementing them only helped a little) and tried to get me on antidepressants (I explained that I only feel depressed BECAUSE of the the fatigue).

I should probably do a sleep study but 1) that sounds like torture and 2) even if I get diagnosed with narcolepsy, I'm not going to let them jack me up on Ritalin all day then dope me up on the date rape drug at night. Kind of a lose-lose situation, really, so I'm going to take my chances managing this problem on my own.

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[Phayze]

 

Week 5 Completed!...ish?

 

I know I said that I was going to make up for missing week 1, but in the interests of gathering my physical and mental energies for the next challenge, I've decided to split the difference and call this week done halfway through.  That's reasonable, righ?  Right!? o0;

 

Pointman: 13/13 100%
GWACS: 16/21 76%
Ground: 15/17 88%
Pound: 13/13 100%

 

So, I did really well at moving this challenge, which is great!  Not so well with the stuff that required sitting, though, so that still needs more work...  Still, not a terrible challenge, all in all.  ^^

 

Going forward, I'll be keeping pretty much all of these activities in my Habitica Dailies so I can continue to progress with them - especially the forum activity thing!  I suck at that. ^^;

I know this is short for a wrap-up post, but I've decided to stop putting so much effort into stat-naziing the RPG elements of the challenges, I need to take some time right now to finish up my next challenge!