Atrytone Gets Back In Action

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

I took a break last cycle because I was struggling a lot with trying to find a job. Luckily I think I finally found one! I start the week of the 18^th most likely so I’ll be keeping my challenge pretty simple so I don’t over tax myself while trying to learn the ropes of a new job. I have some Zero Week stuff I want/need to get done as well. Most of it for my job, some of it for my challenge. I’m really happy to be back. I loved watching everyone’s challenges but I felt bad about not participating.

 

Zero Week Tasks

I’ve already set appointments for most of the below tasks and I just have to follow through with them but I want to have the satisfaction of crossing everything off the list as I complete it.

 

Pre-Job Tasks:

• Get Inoculation history from the PHU
• Get Doctors note
• Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2)
• Fill out both tax forms
• Fill out Direct Deposit form
• Get money for Criminal Record Check
• Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more
• Bonus: Read up on Dementia

 

Challenge Tasks:

• Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times
• Call local gym and inquire about membership fees
• Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included)

 

Other:

• Go to bank to learn about RRSPs
• Do laundry

 

Fitness

Goal One: Strength

After I’ve figured out the respective costs of the local gym and the martial arts gym I need to choose one to attend. As I want to save up money it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to afford both. I’ll weigh my options carefully but I must admit that I seriously miss kickboxing. So the martial arts gym already has a point in its favor. Either way I want to start working out 2-3 times a week again.

 

Go to gym 2-3 times/week

• Phenomenal – 13+ gym visits total
• Great – 9-12 gym visits total
• Good – 8 gym visits total
• Mediocre – 5-7 gym visits total
• Poor – 2-4 gym visits total
• Abysmal – <2 gym visits total

 

Goal Two: Stamina

During my break last cycle, I went out for drinks with friends. The city we were in has notoriously shitty busing and since I was drinking driving was definitely out. According to Google it was only about 42 minutes to walk so I decided to save myself the cab fair (one way) and walk to the pub. I learned two things during my deep introspective bout of self-discovery. One, Google was wrong. It only took me 30-35 minutes to get there. Two, I don’t like walking just for the sake of walking. I like walking with a destination in mind or as an outing with friends. Wandering with no goal just doesn’t appeal to me in the long run. So I’m going to try to incorporate the two things that make me enjoy walking in this challenge. A while ago I tried hiking short trails and I loved it. I want to do two things for this challenge. I want to do an easy day hike with my friends and I want to do a moderately difficult hike on my own. There are a couple trails I already have in mind that take between 1-2 hours each. Since it’s technically only two hikes (and thus slightly resistant to my usual grading scale) I’ll mark each as a pass or a fail. Bonus points if I do more than two hikes.

 

Diet

Goal Three: The Breadening

This is a two-part goal. The first two weeks I’ll be recording my bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included). Just recording. I want to figure out my baseline. I’m pretty sure this will have an effect on my overall intake but that can’t be helped.

For the second two weeks I want to begin a gradual reduction. The first week I want to reduce my total bread-related intake by seven items. I figure that one item/day is a reasonable goal (however I am open to reassessment after the recording period). The same goes for the second week only I would like to reduce my bread-related intake by an additional seven items. Again, I’m not sure yet if this will be feasible but I intend to give it a go. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll have reduced a number of unnecessary grains from my diet.

 

Reduce bread-related intake by 7 items/week

• Phenomenal – Reduced bread-related intake by 19+ items total
• Great – Reduced bread-related intake by 15-18 items total
• Good – Reduced bread-related intake by 14 items total
• Mediocre – Reduced bread-related intake by 10-13 items total
• Poor – Reduced bread-related intake by 6-9 items total
• Abysmal – Reduced bread-related intake by <6 items total

   

 

Lifestyle

Goal Four: Work Journal

My job involves working with a vulnerable population and as such I’ll be part of a confidentiality agreement regarding the residents. However, I see no reason I can’t write about my work itself. I’ll just leave out any mention of the residents. I always struggle a bit with confidence at a new job, especially one unfamiliar to me. Hopefully by recording my experiences and attempting to focus on the positives I’ll approach my work (and confidence issues) differently.

 

Write a work journal after each shift

• Phenomenal – Included something positive and a plan to fix the negatives in each journal
• Great – Included something positive in each journal
• Good – Wrote after each shift
• Mediocre – Wrote only occasionally or briefly with no attention to detail
• Poor – Wrote once or twice
• Abysmal – Didn’t write anything

[shaar]

Congrats on a new job!!!  I'm currently job searching - isn't it the pits?!  Ugghh.... perseverance...!  Hope everything goes as smooth as possible with entry

 

Also, THE BREADENIIINNNGGGG~~  Love bread, hate how it makes me feel... I just love sandwiches so much.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Just now, shaarawy said:

Congrats on a new job!!!  I'm currently job searching - isn't it the pits?!  Ugghh.... perseverance...!  Hope everything goes as smooth as possible with entry

 

Also, THE BREADENIIINNNGGGG~~  Love bread, hate how it makes me feel... I just love sandwiches so much.

 

Oh man tell me about it. Looking for a job was the reason I didn't do a challenge last cycle. I was feeling super shitty about being unemployed. Good luck in your hunt! And thank you.

 

Haha I had no idea what to call it. Bread is a basically just a convenience food for me (unless it's homemade in which case it's awesome). I made cutting back on it part of my first challenge and had no issues with it. The rest of the stuff though (grains, pasta, etc) is going to be hard since pasta is pretty much a staple at home.

[bker1370]

following along

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following, glad to have you back and congrats on the job.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

26 minutes ago, bker1370 said:

following along

 

Welcome, glad to have you!

 

16 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following, glad to have you back and congrats on the job.

 

Thank you on all three counts.

[Rurik Harrgath]

Bread is an ideal delivery mechanism for all the eats.  Though I cut it out ages ago, I do miss its stalwart convenience... and still indulge on the occasional wrap.

 

Okay, I lied about the cutting it out part.  Can't fight the convenience factor sometimes! 

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

11 minutes ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

Bread is an ideal delivery mechanism for all the eats.  Though I cut it out ages ago, I do miss its stalwart convenience... and still indulge on the occasional wrap.

 

Okay, I lied about the cutting it out part.  Can't fight the convenience factor sometimes! 

 

Wraps will be the death of me. I know tortillas (store bought ones) aren't healthy at all but they're awesome and super convenient and if they're in the house I invariably end up eating the majority of them.

 

I don't really intend to cut anything out specifically. I just want to cut back on the simple carbs that are a huge part of my diet.

[shaar]

36 minutes ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

Bread is an ideal delivery mechanism for all the eats. 

 

I am a Terrible Human and, whenever I get mac & cheese at Panera (to my credit only 2-3 times a year), I love to shovel it into my mouth with the little piece of bread they give you.  DOUBLE NOM WIN

 

Clearly not all carbs are created equal!  I wish I liked sweet potatoes more...

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

59 minutes ago, shaarawy said:

Clearly not all carbs are created equal!  I wish I liked sweet potatoes more...

 

I love sweet potatos but we never have them in the house it seems. I might have to pick some up before Week 3.

[Maggie-Miau]

So much congratulations on the job, Atrytone! Well done!

 

I look forward to following along and cheering for you throughout the Challenge!

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

33 minutes ago, MiaulinTheCat said:

So much congratulations on the job, Atrytone! Well done!

 

I look forward to following along and cheering for you throughout the Challenge!

 

Thank you!

[Terra]

Wahoo you are back and with a job!!  Can't wait to see what you do next....  

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

2 hours ago, Terra said:

Wahoo you are back and with a job!!  Can't wait to see what you do next....  

 

Thank you. I might actually have two jobs, pending good reference checks.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

10 hours ago, Atrytone said:

Pre-Job Tasks:

• Get Inoculation history from the PHU
• Get Doctors note
• Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2)
• Fill out both tax forms
• Fill out Direct Deposit form
• Get money for Criminal Record Check
• Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more
• Bonus: Read up on Dementia

 

Challenge Tasks:

• Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times
• Call local gym and inquire about membership fees
• Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included)

 

Other:

• Go to bank to learn about RRSPs
• Do laundry

 

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

As part of my bread-related intake monitoring: I've had three small to medium slices of lemon chiffon cake (homemade), 2 beer, and rice with dinner.

[whitedhairedwolf]

This is awesome and totally well mapped out. I am inspired! Best wishes to you in your challenges, and with your new job.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

35 minutes ago, whitedhairedwolf said:

This is awesome and totally well mapped out. I am inspired! Best wishes to you in your challenges, and with your new job.

 

Thank you! My challenge organization system involved trial and error and a health dose of inspiration from @Thom Ulfhedinn (as well as a couple others)!

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Update on Zero Week tasks:

 

On 2016-07-11 at 7:33 AM, Atrytone said:

Pre-Job Tasks:

• Get Inoculation history from the PHU
• Get Doctors note
• Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2)
• Fill out both tax forms
• Fill out Direct Deposit form
• Get money for Criminal Record Check
• Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more
• Bonus: Read up on Dementia

 

Challenge Tasks:

• Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times
• Call local gym and inquire about membership fees
• Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included)

 

Other:

• Go to bank to learn about RRSPs
• Do laundry

 

As for bread-related intake I had a beer and a bowl of mini-wheats cereal (not in that order).

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Zero Week update:

 

On 2016-07-11 at 7:33 AM, Atrytone said:

Pre-Job Tasks:

• Get Inoculation history from the PHU
• Get Doctors note
• Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2)
• Fill out both tax forms
• Fill out Direct Deposit form
• Get money for Criminal Record Check
• Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more
• Bonus: Read up on Dementia

 

Challenge Tasks:

• Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times
• Call local gym and inquire about membership fees
• Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included)

 

Other:

• Go to bank to learn about RRSPs
• Do laundry

 

As for bread-related items I had a wrap, two bowls of miniwheats, and a brownie.

 

So I now technically have three jobs I guess; Job 1 (the first job I got) and Job 2 (the one I was waiting on the reference check for) which can be further split into Job 2a and Job 2b. To quote myself (from my battle log because I don't feel like typing it out again):

 

Quote

...Job 2 is sort of two jobs. It's for an overarching, government-funded association. There are two places locally that are run by it that work in close conjunction and trade staff back and forth, because again it's the same company (sort of). So the job I applied for (henceforth "Job 2a") is having me trained in the other location (henceforth "Job 2b"). I hope that makes sense. I mean it's pretty straightforward but I'm not sure I explained it well.

 

So that's a thing.

 

I've also decided to forgo kickboxing for the time being. The class I'm interested in is only offered 3 nights/week and starts at 7:15pm, before my shifts at Job 1 end at 8pm. The gym offers more flexibility which is what I need right now. Plus I really miss barbell squats. More than I can say. So the gym it is with kickboxing hopefully in my future at some point.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

On 2016-07-11 at 7:33 AM, Atrytone said:

Pre-Job Tasks:

• Get Inoculation history from the PHU
• Get Doctors note
• Get TB Skin Test (Part 1 and 2)
• Fill out both tax forms
• Fill out Direct Deposit form
• Get money for Criminal Record Check
• Go over Fire Plan and other forms at least once more
• Bonus: Read up on Dementia

 

Challenge Tasks:

• Call martial arts gym and inquire about prices and lesson times
• Call local gym and inquire about membership fees
• Begin monitoring bread-related intake (baked goods, pastas, and grains included)

 

Other:

• Go to bank to learn about RRSPs
• Do laundry

 

I also went by the gym today and got a 10 punch pass (about all I can afford atm, it's the same price as a months membership but since we're in the middle of the month I feel like I'll get more bang for my buck this way). My first shift at Job 2b is on the 28th and my first shift at Job 1 is on August first. I work 9 days in a row starting on the 28th. Talk about jumping back in with both feet! I'm aiming to get to the gym three times next week since I'll be by and large free and the rest of my time this challenge is going to be a little all over the place.

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

Oh and bread-related intake: a bowl of miniwheats, some sushi (rice), and three slices of pizza.

[Maggie-Miau]

Doing great knocking out your Pre-Challenge Tasks so far! Congratulations on the gym membership, too!

[NeuroPunkNonsense]

1 hour ago, MiaulinTheCat said:

Doing great knocking out your Pre-Challenge Tasks so far! Congratulations on the gym membership, too!

 

Thanks, like I said before I had most of them planned out (or had the appointments booked) so it's just a matter of time until all my tasks are completed.

[shaar]

12 hours ago, Atrytone said:

 

I also went by the gym today and got a 10 punch pass (about all I can afford atm, it's the same price as a months membership but since we're in the middle of the month I feel like I'll get more bang for my buck this way). My first shift at Job 2b is on the 28th and my first shift at Job 1 is on August first. I work 9 days in a row starting on the 28th. Talk about jumping back in with both feet! I'm aiming to get to the gym three times next week since I'll be by and large free and the rest of my time this challenge is going to be a little all over the place.

 

9 days in a row!!!  You are jumping in with all feet!!   One day at a time, I guess??  You are a Rebel, you will adapt just fine!