DarK_Raider spends his summer holidays in the Monastery

[DarK_RaideR]

I've teased a challenge with the Monks for a while, so here it is at last. Unlike most of my challenges, this will feature no theme and goals will be more like a bucket list of stuff that must be taken care of by the end of the challenge. Nutrition, workout and other stuff will still be monitored on my Battle Log. Let's get to it.

 

Muay Thai

Another thing I've talked about for a while and the main reason I'm Monk-ing (this is now a word) this round. It's finally time I took the step towards the dojo next to my home. It's closed for the summer right now, but I'm keeping an eye out. This quest consists of 4 sub-quests, the first 2 of which are my must-do baseline:

1) Drop by, check the place, talk with the owner and get some info, especially if I'll be ok training in my contact lenses

2) Do a free tryout class

3) Subscribe for a month to try this thing out

4) Attend 3/week

 

Adulting

There's stuff that needs to be done and I'm on staycation at home until the end of August, so I must use that time to take care of everything. I'll make a list of tasks every morning and cross them out as they're done. Anything remaining carries over to the following day.

 

Blogging: HWA

A while back, in the days of 6 week challenges, the Monks did an inspiring Street Fighter mini challenge. This eventually morphed into my HWA challenge, where the theme was about me running the wrestling promotion of Poison and Hugo Andore, starring characters from SF and other comics, movies and videogames. That challenge fell slightly apart during the last week, but it was a lot of fun and I left a lot of storylines unfinished. A few weeks back, I re-launched the idea as a blog with a more compact format that doesn't require so much work on my part or the readers'. I'll have to keep this up and post at least one episode every week. If you'd like to take a look, I would very much appreciate it if you left a comment there.

 

Blogging: HHH

Back in my hometown, I also ran another blog that covered the local hard rock and heavy metal scene with live reports (mainly), interviews and album reviews. Not linking that, because it's in Greek. That blog went into hiatus last Easter, when I moved to the capital and a new job. I was recently contacted by a band asking for a review of their debut EP, an interview and the chance to be on their tour poster as a sponsor, as well as free admission to their promotional show at the capital. I posted on the blog's FB page about the EP and a festival in my hometown, which were warmly received, rekindling the fire and making me consider alternative ways to bring back the blog. At first there can be album reviews, interviews and live reports from bands that make it to these parts, but the bread and butter of the blog which is the live reports can't happen while I'm away. My goal here is to publish the album review, the interview, attend the concert, put out a review and think of ways I can keep that blog alive. I might even put out a request for a local correspondent in my hometown!

 

Training changes

My Crossfit subscription ends early October, but I've been disappointed with my box since the start of 2016. Thing is, the only decent box I'd like to go to is far away from my workplace and home. I'm using the summer break to disappear from my box and try out Muay Thai, but I'll have to use September to finalize my plans. Where will I be crossfitting and how will I combine that with Muay Thai if I catch that bug as well? I need an answer by the end of the challenge

 

Catch up with Lucha Underground and Mr. Robot

I've seen the first 2 or 3 episodes of Mr.Robot and my Special Ranger Lady Friend (SRLF) says I need to catch up so we can start watching the second season. I also got into Lucha Underground about a month ago and it's awesome! Finished all 39 episodes of the first season last week (thanks long ferry voyages to and from my hometown!) and I want to blaze through Season 2 as well before September 7, when the third season of LU premieres

[Wild Wolf]

Hey brother Following! I need to catch up on Mr Robot as well. I think Heather and I are on eps 6 or 7 of season 1. Great show. You rock DR!

W0lf

"Maximum Effort"

[DarK_RaideR]

2 minutes ago, Wild Wolf said:

Hey brother Following! I need to catch up on Mr Robot as well. I think Heather and I are on eps 6 or 7 of season 1. Great show. You rock DR!

Heya Wolfie! Makes sense, considering your current challenge  I've failed miserably in keeping up with your shenanigans as of late, but still love ya brother!

[deftona]

Can I still mark out for El Fuerte here?

 

*sheepishly waves sign*

[DarK_RaideR]

1 minute ago, deftona said:

Can I still mark out for El Fuerte here?

 

*sheepishly waves sign*

As long as it makes me realize that someone's reading the stuff I'm writing, I'm good with it

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Following again. 

[sarakingdom]

Welcome!  Huge list o' stuff is sometimes precisely the right challenge to get things cleaned up and squared away.

[Kishi]

And here I was about to say what a shame it was that nobody had stopped in to say hello.

 

Glad that changed. (though to be fair to everyone else, I've not been so good about being around lately either).

 

So! Hello! Welcome to the Monastery! Bucket list challenges tend to look pretty fun, because you're scratching that achievement itch, which is just a fun thing to do. I hope your dojo ends up letting you train with your lenses in, although as someone who has to train blind, it's really not so bad once you get used to it.

[RES]

I will always find you

[Red1263]

Hey hey! I was wondering when I'd see you in the challenge ranks again! Muay Thai is loads is fun! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did/do

Sent from my SM-G925T using Tapatalk

[Solunaria]

Go you! Good luck! I'm incredibly excited to see how trying out your new martial art goes. 

 

::bow::

[DarK_RaideR]

13 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said:

Following again. 

There was never any doubt you would. Welcome chaplain

 

12 hours ago, sarakingdom said:

Welcome!  Huge list o' stuff is sometimes precisely the right challenge to get things cleaned up and squared away.

It's what I need this round. Making the challenge work for me n stuff.

 

12 hours ago, Kishi said:

And here I was about to say what a shame it was that nobody had stopped in to say hello.

 

Glad that changed. (though to be fair to everyone else, I've not been so good about being around lately either).

 

So! Hello! Welcome to the Monastery! Bucket list challenges tend to look pretty fun, because you're scratching that achievement itch, which is just a fun thing to do. I hope your dojo ends up letting you train with your lenses in, although as someone who has to train blind, it's really not so bad once you get used to it.

And here I was about to say how you've gained badass credits after I read your story in Steve's book, but now you had to come up with training blind.

 

12 hours ago, RES said:

I will always find you

 

11 hours ago, Red1263 said:

Hey hey! I was wondering when I'd see you in the challenge ranks again! Muay Thai is loads is fun! I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did/do

You're the only MT practicioner I know on these boards, so I was hoping I'll be able to talk MT stuff with you

 

2 hours ago, Solunaria said:

Go you! Good luck! I'm incredibly excited to see how trying out your new martial art goes. 

 

::bow::

I'm excited to try it out too.

 

Sunday Aug. 21st projection

- Dojo is closed

- No adulting scheduled, it's the SRLF's day off

- I have a draft ready for HWA that I might be publishing later on. Has anyone (besides @deftona) caught up with that?

- Not sure I'll have the time to give the EP another listen in light of the review. Not stressing about it either

- I randomly checked out UFC's video about CM Punk. Apparently he drives 3 hours every day from Chicago to Wisconsin to train MMA. Here I am mulling over a 1 hour drive from my work to the CF box I want to attend and a 30m drive back home. Certainly made me think, putting things into perspective

- According to my calculations, I need to watch at least one episode of Mr. Robot every 4 days in order to be done with the first season by the end of the challenge. Lucha Underground is trickier due to more episodes and less time, requiring 2 episodes every day. Both are achievable

[Red1263]

1 hour ago, DarK_RaideR said:

You're the only MT practicioner I know on these boards, so I was hoping I'll be able to talk MT stuff with you

I'm your Huckleberry,

 

[Jarric]

Following along. Cool that you're getting back into music reviewing, I know you have excellent musical taste from your Spotify playlists. If only I spoke Greek!

[deftona]

3 minutes ago, Jarric said:

 I know you have excellent musical taste from your Spotify playlists. 

 

As his music twin, thank you  

[T2sarahconnor]

Take a listen.  Be patient.

You didn't take a vow of celibacy did you?

[Kishi]

11 hours ago, DarK_RaideR said:

And here I was about to say how you've gained badass credits after I read your story in Steve's book, but now you had to come up with training blind.

 

Well, it's just that I wear glasses and my eyes don't like contacts all that much. Trust me, it wasn't my first choice.

[Xena]

Happy to see you over here sort of taking a break and trying out some new things.

[DarK_RaideR]

17 hours ago, Jarric said:

Following along. Cool that you're getting back into music reviewing, I know you have excellent musical taste from your Spotify playlists. If only I spoke Greek!

Thank you very much. Here's a little something to make up for it, a link to the EP I'm supposed to be reviewing.

 

13 hours ago, T2sarahconnor said:

You didn't take a vow of celibacy did you?

Of course I did! That's how I get my kung fu superpowers, right?

 

11 hours ago, Kishi said:

Well, it's just that I wear glasses and my eyes don't like contacts all that much. Trust me, it wasn't my first choice.

I feel you Kishi, I used to train swimming as a teen like that and even nowdays there have been more than a few CF workouts I've done like that. As long as there wasn't any running in the street involved, it felt safe enough. Let's see what'll happen with Muay Thai.

 

2 hours ago, Xena said:

Happy to see you over here sort of taking a break and trying out some new things.

Happy to be here, I've teased doing a challenge with the Monks for a while and it feels appropriate now that I'm testing the waters of Muay Thai. As a Ranger, I do ALL the things!

 

Sunday Aug. 21st

- Dojo is closed

- No adulting scheduled, it was the SRLF's day off and we went out for a drink at night

- No time to work on HWA. I've already put out several episodes in a short amount of time, so waiting's fine

- Gave the EP another listen and kept notes.

- Watched 2 episodes of Mr. Robot and 2 Lucha Underground. I'm currently at 4/10 for Mr. Robot and 2/26 for Lucha Underground

[Raxie]

Following for Muay Thai! I have a Muay Thai gym down the street and have been toying with the idea of popping in.  I'm excited to see how this goes for you!

[shaar]

Gosh I can't wait until I move to a town that has some legit martial arts options again.

 

Until then I'll live vicariously through your progress.

 

[Red1263]

16 hours ago, Raxie said:

Following for Muay Thai! I have a Muay Thai gym down the street and have been toying with the idea of popping in.  I'm excited to see how this goes for you!

You should do it!!

[DarK_RaideR]

Monday Aug. 22nd

Muay Thai: Went to the dojo, still closed. It's frustrating that there's no paper outside or announcement on their FB page about when it'll be open again

Adulting:

Call A. for a family matter (carries onto tomorrow)

Send an e-mail to my accountant

Take the car to the electrician

HWA: New episode posted

Music Blog: Nothing new here

Mr. Robot: Still at 4/10

Lucha Underground: Watched 3 more episodes, which gets me to 5/26

[RisenPhoenix]

On 8/20/2016 at 10:17 AM, DarK_RaideR said:

 

Blogging: HHH

Back in my hometown, I also ran another blog that covered the local hard rock and heavy metal scene with live reports (mainly), interviews and album reviews. Not linking that, because it's in Greek. That blog went into hiatus last Easter, when I moved to the capital and a new job. I was recently contacted by a band asking for a review of their debut EP, an interview and the chance to be on their tour poster as a sponsor, as well as free admission to their promotional show at the capital. I posted on the blog's FB page about the EP and a festival in my hometown, which were warmly received, rekindling the fire and making me consider alternative ways to bring back the blog. At first there can be album reviews, interviews and live reports from bands that make it to these parts, but the bread and butter of the blog which is the live reports can't happen while I'm away. My goal here is to publish the album review, the interview, attend the concert, put out a review and think of ways I can keep that blog alive. I might even put out a request for a local correspondent in my hometown!

 

This sounds awesome.

 

I mean, all of your challenge sounds awesome, but this made me go "Holy shit!" when I read it.

 

Er.  Carry on then being awesome.

[Machete]

Dropping by. Awesome. Multi-classing with the Rangers this time as well.