I Am Infinite - The Experiment

Infinity.Creates · October 23, 2016

On 22/10/2016 at 2:14 AM, Socksy said:

Just throwing it out there that I'd also love to climb a glacier someday.

I really want to go to Iceland and climb those glaciers.

Infinity.Creates · October 24, 2016

Week 1 : SMART Challenges

Welcome to the Rebels mini challenge of November 2016! Participation is entirely voluntary and you don't get any stat points, but you do get some cool challenges to help you on your journey from Rebel to Hero.

...........

Is your challenge SMART? Not, is it going to take over the world because computers are going to become stronger and faster than us (discuss your opinion in the Juice Bar), but is it

S pecific

M easureable

A chievable

R ealistic

T imely

If you can cross off these criteria, you know your challenge is in the running for a truly glorious success. But to double check you have a SMART challenge, can you answer a couple of questions? Post your answers in the chat below, and list a couple of ways you might change your challenge, if you want to.

If you get stuck for ideas or want any advice on how to improve your challenge, don't hesitate to ask over in the Juice Bar or take a look at other people's answers and challenges.

(Also, if you want a way of checking your progress over the challenge, feel free to pop your name in this spreadsheet, and write 'Done' once you've completed the challenge for that week)

Are your goals able to measured and tracked?
How will you track them over the course of the challenge?
How are you grading your goals? Is there a reward for effort?
Are you trying to build multiple habits or is all your energy focused on your main quest?
Do you have the time to complete all the goals you've set?
Do you have a plan on altering the goals if you become ill/injured?
Are your goals realistic? Can you scale them down to fit your life better. even if that takes longer?
Are you giving yourself any rewards or accountability?

Just 8 questions to answer. And remember, you don't have to do this mini challenge if you don't want to. This is only to help you find the challenge easier and give you some ideas and conversation starters.

Infinity.Creates · October 24, 2016

01001001 01101110 01100110 01101001 01101110 01101001 01110100 01100101 00100000 01000010 01101001 01101110 01100001 01110010 01111001

Spoiler

Lotzo stepped out the front door of her home, quietly closing it behind her as the morning birds began their songs. She bent down to lace her trainers ( hiking boots / elven slippers / winged sandals / barefoot / gnomish boots ), then straighten, stretching up to the sky. Her music was plugged in and an appropriately upbeat tune started in her ears. Jump on the spot, stretch the legs, and then Lotzo began to run down the road (through the forest, on the beach, over the hills).

It was a quiet run down the road, with the morning sun washing everything in a soft pink and orange haze. Lotzo's breathing evened out and she began to enjoy it, when she turned a corner and bumped into a shadow. Their features were hidden under the cowl of a hood and Lotzo felt a chill run down her spine. She tried to apologise and turned to run away, when a bony hand caught her elbow. Menacing laughter filled the air as the entities' other hand plunged into her stomach, into and through. Her stomach felt too full, nearly to the point of bursting, when the hand withdrew. In the skeletal hand was a shining orb of light, purples mixing with orange into green, blending into a bright blinding white. Lotzo staggered, feeling like everything had grown darker and emptier, and watched helplessly as the shadow began running down the road.

Lotzo looked left, then right, watching as the shadow ran from her, a large white ball cradled in two hands. That was hers (what part of her, Lotzo had no clue) and she was going to get it back. She bounced on the spot, then started the chase.

Straight down the main road, Lotzo kept running, slowly gaining on the shadow. Then it darted into an office building, and she fought through the crowd desperately. But up ahead, she could only see more looming buildings and obstacles that she would have to fight through to get that light back.

Lotzo managed to struggle her way out of the crowd and sprinted her way to the shadow ahead. She managed to keep it up for 10 minutes, when her calves began to cramp. But she was gaining on it! Then the shadow passed through a large open tent that had blocked the road. It was large and golden, with a stone chimney somehow built through the middle. People were streaming in and out of it, laughing, each with a greasy burger or chips clutched in their hands. The shadow slipped in through between two people, but as Lotzo went to follow, she was pulled aside by a yank to the elbow. She turned to pull herself out of the person's grasp, but was faced with a plate of chocolates thrust into her face.

Lotzo looked ahead to the shadow quickly gaining ground, and looked around at the piles of food that was constantly being offered to her. The scent in the air was so tempting, and it would be so easy to take a single cake as she ran through. Wouldn't it?

Food, food and more food! As she ran, it was forced into her face, occasionally blinding her sight, piles of chocolate and their warm heavenly sweet scent overwhelming her. Every time Lotzo would slow down, to wipe a bit of cake off her cheek, more was forced onto her. It wasn't her fault it was all there, was it? Lotzo felt curiously exhilarated, and yet frustrated with her own temptations. Then she would take a bite off a piece of chocolate, and the guilt would only intensify.

Just when Lotzo was giving up hope that she was ever going to break through and catch sight of her shadow, the crowds parted and she could see an emptier road ahead. Hands grabbed at her back, and the temptation of just staying with the chocolate grew almost too much to bear, but there was her shadow! Though it was an infinity infront of her, and the white ball seemed dimmer in the sunlight, she could still make it! Lotzo put on an extra burst of speed, slipping and sliding through the crowd, her breath starting to echo harshly.

The shadow took a sudden left turn, and Lotzo hurried to try and catch up, though it was strange that the shadow didn't seem to be deliberately throwing her off its trail, just making her run. And run. Lotzo sighed, before putting on another burst of speed, and the dying back down back into a manageable pace. Time no longer really had any sense of meaning for her, but she didn't know for how much longer she could keep it up.

Up infront of her, the shadow had darted into a large park. Inside were several hundred runners, all milling around at a starting line. Several of the volunteers had shirts with "ParkRun" written across her back. And there, slipping between people, was her shadow. The starting gun went, and the shadow was sticking with the middle of the pack, following the twists in the path. Obviously, she had to complete the 5k before catching it!

Ten minutes, and she had just finished the first lap of the park. Twenty, and she was nearly three quarters through. It was frustrating, running in circles, around and around. Lotzo was tempted to cut corners, but every time she did so, an lady would walk past - walking, but feet flying, and give her a disapproving look that cut her to the core and she followed the path. If only she could be done with it!

Just before thirty minutes (my goal), Lotzo managed to cross the 5k line, her chest heaving. And practically within her grasp was the shadow, a glowing ball held softly in one hand. They sped up when it glanced behind and say her, almost as though it was shocked she had managed to keep up so far.

They weaved through the park again, Lotzo free to run across the grass now, deeper and deeper into the trees. As always the shadow stayed just out of her reach, and Lotzo was starting to falter. But whenever she stumbled, the shadow looked backwards, and if she could have seen a face, she might even have said it was worried for her. When she turned a corner, there saw a large golden statue of a lion, with a beautiful female head. Caught off guard, Lotzo ran straight into it, crashing against it and a clanging filled her head. As she struggled to get up, Lotzo noticed that she had been pinned to the ground by one of the sphinx's paws!

The sphinx rose, solid metal flowing and twisting into graceful movement, until the golden hair was hovering inches off her terrified face. Out of the corner of her eye, Lotzo saw her shadow sauntering down the path, a medium sized white ball being tossed from hand to hand. Lotzo started to struggle and pull her way out from the sphinx's grasp, but it let out such a terrifying growl that she immediately stopped. "To pass, you must answer a riddle."

Lotzo nodded, eyes wide as she forced her brain to listen.

"A ball is able to bounce forever. On the first bounce, it travels 50cm. On the second it bounces 25cm. Each time is halved again. How long will it take to reach one meter?" The sphinx grinned, silver teeth in a white maw, but Lotzo grinned back. She had listened to the podcast "History of Infinity" - and talked about infinite divisibility.

"Never."

The sphinx's eyes narrowed and and they asked another question.

"If I throw a ball a distance, I can make it complete stop and then reverse. There is no string and I don't hit it against anything. How did I do it?"

Lotzo started panicking, trying to force herself to think laterally. She could feel the sharp gold claws beginning to cut through the sleeves of her running shirt as she shouted out the answer. "You threw it up".

There was a softening of the eyes of the sphinx? And the shadow was still hanging around at the corner, white ball being tossed side to side. It was definitely smaller than when it first had been taken from her, nearly 3/4 of the size. But she couldn't think too long on it as the sphinx asked its third and final question.

"What has four legs in the morning, two in the afternoon, and three in the evening."

A classic sphinx question, and Lotzo answered with confidence. "A human."

The sphinx bowed its head and then stepped away, and Lotzo massaged her shoulder's before jumping up and starting after the shadow again. It was skipping down the road, and Lotzo growled under her breath before speeding up. It had been a nice break.

Running through the park, with the trees getting thicker and closer and darker, sunlight barely filtering in through the autumn leaves. She ran, occasionally loosing the shadow in the darkness, but the glinting of the white sphere shone through. She ran and she ran, before coming to an abrupt stop. Caught in mid air, white silk wrapped around her torso and arms - and she was relieving a childhood memory. Scootering around the garden before going straight through a spider web. The feeling of webs wrapped across her face and hair didn't leave her for a week. A muted whimper escaped her lips, as she struggled to clean her skin and get free of the web.

Lotzo wrenched an arm up and tore herself slowly free of the web, scraping the gunk off her clothes and face, mourning the temporary loss of her soft hair (though it had probably been pretty ruined when the sphinx had knocked her into the dirt). And infront of her, her shadow stood, tossing the white ball from hand to hand. But with each passing second, as she got more of herself free, the ball got smaller and small, and the shadow took on shape and colour.

Her torso was free, and Lotzo stopped for a second, heaving, watching almost hypnotically as the ball, now no larger than a ping pong ball, flew through the air. The shadow grew small and more solid, wispy brown short hair that curled around her ears. Lotzo's eyes widened as she freed one foot, and then the other, before dragging herself to stand infront of, well, herself.

The once shadow smiled, and extended a hand, the ball now gone. Lotzo's breath stopped and quickened in her chest, and, against all better judgement, took the hand. The shadow had challenged her and taken her to places she hadn't thought of. The shadow's smile grew, and Lotzo's imitated it. Then it spoke.

"I am Infinite."

The words rung through Lotzo's (Infinite? Who was she and who am I?) head, when the floor dropped from under her feet and the sky pulled her upwards. Everything spun in a haze of black and green, twisting and pulling and tightening. She was in the center of a hurricane that had no calm spot. She was the hurricane.

Hey ya'll! I'm Infinite, a rebel that feels like she's just graduated and is now in secondary school with all the big kids. The spoiler above is the story I started from last challenge, but don't feel like you have to read it. tl:dr, Lotzo chased a shadow through the streets of a city, faced various challenges, before regaining a white ball that turned out to be her own skill and power. Now she knows she can do that, she's out to conquer the universe. Or right now, just get home.

For a moment, Infinite squeezed her eyes shut, before the feeling of weightlessness left her, and she cautiously looked around. Today had been a weird day, and, right now, it didn't seem to be getting any better. Looking down, her feet were a sea of white numbers, tiny zeros and ones twisting in and out of each other, chasing themselves around in a game of tag with information. Looking around, there were more numbers, of various sizes and intensity, some flashing in and out of existence, others flowing along invisible rivers of numbers.

Quest 1 : Diet

My father and I are planning on going on the Atkins diet together. I am trying to lose some proper weight in time for Christmas, and I am honestly just tired of weighing as much as do, especially with how it gets in the way of absolutely everything. Over the course of the challenge, I am going to go cold turkey (as much as you can when you'e been following a semi strict Paleo diet since January), and stick 100% to the Atkins diet.

80% food : 4 CON

60% food : 2 CON

45% food : 1 CON

Quest 2 : Study

This will be staying the same as last challenge, as it is something that I am still definitely working to, and need to keep as a solid habit.

21 days + : 4 WIS

15 days + : 2 WIS

7 days + : 1 WIS

Quest 3 : Workout

I aim to do some form of exercise every day, baring Thursdays and Sundays. It can be anything, but there is a routine I want to stick to. However, it is highly likely I will change it up so I'm not running at 6 in the morning in the middle of winter. I may switch it to something after school. This is something I will fiddle with over the course of this challenge.

21 days + : 4 STR

15 days + : 2 STR

7 days + : 1 STR

Quest 4 : Diary

This will either be writing for my NaNoWriMo or actually writing my diary. I still haven't decided whether or not I'm going to do NaNoWriMo, as I will be starting a TableTop RolePlaying Society in my school (all the nerd cred here), and I still need to stay ontop of my school work and stay ontop of all of these habits as well. So if it's not NaNo, then I will be starting up my diary again. I managed to keep the habit from January to the summer holidays, before I then got distracted, didn't write for 6 weeks, and haen't started again, which is sad and I want that back as part of my life. So that will either happen this challenge or next time.

21 days + : 3 CHA

15 days + : 2 CHA

7 days + : 1 CHA

Infinite sighed, before drifting over to one of the streams. She held onto the bend in a 1 and watched the scenery go by as she tried to figure how she was going to get back home and into bed.

Those are my challenges and this is a story, and all the strength to everyone in their challenges! Let's do this thing!

Infinity.Creates · October 31, 2016

The letter spun her in circles until Infinity was so dizzy that she let go. Her grip slipped off the slick edge and she tumbled. There was no fear or sense of rushing gravity, but there was still, somehow, a down. Until there wasn't one, and Infinity was looking up at the sea of numbers.

Infinity straightened her legs into the non existent ground (really, she needed to get home and have a nap) and looked around, before blinking in shock. There, made out of smaller green, white, and blue numbers, was a little computer. It reminded Infinity of her childhood, and the large square computer she had had to share with her sister. An equally clunky yet ephemeral keyboard and mouse were hovering, infront of a little chair.

Everything was made out of these numbers, and Infinity hesitantly sat down on the chair, relieved yet not surprised it took her weight. The screen on the computer got busier and busier, until it was a blur of white. Then letters flashed up on the screen. "Enter name here : I am ......."

Infinity typed in her name, then read the next set of instructions. "Write 50 000 words here." How was she supposed to do that?!

Infinity.Creates · November 6, 2016

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, there once lived a girl called Lotzo. She went on a walk and then a shadow appeared and stole a ball of life from her chest and ...." Infinity wrote quickly, trying to get down her recent experience out into the computer, hoping it would reach 50 000 words. It took a while, but there wasn't really a concept of time in this binary workplace, just the neverending flow of ones and zeros.

Once it was all done, Infinity sighed in relief, and pressed enter, hoping that some clue would reveal how she would escape this place. But a little text box appeared, flashing the words "Need 45 000 words". She had only written 5000? What?!

Infinity collapsed onto the keyboard, breathed, then looked back up for some hint. All that greeted her was a long line of ggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg. And idea struck her, and she pressed Ctrl A, C, V. She copied out the entire thing 10 times, and pressed enter.

Voila, her amazing hacking skills revealed the next page. "Congratulations. Read these five books. You have a test on each on the following pages." A small stack of books spun together on the table next to her, and Infinity slid to the floor to take a nap.

Infinity.Creates · November 13, 2016

A time period later, and Infinity woke up. Perhaps it was an infinity later? Gods she was corny when she had just woken up and was faced with the prospect of studying. But she pushed herself up to a sitting position, stretched, then began reading.

Three books later.

Or the truth was that she was corny all the time. Corny as corn fields. Corn drink. Herbal tea that is missing earth. Red bean paste. Failed chocolate. Chocolate. She hadn't had chocolate in the past few weeks, and now she was really craving the bitter dark stuff.

Five books later.

Infinity slammed her head in the pile of books, sighing as she looked back at the pile of notes she had written. The computer chirped and the books disappeared, leaving her head to thunk down against the table. She sat up and rubbed her forehead, scowling at the screen as numbers turned to words on the screen.

"Explain Aristotle's Virtue Ethics. 40 marks."

The studying was going to pay off, it was. All that reading was down to now (though some active revision and exam guidelines would have been helpful).

Infinity.Creates · November 19, 2016

Image result for nerd fitness rebel guild

Every guild photo in one go! Maybe for a Guild post?

Infinity.Creates · November 19, 2016

rebel Pure rebel photo

Infinity.Creates · November 19, 2016

FOR ALL YOU REBELS OUT THERE!

New. Young. Old. Fit.

Needing a restart or a little push? From any guild or no guild?

Welcome all!

[picture]

I know some of you are respawning, but feel free to read up on things that might have changed while you were out fighting your demons (and you're succeeding!)

Maybe you just don't want to choose a guild yet, which is great, and we can encourage each other together!

If you are new to Nerd Fitness, the forums, or the concept of challenges, then welcome!

1) Are you ready to be awesome? Worried about someone breaching the NF Code of Honour? Double check the forum rules HERE.

2) Want to find out more about the old character and attribute system? Find it HERE. (Warning, this is no longer officially supported)

3) No idea what a challenge is or how to set it up? Watch Spezzy lead you through it HERE.

4) Prefer something written down? A couple of starting challenge ideas are HERE.

5) The current challenge guidelines exist HERE. Feel free to read through for a more consice set of information.

Maybe you're read through all those links, maybe not. But take a couple of steps to get a feel for the forums. Introduce yourself in the Juice Bar, take a look into all the other guilds, maybe say hi in their general chats. Then come back and give a word of encouragement to a couple of people in their challenge threads. Then make your own!

Characterize your Quest. What do you hope to accomplish? It can take as long as you need (doesn't have to be only one challenge, or one year).
Pick 2 - 3 SMART goals that will help you achieve the quest you've selected. These are only 4 Week Challenge specific and should be any combination of healthy living goals, with possibly one life goal.
Create a challenge thread, with your name in the title, and post your goals in there. You can put a link to your challenge thread in your signature. Try to pop in at least 3 times a week and update us on your challenge progress . We want to know how you're doing, offer advice, and provide support and encouragement throughout your challenge adventure.
Keep an eye out for the Official Guild Mini-Challenge (Fruit Salad) posted at the start of each new challenge cycle. Usually these feature some sort of weekly feat, quest, or goal, and it would be great if you could participate in at least one of them. Remember, however, they are completely optional. Don't let them distract you from your goals.
At the end of the challenge post a final summary in your post and the report in thread and Level Up!

(This list was shamelessly taken from The Fort, but it says everything so well)

FAQ

Okay, so how do I join a challenge?

Just post your challenge thread in the guild!

Do I have to do it with the Rebels?

It's recommended so you can find other people who are starting off, but you can definitely join other guilds now if you want to!

It's been two/three weeks since the challenge started. Can I still join?

Definitely! Maybe imagine this period as a testing stage, and experiment with a couple of habits you want to start with. This is the best time to find out if you have too many/too few habits to experiment with.

I am age+/weight+/other problems. Can I still do a challenge?

Absolutely! Your challenge is your challenge, and you can scale it as much as you want or need. Don't compare yourself to others, but on yesterday's version of you, and try to improve from there!

Do you have any other questions? Feel free to jump into the Juice Bar and ask something over there!

Problems?

If it's something urgent, use the tag function (@name) in any thread to get hold of any guild leader.

If you feel like there has been inconsiderate or inappropriate behaviour : "Mocking, harassing, or belittling another forum member or another forum member's form of training, diet, or lifestyle is not allowed. Suggestions, advice, tips are more than welcome - there's a difference." use the tag function or send a message to any guild leader. Click on their username, and select 'Send message'. They'll be more than happy to help you!

If you feel like the forum has a personal grudge against you and you are facing technical problems, head to the Feedback/Help section, and someone has probable already faced that issue.

Guild Leaders

Rebel : N/A

Adventurer : Teros,

Assassin : Hazard, Starsapart, Anim07734

Druid : Sunmage,

Monk : Kishi, RisenPhoenix,

Ranger : DarK_RaideR, Rurik Harrgath, Hammlin, Tanktimus the Encourager

Scout : Strickland5,

Warrior : miss_marissa, Flex Luthor, Gainsdalf the Whey,

Infinity.Creates · November 20, 2016

Image result for coding clock

45 minutes later and the page where she was typing collapsed.

"No no no, your clock is broken, the coding is terrible, how on earth was I supposed to time myself when you've written the clock out in html of all things! "

But the computer just let out three small beeps and twisted in on itself. It then continued to twist, somehow getting smaller and larger at the same time. This is what she got when she argued to a computer about coding. Infinity rubbed her eyes, then watched as the computer twisted itself into a staircase, reaching the fluffy white clouds that probably didn't belong in a computer. And now, now was when gravity decided to switch on, of course.

Infinity let out another sigh, and then put one foot infront of the other, knowing no other way of getting out of this string of numbers.

Infinity.Creates · November 22, 2016

Week 4- What about the future?

Sorry this one is a bit late! But here you have it.

The challenge is almost at an end, and some of us are starting to think about the big scary future (or maybe about all the future challenges they want to do because they spotted all of the shinies). So, can you write your plans to the future?

1) The guild you want to join in the future (Rebel or not)

2) Future quest ideas you want to do

3) Amazing recipes/exercises you want to do in the future

Add a bit of reasoning, or things that you know want to try, or things that you have learnt.

Also, I'll be writing a quick questionnaire to find how people thought about these challenges. Do you want it now or later on in the week?

Infinity.Creates · November 22, 2016

Fruit Toss Questionnaire

1) Did you take part in the Fruit Toss challenge?

2) Which was your favourite quest?

3) Which (you can list ) were not useful/unclear/you didn't like?

4) What quests would you like to see?

5) Did you know how to join an accountability group when you started?

6) Did you know how to create a signature when you started?

7) Would you like some tutorials (aka Quest 1 with the SMART Quest)

8) More or less interaction?

9) Would you like advice?

10) Any other comments?

peelout · November 22, 2016

I'm a bit confused by the lists of things you want to do, plan on doing, and stories. Have you started working out or is that posted elsewhere. Maybe I'm just missing it? I'm an engineer so if something is not in flowchart or spreadsheet form, I get easily confused.

Infinity.Creates · November 22, 2016

27 minutes ago, peelout said:

I'm a bit confused by the lists of things you want to do, plan on doing, and stories. Have you started working out or is that posted elsewhere. Maybe I'm just missing it? I'm an engineer so if something is not in flowchart or spreadsheet form, I get easily confused.

Hey! My battle log is more a drafts folder for me. Random things I plan on posting in the different threads I'm in, a vague tracking of my challenge stories and results. This is confusing, and I didn't expect many people to stumble across it

If you're looking for my challenge thread, that is here. This is what has my challenge progress over the past three weeks.

I've got a spreadsheet of future challenges I am planning here (because we all loe spreadsheets )

Infinity.Creates · November 26, 2016

Results for my second challenge!

Atkins F ! ! ! ! F ! / ! F ! ! ! ! ! / ! ! F ! F ! F / ! ! F ! ! ! X Study ! ! ! ! ! X ! / ! ! ! F ! ! F / ! ! ! F ! ! X / F ! F ! ! F X

Exercise ! F ! F F ! X / ! F ! F F ! X / ! ! ! F ! ! X / F ! F ! F ! X Writing ! ! F F F F ! / F ! F F F ! F / ! F ! ! ! F ! / ! ! ! ! ! ! X

Atkins : 20/27 74% B (+2 CON)

Study : 19/25 76% B (+2 WIS)

Exercise : 14/24 58% D+ (+1 STR)

Writing : 16/27 59% D+ (+2 CHA)

Infinity.Creates · November 26, 2016

?

Infinity.Creates · November 26, 2016

Up and Up and Up and Up.

There was the film, the direction, the shipping company, there were a lot of things around the word up. Including her.

Each step was another step up, and her thighs and calves began to burn. She would crawl if she had to, if her own mind and body decided to betray her. Generally, she excelled in the challenge, acknowledged how she grew from it, but this time ... confusion spun her off balance and the staircase sometimes had trick steps, and she would get a foot caught in one and slip in, struggling to get out of the rut.

Then strangely, clouds started to coalesce around her, the sea of numbers looking more like a sea that air around her. The clouds thickened and began to surround her, until Infinity could no longer see upwards or down at the ground. Just the white clouds, and when she touched it with her fingers, it left her hand feeling wet, much in the same way that real clouds did.

Infinity.Creates · November 26, 2016