Mizbrek Recovers in the Shire

[Mizbrek]

 

Mizbrek’s portal closed behind him as he landed softly on the ground in Bywater. It was early morning in the Shire from the looks of it, the sun just cresting the hills and, as was proper Hobbit tradition, no one was awake. He looked around, pulling a small device from his pocket. The Ferengi he’d bought it off of said it was called a “Try-Corder.” He’d always wondered what exactly it was trying to be, but it served many functions for him, including keeping track of the day. Dimensional hopping meant that wasn’t always clear to him. The device beeped, locking onto the quantum signature of his home dimension, and telling him it was October 3rd, 3052 of the Third Age in Middle Earth, and that he was last here 4 months, 6 days and 22 hours ago.

 

He slipped the device away with a sigh, breathing deep and looking around. He started limping towards Edgehome, his ancestral residence, leaning on his staff for support. The door opened with a simple enchantment. The caretaker had keys, but Miz found it easier to simply, magically, pick the lock. The house was stooped low, as a Hobbit’s normally was, and well kept. He made a mental note to give Mr. Proudfoot a bonus. It felt good to be home, he thought to himself, as he slipped off his pack, resting the staff in the rack by the door.

 

The mirror in the front hall told a different story. There was a gash down his left cheek which would leave a nasty (though fierce looking, Miz thought to himself) scar. He was leaning favouring his left leg, his right having been broken by a demon’s bite, and nearly severed.

 

The front door at Edgehome jiggled, the key being inserted. Dalin Proudfoot entered and yelped in shock. “Mr. Mizbrek! My apologies sir, I didn’t realize you were home! Cripes, you look like death warmed over!”

 

Miz smiled wryly at him. “Good to see you too, Dalin. It’s been a...rough time.”

 

Over a cup of tea (with a shot of something stronger, to take the chill off, Dalin insisted) a few minutes later, Mizbrek recounted his adventures for his caretaker. The Shire was, by this point, used to some unusual goings on, and to magic they didn’t always understand, so Dalin was unphased by these tales, though still somewhat astonished.

 

“So you managed to fight off those demons?” he asked, as Miz took a sip. The warmth did spread throughout his chest well.

 

“I did, but I need to get back out there. I heard tell they made a beachhead in the Broken Isles, and I need to be out there helping.”

 

“Begging your pardon, sir, but that’s bollocks.” Miz raised an eyebrow. Dalin was normally deferential, almost to a fault. “You’re limping, that cut on your cheek is likely infected, you nearly had your leg torn off, and from what you say you got thrown around enough I’d be amazed if you didn’t have broken ribs. You go out now, you’ll be torn apart in two shakes.” Dalin paused for a moment. “And begging your pardon, but the wife and I depend on your custom, our Rosie has another one on the way and our Judy is getting married soon and well-”

 

Miz held up a hand, wincing as he felt a sore muscle in the arm twinge. “Uncle. Okay. You’ve got me.” He smiled at the caretaker. “I’ll rest here for a while. Presumably Azeroth has other heroes to fight for her. I suppose I should rest and recuperate for a while.”

 

 

 

Hello again all! Mizbrek, your friendly neighbourhood Brewmaster, back again to share a tale of...well, rest! I debated a lot on the theme for this challenge but I think this time it’s going to be all about resting, recuperating, and getting back on track.

 

For the last challenge, I fell off track pretty significantly. I didn’t gain anything overall, but my rate of losing fell dramatically. Part of this was intentional. The new Warcraft expansion launched, and it was important to me to spend time with and enjoy that, and I’m glad I did. But it’s been out for a while now (and AWESOME, if anyone was curious) and I would like to get back on track with my goals. Much of what I’ve set here is largely continuing my previous things, and adapting them a bit to fit my own habits.
 

Exercise: Running/walking every T/Th, Bodyweight exercises MWF, Long walk on Saturday and Sunday

This is largely what I’m already doing, the real changes here are that I am going to go a bit easy on myself in terms of the Running days. Used to be if I slept in or something went wrong and I didn’t have time for the full run I wouldn’t go at all. Now I’m saying at the very least, if I don’t feel up for a run or don’t have time for a full run, I will go out and walk. For the bodyweight exercises I’m sticking with some modified 2A/Bs from the NF Academy. Happy with these so far. May adjust if they do get too easy, but for now I’ve been adding weights and making some adjustments where I can to keep them challenging. The other addition is that my wife and I have agreed we’ll go on a long walk with the dog on Saturday and Sunday. With the Fall starting up I’d love to spend more time outside, and with her of course, and this is a great way for both of us to get some exercise on the weekends.

 

Mental Health: Spend 15 minutes on paper/5 minutes on Economist daily, read a book 15 minutes daily, 1 song per day

I largely failed at my goal of reading the Economist last time around because I had no real plan here, and because I was trying to do that AND read the paper AND read a book. Here I’ve reduced those individual reading times a bit, but switched up a couple things. The goal here is more breadth than depth this point, and habit. I’m not saying I CAN’T read longer, but I’m saying these are the minimums I’m shooting for, and I think these are very doable, even on weekends.

For the songs, listening to music for me is like exercise. I often don't want to do it because it involves some emotional investment, but it pays off every day, so trying to make sure I listen to at least one song a day! Putting these under 1 because it's all a Mental Health sort of thing!

 

In bed by 10 weekday, 11 weekends, ASAP on raid nights

Adding sleep in on this because I know it’s important, and I haven’t really made it a goal for earlier challenges. The big obstacle here will be raiding starting up. I love to raid, and it’s important to me to get back into this, but it means being up late on 2 week nights. I’m not so much setting an absolute time here, as sometimes things wrap early, sometimes certain times make sense, but just saying as soon as possible. I think 11 on weekends is a good time too. Often times I stay up just...to stay up really, and that helps no one.

 

House: Spend 20 minutes on housework per day (counting errands), scoop litter

All pretty self-explanatory here. I’ve fallen out of the housework habit, and that’s not good. And litter realistically takes like 2 seconds if I do it every day, so that’s on here, but not solely. The big difference from before is I am counting times I have to go out for errands. This usually takes more than 20 minutes, and helps the household overall, and it was no fun to go out to the store after work for groceries, then come home and have more to do.

 

Social - Check/post to Rebellion Daily, Post to Insta daily

This I think will be a big help in staying on task. I’m making it a specific goal to post here daily, and on my Instagram below. Please feel free and encouraged to follow me there! I’m already pretty good on my Instagram habit, as I have a nice group of supportive friends there, but I do want to try and check in with the Rebellion more. You all are a wonderful group of people, and I want to support you and feed off your inspiration a bit! I’ve specifically limited my number of follows this time around to try and make that a bit less of a daunting task! But will try and keep up with everyone as best I can.

 

Job - Apply to 1 quick job per day (mobile apply, etc)

This is another one where I’ve fallen off the wagon. I’m perfectly happy where I am, but I’ve also been there a long time, and to move up in my career I need to move on. So the goal here will be to do a quick job application. This means using LinkedIn or Indeed to apply from mobile. I can do this with two clicks on an app on my walk to work, or at any time really. This isn’t the BEST way of applying for jobs, but the idea here is more to try something, and to keep it front of mind. And it certainly doesn’t hurt anything to try! I’ll need to do some initial setup to get my resume up to date but that shouldn’t be too big of a hurdle.

 

Loot Bonus - Bottle of Bruichladdich 10

As an added bonus I’m setting a loot goal for myself. If I stick to these 95% of the time (tracking on the Way of Life app) for the challenge, I will buy myself a bottle of Bruichladdich Laddie 10, a bottle of scotch that’s one of my personal favourites. I reserve the right to change that mind you! Debating a new pair of headphones as well, but for now that’s the goal!

 

Anyway, thanks for reading folks! Hope you all enjoyed my little RP and hope you’ll come visit Edgehome!

 

[Elastigirl]

Always enjoy your stories.Looks like a good challenge.

[Rhovaniel]

Sounds like a really good set of goals! Following along for the Shire-talk  

[Mizbrek]

Day 1! Sort of.Day 2ish?

 

Exercise - long walk completed! Puppy didn't want to go too far, so we didn't get as far as I'd like, but still something!

Mental Health - Some of the paper and 1 song so far. The song was SUPER HELPFUL though and currently listening to more music (Pitch Perfect soundtrack, fyi, which is BOSS). Hoping to read a bit in bed tonight.

Bed - Got in bed before midnight last night, which was still better than most weekend nights!

Social - Insta post completed! And Rebellion, well, once I hit submit...

Job - Likely not happening today. Tomorrow planning to work on getting everything updated for mobile applications.

 

So overall not a bad day! Was a bit thrown off by Mom dropping by with a muffin, and then making me feel guilty for not eating with her (and stressing me out about a bunch of random things) so calories are a bit off today. And drinking a bit too. But! Tomorrow is another day.

 

Happy weekend folks!

[Mizbrek]

Day 2! 

 

Exercise - long walk completed! We may have to do it without the puppy for the next week or two. Still too warm for her.

Mental Health - Some of the paper and 1 song.

Bed - In bed before 11 last night and on track from the same tonight!

Social - Insta post still to go (gonna take a photo of the healthy soup I made) and posting here now!

House - cleaned up a lot, made dinner, did some laundry!

Job - Didn't happen today, but still on my mind!

 

Overall not too bad, but had a bit of a rough mental day. I'll bounce back!

[Mizbrek]

Day 3! I end up posting these around noon most days (often on my lunch break) so you kinda get half a day each! Ah well!

 

Exercise - Did NFAcademy Bodyweight 2A this morning and felt great. May finally be time to tackle the boss battle next. I definitely am feeling a lot stronger.

Mental Health - Paper, Economist and Song knocked off so far today!

Bed - In bed by 10:10 last night! Did read for a bit longer, maybe shouldn't have, but that's not too bad. I find bed, even with a tablet and browsing, restful, and I deleted reddit and imgur from my tablet to make sure I'm not just spending hours on them in bed. So easy.

Social - Insta post done for the day (2 in fact) and browsed some threads on here, and posting, obviously!

House - Haven't done anything yet today, but planning on running errands tonight and folding some laundry, plus the usual litter.

Job - Decided to just get something going quickly and set up the LinkedIn job app on my phone. Applied to 4 today! I'm not overly hopeful on these positions, since I'm not doing a full proper application with a customized resume and cover letter, but you certainly never know! I did also see one that I saved for later for a longer app (also cause it wouldn't LET me apply over mobile) so that's kind of the goal here.

 

My weight has crept up a few pounds over the weekend. My last challenge had keeping steady on weekends as a goal, and it's still something I'm struggling with, and trying to find a better way than "just do it." It's so easy to not exercise, to eat crappy on the weekends. Mostly I need to watch the drinks (as that tends to be tied in to eating poorly) and be a bit firmer with myself. I did get a lot done around the house on Sunday morning, though, and got up in good time both days, so overall, could be worse!

[Terra]

Hi! Following for the hobbits and good habits!

[Mizbrek]

On September 26, 2016 at 1:10 PM, Terra said:

Hi! Following for the hobbits and good habits!

I will do my best to provide!

 

Exercise - Ran/walked this morning. Felt like I should have ran more but wasn't feeling up to it, but still got out for a long walk with some running!

Mental Health - Paper, Economist and Song knocked off so far today today too! Hoping to read a book a bit before bed tonight.

Bed - Stayed up late watching the debate last night but I think it was worth it.

Social - Insta post done for the day (2 in fact) and browsed some threads on here, and posting, obviously! Same as yesterday! Haha

House - Nothing yet today but going to fold some laundry afterwards!

Job - Another couple quick mobiles applications today!

 

Copying this story from my Insta that happened today, was kind of neat!

 

Had a long day and a light lunch and a massive craving for a snack on the way home today. In previous years I was stopping on the way home nearly every day to get a large pack of M&M's and a Snickers bar. Not or. And. Was probably eating 1000 calories as a snack. I haven't done that in a long time, and I nearly did today. It was a tough day and I really wanted it. I walked into the store and walked out with my mouth watering. My body screaming at me that I was making a mistake, that I was WRONG, that I was going to get trapped on the train and it was going to get stuck and I WAS GOING TO REGRET THIS.

I stopped and examined it afterwards and realized that yes, I was hungry. My mouth was watering for fuck's sake. And I said to myself "k, if you're really hungry, go get something healthy." The old weight loss adage or if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, you're not really hungry. So got this from the salad bar. Likely not the most healthy thing but there's chicken, some steak, and a bit of cheese. I could've gotten just cucumbers or something but fuck guys I'm not superman.

[Elastigirl]

Way to go! Sounds very healthy to me. Awesome how the new you is learning to make better choices and not listen when your lizard brain tries to derail you.

[Mizbrek]

14 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Way to go! Sounds very healthy to me. Awesome how the new you is learning to make better choices and not listen when your lizard brain tries to derail you.

Thanks! That's exactly what it is. It's funny because it does feel like this little voice inside that desperately wants to sabotage me! But I thought some folks here might be able to relate!

 

Exercise - Bodyweight 2B this morning! Feeling much easier, which is both good and bad. Nice, because nice to feel good, but I also want to be pushing myself. Trying to add weights to compensate where possible.

Mental Health - Paper, Economist and Song knocked off already! Didn't read my book yesterday but planning to on the train home. Part of it is the book I'm currently reading I'm not suuuuper into. May just need to give in to reading what I want instead of what I feel like I should (as in a book I purchased). But it is a sunk cost already. Eh.

Bed - Stayed up late doing some housework and playing WoW. Not super late, 10:45ish, but still, should work at getting to bed a bit earlier.

Social - Insta post done for the day and posting now! Going to browse some threads afterwards.

House - Cleaned up the dishes last night and hoping to do more of the same. Skipped the litter box, but I should be able to catch up today. 

Job - I seem to be running out of quick applications available! But browsing and sent off two this morning.

 

My weight is still hovering a pound or so up, which is a bit disheartening, but gotta keep at it. Really need to work on staying on task on the weekends. I'm losing and gaining the same 2-3 pounds every week, and that's just silly.

 

Tomorrow planning my distance feat for the mini challenge. Going to try rucking, throwing some weight in a backpack and seeing how it is! Never tried this before so if I even attempt it I'm calling it a win!

 

Had a bit of a heavy lunch today, and kept eating even after I was full, and feeling a bit gross now. It'd be good to start remembering that there's nothing wrong or terrible about throwing out some food. A tiny bit wasteful, yes, but better to lose 10c of food versus feel gross. Always lessons to learn!

[Terra]

16 minutes ago, Mizbrek said:

better to lose 10c of food versus feel gross. Always lessons to learn!

^^^ TRUTH!! ^^^

 

You are doing great and you are finding places for improvement without being negative to yourself.  Perfect!  

[Rurik Harrgath]

These are some really reasonable, pensive goals.  I like how you organized them and targeted toward entire-self improvement.

[Mizbrek]

21 hours ago, Rurik Harrgath said:

These are some really reasonable, pensive goals.  I like how you organized them and targeted toward entire-self improvement.

Thanks fearless leader! It's funny I think of pensive as a bad word, almost, but reading the definition it does make sense!

 

Exercise - Tried rucking this morning! Was a bit of a rough go. Wore my boat shoes by accident (not conducive for running), it started raining partway through, and one of the chest straps actually broke on my backpack near the end! Still, neat to try it, and it felt good, if not a HUGE workout, though that was probably since I didn't manage to run much!

Mental Health - Read a bit of the paper today and got my song in. It is almost...challenging to listen to the music. It'd be so easy and tempting to just let my thoughts run wild, but this doesn't often go well! Will get some of this done on the commute tonight.

Bed - Got to bed in decent time. Could've been a bit earlier but not too bad!

Social - Going to do Insta after I finish this. Forgot to take a pic this morning of my rucking! And working on this now and going to browse a bit before lunch hour is over.

House - Folded laundry and did litter last night!

Job - Just did one now! Not too many. Need to open up the Indeed app and get that going.

 

Weight has ticked up a bit again. Need to work at challenging myself physically a bit more and sticking more closely to my diet. A couple times lately I've eaten something just cause it's there, and not cause I really wanted it, and that's just no good overall.

[Elastigirl]

Were you running with the backpack on ? Wow, that's impressive. I'm just trying to push myself to walk faster with a ruck.

[Mizbrek]

23 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

Were you running with the backpack on ? Wow, that's impressive. I'm just trying to push myself to walk faster with a ruck.

I forgot my running shoes so I didn't try! I had stepped out earlier in boat shoes (practically slippers) to see if it was raining and then without thinking put them back on! Not ideal for running!

 

Exercise - Slept in a bit this morning but still managed to squeeze in 2A! Did it a bit quickly, which is probably better than my usual more methodical, lots of breaks pace!

Mental Health - Read a bit of the paper this morning and listened to lots of music. Need to try and work in some Economist, hopefully after I finish this! Read a book in bed last night, a different one than normal. Thinking I may give up on the one I'm reading now. It's juuuust interesting enough to keep me going, but not really enough to grab me or make me want to read.

Bed - Got to bed in decent time. Could've been a bit earlier but not too bad! Still true today!

Social - Did my insta this morning, and going to try and squeeze in checking some folks here before lunch is over!

House - Was a little negligent yesterday on this. Took care of the dog as much as I could which I guess could kiiiinda count but still could do better. 

Job - Running out of ones I can easily apply to! Need to get Indeed set up. Have a couple longer ones I want to apply to over the weekend too.

 

Hopefully a quiet weekend. Pounds keep ticking back up a bit. My mom dropped by some pumpkin spice oreos, which was nice, but just...I can't have them in the house. I ate 6 last night unthinkingly. And I know I'll keep doing the same. At the office now and asked my wife to throw them away. It feels wasteful, but I'd like to work on thinking about the sunk costs here, and how really like...is it anything terrible if I throw them away? A food bank won't take an open pack. I could bring them into work on Monday but that means leaving them in the house over the weekend.

 

So, throwing out. 

 

Happy Friday all! Thanks for your comments and words of encouragement! It definitely means a lot!

 

 

[Wild Wolf]

This is a great challenge Mizbrek! I liked the story write-up in the beginning and it sounds like despite some eating struggles you WANT to make changes and do better. One day at a time brother  Following along!

 

27 minutes ago, Mizbrek said:

Hopefully a quiet weekend. Pounds keep ticking back up a bit. My mom dropped by some pumpkin spice oreos, which was nice, but just...I can't have them in the house. I ate 6 last night unthinkingly. And I know I'll keep doing the same. At the office now and asked my wife to throw them away. It feels wasteful, but I'd like to work on thinking about the sunk costs here, and how really like...is it anything terrible if I throw them away? A food bank won't take an open pack. I could bring them into work on Monday but that means leaving them in the house over the weekend.

 

So, throwing out. 

 

Good call! See, you're already doing so good that you have the mental strength to toss the cookies! Maybe there's some healthy pumpkin snacks you could make? Maybe make your own protein bar?

 

W0lf

[Elastigirl]

I'm a big believer in just throwing out food like that. Luckily, my husband's on board. It's a waste to eat it too. Not only is it bad for me, but eating that much sugar (or chips) just sets me up to want more.

 

I've been trying to read book 5 in The Wheel of Time, but finding it so boring. I think I'm switching books,.If the book I'm reading isn't grabbing my attention, I'll choose staying up and surfing the net over going to bed and reading.

[bker1370]

12 hours ago, Elastigirl said:

I've been trying to read book 5 in The Wheel of Time, but finding it so boring.

Jordan does seem to drag sometimes, but I promise all those details are there for a reason... although sometimes that reason isn't obvious until several books later LOL

[Elastigirl]

9 hours ago, bker1370 said:

Jordan does seem to drag sometimes, but I promise all those details are there for a reason... although sometimes that reason isn't obvious until several books later LOL

That's what I've heard, but right now I just can't seem to get through the slog. Sigh, I know it's beloved by so many fantasy fans, and I love fantasy, but I'm struggling with it.

[bker1370]

books 5 and 6 are, in my opinion, the worst of the slog...    I do frequently need to take a break after book 6 myself LOL

[Elastigirl]

31 minutes ago, bker1370 said:

books 5 and 6 are, in my opinion, the worst of the slog...    I do frequently need to take a break after book 6 myself LOL

That's what I've heard too. Shhh, don't tell anyone but I may just get a summary and read those. I really want to finish  the series.

 

Ha, Mizbrek, totally hijacking your thread. Hope you're having a good weekend. Put the oreo  cookies down.

[bker1370]

Well, then check out this site...  it will give you everything you might need (and then more LOL)  http://www.encyclopaedia-wot.org/

[bker1370]

Also, if you every want to discuss anything about them feel free to shoot me a message.   Glad to talk about them anytime.  Although many questions will probably end up with the stock answer (started my Jordan himself) of RAFO (Read And Find Out LOL).    

 

One thing you can look forward to is there is a  "mystery" introduced at the end of Book 5.  A character is killed and the mystery is "who is the killer?"  Jordan said the answer should be "obvious" to anyone who had read carefully although there is a great deal of debate regarding his definition of obvious as many years and books later he had only acknowledged one fan having given him the correct answer LOL (we do know the answer definitively now although the place it is given in writing is in a later book's glossary rather than the narrative LOL)

[Mizbrek]

On October 1, 2016 at 0:55 PM, Elastigirl said:

That's what I've heard too. Shhh, don't tell anyone but I may just get a summary and read those. I really want to finish  the series.

 

Ha, Mizbrek, totally hijacking your thread. Hope you're having a good weekend. Put the oreo  cookies down.

All good! Glad I could provide some food for thought!

On September 30, 2016 at 1:26 PM, Wild Wolf said:

This is a great challenge Mizbrek! I liked the story write-up in the beginning and it sounds like despite some eating struggles you WANT to make changes and do better. One day at a time brother  Following along!

 

 

Good call! See, you're already doing so good that you have the mental strength to toss the cookies! Maybe there's some healthy pumpkin snacks you could make? Maybe make your own protein bar?

 

W0lf

Thanks very much! Will have to try that protein bar! For now I use these little 90 calorie FibreOne brownies. Super tasty, packed with fibre, relatively cheap, and readily available. Gives me a little snack without throwing everything for a loop.

 

Had a bit of an odd weekend! Ryder Cup was on (golf) which is a once every 2 years event, so we wanted to watch it. We also spent most of Saturday chasing down a new phone for my wife (which involved hitting 2 stores to get the right one on a busy Saturday and driving through a city I'm not totally comfortable with) and in general it was an odd weekend!

 

Exercise - Didn't get to do too much this weekend. Today I volunteered to run to the store and ended up taking a backpack and rucking some heavy groceries home! Not too far, but something!

Mental Health - Got my song in both days and some paper and Economist both days, and read last night. Going to read again in bed tonight. The book I was complaining about actually got good on Friday!

Bed - Was in bed by 11:30 Friday and Saturday, a half hour later than planned, but still something!

Social - Missed the Rebellion yesterday (and likely won't have much time to read posts today, sorry guys!) but posted to Instagram yesterday and am going to after this!

Job - Updated some stuff on LinkedIn to privately show recruiters my interests! Not much, but something!

House - Drove around yesterday for errands, ran out for errands today and did litter boxes just before this.

 

Overall the weekends are still tough for me. I made some better food choices though, and am keeping things more front of mind. So overall was this weekend perfect in terms of my goals? No. Was it better? Yes. I'll take it.

 

Happy weekend everyone!

[Mizbrek]

Hello folks! Another day, another post! Happy Monday!

 

Exercise - Did 2B this morning! Was a bit rushed but got it done. Would like to work on focusing better. I put on Deadpool to watch over it, but I may need to stick to something less action based, or something I've seen before. Ended up pausing a lot between workouts to watch, and better to keep my heart rate going.

Mental Health - Song, paper and Economist reading done for today. Book on the train ride home!

Bed - Was in bed by 10:30 last night, so not too bad! Felt a bit rough for a Monday, but chalking that up to some less than great food choices last night.

Social - Posted here and to Instagram this morning, going to try and do a quick browse of the feeds after this!

Job - Going to try and find some new jobs to apply to easily. Didn't get any applications in over the weekend and it would likely be good to take some time to do some more fulsome applications versus these quick mobile ones.

House - Volunteered to do some kitchen cleanup tonight!

 

Overall feeling not bad today. Weight had ticked up a tiny bit from the weekend. Looking at my track record over the last month or so I do seem to be largely stalled. I think that's partly my weekends, partly me getting a bit too used to the exercises, and missing some days here and there. I think I'm on a better path now, but it is all about consistency and continuing to work on it. I've been at this for a few months now, but it's going to be a long road to figure out. Just gotta stay on it!