Sparrow, the Martian.

[WorldSparrow]

 

Hello this is WorldSparrow, Ranger. I am entering this record in case I don’t make it. It is uh… 0704 on December 24, 2016, and I’m alive... Obviously. But I am guessing that is going to come as a surprise to the Crew, and NASA, and pretty much everyone on Earth so… surprise…I did not die after my last 4 week challenge two and a half months ago.

 

It’s going to be four years until a manned mission can reach me, and I am in a hab designed to last 31 days. If I don’t exercise, will waste away. If I don’t work hard at my jobs I will lose what little access I have to supplies. If I don’t continue to improve myself mentally I will not have the skills to survive. If I don’t take time for spirituality and fun I will go crazy.  If I don’t budget my money and ration my food I am eventually going to run out and die.

 

So yeah… yeah…

 

 

Let’s do the math.

 

I have my challenges broken down three ‘quest lines’. The first is my professional life, called “A Bowl of Rice.” The second is my desire to make the world a better place and serve people, called “Citizen/Soldier”. The third consisted of my desire to BE USEFUL and produce more than I consume, called "Stand the Test of Time". Lastly, anytime I do something noteworthy it is put into the “Bonus Quest” category.

 

Furthermore, there are many rules (Ok… they are more of guidelines) that I live by in order to keep myself accountable. These include a list of behaviors I find unacceptable (AKA: failing to spend quality time with my family, or losing my temper) as well as a list of daily chores. There is also specific skills I want to develop.

 

Now, at the moment I am actually at a military school for part of my citizen/soldier quest line and go weeks at a time without internet, which is why I am making this a battle log and not a 4 week challenge. I plan on keeping this strange mix of real life and theme story going, maybe it's a sign of insanity creeping in from prolonged isolation!?

 

So with two jobs, a wife, a son, and countless hobbies - how am I going to balance everything?

 

I am going to have to science the shit out of this.

[Elastigirl]

Love it! I loved the movie and the book. Glad you can check in on us once in a while and give us an update.

[WorldSparrow]

Sometimes, disaster strikes. Lucky for me, I am a bad ass puzzle solver. The air lock failed on the hab, and I only had 60 minutes to escape and fix the air reclaimeright before my potatoes died. This escape room (which was actually Indiana Jones themed) had three locks to get to the final room then one more lock for the end prize.

 

My sub-team accomplished the first lock, despite having to call for an hint (after double checking our work multiple times it turned out the game master had the wrong lock on the Door! That was  good 5 minutes waisted. And threw off my confidence in other things being done correctly).

 

We then finished the second lock, which was made difficult because one of the props was missing... ditto earlier comment.

 

Then we helped the second sub-team do thier lock! 

 

 

Victory was ours at 58min 43sec. Although he gave us an extra hint or two due to his misplacement of items.

 

In other news.

Did 60-120 sprints on Monday and a short run today.

 

Spent 20 dollars on superfluous food and wine (datenight with the wife). Well within limits. 

 

Lots of cake and cookies, but abnormally small amount of soda and enemy drinks! (aka energy drinks).

 

 

 

 

[Rinna]

Hey!  Good to see ya!

[Elastigirl]

Cool! I want to do one of those escape puzzles sometime

[WorldSparrow]

 Hello again. For the last week I have been back in official isolation. The first couple days were difficult, as always, being away from my family again here in Georgia. Now that class has started again I am back in the groove and counting the days until I can graduate. This next week should be a tough one as we are going to be in the field with one meal a day and less than 3 hours of sleep each night, culminating with a 10 mile ruck at a 60 lbs ruck. 

 

This last week we did: (didn't work Monday, had no pt due to urinalysis Tuesday)

- 5 mile IOTV run/obstacle course (Body Armor - 10 lbs). 

- 100 meter sprints followed by kettle bell snatch, step ups, barbell complex.

- 5 mile run

 

As usual I supplemented each day with push ups and sit ups on my own at night. 

 

Drank too much Friday night, and stayed out too late last night with my squad mates. Good for moral temporarily, but now regret it as I got very little done on Saturday.

 

Pray for me that it isn't too cold and/or rainy this next week! 

 

On 12/28/2016 at 9:53 PM, Rinna said:

Hey!  Good to see ya!

 

 Good to see you as well, I will have to check in on your thread to see what's up.

 

On 12/28/2016 at 10:24 PM, Elastigirl said:

Cool! I want to do one of those escape puzzles sometime

 

You should, it's the best. Thought of you last night as I was attempting to teach a bunch of intoxicated infantry soldiers how to play Settlers of Catan. 

[Elastigirl]

Your week sounds very tough. I wil think of you and be reminded not to whine when I go for a 2 mile walk in the rain. I will pray that it sin't super cold or rainy for you this week. Not sure if I've said it before, but thanks for serving our country in the military. Do you know what and where you will be going after you graduate?

 

edit:forgot to say, maybe I should try and get the people I play with drunk, and see if that ups my chances of winning

[Broba Fett]

Finally got to track down your log sir.  Consider me along for the ride. 

[WorldSparrow]

Well, I made it bad to the hab after a long week in the field. Normally being isolated in this little hotel room would sadden me, but this time I am glad to have some alone time. Luckily the weather was great while we were in the field, I just hope that holds for next week as well. The training also went well, but unfortunately I failed miserably on one of the workouts. 

 

We did a 10 mile ruck with 50 lbs or so, and the route had a lot more hills than normal. With my short legs hills are the bane of my existence, and slow me down quite a bit. Due to this, and weakness on my part, I allowed myself to give in mentally and basically gave up on making the 02 hour and 30 minute time standard. Feeling pretty down because of it, feeling pretty worthless. 

 

Anyways, I am staying in the present and focusing on my next goal. So next week is another week in the field (but we have Monday off due to holiday, yeah!). This time, we will actually be tested on field exercises and will be getting less than two hours of sleep a night. My current goal is to do a lot of studying over the weekend and set myself up for success. Pray for good weather my friends! 

 

And now for something completely different.

 

During my meetup with @Wild Wolf he suggested I try out WestWorld the TV Show. It took me a few episodes but I definitely enjoyed the first season and am really looking forward to the next (it even had a plot twist that totally took me by surprise, which almost never happens!!) ... side note? I really wish I could be a cowboy...

 

 

I also suggest the movies Passengers and Hidden Figures. Pretty well done.

 

On 1/8/2017 at 4:23 PM, Elastigirl said:

Your week sounds very tough. I wil think of you and be reminded not to whine when I go for a 2 mile walk in the rain. I will pray that it sin't super cold or rainy for you this week. Not sure if I've said it before, but thanks for serving our country in the military. Do you know what and where you will be going after you graduate?

 

edit:forgot to say, maybe I should try and get the people I play with drunk, and see if that ups my chances of winning

 

Thank you for your support. Seeing as I am National Guard I will be headed back to my home in Iowa when I graduate, unless I get a follow-on school, which is likely. That would mean an additional 2 months down here before I head home. 

 

Haha, just don't drink too much yourself! Do you play the expansions? One of the guys had the Cities and Armies expansion I think it was, and I have tried the expansion Seafarers expansion, but normally just play the original. 

 

On 1/11/2017 at 7:35 PM, Broba Fett said:

Finally got to track down your log sir.  Consider me along for the ride. 

 

Good to have you sir!

 

 

[Wild Wolf]

3 minutes ago, WorldSparrow said:

During my meetup with @Wild Wolf he suggested I try out WestWorld the TV Show. It took me a few episodes but I definitely enjoyed the first season and am really looking forward to the next (it even had a plot twist that totally took me by surprise, which almost never happens!!) ... side note? I really wish I could be a cowboy...

 

Woot Woot! I'm glad you liked it sir! I bet I know what plot twist you speak of too....cuz it took me surprise as well!!! Being a cowboy is as much a mindset as it is wearing the boots and hat and I think you can nail them all brother. 

 

Following along my friend!

 

Wolf

[WorldSparrow]

1 minute ago, Wild Wolf said:

being a cowboy is as much a mindset as it is wearing the boots and hat

 

Very true, but it would also be nice to have a frontier to conquer and desperadoes to dispatch! 

[Wild Wolf]

Just now, WorldSparrow said:

 

Very true, but it would also be nice to have a frontier to conquer and desperadoes to dispatch! 

 

Now I understand what you mean! Can I join your dispatch team??

 

 

Wolf

[Elastigirl]

Sorry about the bad ruck day.  Tomorrow will be better. We saw Hidden Figures last night. That was such a good movie. 

I think we've tried all the expansions for Settlers. My son loves board games, and I think he has bought (or been gifted) every expansion. I still kinda like the original best, though the knights are fun. Praying for good weather and for your strength.

 

 

 

 

[Broba Fett]

Everybody wants to be a cowboy until there are cattle to rustle and you fall off a few horses.

The aftermath of my first experience "cowboying", cutting a calf away from a mad momma cow:

But at least I can say I pulled a full grown cow with my bare hands.

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[T2sarahconnor]

I think you would make a smashing cowboy.  I bet you even have an outfit already!  Are you still down south? Or back in Iowa?