BlackTezca's 15th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Survives Her Eclipse

[BlackTezca]

I'm Lieutenant Dan.  Fuck you 2016.

 

Woo...it is a new year.  A brand new spanking year that I desperately need.  I have been out for the forums quite a bit last year for one main reason!  Quick reminder for all of you folks who have yet to meet the Queen of Gifs; I am BlackTezca and I first joined the Rebellion back in 2014!   I started out with my very first post in From Lurker to (Newb) Rebel!  I also started a new battle log for the year titled BlackTezca's Daily Battle Towards A Much Better Year (We all need a much better year). I had a lovely challenge during my Golden age in  BlackTezca's 14th Trial: An Artsy Geeky Amazon Goes Back to School!!!  and the challenge ended up being a pretty damn good success!  I was ready to kick the rest of Octobers' ass and really rock the rest of 2016 until...disaster struck.

 

Monsters abounded...

 

I know a lot of folks who have figurative (and literal) battle scars from 2016 and I have to say...I am one of them.  Some of you may have know this already, but the hubs and I lost our clone, Ezekiel, better known to us as Zeke.  Zeke was...too much for this small puny world to handle and went off to conquer far, far, far away celestial places.  He will be miss, and his departure hit us really hard.  That was the best, and the very worst, Halloween weekend I have ever experience.  That was what I shall call, the Eclipse moment.

 

 

If you are familiar with the anime Berserk, which was...fittingly, gonna be my October challenge theme, then you know the Eclipse moment.  The moment where everything goes to literal hell in Berserk and the dark dirty world transforms into a Apocalyptic Fantasy horror landscape.  I really truly believe that losing Zeke was that moment; sure I didn't lose an eye nor lost an arm, but things are definitely not the same anymore.  I didn't go on a 2 year hunting down Apostles hiatus like Guts did, but I did have a hiatus so I can heal physically and start healing emotionally.  

 

Cause I'm back bitches!!

 

Time to kickass and get back to my main quest!  As we all may remember, I have one hero that I always admire, one hero that I aspire to be!  Her movie is coming out soon (JUNE 02 2017) and as such I must prepare myself to follow in her awesome footsteps...!!

My Main Quest to be as POWERFUL and BATTLE READY as Wonder Woman

 

Without further ado, let's see my new awesome quests for January 2017!  Note that most of these are familiar, but this is to get back into the habit and get back into the Rebellion!  It's always good to revisit the basics and what made things so great the first time around :D.

 

Guts will never stop, never yield.  He is simply to simple minded, too stubborn, and too bad ass.

Details: Still keeping things simple here.  Just like Guts who will never stop to rest for his simple goals (vengeance against Griffith, protecting Casca, getting monsters to leave him alone), I too shall not stop!  Time to get my ass back into gear and work out as hard as I usual do!...While taking rest days and doing some yoga (which I will count as well!  WOO YOGA!)

Contingencies: Sickness and travel pretty much.  However considering the flexibility here, I should be able to do something!  Walking, yoga, etc!
Tracking: I'll be tracking the workouts using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well.
Grading: 
A for workout (including yoga) 4 to 5 times a week - 25 pts ( 2 Sta 2 Dex 2 Str )
B for workout (including yoga) out 2 to 3 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Sta 1 Dex 2 Str )
F for all else

 

Casca is a strong independent woman who don't need no man to kick some ass!

Details: A woman with pride, strength and an efficient fighting style, Casca is a soldier through and through. She fights with finesse and often using her opponents greater strength to her advantage.  I haven't been doing much to keep up with my own fighting skills and would like to get back into kickboxing and Muay Thai!  

Contingencies: If I can't make the Easton classes, I'll simply do a kickboxing work out at home with focus on good technique from Easton!  Huzzah!
Tracking:  I'll be tracking the Muay Thai and Kickboxing using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) and this lovely thread will be updated as well.
Grading: 

A for Kickboxing/Muay Thai 3 times a week - 20 pts ( 1 Sta 2 Dex 1 Str )
B for Kickboxing/Muay Thai out 2 times a week - 15 pts ( 2 Dex )

C for Kickboxing/Muay Thai out 2 times a week - 10 pts ( 1 Dex )

F for all else

 

Ishidoro  needs to bulk up and eat at least 100 gram of protein to catch up to Guts!

Details: Lets' get back to focusing on eating all the protein (and watching my carbs and sugar and such).  Ishidoro wants to steal all of Guts techniques and skills, but he needs to pump up for that!  I mean the dragonslayer is about 400 pounds and Guts can swing that with one arm.  For me to get back to the weight I use to lift, I need to eat more protein!

Contingencies: None.  I should be able to stuff my face with yogurt and protein bars if I need to and while I don't want to go over my calories too much, I'm NOT cutting.  Thus the daily amount should not scare me.  I need the protein, I need that fuel!

Tracking: I'll be tracking the stretching sessions using MyFitnessPal ( username BlackTezca ) with extra accountability done here.

Grading:

A for 100 g of protein 6 to 7 times a week - 25 exp ( 2 Con 1 Wis)

B for 100 g of protein 4 to 5 times a week - 20 exp ( 2 Con )

C for 100 g of protein 2 to 3 times a week - 15 exp ( 1 Con )

F for all else

 

Griffith has dreams, ambitions...and let one year with a bad day lead to a pretty horrific decision...

Details: Oh man...oh Griffith...you're a real piece of work.  Turning from one of the coolest characters into one of the most shittiest assholes over the course of one ruthless, hateful decision. To be fair to him, he had a bad year.  He was tortured for a year, left disabled and unable to fight or even speak and after being united with his friends and comrades, realized he had just become a burden.  That sucks.  Really, really sucks.  I am not gonna be like Griffith and just hole up into myself, making horrible choices.  I had a pretty shitty 2016.  I have some healing to do.  And while I have done a pretty good job so far, I need to stop putting off getting some grief counseling.  Not sure what yet, nor when, but I need to get some grief counseling of some kind.  Maybe to let it all out, maybe to hep make a plan, I'm not sure, but something could still help me get a handle on this loss a little more.

Contingencies: None; I need to not put it off.
Tracking: Tracking to be done here and I'll need to use this thread to do some research and let ya'll know how I'm doing so far.
Grading: 
A  for one group or individual grief counseling session this challenge - 15 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha )

F for all else

 

Puck is real are so are demons, other elves, and magic in the Berserkverse!

Details: Puck is the resident light in the darkness known as the Berserkverse.  He provides the comedy relief and much needed lightness for the series as well as proof that there are supernatural happenings afoot.  He is an elf that is visible to all but the blind and tries his best to support Guts and his crew.  Due to his supernatural, magical nature, he best represents my art quest!  Same old here; painting and art for 30 minutes a day, most days of the week!

Contingencies: The usual!  Friends being in town, going on possible trips else where, etc.  Need to focus on painting!
Tracking: I have an art Tumblr and I also have DeviantArt (WATCH ME FOR ACCOUNTABILITY). I shall use those and this thread to keep track. 
Grading: 
A for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 4 to 5 days a week - 20 exp ( 2 Wis 1 Cha )
B for Arting (model painting mostly) at least 30 minutes 2 to 3 days a week - 15 exp ( 1 Wis 1 Cha)

F for all else

 

The quests are set!  I should be honest and have some stats posted for the new year!  They...ugh...won't be great, but here they are!!

 

Starting Measurements:   

Date: 01/05/2017 @ 7:30 am

Weight: 161

***Body Fat***: 26
Waist: 26
Waist @ Navel: 28
Hips: 40

Neck: 12.5
Chest: 34
Left Bicep: 11
Right Thigh: 19.5
Wrist: 5.5
Forearm: 9

 

Ughhhh...I know these are looking great, but hey!  Cut me some slack :P.  I'm getting back into things and I'm already feeling more trim and also feeling better!  Hurray!  Let's get this challenge going!  Time to fight against the Dark Ages and kick ass Berserk style!  WOO!!

 

 

[BlackTezca]

**Awesome Summaries Index***

Week 1 Summary

Week 2 Summary

Week 3 Summary

Week 4 Summary

Challenge Summary

[Teirin]

Glad to see you back *hugs*

[BlackTezca]

50 minutes ago, Teirin said:

Glad to see you back *hugs*

 

 Hehe I needed to get back into gear 

[sarakingdom]

I'm so sorry.  And glad to see you back.

[BlackTezca]

30 minutes ago, sarakingdom said:

I'm so sorry.  And glad to see you back.

 

Happy to be back and thank you. 

 

[Urgan]

Here as always. The Queen of Gifs makes a triumphant comeback~

[Kishi]

Hey. Hey. You feel that vague, disturbing feeling, slithering across the void? Like a pair of nerd-arms, wrapping around you like limp hairy noodles?

 

Yeah. That's me. Hugging you. I'd have put my feels in GIF form for you but I can't do that right ATM. You'll have to take prose instead. ;;

 

Anyway, welcome back! It's good to see you again. If there's anything you need from us, please let us know!

[BlackTezca]

23 hours ago, Urgan said:

Here as always. The Queen of Gifs makes a triumphant comeback~

Indeed!

 

3 hours ago, Kishi said:

Hey. Hey. You feel that vague, disturbing feeling, slithering across the void? Like a pair of nerd-arms, wrapping around you like limp hairy noodles?

 

Yeah. That's me. Hugging you. I'd have put my feels in GIF form for you but I can't do that right ATM. You'll have to take prose instead. ;;

 

Anyway, welcome back! It's good to see you again. If there's anything you need from us, please let us know!

 

Hehe awww thank you!

 

I'll take prose and put up my own image :D.  Hehe though you are much more friendly and awesome than Cthulhu!

I'm happy to be back and thank you.  Been rough going but still here

[starpuck]

Aw girl, it's so good to see you back.   I've had random moments driving around where I've thought, "Wonder how BT is doing?   Hope we see a return from her one day."    Kishi put it more better than I could, so I will ditto him on everything he said.  Minus the hairy limp noodle arms.  My arms are my best part!   Svelte, strong but oh such soft skin Starpuck arms.  Also this song comes to mind whenever I shorten your name to BT.    Glad you are back chica. 

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

*hug* I'm so glad you're back. And best wishes for 2017. Oh and I finally opened the new art thread. So feel free to draw something for us. You know I'm looking forward to it.

[BlackTezca]

On 1/7/2017 at 8:13 AM, Starpuck said:

Aw girl, it's so good to see you back.   I've had random moments driving around where I've thought, "Wonder how BT is doing?   Hope we see a return from her one day."    Kishi put it more better than I could, so I will ditto him on everything he said.  Minus the hairy limp noodle arms.  My arms are my best part!   Svelte, strong but oh such soft skin Starpuck arms.  Also this song comes to mind whenever I shorten your name to BT.    Glad you are back chica. 

 

Hehe I'm happy to be back; it has been a hella rough rollercoaster towards the end of the year there.  I am happy to hear from so many awesome folks and happy to have teleporting, disembodied, cyber arms hugging me!  Awesome!

 

You have such intriguing taste in music!  I like this song from BT quite a bit myself!  Much different from the song you linked but I believe it's same artist too!

 

19 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

*hug* I'm so glad you're back. And best wishes for 2017. Oh and I finally opened the new art thread. So feel free to draw something for us. You know I'm looking forward to it.

 

Thank you!  I noticed the new art thread!  I shall do art!  I promise this time

***

 I don't have a Day 01 summary yet because technically today is my Day 01! Decided to start my challenge on a Monday since it's a little easier for my to follow along with MyFitnessPal!  But I am officially starting!  WOO!!  I shall do kickboxing today and maybe some art tonight after playing a smaller WH40k game with the hubs!  We'll see.

 

Ciao folks!  Let's lurk the forums!

[Kishi]

YEAH. Start on Mondays. REBEL!

[starpuck]

2 hours ago, BlackTezca said:

You have such intriguing taste in music!  I like this song from BT quite a bit myself!  Much different from the song you linked but I believe it's same artist too!

 

Oh my!  I checked it out - and was hard pressed to believe it was the same man, but a few pokes at Google and heck yeah.  What diversity!   And.   You've just opened up a whole new playlist for me to art too.  This is the EXACT kind of music I find best to draw with.  It calms me, and gets me not worrying too much about if I am doing things right, or just ... arting and enjoying the experience of learning.      Thanks!

 

[BlackTezca]

22 hours ago, Kishi said:

YEAH. Start on Mondays. REBEL!

That's pretty much in the description

 

20 hours ago, Starpuck said:

 

Oh my!  I checked it out - and was hard pressed to believe it was the same man, but a few pokes at Google and heck yeah.  What diversity!   And.   You've just opened up a whole new playlist for me to art too.  This is the EXACT kind of music I find best to draw with.  It calms me, and gets me not worrying too much about if I am doing things right, or just ... arting and enjoying the experience of learning.      Thanks!

 

 

Hehe glad you like that song!  That one is one of my favorites and hope you find more awesome music to art too!!

***

Having issues with this post automatically submitting when I am still in the middle of writing it...grrr...

Day 01

 

Guts will never stop, never yield.  He is simply to simple minded, too stubborn, and too bad ass.

Day 01 Details: 01/04 Workouts!  Did a HIIT and lower body strength routine yesterday morning!  It was a bit rough but I have been ramping up on my workouts again last month, so I had a decent head start in getting my workout in!  I also did kickboxing which also would count for this quest!  Here are some numbers for the strength training; I am not doing as big of numbers as before, but I also didn't need to start from scratch since even during my pregnancy I was keeping up with strength training:

 

Squats @ 27 lb per hand @  2 * 8

Side Lunges @ 20 lb per hand @  2 * 8

Straight-leg Deadlifts @ 30 lb per hand @  2 * 8

Alternating Lunges @ 20 lb per hand @ 2 * 8

Leg Lifts @ 3 lb total @ 2 * 8

Sumo Squats @ 24 lb per hand @ 2 * 8

 

Casca is a strong independent woman who don't need no man to kick some ass!

Day 01 Details: 01/03 Kickboxing/Muay Thai classes! Along with the HIIT and lower body workout I did yesterday, Kickboxing was mostly focused on kicks!  Hurray!  That was really painful. but admittedly fun.  Good to be back.

 

Ishidoro needs to bulk up and eat at least 100 gram of protein to catch up to Guts!

Day 01 Details: 01/06 protein days! 144 grams of protein eaten yesterday!  Nice strong start!

 

Griffith has dreams, ambitions...and let one year with a bad day lead to a pretty horrific decision...

Day 01 Details: Looked over my insurance and saw that it covers a bit of 'Mental Health' services.  So I looked at the list of covered counselors and therapists that do grief.  I found one woman who was close to my work and thus convenient to me.  I'll be reaching out to her for a session!  Hopefully it's not too hefty of a cost, but we'll see.  Wish me luck!

 

Puck is real are so are demons, other elves, and magic in the Berserkverse!

Day 01 Details: 01/04 Arting Days! So..there was an image I was working on a while ago that I had got back to!  So I was working on finishing it's shading and cleaning up a few errors.  Errors cleaned up, shading not done yet.  I hope to finish this image this week!

 

Todays' Plan: For today, I plan on doing my own kickboxing, upper body workout at home after work!  Once that is complete, I'll do some Wh40k painting on my new Adeptus Soritas models!  Hehe I got so many for Christmas!  Pretty much another army!  I'll take a picture of the progress on my models to prove that I have been arting a bit :D.

 

[Urgan]

A nice strong start~

[Luciana Valerosa Culming]

Love it. You're totally back in the game. *Cheers* 

[Kishi]

Woot! It all looks good over here!

[starpuck]

Nice nice.   On all fronts no less.       I might have to ask you to paint me up a D&D themed figure if you continue to talk about your model painting!     Oh yes.

[Teirin]

Hope you can find a good person to talk to for counseling. 

 

Looking good!  144g protein, wow.

[BlackTezca]

18 hours ago, Urgan said:

A nice strong start~

 

16 hours ago, Luciana Valerosa Culming said:

Love it. You're totally back in the game. *Cheers* 

 

15 hours ago, Kishi said:

Woot! It all looks good over here!

 

 

14 hours ago, Starpuck said:

Nice nice.   On all fronts no less.       I might have to ask you to paint me up a D&D themed figure if you continue to talk about your model painting!     Oh yes.

 

Hehe you might have to wait to see if you like my model painting skillz!  It's not great and I'm a little frustrated with how my model is coming out.  I'll get into that with my summary.

 

14 hours ago, Teirin said:

Hope you can find a good person to talk to for counseling. 

 

Looking good!  144g protein, wow.

 

I hope she is good!  I know that I have a few issues (hahahaha...'few') left from the loss so definitely hoping for a little more help, comfort, relief?  Something.  We'll see.

 

Hehe meat.

And protein drinks.

***

Day 02

This will not end well...

 

Guts will never stop, never yield.  He is simply to simple minded, too stubborn, and too bad ass.

Day 02 Details: 02/04 Workouts!  

 

Casca is a strong independent woman who don't need no man to kick some ass!

Day 02 Details: 02/03 Kickboxing/Muay Thai! Didn't go to class but the work out was a kickboxing + body weight upper body, so I focused on keeping my heels up and pivoting on the balls of my feet while doing some of exercises of the routine.  Fun!  And showing improving + pratice!

 

Ishidoro needs to bulk up and eat at least 100 gram of protein to catch up to Guts!

Day 02 Details: 02/06 protein days! 124 grams of protein eaten yesterday!  Yummy!  Hoping to keep it up!

 

Griffith has dreams, ambitions...and let one year with a bad day lead to a pretty horrific decision...

Day 02 Details: I was so rushed yesterday that I did not call the counselor I found.  I shall rectify today and set up an appointment.

 

Puck is real are so are demons, other elves, and magic in the Berserkverse!

Day 02 Details: 02/04 Arting Days! Moved onto getting more detail work done on my test model for Adeptus Soritas.  I'm a little frustrated with how the paint does not seem to go own smoothly.  Probably cause it's metal...probably cause I primed it in black.  Probably both.  I don't know, but it's a little frustrating.  Here she is!

 

I have a lot more details to add and some clean up to do.  I like the paint scheme I chose, I like it a lot, just need to get better at painting it.  At least on the fabrics.  I want flowing robes!

 

Todays' Plan: Call the counselor I found first of all.  I need to get an appointment set!  Hoping to get one soon.  Not sure about doing a workout today; I was planning a rest day but thought of a low impact but still difficult balance routine I wanted to do, so we'll see.  May do that, or may yoga instead!  Today is gonna be a bit of a long workday anyways so yoga may be better.  Once I am home, I shall also continue painting my model and then work on the armor for the other sisters, saving my Canoness Veridyan model for last!  Hoping to also get more sleep since I had to wake up REALLY early today (5:30 am...ugh).  I'm gonna be sleepy...

 

Speaking of that, time for coffee!  See ya!

 

The longer you look at this the funnier it gets.  I don't know why.

[Kishi]

Well, I still say it looks pretty, though. Maybe do another coat now that the paint has set? Maybe it won't run together now...

 

Also, ALL THE PROTEIN. NOM.

[BlackTezca]

20 hours ago, Kishi said:

Well, I still say it looks pretty, though. Maybe do another coat now that the paint has set? Maybe it won't run together now...

 

Also, ALL THE PROTEIN. NOM.

 

Probably will do another coat, especially on the purple robes.  Hoping that helps clean it up!  ALL THE PROTEIN!!

NOM NOM NOM!!

***

 

Day 03

 

Guts will never stop, never yield.  He is simply to simple minded, too stubborn, and too bad ass.

Day 03 Details: 03/04 Workouts!  I may have done resting yesterday but that doesn't mean I didn't do a workout of some kind!  Yoga counts!  I did a lovely 30 minute yoga routine to help stretch stress away...ahh very nice.

 

Casca is a strong independent woman who don't need no man to kick some ass!

Day 03 Details: 02/03 Kickboxing/Muay Thai! Nope, no class, twas a rest day yesterday!

 

Ishidoro needs to bulk up and eat at least 100 gram of protein to catch up to Guts!

Day 03 Details: 03/06 protein days! 114 grams of protein eaten yesterday!  May need to ramp that up which should be easy with my workout today (will be drinking a protein shake right afterwards cause owies recovery needed).

 

Griffith has dreams, ambitions...and let one year with a bad day lead to a pretty horrific decision...

Day 03 Details: I set up an appointment with her for Jan 24th!  So hurray!  Finally got that done and we shall soon

 

Puck is real are so are demons, other elves, and magic in the Berserkverse!

Day 03 Details: 02/04 Arting Days! Took a break yesterday to play a very fun game called Grim Dawn.  Essentially a Diabloesque Action Adventure with some western, steampunk, even Lovecraftian elements.  The class system and devotion system gives for a lot of possibilities and there are more classes to be added to the game!  (Still getting a lot of support after 2 years).  So yeah, really fun, highly recommended, and gave a bit of a good break :).

 

Todays' Plan: Survive another workday.  I had a bit of a rough night last night and  I am feeling a bit sleepy now.  Ugh...grief is a bitch to handle once in a while.  Now that the appointment is made, I can try to not focus too much on it and do some things today!  Definitely will be doing model painting today!  I also plan on doing a workout after work that will be very leg heavy.  Ooof, wish me luck!

The blonde asshole will regret his messy mullet-like hair...

[Kishi]

All things considered, I think we'd be worried if you weren't experiencing some grief. It's to be expected. Totally par for the course. I'm glad to hear you got the appointment set up.

 

Anyway, yoga totally counts, and I'm glad to hear that gaming continues. I think I've made my way to the endgame content for XCOM 2, and I'm looking for a next place to go as a PC gamer. I hear Undertale is good, but I'm hesitant because I tend to think that popular games are overrated. Is it as good as they say?

[BlackTezca]

9 minutes ago, Kishi said:

All things considered, I think we'd be worried if you weren't experiencing some grief. It's to be expected. Totally par for the course. I'm glad to hear you got the appointment set up.

 

Hehe I am too; there are many worse ways to handle grief.

 

And thankfully I am not doing that.  Just a struggle here and there.

 

Hahah Actually I haven't played Undertale at all.  I have watched Lets' Play and read up on lore.  I think story wise and character wise it's awesome!  The music is great!  Gameplay wise I heard it's like an rpg mixed with Bullet Hell battles.  Though nothing like this:

That is scary.  Undertale is a not as graphic intensive as well.