Jarric

Personally I'm a big fan of this - make the process the challenge goal, and trust that the outcome will happen. You can still even aim to lose weight, but you measure your success on how well you adhere to the process and trust the numbers to take care of themselves. And if you stick to the plan perfectly for 5 weeks and don't lose weight, you've learned that that process definitely doesn't work as it is, and you change the process a little bit. So, a challenge should be a little bit of work - change always is - but it shouldn't make you feel stressed to the point of ruining your life. Personally I would say that if the challenge is honestly causing you major problems, drop or change a couple of goals and run a more stripped back challenge. I think it's better to do things with intent, but that doesn't mean you have to do all the things all the time.

Nothing specific I'm afraid, I tend to just browse through the rules and things on reddit and work with whatever looks interesting.

Wednesday - W2D3 Yesterday was a good day. Not least because it started with the bench PR that I mentioned yesterday. After bench we had 3 attempts at a very short workout; 10 wall balls, 200m row. I went with a 9kg wall ball because I suck at them, and all three attempts were around the 1:10 mark. When I got home I did my split stretches, so that's one goal done for the week. Lunch was a ham sandwich on ciabatta with my home grown, home made, moonblush tomatoes - turns out they're really bloody tasty. Also a mince pie, because they're now in the shops and they might be my favourite thing. Work was busy, just trying to get to month end right now. In the evening I cooked a chickpea and spinach korma, served in a baked sweet potato. It was really lush, though I may have overcooked the potato (it was in the oven for over 2 hours). * * * Then we had D&D (Pathfinder) - the Rise of the Runelords game. Last session our kineticist had had his wisdom drained to 1, meaning he was functionally insane, and we'd spent a long time playing 'it' running around a dungeon trying to catch him before teleporting him to the first world (feywild/wildwood). This session we went on a quest for a magic mushroom grown by a long dead elven woman, which might have the power to cure him. We got to the ruined abbey, and had to kill some undead fey and some planar wasps before we could get in to the surviving underground complex. When we got in we found the body of the elven saint who had owned the place, and the mushrooms we were looking for. Meanwhile my character felt an invisible form running it's finger through his hair... Things started to look bad when our witch took a locket off of the body, and the invisible creature said to me (and only me) how dare I bring thieves into her lair. I managed to usher everyone outside to explain what was happening, and a short time later we agreed that I would go in and talk to the voice alone and try and negotiate for a mushroom. Fairly certain that I was going to my death I walked in, and after some back and forth managed to agree that if I gave her some company for a time, she might help us. It was a really lovely, really weird roleplaying experience. The GM was texting me the ghost's side of the conversation, as only I could hear her, but I was responding out loud so everyone else was only getting half the conversation. It actually worked really well, and I came away feeling quite sorry for the poor, lonely ghost (possibly bean sildhe) trapped in this abbey. I also came away with the mushroom we were looking for, and a rod of wonder. The rod of wonder is an absolutely insane item, which can be used unlimited times per day, and when you use it something happens. That something might be a lightning bolt, or a steam of butterflies, or a rhinoceros, of your skin turning blue, or something else entirely, and you don't know what will happen until you use it. I sense I may use it a lot . * * * Calories were good at 2,262. Teeth and hip stretches both done. Oh, and I did a little bit of concept drawing at lunch time for a new thing - only about 15 minutes but I'll count it. Nothing on foam rolling or hangboarding.

Well, another goal for Dirty Weekend 2021! (Talking about dirty weekends isn't making this sound less dodgy, is it?) Yeah, though I can't see them doing that now they've said that you should work from home if you can. Or "If you need to go to work, and it's a COVID safe environment, then you absolutely should go to work. Unless you can work from home." Or whatever other crystal clear advice we're being given... We've just had some more information about why the company thinks they need people in the office, which will hopefully make everyone feel a bit more like they're not just going in to support the pre-packaged sandwich industry.

I've been playing for about 3 years I think, and I still feel like I've got a lot of rules to learn! There's a reason some people call it mathfinder The most important rule for me to know with a rogue was using acrobatics checks to avoid attacks of opportunity. Really useful for getting a flanking position, and you probably have the DEX to pull it off.

You're looking at getting back to Muay Thai? That'll be good man!

I will never cease to be impressed by your pullups, good going!

Tuesday - W2D2 Yesterday was a good day. It was good because I will it to be so, and I can re-write how I feel about a day if I want to. I did most of this update already in my earlier rant, so this should be a short one! Work was busy but ok. There was also quite a bit of tension with our government announcing that people should work at home if they can, on the same day a lot of people were due to go back to the office for the first time since March. Still waiting to hear on whether I'll be in the office next week, but I'm determined not to stress about it. After work I grabbed a snack and headed over to meet Hopalong for snooker. It was really good to see him as always, I got to have another rant about things too and that made me feel better. On the way home I picked up some bottled water that the water company were giving out whilst the mains water was off. WW cooked jacket potatoes with cheese and beans, and we watched the first episode of the Great British Bake Off. The start had been delayed by our monkey prime minister making an announcement, which was bloody annoying as it messed up our recording and I had to sit through an extra 10 minutes of adverts to watch the last 8 minutes online. Nice to see Bake Off back though. Calories finished at 2,218 which is about right. Teeth were done, but no other goals completed today. * * * I want to try and get back to sharing a whole day as a block the following day, so I'm not going to start Wednesday's update. I did however want to share a little win I had this morning. Crossfit started with heavy singles on bench, and I set a 1RM at 72.5kg (~160#). Then I got home and weighed myself, and came in at 72kg (~158#), so I can officially say I have benched my body weight .

Is there a level you can reach out to in the wider company, if you're not getting anywhere with management in your store?

That's a damn good question; you should either a. not have to do things that aren't in your job description, or b. be paid for the work you actually do. Sorry that the new restrictions are so harsh for you. You sound like your handling it really well though, and you should be proud of that.

Thanks Yeti . Snooker did help, and the water came back this morning which helped a lot more!

Ah she sounds really cool. I'm currently playing a bloodrager after my rogue trapsmith got killed by a statue. Rogues are really fun. As someone who's first car was 19 years old and who's currently nursing along an 18 year old Toyota Corolla, I fully support the choice of cheap motoring. I think most pickups here are 4 wheel drive now - an empty RWD pickup sounds like a nightmare in the snow. My first car was a small engined Volvo 340 - it was RWD and weighed less than a ton, so it was hopeless in the snow. Or, depending on how you look at it, very very good fun.

Monday - W2D1 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was Squats - 80kg (~176#) x 5 x 5, and then 50ft yoke carry where I worked up to 160kg (~352#). So that's a little over bodyweight on the squat and a little over twice bodyweight on the yoke. Squats should build up gradually over the next few weeks. Yoke I'm pretty cautious about breaking myself on it so I'm not too worried about progressing the weight. After Crossfit I did some hangboarding. It felt pretty hard - maybe I'm out of practice or maybe that's from climbing on Sunday - but at least I got some done. Work was ok, had a couple of hundred e-mails to clear from my week off but I was able to do it with no drama. Also managed to do some washing in the day, and after work changed the sheets on the spare bed, put the dirty ones in to wash, and sorted out a load of other washing too. For dinner I made a fish and spinach gratin with crispy potatoes, it was really rather good, if I do say so myself. Afterwards we went to the supermarket and got a big shop in, by which point it was pretty much time for bed. ===== Calorie plan for this week is 5 days at 2,300 calories and 2 at 3,070 calories, but if I can save more calories for Friday night that would be good as I've got a poker night at The Captain's house. With that in mind, yesterday was really low at 1,989 calories. Not intentional, but without snacking and with a very light dinner it's where I ended up. I'm not keen on under fuelling by that much, but it will give me a bit of leeway for the rest of the week. Teeth were done. Hangboarding and calories as above. Nothing to report on rolling, split stretches, or drawing. ===== Today is a challenging day. I woke up at 02:45 having had a horrible dream, and decided to get myself a glass of water before going back to bed. Then I found that there was no running water in the bathroom. I went back to sleep and got up at 05:45 to head to the gym; still no water. Ran to Crossfit. The session was ok, I got 75kg (~165#) on sandbag loads and the same on d-ball loads, which is more than bodyweight so I'm fairly happy with that. I came over really dizzy a couple of times though, maybe from under fuelling, maybe from poor sleep? I also felt really anxious and paranoid for the whole session. On my way home I ran the wrong way because I wasn't paying attention, adding ¾ mile (~1.2km) to the distance. When I got home we still had no water, so I dropped WW at work and went to the shop for bottled water. When I got to the till I realised I didn't have my wallet, because I don't take it to the gym, so I had to go home, get that, and go back to the shop again. So I ended up with a late start to the day, still no running water, and not the best headspace. I'm sure I can make the best of it, but it helps to rant on here a bit I think! Tonight is snooker, which should be nice.

thank you! Guglug did all the hard work really

Great to hear about the mindset shift, it sounds like you've got a really healthy way of looking at things. What are you playing for your new Pathfinder character?

Guglug's week 1 wrap-up Reminder of my goals: Catapult/Dodge: Average calories 2,588. A fail on catapult, but low enough to dodge so no damage either. I knew it was going to be hard to hit my calories whilst on holiday and eating out every night, but what I didn't realise is how far apart 2,520 and 2,630 are (being an average, we're actually talking a difference of 770 calories in a week). Green flame blade: 7/7 for teeth brushing - 2 damage! Greataxe: No hangboarding, as I didn't take the hangboard on holiday. True Strike: Split stretches were done on day 1! +1 damage to the green flame blade attack. Thunderwave: 3 drawing sessions complete, and I completed Aila. Still not quite sure how best to do shading, but otherwise I like here. Will try and get round to scanning her in and sharing her here. 1 damage! Absorb elements: 3 foam rolling sessions complete, so no damage to me. Damage done to Mindwitness: 4 Guglug current hp: 9/9 * * * Seeing this horrifying creature appear before him, Guglug's immediate reaction is to try and cast a spell. A sudden beam of energy lances towards him however, and he is forced to dive behind a pillar for protection. Pausing for a second to compose himself, Guglug calls on arcane energy to guide his strikes, before commanding his axe to ignite in a burst of green flame and charging back into the fray. Leaping through the air Guglug manages to draw the greataxe across the entity's side, cauterising the gross, pulsating flesh as it does so. This is followed by a thunderous burst from the half-orc's hands, which sends the creature rocking end over end away from him. * * * By my count that's a combined damage of 13 damage, leaving the mindwitness with 62/75hp after week 1. Also, importantly, our party are in pretty good shape with only Tsaraji having taken 1 point of damage.

Week 1 round-up Reminder of my goals: Catapult/Dodge: Average calories 2,588. A fail on catapult, but low enough to dodge so no damage either. I knew it was going to be hard to hit my calories whilst on holiday and eating out every night, but what I didn't realise is how far apart 2,520 and 2,630 are (being an average, we're actually talking a difference of 770 calories in a week). Green flame blade: 7/7 for teeth brushing - 2 damage! Greataxe: No hangboarding, as I didn't take the hangboard on holiday. True Strike: Split stretches were done on day 1! +1 damage to the green flame blade attack. Thunderwave: 3 drawing sessions complete, and I completed Aila. Still not quite sure how best to do shading, but otherwise I like here. Will try and get round to scanning her in and sharing her here. 1 damage! Absorb elements: 3 foam rolling sessions complete, so no damage to me. Damage done to Mindwitness: 4 Guglug current hp: 9/9 * * * Seeing this horrifying creature appear before him, Guglug's immediate reaction is to try and cast a spell. A sudden beam of energy lances towards him however, and he is forced to dive behind a pillar for protection. Pausing for a second to compose himself, Guglug calls on arcane energy to guide his strikes, before commanding his axe to ignite in a burst of green flame and charging back into the fray. Leaping through the air Guglug manages to draw the greataxe across the entity's side, cauterising the gross, pulsating flesh as it does so. This is followed by a thunderous burst from the half-orc's hands, which sends the creature rocking end over end away from him. * * * Not much to say about Sunday; I went bouldering in the morning, mowed the lawn, and then mostly vegged in front of the TV all day. D&D Celebration was on Twitch, so there was some fun stuff to watch there. I did get my last foam rolling done, and my last drawing session. I also boiled a load of eggs for breakfasts, and made a chicken pasta salad out of the leftovers of our roast chicken for lunches. So I suppose all in all it was a pretty productive day, even if it felt like a quiet one.

It's literally a big holdall with a few side pockets. I've been looking for one for ages, but from camping shops they're like £60-£100 easily. This was on a random market stall for £15, and because it was missing a stud in the bottom he gave it to me for £12. It might not last very long, but if it does it'll be a bargain.

That's a really good train of thought. I really need to remember that - often I don't feel like finishing things if they're not going great and actually I should wait until I see the finished result.

Good job on week 1 man, you got a lot done considering you were away for most of it.

Absolutely, it's the best time to do it! That's fair. Ironically you're one of the few people I know who could have dealt fine with the water temperature though!

Awesome job on week 1, well done! Your painting look great so far.

It's been really good! Unfortunately I can't afford to eat out every night of the week the rest of the year, but it's lovely to do it for a while. The beaches were good - I've not got to the beach enough this summer so I'm really glad I got the chance. The water was pretty cold, but it's lovely to swim in the sea.

Love that you're bringing your kids along for the ride on this challenge, I think it'll be really good for them and for you.

Sounds like week 1 went well, just need to get those squats in this week to totally nail it!