Jarric

I hope the birthday dinner goes well tonight. The breeze was not too cold today, after bit winds yesterday, so thank you for the good wishes!

Exciting news about the new place - I'm glad you like it! Having somewhere to live that you want to spend time in is so worth the money.

This is gorgeous! It looks so ethereal, almost magical. I'm halfway through a watercolour (which is nowhere near as good as this), hope to get that up tonight or tomorrow.

Sounds like you've got a good plan in place. I think it's ok to accept that on a trip like this things won't be perfect, and you can't do everything that you could at home, but having a plan to keep on track and be able to hit the ground running again after your trip definitely helps. Obviously bodies are more complicated than this, but the usual figure touted is that you need to eat a surplus of 3,500kcal to gain 1lb. If you ate 15,000 over maintenance you'd therefore be looking at about 4lbs gained. Having said that, if that 15,000 is in excess of your calorie target, and your target had you losing an average of 1lb per week, your actual surplus is probably only enough for a 3lb gain. The theory might not exactly match the result, but I hope that you see a much more realistic number after a week back on the wagon.

Wednesday week 2 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was pretty chill - sandbag loads, RDLs, l-sit flutters and calf raises - but my legs are feeling it now! I had some time in the morning so I rolled on my cleaning table. I got a 5, which is the hob, possibly the worst option. I procrastinated by washing up instead (ostensibly to make space to clean the hob), and eventually came back to do the cleaning in the afternoon. Then I had to clean the floor from all the stuff I'd brushed off the hob, so it ended up being quite a good session. Went bouldering in the afternoon, and got my first ever black climb! It was the one I was working on on Saturday, and I'm super pleased to have ticked it off. It's graded font 6C+, so I've still yet to climb a 7A, but apparently I haven't logged another 6C+ in over 2 months so this is still good. Physio in the evening was less positive. He basically said that no progress is to be expected, and we just have to wait for it to heal. Going to see an in-person physio won't help with the healing, but we agreed that it might help to analyse my movement patterns to see if I can avoid re-injuring it once it's healed, so I've got that booked in for a couple of weeks. After all of that I was bloody knackered (and feeling a bit deflated I think), and just vegged on the sofa. I did do my physio exercises, very slowly, and a quick bit if Dutch, but I skipped art and tooth brushing. Calories were tracked (and low), no money spent, and cleaning done, so 5/6 today. I did not embrace brevity with this post - just too much I wanted to say about yesterday.

That's encouraging to hear! I haven't written with a fountain pen since I was about 11 years old, but I got envious of all of the pen nerds on the Forum Friends Discord. I think it was your recommendation that swung me to this one (that, and it's both cheaper and better looking than the TWSBI Eco). Git some Diamine Ancient Copper, and some Classic Green to try with it - think I'll try out the copper for my inventor to start...

Tuesday week 2 Yesterday was a good day. Tried running, the knee started hurting 1 minute in, and after 3 minutes I gave up to avoid making it worse. Came home and did an arm workout instead out of sheer spite. Got physio tonight so will see what he thinks. Had Pathfinder in the evening - we wrapped up Liminal and started discussing Abomination Vaults. Session zero of AB is next week, and I'm super excited. I managed to buy my pen for it, so failed the spending goal. I also didn't get to drawing, so 4/6 for the day.

Wow, that's giving me anxiety; I don't think I can listen to it without being shot at now . Having said that, my old computer didn't used to run the UT soundtrack properly, so I often played with an album on instead. Certain tracks (most of The Offspring's Ixnay on the Hombre and Fatboy Slim's Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars in particular) transport me back mentally to playing deathmatch on Morpheus, with Instagib, Jump Match, and Low Gravity turned on #oddlyspecific

I finally managed to get it, the TWSBI SWIPE in 'Prussian Blue': Figured it was time I finally got a nice pen and a nice notebook for our next Pathfinder campaign. I'm guessing that the word 'pen' has a second meaning somewhere, but this has gone completely over my head I'm afraid.

Thanks! Definitely on the mend; seems to have been about a week to properly clear this cold, but I'm pretty much ok now.

I loved OG Unreal Tournament so, so much. I sunk a lot of hours into that, and I think I could still lose a few days if I wanted to. I also loved the original Dawn of War - I'm a fan of the old-school RTS style - but I picked up Dawn of War 2 and it just didn't do anything for me. What you're doing looks basically like bodybuilding programming - higher reps, lower weights, more sessions. Nothing wrong with that, it sounds like fun to me. This sounds simultaneously like a great workout, an awful workout, and incredibly cute.

Monday week 2 Yesterday was a good day. Gym was bench press at 62.5kg (138#) x 3 x 10, then bent rows and rope climbs. Illness is slowly buggering off, so this felt better. Work was busy - one day of sickness and recovery slowing me down has really set me back. Tried to spend some money, but a mate at work bought me lunch and I couldn't get the pen I wanted, so accidentally hit that goal. Kneehab was done thanks to @Artemis Prime prodding me. Forgot my morning Duolingo, but still a 5.5/6 day.

Yeah, the trouble is I'm used to doing 1-2 hour runs, and I really want to keep the cardio fitness to get back to that at some point in the future. It's hard to get my heart rate elevated at all on the bike, so that's going to be a major challenge. Hopefully if the weather improves I might get outside on an actual bike, which will be less boring and I'll probably work harder.

Week 1 results The muscle: 4/7 kneehab sessions - illness made this hard, but that's still worse than I thought. Also hit 5/7 days applying heat, and 3/4 cycling sessions. The decisionist: 7/7 days calories tracked, and I went under budget at 17,241kcal for the week against an 18,000 target. It helps that I really didn't want to eat much or drink alcohol for most of the week. The cartographer: 7/7 days drawing. Several drawings were very basic token gestures, but it's all about building the habit. I failed to share anything here though. The translator: 6.5/7 language days - just missed a morning chest when I had an early start to deliver valentine's flowers. The hoardsperson and the campmaker: 6/7 days without spending any money, but I didn't do any cleaning. The face: 6.5/7 for teeth cleaning - missed one when I was really ill. All in all, not the worst week given how crap I felt for a lot of it. Let's feel better, and do better, this week!

Sunday week 1 Yesterday was a good day. Did my kneehab as a warm-up before spening a (fucking boring) hour on an exercise bike. That wiped me out for a couple of hours, but I recovered in time to run D&D, and the players had a fun plotting session. In the afternoon I played a little Baulder's Gate, WW roasted some pork, and we watched Lego Masters NZ. Started doing a water colour nudibranch in the evening, calories tracked, nothing spent, languages done, teeth done. 6/6

Well that's faintly terrifying. Not that what I have is equivalent to a knee replacement, but it's another nice thing to scare me into doing it! Thank you ❤️! I was very pleased with them

Thank you for the push. I was going to reply to this half an hour ago, but decided to do my kneehab first so that I knew it was done when I responded. Thanks man. I want to make sure I'm checking in most days; it makes it harder to give up on/forget my goals.

I've also just remembered that Saturday was the day that I sliced my finger open with a bread knife whilst doing the washing up. That might have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm by the evening. (It's fine, took a while to stop re-opening, but just a flesh wound.)

Yeah thanks, not totally better, but definitely feeling more human than I was! Belts for everyone!

01/01/2024 - 174.4lbs 08/01/2024 - 172.0lbs 15/01/2024 - 170.9lbs 22/01/2024 - 169.2lbs 29/01/2024 - 169.0lbs 05/02/2024 - 168.8lbs 12/02/2024 - 169.2lbs 19/02/2024 - 165.7lbs I was ill this week, which wasn't great, but it meant that I didn't feel like eating loads and I didn't drink any alcohol. I made an effort to eat enough, but I was still under target and it's given me the unexpected bonus of a low weigh-in. I'll be happy if I can maintain that weight into next week now. Even better, I've broken through the 12 stone barrier (168lbs), I'm very close to breaking the 75kg barrier (165lbs), and I can almost go down another belt loop too.

Saturday week 1 Yesterday was a good day. Felt rubbish first thing, so swapped my cycling in the gym for a 10-minute cycling warm-up at bouldering. Bouldering was great, I was working on a black route, and I'm so close to getting it I can almost taste it. Blacks are font 6C-7B+, so the easiest ones should be within my ability ? Had to set up my parents' internet in the afternoon, which drained the last of my energy for the day. Drawing was the laziest of token gestures and kneehab wasn't done; 5/6 for the day.

Thank you guys, I'm super pleased with them ?

Yeah, you're probably right. I haven't done a ton of top rope and neither had the people I climbed with when I did it. I'd guess there's a tendency to try to take up all the slack immediately when you're newer and less confident belaying. (Also they might just have been bad at it - the last time I did top rope I got caught in the ropes and the person lowering me was paying so little attention he gave me rope burn despite my shouting.) You're in for a treat. I can't remember what happens in any individual episode, but there's some great stuff coming.

Hope you can get back in the gym soon though mate.

I'd thoroughly encourage you to go bouldering - it's really good fun and really accessible compared to top rope/lead (in that you need less gear and can go alone). I'm biased because I much prefer bouldering to top rope - I don't like the feeling of being pulled up the wall - but I'd still say give it a go. And if you do go, let me know what you think! A lot of gyms also have specific sessions for solo climbers, where you can turn up and know that there'll be other people in the same boat willing to belay you, so that might be worth looking into. That kind of setting where everyone is solo might be better on the social anxiety than asking to join an existing group? I'm a year or more behind on Critical Role, it's such a ridiculous amount of content to keep up with! Campaign 2 is great though; I hope you enjoy it.