Jarric

Another day of mini painting, another hex down. Here's the one I finished on Wednesday, for those interested:

Hard disagree - that is definitely amazing. Would love to see it when it's finished.

Thursday - W2D4 Yesterday's adventure was asking for a pay rise at work. I think it went ok, nerve wracking as it was - if you don't ask you don't get though. Will be at least a few weeks before I find out if anything's going to come of it. Went for a gentle run first thing. It felt good, which is handy as I have Tough Mudder at the weekend and I really just wanted to take it easy and not injure anything. Work was super busy - I'd only had 2 days off but I spent all morning clearing e-mails and working out what the hell I was supposed to be doing first. I did however get a new AI toy to play with at the end of the day, which I'm hoping will eventually make my life a bit easier. In the evening I did very little - chilled out, watched TV, a bit of mini painting, and watched the latest episode of Taskmaster. It was nice and chilled. No money spent, updated here, calories tracked at 2,847. mini painting done for West Marches - 4/4 .

It was definitely an experience! I sort of wish I'd got more involved with the community before I went - I've since joined the High Rollers Discord and it would have been cool to get to know people a bit before I went. Still had a fantastic time though. Thank you! He was fun to paint.

Tuesday - W2D2 Tuesday's adventure was a trip into London, to see the High Rollers live show First thing was Crossfit - a longass EMOM of heavy thrusters and legless rope climbs (arms only, not drunk... unfortunately). Did some painting in the morning, but didn't manage to quite finish my mini. Got in well over the 15 minutes needed for the West Marches side quest though. Then up to London, where I spent an absolute ton of money on food and drink before and at the High Rollers show. Calories were tracked at 5,263 The show itself was amazing - so bizarre to see hundreds (maybe thousands?) of people turning up to watch some nerds play D&D. Great night. Got home about half midnight and crashed straight into bed. Apart from the spending money, a successful day for goals too. Wednesday W2D3 Wednesday's adventure was a nice walk at a national park, followed by a day chilling on the sofa with beige food. It was nice an relaxing. No money spend (we did stop for beige food, but that's groceries, not part of the goal), updated here, and even finished my wizard mini:

It's a slow start, but Guglug grins a toothy grin as parts of the map start coming together. Satisfied that he's finished in one area, he moves to the next, carefully cross referencing his translations, and Niko's, with the terrain features of the map. I didn't see this in time to start working on it on Monday, but got mini painting done Tuesday and Wednesday, so 2 hexes down. I've also finished a wizard mini (admittedly I'm a little behind) and put a base coat on a little gnome figure.

Thank you! I also find, if you know the language but aren't super proficient, it's quite good to watch the show with subtitles in the original language. Something about being able to see the words at the same time as hearing them makes it easier to follow.

Just realised I haven't updated today, and it's now bedtime. Will do a proper update tomorrow, but just wanted to say that I had a wonderful day on Tuesday and hit 3/4 goals.

Sorry, I thought you knew! I did mention it in passing, but for obvious reasons I don't think the rest of the party wanted to dwell on it

Monday W2D1 Yesterday's adventure was clearing as much work as possible before 2 days off. First thing was Crossfit - heavy thrusters (50kg or me) and legless rope climbs, which after half an hour was a bit boring to be honest. I was working from home, and was plenty busy trying to get a load of stuff squared away. It feels like crunch time, which seems to be a lot of the time these days, but at least some of the stuff I'm getting involved in is interesting. I ended up working a bit late, and then was absolutely knackered. I spent far too long cooking a lamb chop stew that turned out to not be very good, and then just vegged on the sofa until bedtime. Calories were tracked at 2,560, I updated here at lunchtime, and I didn't spend any money. No painting in the evening, which is particularly annoying because I've now discovered that this is also a goal for the West Marches mini this week, so it's effectively two failed goals (though I hadn't seen the new goal until this morning).

Thank you! I'm really happy with it.

After many hours of translation, Guglug was pleased to see the pile of documents he had been handed dwindling significantly. The sun had long set, and the lamp was burning low, but nonetheless he was pleased with his solitary progress. All 3 Duolingo quests completed yesterday, giving me a final total of 19/21 for the week.

Sunday W1D7 Sunday's adventure was running our Ranger D&D game. Last session the party threatened an NPC and let him go, so the first thing he did was come back with some goons to try and kill them. And kill them he did; I think this might technically be my first ever TPK - apparently surprising the PCs whilst their in bed is a little unfair. For reasons that the PCs don't know and which may be a significant part of the plot of this adventure, when they die they come back as alternate universe versions of themselves. Thus, after I senselessly murdered the bronze dragonborn cleric, the human cleric who thinks he's a wizard, the harengon monk, and the astral elf bard, a few weeks later they woke up on a rooftop as a brass dragonborn cleric, a human barbarian who things he's a wizard, a harengon barbarian, and a tabaxi astral self monk. In an extremely fitting revenge move they tracked down the man who had killed them, interrupted in his bed, and murdered him right back. But not before stopping for a spot of lunch. The morning prior to D&D was spent mostly chilling out, though I did manage to leave the house to get my new glasses adjusted, and I did manage to resist spending any money whilst I was in town. In the afternoon I did some mini painting on the wizard I'm working on whilst watching High Rollers D&D, though I didn't finish him I've made some good progress. Calories were tracked at 2,183, I updated here, and I got 3/3 Duolingo quests for the mini. Week 1 stats Decisionist: 7/7 days tracking calories. I hit a total of 21,740 for the week, and gained 1.9lbs (which feels surprisingly high, but we'll see if the next few weeks bear that out). Hoardspoerson: 4/7 no-spend days, which I think is fairly respectable. This week I'd like to aim for 5. Documancer: 5/7 days checking in here. Would like to be hitting all 7 on this really. West Marches mini: 19/21 Duolingo quests completed

Hi! It was a good finish, thank

Another double update day. Friday W1D5 Friday's adventure was a day in the office. I skipped Crossfit and slept in late, having got to bed at half midnight. I didn't feel too bad despite the heavy day before, but I focused on boring tasks which needed completing but didn't require too much energy. In the evening WW cooked 'pepperoni pizza baked potatoes', which were great, and we chilled in front of the TV with the first episode in the new series of Taskmaster. I didn't get to doing any painting, which will put pressure on my trying to get this mini done this week now, but I updated here, calories were tracked at 2,450, and no money was spent. Saturday W1D6 Yesterday's adventure was an attempt to beat my 10k PB, and I absolutely smashed it! Previous best was 52:47, but I knew from the times I've been putting up recently that I had a sub-50 in me, and despite the pace dropping off towards the end I managed 48:54 The run itself was great. I was listening to music at about 180bpm tempo, to try and keep my cadence up to that same level. It was cool and sunny, and running along the sea front promenade was dead flat for most of the way - couldn't have asked for better conditions. After that I spent a while having a cup of tea and recovering before bouldering. Bouldering itself went ok, though I didn't really have enough left in my legs for some of the stuff I wanted to climb. In the afternoon I picked up some new glasses. Whilst I was out I bought some mini paint, and then went to see about getting a zip fixed on one of my hoodies, so it ended up being a money spending day. Mid afternoon we went for a meal with WW's mother, which I had a couple of beers with, and thanks to having already spent money in the day there was really nothing to stop me buying a few more beers later in the evening to have in front of the TV. Calories were tracked at 3,875, but I didn't update here or do any mini painting.

You're absolute right - that's a very good thing to remember.

I've managed to appease the owl pretty well so far this week. Being out all day on Thursday I only managed 2 quests, but I was 3/3 on both Friday and Saturday, bringing me to 16/18 for the week so far.

Double update! Wednesday W1D3 Wednesday's adventure was going to drop the car off for a service after Crossfit (the car is now alive, but it was an expensive visit. Crossfit itself was squats - 90kg (198lbs) x 4 x 6 - and then barbell box step ups (hideous) and broad jumps. Then we had a short workout of wall balls, skiing, and skipping, which I cut even shorter because my knee was starting to hurt and I'm really worried about re-injuring it. The rest of the day was spent in intense relaxation. I had a long bath with muscle soak for my knee, then curled up in my pyjamas and did some mini painting, a bit of calf rolling, and a lot of TV watching. Calories tracked at 2,887 as I was ravenous in the middle of the day. No money spent as I didn't leave the house again after getting back from the garage. Checked in here. 3/3 Duolingo quests. Thursday W1D4 Thursday's adventure was a trip into town for a conference. Crossfit before that, which was a longish workout of running, air bike, and burpees. My knee held up ok, which is pleasing. The conference itself was good fun and really interesting, and I stayed afterwards for a few beers and to catch up with various people I haven't seen in a while. Then I headed to the other side of town to meet up with some colleagues for our team night out and a few more beers. That and a burger on the way home netted me 5,460 calories for the day ? Managed 2/3 Duolingo quests on the train up there, but didn't manage to update here and obviously I did spend some money on the night out. Not the best day for goals, but definitely a fun day.

Thank you! I won't lie, these are exactly the kind of grown-up, mature responses I was hoping for.

Tuesday - W1D2 Yesterday was a good day. Went for a run first thing - wasn't particularly quick but I'm ticking off the mileage. Work was busy and frustrating at times, but in the end I managed to complete a lot of what I needed to do before a couple fo days out. In the evening we met up with the Pathfinder group. We didn't play as the GM has had a busy week, but it was nice to have a good chat to everyone and just chill out. I spent money on parking, so failed the no-spend goal. Calories were tracked at 2,329, and updated here. Also got my Duolingo challenges done 1st thing for the West Marches challenge.

This is some really interesting stuff to think on. I'm looking at a potential change of job (after having decided to stop looking, one of the places I previously interviewed at want to speak to me again), and that would be a fairly major life change. It's a change that would loae me friends, though I'd like to think they'll all wish me well I will certainly lose touch with some of them in the end, and that's something that I need to learn to accept if I do jump.

Pouring over the texts, Guglug starts to get into his stride as the hours go by. Even the oddly-coloured owl seems somehow pleased with his progress, insofar as he can read its avian features. Much of the text is prosaic, detailing mundane goings on from a far-gone era, but the occasional gem of information shining through keeps attention wrapped. Managed 3/3 for daily goals again this morning, so that's good. Tomorrow's going to be tricky as I'm travelling for work, but I should be able to do some on my morning train.

Got a little lax on my translation yesterday (actually I was just exhausted, and there was no way I was going to get to the next story on my path, but whatever). Got 2/3 daily goals done working on French. Today I managed to knock this out early, so 3/3 today on my Portuguese track.

Yeah, I just like it because Duolingo gives you this lovely example sentence: Duo n'est pas une chouette, il est un hibou. Which it helpfully translates to: Duo is not an owl, he's an owl.

Monday - W1D1 Quick update as I'm short on time. Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit was clean and jerks - the jerk is my limited factor so I really need some more jerking practice. Work was fun but busy, and I ended up with terrible brain fog and a headache by mid afternoon. Had a nap when I got home which helped somewhat. A new box of minis arrived yesterday, didn't do any painting but I did glue them together - a witch finder, a plague doctor alchemist, and an artificer with a machine gun crossbow. Machine gun crossbow would be a great band name. Also finished reading The Masquerades of Spring - remind me to do a review as I know we've got some Rivers of London fans here. No money spent, calories tracked, updated here; 3/3 today.