Jarric

Good luck on your fetch quests - here's to grinding for XP.

I love the idea of categorising habits within the D&D action economy - very cool.

Gotta love some gymnastic rings! Look forward to seeing how you get on with them.

I love how oddly specific this is. Welcome back Deffy.

Glad I could help!

The more the know, the more that you know that you do not know.

A jubilant jubilee to you! I'm with Tank, I can't believe that it's only been a year. Your bujo looks amazing as ever by the way.

10 years? You're a true veteran. I've just checked, and I've been here 7 apparently. This is good; I'm pleased for you.

Good to have you mate. Thanks - hope that goes well for you too! I usually find just a little bit of accountability by having to talk about it here is enough for me.

A wood elf raises a glass of ebony-black liquid, "Happy challenge everyone!".

My 2023 road map: And here's what happened last time: A month of Mondays I don't know what to call this challenge, but we've got a ton of Mondays off work this month in the UK, so that's what I'm going with. The decisionist [+2 CON] No alcohol at home, simple. I stopped drinking at home quite a few years ago, because I was drinking too much and it wasn't great for my fitness goals (or, with hindsight, my mental health). Then there was this pandemic thing, and I stopped going out, so I started drinking at home instead. Now that I'm going out more I really don't need to be drinking at home, so I want to knock it on the head again. I've also noticed that I've been drinking more in the last few weeks, possibly due to stress, and I don't want that to slide any further. The muscle [+1 CON] 2 shakes per day, every day. I've just bought a post-workout recovery shake, so I want to experiment with that and see if it makes me feel less sore from workouts/seems to improve my performance in general. I work out every day, so I want to try it every day The second shake is just a protein shake - I find that on a day when I drink my protein shake I always hit about my daily protein goal, and without the shake I'm miles off. The second storey specialist [+2 STR] Do something every day that makes me a better climber. Specifically, stretch/foam roll/do yoga/do hangboarding/ab rollouts every day. 30 seconds of forward fold will do it if I'm busy, the bare minimum is enough to tick the box. The cartographer [+3 CHA] Do somethings creative, every day. This is most likely to be drawing or D&D prep, but I'm flexible really for anything creative. As with the last goal, the bare minimum is fine if need be, so a quick sketch is all good. The camp maker [+2 SAN] Tidy/clean part of my house every day. I did rubbish at this last challenge, but if I can just get a grip on this I will have a much nicer, lower-stress home to live in. The face [+1 SAN] Brush my teeth, twice every day. I thought that I was on top of this, but it's very much slipped again, so back on the task list it goes! The other things that's happening this month, apart from a lot of Mondays off, is that I'm running Nuclear Rush in a couple of weeks. Should be a nice, simple, 12km course, and hopefully really good fun. Here's a little map of the course to give you an idea:

Week 5 wrap-up A quick wrap-up here, because this challenge has somewhat fizzled out and I want to get writing my next one. The cartographer: 5/7 The camp maker: 2/7 I struggled to track things this week, and I also realised that my poorly defined goals make it hard to score this challenge. For example I've not been giving myself D&D nights as a self-care thing, but I spend a lot of my D&D sessions drawing, so I would have got the point for a drawing challenge. This week I've given myself points for spending a bunch of time reading the new D&D Unearthed Arcana, and for watching Questing Time, which both kind of feel fitting? Cleaning went very poorly - I swept the kitchen floor twice and that was about it. More work needed there. I have spent some time this week prepping for a thoroughly silly D&D one-shot, entitled Normank Ook: Back Once Again it's the Renegade Mindflayer, Back Once Again with his Illithid Behaviour. I also got in my longest run in a while at 9 miles (14.4km) on Sunday. Challenge score The cartographer: 22/35 (4, 5, 4, 4, 5) = 63% = +1 SAN, +1 CHA The camp maker: 10/35 (3, 3, 1, 1, 2) = 29% = +1 SAN Overall, I think I've come to the realisation that I'm more stressed than I realised. I didn't think I was stressed, but I've been losing interest in this challenge, spending more time mindlessly scrolling on my phone, and drinking more than normal. Next challenge I'm going to have better defined goals which are more geared towards a couple of those stress habits, and also some goals which are just a bit easier to complete to hopefully keep me a bit more motivated. The good news is, thanks to getting 100XP for completing my professional qualification after 4 years, I've levelled up twice this challenge. Level 20 baby! Epic boons here we come.

You made me want to research this more. I don't think I originally got it from Steve, and I wouldn't have paid to read the Wall Street Journal article he references, but this quote from the Wall Street Journal is what sticks in my memory when I think about it: Something about ironing my sheets as an analogy really stuck with me

Monday - week 5 day 1 For myself, I foam rolled my calves (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Week 5 already? Where does the time go? Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing was deadlifts. I felt really weak for some reason, only managed 4 reps on my first set at 140kg (308#), and gave it a second attempt in which I managed to hit 5. For reference, that's about 92% of my 5RM, and I've equalled my 5RM in the last couple of weeks so it's a significant drop. I'm guessing the 7.5 mile run on Sunday took more of a toll on me than I was expecting - gonna mess about with some recovery shakes and see if they help me I think. I also weighed myself yesterday morning, and I was down 2#. That would explain why I felt week, but given that my weight was up 4# the week before I don't know how much to trust that number. Calories definitely ought to be sufficient. Work was ok - spent most of the day working on a quote for a client which took a lot of thought but will be very much worthwhile if we pick it up. In the evening I had a meeting, and then WW cooked enchiladas and we watched some of the US series of Lego Masters. It's not as good as the Australian version, but it's nice, easy watching. I also foam rolled my ankles, which were agony, so they obviously needed doing. * * * Today is payday, so I calculated my challenge bet. This challenge I have an average goal completion of 44.6%. I had £326.37 in the saving pot, and so I ended up paying £180.67 away to my mortgage, and only keeping £145.90 for my own savings. It really stung to lose more than half of that, and that's given me another spark of motivation to hit my challenge goals. Also makes me want to start writing goals for next challenge.

Sunday - week 4 day 7 For myself, I prepped D&D, and foam rolled my calves (4/7) For my house, I did nothing (1/7) Yesterday was a good day. I went for a run first thing, and got in a good 7.5 miles. It was absolutely pissing it down with rain, and I ended up with some pretty uncomfortable chafing, but otherwise it was good. After a quick run round Tesco to pick up some essentials for our Sunday roast, it was time for D&D. The party have been trying to find out who set off a big explosion right outside of their inn, and their search lead them to a temple of Gond, god of invention and artifice. There they discovered that a nimblewright, a type of humanoid wooden construct, had created a second nimblewright in his own image, and the second nimblewright had fled immediately when he was first booted up. The party believe that this was the creature that was seen on the rooftops moments after the exposion, and of course want to find it. The temple to Gond would also very much like it destroyed before the unauthorised construct causes any more trouble. After a quick delivery job for their Zhentarim buddies, and the organisation of a humain rat fighting event to bring customers to their inn, the party started a sweep of the city. After a couple of days they tracked the nimblewright down to a noble estate not far from their inn. The guards refused them entry, so they have now hatched a cunning plan to get the lord and lady out of the house to allow them to sneak in more easily. We'll see how that works out when we next play in a couple of weeks. After D&D I did a bunch more prep, as the party are doing surprisingly well at actually moving forward with the plot. In the evening WW roasted a chicken and we watched a bunch of Critical Role. I also foam rolled my calves, and wondered what the fuck I've done to my left ankle for it to hurt that much. Still done bugger all cleaning this week, so for week 5 I need to get on my bullshit and claw back some points there.

I know what you mean. To me it's more about the implied intention of the style. To me, the original feels so raw, it feels like he's angry at the universe and wants to tear everything apart. The slow version is more sad and heartfelt than angry, and although it still gets me it's not as visceral. I kept hearing the title track in various playlists (which, obviously, is called Unto the Locust, not what I said in my post ). I hadn't bought an album in ages, so it felt like a good choice, but mainly I wanted that track to upload to Roll20 for my battle playlist for D&D! I will have to give that album a proper listen tomorrow, when I'm not in an office full of people, but the first track's a banger.

Saturday - week 4 day 6 For myself, I prepped D&D whilst listening to Machine Head (3/7) For my house, I did nothing (1/7) Yesterday was a good day. I got up at 7 to run before climbing. I need to get up earlier in future, because I ended up later than I wanted, but half 6 should do it I think. Got in 5k (3.1 miles), and then a really good climbing session for a couple of hours. By the end of that I was starving, so I had a massive borek and a massive pain au raisin, and then went home and crashed. Once I got the energy up to move I went and did a bunch of D&D prep, whilst listening to Swarm of the Locusts by Machine Head - another album I picked up recently. I'm really surprised at how fast my players are getting through the plot but I think I'm on top of it. In the evening I threw together a pasta with roast butternut squash, clotted cream, and milk, topped with a fried egg and grated cheese. It was a really weird mix of things from a recipe with really bad ingredient measurements, but it wound up ok. Another night of Critical Role and in bed at a reasonable time. I absolutely could have made time to do some cleaning, but I did not.

Friday - week 4 day 5 For myself, I listened to The Offspring (3/7) For my house, I tidied the dining table (1/7) Friday was a good day. Crossfit was farmers' walks and handstand holds, followed by sandbag getups and rope climbs. I worked up to 164kg (361#) for a 100ft (30m) carry, which is alright, and the rest was just practice. I don't remember much of work so guess it was fine. WW was working late so I came home and listened to the latest Offspring album, Let the Bad Times Roll, which I ordered the other week. I do love listening to an album in full, and taking time to do it. Towards the end of the album is a piano version of Gone Away, and I don't know if the slower version is more or less heartbreaking than the original. Whilst I was listening I hung out the washing and cleared the dining table of all of the crap stored there, so that ticks both my goals off at once. The rest of the evening was spent drinking beer, watching Critical Role, and eating a lovely parsnip risotto that WW cooked.

It was good, though mostly it was a useful dinner . And thank you! Ah, well I bow to your superior knowledge in the matter. It certainly sounds like Aphrodite Thank you mate!

If he's anything like my cat, he will learn nothing from this experience. And I ripped it from somewhere else, though I can't remember where and I don't know what the origin of it is. I don't have a useful answer to this, but it feels like good insight. Is it just that weight training is more engaging/exciting for you than yoga?

Wednesday - week 4 day 3 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Wednesday was a good day. Crossfit was deadball and sandbag clean and press, followed by a few rounds of bench press and chinups. I got sets of 8, 8, 7, 7, 6 on the chinups, which was good. After work I went out with a few colleagues to celebrate my new qualification. We only had a couple of beers, but it was really nice to see people out of work and mark the occasion. I then picked up some more beer on the way home and had that with oven pizza and chips. No progress was made on goals. Thursday - week 4 day 4 For myself, I did yoga (2/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. I struggled to get going in the morning, so rather than run I procrastinated for a while and did a quick yoga video before working from home. After work I managed to find some motivation, so I went out for my run in the evening. It felt pretty good, even if I was stuck running in the rain rather than the sunshine we had first thing. I listened to some of the Worlds Beyond Number podcast as I ran - I'm only on the first episode but it's really very good. In the evening I cooked some stuff by using an online recipe finder that allowed me to substitute all of the ingredients for things I actually had. Ended up being paneer with aubergine, courgette, onion, peppers, bok choi, and tinned tomatoes, served over rice. It was good, and a good way to use up a load of veg that needed eating. I really need to get my arse in gear this challenge, particularly on the cleaning front. I've got 10 days left, gonna try and make them good ones.

we did discuss that. But no, I think we figured out that the only mythology mentioning her being in chains was against her will as a punishment (by Hephaestus, maybe?). Also, my character saw a vision of her asking for help, but only my character saw it. It was suitably unsettling. Thank you! It genuinely feels amazing to have it done. Thank you!

Tuesday - week 4 day 2 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. Got up late, but still got out for my 4 mile run. It wasn't particularly quick, and I was fatigued from Monday's squats, but it was fine. Work was lovely. I came in to tons of e-mails from people in the company congratulating me on my qualification, and spent a long time replying to those and talking to people about it. After work I threw together a katsu curry from some frozen chicken burgers and a packet mix. I thought it was ok, if a bit like big chicken nuggets in a curry pot noodle. WW was less impressed. After dinner we went straight out to play pathfinder. We spent the session exploring the rest of the puzzle dungeon we started on the week before, located below a giant statue of Aphrodite. After fighting some statues, growing some plants, and balancing the humours of a statue, we ended up with 6 crystal swords which we inserted into a box in the central chamber. The swords rotated, the blades pointing up to form a beautiful flower, and a door opened leading us downward. There we found a smaller statue to Aphrodite, wrapped in chains, and a single fresh rose. The rose, it turns out, transforms into a cool rapier than summons plant creatures. As we set about trying to unchain Aphrodite, the ground started trembling, and that's where we ended the session.

Thank you mate!

Be kind to yourself Rho. You got your 10-minute run, pain free. You dealt with a really stressful day at work, and stayed late to help your boss out. That stuff has a knock-on effect, and that's ok.