Jarric

Convenient indeed! And thank you! Really pleased to have it done! Thank you mate! They are a bit lovecraftian, aren't they? I'm ok with that.

Ask and ye shall receive... They were only from Amazon, but I really like them.

Monday - week 4 day 1 For myself, I spent some time reading (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. I found out that I passed my professional qualification! After 4 years, 12 x 3,500 word essays, and two 3.5-hour exams (one of which I failed), I'm extremely pleased to have this done. That's not including the prior 7 years of other qualifications I had to take which also count towards this one. Yesterday was also squat day - box squats for 95kg (190#) x 3, 85kg x 5, and 77.5kg x 7 - followed by ab rollouts and handwalking practice. In the evening WW baked a cake for a bake-off we're having at work on Wednesday, and I read some more of Amongst Our Weapons.

Week 3 wrap-up The cartographer - 4/7 The camp-maker - 1/7 Well I've been both crap at updating this challenge and crap at remembering my goals this week. For the cartographer, I finally did some foam rolling on Thursday, had no energy on Friday so did nothing, went and watched the snooker on TV with Hopalong on Saturday, and did some good D&D prep on Sunday. For the camp-maker goal the only thing I managed to do was hang some coat hooks. They are awesome though, they're cast iron and chaped like octopuses (or octopodes, if you are so inclined). Saturday was a nice day generally, with climbing in the morning, seeing Hopalong to watch snooker and go for a dog walk in the day, and a chilled evening with WW. I did miss my run, as I was knackered when a got home, the lesson being that I need to do this before climbing to fit it in. Sunday was a good day too. Went for my run in the morning, and hit an easy 7.5 miles - that's the longest run I've done in at least 6 months other than the race in March. Then we had D&D, in which the party had a lovely conversation with a bronze dragon, and then went to rescue an old lady's cat from what turned out to be a gazer. After much careful planning and discussion, they opened the door and the party's assassin one-shot it by shoving a rapier straight through its large, central eye. It was a hugely underwhelming combat, but also cool to see how far the party have come in a few sessions. The rest of the session was spent getting the gazer's head stuffed and enchanted to sing Mr Brightside by The Killers. Next session I think they're planning to go back to trying to figure out why someone blew up a load of people outside their pub. After that I hung the coat hooks, did a load of D&D prep (though I still have plenty more to do), and slow cooked a turkey thigh to go with roast veg, stuffing, and yorkshire puddings. After saying I was sick of eating so much last week, I ended up gaining 4lbs! So I can probably not push my calories quite so hard in future, but equally it's nice to see a bit of increase after 2 consecutive weeks of weight loss.

Totally hear you on the needing to unwind after work thing - I have days where I can barely string a sentence together by the time I get home (though thankfully, those seem to be rarer of late). When I commuted to work I used to nap on the train home to try and have some brain power in the evening. Glad you're managing to catch up on sleep now, that'll probably help too.

I think there's a lot of wisdom in this. It depends on an individual's values, but for me if I can make enough to be comfortable I'll never need to earn any more.

Wow, that's some hugely important stuff, and highly topical at the moment. Sounds like a great choice of direction, both because of its importance and because you have so much to write about.

Wednesday - week 3 day 3 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing was block pulls off 3 blocks (just below knee high for me). I built to 160kg (352#) x 6. Form felt good, but I felt really light headed for a few seconds afterward the last set so it clearly took its toll. A mate tried to convince me to go one heavier, because my form was fine, but I decided not to push my luck. Also did some assistance stuff - single leg deadlifts, single arm ring rows, and pistol squats. Work was ok, but we got absolutely soaked on the way home. In the evening we watched Crit Role and did very little else. I could easily have done stuff for my goals, but for some reason couldn't summon the energy to do so. I also ate a lot yesterday. I've lost 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks, which isn't ideal when I'm trying to bulk, so I made a real effort to consume all of the calories despite not really wanting that much food. And then I decided I wanted a couple of beers in the evening, which tipped me over the 4,000 calorie mark. Hopefully it'll make it a bit easier to hit my calorie goal this week - I'm really not enjoying forcing food down myself right now.

I hate it when that happens. I've got a very low tolerance for spicy food though, so it happens a fair bit. Yesterday it was WW's turn though - I put so much ginger in a curry that she had to give up half way through (in my defence, I followed the recipe). Hopefully not, but as you said, if he regrets it a few years down the line and wants to move into engineering, he still can.

Good luck on the Very Overdue Paper™! What's the PhD topic you're working on now (sorry, I feel like you've mentioned this before and I can't remember?)

Well you better get watching then

Tuesday - week 3 day 2 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. Running first thing, 4 miles with the middle 2 miles at threshold pace. Mile paces were: 1: 9'33" 2: 8'48" 3: 9'45" 4: 9'28" Mile 3 was the hardest effort and the slowest pace, but it's also most of the elevation. Back to work in the day - busy but fine. In the evening WW threw together some sausage, red cabbage, and mash, and we headed off to play Pathfinder. Pathfinder was good - we started exploring a hidden chamber that we'd discovered last session underneath a giant statue. It contains 7 rooms, 6 that we have a key to unlock, and the 7th with no lock or way to open. We're fairly sure that we have to collect swords from each of the 6 rooms to access the 7th. The first room had a floor covered in letters, and we spent far too long doing a word search on it without ever figuring out a proper solution. In the end we got close enough that the GM let us have it (but only after the wizard had spent a spell turning into an insect and crossing one way). The second room contained mirrors that showed us our deepest desires, and threatened to hypnotise us. I went first and passed my will glsave, meaning I could warn the rest of the party what was happening and they could avoid the mirrors. The rest of the party then decided to look into the mirrors anyway, because of course they fucking did. They all failed, but we managed to snap them out of it eventually. The third room was full of groups of naked and semi-naked people, trying to entice us to join them. They turned out to be illusions, concealing 4 switches that opened a wall at the end of the room. All 3 rooms ended with a plinth in front of a mirror, and in the mirror we could see a person holding a sword. We figured out that he way they held the sword showed us what item we had to trade for their sword (we found a bunch a vaguely magical items in the city which are apparently used for this purpose). The first image was holding mace in one hand and a sword in the other; we swapped the sword for a shield. The second was admiring their reflection in the swords blade, so we offered a mirror. The third was wearing nothing but a sword, hung around their neck like a huge pendant. We swapped that for a sort of chain girdle. 3 more rooms to go, but that'll be a story for next week. No goals hit today - going straight from work to food to Pathfinder makes this tough.

Aww, that is the best kind of problem to have - so cute ❤️ Seems like you've got a solid solution too.

Monday - week 3 day 1 For myself, I had an impromptu back massage (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing was 30 rounds for time of 1 ground to overhead and 1 muscle up. I hit 5 ring muscle ups in the workout, plus one in the warm-up beforehand - really proud of that! For the rest of the workout I did chest to bar, and a 50kg clean and push press for the G2OH section. For the rest of the day I did bugger all. It was a public holiday here (4-day weekend FTW!), so I sat and watched Critical Role and played a roguelike adaptation of Snake on my phone. It's nice to get back into CR, and I'm only 27 episodes behind currently

Just went back to read your race report (I'm embarrassingly far behind on the forums right now), amazing job Rho! That sounds like an absolutely epic event, and taking an hour off your time is a massive PB.

It's a 4-day weekend here, so time has gone a bit fucky and I've not been updating very much. Here's a quick catch-up of what I can remember. Friday - week 2 day 5 For myself, I did a life drawing video (3/7) For my house, I hoovered the bedroom (2/7) Friday was a good day. Crossfit first thing - a fun one where we got to play with log clean and presses and rope climbs, and then did bench press with a massive drop set at the end. A bit strongman, a bit ninja, a bit of powerlifting - all great fun #rangerbrain At some point during the day I decided on a whim to do a life drawing video on YouTube, this one focussed on portraiture. These are the results: Parts of faces: A 20-minute sketch: It was my dad's birthday, so in the afternoon I took over his birthday present - my old laptop - and helped him get set up on that. In the evening we went out for his birthday meal, and had an absolute excellent steak meal - possibly the best steak I've ever had. Then we found out that a pub we used to go and see bands at a lot was closing down, so we headed over there for a few drinks to enjoy their last band ever. It was an amazing night, bittersweet because it'll be sad to see the place go. When I got home I poured myself a chamomile tea, sat on the sofa, fell asleep, and at some point poured the (thankfully cool) tea all over my lap. Saturday - week 2 day 6 For myself, I played poker with friends (4/7) For my house, I did nothing (2/7) Saturday was a good day. I woke up feeling a bit hungover, but considering the night before I think I got off pretty lightly. I went bouldering, and managed an hour and a half of decent work before calling it a day. After stopping on the way home to give my grandmother an easter card, I had lunch and went for a run. A nice, easy 5k, which felt relatively good considering. In the evening I played a poker game online with some friends I've met here and/or through people that I've met here. I had a lovely time, though after being in second for most of the first couple of hours I very quickly slipped down and finished 6th of 8 players. Still, it was good fun, and I got to speak to some people that I've only ever chatted with in text before. Sunday - week 2 day 7 For myself, I drew a face in 25 minutes (5/7) For my house, I worked in the garden (3/7) Yesterday was a good day. I got up early (well, early for a Sunday and got out for a run. Managed the full 6 miles, and it was tough but not a problem, which was very encouraging given that I dropped out of the same run 2 miles in last week. I spent the rest of the morning preparing for, and then playing, D&D. The party spent most of the session patrolling the City of the Dead, Waterdeep's massive graveyard, in search of a necromancer who has been digging up bodies and raising them as skeletons. They managed to find and slay a group of skeletons, and find some kind of pattern to the necromancer's activities, but they were unable to track down the necromancer themself. With the attacks having ceased, and no more disturbed graves discovered, they were eventually discharged from their duty and paid for their service. The party then used that money on finishing the renovations to their inn, The Peryton, which once complete will allow them to open to guests and hopefully earn a little more money overall. In the afternoon we spent a chunk of time digging cat shit out of the garden, then digging out weeds, seeding some miniature clover, and eventually putting a giant net over the whole garden to try and keep the cats off it until our clover lawn has had a chance to grow. In the evening I finished the life draw video I started on Friday, with a 25-minute sketch: Overall it's not been a bad week. I'm clearly doing better on the self-care stuff than the house-care stuff, so I need to channel the camp-maker a little more whilst still keeping up with my cartographer goal. I will say that having no essays to write has been a weight off my mind this week, and has encouraged me to spend more time on things like drawing where previously I would have just watched TV and put off doing anything.

I wouldn't if I were you. ...I wonder if I should write some stats for him...

I used to do this a lot. What I do now, which is against what all the common sleep advice recommends, is wake up and immediately pick up my phone and start browsing Discord. The combination of having something to occupy me and having a bright light shined in my face seems to stop me going back to sleep. You could write narrative ideas in a phone note or something if that's a good compromise? I did couch to 5k actually, in November/December when I was getting back to it. I think the main thing was keeping up with the physio and going slowly with increasing the mileage. If you don't fancy couch to 5k, you could still use it as a framework but design your own programme around the same ideas. Or you could just do every week twice so that you build up slower? Though the question is, does it matter what you weight? You're currently looking to lose weight, so it matters that the number is going down, but does it matter what the number itself is? You'll only ever be able to compare that number to different people using different scales in different places, so you'll never get a perfect comparison.

Wednesday - week 2 day 3 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (1/7) Wednesday was a good day. Crossfit was first thing, and I hit 100kg (220#) x 3, 90kg x 5, and 80kg x 7. Slowly building this back up now. Then we had an 8 minute AMRAP of 4 pullups and 8 split-stance wallballs. I knew that the wallballs were going to be tough and slow, even with a 7kg (15.4#) ball, so I decided to do strict pullups to make the most of the rounds I did get. I finished with 6 rounds and 5 reps. Work was busy, but ok. In the evening WW cooked a lovely curry with Sunday's leftover roast lamb. I can't remember doing anything else, so I assume I didn't? Thursday - week 2 day 4 For myself, I drew a Forg (2/7) For my house, I did nothing (1/7) Yesterday was a good day. I went for a run first thing - 4 miles (6.4km) including 6 x 110yd (100m) stride intervals - and it felt ptetty good. I was working from home so tried to use the peace and quiet to catch up with stuff. It worked to an extent, but I feel like I'll still have a lot to do next week after the 4-day weekend. In the evening I cooked taco cups, from a recipe I saw here the other day (I think on @shaar's thread). Basically, I greased a cupcake tin, stamped out some flour tortillas with a cookie cutter, and wedged them into the cupcake slots. Then I cooked some onion and courgette down in a pan, added a bunch of spices and some beef, and cooked until brown. I spooned the mixture into the tortilla cups, topped with cheese, and baked in the oven for 8 minutes. To serve I topped with more cheese and sliced spring onion. It was a lovely meal, and I've got a lot of filling left over to do something with today (seriously, this recipe called for 1lb of beef and 1/2lb of cheese - and I made a meal for 2 from it ) After dinner we watched the new episodes of Taskmaster and drank a few beers. I was feeling randomly inspired to draw after seeing folks on the NF Discord talk about buying books on drawing, so I got up an episode of CNE Games' Sketching Hour on YouTube and drew along with them. The premise of sketching hour is that they roll 3d20 to choose a monster, an adjective, and a cute animal, and two professional artists have an hour to draw something mashing the two together. My creation was almost a copy of one of their's, which @starpuck has christened a Forg:

Thank you! Thank you! It's very pleasing to have it off my todo list Thanks! That's interesting too - maybe it was just this particular packet sauce; I'll have to try making my own from scratch and see how it compares. I like most curry, but I'm rubbish at eating spicy things, so my desire to eat it is often challenged by my desire not to sit weeping and sweating in a restaurant

Monday - week 2 day 1 For myself, I submitted my final essay, and looked at next qualification steps (1/7) For my house, I did nothing (0/7) Monday was a good day. Crossfit first thing was 100ft farmers' walks, where I built up to 164kg, and then some chill sets of single leg deadlifts, pistol squats, and single-arm ring rows. I weighed in on Monday, and somehow I've lost 2lbs? It might just be an anomaly, but I'm going to put more effort into eating enough to make sure this week. In the evening, WW cooked Ethiopian-style chicken thigh and sweet potato stew, from a recipe box, and it was absolutely lush. Then I went and finished proof-reading my essay, and got my final essay submitted! I've been working towards this qualification, on and off, for quite a few years now, so it's amazing to get the final work in. I still need to pass obviously - should get confirmation in 5-6 weeks. I'm totally counting submitting that essay, plus sitting at the computer toying with other qualification ideas, as my self-care bit for the day. Tuesday - week 2 day 2 For myself, I did nothing (1/7) For my house, I hoovered the top stairs and landing (1/7) Yesterday was a good day. Morning run was an easy 4 miles, felt a little tough but generally fine, so no problems after my previous wobble. Work was a day full of meetings, all of which were productive but my inbox certainly suffered for it. In the evening I cooked chicken katsu curry. I put some rice on, then flattened, floured, egged, and breaded the chicken, and fried it in quite a lot of oil. I also steamed some carrots to go with it, and chopped some spring onions to go into the rice. The sauce was a packet mix, which I added a little water to and bubbled up in a pan. It was a nice enough meal, but the texture was a bit grainy so I probably won't use that sauce again. After dinner I washed and put away some clothes, hoovered the top stairs and landing, and generally just bimbled about until bed.

I said to a colleague at work - I was stopping that run one way or another, I just decided not to fall over in the process And thank you! To be fair, apart from the roast dinners, all of our food is foreign for us. The British approach to cooking is to take cuisine from around the world and add gravy to it. Don't think I hold a candle to Tank's food descriptions, but I enjoy doing them anyway.

Good luck on the rowing challenge. It sounds like fun - luckily I don't own a rower or I might be tempted to join you