Jarric

A half-elf slides silently into the room, taking up his usual stool and leaning on the bar. Not the usual today, barkeep, he says, with a wry smile, but make it strong and dark Wordlessly the barman produces a bottle from beneath the bar, with a stemmed glass. Turning to the room at large, the half-elf raises the glass. To Mr Willes!

I feel like everything's cheaper where you are - we just get the weather

That's really helpful, thank you, you are a trove of helpful information. Cost me £22 here, but that's still probably cheaper than a man with a van.

Friday - W5D5 Friday was a good day. Had a nice chilled day at WW's parents' place. Managed to get a couple of hours essay writing in during the afternoon, and finished my first draft off. Headed home after dinner, and had a couple of beers in the evening before bed. No physio, did some drawing in a new project book but nothing that counts towards the drawing goal. 2 hours study, 2.5 beers, teeth not done. Saturday - W5D6 Yesterday was a good day. WW and I got up and went for a cuppa with MG first thing. Normally I'd meet MG at bouldering, but I wanted to have the day off climbing as I had the triathlon today, so we just had a tea at the bouldering place instead. In the afternoon, WW and I went with my dad to pick up a sofa. It ended up being a comedy of errors - the car overheated on the way there, then dad took the radiator cap off too soon and burned his arm with scalding water. We ended up stopping twice on the way home to refill water and trying to get a tap to cool dad's arm before we got back. Then we decided that was the end of the day, so whilst we have a lovely new sofa, we also have the old sofa sat in the front garden and currently no way to get rid of it. In the afternoon we went to the supermarket, and then I went to pick up the race pack for my triathlon. When I got back I put the finishing touches on my essay and submitted it for marking. Not my best work, but I'm not in the headspace to go over it ad infinitum and it's better to put in something than nothing. In the evening we watched EXU: Calamity, and I got to bed about 10pm in anticipation of this morning's 05:15 start. No physio, partly because I didn't want to do anything the day before the triathlon, and no drawing. 45 minutes essay writing, no beer, teeth not done.

Sunday morning. It's only a sprint triathlon, so 400m (~440yd) swim, 26km (~16.2 mile) bike, 5km (~3.11 mile) run. I think I'll get through it, but a bit worried that I'm not really prepared.

So much positive stuff here; the job working out, being able to work therapy with it, you being ok to take up space. I'm really pleased for you.

Thursday - W5D4 Yesterday was a good day. I went out for a run first thing. It was only 5k ish, but it's my first run in 4.5 weeks (since Dirty Weekend), and it felt really hard! Still, I got through it, though it's given me no confidence for the triathlon at the weekend. In the day we went to see some picturesque little towns in Suffolk. That was lovely, looking at the old timber-framed houses that have sunk and warped with age, giving the high streets the feeling of a badly drawn postcard. We went round a couple of old churches too, which is always interesting. I was really tired all day, and feeling pretty morose. Despite it being a lovely day, I was really struggling to enjoy anything; I just wanted to curl up in bed and opt out of life for a few months. The reason for some of that is obvious, but the high levels of fatigue I'm not so sure about. 1/3 physio. Got an hour of study in before we went out for the day. 1 beer equivalent with dinner again. No drawing, teeth done.

Yeah, hopefully I will - if nothing else I think I get a bonus when I get the qualification. Just need to get through it first! Yeah, I guess so; I've seen board games on pubs all my life here, so TTRPGs aren't a massive stretch when that's you're starting point. Thinking about it, I've know pubs that book rooms for wargames like Warhammer/40k too. The name Penny was WW's idea - I've passed on the points!

It's an insurance industry qualification for work. Not the most relevant stuff to my day to day job unfortunately, but it's the qualification I need to have. Some of it's quite interesting, some of it not so much!

Wednesday - W5D3 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing, starting with bench press at 70kg (~154#) x 3, 62.5kg (~138#) x 5, and 57.5kg (~127#) x 7. It felt good, pretty sure I can build this up a bit now. Then we did some assistance stuff - bent over rows, single arm dumbbell bench, bench cuff. We then drove up to stay with WW's parents for a couple of days. It's very laid back here, with not much to do. We went shopping in the day, I brought my laptop up to do some studying (a hitherto unknown level of commitment to study on my part), and we went for a walk after dinner. In the evening I started working on a drawing project whilst watching Sewing Bee. All very chill. 1.5 hours study, 1/3 physio, teeth done. Did some drawing, but no lesson. 2 small wines with dinner, so effectively 1 pint of beer for this challenge.

You should do it! It's just like running a bar and renting out function rooms, with a bit of a theme - seems to work well enough here. If you're looking for places, you could see if there's any local Meetup/Facebook groups for RPG games. If there are, I'm sure other gamers will be able to offer suggestions for local public spaces where you can play. Alternatively, pick somewhere you like and just ask to reserve a table in the corner - they probably won't mind when you pull out a battle map and start talking in silly voices.

Tuesday - W5D2 Yesterday was a good day. I went out for a bike ride first thing - only 3.8 miles or so. I was going to go further, but the triathlon is this weekend and I figure I'm not going to get any fitter between then and now. After breakfast I went and got a long overdue haircut, then WW went to wander around a local botanical garden. It was drizzling, as if the British way, but it was a really lovely place. I was feeling absolutely knackered all day, so when we got home I gave in and had a nap before dinner. Then we heated up some leftover bolognese from Monday night, before heading off to D&D (at the pub, @starpuck ? ) D&D — our Pathfinder 2e Greek campaign — was fun. We managed to bind a Penates (a sort of animate collection of household items that is bound to care for a house). It was very cute and we named it Penny. Then we went exploring, and filled in a chunk more of our hex map. Only 1/3 physio. No study, teeth not done, no drawing, but also no alcohol.

The place we go to has a couple of rooms upstairs that they hire out to people - they don't charge us anything, it means they can guarantee a few extra people buying drinks on a weekday night. They also let space to various clubs, groups, parties etc. On Tuesdays we usually have a room to ourselves, so it's pretty quiet apart from people randomly walking in looking for the philosophy club next door. On Thursdays we have a table in the bigger room, and there's usually another D&D group at the other table. Quite a few pubs round our way do this, though this is the best we've found because we get some private space. I know of a couple of game stores that rent tables too (though you have to pay to book those).

Monday - W5D1 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing, with a nice little WOD to start - intervals for time of 5 squats, 3 deadball loads, 100m ski erg. Knee was feeling iffy so I kept squats light at 50kg (~110#), and loaded a 50kg ball onto a 64" (~163cm) box. Work through 4 intervals, each of which took me about a minute. After that we did a bit of work on pistol squats. We spent the rest of the day having a fairly chill day at home. I procrastinated on the sofa a lot, but did get in 1.5 hours of study. Late afternoon I went to see Hopalong and play snooker for a couple of hours. When I got home I cooked dinner - I made a metric shitton of bolognese so we now have plenty left over for future dinners. By the time we'd eaten and chilled for a bit it was time for bed. Physio 1/3 again, 1.5 hours study, teeth done. I had the other 2 bottles of Leffe in the evening, and no drawing.

Yeah, I can see you points here, and some of them ring true with why I haven't sought therapy myself. The only thing I would throw into the thought process is to consider the difference between counseling and therapy. As I understand it (bearing in mind I've had neither), counselling is generally a short-term process designed to help you work through a specific problem, whereas therapy is usually a longer process where you look at yourself as a person and work on wider mental health issues, which might also include looking at specific problems at any given time. I believe counselling is generally quite a bit cheaper, and some organisations offer free telephone counselling for various things. I don't know what's available to you, but it may be worth considering both options.

Thank you! For anyone interested, it's the blue route right at the end of this video, with the two big pointy holds sticking out above the cave (not my video, and not me climbing): https://www.instagram.com/p/CdIelmzoe1G/

Sunday - W4D7 Yesterday was a good day. I went climbing again in the morning. I managed to nail the route that I'd been working on all session on Saturday, which I'm pleased about, and then I messed around on some other stuff. I don't usually go two days in a row, but I wanted to catch up with Hopalong. He's my best mate, so I wanted to see him, and it was good to talk to someone about Willy that didn't know him. It's been amazing talking things through with people from the forums, and it's been really lovely when people have contacted me just to chat, but it's also nice to be able to talk to someone who isn't involved for a bit. Speaking of talking to people, I met online with the Ranger D&D group just to talk and spend some time together. We didn't play anything, and we haven't decided yet how we want to move forward without Willy in the game, but it was good to talk. In the evening I procrastinated for a while, cooked a roast chicken dinner, and then did an hour and a half of studying. Not the 3 hours I'd planned for the day, but it's better than nothing. 1/3 physio, 1.5 hours study, teeth done, no alcohol. No drawing today. Week 4 scores Physio Rx: 2⅔/7 - must do better Life drawing: Not done. I did a little drawing, but no lesson. Art of war: 2.5/4 hours essay writing - I need to push on and get this thing done! Tusks: 5/7 - could be worse Ale: 10/10 pints - success!

That's awesome news about your friend! You share as much as you like; this is a good place to bear your soul. Really it comes down to what you're comfortable with sharing publicly on the internet - we're interested in how you're doing, and for those who don't have time to read everything they can always skim through or skip to the end.

If you feel you need to talk to someone, would counselling be an option (when you're ready)? It might feel easier to talk to a) a stranger, and b) a professional, rather than someone who is already a part of your social life?

I love how positive and peaceful this is. I hope you get some sleep, but as you say, all will be well either way.

That's so cute that she's snacking on tomatoes and raw peppers! Also makes me feel kind of optimistic that not all children have to hate vegetables

Muscle-ups are really hard, but every step of the progression is pretty rewarding when you get it - good luck with it! Sorry to hear about the bad coach, but two out of three ain't bad I guess?

Congrats on the championships - that's fantastic!

Saturday - W4D6 Yesterday was a good day. I went bouldering in the morning, and spent an hour and a half working on a single route trying to perfect it. I didn't get it, but I got every part of it individually, so I knew I could at least come back fresh and do the full climb another day. Thinking back, I'm already struggling to remember what I did with the rest of the day. I know I got an hour of studying in late afternoon. I downloaded Diablo: Immortal on my phone, played the intro, found that I needed to download another 8gb of data for the next area, and quickly decided that that was never going to happen. I've downloaded it on the PC now; I may even find time to play it at some stage. In the evening we had a bacon/potato/courgette hash and watched EXU: Calamity. Then we went to bed at a sensible time. No physio done. I did a bit of drawing, but not a video so it doesn't count towards the goal unfortunately. Still, I had a mess about with drawing on the laptop with some very quick life drawing prompts, which was interesting. I knew I had 2 pints left in my alcohol budget for the week, so I went and got some Leffe. I had two bottles, because they're strong, and found the willpower to leave the rest of the pack in the fridge and stick to my goal. Teeth done, and 1 hour of study.

Here to talk if you need it man. I hope writing stuff out helped a little. Your mention of your tattoo got me looking at Terry Pratchett quotes: “No one is finally dead until the ripples they cause in the world die away, until the clock wound up winds down, until the wine she made has finished its ferment, until the crop they planted is harvested. The span of someone’s life is only the core of their actual existence.” ― Terry Pratchett, Reaper Man