Jarric

You and me both! I often wonder how strong and fit I could be if I started training as a teenager. Unfortunately when I was that age I thought only idiots went to the gym (thanks to all the media stereotypes about meatheat gym bros), and basically thought I was better than the kind of person that went to the gym. I could be a judgemental little shit at times.

Well done with the sobriety, the writing out your feelings seems like a great way to keep track of what you actually are feeling and processing it properly. Don't worry about the weight gain; you van address that soon enough but just focus on one thing at a time for now.

Wednesday - W4D3 Wednesday was a good day. Physio in the morning; she was happy with my progress and told me to keep working on the same exercises. She said it will be 'interesting' to see how my knee feels after the triathlon. Work was busy. I was really struggling to keep my head together, and was getting really annoyed with my colleagues (I think because I was in an irritable mood, not because of them). I was sorely tempted to give up and go and work from home a couple of times, but I stuck it out and managed to get most of the urgent stuff done. 11 days off work now, and hopefully I'll be able to focus a little better by the time I'm back. In the evening I drank beer, watched Questing Time, and made a 17th level pathfinder character. More on that in a minute. Only did the physio session, no exercises at home, so 1/3. Teeth done (I think). Had 6 cans of beer, which equates to 3.5 pints. No drawing, no studying. Thursday - W4D4 Thursday was a good day. But first, some backstory. On Thursdays we play pathfinder, our Rise of the Runelords campaign. We've been playing for 4.5 years now, and we're reaching the end of the campaign. Last session, after 4.5 years and 17 levels, and 8 pages from the end of the adventure, we lost. I was going to talk about this at the time, as it felt quite a big deal, but then more important things happened. Essentially Ravi, my sorcerer, picked up a magic sword and activated it to see what it did. Then he failed a will save, and was mind controlled by the sword and told to attack his friends. Now I've thought long and hard about how I would deal with the party in the event of a battle royal or a situation like this, so I immediately knew what to do. I mind controlled Liekki, our hobgoblin kineticist who I know has a terrible will save, and commanded him to take care of the other party member. From there it was quite apparent that said remaining party member, our gnome ranger Linnie, had little to no hope of winning. So we ended that session with two members of the party permanently mind-controlled and fighting on behalf of the big bad, and the remaining member fleeing with no hope of helping us. Now this Thursday was supposed to be our final session. It's a bank holiday here for the Queen's jubilee, so we planned a whole day of playing pathfinder and getting to the end of the campaign. We had a discussion about what to do, and decided the most obvious choice was for the two of us who had lost characters to roll up new characters. So we made new, 17th level characters (which, if you've played mathfinder, you will know is not a five-minute job). I made a rage prophet called Carlos, who we met briefly as an NPC in one session early in the campaign. The other player made an arcanist based on his favourite tiefling NPC, Beshaba. Then we prepared ourselves to face our old PCs as antagonists. So on Thursday we got to a player's house for 1pm, played until 5pm, then moved on to the pub where we normally play every week and carried on. Early in the session we faced off against Ravi, and Beshaba managed to see Ravi sneaking around invisible, and used a spell to make him drop the sword. At which point our GM turns to me and says, "Did you bring Ravi's character sheet?". Apparently all we had to do was get the sword out of his hand, and the mind control was instantly gone! If only we'd known that on the previous session. From that point I was playing two characters. Because Liekki was mind controlled by Ravi, rather than the big bad, it was easy enough to find him and get him on side. We also managed to free a planatar that had been bound by the big bad, which gave WW a second character to play in addition to Linnie, and took us into the final battle with everyone playing two characters (three if you include familiars and animal companions). The final battle itself was on a grand stage suspended over a pool of lava. In the first round the big bad cast meteor swarm (a very dangerous 9th level spell), and quickened time stop (another ludicrous 9th level spell), and I was suddenly very grateful for the extra characters. Ravi dropped from his pitiful max hp of 90 down to 8hp just from the meteor swarm, although not before he cast feeblemind on the big bad's apprentice and basically made him into a mindless wandering body. At that point we had to end the session, so we still haven't actually finished the campaign! I strongly suspect Ravi won't make it past round 2, but dying in the final battle at least feels better than being taken out of the game by a random magic item. We got home pretty late, and I had one last beer and stayed up way too late. I think after a day of gaming and distractions I was just drained, and I didn't want to sleep at all. Went to bed about half 1 in the end. No physio, teeth not done, no drawing or study. I only drank 4.5 pints though, so I'm on track with this for once. Friday - W4D5 Yesterday was a good day. I got up and went to Crossfit. We did squats, which I'm still keeping light with the knee but I got up to 60kg for 3x5. Then we had an evil little workout: in 75 seconds, 300ft prowler push at 75% bodyweight, then max distance air bike. I had 60kg on the prowler, then did 258.1m on the bike before the time cap. I like the short and nasty workouts like that one, it was good fun. For the rest of the day I basically did bugger all. It was another public holiday, and we had nothing planned, so we did nothing. The weather was nice so we went out for a morning walk for about an hour and a half, and I dropped in to see my mum in the afternoon. In the evening I cooked palak halloumi with cardamom rice, which turned out very nice, and watched TV until bed time. After WW had gone to bed I started watching The Boys on Amazon Prime - it's a really dark comedy about superheroes and so far I'm really liking it. I spent a lot of the day with a bit chunk of apathy and a small dose of anxiety, which was either the cause or effect of sitting on the sofa stewing for most of the day I think. No physio, teeth not done, no drawing, no study, but at least no alcohol either.

This is a really great mindset. I could do with applying this to a few parts of my life actually. Glad to hear you reached out to your friend - sounds like it was a really positive step for both of you.

Sexy Battle Wizards is actually a one page RPG, by the bloke who did Honey Heist and Jason Statham's Big Vacation and such. But also yes, very much so. It's great isn't it?! I watched the first episode on Sunday, so I was pretty distracted, but still that opening scene was amazingly intense! I may have to re-watch it, whilst paying a bit more attention. I don't envy any of them jumping in at what, level 17, though? That's gonna be a steep learning curve. Oh, that reminds me, I need to make a level 17 Pathfinder character for tomorrow. Time for maths!

Tuesday - W4D2 Yesterday was a good day. Went for a swim first thing - did some arm drills and front crawl practice for a total of 700m. Struggled to stay focussed at work, but I got some important bits out of the way. I came home at lunch again to write stuff here and process thoughts. In the evening we were supposed to have Pathfinder, but it was called off last-minute. It's probably a blessing; I don't think I would have been able to get my head in the game. Instead we sat on the sofa and watched Questing Time playing Sexy Battle Wizards. Physio done (all 3 sets!), teeth done, no alcohol. No drawing or essay writing.

There's never a bad time to get back on track, and it's good to see you. And thank you. You're not alone either, we're in this together ? And thank you so much! I've barely scratched the surface with digital drawing, or even colour, but I do love a pencil/pen sketch. Really I need to find a dedicated time to work on it some more.

Congratulations on the engagement! That's awesome news!

Thanks man, I appreciate it. It's nice when some things are hard, this isn't one of them

Monday - W4D1 Yesterday was a good day. Crossfit first thing, which I managed to get through without bursting into tears when I realised I was wearing my RRDW hoody. We did a WOD of deadballs to shoulder, ring dips, and strict knees to elbow - it was fun. Then a few sets of OHP. Work was mercifully busy, so I was plenty distracted for most of the day. Came home at lunch and cried a bit, then back to work to get distracted again. In the evening I cooked a recipe box meal - pesto chicken and chorizo sandwiches with potato rounds and pepper and mozzarella salad. I even made my own pesto, which was really good. The potatoes were a bit overdone though. After that I sat on here writing through my thoughts for a bit, as well as speaking to some other nerds about how they were feeling. I totally blanked on my physio in the morning, but I managed it when I got home and again at bed time, so 2/3. Teeth were done, no alcohol, no studying, no drawing.

Nicely done - that's quick too! Glad you had a good weekend; sounds like a lot of fun.

Both songs are a fantastic tribute ❤️

Week 3 Last week was really busy at work, and we were out most evenings. D&D Thursday night, a barbeque Friday night for WW's birthday, and a sausage and cider festival on Saturday night, all of which were good [obligatory sausage in cider joke goes here]. Then I got the news about Willy on Sunday morning, and that overshadowed everything else. I'm going to put the rest of this post in a spoiler, because it's going to be about Willy, and about how I'm dealing with things, and I know that will be difficult for some of you to read. Hell, I'm not even sure I'm going to post this, but writing it down helps me process it. Week 3 stats Physio Rx: 2.33/7 Life drawing: Nope Art of war: 1/4 hours study Tusks: 5/7 Ale: 16/10 pints

I was lucky enough to meet Willy in real life, and play D&D with him online. He was just as much as a great guy in person as he was around here. His passing is incredibly sad.

Monday - W3D1 Monday was a good day. Crossfit first thing, and I hit a new 5RM on deadlifts at 152.5kg (~333#)! Work was ok; stayed late again. In the evening I cooked pork chops with cheesy courgette fritters. Only 2/3 for physio again (hard to fit that 3rd session in!). Teeth done, no alcohol, no drawing or study. Tuesday - W3D2 Yesterday was a good day. Went swimming first thing, and did 850m (~935yds) of front crawl plus warm-up and cool down. I was going for long slow distance (ish), and my splits were incredibly consistent - 22 of my 34 lengths took 32 seconds, and another 6 were within 1 second either way. Work was ok, I got an hour of study in first thing and I finished somewhere near on time. After work we had Pathfinder - our new Greek inspired campaign. I had a really lovely night (despite rolling a natural 1 on a heal check within the first few seconds of play and very nearly killing my own character!) - I'm really digging this character and the game in general. 2/3 on physio again! 1 hour study, teeth done, now drawing. I had a supplier lunch at work, and had 1.5 pints of beer at that.

^actual footage of Dragtald

Depends where you are/where the app developer is based. In the UK, for example, just about all weather sources use data from the Met Office. Some apps use the Met Office forecast, others take the raw data and make their own forecast, so you still get differing forecasts from the same source. @Elennare I don't know how accuracy compares between sources (I don't pay too much attention to weather forecasts), but looking for something derived from a different source might affect the accuracy.

Sunday - W2D7 Yesterday was a good day. I got up at a reasonable hour and did some D&D prep - the party have just got to a new chapter in the adventure which means they have lots of new places to visit that I need to prepare maps and things for, so I spent all morning just starting that. The D&D game itself was great fun, the party went to steal an ancient giant artifact from a local human tribe, and ended up negotiating to just take the artifact away instead. In the process they turned a party member invisible, discussed whether a carried spider should become invisible with him, spoke telepathically with a statue that described itself as a 'guardian', and then returned the body of the chieftain whom they had killed in combat a few days before. The party then boarded their airship and headed on towards their next destination, when they were attacked by a group of three manticores. It was an interesting battle, because the manticores would normally be no match for the party, but the creatures focussed on attacking the balloon that the airship was suspended from. There was a tense moment where it looked like the balloon would be destroyed, and the ship would come crashing down hundreds of feet onto the mountains below. To avoid this Dragtald, @Mr_Willes' goblin monk, ran along the rope connecting the ship to a harpoon embedded in the final manticore. Finishing the creature off, and kicking it free from the harpoon, Dragtald began to fall, failing to hold on to the rope and plummeting towards the icy ground. Alanna, @jonfirestar's human wizard, leapt off the ship after him and managed to catch up just in time to teleport back above the ship. After a brief conversation about teleportation and conservation of momentum, Alanna took a bunch of damage from impacting the deck of the ship. Dragtald, being a monk, got off scott free. After the game I went to get some groceries, then sat down to do some essay writing. I didn't quite manage 2 hours, but I was over an hour and a half plus breaks to put dinner in the oven, so I'm counting it as goal complete for the week. In the evening I cooked roast pork and then prepped breakfasts for the week. I wanted to do some drawing, but didn't have 2.5 hours for the next Lockdown Life Drawing video, so I did a shorter video on figure drawing instead. Week 2 stats Physio Rx: 5/7 - did this every day, but often only 2 of the 3 required daily sets. Challenge for this week is to get all sets every day Life Drawing: 1/1 - got this done at the 11th hour The art of war: 4/4 hours of essay writing - I feel much more confident about this than I did a week ago, which is good as I only have 4 weeks to finish this essay Tusks: 5/7 - had a low point mid-week, but this is still an ok result Ale: 12/10 pints - still a fail, but moving in the right direction.

Sorry to hear things are getting worse again mate - fingers crossed that it won't get too bad and won't last too long. Any chance of a preview of your draft workout programme? I'm always impressed by your workouts.

As a thought, this sounds like quite a bit of volume if you're just starting to get back into running after injuries (for example, the couch to 5k running plan only has you doing 20 minutes of jog/walk intervals, 3x per week, for the first few weeks). If it feels good then go for it, but also don't be afraid to back off if you need to. You're better off with a distance you can sustain 3x per week from now until your run in September, than pushing hard and not being able to do every run every week. It's an exciting challenge though, and I'm sure you'll smash it.

Friday - W2D5 Friday was a good day. I went swimming early, and then rushed around getting ready as I was in town for a work strategy day. The day was actually really good, and probably a good thing to be involved with. The day ended at half 3, and went straight to the pub. I had thought I'd be leaving about half 5, but then it was easy to have 'just one more', and then wait for my colleagues who were also having 'just one more' so that we'd get the train back together. That ended up as 7 pints, and I got home after 9pm having had no dinner. I wolfed down a bowl of cereal and ended up going to bed fairly early. Not ideal, but to be fair I had a lovely time. Only did physio first thing, not when I got back drunk, so only 1/3. Equally didn't brush my teeth, so no points there. 7 beers, no study, no drawing. Saturday - W2D6 Yesterday was a good day. I got up and, after a bit of faffing about, went climbing. I had quite a good session, nothing spectacular but I've had a few weeks off and that's ok. Did some chilling and some life admin when I got home, then drove up to the hills to go for a bike ride. I managed about 8.5 miles (~13.7km) in around 1'10", which is certainly the furthest I've cycled in many years if not in my life. I was due to go out in the evening, but decided I'd be better off staying in and relaxing. I still didn't manage my 3rd physio set, so 2/3, and again I didn't do my teeth in the evening. Generally I'm still not in the best mindset, though I think it's getting better. No alcohol, no drawing, no study.

Thank you! Me too!

Awesome stuff! That's great that you're getting them back.