iatetheyeti: Spartan Rising

[iatetheyeti]

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓ ✓ (8/12)

D2: ✓ X (8/12)

D3: X (it’s sleeting, therefore I am not leaving my flat) X (8/12)

Boss progress: N/A for today, most likely

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓ ✓ (8/12)

D2: ✓ ✓ (8/12)

D3: X (only because I forgot my morning set -  evening ones done) ✓ (8/12)

Boss progress: Chicken and mushroom pie. Not exactly what I intended when I made the goal, but it’s got a decent protein content and serves two people (which means it’s a perfect size for all one of me). Brings it to 5/7 and still within the budget I’ve allowed for this.

 

===========

 

I had a moment yesterday, but I’m dealing with it and trying to remind myself that it is in fact ok for me to be emoting. I mean, constantly hanging on an emotional shoestring doesn’t help much, but honestly I’d rather be feeling the feels than bottling them up.

 

As a result, today I woke up in a good mood despite not sleeping all that well. It was one of those nights of just lying there, keeping the mind in a blank, meditative state and having no luck anyway.

 

Work went somewhat smoothly despite getting my load an hour and a half late, and afterwards came the best eating I’ve had in a very long time.

 

Work Christmas lunch.

 

Three courses of free home (work) made food being served to us by the DMs (in this case Cigarette Smoking Woman, Kind of an Asshole, and the personnel manager who I have yet to find a fitting name for).

 

It was amazing. I started with a salmon mousse served with little tree shaped oatcakes and a salad (plus the bread roll used to mop up the remnants of said mousse), then moved on to turkey and trimmings, trimmings being pigs in blankets, roast veg, stuffing, and potatoes. I enjoyed mine, and I enjoyed the leftovers of several of my co-workers, much to their amusement. I think that amusement turned to horror when I proceeded to ingest three helpings of dessert (souffle, chocolate orange gateau, and a toffee and banana stack).

 

I very nearly had to roll home.

 

The socialisation was nice too. There was lots of laughter, and that’s helped bring me back to a more level mindset. Helpful, considering I’ve got a few big decisions to make in the very near future and I really, really don’t need the mood swings interfering with that. I mean, they probably will anyway because one decision kind of depends on speaking to my mother and getting her input, but at least I can aim for a reasonable state of mind with the others…

 

Plan for tonight is to do a little more tidying up, make a start on organising things for the Move boss goal for this week, and then just relax a little. Tomorrow is a double feature day, and the deli counter on a Friday night isn’t always a fun place to be.

 

[Jarric]

Your work Christmas lunch sounds great, I'm glad you had such a good time (and so much food!).

 

And I think you're right; when you get yourself into a better situation you will have the perspective to really appreciate everything you have

[NeverThatBored]

Ahhh, I'm so glad you got to have a nice time at the work lunch!

[Rhovaniel]

On 8 December 2016 at 5:54 PM, iatetheyeti said:

I very nearly had to roll home.

aha sorry that made me lol. Glad you had such a good meal though, sounds like you needed it!

 

I love how positive you are about your situation. My own mood, driven by outside pressures at home mostly, has taken a downswing the last few days and I notice I don't deal well with it; I hibernate from the world, online and RL, until loneliness drives me back out. From now on, i'm going to try the Yeti way: head up, push hard, work hard, and plan for the future. In case you don't hear it enough: you rock!  

[iatetheyeti]

17 hours ago, Jarric said:

Your work Christmas lunch sounds great, I'm glad you had such a good time (and so much food!).

 

And I think you're right; when you get yourself into a better situation you will have the perspective to really appreciate everything you have

 

Heh, yeah, my stomach didn't know what hit it!

 

Odd as it might sound, I think knowing that this an entirely possible goal and that I am close to achieving it is a good bit of the battle won.

 

 

12 hours ago, NeverThatBored said:

Ahhh, I'm so glad you got to have a nice time at the work lunch!

 

And to think I almost wasn't going to go...

 

 

30 minutes ago, Rhovaniel said:

I love how positive you are about your situation. My own mood, driven by outside pressures at home mostly, has taken a downswing the last few days and I notice I don't deal well with it; I hibernate from the world, online and RL, until loneliness drives me back out. From now on, i'm going to try the Yeti way: head up, push hard, work hard, and plan for the future. In case you don't hear it enough: you rock!  

 

I used to do exactly the same, and to be honest I'm still prone to doing it if I let myself. The Yeti way is practice, lots and lots and lots of practice, and I have no doubt you'll be able to master it too  

 

(though when all is said and done, sometimes a little hibernation is good for the soul)

 

[iatetheyeti]

SUNDAY SUMMARY

 

“Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small, large or petty - never give in, except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”

Winston Churchill

 

 

The weekend has not been kind to me, but in the end the rewards will outweigh the suffering. I finished my current service in FFPP with a series of split shifts, an awful back shift in which I covered for my department’s night out (NFDO came in this morning hungover and informed me she'd left FDO at home still being violently ill with her own hangover. I can't decide if I'm glad or peeved that I missed out...), and a morning that passed in a haze of exhaustion and comprehension that was dazed at best, prompting me to turn down the extra hours offered by NFDO, Kind of an Asshole, and the deli manager I have yet to find a suitable name for.

 

I’m exhausted. My mind is running so slowly it might as well be crawling. My limbs are heavy. I dozed off on the toilet (which was marginally better than dozing off whilst walking to work and almost being hit by a car).

 

But I’ve pushed through and completed what work I needed to achieve my first objective: full time hours. Next week my schedule looks like this:

 

Monday: 7am-4pm

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: 11:30am-8:30pm

Thursday: Off

Friday: 12:30pm-9:30pm

Saturday: 11:30am-8:30pm

Sunday: 7am-4pm

 

One shift a day, two days off, NO 6AM STARTS. The earliest I’ll have to get out of bed now is a more sane 5am, thank you very much.

 

So that was the weekend, but as for how things went this week overall…

 

 

GOAL: MOVE

STAGE ONE: CLEAR OUT THE FLAT

=== Everything is a mess, I own too many things I don’t need/use, and the less belongings I have the less it’ll cost to get them shifted across to the other side of the country

 

Dailies for week one (4th-11th, because why not follow challenge weeks just now?):

• Clean and tidy for ten minutes

• Sort three items of clothing (either keep, charity, or bin)

• One trip to the recycling point with a backpack full of glass empties

 

Week one boss battle:

• Sort out DVDs and books into sell and keep piles, gather boxes from work to package everything being sold, and find a reliable site to sell through

 

=== Results

 

...eeeh, mediocre.

 

The clean and tidy has extended to clearing up after I eat, which isn’t quite what I’d had in mind. I’ve sorted a few items of clothing to be chucked, but I’m not as close to finishing the task as I’d hoped to be, and my boiler cupboard is still full of glass bottles.

 

Plus I have approximately one box sorted and filled with stuff to sell.

 

So this week’s dailies are going to be exactly the same.

 

Because this needs sorted.

 

 

GOAL: RUN THE SPARTAN SPRINT SUCCESSFULLY

STAGE ONE: SURVIVE THE STARVATION PERIOD

=== It sounds extreme because, unfortunately, it is extreme. No money means limited food, which means I need to be careful. More careful than I’m being right now, because the physical impact is hitting hard already.

 

Dailies for week one and two:

• Drink one bottle of water in addition to other fluid intake

• Eat a bowl of porridge with protein powder

• Do 10 push ups/inverted rows/assisted pistols at the start and end of the day

 

Weekly boss fight for week one and two:

• Amass as much cheap tinned protein as possible (aim for seven additional tins)

 

=== Results

 

Actually, not bad.

 

Whatever I haven’t done daily, I’ve usually worked in an alternative of some sort. With that in mind, I feel comfortable raising the bar a little:

 

• Drink two bottles of water in addition to other fluid intake (the dehydration is real and I do not intend to keep suffering)

• Eat a bowl of porridge with protein powder

• Push/pull (10 reps of each) morning and night - any choice of exercises

 

Boss fight remains the same as I haven’t yet amassed at least seven additional cans of protein.

 

 

All in all, I’m doing a little better than expected. The weather has remained fairly mild, so the lack of heating isn’t quite so problematic, I’m making full use of what free food I can claim from work, I’m managing to keep a somewhat more positive attitude, and I’m managing to adjust enough to adapt to my situation better than before.

 

All of that is, in turn, levelling out my mood somewhat, which is helping massively.

 

So now to keep the ball rolling, really.

 

[Mr_Willes]

YES, make small changes but be sure to

 

On 11-12-2016 at 3:29 PM, iatetheyeti said:

keep the ball rolling, really.

 

[iatetheyeti]

2 hours ago, mr_willes said:

YES, make small changes but be sure to

 

 

 

Yes! Exactly!

 

And so much love for BB8 being a little ball of awesome 

 

[iatetheyeti]

 

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: ✓

D3: X

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓

D2: ✓

D3: ✓

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

===========

 

I did all of my productive things as soon as I got home, and then I sat down with the intention not to move for the rest of the night because wow, I’m really tired.

 

Had my first full shift in a long time, and despite being wiped, I’m actually finding myself happier for being in the deli as opposed to FFPP. I was speaking it over with TPG (that would be Tall PIzza Girl, ‘cause I’m original like that. Honestly, I’d call people by their first initial but I know too many people with the same ones!) and concluded that it’s the fact that I get more social interaction at the deli.

 

Whether it is or whether it isn’t, I got in reasonably happy, and I left reasonably happy, even with having to sprint across the store twice for first aid shouts. Got told I wasn’t needed both times as there were others who got there ahead of me.

 

...I only really needed to do first aid on myself. Deli is full of sharp things and I’m a clumsy little shit!

 

But hey, still having fun.

 

And that’s what I intend to do with the rest of my night. I started a Game of Thrones rewatch yesterday, so I’m going to pour myself some rum and continue with that. Tomorrow is a day off, so I have no need to be up early, which is nice because the power tools are out upstairs again…

 

Plus side, they moved their TV into the living room, so I don’t hear it when I want to sleep.

[Rhovaniel]

Yay for social interaction, I bet it will make all the difference in the long run! 

 

Sounds like yesterday was a good day, so yay for that. Enjoy your rum!  

[Charlie_Quinn]

Caught up with you finally! It's great that you are enjoying working on the deli counter. 

[obax]

I can definitely relate to the social interaction thing, I always found being forced to be nice to people at the post office even though I was in a bad mood left me feeling cheerier by the end of my shift despite myself. Glad to hear it's all going fairly well for you, all things considered.

[iatetheyeti]

On 12/13/2016 at 11:26 AM, Rhovaniel said:

Yay for social interaction, I bet it will make all the difference in the long run! 

 

Sounds like yesterday was a good day, so yay for that. Enjoy your rum!  

 

It will, definitely. Just need to try and make a case for staying longer than just after Christmas!

 

And the rum was very much enjoyed  

 

 

On 12/13/2016 at 0:23 PM, Charlie_Quinn said:

Caught up with you finally! It's great that you are enjoying working on the deli counter. 

 

It definitely feels less stressful. It's almost like being back behind the bar, but with far less angry people wanting to yell at me, which is nice!

 

 

18 hours ago, obax said:

I can definitely relate to the social interaction thing, I always found being forced to be nice to people at the post office even though I was in a bad mood left me feeling cheerier by the end of my shift despite myself. Glad to hear it's all going fairly well for you, all things considered.

 

That's exactly what happened today. I went in feeling physically and mentally crappy, forced myself to be bright and cheerful for the sake of both customers and co-workers, and now that I've got home I don't feel so bad. So that's got to be a good thing!

 

[iatetheyeti]

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: [] in progress

D3: [] in progress

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: [] in progress

D2: [] in progress

D3: [] morning done

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

===========

 

I’ve had a few non-start days in a row, although it hasn’t all been for bad reasons. Mostly I’m trying to bring my sleeping pattern back under control, but the external factors (work, neighbours, lack of proper nutrition) are not exactly helping things along here.

 

Neither is the surprise shark week I got landed with, but hey, I kind of knew that had to happen at some point soon. Could have done without the extreme cramps, especially considering my left knee and right hip decided on being enough of a pain that it was fairly difficult to walk. Fortunately the folks I was on backshift with including CSW, the RO (who has been eerily nice to me ever since the personnel manager explained my situation to him), and Pizza Kid, who is an actually ray of sunshine. That, and the customers were all happy enough, especially the folks who came in nearer the end and bought up reduced meat by the plateful.

 

Still, being woken up at 4:53am (again… their timing is spectacular) on my day off doesn’t exactly breed a good mood, and I was somewhat resistant to actually getting out of bed. But today is one I’m determined not to waste, so instead of saying I’ll do this, that, and the other, I’m going to just do and see how far I can get with the time I have.

 

I can’t say motivation is running high today, but the determination is present, and that’s the main thing.

 

 

[iatetheyeti]

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: ✓

D3: X

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓

D2: ✓

D3: ✓

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

===========

 

There has been some productivity today. Not as much as I’d like, but more than anything that has happened in the past few days. I’d like to say I’m aiming for the same thing tomorrow, but how well that’s going to work out I don’t know given I’ve got a 12:30-9:30 shift. We’ll see, I guess. For now I’m content with the fact I did something.

[iatetheyeti]

 

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: X

D3: X

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓

D2: X

D3: X

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

===========

 

SUNDAY SUMMARY

“In the confrontation between the stream and the rock, the stream always wins- not through strength but by perseverance.”  

H. Jackson Brown

 

All things considered, two things ticked off is a major achievement today. I’m exhausted and I hurt and apparently my body has decided it’s a great time to be ill. Again. It’s been fairly intense at work thanks to the time of year and the fact the deli has next to no staff, and all through yesterday and today I’ve had the tendonitis in my left wrist playing up fairly badly, a resurgence of pain in my left knee and right hip, and a constant headache.

 

So not much has been done goal-wise. I’ve been going in, doing my shift, coming home, and then passing out.

 

But.

 

But.

 

There is good in with all of that crap. First, I got my boxing day shift back. That’s time and a half or double time, plus a holiday day in lieu. Second, my move to the deli has become a permanent thing. That sort of got landed on me a couple of days ago, but I can’t say I mind. I’m happier, there’s more scope for sustained full time hours (even though I’m technically still only on a twenty five hour contract), and I will eventually be fully trained. Fully trained entails both the certification side (food hygiene etc) and work on both the meat and fish counters. That in turns widens my prospects for gaining more hours before I leave or, if that doesn’t happen, getting a better contract when I transfer.

 

And all of this from continually badgering the upper levels about getting a few more hours a week?

 

Tiff - 1, Upper Levels - 0

 

...although the RO did threaten to have me checkout trained, which would even the score and probably be a large disadvantage to me considering relief cashiers are called upon to the point of failing to be able to to their actual jobs.

 

And yet...

 

It’s nice to be back in a place where I have prospects.

 

And in part thanks to that little win and in part thanks to the fact I’m quite exhausted, I’m not adjusting my goals going into next week. Those with definite ends have not been completed, and those meant to be habit forming have been somewhat neglected.

 

Tomorrow, seeing as I have the day off, I will get on it again. I’ve got a surprising amount of things to do tomorrow, which means getting out of bed before stupid o’clock in the afternoon is advisable and getting into two before our two hours of daylight are over would probably be a good thing.

 

(not that we get daylight here at this time of year. It’s like being in the Arctic Circle, only with perpetual rain and greyness rather than perpetual darkness)

 

And some wrist mobility wouldn’t be a bad idea, all things considered.

[Jarric]

Congratulations on the job stuff, really happy for you!

[Charlie_Quinn]

Congratulations on the job wins! That's great news!

[Rhovaniel]

Excellent news about the Deli job! Hopefully, them being understaffed means you can get the full time hours you're after. 

[iatetheyeti]

13 hours ago, Jarric said:

Congratulations on the job stuff, really happy for you!

 

10 hours ago, Charlie_Quinn said:

Congratulations on the job wins! That's great news!

 

8 hours ago, Rhovaniel said:

Excellent news about the Deli job! Hopefully, them being understaffed means you can get the full time hours you're after. 

 

Thanks guys  

 

Here's hoping this really is the start of that upward trend!

 

[iatetheyeti]

 

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: X

D3: X

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓

D2: X

D3: X

Boss progress: 7/7 tinned protein acquired, moving on to stage two: tinned veg. So far, 2/14 acquired. At the end of this stage I think a small reward will be in order, so I’ll figure that out as well.

 

===========

 

Making this short as I have a spectacular headache.

 

On one hand, fairly successful day insofar as I got out of the flat to run some errands and have met a couple of my daily goals.

 

On the other hand, fairly unsuccessful day thanks to this headache.

 

Solution: curl up in bed with a book (currently reading Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson), plenty of liquid sustenance, and read until I feel the need to sleep.

 

Tomorrow I hope to be a little more productive on all fronts.

[Marauder]

Hope you don't mind if I follow along.  I've been in sort of the same place with the getting back on track for the long haul and battle logging.  Not so much the Spartan    

[iatetheyeti]

9 hours ago, Marauder said:

Hope you don't mind if I follow along.  I've been in sort of the same place with the getting back on track for the long haul and battle logging.  Not so much the Spartan    

 

I don't mind at all, the more the merrier  

[iatetheyeti]

 

Quest Chain: Move

D1: ✓

D2: ✓

D3: X (this is not turning out very successfully for me due to the fact that I do not want to venture out in adverse weather unless I absolutely have to, and this doesn’t flag up as important on my radar. Might be time to start thinking up penalties)

Boss progress: One further pile sorted - books I’ve read and not been terribly impressed by, so I’m not loathe to part with them

 

Quest Chain: Spartan

D1: ✓

D2: X

D3: ✓

Boss progress: N/A for today

 

===========

 

Today we’re introducing a new quest chain:

 

GOAL: ROCK SOLID MENTAL HEALTH

STAGE ONE: BECOME A PERSON AGAIN

=== I’ve become a pyjama clad hermit, which, while often comfortable and safe, is probably not such a good thing to be. It isn’t what I want to be. So it’s time to implement change.

 

Starter level dailies:

• Get dressed every day

• Complete self care checklist morning and night

• Meditate for five minutes

 

First boss battle: Organise a battle plan for January’s trip to visit the parents

 

Why are we introducing a new quest chain?

 

Well, because I can’t be particularly successful at anything else until I’ve got a grip of this fog that’s continually clouding my mind, and I can’t do that by refusing to break from the rut of ‘safe’ habits that have brought the fog rolling in.

 

So I have my trio of quests: Mind, body, and home.

 

This has come to me particularly strongly today for two reasons.

 

First: I had a rough night. Spent about an hour napping in the bathroom because my body was telling me I was going to throw up, but in the end it came to nothing. Still, even when I returned to my bed I had to ride out the cramps and waves of nausea (no headache in sight, strangely enough), and that gave me plenty of time to reflect.

 

Second: Today marked the second day in a row where I got out of bed and put on actual clothes (as opposed to rising and putting on pyjamas, thus solidifying my intentions to not leave the flat), and I feel better for it.

 

I am the product of the environment around me, and that environment includes how I clothe myself. If I do not make a conscious effort to improve all aspects of my environment, then how can I ever expect to improve?

 

...and that has been how my day has gone.

 

Tomorrow marks a return to my 6am starts. I have a run of 6am-3pm shifts taking me right up to Christmas eve, which means I’ll have to plan around them, and around the storms that this week will bring. I’m sitting listening to the wind throw bins around my street and the rain come down hard against my windows.

 

Whatever happened to this polar vortex and the coldest winter in five years?

[Rhovaniel]

It's surprising how getting dressed in the morning can have a huge impact on your day. Days when I don't get dressed are rare, but they are without fail my most unproductive days. It's great that you recognise that about yourself and are actively working to fix it. 

 

Good Luck with your quest chains, Yeti! And good luck on those 6am starts!