(NF) Challenge 3 - Into the Mountain
6 WEEK CHALLENGE - November 12 to December 24, Rangers, WeyrCat - Into the Mountain (Challenge 3) [link]
Updates:
November 12, 2012 - RP. Intro, goals.
Nov 13, 2012 - RP. Studied a lot, Minimized a lot, no cardio (still sick). Stretching before bed.
November 12, 2012.
The rains had left many villagers homeless and without provisions. The Ranger battalion had done what it could for the people, slowing their progress towards the forest before the mountain. They were now at it's edge and the mud had dried over the plain in a barren, depressing, slag. Kathryn sat packed up her bedroll in the dim morning sun. The temperatures in the nights were now cold with the onset of true winter, though there was no snow this far south. The wind outside the forest's edge whipped along the plain and penetrated even through her double-seamed leathers. Maybe the foreboding forest made the wind seem colder...
Through the forest lay the mountain. Within the mountain, the Heart of the Mountain. The Ranger battalion, small in number but varied in skills, sought to retrieve it for a... collector. A red stone the size of a fist, it was said to be tucked in the hoard of a dragon. A scout had confirmed this as he received poultice for a nasty burn on his backside. Kathryn grinned. They can have the stone.. she wanted the dragon.
Carrying with her an iron-bound book, an old ring, and what rations might sustain her and Grucheti, her messenger owl, Kathryn started towards the woods with the Rangers.
This is my third challenge. Sadly, I don't post in RP for most of the minor updates but do will try to tuck in more here and there. I also want to try to make my updates more succinct. More "what I did, what I can do better", less "whine whine whine".
Goals and Rewards:
Earth: A tree must be flexible so as to bend with the wind instead of break, but its roots must be strong to keep it in place in that same wind.
Strength/Flexibility: One upper body strength session, one yoga or pilates session, one ITBS physical therapy session. May be combined, as long as each are done at least once per week. Optimal: Each done 3x-Weekly.
STR: 2
DEX: 2
CON: 1
Water: The longest, deepest, paths are not cut at once. They are worn away by slow, steady, constant erosion.
Cardio/Endurance: Three cardio sessions per week. May be substituted for three mile walks up to twice weekly. One session MUST be 30+ minutes of cardio. Optimal: ICE after. No really.
STA: 2
STR: 1
CON: 2
Fire: As the blazing fire reduces wood into ashes, so does the fire of wisdom reduce bondage to ashes. - Bhagavad Gita.
School: Study three hours a day (up from 2 in the last challenge). Next semester I'll need to schedule home time as class time for my online classes so I must be able to set aside this time and stick to it. Optimal: Ten minutes of review for each hour of notes written in class (minimum). Ten minutes of flashcards for each class, with 20-30% of the cards being old material. With the 10 minute per hour break for standing and eye relief, that means only 30 minutes of intense new material. Easy if I just DO IT.
WIS: 4
STA: 1
Wind: A bird cannot fly if tethered to the ground. Much in the same way humans cannot be free while tethered to their possessions.
Home: Minimize my possessions. Attempt to get rid of one thing each day (anything from one CD to one pair of socks). This one will be really hard to grade, and I'm honestly not sure how to. So I'm leaving it as no points (and have distributed the 15 points to the other three goals) while I work on this one. In the end, being less emcumbered will be its own reward, but I'm sure I can think of something.
Ok. Today, Day One!
- 3 hours of studying Orgo. That 40 on, 10 review, 10 break system makes the time go by fast.
- Today was a walk day. Ended up shortened to 2 miles, but not sweating the difference since I'm spinning tomorrow.
- Minimized (got rid of) two wine glasses I've used once in the last 5 years, and 2 gigs of music. I literally had to open songs in the albums to find out what they were.
- Did some light stretching. Not enough to give myself points, but hey! Can't do everything in one day.
Rocking a wicked head cold for the past few days. Slept in a little today. All in all, productive day.
The trail through the dark wood was clearly visible, almost as if the undergrowth refused to grow over it. The biting wind was left in the plain but the oddly humid air was still cold. Deeper into the forest the canopy withheld more and more light, leaving a cold, damp, dimness. Kathryn sniffled, then sneezed. "Great." They'd picked up the pace and made great time on the oddly clear trail. In the light of the small fire lit to warm fingers and toes, she read more and more of the iron-bound book without having to reference the symbols in the old man's key. Still, she struggled with it.
Snuggling into her blanket, she thought of her goals... the book... the dragon... and slept.
20121213 Day 2:
Minimized cds - 3 Unique irreplaceables (digitized), 1 greatest hits, 4 compilations (Monsters of Rock, etc), 2 soundtracks, and 6 regular albums. 5 gigs of TV epis. 4 movies.
Studied - 1 hour Lab orgo. 2 hours (going on 3) Textbook orgo.
Cardio - Skipped Cycling. Head cold feels like my sinuses are stuffed with clay. I'm sneezing in threes, which is annoying, and have gone through an entire roll of toilet tissue in 2 days. I'm putting lotion on my nostrils, they're getting so red!
Strength/Flexibility - Aiming for my ITBS stretching and icing when I get to bed. If I ice when I go to bed I don't have to worry about "not having time to sit in one place for 20 minutes" since I'm supposed to be immobile and prone anyway!
SO. On it doggonit. Hoping this head cold minimizes itself overnight! I have an Organic Chem exam tomorrow!
And on that note... back to studying. (In a min).
The damp darkness made her skin crawl. Kathryn kept thinking she saw spiders crawling in the darkness. There surely couldn't be... in order to see them in even the daylight gloom they'd have to be HUGE. The day was a sure trek of average speed but again they made good ground over the oddly barren trail. They camped earlier than usual to give some of the supply packs more time to dry in the warmth of the fire. She was glad for the extra time with the iron bound book. The milky green stone in the cover reflected the firelight into some dew drops in the leaves, and they almost looked like hundreds of tiny eyes. She turned her mind back to the pages. Her eyes flicked over the symbols more quickly now but the latest pages were more foreign. New symbols, new phrasing structures, almost as if the original author was giving the book over to another. She read until they put out the fires and slept in a close pile for warmth and safety.
The dewdrops still glowed. Hmm.. Phosphorescent fungi maybe?
She slept.
.
Citations:
Image: "Heart of the Mountain". Accessed 2012 Nov 11. [http://www.wowhead.com/quest=4123/the-heart-of-the-mountain]
Updates:
November 12, 2012 - RP. Intro, goals.
Nov 13, 2012 - RP. Studied a lot, Minimized a lot, no cardio (still sick). Stretching before bed.
November 12, 2012.
Through the forest lay the mountain. Within the mountain, the Heart of the Mountain. The Ranger battalion, small in number but varied in skills, sought to retrieve it for a... collector. A red stone the size of a fist, it was said to be tucked in the hoard of a dragon. A scout had confirmed this as he received poultice for a nasty burn on his backside. Kathryn grinned. They can have the stone.. she wanted the dragon.
Carrying with her an iron-bound book, an old ring, and what rations might sustain her and Grucheti, her messenger owl, Kathryn started towards the woods with the Rangers.
This is my third challenge. Sadly, I don't post in RP for most of the minor updates but do will try to tuck in more here and there. I also want to try to make my updates more succinct. More "what I did, what I can do better", less "whine whine whine".
Goals and Rewards:
Earth: A tree must be flexible so as to bend with the wind instead of break, but its roots must be strong to keep it in place in that same wind.
Strength/Flexibility: One upper body strength session, one yoga or pilates session, one ITBS physical therapy session. May be combined, as long as each are done at least once per week. Optimal: Each done 3x-Weekly.
STR: 2
DEX: 2
CON: 1
Water: The longest, deepest, paths are not cut at once. They are worn away by slow, steady, constant erosion.
Cardio/Endurance: Three cardio sessions per week. May be substituted for three mile walks up to twice weekly. One session MUST be 30+ minutes of cardio. Optimal: ICE after. No really.
STA: 2
STR: 1
CON: 2
Fire: As the blazing fire reduces wood into ashes, so does the fire of wisdom reduce bondage to ashes. - Bhagavad Gita.
School: Study three hours a day (up from 2 in the last challenge). Next semester I'll need to schedule home time as class time for my online classes so I must be able to set aside this time and stick to it. Optimal: Ten minutes of review for each hour of notes written in class (minimum). Ten minutes of flashcards for each class, with 20-30% of the cards being old material. With the 10 minute per hour break for standing and eye relief, that means only 30 minutes of intense new material. Easy if I just DO IT.
WIS: 4
STA: 1
Wind: A bird cannot fly if tethered to the ground. Much in the same way humans cannot be free while tethered to their possessions.
Home: Minimize my possessions. Attempt to get rid of one thing each day (anything from one CD to one pair of socks). This one will be really hard to grade, and I'm honestly not sure how to. So I'm leaving it as no points (and have distributed the 15 points to the other three goals) while I work on this one. In the end, being less emcumbered will be its own reward, but I'm sure I can think of something.
Ok. Today, Day One!
- 3 hours of studying Orgo. That 40 on, 10 review, 10 break system makes the time go by fast.
- Today was a walk day. Ended up shortened to 2 miles, but not sweating the difference since I'm spinning tomorrow.
- Minimized (got rid of) two wine glasses I've used once in the last 5 years, and 2 gigs of music. I literally had to open songs in the albums to find out what they were.
- Did some light stretching. Not enough to give myself points, but hey! Can't do everything in one day.
Rocking a wicked head cold for the past few days. Slept in a little today. All in all, productive day.
The trail through the dark wood was clearly visible, almost as if the undergrowth refused to grow over it. The biting wind was left in the plain but the oddly humid air was still cold. Deeper into the forest the canopy withheld more and more light, leaving a cold, damp, dimness. Kathryn sniffled, then sneezed. "Great." They'd picked up the pace and made great time on the oddly clear trail. In the light of the small fire lit to warm fingers and toes, she read more and more of the iron-bound book without having to reference the symbols in the old man's key. Still, she struggled with it.
Snuggling into her blanket, she thought of her goals... the book... the dragon... and slept.
20121213 Day 2:
Minimized cds - 3 Unique irreplaceables (digitized), 1 greatest hits, 4 compilations (Monsters of Rock, etc), 2 soundtracks, and 6 regular albums. 5 gigs of TV epis. 4 movies.
Studied - 1 hour Lab orgo. 2 hours (going on 3) Textbook orgo.
Cardio - Skipped Cycling. Head cold feels like my sinuses are stuffed with clay. I'm sneezing in threes, which is annoying, and have gone through an entire roll of toilet tissue in 2 days. I'm putting lotion on my nostrils, they're getting so red!
Strength/Flexibility - Aiming for my ITBS stretching and icing when I get to bed. If I ice when I go to bed I don't have to worry about "not having time to sit in one place for 20 minutes" since I'm supposed to be immobile and prone anyway!
SO. On it doggonit. Hoping this head cold minimizes itself overnight! I have an Organic Chem exam tomorrow!
And on that note... back to studying. (In a min).
The damp darkness made her skin crawl. Kathryn kept thinking she saw spiders crawling in the darkness. There surely couldn't be... in order to see them in even the daylight gloom they'd have to be HUGE. The day was a sure trek of average speed but again they made good ground over the oddly barren trail. They camped earlier than usual to give some of the supply packs more time to dry in the warmth of the fire. She was glad for the extra time with the iron bound book. The milky green stone in the cover reflected the firelight into some dew drops in the leaves, and they almost looked like hundreds of tiny eyes. She turned her mind back to the pages. Her eyes flicked over the symbols more quickly now but the latest pages were more foreign. New symbols, new phrasing structures, almost as if the original author was giving the book over to another. She read until they put out the fires and slept in a close pile for warmth and safety.
The dewdrops still glowed. Hmm.. Phosphorescent fungi maybe?
She slept.
.
Citations:
Image: "Heart of the Mountain". Accessed 2012 Nov 11. [http://www.wowhead.com/quest=4123/the-heart-of-the-mountain]
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