Goal + Action = Reality

Haleth · Mar 28, 2023

Congratulations on the challenges!

Lady Celerity · Mar 29, 2023

Yay! Two challenges completed! :wand:

Tell mum she's doing great!

Fremen · Mar 29, 2023

Congrats

TopNotch · Mar 29, 2023

@Tileenah @Montserrat @TortoiseVibe @Anek @Haleth @Lady Celerity @Fremen

Programme:
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Unbound Day 19

Challenges:
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Knee Push-ups Day 16
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Warrior Arms Day 29
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Daily Hug Day 16

Yep, totally slack today! I've got a few more challenges selected but I'll wait a little bit. That new walking programme looks interesting. Wonder if I can get myself walking for that long every day though. Thinking, thinking...
Today, I took mum to that puzzle shop - the big one. Oh, it was so hard to choose, but finally I came away with only two 1000-piece jigsaw puzzles. I was very moderate. And specific. The bloke in the shop was all, "how about - oh, you wouldn't like this one" because I told him the sort I was after. Now, though, I have to wait until mum goes because it wouldn't be kind to immerse myself in a puzzle while she's still here. Besides, Camp NaNo starts in April, so I should be busy writing.

:v:

Writing. Before I fell asleep last night, thought up a (to me) brilliant premise which I wrote down so I wouldn't forget it. I'm not allowing myself to work on it yet. It's not a Smith story, and I've already set myself to work on book 2 through April, but I'm rather excited by the concept but I have no real plot so it'll need a lot of work. I'm sure I'll get around to it one day. Also did some decent work on book 2's second draft.
:v:

Reading. Yep.

And because it's a big number, I'll record my Duolingo streak. 1300 days. :LOL:

Fremen · Mar 29, 2023

Congrats on 1300 days on Duolingo :worried:

TheLibrarian · Mar 29, 2023

Congrats on 1300 Duolingo Days.

PetiteSheWolf · Mar 29, 2023

Great for Duolinguo! (and looks like we are still paired, LOL).

Tileenah · Mar 29, 2023

Congrats on 1300 duolingo days ! What language are you learning ?

Haleth · Mar 29, 2023

Congratulations on your Duolingo streak!

TopNotch · Mar 29, 2023

PetiteSheWolf said:
Great for Duolinguo! (and looks like we are still paired, LOL).

Indeed. What is this one - 10th in a row?

TopNotch · Mar 29, 2023

Tileenah said:
Congrats on 1300 duolingo days ! What language are you learning ?

Having finished Danish, I've now moved back to French. I say 'back' because I did it through high school, which was really handy considering how many French articles and books I had to read for research purposes at university. For that, though, I just ignored the verb tenses and made everything in the past because it didn't matter and it had to be, so relearning tenses is a challenge. :LOL:

Lady Celerity · Mar 30, 2023

Great Duolingo streak!! :u:

daejamurrachan · Mar 30, 2023

Congrats on challenges and Duolingo streak!
:unstoppable:

Tileenah · Mar 30, 2023

I remember my english teacher giving me the list of irregular verbs in english to learn and going like "that's all ? Seriously ?" the rule in french is more like if you have a rule to explain stuff (and we seem to love those) then have more exceptions than words included in said rule. Ok I'm exagerating. Or am I ? :worry:

Seriously though, good luck on re-learning french and all the tenses !

TopNotch · Mar 30, 2023

Tileenah said:
I remember my english teacher giving me the list of irregular verbs in english to learn and going like "that's all ? Seriously ?" the rule in french is more like if you have a rule to explain stuff (and we seem to love those) then have more exceptions than words included in said rule. Ok I'm exagerating. Or am I ?
Seriously though, good luck on re-learning french and all the tenses !

No, you are so NOT exaggerating! And what's with adjectives? Some go in front of the noun, others behind. Why??

TopNotch · Mar 30, 2023

And thanks again, @Fremen @TheLibrarian @PetiteSheWolf (we are obviously a great partnership!) @Tileenah @Haleth @Lady Celerity @daejamurrachan

Programme:
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Unbound Day 20

Challenges:
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Knee Push-ups Day 17
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Warrior Arms Day 30
Got carried away yesterday and gave myself an extra hug because I forgot that it was only a 15-day challenge. :facepalm:

Not much left now, but I can see April's challenge is going to happen. And that walking programme... and - but no! That'll spoil the surprise.

:v:

Hike and Walk. Two, one relatively gentle hike with only a short and not too rugged incline, a distance of 2k up and around Dairy Farmer's Hill. Then we popped into the car and went to the Cork Oak trail, which was really just a nice walk around 1.7k. Mum's leg started giving her a bit of gyp again but not so bad, and she really enjoyed the views. It was sunny with some clouds, but quite windy. A little cool (well, it is autumn now) but not too cool even for her. Then home to tea and biscuits.

I really love the shadows of the clouds over the mountains. Mum wants a copy of all the photos I've taken with her. She just likes my pictures.

:v:

Taekwondo. Not many tonight - must be Thursday.

After the joint warm-up, we partnered up for shoulder tapping drills. But, of course, when you rotate partners and you end up with a 7 year old whose head barely reaches your belt, well, you have to go on your knees, but the longer arm reach still wins out. Except when your opponent cheats and uses the other arm... Did some kicking, some stretching, then on to poomsae, given that grading is next Thursday. When everyone had been sorted out, there were the two red belts left, who are doing pattern 8, and two stray black belts. So we all did pattern 8, with the coach's call. I couldn't really remember 8 - which I hate anyway - but after going through once, it all came back and I was happy with how I went. After a while, we all sat down and belt by belt people got up to show their pattern. The coach finally called "red belts" and the other black belt and I (who had practiced with them) stayed seated. One little yellow belt boy asked his mum, "What about the black belts?" I told him we were all just slackers. :LOL:

Went through the first four one-step sparring self-defences again and I actually remembered them!

:v:

Writing. I've got a small goal of 250 words per day because when re-drafting and therefore deleting, deletions appear as negative words, so to get positive 250 words, I may actually have to write more than that, depending on how much I delete. Anyway, today, as yesterday, I got over my 250 words.
:v:

Reading. Started yet another book. At the end of the month, I'll count everything up.

PetiteSheWolf · Mar 30, 2023

TopNotch said:
Indeed. What is this one - 10th in a row?

13th ? Seriously, I have only ever be paired with you, not that I complain but it's weird! And it may be a little problem when I will travel in June (I hope it won't break my Duo streak... I really do!).

Anek · Mar 30, 2023

Congrats on the challenge! :star:

NancyTree · Mar 30, 2023

Congrats on your challenges!
And wow, 1300 days! :ragdoll:

SlothEnergy · Mar 31, 2023

1300 days of Duolingo! :celebrate:

wow, working hard, @TopNotch!
Congrats!
And congrats for Warior Arms too! :unstoppable:

TopNotch · Mar 31, 2023

Thanks, @Anek @NancyTree @TortoiseVibe

Programme:
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Unbound Day 21

Challenges:
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Knee Push-ups Day 18
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Tricep Dips Day 1
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Upperbody Day 1

Undeniably and unrepentantly slack day today! Did some laundry and drank a lot of tea. Tomorrow we get back to work, and mum leaves Sunday evening so after that, absolutely no more excuses!

:v:

Writing. Well over 500 words added to the total. I don't think many others were deleted. Happy with chapter 4 but chapter 5 needs a lot of revision. My thinking about this chapter has changed so much. I don't like what I have so I have to rewrite the whole thing but end up pretty much in the same place. Challenging.
:v:

Reading. Well, yeah.

TopNotch · Mar 31, 2023

March Summary
# of runs: 7
Longest distance: 5k (NO walking)
Longest time: 39'20"
# of bike rides: 0
Hikes: 10
Total distance: 60.1k
Strength work/Upperbody work: I'll incorporate these two. I think just doing boxing covers a lot of this. My arms are totally wrecked after training! And various challenges also work this.
Writing: It doesn't look as though I have done a lot of writing this month because I've only just completed the first revision of chapter 4, but there was a lot of work in them as the first draft was absolutely skeletal and now I'm trying to put on the flesh. Next month is Camp NaNo, and I'll have to be writing for at least an hour every day. See how that goes.

Reading: I use Bookly to keep track of my books but as I'm using the free version, it only lets me keep 10 books so I have to delete ones I''ve finished to keep track of the one I'm currently reading. I now use a notebook and, before I delete from Bookly, I jot down the books I've read into the notebook. And the notebook says I've read 22 books this month. I'm currently ⅓ through the 23rd book.

I completed three charity challenges, which used the distance of both my walks/hikes and run.
One (30k) for Nature Walk:

One for Cancer Council:

And one for MarchOn (mental healthcare for veterans):

Fortunately, the distance I covered for one, also covered the others. Phew!

TopNotch · Apr 1, 2023

Programme:
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Unbound Day 22
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60 Days of Walking Day 1 - Took mum off for a last walk which turned out to be a shade over 5k and took us a little more than 1½ hours. She takesa about three steps to two of mine. I thought it was rather a gentle track but she found it a bit of a struggle and was pleased that she made it. She only walks on the flat at sea level, whereas here, 'flat' is pretty unknown, and it's almost 600m above sea level. Even the change of altitude can make you breathless, and she doesn't ever train going up hills or even slopes. She's realised that she needs to incorporate that sort of thing in her walking.

Clouds coming in from the west, over the mountains.

Challenges:
:v:

Leg Day Everyday Day 1
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Knee Push-ups Day 19
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Tricep Dips Day 2
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Upperbody Day 2

:v:

Writing. Camp NaNoWriMo started today. I've elected to work on the second draft of book 2 for an hour every day of the month - which is recorded as 60 words because they're not set up to record time and recommend 1 word = 1 minute. So I put in my time today, and mum put in her time. After our discussions and all my questions and prompts about her story, she's really started thinking and has changed her story substantially and is enjoying it more.

Snl My Work Here Is Done GIF by Saturday Night Live

Reading. Only one book read so far this month.

CODawn · Apr 2, 2023

Congratulations!

TopNotch · Apr 2, 2023

Ta, @CODawn

Programme:
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Unbound Day 23
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60 Days of Walking Day 2 - Mum slacked off today

and didn't come with me for the 45min walk. Which totally showed in my stats! I did my usual golf course route, which is 4.76k, in 51'16".

Quite different from the 15-19min/k we've been doing. I've enjoyed walking with mum, but it was nice to go at my usual pace!

Challenges:
:v:

Leg Day Everyday Day 2
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Knee Push-ups Day 20
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Tricep Dips Day 3
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Upperbody Day 3

:v:

Writing. Took mum with me to the Library for the first Camp NaNo Write-In. Only T and the MLA were there. We stayed almost 1½ hours. Mum wrote over 800 words. I added over 600 to my chapter, but I only enter the one hour (=60 words) on my NaNo page. Happy with them because this is a hard chapter and there's still more hard to go before I''ve finished it.
:v:

Reading. Started another book.

Discovered that I really must work on some weight training. I don't want (and wouldn't get, anyway) big muscles, and strong muscles weigh exactly the same as weak muscles the same size, but I do need to get a bit more muscle, so it's time to pump some iron! Plus it's fun. I mean, in a way it doesn't really matter how strong you are - if someone just as strong hits you and they've got more mass behind them, you're going down. When I'm holding the target at boxing, for example, and my partner has 30kg more weight than me, yep, it's hard. Not that I'm going to gain 30kg (or even want to!) but just a bit more muscle won't go astray. This month's aim.

TopNotch · Apr 3, 2023

Programmes:
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Unbound Day 24
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60 Days of Walking Day 3 - I'm going to have to spend some time working out my routes. I figure doing the same couple of routes a couple of times each for eight weeks will pall pretty quickly. On an upside, though, this will give me a nice lot of timed walks/hikes.

Normally I just go out and keep walking until I've had enough or I've come back to the start (and I've had enough). This could be quite a Good Thing. Today's 45 minutes took me a shade over 4k.

Challenges:
:v:

Leg Day Everyday Day 3
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Knee Push-ups Day 21
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Tricep Dips Day 4
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Upperbody Day 4

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Boxing. This week we learn the kick-around. So, standing straight on to opponent, put weight on left leg, kick right foot into left leg, landing where left foot was and left foot now steps out at about 90° degrees so you're facing opponent's right side. Then kick right foot and end up where you started. Then try ditto with right leg. The assistant coach (J) sat and called out "right...right...left...right...left..." and we were supposed to kick-around to the correct side. Then we did the kick-around with a hook (using the other hand). I found that quite fun once I worked out what my feet were supposed to be doing. I did have to be corrected because I kept landing my uppercut when my foot hit the ground. A fine thing in Taekwondo - quite wrong in boxing! Both feet on the ground before punching. We also did shadow boxing - long punches (jab, power) and short (hook, upper). If nothing else, this boxing training has certainly improved my shadow boxing. I've got the stepping and feel that what I'm doing is actually kind of correct, and not just some vague flapping such as it used to be. J even commended me, so I must be improving. This was the last Monday class for the term. I'll do next term, then I'll re-evaluate. I don't want to do boxing; I just want to know how to do boxing!

:v:

Writing. Faced the computer with great trepidation but ended up replacing 1300 words that weren't what I wanted with 1600 words that kind of were.
:v:

Reading.

Mum flew home last night and I started one of the new puzzles I'd bought. Oh, the quality of this one is excellent! I'd say better than Ravensburger. I'll be going relatively slowly with this one to make it last. And to make sure I do my hour of writing. Puzzles can absorb me...

TopNotch · Apr 4, 2023

Programmes:
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Unbound Day 25
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60 Days of Walking Day 4 - started off on a route I've done before, took a right instead of a left, found myself on a very rough downhill track that was rather interesting, as well as challenging. I was supposed to walk for 60 minutes, but when I was nearly back at the car, I'd only done 57 minutes, so I wandered up the road for a bit and back.

Another route my mother would not have been able to do. It's really interesting - when I was looking for routes to walk with her, I simply didn't realise the slight elevation changes that it appears she has great diffiulty with. Today's, however, had more than 'slight' elevation changes. :LOL:

A total elevation of 161m.

Challenges:
:v:

Leg Day Everyday Day 4
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Knee Push-ups Day 22
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Tricep Dips Day 5
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Upperbody Day 5

:v:

Taekwondo. Last training for the term. Now I have three weeks in which to tell myself to do stuff.

:v:

Writing.

Reading.

TopNotch · Apr 5, 2023

Programmes:
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Unbound Day 26
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60 Days of Walking Day 5

Challenges:
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Leg Day Everyday Day 5
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Knee Push-ups Day 23
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Tricep Dips Day 6
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Upperbody Day 6

:v:

Writing.

Reading.

TopNotch · Apr 6, 2023

Programmes:
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Unbound Day 27
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60 Days of Walking Day 6 - Found it a little difficult to walk my chosen route in the time today. Considered slowing my pace, but that would only be cheating me, so I maintained my pace and walked a bit further through the park and then turned around to get home. Been working out more routes.

Challenges:
:v:

Leg Day Everyday Day 6
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Knee Push-ups Day 24
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Tricep Dips Day 7
:v:

Upperbody Day 7

:v:

Writing.

Reading.

New puzzle. Managed to make it last four days! Must say, best quality puzzle I've done so far. Thick pieces, brilliant cutting, excellent matte finish. Highly recommend Schmidt puzzles.

Bad night.