Rainbow Dragon's Lair

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
January 13: 53 for 53

1. 5.3 km run w. @HellYeah
2. 53 sumo squats w. @graoumia
3. 53 second locust pose w. @PetiteSheWolf
4. 53 second hollow hold w. @graoumia
5. 53 butterfly sit-ups w. @TopNotch
6. 53 dumbbell overhead presses w. Laurie
7. 53 second side plank (each side) w. Kara
8. 53 second dead hang w. @Redline
9. 53 mountain climbers w. Ev
10. 53 second wall sit w. Ev
11. 53 second one-legged wall sit w. @SlothEnergy
12. 53 seated twists w. Patty and @Elocin
13. 53 second dorsiflexion pull w. Bob
14. 53 second cow face pose (each side) w. @Mamatigerj
15. 53 jabs + crosses w. @Syrius
16. 53 front kicks w. @Syrius
17. 53 side kicks w. @aku-chan
18. 53 turning kicks w. @Haleth
19. 53 hook kicks w. @Syrius
20. 53 knee strikes w. @Syrius
21. 53 elbow strikes w. @Anek
22. 53 hooks w. @Syrius
23. 53 uppercuts w. @Syrius
24. 53 palm strikes w. @Mamatigerj
25. 53 knife hand strikes w. @aku-chan
26. 53 outward knife hand strikes
27. 53 second tree pose (each side) w. @Mamatigerj
28. 53 second crow pose
29. 53 second one-arm, one-leg plank
30. 53 second wall plank
31. 53 second squat hold w. @Nevetharine
32. 53 second hands-free cow face turn transitions w. @Mamatigerj
33. 53 lunges w. @Anek
34. 53 warrior flows (warrior II, sun warrior, triangle x both sides) w. @'rin
35. 53 high knees w. @NancyTree and @Deadoks
36. 53 push-ups w. @graoumia and @neilarey
37. 53 burpees w. @Mamatigerj
38. 53 seconds twisted chair (each side) w. @graoumia
39. 53 backfists w. @graoumia
40. 53 one-legged calf raises w. @graoumia
41. 53 jumping jacks w. @Syrius
42. 53 knee-to-elbows w. @graoumia
43. 53 front leg lifts w. @graoumia
44. 53 side leg lifts w. @graoumia
45. 53 rear leg lifts w. @graoumia
46. 53 one-legged glute bridges
47. 53 plank rotations
48. 53 reverse crunches w. @graoumia
49. 53 toe tap hops w. @Mamatigerj
50. 53 side jacks w. @graoumia and @Mamatigerj
51. 53 dead bugs w. @graoumia and @Mamatigerj
52. 53 jump knee tucks
53. 53 minutes dancing w. @Mamatigerj

Phew! 3 hours and 16 minutes of total work. I am so happy to be able to do all of this and so blessed to have the company of all of you, all over the world, sharing this workout with me!

thankyou.png


It is good to be 53 years strong!

Fit December :x:
running: 5.3 km (part of 53 for 53)
hiking: 3 km with Shelby + 1.5 km errands

writing: reading for workshop
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 1956
new consumable words: 0
consumable YTD: 9292

French: Netflix

GOBOT :v:
GBOT :v:
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
Deadoks said:
You learn french with Netflix? :smash:
Click to expand...
Yes! Much of Netflix's own programming has multiple different language tracks and multiple different subtitle languages available. Also, there is a lot of French Canadian programming on Netflix which, weirdly, does not include an English language audio track but does include English subtitles. (Ditto for Canadian English language productions, which typically do not include a French audio track, unfortunately. We do a terrible job of promoting bilingualism for a country that is officially bilingual!) I watch Netflix with a French audio track and English subtitles, primarily. But if I like a show enough, I will then re-watch it with French audio and French subtitles.
 
Deadoks

Deadoks

Well-known member
Viking from Belgium
Posts: 712
"Berserker"
Laura Rainbow Dragon said:
We do a terrible job of promoting bilingualism for a country that is officially bilingual!)
Click to expand...
I live in belgium... 10m people 3 languages french, dutch, german. And I know what it is about language. Hopefully my wife is hollands so I learned the dutch to speak it enough. German I learned myself enoigh to folmpw a conversatio. But yeaj school isxnot helping enough.

Good job!!!
 
MadamMeow

MadamMeow

Well-known member
Fae from Central NJ
Posts: 1,592
"I see my vision burn, I feel my memories fade with time, but Im too young to worry..."
Happy belated birthday, looks like you enjoyed it (really hope you did)!

Happy Birthday GIF
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
New Year, New Plan: FOCUS!

I am a polymath with interest in a lot of things. But while I can do many things, I cannot do ALL the things. And sometimes trying results in my accomplishing nothing. So...

I need to focus down.

This is so hard to do because: Look! Shiny!

(Even now my temptation is to detail out all the cool new fun & shiny things I was planning to do this year which now, because of the change in my circumstances I either cannot do, or it would be a really bad idea for me to split my focus on trying to do. So, no! FOCUS!)

My story-a-week challenge starts tomorrow. (January 15). My primary focus needs to be on writing a story, each and every week. My plan is to write a minimum of 3000 words per day, Monday to Friday. The first project of every week is my short story for that week. If I get it finished before Friday (which hopefully will happen more often than not, once I get ramped up with this plan), I will work on my Get Fit stories and/or a novel-length WIP for the remainder of the week. Once I have got my 3000 words for the day, I can work on other things, but not before.

On weekends--provided I actually got my short story finished and wrote my 1500 words--I can do the other things first: business, craft study, research, learning graphic design, etc. My top priority here is market research, cataloguing my inventory, and then getting everything out on submission to the best markets and keeping everything out on submission until it sells. I need to focus down on the craft study front too and stop trying to do too many courses all at once.

I also need to do more reading. But here too I need to focus and stop signing out 30 books from the library at a time and then not finishing any of them. So let us say a maximum of one novel at a time, one non-fiction book, plus short stories. Provided I have finished my 3000 words for the day, I will shut down my computer at 9PM and then read until GBOT. My body's circadian rhythm will thank me!

On the fitness front, I definitely want to keep up with my running and my yoga. But running is a weather dependent thing, and we're moving into the time of year when the weather often dictates no running. (The forecast for the next 7 days currently predicts 1 day in which it will not be dangerously too cold outside for running.) On the yoga front I run into the problem of wasting too much time deciding what to do. And planning ahead rarely works out for me because I don't know in advance how much time I will have on any given day for a yoga workout. I also want to keep up with my push-ups progress and my martial arts training and... And once again we are losing focus. I cannot do all the things! I need a plan that is short and sweet and to the point and isn't weather dependent so I can be assured of doing something every day but also doesn't force me to spend time or mental focus on deciding what to do. So here is the plan:

Running: Any day the weather permits (which this time of year means the windchill is not less than -10C and we don't have white-out conditions). 3K on weekdays. If I'm able to go for longer runs on weekends, I will. But if the weather doesn't permit running on the weekend I'm not going to worry about squeezing in a longer run during the week. (Once the weather warms up and I don't need to spend so much time getting dressed to go for a run, I'll likely increase my mileage. But 3K is fine for now.)

Yoga: Do a proper yoga workout on Sundays. Maybe on Saturdays too if I don't run that day. This will have to do for now. I'm not likely to be in a position where I'll be able to teach yoga any time soon. But I need to keep up my skills enough that I'll be able to jump into the game if and when the opportunity does present itself.

DAREBEE: One program at a time. One. And it needs to be a program with a controlled workout length. Maybe also a challenge to round out my training (depending on what's in my current program). This will be done only 6 days a week, Monday to Saturday, (to allow time for doing yoga on Sundays). The current program is Fit December, to be followed by 60 Days of HIIT. The current challenge, which I will start tomorrow, is Power Hold. (The squatting work in PH is insignificant for me. But it won't hurt. The push-ups work is pretty much the perfect program design for me for my goals and how my body responds to upper body strength training. In fact, I might just do the Power Hold challenge over and over again for a while. We shall see.) DAREBEE workouts will finish with hand stuff: either Wrist Pain or Talk to the Hand, plus Hand Tendons.

This is all.
 
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Deadoks

Deadoks

Well-known member
Viking from Belgium
Posts: 712
"Berserker"
Great goals for this year!
Makes me think I have to set mine (out of the fitness goals that are set.... Reading, writing, etc... But I also have tendancies to do all things so I pay attention to breath before going into new areas to explore as then I have a planning that exceed 24 hours per day.

Stay focus and take care,
 
Maegaranthelas

Maegaranthelas

Well-known member
Bard from The Netherlands
Pronouns: They/them
Posts: 854
"I sing and I know things"
Ooh i really hope this plan works, I am so rooting for you :heartsit:
I have been trying to plan more since learning that I most likely also have ADHD (because I wasn't neurospicy enough?). So one of the things I did was actually keep track of all my works in progress. Turns out I have a lot of them :tap:
But hey, at least now I work on those too!
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
graoumia said:
Hello Laura, you made a fantastic analysis, and your plan seams great. Can i ask what your craft work is?
Click to expand...
Thank you.

By craft study I mean studying the craft of writing.

Last year I purchased a "lifetime subscription" to an online writing school. The school hosts challenges like the 2024 words per day in 2024 and the story-a-week challenges that I am doing now. It also has a LOT of courses focused on both the business of writing and the craft of writing. Courses = video lectures, with assignments. When the courses are first released, the assignments have deadlines. One can turn in the assignments if completed by the deadline, and the lead instructor will provide feedback on them. But the only feedback I have received thus far has been, "You did great. Nothing more I can write about this."

I know when I've nailed an assignment. I don't need the instructor to tell me. And if I ever did have questions about any of the courses, the lead instructor does respond to emailed questions turned in whenever. Doing the work of the assignments has been instructive. But the feedback doesn't add value for me.

Because of my subscription I can do any of the courses--including all of the old ones--whenever I want. I just cannot turn in the assignments for feedback on the older stuff. Which we've already established doesn't matter. This makes the subscription both excellent value for what I paid for it, but also a challenge for me to manage my use of it because of all the "Ooh! Shiny!" It is way too easy for me to just do course work all day and not finish any stories at all. (For a few of the courses the assignments are to write complete short stories. But most of the assignments are either to research something or to write only the first 400-500 words of a new story--which is the opposite of helpful if I keep just moving on to the next assignment without actually finishing any of the stories!)
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
Deadoks said:
Great goals for this year!
Click to expand...
Thank you.
Deadoks said:
then I have a planning that exceed 24 hours per day.
Click to expand...
Yup! I write and read a lot of science fiction. And I often think how useful it would be to live on Mars. I could definitely make good use of that extra 40 minutes every day!
 
TopNotch

TopNotch

Well-known member
Ranger from Australia
Posts: 2,100
"Motivation is temporary. Discipline is forever."
Laura Rainbow Dragon said:
write only the first 400-500 words of a new story
Click to expand...
That seems really odd to me. Surely if you want to write something well, you have to have some sort of investment in it, and if you know it's only going to be the first two pages, then - well, I certainly wouldn't pull out the stops. But if I did pull out the stops, then I'd certainly want to continue with it. Isn't a course like this aimed at encouraging you to finish works?
Feedback saying "Yeah, great" really is far from constructive. Surely everyone can benefit from some little tweaks.
It sounds that it fits in with your aims, though, and that's the important thing. You've kind of inspired me to write, not 2024 words each day (how does that work with editing? Sometimes my daily count is in the negative!), but for a set time every day. That empty desk is beckoning.:)
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
TopNotch said:
That seems really odd to me. Surely if you want to write something well, you have to have some sort of investment in it, and if you know it's only going to be the first two pages, then - well, I certainly wouldn't pull out the stops. But if I did pull out the stops, then I'd certainly want to continue with it. Isn't a course like this aimed at encouraging you to finish works?
Click to expand...
When the courses first release, there is only about 30-60 minutes of video to watch, plus one assignment, each week. If I actually did the courses like that, there would be plenty of time to watch the videos, do and turn in the assignment, and then finish the story for myself before the next week's videos launched. It's only because I have access to hundreds of courses and well over a thousand assignments all at once that I run into this problem of trying to do assignment after assignment without finishing anything.

TopNotch said:
Feedback saying "Yeah, great" really is far from constructive. Surely everyone can benefit from some little tweaks.
Click to expand...
Benefit in what way? In Western culture (that feels like such an odd thing to say to an Australian!) we have certain principles of "good writing" we mostly all agree on. But they are not universal norms across place or time. Even within our own place and time, there have been some major international bestsellers that violate what--to me at least--are inviolable rules. (If you asked me for writing advice, I would hands down tell you your supposed-protagonist cannot cannot CANNOT be frakking unconscious for the big climactic fight scene in your novel. But sales data suggests there are literally millions of people who disagree with me on this point.)

Little tweaks are mostly a matter of personal opinion. Knowing your personal opinions is useful to me if you are an editor I am trying to sell to*. Beyond that... I have a pretty good handle at this point on whether or not my story is working. (*The people who run this writing school are editors I am trying to sell to. But they tip their hands as to what their personal tastes are in many ways. I don't need their critiques of my writing to suss out what they're looking for.)

TopNotch said:
It sounds that it fits in with your aims, though, and that's the important thing. You've kind of inspired me to write, not 2024 words each day (how does that work with editing? Sometimes my daily count is in the negative!), but for a set time every day. That empty desk is beckoning.:)
Click to expand...
The challenge is to average 2024 words per day over the entire year. (Hence why my plan to write 3000 words per day 5 days a week will work.)

Best wishes for your own writing!
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
January 17 update on my mother:

She finally had the shunt surgery on January 13.
Two days later the hospital wanted to move her out of the neurosurgery ward into a regular medical ward.
They wanted to transfer her back to the hospital where she was first admitted to do this.

My brother and I do NOT want her back in that hospital! For multiple reasons:

1. It is a crap hospital that thought she was brain dead. And then when they found out she was not brain dead they wanted to put her on a "stroke recovery path.." But there was no evidence she had had a stroke.

2. It is a crap hospital that once refused to even admit my father when he had a life-threatening infection and instead sent him home from the ER with painkillers (after having completely failed to diagnose the infection).

3. It is a crap hospital that twice discharged my father when they did know he had a life-threatening infection and knew he was still desperately ill but sent him home anyway and completely bungled his discharge, sending him home without the meds he needed to treat his infection. (In one case they actually did send the meds, but they were meds that needed to be administered intravenously, and they failed to arrange to send someone to train us on how to do that. In the other case the meds were oral antibiotics for which, at 2:50 PM on a Saturday afternoon the hospital still had not sent the prescription to our pharmacy--which closes at 3:00 PM on Saturdays and doesn't re-open again until 9:00 AM on Monday morning--and when my mother called the hospital to say, "Look, you really need to fax the prescription to our pharmacy NOW," the hospital rep actually yelled at her that she had her own way of doing things and would send the 'scrip when she felt like doing so.)

4. It is a crap hospital that doesn't even have a neurology department. There are literally zero specialists there who are trained to deal with the issue that hospitalized my mother in the first place. If another issue were to arise now relating to that, she would need to be airlifted back out to another hospital again! There are also no facilities there for rehabbing injuries like hers. So if she gets to the point of being strong enough to do rehab, she would once again need to be transferred elsewhere.

5. The healthcare system fantasizes that the hospital they want to send our mother to is her "local" hospital because it is the closest one to her postal code. But the hospital is NOT local to us! It is a half hour drive--mostly on country roads that can be very dangerous in winter driving conditions and which I do not feel safe driving on after dark at any time of the year. And in any case: where our mother was living prior to being admitted to the hospital isn't relevant. She's not living there now. She's living in the freaking hospital. The person who needs to keep driving back and forth from her hospital is her Power of Attorney, which is my brother. And the hospital they want to send her back to is a two and a half hour drive from his home (when there is no traffic and no construction).

My brother has been trying to get her transferred to a hospital in the city where he lives instead.
He is being given the most ridiculous runaround by her current hospital in his efforts to make this happen.

Yesterday he was told she needed to have an address in the city where he wants her moved to in order for her to be transferred there.
So my brother said fine, he wanted to change her address. (He is her PoA. He has the legal right to say she lives with him if he wants to.)
The hospital told him a social worker would contact him today to help him do this.
(I have no idea why a social worker would need to get involved. I did not ask. My brother has enough on his plate right now. I try to stay out of things where there is nothing I can do to help.)

Today the social worker called my brother and informed him he would need to sell our mother's house in order to change her address.
This is so clearly and obviously not true. I am quite honestly astounded that the hospital would employ someone who is so incompetent.
Also: the person at the current hospital who is in charge of arranging the transfers is now claiming she thought my brother had approved our mother's transfer to the hospital they want to send her to. My brother has explicitly and clearly told them multiple times now he does NOT approve of her transfer to that hospital and wants her transferred to a hospital near him.

:smash:
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
January 14:

Fit December: days 21 + 22
running: :x: - too cold!
hiking: 6 km with Shelby - wearing all the clothes! don't have an insulated coat for Shelby, so I wrapped her in a blanket!
Wrist Pain: DP (each side where applicable)
Hand Tendons: 2x DP

writing: craft study, reading for workshop
new fiction words: 0
fiction YTD: 1956
new consumable words: 1418
consumable YTD: 10710

French: Netflix

GOBOT :x:
GBOT :x:
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
January 15:

Fit December: day 23
Power Hold: day 1
running: :x: - too cold!
hiking: 6 km with Shelby - wearing all the clothes! don't have an insulated coat for Shelby, so I wrapped her in a blanket!
Talk to the Hand: DP (each side where applicable)
Hand Tendons: 2x DP

writing: short story, craft study
new fiction words: 387
fiction YTD: 2343
new consumable words: 387
consumable YTD: 11097

French: Netflix

GOBOT :v:
GBOT :v:
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
January 16:

Fit December: day 24
Power Hold: day 2 (12, 4, 3)
running: :x: - too cold!
hiking: 6 km with Shelby - wearing all the clothes! don't have an insulated coat for Shelby, so I wrapped her in a blanket!

writing: short story, craft study
new fiction words: 801
fiction YTD: 3144
new consumable words: 801
consumable YTD: 11898

French: Netflix, lesson with @Froud & @PetiteSheWolf

GOBOT :v:
GBOT :v:
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
As you can see, I am falling behind on my new plan re: the fiction writing already. Partly due to the unavoidable stressful situation of the week. Partly due to still not being fully committed to my desired priorities. Today (January 17) will be a short wordcount day too. But tomorrow is a new day to try again.
 
Laura Rainbow Dragon

Laura Rainbow Dragon

Moderator
Moderator
Bard from Canada
Posts: 2,639
"Striving to be the change."
Thank you @Deadoks and @PetiteSheWolf .


January 17:

Fit December: day 25
Power Hold: day 3
running: :x: - too cold!
hiking: 6 km with Shelby - wearing all the clothes! don't have an insulated coat for Shelby, so I wrapped her in a blanket!

writing: short story, craft study
new fiction words: 384
fiction YTD: 3528
new consumable words: 1498
consumable YTD: 13396

French: Netflix

GOBOT :v:
GBOT :x:

I have this bad habit: when I know I'm going to miss GBOT, I sometimes throw in the towel and stay up stupidly late on the premise that, "oh well, I didn't make it to bed on time anyhow." I know this is bad thinking and a destructive habit. I need to work on eradicating it.
 
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