Swashbuckling Under Neon Lights in a Grimdark Futuristic City with Tons of D20s

Sólveig · Jan 23, 2023

@Laura Rainbow Dragon Thanks! I actually did roll a die in my current WIP once because I couldn't figure out which one of two characters would take the initiative against a situation I put them in. Feels good to be back

D&D/PF day. I'm adding Pathfinder because my group is very hyped about it. I'm surprised because I thought the character creation would put them off, but they were all into having more specialized characters rather than the Jack of All Trades way 5e has. We still remember how we, as a LVL 5 or 6 party, managed to beat up a Devil that was way above our CR in one of those, Devil that I put in the first place to be a recurring character. PF2e seems to be easier to GM, so I'm looking forward to build up the mini campaign. I thought about switching the current campaign into the new system, but I don't want to do that yet, or at least, not until I understand PF2e better. Multiclassing seems to be complicated, and there's a Monk/Warlock with a Ghost in the Machine Patron, plus several spells that appear in an Unearthed Arcana article. I won't be converting that.

At least they are all up to speed about the current drama in the community, and how it affects us too. After all, we use a third-party app in our phones to track our characters and access the 5e compendium, alongside websites like Donjon, since none of us can afford a subscription on DnDBegone. The changes on the "Open" Game License might kill thise resources. Of course, we could replace the app with traditional pen and paper, but I like to have the app on the table because it solves the problem of being distracted by the phone by using it rather than forbidding it.

The group also seems to be interested in Vampire: The Masquerade, mostly because the Storyteller system is the easiest to play. But, like I said, our issue is the combat implemented in the system. Combat is what we excel at, and ST probably has the most annoyingly convoluted and confusing combat system I've ever seen.

But yeah, we went from dungoneer adventures to pathfinders now.

Now, I didn't write last night, even though there was a plan. In fact, I cancelled everything for the night, as I got very busy. The water finally came, so I was moving stuff, carrying things around, cleaning more stuff, all the way until it was 2 AM, which is when I went to bed. I managed to squeeze a few things, but by the time we were done, all I wanted was to sleep.

January 22nd, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 110

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 60 Seconds Elbow Plank Hold +EC
Count: 1000 - 996 +EC

Night Routine:
:x:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:x:

Five Rites
:x:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 24 - LVL III +Megaset
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 20 Push-ups
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:x:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:x:

Yoga Abs: Day 23
:v:

The Guardian: Day 23 - Sidequest: All is Clear
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
This seems to be moot by now, considering that I'm doing simple math more often since I started playing TTRPGs.
No Python

Sólveig · Jan 24, 2023

Done. I finished this story so now I can focus on the others. It was way longer than I thought it would be, so it requires a lot of editing now for a couple of reasons: to cut some content out, and to organize the entire story better. I was supposed to wrtie three chapters, and I ended up squeezing two chapters in the second one, and I think there were three in the third one. I can expand on everything if I want to, but for now, everything's done. I'm planning out a shorter one this time.

Other than that, it wasn't much of an interesting day. I did sleep until late because I slept very late the day before. I don't know how I managed to squeeze in everything, but I did. I just couldn't post because writing took my time. Thankfully, I started earlier, so I finished early, but by the time I was done, I was already wishing for bed.

Pat on the back. Now it's time to carry on with the next.

January 23rd, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 111

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 W-Extensions +EC
Count: 1001 - 997 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 22 - LVL III +1-Minute rest between levels (+10 XP)
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
40 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
:v:

Monday +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 8 Push-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: Day 23 | Day 24
:v:

The Guardian: Day 24 - Sidequest: All is Clear
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Jan 25, 2023

This is interesting. I was supposed to plot this short story, and maybe start it right away. Instead, I ended up not only plotting, but also making a bunch of tables for minigames that will not show in the story, and if they did, they'll probably be edited out in favor of making the word count shorter. Not only that, but these tables might be useful in the future for writing, and even any upcoming TTRPG session. So far, I'm using the next set of dice for them: D%, 1D12, [1D4 / 2] + 1D10 (there are two tables for this), 1D6, and 3D6. I haven't finished the results for the 3D6 tables since there are three, and I could do another D% table that involves a game where there's a 1% chance of winning a prize, but I can't think of 100 prizes right now. It's an easy game on a vein similar to guess a number of 1 to 100, and whatever number you get, is your prize. The best part of making that table is that I can move around the prizes between the numbers every time all of them run out. Or maybe even leave some blank spots to make the prizes harder to get?

Whatever. I'll toy around with it tomorrow.

For now, I should start getting this thing written. Maybe I'll leave the space for making the rolls on the tables that aren't filled out yet. The story is already plotted, so all I need is to put the words together. Funny how I made my daily by making the synopsis, drafting the characters quickly, and plotting each step the story will follow. The tables are not important to the story because there's no need to focus on them, but I do need them to not get stuck this time. On the previous story everything was planned out, but there was one point in which it didn't matter which character took the initiative on that event, so I rolled a 1D4 and divided the result by 2 (I rolled a 1D2 with a D4 and made it complicated, in other words), so the die decided which one took the initiative. My role was to resolve the situation, and so I did.

Seriously, incorporating TTRPG elements is helping me to get unstuck. Plotting takes a while, but now I'm having three times the fun I used to have while writing. It's no longer about my imagination, but there's also a probability for something happening, whether it is good or bad. This next story will involve tons of rolls. No character sheet needed. Only tables for now.

Speaking about something similar, I'm thinking about reading The Man Who Counted again. It's probably one book that I'd qualify as a guilty pleasure, even though I don't believe any pleasure should be guilty. It's been a while since the last time I read it.

January 24th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 112

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Butterfly Sit-ups +EC
Count: 1002 - 998 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 26 - LVL III +Megaset (+10 XP)
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 4 Lunges, 12 Sit-ups (I accidentally rolled them twice)
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: Day 25
:v:

The Guardian: Day 25 - Sidequest: All is Clear
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Guitar class today

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Jan 26, 2023

It's late, I got myself way too distracted, and I didn't write. I only got to do a Nightcap tonight, which is good. As long as there is some text on the page, I have something to do. It's the blank page that I hate, and I think this is a good way to start.

Of course, I tried the Hemingway method again, but I found myself fixing stuff each time in those 200 words, because I ended up finding a better way to say it! Besides, I don't like writing on the third person too much, but for this story, I think it's the best way to work it out. Doing it on the first person, as I always do, makes it so that some vital pieces of the plot are lost in narration. It's one of the rare cases in which I am forced to change the narrator. The temptation to make it lemony is there, yet I don't know whether it'll work like that or not. I'll have to wait until the story is over. The previous project I was on, the one that I finished its first draft a few days ago, works amazing with a lemony narrator in the first person, and such narrator is actually justified.

Because of my distractions, there were no Burpees today. Tomorrow there will be Qi Gong, so I hope I have some time to write during the day... at least to get something forward... aside from preparing my next tabletop session; the final of our current Urban Fantasy arc. The next arc will also be several episodes long, but I want to make the Pathfinder mini-campaign first. No GMPC in that one, because I want that story to give the Wizard a more satisfying ending than the one he got at the end of our previous campaign. Since it'll take place many years after the events, changing the rules is also justified in universe.

I'm interested in giving Cyberpunk Red a try, but I'll homebrew my own city. Screw stablished settings that have been on for so long; I always end up forgetting one key piece of lore that comes back to bite me in the ass in whatever way. Even in Vampire: The Masquerade happens, and its lore is the one I'm the most familiar with. A shame that V5 kills the lore by removing the actual intrigue that makes VtM... well, VtM. It was done in favor of character development, but who says characters can't be developed when they are used as pawns for a bigger scheme? V20 is where it's at. Screw V5.

But yeah, Cyberpunk Red. I liked the way characters are created. I'm not too fond of having so many skills, though. That's what always put me off from D&D 3e, and D20 Modern. The same can be said with the table, which is why we had to convert many D20 Modern rules to 5e. The classes from Cyberpunk are interesting, though. I'd be willing to convert my modern bard to a fully fledged Rockergirl.

January 25th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 113

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Hook Kicks +EC
Count: 1003 - 999 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 25 - LVL III +1-Minute Rest Between Levels (+10 XP)
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

Glutes, Quads, Hamstrings & Calves
:v:

DAREdice: 12 Sit-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: Day 26
:v:

The Guardian: Day 26 - Sidequest: All is Clear
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
I did a Hex grid! I want to do another one to use as a template for maps, and a bigger one to use as a mat.

Music:
Nope, but I saw some people playing live during my walk. That was motivating.

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Jan 27, 2023

1000 DDs!

I also didn't write yesterday. I spent most of my time looking for a decent Pathfinder 2e PDF that doesn't do math automatically, and that isn't in that ugly color the character sheet is. I mean it; that is the ugliest character sheet I've seen; I don't know how could you screw up something like that.

Qi Gong day, water day... By the end of the night, I was too tired to write, and even post here. All in all, I have a very busy day for today.

January 26th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 113

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Clamshells +EC
Count: 1004 - 1000 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 27 - LVL III +Megaset
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

WoD: Express Abs +EC
:v:

Ba Han Sheng Qi Gong: Corporeity as Temple of the Universe
:v:

DAREdice: 4 Jumping Jacks
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: Day 27
:v:

The Guardian: Day 27 - Sidequest: All is Clear
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Laura Rainbow Dragon · Jan 27, 2023

Congratulations on completing 1000 Daily Dares!

Sólveig · Jan 27, 2023

@Laura Rainbow Dragon Thanks! :welcome:

Sólveig · Jan 28, 2023

Wow... I didn't think people woud boycott a company so hard, the company actually lost something. Seems like the D&D drama has settled, with 5e being pretty much on the public domain... or, at least, that's my way to explain it.

What a rough month for being so up to speed within the TTRPG scene.

Today has been a lot of good news, which has made me feel hopeful that things are getting better. The reason I'm posting this early is because I don't know what to do tonight: whether I will write the thing that I don't want to write because I believe it is too late, or start something new, or edit what I've done... I don't know. I have no idea...

At least I've written earlier today. My next D&D session is done. All that's missing is some Roleplaying Cards, a couple of stat blocks that I'm recycling from the previous campaign: the Draugr were very prominent there as a bad omen. I was inspired by the Draugr from Skyrim, and my plan was to make an entire roster of Draugr similar to the ones from the game. Thing is, making a lot of them during the campaign, not only was a waste of time, but also very painful because they always ended up like superpowered zombies. Instead, I said "screw it," and made them to be a template to put on any NPC from the Monster Manual, similar to what Half-Dragons are. With that, they ended up being a remarkable foe, and gave me an excuse to make undead named villains for certain quests as if they were players characters. My Urban Fantasy campaign has more layers of Neon-Noir than Grimdark, but since the entire arc relies on Necromancy, I'm bringing them back, but modernized to work with the new setting. It's only a handful of feats, so it all ends up in narration.

I also outlined the rest of the solo campaign inspired by The Guardian. It saddens me that it's over, but I think I'll play it through once again to make the entire story, because the fact that a character died made me think that these people should have names and relationships. So far, it's only actions mentioned on a list, and results of dice rolls. I want to have an entire story built upon that challenge.

Anyway, enough writing this log. It's time to work now.

January 27th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 114

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 High Crunches +EC
Count: 1005 - 1001 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: Day 29 - LVL III +Megaset (+10 XP)
Bucket List:
Carbon & Dust
Bootcamp
Power HIIT

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 20 Jumping Jacks
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: Day 28
:v:

The Guardian: Day 28 - Sidequest: 200 Goblins (+2500 XP)
Bucket List:
1000 Push-ups

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

aku-chan · Jan 28, 2023

Congrats on 1000 Daily Dares! :celeb:

Sólveig · Jan 28, 2023

@aku-chan Thanks! :welcome:

Sólveig · Jan 29, 2023

It's late, I'm getting so easily distracted, and I can't write no more. I ditched the thing that I started in favor for another that I hope it'll be a quickie. Already wrote the first 500 words, which ended up being one entire scene. As long as I keep it below 6K words, I'm ok with it.

Is not like I didn't write today... though it was more doing outlines than everything. I did finish the The Guardian inspired story outline, which means I also finished the challenge today. The same feeling after finishing the first campaign came back, since The Guardian was it's own campaign that lasted for... less than 30 days now, but it was good fun, and a good experiment. I did put a boss fight at the end, and gave my character a good reward so that she could carry on with her unexplored story. I'm thinking that I can expand on it, since there plenty of days that had a lot of downtime (ALL IS CLEAR, ALL IS CLEAR, ALL IS CLEAR), so maybe I could do the campaign again, and this time do something in those clear days, and try out generating sidequests, and exploring the story of it. Maybe I'll end up expanding the castle into an entire fief that belongs to a lord who lives in the castle, with a couple of villages nearby that are attacked by Goblins and whatnot. After all, the character's only a traveller that stumbled upon that castle in her journey, and decided to help out on the efforts. I don't mind playing it again, this time, from scratch.

Combined with the efforts from Combat workouts, plus Fireheart, I managed to accumulate a total of 23.605 points of experience, give or take. This means, she leveled up from 1 to 7 in the span of 30 days, fighting Goblins, and stuff. Sad that I lost one of her companions in combat, but I made sure they had a good funeral at the end. The Way of the Four Elements Monk is an interesting concept, but I don't like it much. I think I could do better with Way of the Open Hand.

However, since I'll be doing that campaign again, I think the heroine would be a Bard instead of a Monk this time. Is not like I don't like the Monk, I actually love it, but I think a Valor Bard would be much better for this, and mostly because of the spells. I'll have to prepare that later, and figure out what to do. I may even need to draw a map of the fief, which can be done in a hexgrid. And I already have one to use for battles.

So, two new badges: The Guardian and Yoga Abs. Fireheart has been Re-badged. And I wrote... not so much what I wanted, but enough to put words on the counter. Yeah, I'd say it's a victory.

E: Whoops! I just checked Calc/Excel/[Your Spreadsheet Software] and I counted bad my Burpees. I forgot I broke down the last 30 into 20 Full Burpees and 10 Double Burpees

January 28th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 115

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 High Crunches +EC
Count: 1006 - 1002 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Re-badge - Fireheart: :completed:

Day 28 - LVL III +1-min Rest (+10 XP) | Day 30 - LVL III +Megaset

Up next: Carbon & Dust | Unbound
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
40 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
20 Full Burpees + 10 Double Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 8 Sit-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:x:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Yoga Abs: :completed:

Day 29 | Day 30 :star:

The Guardian: :completed:

Day 29 - Sidequest: 200 Goblins (+2500 XP) & Goblin Boss (+600XP - Level Up!) | Day 30 - Sidequest: All is Clear (+500 XP for completing the storyline) :star:

Up next: 1000 Push-ups
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Fremen · Jan 29, 2023

Congrats

mavie · Jan 29, 2023

Congrats!

Sólveig · Jan 30, 2023

@Fremen @mavie Thanks! :welcome:

D&D day, and Vampire: The Masquerade day. The table was intrigued when I mentioned it, and saw that it was so easy to make a character that I did it right there, in pretty much five minutes. Already stated a session zero to build characters. In the mean time, the Urban Fantasy sessions are going to be shorter, since it'll be pretty much a huge chunk of Downtime while we have the Wizard from the previous campaign making his participation as a failed teleportation experiment that landed him both forward in time and into what it is uncharted territory, onto a civilization that has way bigger technology than what he used to have. With that, I'm also going to pull forward with other campaigns that I had on the background in favor of the Urban Fantasy, so one that we were already for since way back when will have its first episode this week. That way, moving forward, the chronicle for Vampire: The Masquerade will be ready for short episodic bursts, and we'll do Pathfinder 2e the same way. I already know Pathfinder will take three sessions, but I still need to figure out some things. Clerics are different in Pathfinder, though none in our party is doing a Cleric. So far we have a Bard, a Wizard, and a Thaumaturge.

Other than that, not much to say. I'll try to write something tonight, but I'll fix up my VtM character for the chronicle first. As usual, I'll have to juggle between being the Storyteller and a Player, just like I do by switching with being the DM and a Player in D&D.

It's been such a long time since the last time I played Vampire: The Masquerade, and this will be my first time taking upon the role of the Storyteller. I hope the group likes the system, despite we're combat heavy. Nevertheless, we've been putting off combat lately for more roleplay, which is why I want the upcoming sessions from the Urban Fantasy be more roleplay focused than combat heavy. I think I already put myself in trouble with another of my players about blackmailing random NPCs that I had to generate on the spot to rob them off their business. I can't tell whether it is for the benefits of our patrons or just to ourselves, so that'll have to be resolved in-game. It's an interesting development from my character. She pretty much joined a gang by a complete coincidence, so she's going all in this time.

TTRPGs are a fun way to write and let go of the perfectionism in favor of something that will always work.

January 29th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 115

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Get-ups +EC
Count: 1007 - 1003 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:x:

Carbon & Dust: On Hold
:x:

Unbound: On Hold
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 4 Double Burpees w/Jump Knee-Tuck
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:x:

1000 Push-ups: On Hold
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Froud · Jan 30, 2023

Yay! Bravo!

PetiteSheWolf · Jan 30, 2023

Bravo for all the badge and rebadge!

Sólveig · Jan 30, 2023

@Froud @PetiteSheWolf Thank you! :welcome:

Sólveig · Jan 31, 2023

Well, lots of writing today. I had some words of encouragement to keep going, plus I'm taking some advice. On one hand I feel like I'm wasting my potential by doing TTRPGs mostly, but on the other hand, I think I can turn my setting into a system-agnostic module. Whatever the case, there are several roads I can take. I just need to get back onto writing, and put up with much less distractions now.

Class tomorrow, so my time will be shortened out.

By the way, Unbound - Day 1 is the first time a stretching workout had me screaming for help in such a long time. Last time I did was during PE in high school. It was deceivingly hard on me!

I think I can do the 1K Push-up challenge quicker than I thought. The planks aren't very pushing, so I held them through the total of seconds instead of doing it twice or three times a day. Of course, I spread the 200 reps and the planks throughout the day.

January 30th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 115

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 2 Minutes Raised Leg Plank Hold +EC
Count: 1008 - 1004 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter I +No rest between sets
:v:

Unbound: Day 1
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 12 Sit-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9 | Day 10 (200 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 1, 2023

Writing. Class. Writing. So much writing, but there was little progress. Too much distractions, and then there's the inner critic again!

And, as I knew, my time was shortened out. But at least I got to do something.

Not as many Push-ups as I planned, though. Carbon & Dust tired my upper body this time.

January 31st, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 115

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 60 Side Kicks +EC
Count: 1009 - 1005 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter II +No rest between sets
:v:

Unbound: Day 2
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
50 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

WoD: Stealth Mode +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 20 Sit-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 11 | Day 12 (255 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Guitar class

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 2, 2023

More writing. Writing about writing, to be precise. I'm starting to realize that what I'm building is a TTRPG system from the ground up with all these tables and homebrew rules, taking a good advantage of the SRD 5.1 being on CC-BY. Nevertheless, I think it's too simplistic, so I'm adding more appropiate abilities and skills, plus changing the way Proficiencies work so that it doesn't feel too generalized or overpowered. After all, I'm not killing gods in my stories. I only killed one, and I wasn't alone on that. In fact, I prepped the whole session, and managed to actually do what I planned out to do without any railroading whatsoever. And my table was pleased with such an ending.

That story still remains in our hearts, and I'd like to repeat it. But I'm not sure if it would be a module on its own, or I can turn it into an Urban High Fantasy novel, or leave it as Grimdark High Fantasy. Whatever I decide, it'll happen soon. The worldbuilding I did for that is helping me, and I'll end up recycling the same story I played for The Guardian for it too.

Anyway, it was mostly a day of writing mechanics and transcriptions. I'll write properly tonight, and I'll do better than last night.¡

February 1st, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 2 Minutes High Knees +EC
Count: 1010 - 1006 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter III +No breaks in combos +No rest between combos
:v:

Unbound: Day 3
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 20 Lunges
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15 | Day 16 (380 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 3, 2023

Tired. Tiring day. I didn't write... unless making a Pathfinder GMPC counts as writing.

I didn't plan to do a GMPC, but the reason I did is because I wanted to have a list of skills and actions at hand. I built a Thaumaturge that will work as the narrator for our 3 to 4 sessions game to give a closure to the Wizard's story. I'm leaving a mystery as how much time has passed between the campaign and this story. I'll tell you how much has passed: an entire historical epoch; slightly over 1000 years. The pass of time will not only justify the change of system, but also will justify how they changed the universe thanks to forcing a crew of pirates to give away freely their knowledge of gunpowder and guns, since the technological advancement will reach steampunk / decopunk levels now. Yes, this means I am using the Guns & Gears module. And if you want to know what is decopunk, go play the original BioShock now.

I'm taking inspiration from Eric, so the GMPC will be a Thaumaturge teenager accidentally summoning the Wizard, and two more characters that were trapped in pocket dimensions. The rest of the mini campaign will be exploring how much the place has changed over the years.

Qi Gong too, and it was something easier. So far, we've been doing the Zhong ideogram standing up.

And after we came home, there was water. After that, I was very tired, and it was far too late to do Carbon & Dust and Unbound. But at least I did 70 Push-ups more. I'll catch up today.

February 2nd, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 30 Jumping Lunges +EC
Count: 1011 - 1007 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:x:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter IV
:x:

Unbound: Day 4
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

Ba Han Sheng Qi Gong: The Event of Life Occurs within Mystery (The doctors over at Neijing School are starting to come up with very new-agey names now)
:x:

DAREdice: Unrolled
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 17 | Day 18 (450 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Mianevem · Feb 3, 2023

How do you like having a GMPC?
Our next Tolkien camp will be a little more LARP-like than the previous ones, which is very different from a tabletop RPG, I'm aware of that, but since each team will have their own, declared game master, it's also somewhat similar. There's still debate on whether these GMs should have a character of their own or not. The latter seems like a much, much better option to me, but, never having played a tabletop RPG where the GM had a player(-like) character, I'd gladly hear some contrary opinions.

Sólveig · Feb 3, 2023

There are plenty of arguments as to why GMs shouldn't have their own characters in a game. From a technical stand-point, being a GM is already an overwhelming endeavor on the table, since there's so many things to keep track off, so adding a GMPC only makes it that there are more things to track. There's also the argument that having a GMPC can make it unfair, because the story is all about the players, so you'll focus to give the GMPC more stuff than the players. To me, the latter is a very stupid argument. Only a bad GM would put themselves above the players, which is where the toxic mentality of GM vs. Players come from. On the former, a lot of the load can be put on the players themselves. It's a collaborative storytelling experience, after all. In our first campaign, we had a big roster of sidekicks that we recruited as the story went on. Some sidekicks I roleplayed, but others were actually created by the players themselves, and they roleplayed them too. Each session, I always allowed them to pick a sidekick, and when they did, it was their responsability to play them. In fact, one of our first sidekicks actually stole a Rope of Entanglement from an Erinyes in the middle of a fight, and that was due to the player's clever thinking. He was playing the Wizard I mentioned before, and through a couple of very successful checks (Perception and Arcana) noticed and identified the item on the spot, and told the sidekick he was controlling to hide and attempt to steal the object. None of that happened through metagaming. And since that moment, that sidekick had the Rope of Entanglement upon their actions until the end of the campaign. Big brain moments like these is why I love being a GM.

I guess some of it depends on how each table works. Mine is very keen on be in charge of some stuff that I don't need to keep track off, such as inventing lore on the spot, improvising NPCs with full names and everything (this is how our Chinese High Elf magic items vendor was born during downtime in our Urban Fantasy campaign), and even writing down what their spells and magic items do without me having to pass index cards. We're four people, and we like to have a four-player party / coterie rather than three players + one GM. Now, I don't mind being a GM exclusively, but I've gotten so used to have a GMPC that it's pretty much second nature. Playing solo also helps to be better at it.

The only complaint I have about my table is that I'm the only one who writes down notes!

E: typo.

Mianevem · Feb 3, 2023

Thanks for the detailed answer! Players roleplaying as additional sidekicks sounds like a lot of fun, though I don't think anyone I currently play with would care about this idea too much... maybe I'll try it one day when I get comfortable enough to be a GM.

(Some of whom I play with also don't take notes, but goodness, I'd be SO lost and useless without my notes...)

Sólveig · Feb 3, 2023

D&D 5e has the sidekick mechanic in both Unearthed Arcana and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything. I'd say work with your GM a single session where you can try it out and see if it works or not. The advantage of sidekicks is that they are even simpler characters, so playing them isn't overwhelming. It's good for very new players who feel intimidated about the prospect of playing, and for playing something that isn't as rigid as a complete character sheet. And, sometimes, thematically, sidekicks can be turned into player characters.

The way I implemented them was as such. I had a lot of Experts, some of which could be turned into Rangers (Monster Hunter and Beastmaster specifically), Bards (College of Valor), and Rogues (Arcane Trickster and Swashbuckler). Some spellcasters could also be Sorcerers (Wild Magic), Bards (College of Lore and College of Swords), and Wizards (Evocation Tradition). If a player dies, they can easily take a sidekick and turn them into one of those classes to keep playing if they'd like to. That's how I planned out the final session, in case of TPK on the final fight. We were perilously close to that.

Sólveig · Feb 4, 2023

I spent the night writing, and a lot of the day working out, writing, and making my networks alive again. I do have something to look forwards to, because last night I wrote something out that seems to be almost ready for publishing. Only a few details need to be polished. Besides, I sequel baited at the end, so I'd like to do a proper part 2 to it, and finish it there.

So, I'm posting this from yesterday now. Lots of writing, honestly. I killed the night routine because I replaced with Unbound. It was a lot of workout. I also killed the 1000 Push-ups, so let's say it was a rest from that challenge.

I've also got some amazing news, but it was also very shocking to me. I was expecting for this to happen within six months, but it seems that it'll happen sooner than I thought. It is a rather short notice. I won't say what it is, but something that I planned for that to happen seven years ago is finally happening!

February 3rd, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Plank Crunches +EC
Count: 1012 - 1008 +EC

Night Routine:
:x:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:x:

Five Rites
:x:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter IV +No rest between sets +No breaks between Burpees | Chapter V +Megaset
:v:

Unbound: Day 5 | Day 6
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
50 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

WoD: Intense Cardio +EC +Rest between levels
:v:

DAREdice: 16 Sit-ups, 20 Push-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:x:

1000 Push-ups: Day 19 (450 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
Mom is interested in Python, so it seems we're learning together now

PetiteSheWolf · Feb 4, 2023

Hurray for your good news!

mavie · Feb 5, 2023

Yay for good news! :dance:

Sólveig · Feb 5, 2023

Well, I'm posting a day later now, it seems.

At the end of the day, I didn't recall how much I've written, but I'm aware that it was less than 1500 words. At the very least, I am ready to do a solo Urban Fantasy game with Pathfinder 2e, but I changed some rules. I created a Witch, though the spellcasting was... underwhelming. I know this is something that people in the community talked about Pathfinder. Instead of using the table of spell slots the Witch has in Pathfinder 2e, I am switching to the one the Wizard has in D&D 5e, plus I'm also allowing her to work just like a Wizard: learning spells from other sources and writing them on her tablet. It's still a Witch, so I already have her Patron, and everything is good to go. And since Pathfinder is a fork of D&D 3.5, it's easy to just take stuff from D20 Modern and Urban Arcana, and implement it there. It fits precisely, like a lego brick.

I tried to write, but I was tired last night. I went to bed before I could write anything.

February 4th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Crunch Kicks +EC
Count: 1013 - 1009 +EC

Night Routine:
:x:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:x:

Five Rites
:x:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter VI +Megaset
:v:

Unbound: Day 6
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 16 Squats
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 19 | Day 20 (525 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 6, 2023

TTRPG day. We ended up playing 5e only. The table isn't done yet with V20 VtM, but they are almost ready for Pathfinder 2e. I'm the only one missing since I haven't wrote out anything for it. Well, at least nothing beyond the way the party will form.

So we did a campaign that was ready since a long time ago. Unlike the Urban Fantasy one, this one will have an actual ending, and it'll be a short one too. We started at 4th, and I aspire to end it at 9th... probably at 12th level tops, and that's it. The story doesn't have the stakes of fighting God, but instead it's all about the consequences of a power vacuum on a very bigoted society. None of the characters are good-aligned. The Paladin is Lawful Neutral, the Bard/Artificer and the Sorcerer are Chaotic Neutral, and the Rogue is Chaotic Evil. The Paladin is the only one who's been arrested for bigotry, while the rest are literal criminals, so now it feels like I'm playing Shepard and the rest of the group is playing the squadmates. Already had a few vibes from the Paladin being the mom at the end of the session.

A last minute cancel almost happened, and I didn't prepare anything for it, even though I realized I could've improvised something with our Urban Fantasy campaign. Nevertheless, I left out a hole for a possible last minute cancel for next session.

I didn't do Carbon & Dust or Unbound because... well, I came home, and then went back to the streets, and came back, and I got busy... Yeah, I wasn't even planning out to post tonight, but since I'm already here...

I am not writing tonight, though. I just want to go to sleep. Tomorrow, there will be a lot of things to write.

February 5th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 20 Tricep Extensions +EC
Count: 1014 - 1010 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:x:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter VII
:x:

Unbound: Day 7
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

WoD: Master of Abs +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 12 Sit-ups
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 21 | Day 22 (605 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 5%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
A little bit of Sleight of Hand. I did a Deck of Many Things, but I didn't attempt to control the deck. I shuffled it. I could control it if I actually memorized what each card does. Imagine how chaotic would be a DM having a total control over each card of the Deck of Many Things, up to the point of deciding which cards will the player get, no matter the number they draw
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 7, 2023

Ok, I'm stuck on writing again, or maybe it's just that tonight isn't the night. The day was pretty nasty. To put it on a Qi Gong perspective, I had a lot of Yang energy during the afternoon. There were two powercuts, and I was in the middle of some work when it happened. I thought I lost the progress, but thankfully, Ghostwriter autosaves. I also hit myself on the eye trying to get something that fell out of my hands, hit the laptop cover, and then the floor. If I didn't have my glasses on, I would have punctured my right eye. Thankfully, nothing happened to the glasses nor the laptop; it wasn't a long fall, but the sound put me off. That's when I realized I was very upset, so I sat down to take a breath.

The gas arrived, so we had to get it. I took a nap during the powercut, and when I woke up, that was the first order of business. I returned with sacrificing Push-ups and Burpees in mind for two reasons: it was getting late, and pushing a cart with 18 kilograms of weight, on a street that goes slightly uphill, for 10 minutes... Yeah, let's say that my body did not want anything to do with Push-ups for the rest of the day. Thankfully, Carbon & Dust didn't have any, but I decided to make a sacrifice. 50 is less than what the 1000 Push-ups challenge demands. And I had that on me, because I am doing more than one day at once on that challenge.

When I came back home it's when those accidents I mentioned earlier happened.

Working out helped. Next thing I did was to relax, start reading Ringworld, because I've been in a reading mood for such a long time, and I haven't continued that book. I fell into the trap of "just one chapter more" before I realized it was almost midnight, and I haven't done the night routine, much less write.

I wrote today. I don't think I can count 1500 words, but I did write something. Maybe if the power didn't go out, I could have done more.

The solution for that stuck situation I am right now is editing. There are somethings that need an edit urgently, so flushing the old will help with new ideas to come. It's an odd word for this, but it's the first that came to me right now.

February 6th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 30 Reverse Crunches +EC
Count: 1015 - 1011 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter VII +No rest between sets | Chapter VIII +Megaset | Chapter IX +No breaks between Push-ups
:v:

Unbound: Day 7 | Day 8
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

WoD: You've Got to Move It, Move It - LVL III +Megaset
:v:

DAREdice: 10 Double Burpees w/Jump Knee-Tuck
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:x:

1000 Push-ups: Day 23 (605 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:v:

Ringworld - 17%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Nope

Others:
Polishing shuffling techniques and a simple card trick. I'm interested in controlling the deck
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 8, 2023

Well, I had a weird dream that I met Terry Pratchett last night. Not only that, but I also showed him around town, at night, while we talked about worldbuilding, and I enjoyed everything he said. There was a point in which we turned into a dark alley and saw a dark figure at the end of it. He said that he was no expert on this, and gave me space to take the first step. The shadowy figure pulled out a gun, and I took him down, as if I was a krav magá black belt. That's when I woke up, weirded out...

And, all of the sudden, I felt dizzy. In bed. Like I just got out of one of those things on the playgrounds, the one that spins? Like I came off of one of those, after spinning it at a very high speed. And very tired too; the sun wasn't up yet. Eventually, I fell asleep again, and when I woke up, I also felt very dizzy. The feeling stayed with me throughout the day, but it slowly went away. Right now, I don't feel any of it.

Hence I skipped Burpees today. I didn't want to stress it out by having to jump up and down over and over... Three days now, so there has to be Burpees tomorrow. I hope I don't have that weird feeling again tomorrow.

I loved Chapter X from Carbon & Dust. The workout was the easiest so far, but the way the story played out was so badass, I literally yelled before the workout showed up. Lower, in spoilers, it's what I screamed.

Still reading Ringworld, and almost fell into the trap of "just one more chapter" today. I resisted, though. I'm willing to see if I manage to get to 50% tomorrow. Usually, when I'm past the first half of a book, I always end up finishing it the next day. I'll do Colour of Magic again next, and will also start Ringworld Engineers. The titular ringworld is far much more different than I expected. Being the inspiration from Halo, I'd thought the size would be the same as the titular halos, but it's bigger. The ringworld actually surrounds a star, almost as if the entire orbit became one whole planet instead of an ellipsis that goes around the star. I'm considering picking up Marathon's lore and reading the Halo novels to see what the hell was Bungie up to. Maybe I'll go and pay a debt with Starcraft and Warcraft by reading the books too? I don't know! There's so much things to read, and my list gets bigger and bigger...

I haven't written yet, unless jotting down the ideas that were right in my face the moment I woke up count. I'm going to write one of those while I figure which one of the finished recent shorts I start editing first. Writing is fun, but I can't publish first drafts. And those won't edit themselves.

E: There was stuff written last night.

February 7th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 2 Minutes Virabhadrasana III +EC
Count: 1016 - 1012 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter X +"Oh, it's on now, bitch!" after reading the text before the workout
:v:

Unbound: Day 9
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 10 Push-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 23 | Day 24 (690 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:v:

Ringworld - 26%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Guitar class. There might be something planned out for this

Others:
Still polishing shuffling techniques, and realized a major error I do when producing a card. I need a mirror
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 9, 2023

I didn't post last night. I was busy writing... and failing at it.

Don't get me wrong, there was progress, but it was a bit... eh. Not my best session, but not really bad! Besides, I'm being attacked by plot bunnies again, and now I'm thinking on bringing back an old series of stories that I put together a long time ago, but I don't want to give the time for it.

There's a lot of things to do now. And I'm being reprimanded for waking up late. Well, I'm sorry for being a night owl! It's the only time in which I can write undisturbed!

I couldn't read yesterday. I got busy. And today is Qi Gong day. I'll be lucky if I manage to get some time to read.

I danced only a little, so I'm not counting it on the days.

February 8th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Side Plank Rotations +EC
Count: 1017 - 1013 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XI +Megaset | Chapter XII +No breaks between Burpees
:v:

Unbound: Day 10
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 16 Sit-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:v:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: Day 25 | Day 26 (780 / 1000 Push-ups)
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 26%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Speed Study. This is what I was talking about planning things out

Others:
More and more and more practice with the shuffling. Seems to be that the cards are the ones giving me trouble, because I tried an old pack, and it was easier.
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 10, 2023

Failed at writing yesterday. Wake up very late, and I was also ay too busy, and very distracted. I woke up with a lot of plot bunnies I could have developed, but I didn't want to develop because then I'll switch, and... ugh!

I ended up trying to keep up with the big project in mind, but I was frozen by the environment. The water came, and by the time I could sit down to write... I was already too tired, so I went to sleep.

It was difficult to organize my time, so I didn't do Burpees, Carbon & Dust, or anything... but I did finish 1000 Push-ups, in less than 10 days. Now I'm getting that badge!

February 9th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Side Plank Rotations +EC (Déjà vu)
Count: 1018 - 1014 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:x:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XIII
:x:

Unbound: Day 11
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

Ba Han Sheng Qi Gong: Corporeity as Temple of the Universe
:v:

DAREdice: 8 Jumping Jacks
:x:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

1000 Push-ups: :completed:

Day 27 | Day 28 | Day 29 | Day 30 :star:

(1000 / 1000 Push-ups)
Next: Daily Kicks
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 26%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Speed Study

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Laura Rainbow Dragon · Feb 10, 2023

Congratulations on completing the 1000 Push-Ups Challenge!
One thousand push-ups in under ten days is no small feat!

Tileenah · Feb 10, 2023

Congratulations on the 1000 push ups challenge !!! :perfect:

Fremen · Feb 10, 2023

Congrats

Sólveig · Feb 10, 2023

@Laura Rainbow Dragon 1000 Push-ups already is no small feat! I am proud of myself for this :yas:

@Tileenah @Fremen Thanks! :welcome:

Sólveig · Feb 11, 2023

2.3K words so far, yet there needs to be a lot of editing, plus some stat blocks and extra lore. Yeah, I was planning my D&D session. As I said to the group, this week has been a snowball of events that kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger... I even built-in a canonical reason for a player stepping out of the session in case they couldn't make it, and then I was told that 50% of the table might be off. And since those two live in the place where we play...

Yeah, it might be a good idea to cancel out. I'm still going to prepare, though. For this one, though I don't need to bring out the hex grid for the combats, I do need to draw a map, since the... dungeon is a ship. I've introduced the underwater mechanics, and I think I might get a lot into that. Not because this campaign takes place underwater, but because there are bodies of water nearby. Besides, I implemented a big sewer system that works as a way to quick travel privately, like it does in Vampire: The Masquerade, with the difference that there are random encounters, and even an entire metropolis that thrives underneath the town. Yes, it's a city campaign. And I love city campaigns. The biggest advantage that a city campaign has is boundaries. There's no need to think about nearby towns, villages, the roads, the economy, the dangers of the wilds, possible dungeons and points of interest... None of that. And there's plenty of things to do in a city, including dungeons. Who says a dungeon has to always be a dank cave or an abandoned crypt? Our first session in our Urban Campaign had a dungeon that was, literally, someone's house. I even took the map off of Google, looking for houses until I got the one that made sense.

This was what I wanted to do for my first campaign, but as it turns out, the DMG mislead me into making this gigantic map that I expanded... and now, it's pretty much barren. I mean, each city I did because I needed to make a civil war, and there wasn't much development on them. Only one had the development, and right now, I'm actually adding lore to another one of those cities, even though the campaign is taking place on a different kingdom that's nearby.

So far I haven't carried on with my WIP. I spent the day writing, and then preparing. As I said, the snowball. My brother is coming back to the country, and I figured he'll be arriving tomorrow night. Turns out he's travelling fast, and he just came inside the country this morning. Tomorrow he'll be back, but earlier than usual. Mom has been very hyped about it, so much so that she's stressed out of it, and her stress also came to me.

I mean, I'm glad I'd get to see him again, and I understand her hype; she's our mom. But it's frustrating... to be switching up everything... I almost cancelled out Carbon & Dust today because of it! I was interrupted in the middle of my Burpees so that we had to do errands! Thankfully, I managed to do them. And do everything, including playing guitar.

Which, by the way, is working. I'm back at where I used to be, and I'm ready to go for harder pieces now that are on my bucket list, plus recovering those that I like so much, yet I lost the practice on them. I'm not sure if I'll go out of my comfort zone and go back into Rockabilly or try something else that's less... fingerstyle. What I do know is that I will keep staying away from people's requests. I hate that. I hate that people keep asking me to play songs that I do not know, and I do not care to know, and that I should know because "I am a musician and I have to know how to play every song that you like." No, Karen, my tastes are different, my specialty is different, and most importantly, yes, I am a musician, not your god forsaken personal jukebox. And then they ask me why I don't turn pro, or why I haven't turn pro. Maybe because I am sick of it? I'm sick of people's requests. I'm sick of also not having chances. What I play, which is what I've always played in my life, has no opportunities in here, and if it had, they were long gone since before I was born. As one of my teachers says: "in Venezuela, the art is tropicalized." The reality is the same as it was back in the 00s, and I don't really care anymore. I am more about creating, yet I have no energy to create music, even though I have a DAW that I can use to make stuff, but I seem to keep closing it down so often after putting a couple of chords down.

I guess I was always more a creator than a virtuoso. I originally wanted to study music composition, but I landed up in musical education instead. Is not that I couldn't take the exam, I just never knew when it was, and by the time I knew, it was already too late. Fine by me, though, I love my current position, even though everything I do is thankless. On the money side, I always think I took the wrong decision, but deep down I know it was the right choice. If I didn't make those mistakes, I wouldn't have know that writing is where my heart was, even though I'm way too musically inclined. I can't separate the two, but if I could choose one, writing always comes up first.

Speaking of, I should be doing it now. Sorry for the rant. I always get carried away with the weird divorce dynamic that I have with music. Maybe if I make music instead of play what others did, I wouldn't be so bitter. But I got stuck with an instrument that I hated due to a decision I had to make at a very young age, with no idea about what to come next, and a huge influence from my parents... and then started playing the piano at age 15, then the guitar at age 17... and then, when I found out I was transgender, I learned about the existence of the hurdy-gurdy and the taalharpa, and I want to play those as well. I could have played either one of them instead of the violin back when I was younger. For starters, listening to someone practicing the violin is painful. The mistakes are way too noticeable, the instrument is so noisy that it always forced me to put it back as soon as I lifted it, as if the mere sight of it triggered a misophonia that I never had. Besides, it's an instrument that got me bullied relentlessly, and I wish it was only high school, but also the teachers, and even situations...

Again, I'm about to spew more stuff that's for a therapist to listen instead of The Hive to read. I guess this is why I ended up a teacher too: to kill those behaviors that destroyed what little enthusiasm that I had in the first place. I've been told by someone that I delivered a message to their situation that wasn't really different about the message they got before. The big difference is the words that I used, the tone that I used, the empathy that I had, and the advice that I had. The next day, they told me I was right.

Empathy... Even with the current zeitgeist, I still wonder where did the empathy go? When did we lose it?

E: I ranted so much that I forgot to tick the fact that I've written 2.3K words, but nothing after that.

February 10th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 20 Calf Raises +EC
Count: 1019 - 1015 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XIII +Megaset | Chapter XIV +No breaks between planks
:v:

Unbound: Day 11 | Day 12
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

WoD: The Extra Mile - LVL III +Megaset
:v:

DAREdice: 4 Decline Push-ups
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Daily Kicks: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 26%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Speed Study. There has been progress

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 11, 2023

In case anyone is curious about how I found out about the instruments that I mentioned, the first time I heard the Hurdy-Gurdy was on the song "The Longing," by Storm Seeker. I may have miscalculated the years. I found out I am transgender on my early 20s, and I was exposed to the Hurdy-Gurdy two years after the fact.

Here's the same song, but just the Hurdy-Gurdy and Patty's vocals:

The first time I listened to the Taalharpa was in Heilung's Lifa*, and then in a lot of the Wardruna songs. It was also the very first time I heard the Lyre in my life. Being Venezuelan, I was always exposed to the Harp, but never the Lyre. I can't pinpoint an exact song which started it all, but this is something that appeared recently in my feed:

Instruments like these are already too exotic in some parts of Europe (a Hurdy-Gurdy is quite expensive in the parts of Spain where they play it), let alone in a country where they don't exist!

* : I might be wrong. There was something similar to a Taalharpa being played in the ritual, but I can't be very certain.

Laura Rainbow Dragon · Feb 11, 2023

Sólveig said:
Mom has been very hyped about it, so much so that she's stressed out of it, and her stress also came to me.

I feel you on this one. My mother is the same when my brother comes to visit. (He lives in the same province as us, only 250 km away, and visits 3 or 4 times a year, and every time my mother acts like it's the frakking King of England coming to see us.)

:hug:

Congrats on your guitar progress.

Hurdy-Gurdy is a cool instrument! (But yeah: expensive and not something one can just pick up from their local music shop.)

Lallafa · Feb 11, 2023

Thanks for sharing the music! That lyre song was truly a delight.

Sólveig · Feb 12, 2023

Finally, I put in paper what I wanted to do for Pathfinder... only to find myself completely in blank after the first part of the Session was written out. I told this to my group a while back. I had to whip out the dice and look for tables in order to get something, and now the gears are working again.

I'm also carrying on with Ringworld, slowly. I have... some thoughts about this, and it's about some things that are written. Why is it that every chapter has to discuss sex at least once? So far, it doesn't have much bearing on the story other than providing some cultural hints about the species, but does it really have to be sex? This is a hard science-fiction space opera, not an erotica! Is not that the book is NSFW, it is completely safe, but why is the subject always brought up? Besides, I can see why so many women kind of want to kick Larry Niven on the groin on the way he wrote out women, from saying that some species, like the Kzin, the females are non-sapient, to pretty much making Louis love interest nothing more than just a girl he does from time to time. There was one complaint about Teela Brown being so unidimensional, but I think it makes sense for her to be unidimensional? She even admits to it when she's first introduced by saying that, unlike the other crewmates Nessus recruited, she was nothing special. Honestly, it doesn't offend me, but it does make me cringe. Nevertheless, I'm in love with Speaker-to-animals. The man is literally a big cat; is a damned leopard kept in captivity. I can't help but love his antics, even if they are violent, because he's one of those cats that acts mean, but is really a softie, and he's free to deny that as much as he wants.

Today was busy, hence the workout was not as big as before. My brother came, so we're finally back together... only that instead of three siblings, two of them were alive. The third one was also with us, but right now he is nothing but a pile of ashes in this plane of existence. And I don't mean it to sound like I hate him, it's quite the opposite. He's the one that gave me the first guitar, and I was supposed to teach him. He's the one I was supposed to live with back in 2014; the last chance I had for moving out of this country. What I'm angry for is that monster called cancer that took him away from us in a time in which we needed his emotional support. My brother was going through a rough divorce, I was going through the roughest parts of my gender dysphoria, and I was very closely to coming out to him... until we suddenly learned he passed away, in the hospital. I remember seeing the news on a Facebook comment that afternoon. My mom was actually taking a shower because she planned out to go out of the country to give him company on his last moments. I actually stepped up from my chair, in complete shock. I thought he'd recover. I thought she wouldn't go through that. But my, I was wrong.

At first, we hugged it out. It's been so long since the last time we've seen each other. Then, after the day went out, it turned emotional when the discussion about the missing brother came up. Had I not hugged him when the tears started to come out of his eyes... Maybe I would have cried even more. Seems that we learned how to deal with that death, but the wounds didn't heal very well. Seriously, though, I missed him. I wish the hug was with the three of us, instead of just two.

But I'm glad he's back, despite the horror story that was his journey. I called it out before that, with the increase of the guerillas activity in the borders, crime will only increase more. It turns out there's a gang that's operating throughout the entire continent, and it's completely Venezuelan. More than surprised, I'm completely spooked about the entire ordeal. Crime in Venezuela was never that organized, but now I've read that some screw-ups from the government, in an attempt to bring the numbers down, they increased it. This place might as well be a maximum security prison now.

Enough with the doom and gloom. I finally had the chance to meet my youngest nephew too, and mom is hyped about this, ready to be a grandma again. My brother also had a golden retriever puppy as a gift, and I dogsitted him for a while as he ran some errands. Burpees, and most of the biggest workouts, were skipped because the pupper fell asleep on the floor, right where I usually work out. And I didn't want to disturb him. He also fell asleep on my lap while I wrote out the Pathfinder session. Six weeks old, and is as big as my forearm. Cute as a button, though.

February 11th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 116

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 60 Seconds Pacer Steps +EC
Count: 1020 - 1016 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XV
:v:

Unbound: Day 13
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:x:

100 Burpees +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 16 Squats
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:x:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Daily Kicks: Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:v:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:v:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:v:

Ringworld - 30%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
More speed study. Some stuff that I haven't played in ages, I played them back... and now they turned out better since the last time I played them? Tárrega's Etude Nº 10 seems to be way more effective than I think

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Laura Rainbow Dragon · Feb 12, 2023

PetiteSheWolf · Feb 12, 2023

Hugs, and enjoy the puppy (and your bro of course)

Sólveig · Feb 13, 2023

No TTRPGs today. We cancelled out. It's alright, though. There was work to do around the house, and with my brother around, he came up with some ideas after some issues my mom put. Out of the three of us, he is the one closest to be as handy and creative as a dad is.

So, it was mostly helping with stuff, with some brainstorming and outlining in between. I'm writting less due to his presence, which is something I don't really feel bad about? It's like a small vacation. I can't seem to stop thinking about writing, nor I left it out completely, but... It's been four years since the last time we've seen each other. Is not a bad thing to be with family.

I think I'll do something tonight. I hope I will. I wanted to play solo Pathfinder since we couldn't gather today, but it was a busy day. Instead, I brainstormed and wrote down some ideas to compliment and fix what I have on the works. Nothing new incoming, just fixing the old stuff. Maybe if I can't produce anything, or if I produce very little today, I can start fixing something up.

February 12th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 117

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Reverse Prone Flys +EC
Count: 1021 - 1017 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XVI +No rest between sets
:v:

Unbound: Day 14
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

DAREdice: 8 Double Burpees w/Jump Knee-Tuck
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:x:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Daily Kicks: Day 7 | Day 8 | Day 9
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 30%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
It was more of playing the things that I know instead of practicing. Nevertheless, it worked to test out my finesse. I did the Speed Study once out of memory, and I'm not sure if I'm correct or not, nor I checked out to see. But I think I am. If I was, I'll start doing it from memory again.

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 14, 2023

Wow, it was difficult to write last night. I am having a lot of distractions. In fact, I had one very big with my Wi-Fi last night that just disturbed my concentration. Instead, I ended up analizing a character and writing rolling tables. No word count, I'm afraid.

But I did read yesterday. It was mostly a way to kill time than anything.

February 13th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 117

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 2 Minutes Backfists +EC
Count: 1022 - 1018 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XVII +No rest between sets +No breaks between Push-ups
:v:

Unbound: Day 15
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
40 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
30 Full Burpees
:v:

Monday +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 8 Lunges
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:x:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:x:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Daily Kicks: Day 10 | Day 11 | Day 12
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:x:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:v:

Ringworld - 35%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Speed study, fixing mistakes. Also, starting to do the Secret of Monkey Island theme song

Others:
Some sleight of hand, cardistry, and card magic
No math
No Python

Tileenah · Feb 14, 2023

oooh I really love the secret of monkey island's songs... I used to pick them up on my piano when I was younger

Sólveig · Feb 15, 2023

Busy day. Very busy. I was almost forced to skipped working out, and I seriously mean almost. If I didn't stop my family from it, I would have considered this a forced rest day.

Suffice to say that I haven't written in the entire day. I mean, is not like I didn't do anything. I could have been more productive, but I got busy. I woke up late, I was needed, then I had to work, and when I came back home, I had to dogsit my brother's puppy. This is what almost made me skip the day, because the puppy slept again in a place where I could hit him on a bad move, and... must I put a reminder that I do Burpees almost daily? So, instead, I watched him sleep, and when he woke up, I just gave him company, played with him, and all of that.

I'll admit it, I want to adopt a dog, but that's something I can't do. I can barely take care of myself as of right now, and taking care of a dog is expensive for me at the moment. Besides, I wouldn't adopt a dog this young. I'm afraid of leaving them alone for way too long. Yes, I do have a soft spot for dogs. I used to have two in my childhood, and to this day, it pains me that I pretty much abandoned them because we moved out. Owner of this house doesn't like animals. That should have been the first sign.

After dogsitting the rest of the afternoon, I managed to squeeze the entire workout plan before dinner, minus Unbound and Lovenote. I left Lovenote and part of the night routine for before shower, so that I did Unbound and Virasana after shower. And right now, I'm getting ready to attempt to write, or maybe edit. My head hurts a bit, so I'll do whichever is the easiest. Perhaps do some very short stories (like 500 words long, tops) or something similar. I don't know. I'm improvising right now, even though I have a huge backlog.

No reading, except Carbon & Dust. I swear, I thought I wouldn't care for the death of the Regulators, but after today I realized how Raynar and Sam came to be precious characters, more so than those idiots that tried to kill me in the Pathfinder program. I guess this is Stockholm Syndrome acting up. You will be missed, Sam. You didn't deserve to die that way, and I hope Raynar survives. In the end, they weren't bad guys. They are just soldiers. I really hope there's no betrayal in the future.

February 14th, 2023
Kickboxing: Day 117

Morning Routine:
:v:

The Right Side + 10 Decline Push-ups
:v:

Sól Salutation - LVL I +EC
:v:

Daily Dare: 40 Leg Raises +EC
Count: 1023 - 1019 +EC

Night Routine:
:v:

Mani Salutation - 1 Set
:v:

Five Rites
:v:

Virasana Meditation
:v:

Daily Gratitude
:v:

Counting Victories
:x:

Get to Bed on Time

Programs:
:v:

Carbon & Dust: Chapter XVIII +Megaset +Double Burpees w/Jump Knee-Tuck
:v:

Unbound: Day 16
Bucket List:
Bootcamp
Shadebound

Workouts:
:v:

100 Burpees +EC
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
25 Full Burpees
:v:

WoD: Lovenote +EC
:v:

DAREdice: 16 Squats
:v:

1 minute Uttanasana w/Toe Reach
:v:

Hamstring Stretch - 1 minute each stretch (+1 minute per side)
:v:

Daily Walk
:x:

Shuffle Dance! (#1, #2, #3)
:x:

Belly Dance
Dancing Days: 2

Challenges:
:v:

Daily Kicks: Day 13 | Day 14 | Day 15
Bucket List:
Warrior Abs

Writing progress:
:x:

Nifty 350

Furious 500
:v:

Nightcap 200
:x:

News Column 900 Max

:x:

1500 Words Daily!

Reading progress:
:x:

Ringworld - 35%
:x:

The Colour of Magic

Art progress:
Nope

Music:
Guitar class, so no practice for me. A lady got interested on them, so I hope to have a new student in my roster

Others:
No sleight of hand, cardistry, or card magic
No math
No Python

Sólveig · Feb 15, 2023

@Tileenah That's awesome! The piano is a bit more formal, but it has more punch on the soundtrack. I think the last OST I played from a videogame on the piano was Mass Effect's. I did it back when 3 was brand new.

This is what I'm following to play the Secret of Monkey Island theme, but I'm thinking about putting my own twists on it. The arrengement seems to have some bits that require a bit of technical cleanup, because they are a mess. That's my opinion, though. I figured a way to do some chords that are not only easier, but with a cleaner sound, and makes the harmony less muddy.

Swashbuckling Under Neon Lights in a Grimdark Futuristic City with Tons of D20s

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