[Wk 8] Improving in Fitness, Gaming & Music

Previous Weeks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

About this blog/diary:
I'm a professional musician and (very) amateur gamer.
Blogging about improving and sticking to a program is very effective for my overall progress!
Thanks for checking this out and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions!

Week preview: A monster audition prep week while shoring up bad eating habits.

Goals for the Week

Fitness Goals:
3 Weight-lifting sessions (log)(program): [image loading]

                  2 Running sessions at desired HR (log)(program):

            Gaming Goals:
                  Log Write-Ups of OCC Blood Bowl games (Current Standings):
                  Log CS:GO practice sessions and Ranked results: (below)
                  Log Hearthstone Drafts/Results: (below)

            Personal Goals:
                  Daily Mental Discipline sessions: ( [image loading]

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Log daily food intake: (

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Quality challenge-seeking practice session: (

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Monday 8/5: [image loading]

Good day today! I woke up before 5am with a bit of allergy-induced insomnia. Getting up early wasn't squandered however as I got some very good practice in while also getting a chance to watch WinterSC again! His stream is very fun and energetic! I'm starting to feel that SC2 itch again.... it's always been my first love....

Came home from work and collapsed in a heap for a hard nap. In the effort of full disclosure, i didn't exercise today as my body was still feeling generally tired and under the weather from the weekend. The lifting/hiking combo all on less sleep than usual kinda knocked me for a bit of a loop. Tomorrow, i'll begin again in earnest with some cleans.

Tuesday 8/6:

Cleans felt really good today, despite bungling my first set. I reconnected with the "arms back" cue and launched from mid-thigh. I lost a rep in the first set because I launched from like beyond my knee... eek. The sets and reps got progressively strong as I marched through the exercise, so I feel comfortable upping the weight. This means I'll finally be able to clean using my 45lb bumper as the base. My York 25 and 10lb bumpers have a bit of wobble as the hard plastic around the ring is sheering and becoming unstable. I'm pretty frustrated by this as the bumpers were brand new last year... Oh well... If it's pronounced on the 45lber I may by a higher quality 45er to supplement. This might be a hard sell to the wife as I'm planning on investing in a good bar this Black Friday. We'll see...

Today's practice session was awesome as well! In said session, I improved a couple excerpts and hosted a baby mock audition. Both undertakings made me reconnect/recommit to good quality concentration and centering.

Wednesday 8/7: [image loading]

Didn't sleep soundly last night... Woke up this morning at 6, but managed to get some good morning practice in while watching GSL! After a slight break, I did a good quality session before crashing for a nap. The day continued with an outing for groceries and a longer and rather scatter session culminating in a sub-par mock audition. I'm glad I did it, but it's definitely time to ramp up. Tonight I'm going to do some meditation and perhaps some affirmations while taking care of the puppy.

This day was a good day for practice, an adequate one for mental prep, but food logging tapered off halfway through the day. The wife sprung a errand run right before I was to eat, and delays during the run (that could've been avoided) delayed my meal by much longer than expected. I ate a slightly larger but balanced leftover pasta meal, but forgot to log it. The worst thing though was that I used that failure to log the meal as an excuse to avoid logging the rest of the day's meals.... I have to just keep logging even if I miss a meal. Guess-timation is totally acceptable in that situation.

Thursday 8/8: [image loading]

Hmm... Apparently the update I wrote about Thursday on the day in question didn't update! Odd...

Today was a quite successful day practice-wise and somewhat mental prep wise. I did some affirmations and also began to establish some meditation routines. Meditation in particular is something I want to solidify because it reinforces the concentration drills I run while also allowing self-hypnosis to go deeper. Good stuff!

The Blood Bowl match scheduled for this day was cancelled mid-game. My god damn shitty internet hiccuped halfway through and we lost the progress.... this was doubly frustrating for me because I made an excellent recovery from a rather shitty start. During the start the cyanide servers lost connection making me lose a solid minute of my setup phase... because of this I didn't have my guys in the correct position at launch... maaaan was I pissed off about this... Forcing a no-score in the first half I considered a great great success versus the bash-happy and positionally awkward Nurgle.

At night though, I played some HS and tilted very badly... My draws, despite drafting heavy early, were consistently shitty... The two drafts went 4 and 2 wins respectively, and I was a bit beside myself with frustration. Oh well.

Friday 8/9: [image loading]

Today's Blood Bowl rematch was fucking amazing!! It started off with another disconnect, of course. I scoured the internet after this and discovered that Cyanide didn't properly format the ports that need to be open to run the program.... So after 15 minutes of PFPortChecker adjusting my router and Norton firewalls and 60 minutes of waiting for a reset, we resumed for the third and final time. It was EPIC....

The first half began with a bang, namely my Minotaur being knocked on the ground turn 2. He proceeded to stay on the ground for the rest of the half, failing 6 Wild Animal rolls in a row. On turn 4, one of my AV9 Chaos Blockers was knocked out of the game with a niggling injury roll. He's a very valuable player with block leveled up, and absolutely key holding off aggression of the Nurgle, so it was not a question as to whether I'd roll my Apothecary. The apothecary option given was, of course, the option of killing my player. With a sleeping Minotaur, an injured Chaos Warrior, a turn 6 beastman KO, I was STILL able to hold off the Nurgle attack and avoid the score!

Feeling well rested after visualizing success, the Minotaur awoke in the second half and wrecked faces. He scored 3 KOs including one death on a Nurgle Warrior. We just went off and it was amazing to watch. With him cutting the opposition to little kibbles and bits, I was able to redirect around the slower Nurgle defense and cut up the sideline in a solid cage. I made the decisive move and caged along the sideline despite a whiff of a 4-man fireball... Only one of the boxed opponents dropped.

At the kickoff though, I made a stupid stupid mistake and didn't line up covering the outside running lanes... stupid stupid stupid. Oh well, I'll never make that mistake again. He rolled a perfect catch event and was able to advance the ball quickly into my side of the half after a nice toss forward. I readjusted and boxed/contained the aggression, but there was still a chance on the final turn! He got some good blocks and began the final blitz action trying to push a defender out of the way and reduce a tackle zone. The blitz resulted in only a push, so he had to double dodge through two tackle zones. Both dodges succeeded!!! It was ridiculous!!! But, he still had to complete two Go-For-It rolls to make it to the endzone! He made the first, but on the goal line inches away from a draw, he tripped and ended the game. It was sooo ridiculously epic!

I did a mage draft yesterday that was pretty frustrating... I'm going to upload my videos to YT and start a help thread in TLHS... baaahhh...

Saturday 8/10: [image loading]

What a good day today was despite adversity! Like most TLer's I'm assuming, I set an alarm to wake up for the Proleague finals. Sadly, my old habit of anticipating alarms crept in and I ended up waking up at 430am after going to bed four hours before. Couple that with the hour long pre-game ceremonies, and it made for one frustrating fatigued viewing experience. During that lull however, I was able to format, crop and upload some videos for a HS help me post over on TLHS. The one person to respond gave me some good feedback and I'm feeling a bit better about the play in general.

While I don't enjoy the randomness and the opaque learning curve to HS, the benefits of being able to play it while watching a stream or multitasking leads me to finding myself playing it more than CS or the RPGs I have on the docket. I have to maintain a good attitude when I do play... don't want to get frustrated and burn myself out on it.

The CSGO log is clunky and I find myself not keeping it up. I am playing numerous CSGO games, practicing my twitch, and enjoying both aspects of it, but I just can't conceive of a relevant logging program other than "WLLLWTWLWLWLL" or something to that affect. That information is readily available on my CSGO profile but I can't figure out a way to link it here. csgo-stats.com isn't working for me sadly.

Lifting today was awesome! I owe the wife big time for motivating me to get up and do it. Practice today was pretty good, but wasn't as intense as I'd like because my face felt really cut up all day long. I ate somethign yesterday (I'm guessing the homemade pizza) and now my mouth feels shredded to bits. Oh well... Did some good self-hypnosis to round out the day!

Sunday 8/11:

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CS:GO Reference Section: CSGO Stats Profile

Hearthstone Reference Section: Drafting according to LawrenceJames guidelines. 6-7 2s, 3-4 3s, 4-5 4s, 2-3 5s,

Mage Draft 8/4: + Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Good first round! Thinking Argent as it's just such a good card. Kirin has upside, but not worth it over argent.
#3: Dire over the rest of these middle-tier trashy cards...
#5: Ok Billy, I get the hint... I'll choose you.
#9: A rough row... Going with the bomber as I don't know what the future holds spell-wise. No good spells up to now.
#12: Flamestrike, check!
#14: Flamestrike #2? Sure why not...
#15: Fireball #2? Hell yes!
#16: And a crappy follow-up row. Always feel bad when over-thinking these crappy choices... Going Novice for a 2-drop and card draw... meh...
#17: A hard row choice... I need the 3 drops, and don't have or want the low-cost spells to make the Wyrm work.... Hunter it is....
#20: Terrible terrible epic row... Wow...

Aaand, it piddles out to the end... No real choices or good options.

7-3. Not bad for such a crap deck.

Lost once to a mage with Antonidas when I coudln't draw removal. (13 cards left, 2 fireballs...)
Played poorly vs a mage for the last loss. I'll see what I can do to upload the replays.

Shaman Draft: 8/5+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Kind of a crappy first row... Oh well.
#3: Another crappy row.
#10: Crappiest epic row possible methinks...
#12: Crap row... build the 4 drops.
#13: Hardish row... Going for the 4 drop and the card draw...
#14: Well, I'm full on 4 drops now! :-) Windspeaker for sure.
#15: More crappy rows... hurrah.
#16: More crappy rows! Hurrah... Was going to take Priestess but LJ says it's terrible, and values earth shock higher... I'll follow the man.
#19: OMG this deck is shit!
#20: Hard row!! I need 2 drops something fierce, but Sunwalker is just sooo good.... Getting sunwalker and praying for 2s.
#21: LJ rates the Owl higher than Novice... but I need card draw over silence. have 2 cheap silences already.
#22: Full on 4s so taking a crappy 3. Taunt is a bonus.
#23: A rough rough row... I have very little endgame, but flesh is really good too... I'll take the frost elemental for now.
#24: 2 drop! Sorry to pass on Tazdingo, but need the early game.
#25: Middle crappy row... Now I'm very glad I didn't take that flesh-eating. Going for Acolyte for sure.
#26: Too little, too late methinks...
#28: No true 2 drop, but can't pass on the flametongue
#29: I have loads of card draw options, no weapons.... Champion it is!

3-3. Some close games where I was outdrawn.

I don't expect much from this deck at all... and wasn't disappointed.

Druid Draft: 8/5+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

Choice between priest/hunter/druid... went druid for the comfort factor.
#1: Off to a stellar start!
#2: Woah! what a follow up! Going for faceless as I know I'll be able to copy a Rag. BK is really nice though...
#3: Best first three cards ever...
#4: Man am I tempted to innervate to get the end game quicker... but I could use the 5 drop regardless.
#5: Ok... well end game is taken care of... Need some 2s please!
#6: Ask and ye shall receive!
#7: More end game :-/
#8: That's more like it :-)
#9: Need some 4s... that's a good one!
#10: Hard hard choice... A 3drop that's not a 3 drop, or 6cost fireball.... Antigrav and LJ both rate FoN slightly higher...
#11: Snagging some early removal. Will need some early game thoguh!!! :-/
#12: Resist the urge to try and combo... resist the urge... wrath too good.
#13: Need early game, even if it dies to mage ping.
#14: Tempted to amani... but could use an earthen.
#16: Wow... what a hard choice... druid of the claw is too good... I do need the early game, but it's 2s I need... Uuuugh. Full on 5s.
#17: Gotta take the early game...
#18: Ok this is super risky... A hard crappy choice. Roar is a trap.... get early game. Remember this... rifleman could be a roar...
#19: Need 2 drop...
#20: Ok... hard choice... potential fast-forward to end game? or another endgame char... Alarm-o-bot a rag could just end the game.... Going there...
#22: Complete shit row... let's take a 1 drop... I'm pretty full on 3s...
#25: So low on 2s...
#26: I want the brewmaster plays and those stats.... could use a beefy 4.
#28: Hurts... but I need the early game.
#29: Tidecaller synergy? yes plz!
#30: Durr... 2 drop.

4-3 Surprisingly disappointing games!! Never never again will i draft alarm-o-bot... it cost me 1.5 games... Omg, such a waste. I'll definitely be uploading my losses for this draft when I get the editor figured out.

Shaman Draft 8/7:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#3: First real choice, but I'm sticking with the beefy minion. With totems, Frosty Warlord can win me games.
#5: Hard row! but Flametongue is too good.
#8: Hard choice..... I value Stormwind as a tide-turner more than early removal. Hope I get it again!!!
#9: Hard choice again... no 4 drops and LJ values Tazdingo higher than lightning bolt.
#12: 2drop plz!
#14: Have good 3 drops, so I'm going Tazdingo again. Sidenote: How many reincarnates will I have to decline this damn draft?
#15: I'm low on 2 drops and potentially full on 3s... And I have no inherent way of activating worgen. Going Unstable.
#16: Windspeaker is valued under Guru, but my curve needs 4s over 5s right now. Going speaker.
#18: Don't think i can bloodlust here... Need 4s and bloodlust won't help my shit early game too much.
#22: Wooww... what a hard row. Earth Ele too good though...
#24: Need 3 two drops, but after last draft, I hate mana wraith. It's better for me because I have free totem options, but still... Mana wraith is ranked slightly higher by LJ... going for it.
#26: Flamtongue synergy and early game helper... yes...
#27: Hard choice but shoring up the early game.
#28: Even though Tiger is the "best", it's between the other two. Taking brew as I have flamentongues enough...
#29: I have no heals and need overpower for unbound... feral is it.
#30: Never again, alarm-o-bot!!!! Never again!!!

Mage Draft 8/8:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#2: Interesting choice... A early heavy hitter vs. a situational spell. LJ values swords over cold, but Ant1grav values the CoC. Going to take the 3 drop over the situational play and the spell synergy with gadget... (that's a bit of a long shot anyways)
#3: A 1-only row is almost always bad... but I'll go with mirror image for spell synergy and the oh-shit button factor.
#6: Begin collecting 2s, or get a beefy 6? I'll go with the beef because there's no upside for raider and it's a 2/3
#7: This is the type of row that I fear... Cult vs. Wyrm. I need 4s, but the Wyrm can spiral with early spells... LJ values Wyrm higher, and mage has good draw options... I'll go Wyrm. May regret this choice...
#8: A pretty crappy row... but I'll take the piddling card draw 2-drop.
#11: Taking the Wyrm synergy and the 3/2 2-drop.
#13: Surprisingly hard row! Do I want to commit to owning the early game, or do I want to shore up to spots in which I'm relatively weak on the curve... This is only pick 13. Going to get the early minion and not take any more 1s.
#15: Let's split this row up please!! :-( Water ele... no choice....
#16: 2 drop is too good.
#17: Another amazing row I'd love to be split up...
#18: My curve is good, and I don't need the 2 or the 3, but I don't really want the archmage... It's not a heavy heavy hitter by any stretch of the imagination... That said, I have no spells to complement the apprentice boost... Going to take the 3/2 just because 2s are that important.
#19: Relatively full on 3/2s and don't want to draft another minion with spell synergy I don't have yet. I'll get the secret for the apprentice bonus and wyrm synergy.
#20: Need the 4drop... no question.
#21: A spell!
#22: A big guy I can believe in!
#23: Glad I left a 2-slot open!
#26: I love MC tech, but can't take another 3... Stampeding has such good upside... grabbing it!
#27: I'm full on 2s and 3s, so which of these do I value more? Only have 2 taunts on board and could use another...
#29: 4-drop! no question.
#30: Worst epic row :-(... taking the spell.

4-3

Mage Draft 8/9:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: No choice there...
#2: I'll take the quality 2-drop
#3: Wyrm for now! I'll value missiles more highly after getting the wyrm.
#4: I'll take the beef.
#9: A rather disappointing epic row... but I'll take the Injured Blademaster for now.
#11: Hard choice here... I really like worgen, could use a 2 drop, but Shattered Sun Cleric is just too good to pass on.
#12: Eeek... kk. I don't think I can take a golem here with Venture available... I'm pretty full on 3s and chances are I'll be forced to take another... Yea, gotta take a late game.
#14: Piddling 4-drop over another Mana Wyrm.... too big of an investment in something that might not pay out. Only 1 spell right now.
#16: Yep, forced to take another 3-drop.
#17: Damn... damn damn damn... need the upside two drop...
#18: Damn damn x2... need the upside 2 drop.
#19: Can't take another 3... 5 it is.
#22: Rough choice, but I'll take the dragon because LJ and Ant1grav value it over bomber
#25: Cairne over Baron for sure.
#27: Taking amani because I'm understaffed on 2s and pretty good with 4s.
#30: Ok ok ok... jeez... I'll take another 3 drop. I'll take the upside and later situational play of MC tech.

6-3

Learned a great deal this draft.. the games I lost (except for the DC one) I deserved to lose because I failed to play around Mage secrets. Was worthwhile! :-)

Shaman Draft: 8/9:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Odd choice. Injured has good totem upside, and Violet has good spell upside. LJ values Violet slightly higher and I need more 4-drops tahn 2, so I'll go with that.
#2: Crap row...
#4: Crap row... Taking the 4 that's an actual 4-drop.
#5: Almost a crap row... thank god sea giant.
#6: Hard row... Going to go for the Tazdingo as it's a more solid drop. don't have overloads yet...
#9: 2s! 2s! 2s galore!
#11: Hard row.... a good 3drop... or a good situational card. I don't want to draft too many of those totems... I've gotta take the 3 drop for now.
#12: Middling on all of them... I'll take the 2
#13: Hard one, but I'll go ghoul despite the totem synergy...
#14: uuugh... split this one up plz!!
#17: ugh... an unbound with absolutely zero overloads thus far... have to take it though...
#19: taking the 3 might be a mistake here... Priestess si just so weak, and the battlecry sucks in direct comparison... naah... have to take the earthen
#20: Never again alarm-o-bot!!! curse you! no question here... take the big hitter.
#22: crap row... at least I got a 2 drop.
#23: Already pretty full on 3s and 2s... particularly 3s. Gotta take harpy as a potential endgame cleaner...
#24: Hard choice, but I'll take endgame as I'm pretty weak there.
#25: whew... a potentially deck defining choice here... I could use both the 4drop and the removal. DI dwarf has crazy upside for shaman, but I do need the removal if my strong early push is going to succeed... Going to take the removal.
#26: Hard choice here...pretty good on 5 drops so let's get some situational play going.
#29: Taking warlord because I don't want to block my early drops.
#30: Eeekk... gotta take the lightning stormg, but it's painful. I lvoe sunwalker so much....

6-3. Got out decked twice, damn does double flamestrike own aggro/tempo. Good games though! Learned some!

Mage Draft 8/10:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Even though I like Abomination, I'll take the quality 2-drop for now.
#2: Crappy row... rider it is.
#3: CoC over the 2-cost removal. Shoudl be getting removal as a mage anyways.
#7: Terrible row... Going to take the priestess for the late heals... leaning away from swords after giving away tempo late because of them. It's an ok 3-turn card and not much else.
#8: Fuck... ouch... shit... gotta take fireball.
#9: Thank god I got another ooze.
#12: Wyrm over second CoC. need early game...
#13: What a 3-row!!
#15: Getting set on 2-drops.
#20: Shit row...
#21: Shit row...
#25: nothing but low drops for days!
#29: Need the 4 drop...
what a terrible fucking deck... any mass removal once again owns me... I was again given no spells at all... Oh well...

3-3

This deck got RNG trolled twice. I nearly finish a face race against a Shaman with two storms, two forked, and a Doomhammer when he pops Alexstraza.... Another one, my early pace versus a priest gets owned when my deathlord gives him stormwind champion turn 4.

Shaman Draft 8/11:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions to this shit] +

#1: Shit epic row makes me sad...
#3: Yes! can't pass on this weapon.
#4: Yeti too good...
#11: Can't possible take another piddling 7 drop.
#12: Shit row. Ughh... I'll take the removal.
#13: take a 4 drop...
#14: Wow what a fucking shit draft.
#16: Yet another shit row. ugh... 5 drop? I'll take a 2...
#18: I'll take a good big drop... totem synergy
#19: I have no quality 3s yet... panther it is.
#20: I'll take some card draw.
#22: Just when you thought ti couldn't get worse...
#24: If I'm going to make this work... I'm goign to need to keep my two critical totems up... Let's do this.
#28: Not looking to buff my shitty early cards...

8-3... what?

Paladin Draft 8/12:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Teacher... no question sadly... but
#2: 4 over the 1 drop, though I like both.
#6: Taking the beef over the double earthen.
#7: Yes!! truesilver!!
At 10 I'm feeling pretty good about this draft and the curve that's naturally filling out with quality.
#10: Hmm, taking some damage even though my end game is looking good. Don't believe in pint-sized...
#11: Crappyish row... but taking Noble for board presence.
#12: Dark iron for sure.
#16: All the beef! Gettign ogre 2.
At 19, I need 2s and am full on 4s... Not the best spot to be in.
#19: shit row.. taking a taunt.
#20: I have no spells... so no auctioneer... wrath has upside as I'm a later slanted deck... but is not reliable. I'll take the 3
#22: Hard row... but I'm thinking the weapon will be important to survive to summon my late game...
#23: Need the 2drop... but could use the card draw... hmm, no 2 drop it is.
#24: Crappy row... full up on 4 drops... Harpy it is.
#25: Golem of course.
#26: Hammer over humility... gotta get some draw somewhere...
#28: Who needs consecrate? Let's truesilver the shit out of everyone.
#29: Jesus... I can't take another... Hammer it is.
What a wonky and stilted deck... Oh well. did the best I could. perhaps could've taken some protections, but I'm hoping the truesilvers and hammers carry through midgame.

3-3... got outdecked once vesus triple light spawn, double argent comm, and the 7/7 double healer legendary. lost to failing to guess the mage secret... duplicate really opens that up. ugh...

Rogue Draft 8/12:+ Show Spoiler [Reactions while drafting] +

#1: Crappy legendary row sadly... Why does LJ value captain so highly? It's not a good card... Cleef it is.
#2: Good row! taking tazdingo.
#4: crappy row... gotta take the baby draw value...
#8: 2-drop value!'
#13: Don't feel confident with conceal... taking draw.
#14: Taking frost because I have no 5drops yet.
#18: Eeeek... yeti vs smith... Taking the Yeti, gotta love it.
#19: Taking the pure 3 as I'm low on them.
#20: i ahve no spells, but I'm in a position where I'll be drafting all of the available ones... I hate the concession of golem...
#21: Razor for knife hunter synergy
#22: for cleef synergy and removal.
#24: Could use one more 3... but Cold blood could be awesome... taking the spell...
#26: I like the gargoyle for the upside with cold blood, but I could use a hitter.

[Wk 8] Improving in Fitness, Gaming & Music

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