[Wk21] Improving in Fitness, Gaming & Music

About this blog/diary:+ Show Spoiler +

I'm a professional musician and (very) amateur gamer.
Blogging about improving and sticking to a program is very effective for my overall progress!
Having been inspired by Haulvern, I hope this humble blog can motivate another someone in need of positive change.
Thanks for checking this out and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions!

Week preview: The small "staycation" is over.... Time to ramp up to premiering a new piece on the 7th!

Goals for the Week

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

(opt.) Running/Hills/Weighted walk sessions (log):
Be <185b by Dec 20: + Show Spoiler +

            Gaming Goals:
                  Log write-ups of my team's OCC Blood Bowl games (Current Standings):
                  Log write-ups and session prep for my DND 5E Campaign (wiki):
                  Prep & launch new TL and Fever Clan 5e Campaign:
                  Log games/practice for CSGO:

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

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Log daily food intake: (log) (

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Quality challenge-seeking practice session: (

)(

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Weigh-in regularly (log): ( [image loading]

)

Previous Weeks: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.

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Monday 11/24:

Sorry for the late update! The reason for this update being delayed was a beautiful pair of lazy days spent completely indoors with the wife. Over Sunday and Monday, she and I logged a solid 16 hours individually while we setup a new Direwolf20 modded Minecraft server. We've done this before, but this time we're branching out and hosting not just ourselves, but also some co-workers and family. It was a really fun time of just kicking back and chilling together. We ordered pizza from a nearby restaurant our new neighbors suggested, and just generally enjoyed ourselves immensely.

That being said... zero practice or much or anything happened on Sunday. I did manage to get my new month's 5/3/1 program started with a strong Press Day on Monday however! Also managed to eek out some quasi-decent practice. Nothing to write home about, but that's ok. The morning session at work was actually pretty good, so I'll give myself a bronze.

Tuesday 11/25:

In related geekery news, I've made my big purchase for the year (and possibly most of next year...)! Let me preface this by saying I've been researching this peripheral for a good amount of time as I've also been generally interested in racing games. I love going to the arcade and playing good racing games. It's definitely my #2 favorite thing to do after Time Crisis with a buddy. So after seeing some demos for Assetto Corsa, researching sim-rallycross options, and becoming acquainted with the multiplayer options (ala iRacing) I decided to research what it would take to get a good PC driving wheel.

Viola! I almost immediately was introduced to the Logitech G27. My initial feelings were drool-inducing basically. It looks beautiful and functional. I could see exactly how to fit it into my setup with ease. It received basically universal acclaim from all except the extreme enthusiast purists who suggest products 2x-5x the cost (Fanatec or the T500).

On Sunday, the Amazon flash deal on all Logitech peripherals brought the wheel down to it's lowest recorded price on Amazon (according to camelcamelcamel), so I decided to take the plunge. With the extended return dates over the holidays, I'm feeling pretty good about it! If I find that I don't enjoy racing or driving in general, returning it shouldn't be too big of an issue.

At any rate.... I'm chomping at the bit for my wheel to come tomorrow!!! But for now, it's time to practice!

Wednesday 11/26:

Pretty decidedly underwhelmed right now after playing on the controller for a bit.... Grid didn't function properly even with a good bit of finagling, Grid 2 kept me driving and trying to drift in a gamey contrived fashion, R3E didn't feel particular interesting and was super controlling in its setup. All 3 of these I would call frustrating experiences. Euro Truck was frustrating but mainly because I had trouble setting up the controls. It felt good and fun to drive. Also it was more of a challenge than I anticipated!

DLing and setting up RSRBR right now... but right now I'm pretty frustrated and underwhelmed honestly.... We'll see what comes of it.

Thursday 11/27:

Uuugh... I had such high hopes for today... but nothing really came to pass. I had a bout of insomnia and woke up early to give my Logitech some more attention. After 5 solid hours of playing around with it, calibrating it properly, and reviewing the full extent of iRacings Driving School, I decided the driving wheel just wasn't something that was worth the time it would take to acclimate to it. I just wasn't enjoying the feedback, the act of driving with it, or the games that I had available. I've decided, frustrated and more than a little ashamed, to return it and cut my losses. Oh well... what can ya do?

Friday 11/28:

Had a really large fight with the wife today.... I used the fight to hide from my obligations and just throw myself into playing with my brother all day. It wasn't healthy or useful by any approximation. No real practice or mental prep was accomplished and I failed to do my lifting/running. L

Saturday 11/29:

Ugh... gigantic fail week is currently in progress... The morning was fruitful in that I knocked out consecutive practice and exercise sessions while watching Dreamhack. The wife and I went out for lunch, segueing nicely into shopping, and ultimately dropping me off for an afternoon rehearsal. Other than that I played alot of CSGO with my brother. :-)

Sunday 11/30:

Well today was a much better day and a step in the correct general direction. I absolutely killed Squat Day today! The usually troubling 5+ set was dashed aside with a 8 rep effort. Also, the test run for the homemade Glute Ham Raise worked beautifully! This exercise will be enough to challenge me for a long long time. I knocked out two very good practice sessions as well. Time was constrained by the date my wife and I set to watch Interstellar at a mall an hour away (the nearest high quality movie theater). That came out to about a 7 hour time commitment, but was well worth it. We had a blast with the movie and shopping after. It was nice to end this break on an good note given the stress that pervaded the earlier parts of the week.

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CS:GO Reference Section: Loot Timer:

Original Nova 1 Account: Case, Weapon, Case

Nova 2 Alt Account: Case, Weapon

11/25: 5min practice, L on Alt

[Wk21] Improving in Fitness, Gaming & Music

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