Simms

5 books for entertainment: - You have my personal guarantee they're amazing! 1. Dark Matter - Blake Crouch "Are you happy with your life?” Those are the last words Jason Dessen hears before the masked abductor knocks him unconscious. Before he awakens to find himself strapped to a gurney, surrounded by strangers in hazmat suits. Before a man Jason’s never met smiles down at him and says, “Welcome back, my friend.” In this world he’s woken up to, Jason’s life is not the one he knows. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born. And Jason is not an ordinary college physics professor, but a celebrated genius who has achieved something remarkable. Something impossible. Is it this world or the other that’s the dream? And even if the home he remembers is real, how can Jason possibly make it back to the family he loves? The answers lie in a journey more wondrous and horrifying than anything he could’ve imagined—one that will force him to confront the darkest parts of himself even as he battles a terrifying, seemingly unbeatable foe. 2. Wool - Hugh Howey Thousands of them have lived underground. They've lived there so long, there are only legends about people living anywhere else. Such a life requires rules. Strict rules. There are things that must not be discussed. Like going outside. Never mention you might like going outside. Or you'll get what you wish for. 3. The Magicians - Lev Grossman Like everyone else, precocious high school senior Quentin Coldwater assumes that magic isn't real, until he finds himself admitted to a very secretive and exclusive college of magic in upstate New York. There he indulges in joys of college-friendship, love, sex, and booze- and receives a rigorous education in modern sorcery. But magic doesn't bring the happiness and adventure Quentin thought it would. After graduation, he and his friends stumble upon a secret that sets them on a remarkable journey that may just fulfill Quentin's yearning. But their journey turns out to be darker and more dangerous than they'd imagined. 4. Six of Crows - Leigh Bardugo Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist: Break into the notorious Ice Court (a military stronghold that has never been breached) Retrieve a hostage (who could unleash magical havoc on the world) Survive long enough to collect his reward (and spend it) Kaz needs a crew desperate enough to take on this suicide mission and dangerous enough to get the job done - and he knows exactly who: six of the deadliest outcasts the city has to offer. Together, they just might be unstoppable - if they don't kill each other first. 5. Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his will. Nobody fights the Epics...nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them. And David wants in. He wants Steelheart — the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning — and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience. He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

Day #25 - Thursday Last night I started talking to my GF about @Mhyrion's experience with a 30 hour relapse and how it's a reminder of how gaming can takeover your life. How dangerous I feel it is to me, and I told her about my uncle's addiction post and how I think gaming is as bad as heroin. She was dismissive of it and said something along the line's of "It's nowhere near as bad as heroin, why don't you just setup specific times to play with your friends and only play then? I've seen you do it before with other things." Needless to see I didn't react well and we had some angry words... Once we'd settled down I realized I haven't shared much, if anything of this journey with her. I realized what set me off is her complete dismissal of my position because of the way I'd presented it. Heroin is too strong a hyperbole for life destroying, but as I thought about it more I wasn't willing to give it up. I want to shift things over to alcohol - I had issues with it when I was younger. Issues so bad I quit drinking completely for a year. - I've since made the decision to drink responsibly - but in 2016 I didn't drink at all just for fitness reasons and it was no issue. - The thing about alcoholism is it's manageable... until it's not. Then it messes up your life and things can get really, really bad. I think the issue with gaming addiction is, at a low level it ruins your life slowly but taking up all your time, and focused energy. But it never creates a "rock bottom" that pushes a call to action. - Being unemployed and living in your parents basement sucks... but it's not the kind of existence threatening problem that creates bold reasons to change. In a way, it wasn't until I faced my issues with liquor that I realized I had issues with my life and identity. Gaming was never a big enough threat to warrant exterminating... yet here it is, constantly wasting my time and my life. I had trouble with mindless surfing today. - Pretty much a wasted day at work which is creating stress for me. I worked so hard Monday / Tuesday - Did ok Wednesday and now wasted Thursday. I'm going to have to work Saturday to stay on top of my projects and it sucks... Sometimes I wish I'd never heard of the internet. Spent time reading about Magic again. - Dangerous cravings. - I need an outlet for downtime that is "passive but engaging..." reading is too much energy. TV is too mindless. Is napping a hobby? Monday - Stronglifts - Check Tuesday - Boxing - Climbing - Check and Check. - Hardest day of the week right here Wednesday - Stronglifts Check Thursday - Climbing Check Friday - Stronglifts Saturday - Rest Sunday - Climb Gratitude journal My firm for hosting a wonderful farewell lunch for an ex-employee. - It's nice to see how we value our people. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Friend reached out - Him and his wife are going to come stay with us next week and we're going skiing! Wooo. Workout/run Climbing 1.5x hours. - Working the 5.12a - Can get about 1/4 of the way up... progress? Reading + taking notes Reading on hold this week, too much to do. What went well today: Climbing, setting things up with friend. Reflections. What I could have done to make my day better: Throw my damn phone in a pond. Misc thoughts and plans: Figure out something to do when I'm feeling bored... I hear Cam has some resources. - Look into it. Read a lot about the crossfit games. Might enter those next year, - my mom is doing it this year in the master's category and is having a great time. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 2x stronglifts - 2x climb Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 15 day streak - Wow... knew I was downsloping today - forgot to strategize and got destroyed. - Lesson there. Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. NEW - Work hard to the end of April. - Be proud of what I've accomplished. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Found a suitable project Sunday... will it be up long enough. /sigh NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Dropping these two as not in line with my current goals and commitment level. To revisit later.

Love your perspective on finding yourself so busy through other things it's hard to keep up. - Living life, being engaged. Love it. Glad to see things are still going well, and that you plan to check in from time to time!

Thank you again for sharing your journey, it's inspirational. Those last few posts are a rollercoaster. Very glad to hear you've found a happy peak again. So good you have the support in your life too. Keep up the good work!

Day #24 - Wednesday Had my phone and it resulted in some mindless surfing. Time for another day in the car? I think so...Through the mindless surfing I came across a post my uncle made about addiction. - He was an alcoholic and worse for many years and has been sober for well over 20 now. He NEVER imbibes. To the point he got upset, very upset, when there was some cooking wine in a dish he tasted. - The smallest things, he knows where it can lead and has made the commitment to himself not to walk that road. I'm starting to realize just what a battle addiction is. - This isn't something to "cut back on", or revisit in 90 days. This is a choice, between one life, or another. Monday - Stronglifts - Check Tuesday - Boxing - Climbing - Check and Check. - Hardest day of the week right here Wednesday - Stronglifts Check Thursday - Climbing Friday - Stronglifts Saturday - Rest Sunday - Climb Gratitude journal My parents for never giving up on me. - It wasn't a straight path to where I am today, and I wouldn't have made it without 2nd... and 3rd chances. And their continued support to this day. One amazing thing that happened/I did today GF took the dogs to work, so I walked over and said hello! I think it helped them acclimatize. Now they think... ohhh when someone comes in, it might be him! Workout/run Squats 5x5 - 160 Bench 5x5 - 130 Bent Rows 5x5 - 125 Reading + taking notes Reading on hold this week, too much to do. What went well today: Good work. Good reflection. Good walk. What I could have done to make my day better: Shouldn't have eaten a whole bag of M&M's. A big bag. Eep. Misc thoughts and plans: Sleep better! ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 2x stronglifts - 1x climb Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 14 day streak - Starting to see some trends. - Scary part is I may be downsloping - so... effort to rise above? Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. NEW - Work hard to the end of April. - Be proud of what I've accomplished. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Found a suitable project Sunday... will it be up long enough. /sigh NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Dropping these two as not in line with my current goals and commitment level. To revisit later.

Day #23 - Tuesday Another rough night sleeping. The aches and pains have been accumulating and I think they're have an effect. Good day at work. Basically just left... late night. - Took two good breaks for exercise. Did very little mindless surfing today. - Forgot to leave my phone in the car. - Turned it off and left it in my jacket. I like leaving it in the car more, just removes the willpower factor, one less thing to think about. Monday - Stronglifts - Check Tuesday - Boxing - Climbing - Check and Check. - Hardest day of the week right here Wednesday - Stronglifts Thursday - Climbing Friday - Stronglifts Saturday - Rest Sunday - Climb Gratitude journal Past me for helping future me all this week. - Putting out clothes and making lunch decisions ahead of time is a big help. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Checked in with my dad about our trip. He's very excited, going to be great! Workout/run Boxing Class. 1.5 hours climbing. Meditation I think I'm done with meditation. - some days I love it, most I hate it... not feeling the positive. Reading + taking notes Reading on hold this week, too much to do. What went well today: Made it through a really tough day. What I could have done to make my day better: Spend some time helping tomorrow me... still a little time left. Misc thoughts and plans: Nothing for today lol ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 1x stronglifts - 1x climb Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 13 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. NEW - Work hard to the end of April. - Be proud of what I've accomplished. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Found a suitable project Sunday... will it be up long enough. /sigh NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Dropping these two as not in line with my current goals and commitment level. To revisit later.

I had a strong emotional reaction to seeing this story. - It's so often written with the roles reversed... a guy who's developed feelings for a friend and creates inconceivable pressure on their relationship when he reveals his feelings for her, forever changing the dynamic. It's tough writing longer replies to your posts. - I find myself lost in thought, "thought provoking", as they say and have to write, and re-write to put any ideas with a coherent structure together. Strong emotions... but don't know what to make of them. I admire your commitment to walk your own path. And that you're working hard, searching for it.

After a week away hope you're still going strong. - Hope to see you back soon.

Day #22 - Monday Had a terrible nights sleep. Forced myself out of bed and got into work. - Had a pretty good day. Afraid I'm going to burn out this week with the ambitious activity schedule and the hot start out of the gates. Going to take a lot of focus and shaping the path to make it work. Started chipping away at all the ice around the sidewalk with the nice day we're having. Hope the week continues like the forecast says and I can get it down to bare pavement. Left my phone in the car today to cut down on distractions at work. It helped about 75%. Still wasted a solid hour with mindless browsing, but that's way down from Friday's like.. 3 hours. - Craving Zelda Breath of the Wild pretty bad. - I feel like it'll never go away. Confession time: Spent a lot of time over the weekend reading about Magic The Gathering. - I haven't played the game in over 10 years... just craving some mindless thing with depth. Started reading articles... watching youtube. WTF brain. Monday - Stronglifts - Check Tuesday - Boxing - Climbing Wednesday - Stronglifts Thursday - Climbing Friday - Stronglifts Saturday - Rest Sunday - Climb Gratitude journal Yesterday me for packing a lunch, making this plan, and making the right choice with the day. One amazing thing that happened/I did today The work I didn't do Sunday I got done today, and then I got ahead a little bit. Still behind where I want to be in the week, but I can see getting there tomorrow. Then I'm back on track and can get a little ahead... Having the rest day planned for Saturday gives me something to look forward to. I can spend the day reading... books... watching tv. Whatever I want guilt free. - Do plan to go visit a co-worker and meet her new puppy! Taking my white dog over to socialize, fun !! Workout/run Squats 5x5 - 155 OHP 5x5 - 90 Deadlift 1x5 - 175 Meditation I think I'm done with meditation. - some days I love it, most I hate it... not feeling the positive. Reading + taking notes Reading on hold this week, too much to do. What went well today: Work. Following through.What I could have done to make my day better: Not a lot... well done day!Misc thoughts and plans: Keep it up - stay engaged this week. - One of the most difficult weeks I'm going to have - Rough weekend leads to challenging week. Have a reason to look forward to the weekend. Don't waste a day.****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 1x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 12 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. NEW - Work hard to the end of April. - Be proud of what I've accomplished. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Found a suitable project Sunday... will it be up long enough. /sigh NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Dropping these two as not in line with my current goals and commitment level. To revisit later.

Welcome back. It's cool to see people who've been down the road already take time reflect and decide to return.

Day #21 - Sunday 3 weeks deep. Big changes in physical activity levels. - On the upswing instead of thinking every day about how I'm losing fitness. I want to have a work week to blow the doors off. - Need to get some projects moved along that are lagging a bit. Focus of next week will be work, need to plan fitness around that and then plan a sanity break on the weekend. It means a double Tuesday, but I think that works. Monday - Stronglifts Tuesday - Boxing - Climbing Wednesday - Stronglifts Thursday - Climbing Friday - Stronglifts Saturday - Rest Sunday - Climb Can do this. - This is a reasonable plan. - Checkin with it each day. Gratitude journal The weather for turning back towards warm. I don't like the cold. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Cleared the snow off the walk. The sun baking in the coming week will make it perfect. Workout/run Squats 5x5 - 150 Bench 5x5 - 125 Bent Row 5x5 - 120 Climbing Class Meditation N/A today Reading + taking notes N/A What went well today: Sleeping - ChoresWhat I could have done to make my day better: Get more sleep tonight - Get to bed early.Misc thoughts and plans: Didn't get into work. Now I'm stressed I'm behind and that's going to build. - One workout planned for tomorrow to relieve stress there. - Goal is to have a good day, get that stress level down and set the rest of the week up for success. Sleep well, recover well, be well.****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 3x climb, 3x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 11 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. NEW - Work hard to the end of April. - Be proud of what I've accomplished. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip.

Day #20 - Saturday Another quick update. - Still sick - Spent the day mostly in bed watching TV.Gratitude journal General healthy life. - Moments when I'm not healthy remind me how good things are when I am. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Move my car before the GF got home. The little things... Workout/run Rest dayMeditation N/A today Reading + taking notes N/A What went well today: SleepingWhat I could have done to make my day better: Be more kind to my poor body.Misc thoughts and plans: Need to get into work tomorrow. - Need to have a better march. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 2x climb, 2x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 10 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. NEW - Be in excellent condition for June mountain trip.

Day #19 - Friday It's day 19 and I'm sick. - Spent much of the day reading about games from my past. It helped me pass the time. And that's time I'll never have back.Gratitude journal Henry Rollins One amazing thing that happened/I did today I did my workout. - I didn't want to. Would rather throw up and just lay around - but I did it. Workout/run Squats 5x5 - 145 OHP 5x5 - 85 Deadlifts 1x5 - 165 Meditation N/A today Reading + taking notes N/A What went well today: I worked out. Doing up the charts of where I could be at the end of this IF I FOLLOW THROUGH helped motivate. I knew that getting off the rails today was 5 lbs I lose all the way down the line.What I could have done to make my day better: Not have had 2 beers yesterday. Only made today worse.Misc thoughts and plans: Is there a 20 day flu in this program? I'm not the first person I've noticed to get sick around this time. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 2x climb, 1x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 7 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Dates set in stone. Sent my brother a text today to see if he wants to join our group. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Day #18 - Thursday Rough day. - Didn't get much accomplished at work. - Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. Mindless surfing. You get the idea. Been reading a lot of journals and posts in general. - A personal goal: I want to promote more inclusiveness and an openness of thought in my actions at GQ. Some of the existential posts I read make me feel unwelcome on the site. I happened to join up on the site around the same time as @SabreCat - here's a person who came right out and asked: "Is this a boy's club?" and bared some very personal parts of his soul. - He got passive aggressive'd by a veteran of this community and hasn't been back since. I wrote just 2 days ago about how some guys in MY COMMUNITY made me feel like shit by acting like bros at the climbing wall. At the climbing wall I'm strong. In life I'm strong, and if I'd needed to, I'll tell those guys where they can fuck right off to. A big part of my growing up in life is coming terms to the fact that I'd rather grow community than tear it down. I don't need to tell off every jackass around me off. - To be honest, I'd rather engage with them, and maybe we can find some common ground. Maybe I can help them grow, maybe they're a diamond in the rough. As there aren't all that many replies in the thread, I want to assure @Schwing and @WorkInProgress they aren't the focus of my ire. That being said, I'm not some bleeding liberal that wants to promote inclusiveness for the sake of inclusiveness. - I feel like gaming addiction transcends boundaries like politics. This is something that is literally fucking up my life. I don't want a single person that is actually looking for help, to not feel like they're welcome on the best resource that's available for even a single moment. If the target of this whole spiel happens to read this... I challenge him to consider how he's contributing to building this community up. This whole place is an opportunity to become something better. It's not a straight line, but what happens when you wander so far from the path you can no longer see it at all? My journal, my rant. Gratitude journal The iron. 200 lbs will always be 200 lbs. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Someone mistook me for a local today at the store... wait... I am a local. - /happy Workout/run Climbing - 1.5 hoursMeditation N/A today Reading + taking notes Listened to some Words of Radiance. Couldn't focus today. What went well today: Very little.What I could have done to make my day better: Almost anything.Misc thoughts and plans: WTF happened between yesterday writing and today.****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 2x climb, 1x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 7 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Dates set in stone. Sent my brother a text today to see if he wants to join our group. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Day #17 - Wednesday Day went great til noon, then something just broke in my head. No matter what tricks, walks I took, music I put on, I couldn't get back on track. Shut things down at 4:30 even though I had tons of work left to do. Frustrated... normally this would result in heading straight home, firing up the Xbox and playing Halo until going to bed. It's only on reflection right now that I truly appreciate just how much taking that "option" away has improved my quality of life. Even with the afternoon of work basically a wash, I managed to follow through on some goals. Stopped at the post office, picked up the 5kg bag of protein I'd ordered. If you've never seen a 5kg (11 pounds) sack of protein... it's big. Comically big. I'd just run out of unflavoured for my smoothies so the timing of it showing up was great. Went over to Canadian Tire to buy some ice melt and an ice chopper to clear the driveway. Got home, played with the dogs, and got down to work. Clearing set ice from a driveway is an insane workout, and my shoulders already kill from boxing yesterday. An inner fire to get it done after losing the afternoon powered me though. The pups started picking up their feet it was so cold so I put them inside until I'd finished. Standing at the end of the driveway. Bare pavement on display gave me a great feeling of satisfaction. Went back to the house, grabbed the dogs and we did a loop around the neighbourhood. Crushed my workout... had a smoothie, and now I'm reflecting here. For a day that easily could and probably would have been a trainwreck, I feel reinvigorated and ready to attack tomorrow. Gratitude journal The gamequitters community for providing a platform to reflect, share, and learn. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Making something good out of a day that had "nothing" written all over it. Workout/run Squat 5x5 - 140 Bench 5x5 - 120 Bent row 5x5 - 115 Snow shoveling! Meditation 5 minutes, breath awareness just before writing all this. Mind was very scattered. Sometimes I think about meditation like a night of sleep where I've woken up a dozen times. instead of waking up, I note the general feeling of how much my mind wandered. Today, like many previous, it was a lot. Reading + taking notes Started listening to Words of Radiance again. - Might start a new book on the weekend, need to look at my options. What went well today: 4 good hours of work. Amazing afternoon What I could have done to make my day better: Pack lunch ahead of time. Ended up wasting time on news sites again. - Come up with better strategies for when the day is getting away from me. Misc thoughts and plans: I feel strong again. Something is building. Stoking the fire****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 1x climb, 1x stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 6 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Dates set in stone. Sent my brother a text today to see if he wants to join our group. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Great work taking action selling the Xbox! That commitment makes all the difference. Look forward to seeing where your journey takes you.

Would love to see an update, how's the week going man?

I saw you expressed some doubts about becoming an engineer. Becoming a cog, losing your identity. I hope I can offer some encouragement: My grandpa is an engineer, two of my uncle's are engineer's, one of my cousins is an engineer, my dearest friend is an engineer, my girlfriend works for an engineering firm, and last but not least my brother is an engineer. A trait they all share in common is their ability to look at problems and come up with solutions. The force of their personalities, the credibility that comes with their training, it's a great combination that can help you in all areas of your life. I hope you continue pursing it! An intangible benefit you may not have considered is: Being an engineer, you can get a job nearly ANYWHERE. Municipal governments in the smallest towns need engineers, the biggest centers in the world employ engineers where you can make the career your life, alternatively you can life in a tiny mountain town and play hard ;). It offers flexibility and professional satisfaction that is nearly unmatched. So it's been a little over a week since your weights arrived. I saw you had a brutal / semi-brutal time of some things with the workout you posted: This one ? Any updates on your progress there? Still a priority? If you want any thoughts on how much weight to do with some of these exercises, please let me know and I'd love to chat about it! Sucky thing about getting into weights is the first two weeks are hell. Your body will feel like you were hit by a train sometimes. Sitting in a chair will be an exercise in agony, and outwardly nothing appears wrong. - After two weeks the soreness fades, and if you're consistent you won't feel much if anything at all again. After about 4 weeks you'll start feeling ... power for a lack of a better word. And it will radiate out in everything you do.

Day #16 - Tuesday Had the first legit "rad" mood for a couple hours this morning at work. Just felt unstoppable. Crushed through a bunch of difficult work that had been building and creating stress through the building. Had a boxing, circuit style fitness class over lunch. It's been on hiatus the past two weeks and my hope was the workouts would keep it from completely kicking my ass. - Not quite the case, but felt like I gave it a better effort than before we went into the break. Still feeling good through the afternoon. Got more things done, in a good place moving forward with the week. Went climbing after work and had an awful experience. It was super busy in the gym. I'm still fairly new to the area, so I jumped on a rope, easy 5.8 to warm up. Got about 3/4 of the way up and my GF and one of the staff are shouting at me, I look down and the staff half-heartedly yells "DON'T CLIMB ON THE ROPE NEXT TO ANOTHER CLIMBER WHEN THEY'RE LEADING." I look to my left at a guy hanging on the wall on a take, clearly leading, and give a thumbs up to the staffer. I've basically already passed the guy so he says don't worry about it. My girlfriend being a decent human being tells them: Sorry, we didn't know. One of the bro's hanging out with the guy belaying replies: "Whatever, not our problem if he gets rocked when buddy takes a fall." Something just so utterly toolish and offensive she was speechless. I get down not knowing this and was gonna say something along the lines of "sorry" and they turn away and he starts doing superman push-ups against the wall... I turn away and sort of shrug it off as a wtf moment until I hear what they said to my GF... super unimpressed. For all they know we're new to the sport and they've just turned us off forever by being complete tools. My blood is boiling about it still, so had to vent. It's tough to "learn" something in a very negative way. The odd thing is "mood-wise" I still feel good. - It took longer than I'd like during the rest of the climb to shake the negative vibes from the bro-patrol, but just looking inwards and spending time with the GF... it was a good day. Read a lot about Zelda: Breath of the Wild today. - It's so weird to do this whole write-up about the important things in my day, then think about the time spent reading about videogame related stuff. It seems so out of place. Out of sync with life. - There's an idea there I want to explore more, just need to poke around the edges of it to find what exactly it is. Gratitude journal The staff member for teaching me more about the gym we frequent. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Fought my way up a tough 11b/c with a ton of takes on top-rope that I couldn't get 1/2 way up before starting all this. - Progress! Workout/run Boxing class Climbing! Meditation 5 minutes, breath awareness in the morning, might have helped contribute to the rad morning... hrrrrm. Reading + taking notes Not reading anything. What went well today: Had a solid 8 hours of productive work.What I could have done to make my day better: Pack lunch ahead of time. Ended up wasting time on news sites again. Misc thoughts and plans: Got a week's vacation planned out in July. Would be nice if I've worked so hard from now until then that it's a well deserved "rest week"****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - So far 1x climb Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 5 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friends gonna let me know when the first Demo days start up. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Boooooooooooooooooked. OMG. 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Day #15 - Monday Pretty boring day. - Work went pretty well. - Worked late. Feeling tired. - Managed to pull a download of my stronglifts over the past 3 years. - Best streak was 30 workouts in 3 months. Aiming, and on track to knock the doors off that. Planning some scrambles around the local trails to start building fitness for ascents, all the extra light in long days is fantastic. Buddies wanna play Halo and I'm having trouble saying no. Already envisioning a beer fueled Friday night. Amazing how easy it is to rationalize behavior. Gratitude journal The white dog for being the cutest. The black dog for being my love. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Made sense of the most difficult GST situation I've ever had to sort through. - Line your reporting periods up with your year end, ahhhhhhhh. Workout/run Rest day.Meditation Time to get back to it. 5 minutes, breath awareness. Reading + taking notes Not reading anything. What went well today: Had a solid 8 hours of productive work.What I could have done to make my day better: Had 2 unproductive hours. Could have packed more food. Misc thoughts and plans: The news doesn't add anything to my life. Time to drop it too. Did a quick exercise with my facebook feed - Looked at the first 10 items displayed: 1 - Video from yesterday's Canadian National Bouldering championships. - Interesting but not something I'm interested in watching. 2 - Ad for Whistler Blackcomb - Don't care 3 - High School friend I haven't talked to in 10 years posting picture of kids. - Scrolled right past. 4 - Old work friend "interested" in an Infant CPR course - Scrolled right past. 5 - For some reason the same as #3... 6 - Ad for Marmot basin - Don't care... 7 - Friend liked My Sunshine Creations? Some dinosaur kids stuff. Scrolled right past. 8 - Ad for Travelphotoswiki Busabout? No idea what that is. - Scrolled right past. 9 - Oilersnation post about Senior Hockey - Rolls eyes, scrolls past. 10 - Old work friend posted a travel meme... So in 10 posts, 1 thing I'm vaugely interested in, 1 I'd normally care about but was pushing their credibility to build awareness of a fringe league, and 8 garbage. That's probably better than the signal to noise ratio I got on reddit too... I need some way to fill downtime / take a break. My brain is so hardwired to flip through the internet I can't think of anything else to do. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x Journal daily - So far, so good. Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 4 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friend LOVES mountain biking. - Going to follow his advice and spend the year renting high end stuff to see what I like. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Vacation approved, gonna chat with dad tonight - then it's booked! 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Day #14 - Sunday Totally exhausted when I woke up this morning. So glad I managed to get 9-1/2 hours of sleep. A little bit hungover from being out last night. Dinner with friends last night went great - They're old friends and we got to catch up on a lot of things. They gave me some good natured shit for not setting up Halo nights anymore. I danced around it. They were only in town for the weekend and headed back to their hometowns today. Had a nice chat with dad as the snow fell like crazy outside. He made his way back home too. Had a really hard time today when they started bouncing around playing Halo in our google group. It's the primary way we keep in touch. Managed to not play by working out and watching a couple hours of TV. It felt good to recharge the batteries with some mindless entertainment. The past 2 weeks have been a ton of effort, physically and mentally. Started a climbing skills course tonight. The group of people seem great, looking forward to seeing where it takes me. Gratitude journal Tadashi for being an amazing climbing instructor. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Went for a nice walk with the dogs in the foot of snow we've gotten over the weekend. Workout/run Squats 5x5 - 135 OHP 5x5 - 80 Deads 1x5 - 155 Climbed for 2 hours with some instruction. No hard routes. Lots of mindfullness exercises on feet and body position. Meditation N/A today. Reading + taking notes Finished listening to Red Queen today. - Pretty good twist ending. - In hindsight I should have seen it coming. It retroactively fixed a lot of the things that were bugging me that were accumulating as plot holes. What went well today: Walking the dogs, working out, getting most chores started.What I could have done to make my day better: I didn't achieve my weekly writing goal. Instead of pushing through and getting it done, I went and watched 3 episodes of TV. Could have been time better spent. Misc thoughts and plans: Sundays - weekly reflection Left the hardest part of my weekly goals until Sunday. Not making it easy for success. - Fell down on it this week. Dad's very excited about alpine trip. Keep him on track doing some training. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - Skiing Sunday - Week complete with 4x Climb, 3x Stronglifts - Skied Saturday Journal daily - So far, so good. New for the week: Complete character arc worksheets for three protagonists. - Pushed to next week Track mood daily at least twice on Daylio: So far - 3 day streak Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Friend LOVES mountain biking. - Going to follow his advice and spend the year renting high end stuff to see what I like. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Vacation approved, gonna chat with dad tonight - then it's booked! 3 Month Goal Top-rope a 5.12a successfully on the tall wall. Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. - May need to evaluate if novel work is realistic with work and physical committments. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts.

Day #13 - Saturday Got up early, made our way to the ski-hill early. - Good thing, it was crazy backed up on the highway and the parking lot was FULL by the end of the day. Cars all the way down a 6km access road to the highway. Had a great day skiing. Amazing snow conditions and it cleared out into bluebird skies for a couple hours. The nice thing about having quit gaming is I wasn't distracted at all during the day thinking about what I was going to play in the evening, or what game related "achievement" I needed to chase later. Knee is giving me some trouble, I need to spend more time on stabilizer exercises to strengthen it. Planned to go climbing with some friends from the city, but with the roads in bad shape they didn't make it out. Went with my GF anyway and had a pretty good day. Feel very worn out right now and still have a dinner to meet up with other friends later to go to. Gratitude journal Dad and GF for a great ski day. One amazing thing that happened/I did today Wasn't cold all day. Been enjoying skiing less and less lately due to the cold temps. Nice to have a great day. Workout/run Climbed for an hour and a half. Worked a couple different 5.11's again. Already wrecked. More mileage. No progress to speak of. Need a rest day shortly.Meditation N/A today. Reading + taking notes No reading today. What went well today: Ski Climb What I could have done to make my day better: Sleep in tomorrow. - Sleep debt catching up. Misc thoughts and plans: Sundays - weekly reflection Left the hardest part of my weekly goals until Sunday. Not making it easy for success. Dad's very excited about alpine trip. Keep him on track doing some training. ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - Skiing Sunday - So far 3x Climb, 2x Stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. New for the week: Complete character arc worksheets for three protagonists. Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Good chats with people at work for options, going to investigate some closeby towns too. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Vacation approved, gonna chat with dad tonight - then it's booked! 3 Month Goal Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Did some work "scribing" then re-writing a scene. Went fairly well. Need to devote more time to it.

Love the story, love the passion, look forward to seeing more.

Thanks for sharing, the change is day & night. Congratulations. - So amazing how much one can accomplish by setting aside videogames.

Day #12 - Friday Got into work at a decent hour, had a very slow day. - Weird for this time of year. Need to get moving or it's going to bite me later in the month. Was completely distracted. - Wouldn't allow myself to focus, consumed by flipping from one app to another on my phone, flipping through the news over and over and over again. Bad habit. Need to extend the reddit disconnect to the news and put the phone away for the day. Nothing is so important it can't wait til 5. Emergencies ... people have my work phone number. Saw @Hitaru mention an app called Daylio to track moods. - I've thought about doing this for a long time and haven't followed through. This app is so simple, it's exactly what I'm looking for! Here's hoping it's a positive tool in my journey. My dad's coming down tonight and we plan to go skiing tomorrow. There's a snowfall warning in effect: Fingers crossed for epic powder day. Gratitude journal Work caters lunches on Fridays during tax season. Grateful for the wonderful people who got together and the great food today! One amazing thing that happened/I did today Had a great conversation with my GF. Animated, fun, managed to touch on American politics without it becoming a trainwreck then kept chatting about life, the universe, and everything. The politics are something she's very passionate about and I haven't been willing to really talk about them much at all. I tried to put a succinct philosophy together of what it is I love about her in @Schwing's daily journal and it really helped remind me how much she means to me. Workout/run Climbed for an hour and a half. Worked a couple different 5.11's. Got absolutely wrecked by each... which is fine. Getting a feel for things, no specific process right now except mileage. Get in the gym, do the work.Meditation 5 minutes - breath awareness - simple. Reading + taking notes Listened to more Red Queen. - Getting close to the end - Need to decide if I'm going to continue the series. What went well today: Fun chats with co-workers. Good climb. Great evening with GF. Got vacation requests figured out! What I could have done to make my day better: Put the phone away at work. Focus. Misc thoughts and plans: Sundays - weekly reflection ****************************************************************************************************************** Weekly Goal(s) - Monday start Climb 2x, Stronglifts 3x - Skiing Sunday - So far 2x Climb, 2x Stronglifts Journal daily - So far, so good. New for the week: Complete character arc worksheets for three protagonists. Monthly Goal Information gathering on buying a mountain bike. - Visit the bike shops in town. Good chats with people at work for options, going to investigate some closeby towns too. Use Training for the New Alpinism to assist in shaping training plan. Got the book on my nightstand. It's screaming to be used. Get cost estimate for 11,000er guide. Vacation approved, gonna chat with dad tonight - then it's booked! 3 Month Goal Climb 1x technical, 1x non-technical 11,000er in the Canadian Rockies. May need to bump part of this out to 6 months. Outline novel. Chunking this. Creating manageable pieces relating to it in my weekly goals. Do an editing pass of one of my shorts. Did some work "scribing" then re-writing a scene. Went fairly well. Need to devote more time to it.