Life Snap Shot in Character Sheet Form

*cue reality I've been trying to avoid*

I decided to take a look at one aspect of my life I've been ignoring lately.  My weight.  I pretty much took the - no strenuous exercise for a month (post getting my appendix out) and extended it to apply for 9 almost 10 months.  So hear I am.  25 lbs heavier than I started the year out at and 5 lbs less than the weight I topped the scale at back in 2008.  I could try and claim that surgery is what threw me off, and sure, it did.  But then I chose not to get back on.  I had a few streaks of good behavior health-wise intermixed with a whole lot of lazy in the exercise category and too much over-indulgence in the food category.  I've undone two years of weight loss in ten months.  That's not acceptable.  2008 was the first year I ended lighter than I started.  2009 was the second.  2010 was the third.  2011 is supposed to be the fourth.  I don't want my steak to end.  This means I have to kick my butt in gear.  No more couch sitting for me.

My darling Kaylee has been helping me in this endeavor.  My dear cat thinks that she is a dog.  She likes to go for walks (in harness and leech).  In fact, she likes it so much, that if you forget to take her, she will sit by the door and meow until you remember.  [She also plays fetch...]  So we've gone for daily walks the last few days and she is getting braver in her exploration.  The dogs out walking don't seem to phase her, even when they bark up a storm - just the cars (which I'd rather that fear not be overcome - things that can squish you are good to fear).

I also got a morning workout in. 6 miles on the bike in 30 minutes and then 2 sets of 15 reps on each part of the weight gym thing (I really should find out what that thing is called) - with the exception of the hanging crunchy spot - I only did 5 reps of that - really need to work on that one.

Then I went back to the gym after work.  It was the season premiere of Biggest Loser.  Thus, my butt was moving in the gym for the two hour duration of the show.  The only way I can catch the show as it airs is by being in the gym.  It serves as great motivation for me and ensures that I keep moving for 2 hours straight.  It will be my one regular long workout each week (the others being more like 30-60 minutes at a time).  So I spent the two hours between the elliptical and bike and clocked another 20.6 miles.

For a total of 2 hrs 45 minutes in the gym & 26.6 miles. :)

I'm still trying to find a way to track my progress that makes it entertaining for me.  And I think that I have found one.  I am part of a gaming group that meets every Friday to do Table Top Role Playing Games.  I love it and have so much fun building my characters and leveling them up.  So it got me thinking.  What if I took one of the character sheets and made a character of myself?  I can level up as I earn experience in various things.  Sounds like fun, right?  I thought so.  So here is my character sheet [I used an Amber character sheet as my base].  So a -25 stat means it is the best of the best.  Think Olympic athletes or geniuses inventing amazing things.  Will say -30 is your couch potato.  So I'll put my endurance at a -29: I've got a bit more endurance than your average couch potato - I've got 2 half-marathons walking under my belt, but I'm not yet up to minor athlete endurance - I still get winded if you make me run for more than a block - *note the walking bit.  For Psyc I'd put myself around a -25.  Strength... hmmm... I can lift some weights, but I'm probably still a bit under average.  So I'll say -28 for that one.  My mathematical brain wants to put me at a -27 for warfare.  I'll start out with no stuff.  As for my pooled points, I'll figure out where to put those later.

Point pool: 70

Name:  Natalie      Gender: Female      Age: 27   Height: 5'9"     Weight: 271 lbs.
Hair: Brown          Eyes:  Greenish-Brown          Skin:  Pale       Body type:  Couch Potato hiding curves

Endurance: -29
Psyc: -25
Strength: -28
Warfare (Strategy & Tactics): -27
Stuff: 0

Self description:
Hmmm... unique and highly contagious laugh, optimistic, quirky, geek, loves life, crafty, creative, friendly, outgoing, sometimes klutzy (probably more often than I think), wife, sister, aunt, loud, and odd.

Your shadow:
Earth [Note:  I am not making a fat joke.  Shadows in this RPG don't refer to the ones you cast.  They refer to the place you live. :p]

Npc:
Bevan - my darling husband
Kaylee - my dear cat

Artifact:
My monkey sticker-ed laptop that connects me to the world wide web.

Friends:
You.

Enemies:
Well hidden?



~*~*~*~
So that's my starting sheet.  I'll have to think up a point system for leveling up.  I think I'll have some fun with this.  240s here I come!  This might be fun to write up like an adventure too... creative writing plot bunny - captured. :)

*skips off to bed, exhausted*

Woodburning and Pai Sho

Last Sunday I bought a new toy. I've been having a bit of fun with my new wood burner. I've only done a bit of practicing so far to figure out how a few of the 11 tips work. I'm loving it. I've already ordered the 108 blank round wood discs I will need to make Pai Sho pieces. For those of you who don't know, Pai Sho is a fictional game played by the characters in Avatar: The Last Airbender (an American animated T.V. series). From the various screen shots and in series use of the game several fans have worked out some playable rules for Pai Sho. I've been following the progress on creating the (unofficial) variations of the game and really want to play it for myself. So the plan is to make a set of the tiles and a travel board (either laminated paper or maybe an imprinted/burned/embossed animal hide) at first. Eventually I plan on making an actual Pai Sho table - I figure it would function as a pretty coffee table when not in use for games.

I've also been looking at making a piecepack (follow the link to learn more). A piecepack is the following set of game pieces:
24 tiles (square):
one tile per suit/value pair
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (but I've seen different suits and plan on making a themed piecepack)
values are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
faces are marked with value at center and a small suit symbol at top-left, both in color to match suit
backs are marked with small black crosses to suggest a division into four square quarters

24 coins (round):
one tile per suit/value pair
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (again, I'm planning on using a theme set of suits)
values are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
faces are marked with value in black (aces are spiral symbols)
backs are marked with suit in appropriate color
both fronts and backs are marked with a small mark near the edge to indicate direction

4 dice (cubic):
one die per suit
suits are Suns, Moons, Crowns, Arms (I'll be changing the suits to fit my theme)
values on each die are null, ace, 2, 3, 4, 5
die sides are marked with value in color to match suit

4 pawns (non-specific shape):
one pawn per color (I'm thinking 2 male and 2 female pawn people)

So I need to figure out what theme to use.
Theme: Possible Suits
Star Wars: Imperial Cog, Rebel Alliance Symbol, Mythosaur skull (symbol of the Mand'alor), Sith Symbol, Jedi Symbol - I think the only issue with this one would be picking which four symbols to use
Avatar - The Last Airbender: Earth, Water, Air, Fire - this one was easy
Harry Potter: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw (might have to save this for a House Cup project)
Firefly: Hands of Blue (blue), Brown Coat(brown), Wash's Dinos (orange), Vera (silver), cupcake dress (pink)
The fandom list goes on...

Also I am currently reading The Great Book of Amber by Roger Zelazny - which includes all 10 books in the Amber Chronicles, because a friend of mine recommended it. I've already finished book one and am definitely enjoying it.