First off, looking back at 2016 - I got a LOT of niggling little details done - purses and pouches and a nice knife sheath and need wallet and not a little digital work. I’m really happy with what I did get done this year, but the fact remains I’m still walking the woods in modern jeans and blouse. That is going to change this year. This isn't a new skill per se, but more an item that desperately needs to come off my plate.
Goal One: complete a rudimentary kit
Secondly, the big ball I dropped last year was my archery goal - and frankly I need to get out and exercise more anyhow. So fitness generally and WMA-ish specifically is my other big goal next year. I don’t need to be a Ranger: but I want to be reasonably “survival competent†with bow and blade.
Goal Two: Fitness/WMA
There’s lots of other goals I’d like to add - music and art and language - but diffusion is the enemy of completion, so I’m sticking with just those two in 2017. Plus, I suspect life is gonna get kinda full this year, so I’m limiting my plate.
DETAILS
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Nothing helps real progress like nailing down exactly what a goal means, so -
Kit goal
By trekking season this fall, have at LEAST trousers, tunic, cloak, belt, and boots.
My stretch goal is a completed quiver, proper bow and arrows, waterskin, sidearm blade and completed Greg-style bedroll/snapsack setup with carry strap, blanket, and ground cloth.
Most of the clothes and some of the hard kit is already somewhat far along, so I think completing them all by early fall is doable. New bow maybe not, but the rest I think I can make happen.
Fitness/WMA goal
Part 1 (most important): By the first day of fall, be able to make it to the top of the giant behind our farm without stopping for breath.
Part 2: By the first day of fall, be able to get 8 / 10 arrows in an 18†circle from 15 paces.
Forget waiting on perfect period kit - just practice with the darn bow more.
Part 3: … some metric for handling a largish blade with rudimentary competence. I really don’t know how to judge this, and would welcome some advice. Some kind of cutting test?
Finally -
“Achievement Unlocked!†as our godson would say.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
These are five things I *can* do already, but want to put in writing so I’ll get off my butt and make time for at least once in the following year:
* cook one family meal on the hearth inside
* cook one family meal “camp style†outside
* do one little drawing or piece of tengwar calligraphy on a scrap of vellum in period materials as an “in character†memento piece.
* listen to that audiobook reading of the silmarillion all the way through
* make the walking trip to our neighbor’s pond he’s told us about but I’ve never seen. This will take a bit of orienteering from satellite pictures, but it should be a fairly easy day trip.
Whew! That’s enough.
What are y'all up to?