Don't Stop to Kick the Bear

Years ago, a bunch of us locally played a tabletop miniature game called Mordheim. It was a game set in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, but was based on small units. We like the game for several reasons... you could play cheaply, as there were not as many miniatures required, there was the option to keep your warband and have them gain experience, and it was a fun excercise in small unit tactics.
All of the scenarios had goals... it wasn't just fight to the last man (necessarily) and you could, in fact, win the fight but lose the scenario.
One game in particular that demonstrated this was between my Pelican Master Harald and my protege brother Gabe. The scenario called for him to get across the board with a treasure, if I remember correctly. Gabe was winning handily... his warband was faster than Harald's dwarf warband, and he was almost at the edge of the board. The last thing in his way was one of Harald's war bears, but it was no threat... it had been knocked down by another character. All Gabe's guy had to do was waltz on by, game over. Gabe stopped to kill the bear. Should have been simple... all he had to do was roll to hit it, then next turn, skip off. No problem.
He failed his roll.
Next turn, the bear got up. It delayed him long enough for Harald's dwarves to get in range. Gabe lost.
We used this scenario for years to demonstrate the concept of not losing sight of your objective. There are many times in melee situations when it can be tempting to step out and play the hero, but in doing so you may risk losing the tactical advantage in the battle.
So remember kids... don't stop to kick the bear.

Uncle Olaf on a plateau

Like the title says... Uncle Olaf feels like he's on a plateau. I have hit a point where I feel like my forward progress has stopped, and I may have even backslid slightly.
Part of it comes from mundane life... I have had a fairly stressful patch in my job, and that bleeds over into everyday life and hobbies. Dalla and I are both feeling it... we've let our diet and exercise slip, and feel it physically, which effects us emotionally... it's a vicious cycle.
This happens... I have hit the wall before... but I need to figure out what to do to break the cycle.
Starting this week, I will be travelling to Coldwood practice on Sunday. This is not a weekly thing ( I couldn't afford to do it every week anyway) but it will give me a change... more variety in who I fight will help, and add new challenges and ideas. Stagnation kills, and fighting the same people every week can get you in bad habits.
I need to start working out more... not weights and gym, but agility/footwork drills and pell. The agility drills help my footwork, but they are also what keeps my knees from sucking, and I am starting to feel that. I will have to figure out how and where to do them inside, as winter is pretty much here, and see what i can do about a pell in the basement.
Getting to events has been challenging. I was hoping to do Hundred Minutes, but I'm not sure if that will happen. It's 7 hours one way and $150 in gas, and I am not sure I can pull that off. Still contemplating, so we will see. I am going to ponder the events map on East Kingdom Gazette and see what I can pull together over the coming months.

I'm not going to make any grand promises about the things I am going to do to get off this plateau... I recognize that first I need to get out of the funk I am in. I will take steps to do that, and move forward. But I will, rest assured, be doing SOMETHING.