*** Patrick ***
Feeling ambitious Patrick increased his Strength difficulty, increasing the minimum weights for the sets. Patrick didn’t have any difficulty finishing the tasks, but for the first time he needed to incorporate some small breaks between sets.
The Dexterity challenge added a new type of micromovement. The original one focused on pushing energy out at a tangent to the body. The reference described the new movement as adding a hook to the end of the movement, to hold the object in place. Patrick struggled with the hook part for an hour before deciding to take a time-out.
Feeling a bit frustrated he decided to accept the Endurance challenge and run. The temperature dropped at a faster rate this time, but Patrick tried the visualization techniques from the guide and just powered through it. He lost track of time and finished before he realized it.
After grabbing a snack he went back to the Dexterity challenge. Looking for additional help he found some exercises that he could purchase. We worked through the exercises and then came back to the hook movement. It took 11 tries before his first success. He kept at it though and finished the exercises with 30 minutes left before the meeting. After a quick shower he just zoned out until it was time.
– neighborhood meeting –
The game for the night was Texas Hold’em. Everyone took their seat around the table and Scott took the first turn as dealer.
Fred said to the table, “DId you all notice that Marcel’s door did not appear tonight?”
Erin replied, “Yeah, and he is no longer on the local leaderboard. He probably got kicked out for not doing enough.”
Sydney: “Why do you say that? He could have just left.”
Erin: “You may be right, but he had the lowest spot on all of our boards, and he only showed up to the neighborhood meeting once. This is supposedly a job assessment, there must be some minimum standards, otherwise what is the point of the daily goals?”
Two hands later Caleb declared, “Just so you all aren’t wondering in a couple of days, I am on the fence about whether I want to stay or go.”
Patrick asked, “Aren’t you worried about what is on the other side of the door? This isn’t a great situation, but at least we are ok for now.”
Erin added, “Except for the kidnapping bit this could have been marketed as some sort of cruise get-away.”
Harvey laughed, “No way, not enough sun and not nearly enough alcohol.”
Caleb answered, “I agree this is not terrible, and you all are cool, but it all is just outside my comfort zone. As far as worrying about what will happen once I go through the red door. Worrying is something I have done a lot of in my life, and I just take a breath and remind myself that whatever happens things will work out how they were meant to be. It is like the serenity prayer. There are a lot of things that are outside of my control, so I need to accept that and move on.”
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After a beat Caleb continued, “I do not agree with how I got here, and my mind keeps coming back to that. I am going to think it over a bit more, but this does not feel right to me.”
No one was sure what to say for a bit, eventually Scott said, “Thanks Caleb for letting us know. I think we all share those feelings to one extent or another. I appreciate you letting us know, we are all in this together and whatever we can share with each other helps.”
The game continued with just talk about the game for the next few hands. The small talk resumed, but the overall mood was somewhat somber.
— 8:23 —
Patrick stayed longer than usual after the game to chat with the other neighbors. Caleb’s announcement made him realize how much the neighbors’ presence had helped him through this affair. Patrick shared Caleb's sense of unease, but he felt that it was safer to cooperate with what was happening.
Feeling a bit wrung out from both the meeting and the earlier challenges, Patrick decided that he wouldn’t do any more challenges today.
— 11:12 —
Right before turning in for the night Patrick’s global leaderboard standings were at:
62% - Strength - level 4
36% - Endurance - level 3
51% - Dexterity - level 2
52% - Intelligence - level 1
29% - Concentration - level 2
50% - Overall
‘Some progress, but everyone else is progressing too.’
— Day 8, 11:31 —
Patrick was pleased with the gains he had made on the leaderboard during the past couple of days.
54% - Strength - level 6
33% - Endurance - level 5
48% - Dexterity - level 3
44% - Intelligence - level 4
25% - Concentration - level 5
44% - Overall
He increased the difficulty in two or three areas each day. That was his limit, any more and he would run out of time to complete the daily tasks. Patrick also wanted to be sure that he had a sustainable pace. They were only a quarter of the way through the month long assessment.
Two days ago Caleb confirmed that he was leaving, and yesterday his absence was felt in the group. Looking back Fred had reacted strangely, and today it looked like he had left too. Everyone else said that they were planning on sticking it out. Sydney has been lagging on the leaderboards, with some warnings by his name. He said that he is doing fine, that he has been hitting 90% of the goals and has just been missing them by a little.
Patrick felt good about his current routine. He was spending coins mostly on educational material and occasional snacks. The Dexterity challenges were still the toughest, the third level added a sliding micromovement. He had been spending time on practicing the basics of the micromovements and was getting more confident in them. The other challenges had been going well. Strength challenges were raising the weights; Intelligence ones were increasing the number of words and runes; Concentration added new icons corresponding to electricity, ice, and shadow; and the Endurance challenge added extreme heat as a possibility during the runs.
