Primrose vs Harrier - Troll Challenges

Live Challenge No. 6 - Troll Sports: Little League

I've been looking forward to this. Primrose and I had not done any "true" Live Troll Challenge since our Lego Sports last December, except for two co-operative gaming challenges where we either tried to beat Super Mario Land while getting wasted, or competed for virtual Olympic glory for Pokerstrategy on the Wii. Now, it was finally time to square up against each other again, and not just on the TV screen either.

Instead, we went outside, enjoying some beautifully mild sunny weather (though it was a little windy), and competed in some classic US sports against each other - but with a twist: Instead of using proper adult sized sporting goods, we would use some of my little nephew's sports toys, and play those sports while sitting on our knees.

We had up to three rounds planned, involving versions of baseball, American football and basketball. Originally, I just had one rule set in mind for each of those events, but we later decided to break them up into smaller rounds, and then score each one and tally up the points for the bigger event.

Before we got started, though, since we were playing US sports, we also followed the American tradition of playing the national anthem before our match:

Then, it was time to get started!

Event One: Baseball

For this event, we used a pitching machine (shown below - and above, but you can see it better below) which spits out a bunch of plastic baseballs, a little like wiffle balls. We would have to hit those balls with an extendable plastic bat. Simple enough. I actually played some softball at university, but Primrose is, of course, a very experienced tennis player... I went into this challenge thinking that we should be pretty even. But how did it really go?

Round One: Contact Hitting

As simple as it gets: You're facing four balls, and you're trying to hit them. If you do, you get a point. Otherwise not.

Primrose missed her first pitch, made contact with the next two, but then missed the last one again. None of her two hits went a long way, I believe, but we were just starting out, and this round only required contact hitting anyway.

My turn. I barely made contact with my first pitch, though it was fouled off and landed behind me, then I swung past the next two. The fourth one was nicely hit and driven straight down the backyard. Therefore, our first round was inconclusive, ending 2-2.

No Winner.

Round Two: Base Hits

Same situation, but this time, we had to make some "proper" hits. Hitting the ball only counts if you can make it travel forwards. Actually making it travel past that footpath down the middle of the lawn results in an extra point. However, the other troll also has the opportunity to try and catch the ball this time - while still having to move on their knees, of course. Catching the ball before it lands on the ground means that the other troll won't get any points for their hit.

Prim did an impressive job at the plate this time. She knocked her first pitch across the footpath already, followed by another regular hit, then another one which was on course to sail past the path, though I dived for it and failed to catch it, but managed to stop it from going any further. Her fourth pitch went past the path for two points again... shall I mention that apart from the one I dived for, all of the balls she hit actually curved to the left into my neighbor's property? The still counted, though. And my neighbors are cool, their kids sometimes have to come over to pick up soccer balls too. Six points for Primrose.

This was tough to follow up on... My first ball was fouled off to the back again and didn't count. The second one was missed - which already settled things. At least my third one was another beautiful drive and while the fourth one popped up high into the air, it did land in front of me. Three points for me, this round goes to the grindette.

Prim Wins.

Round Three: Actual Pitching

At Prim's request, we pitched some balls ourselves now too, rather than using the pitching machine. Rules remain the same as in the last round, except that throwing an unplayable pitch results in it being repeated (regardless of whether the other Troll swung or not). Hitting the batter with your pitch also results in an automatic point for them.

My first pitch fell short and had to be repeated. Prim then missed and was accidentally hit by my second pitch, giving her a free point. This was followed by another miss and another two pointer past the path.

Now Prim was pitching, and while all of her deliveries were a little high, I knocked the first two across the lawn for two points each already. By that point, things were already decided, so I happily swung away at her next two pitches, despite them going over my shoulders. I missed them both, but no need to repeat them now - it's 4-3 for me already.

Harrier Wins.

Event Result: No Winner.

Wow, so our first event resulted in a tie already. How did the rest go? Find out in the next post!

Event Two: American Football

Followers of the Trolls may know that this is the sport I'm currently actively playing - but will it help? Well, I'm playing D-Line, and the first round of this challenge, which was the only one I originally had in mind, involved throwing passes, which has diddly-squat to do with I'm doing on my position.

This event involved a miniature football and a few plastic bowling pins. Why bowling pins? You'll see in a moment...

Round One : Quarterback Challenge

We placed four yellow and four red bowling pins across the lawn. The Trolls were now supposed to throw that miniature ball at the yellow pins in order to complete passes and score points, but watch out - the red pins represent your opponents. Hit any of them, and your pass will get intercepted, which will score you one negative point instead.

One major problem was that those plastic pins were extremely light, and the weather was quite windy. I couldn't even manage to keep them standing for the photo, as you could see above. Eventually, I decided to use some of those plastic racks that came with the pins in order to help them stand, even if this means some interruptions to re-arrange those racks in between attempts.

Primrose was up first... and managed to knock down both the yellow and red pins at her intended target with her first throw. What now? I didn't think of it, and wasn't sure which one was hit first... I decided to just give that point to her. She then went for the furthest target, and impressively completed her pass. Her third throw was missed, and then her fourth throw made contact with the red pin, unfortunately scoring her a negative point. Still, she finished with +1.

Now it was my turn, and despite going for the easiest target first, I hit the red pin there right away, starting me at -1. Strangely enough, I managed to hit the yellow pin at the furthest target right away after that. The other two passes were near misses, though, so I was only able to offset the first interception, without securing any more points for myself, and this round goes to Prim.

Prim wins.

Event Two: Running Back Challenge

I wanted to stick with passing games, but the problems with those lightweight pins and the wind made me rethink it. Also, the grindette had fond memories of the little football "drills" we did one year ago, so I thought of something else which should be more up my alley.

Forget about passing, you were only supposed to carry the ball from one pole of our clothes line to the other now - while crawling on your hands and knees. Your opponent starts at the other end and can stop you by putting you on your back or making you lose the ball. They have to crawl too, of course.

This game really seemed to attract my neighbor's pug, who appeared like he would have loved to join in - but two dogs against one squirrel would have been unfair, right?

Primrose is a fighter, but it's tough to overcome my extra 40 kg and years of experience with full contact sports - even by biting me in the arm, which she naturally did at one point. I scored twice and stopped her twice, so this was a win for me, but despite of what you may think, we both actually had a lot of fun with this round.

Harrier Wins.

Round Three: Combined Goal Line Attack

Same rules as before... except this time, you also had the option of throwing the ball forward to the yellow pins in the end zone instead, which you could do at any point here, unlike in real football. No red pins to intercept your passes this time, I just wanted to introduce an alternative way to score.

As you may expect, I stuck with running the ball, while Primrose attempted to pass instead. My runs scored, and while Prim's passes were almost on target, they were a little high, thus sailing above the heads of her plastic teammates, which don't jump as well as real ones.

Harrier Wins.

Event Result: Harrier Wins.

Was it unfair to include two rounds that can easily be won through upper body strength alone? Maybe it was... but in my defense, I only introduced them because the pins weren't working as well as I thought, and Prim actually gave me the idea for the running back rounds by bringing up how much she enjoyed our attempts last year. Besides... I can't just let her beat me at football.

It doesn't matter too much anyway - we still have one event left. Stay tuned...

sounds like a blast.

Event Three: Basketball

Only one event left, and this one involves this little basketball hoop, as well as a small basketball made out of rubber foam, or something? It wasn't anything like a real basketball, that's for sure.

This event only involved one round to decided today's Troll Challenge:

Final Round: T.R.O.L.L.

Better known as H.O.R.S.E., which probably needs no introduction, but in case you're unfamiliar, the players simply take turns throwing hoops from wherever they want. If they make the basket, the other player has to repeat the shot, which may involve additional instructions like "off the backboard", "nothing but net", "moonshot" (a high throw) or anything else you could possibly think of. If the other player fails to make the shot from the same spot and following the same instructions, they get a letter of the word "Troll", and the first one to complete the word loses.

For this one, we actually skipped our rule of having to play on your knees, though shooting while kneeling may be part of your shot's instructions, of course.

As with the other events, I included some time to practice, in order to help us get acquainted with the quirky physics of that rubber foam ball and the rather spongy backboard. Nevertheless, we both needed quite some time before we could even make our first baskets, despite sticking to simple shot instructions and short distances. The way this ball was flying really had little to do with shooting real basketballs. Ultimately, it was Prim who gave me my first letter, though I followed up shortly to start both of us off with a 'T'.

Trying to think of some sort of trick shots, Primrose, who used to be a very promising ballerina back in the day, eventually had the idea of including ballet positions into her shot instructions. I liked the idea, so I tried the same thing - and ended up getting Prim an 'R' by scoring a basket while shooting from the 1st feet position from classical ballet. Both of us then tried all kinds of shots involving various feet positions, sometimes in combination with pliés and relevés, or piqués and attitudes... and strangely, we seemed to do a lot better that way. However, Prim didn't receive her 'O' until I ditched the ballet stuff and just attempted my next shot with my eyes closed - which went in on my first attempt.

We soon picked it back up, though, and I soon made a shot which involved doing a pirouette before your throw. Prim probably did the better pirouette, but did not manage to make the basket, giving her an 'L' and putting me within spitting distance of victory. The grindette didn't give up, though, and soon stepped it up by including not only ballet, but also gymnastics moves, which I'm completely inexperienced with. Her next few attempts involved throwing the ball after doing a cartwheel...

Honestly... she was trolling me quite a bit with the first one that hit. She put the ball to the side right away, did her cartwheel, then stepped over to the ball and just scored. Well... I did my best with the cartwheel, but my shot sure missed, giving me an 'R'. Her next attempts even involved one-handed cartwheels. Good thing her shots missed, I certainly wouldn't have tried them.

How could I fight back against this? How about by just doing another shot without looking, with my back towards the basket? That's what I did, and once again, it went in straight away. Really strange how those scored on my first attempts while I kept missing the simple ones... Anyway, Prim couldn't replicate this lucky feat, Harrier wins.

Event Result: Harrier Wins.

This settles today's Troll Challenge for me.

A bit of a controversial win yet again, maybe, with the inclusion of the football rounds, but I think it was a nice kick-off for the summer season, with many more Troll Sports challenges planned. Surely, Prim will have her chance to get even... and I can already say that I'm really looking forward to the next one, I already have something specific in mind. Hopefully, the weather will co-operate, but we have plenty ideas for this summer.

Will there be a ballet challenge too? Actually, we had one planned since the end of last year, but this will probably have to wait until the "indoor season", there's just too much we want to do while the weather is nice outside.

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
sounds like a blast.

It was, we both really enjoyed it. We had another very nice meetup in general, and also kicked off the summer season with some mojitos:

Instructions, which I actually had to consult myself, can be found here.

...and where was TENNIS? huh? :f_ugly::f_biggrin:
The results would have look a tiny little bit differently if tennis had been incorporated in the challenge. :f_tongue::f_ugly:
:mdr::mdr::mdr:

Anyway, was really a blast and what Harrier did not mention yet, here is that Baby Peach was awesome in driving her little baby carriage in Mario Kart! :banana::banana::banana::banana: Baby Peach has made huge progresses in driving her "baby booster" and I´m so proud of her!!! :f_love::f_love::f_love::f_love:

Originally posted by Primrose6789
...and where was TENNIS? huh? :f_ugly::f_biggrin:
The results would have look a tiny little bit differently if tennis had been incorporated in the challenge. :f_tongue::f_ugly:
:mdr::mdr::mdr:

We did play some "children's tennis" using one of my nephew's other toys after we were done with the Troll Challenge. It was some "beach tennis" set with two small racquets which had a piece of fabric stretched across a plastic frame. Knocking that tiny plastic ball around with those things was difficult enough without the strong wind, but we somehow managed. We will have a real tennis match-up soon enough.

We also used some of those bowling pins for their actual intended purpose, but once again, without counting it for the challenge. Primrose was so skilled that she could knock those pins over without even bowling at them... either that, or the wind was still a little strong.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
Anyway, was really a blast and what Harrier did not mention yet, here is that Baby Peach was awesome in driving her little baby carriage in Mario Kart! :banana::banana::banana::banana: Baby Peach has made huge progresses in driving her "baby booster" and I´m so proud of her!!! :f_love::f_love::f_love::f_love:

Yes, Prim and her cute little Baby Peach are getting much better at that game already. Impressive stuff, considering that we only ever play that game during our meetups, and even then not every time. By now, we can already have proper races against each other.

Maybe you two will one day beat me in the overall rating. You already managed to beat me in two individual races yesterday.

Originally posted by Primrose6789
...and where was TENNIS? huh? :f_ugly::f_biggrin:

And no tiddly-winks either apparently.

Do kids even play tiddly-winks any more?
I haven't seen them for sale in like forever — but then I don't browse toy stores all that much

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
Do kids even play tiddly-winks any more?
I haven't seen them for sale in like forever — but then I don't browse toy stores all that much

I don't think they do... then again, all I know about that game is that it involves little discs. Also a bowl, I think. I guess you're supposed to flick them into the bowl in some way?

In that case, I think I used to have a version of that game as a kid, and probably still do, somewhere in the basement or so. It was most likely known under a different name then, though.

We had a set when I was little.
I think that with modern toy safety laws that they would not be sold because the winks would be a choking hazard

Edit: They're available on Amazon, and there is an organization of people that play it

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
We had a set when I was little.
I think that with modern toy safety laws that they would not be sold because the winks would be a choking hazard

Weird, considering that pretty much all items below a certain size could be considered a potential choking hazard, yet other stuff continues to be sold.

Super Shoot-out!

After an enjoyable Live Challenge yesterday, the Trolls were eager to challenge each other at the tables too, now that both of us finally had some time to play.

Today, we played three PKO tournaments in total: A $2.20 PLO8 for both of us, a $2.20 PLO for Prim, and the $5.50 Mini Octopus (8-Game) for me. All three of them followed the Troll Challenge rules from our usual Five Card Draw Shoot-out, meaning that the Troll with the most bounties wins, with our finishing position being the tie-breaker in case we both earn the same amount in bounties.

Despite my relative lack of experience, I did have a pretty hot start in the PLO, collecting a few early bounties. Couldn't complain about my progress in PLO8 either. Primrose, on the other hand, could complain. Looks like she was still dealing with some of those stretches of unplayable hands and missed flops that used to plague her. Still, she managed to hold on and picked up a few pots, even some bounties.

As for my start in the Mini Octopus... I actually missed it. It was dinner time as we entered our first break, and I had no idea what to make, so I gathered some fillings for sandwiches, including some salad leaves from the backyard. I wasn't even done toasting the bread when I saw my tables popping up after the break again. At around the time I was done eating, I checked the lobby again - and saw that the Mini Octopus had been running for about 15 minutes already, with Prim already in it.

The grindette had the better start in 8-Game, though I managed to catch up soon, which came to naught when I lost a big pot with AA in the FL Hold'em part of the second rotation - against an aggressively played 5♥:3♥: which flopped a two-pair... It looked like it was just about the end for me, but after doubling up in FLO8, I managed to get back after all, in no small parts thanks to my Hand of the Day.

Omaha action was heating up in the meantime, and both Trolls made it ITM in PLO. I ended up finishing on the third ladder in 23rd place, while Prim got out on the second ladder at 34th, out of 460 entries. I collected $2 in bounties, while Primrose collected $1, giving me the win in this game - but nice results for both of us.

Prim fought valiantly in PLO8, but it wasn't meant to be this time. She got out shortly before the bubble, two places away from ITM. I managed to get a quite promising run, but eventually got careless with the 2nd nut low in a three-way pot, ending what could have been an even deeper run. Nevertheless, I'm happy with my 14th place finish out of 419 entries on the fifth ITM ladder for $6.79, collecting an additional $1 in bounties. Apparently, no bounties for Primrose, even though one player was busted out while she got half the pot. I'm not entirely sure how bounties in split pots work, but it looked like Prim did not get any here. Too bad...

After almost getting out earlier during FL Hold'em, I'm glad that I was able to get back and collect a $1.25 bounty in the Mini Octopus, but didn't succeed to cash. Neither did Primrose, who got out without any bounties. This concludes today's poker Troll Challenge.

Not a bad result for "Team Troll" at all. I hope you still enjoyed yourself a little bit, Prim, even though I know you were frustrated by some of your bad luck. Aside from that, I think you did quite well today.

Originally posted by Harrier88

Originally posted by VorpalF2F
We had a set when I was little.
I think that with modern toy safety laws that they would not be sold because the winks would be a choking hazard

Weird, considering that pretty much all items below a certain size could be considered a potential choking hazard, yet other stuff continues to be sold.

You can order them on Amazon, and there are a few clubs around even yet

I had a look out of curiosity, but it looks like Tiddlywinks clubs are not a thing in Germany.

Maybe "Classic Children's Games" could be a theme for a Live Challenge in the winter time, but right now, we are enjoying the warm weather and have summer more or less planned out.

Cooking Challenge

The Trolls will surely meet up at the tables again, we just don't know yet when that will be. Possibly next week already.

In the meantime, let me introduce another cooking challenge, both for me and for Primrose. Like with my baking challenge, which I would love to get back to as well if I can find some time for it, we can do it at our own pace, whenever we feel like. It will have a bit of a fast food theme, so I imagine Prim's husband should approve.

For Primrose, the challenge will be to make use of that imported sweet pickle relish that she got from me during her visit this week.

Whenever she gets to it, she will be asked to prepare one of the following things:
Homemade copycat Big Mac sandwiches
Homemade copycat Big Tasty sandwiches
Anything involving homemade tartar sauce
Bonus: Come up with your own recipe

Recipes have been provided for the first three points. For the fourth bonus point, I will let the grindette be creative and come up with her own meals.

If you guys want to play along, recipes for the burger sauces can be found in this video. A recipe for tartar sauce can be found here.

For me, the challenge will be a little different. I need to make vegetarian copycat versions of several McDonald's items that normally involve chicken.

Primrose and I are part-time vegetarians, having introduced a "No Meat Tuesday" 1-2 years ago, and also a "Fishy Friday" later on. While I found most vegetarian meat substitutes to be lacking, I found one version of crispy chicken in the stores which I thought was good enough to rival the real thing. Real chicken is surprisingly expensive if you look out for ethically produced meat, and I always found the quality of most store-bought chicken to be somewhat hit-and-miss anyway.

By coming up with vegetarian alternatives, I attempt to kill two birds with one stone (no pun intended) and not only find an affordable way to make those McDonald's chicken meals that I have often enjoyed in my youth at home, but also provide (quite literal) fodder for those "No Meat Tuesdays".

The things I need to come up with - in vegetarian forms - are:
Chicken McNuggets
McChicken sandwiches
Bonus: Southern Style chicken sandwiches (e.g. like the Crispy Chicken at Burger King)
Extra Bonus: Any form of fried chicken
Super-Duper Extra Bonus: Gluten-free versions of any of the above, so Prim can enjoy them too.

The last point may be impossible, since gluten might be a necessary part of any decent version of fake chicken, but that's why it's only a bonus point.

Let's get cooking... whenever we have the time.

Update: Primrose is currently feeling unwell. Most likely some kind of infection.

She should be back on her paws soon. I expect she can give us another update tomorrow, but right now, she needs some rest.

The Cooking Challenge will definitely be on hold for her in the next few days, and poker may have to wait a bit too.

Get some good rest, Primrose. We all hope you feel better soon.

I will be happy to cook again as soon as I´ll be healthy! I caught a nasty stomach flu! :spit::spit::spit::spit::spit: Yesterday, I got sick even by thinking about food! :spit::spit::spit:

Just let´s cure this one and I´ll be happy to accept the cooking challenge! ♠_biggrin:♠_cool:♠_thumbsup:

Fitness Challenges?

I heard Primrose is recovering quite nicely, which is great. This means our cooking challenge might continue soon enough, but I also have another idea.

While Prim may come up with her own fitness challenge to get back into the swing of things after being sick, I decided to do something similar to improve my physical fitness this summer - which will come with plenty of challenges to begin with, with the physical labor in my current job and one more season of American football, even if the majority of it will probably be spent on the bench.

Harrier's Challenge: One Hundred Pushups

There is an exercise program online which is meant for people of all fitness levels to prepare them to eventually be able to do 100 pushups in a row, after a few months. I originally encountered it a little over a decade ago, when my rugby coach sent it to us in order to keep us in shape over the winter break.

I had attempted this program several times, including back when it was first sent to me. I never lasted more than maybe a couple of weeks, I always had to eventually drop it either because I got caught up in other stuff, couldn't make it through, or sometimes even started to neglect it out of boredom. Now, I'm taking it up again, to see how long I'll last. Will I make it all the way to the 100 pushups? I doubt it - even though I used to be able to do over a hundred of them when I was like 18 or so. Not sure if those were good form pushups, though - which is something I'll definitely look out for here.

Why am I attempting it again? Partially because I got a pair of those the other day:

Part of the reason why I don't like doing pushups anymore - once one of my go-to exercises - is that I now find it really uncomfortable to get in that position on the ground. I'm not sure why, I guess I just don't like that feeling of crawling on the floor. With those handles, I hope that I'll be able to make it a little more comfortable, while also allowing me to pay more attention to good execution. Both the upward and downward motions should require a couple of seconds, and the chest should go down to about an inch or two above the ground.

To get down to business now, you're supposed to take an initial test before you start the program, to see where you fit in. Simply do as many consecutive good form pushups as you can. I did that yesterday, and got about 15 in before I recognized that I started struggling a little.

This makes my plan for this week, which I will start tomorrow:

Sunday
Set 1: 10 pushups
Set 2: 12
Set 3: 7
Set 4: 7
Set 5: at least 9, plus more if I'm able.

Monday
Rest day

Tuesday
Set 1: 10
Set 2: 12
Set 3: 8
Set 4: 8
Set 5: at least 12

Wednesday
Rest day

Thursday
Set 1: 11
Set 2: 15
Set 3: 9
Set 4: 9
Set 5: at least 13

Let's see how long I'll last this time... oh, and feel free to join in at home. Find the instructions for the initial test here, and for the first week here.

Those handles would be something I could use.
I cannot do pushups the normal way because my hands won't go flat, so I end up trying them on my fists

Recovery

Well, my little "challenge" at the moment is to recover my "old" fitness level after this nasty, ugly stomach flu. Was lying in bed for almost a week, couldn´t eat much and this means: I have lost muscle mass for sure! :f_mad::f_frown: So, I have to re-build everything! Won´t be difficult because during summer season I have a pretty busy work-out schedule which consists of tennis, tennis, tennis and even more tennis, once per week I use to go for a run.

Tomorrow, I will already start with tennis, Tuesday: tennis, Wednesday: tennis. ♠_ugly: Further, on Thursday or Friday I intend to go for a run and on Saturday there will be some swimming. A nice schedule to re-build fitness, isn´t it? But this is my usual work-out schedule from May to September. October to April it´s more endurance sports and fitness training.

In two week Homer and I are heading for our "traditional" tennis boot camp (aka vacation), this means at least 4x per week tennis. ♠_biggrin:♠_ugly: The rest will be swimming and cycling. ♠_biggrin:

And if everything goes fine, I will be able to lower my body fat to maximum 17 % (hopefully).