This thread is sort of related to a thread that was posted earlier, but different enough in which I think it should be separate.

Ever since last month's challenge ended, I've been finding it a lot more difficult to put in 20 mintues a day. I did at least 20 mintues for 25 straight days, but with in days of the challenge ending I had a day that I didn't want to study at all.

So I guess what I'm hoping for is that the next challenge will start soon (sooner the better). It's much more motivating with a challenge

You could always start up your own challenge? Maybe in the vein of the ones James did before?

It's probably best if you can find a source of self motivation rather than need plied with cookies by the Skritter team...

@byzanti I like cookies and I like being plied with them

Mmmm cooooookiesssss....

Personally, I was doing 10 a day minimum before the challenge and the 20 felt like a stretch. But I've been keeping it up since then because I could see that it was needed. And I decided that wasn't even enough so yesterday I challenged myself to make it at least 25. And I want to keep pushing myself.

Bring on the next challenge, I'm excited!

I've found that cookies in China are seriously awful. They're all dry and lacking in chocolate. I can't even find decent American imports...

Sad but true.

there's no flour, butter, and chocolate chips/chocolate powder in china? Come on, surely you can figure out a basic cookie recipe with available ingredients.

As for practicing, I find that a habit of just constantly pulling up the main skritter page helps. Then I have a high chance of pushing practice just to see what it gives me - and hopefully practicing for a few minutes there. Over a day the minutes build up.

I was in China and attempted to cross-culturally bake. They said, "We don't have the machine." I said, "You don't need a machine. You just mix the ingredients by hand and then bake them." They said, "Yes, we don't have that machine." They meant an oven--no one had one.

You guys could try the Skritter Agent that faceleg wrote to help motivate you to practice; might work:
http://www.skritter.com/misc/SkritterAgent.jar

Next challenge will start next month after the newsletter goes out.

Yes, almost all Chinese food is cooked in a wok so that's pretty much all that's available in Chinese kitchens. Baking supplies like flour and chocolate chips can be hard to get ahold of too, depending on where in China you are.

I have noticed some DIY bakeries popping up here in Haikou though, perhaps if people enjoy those ovens might become more popular?

However, I do have a grill here. I can make cheese on toast. It's awesome.

@Nick,
this is probably an obvious question, but I can't see it ...
How does the Skritter Agent work and what do I do with it? Is there a manual somewhere?
thanks :)

It lives in your system tray, and you have to right click it to set up your notification preferences. I kept confusedly asking the author what was wrong with it, too. It will make a little popup every X hours saying it's time to study when Y hours have gone by since you studied or you have Z items due for review.