Category Archives: Fun Stuff

A Goodbye For Now (or I Think It’s Time For A Break)

For about 11 1/2 years, I’ve been writing this blog. I’ve done over 2900 posts in that time, and most of the time, I’ve been writing 5 posts weekly. About a year ago, I decided to go down to 2 posts weekly because I felt like I was starting to struggle with what to write. It was hard to let myself be ok with not writing every day, but I’m glad I made that change a year ago. I felt like I had to find things to write about instead of just writing about what I wanted to write about. I also made changes to how I wrote about my workouts and made them more like a general post instead of going into details about my workouts. Even with the changes I made, I still had this blog as a big part of my life for over a decade.

But I’ve decided that it’s time for me to step away from this blog, at least for a little bit. I haven’t been feeling that inspired to write here. My life hasn’t been that crazy, and I’m starting to appreciate the boringness of my life at times. Yes, I still want to have excitement and I’m trying to not just live the same life every single week. But I also know that if I need a weekend at home doing a lot of nothing, there is value in that. And even with only writing one non-workout post a week, sometimes I still feel a bit of pressure to have something happening in my life so I can write about it. Or if I have a lot of things happening within a week or two, I feel the pressure to decide what thing I should write about and what thing I should skip since I don’t want to write about an event weeks after it happened.

It’s crazy to think about how I started the blog in my 20s and now I’m in my 40s. My entire 30s were documented on here and that’s something I’m so grateful for. There have been countless times when I was trying to remember something and I searched my blog for the post about it. It’s been an incredible scrapbook for a big chunk of my life. I have changed my life in so many ways since I started writing. And even with the struggles I’ve had, things have improved so much for me. I don’t think my life is perfect, but the things I have now are things that I wished for years ago. I have a much more stable living situation, which is something that I will always appreciate. I have made a lot of changes in my health but more importantly, in my fitness.

It’s because of this blog that I discovered Orangetheory. I was invited to a blogger preview and I know I wouldn’t have found it as soon as I did without that preview workout. I rarely was in the neighborhood of that first studio before working out there, so I might not have found the perfect workout for me until they opened the studio in my neighborhood. I can’t imagine what my life would be like now if I wasn’t invited to that workout. I’ve had a lot of great things come my way because of this blog, but I think that finding my workout home is easily the best thing that happened because I started this blog.

I found new communities because of my posts. I met new friends that I still keep in touch with, even though almost all of them have stopped blogging by now. I think the blogging world isn’t what it used to be and that’s ok. Things like blogs are trends that come and go and it seems like people have been using other ways to be creative and have a voice. I think I’m starting to feel that way as well. When I started writing, it was a creative outlet that I knew was missing in my life. I don’t necessarily have a new outlet that I have started to use, but I’m more active on social media and that’s a bit of creativity for me. Again, the things I needed and felt were missing in my life in my late 20s are different from what I feel like I need now.

I also find it a little poetic that the day this post will come out will be the 4th anniversary of the last normal day we had before the pandemic. I think most people think of that Friday the 13th as the last normal day even if things weren’t totally shut down right after that. And the pandemic caused such a huge shift in my life, just like it did for almost everyone. I wish that not everything had to change the way it did, but I was forced to adapt to what came my way and I’ve been trying to make the best of it. But I also know that being forced to change is sometimes the only way that change will happen, so I am grateful that I have been able to make positive changes and create a pretty awesome situation for myself.

I don’t know if this will be the last post I write on here or not. I might take a few months off and miss writing so I start things up again. I might realize that I want to write randomly when something big happens so I write a few posts a year. I’m not setting any rules or ideas for this break for now because I don’t know how I will feel during my time away. I thought going down to 2 posts a week would stress me out and I’d miss writing, but it ended up being the best choice for me. I don’t know how much longer I could have kept up 5 posts weekly. I think this last year was much less stressful because I didn’t have that pressure on myself to keep going. And I’m hoping I’ll have another positive reaction to this new break.

So I guess this is it for now. It’s not necessarily a goodbye, but I’m not sure when I’ll be back on here again. But if I come back to start writing again, it will be from a fresh perspective after having some time away. And if I decide to not write here again in the future, thank you to all of you who have been following my journey. Whether you’ve been reading since I started in July 2012 or this is somehow the first post you’ve read. I have been so grateful that people have been interested in what I have to say and what I think. This blog has given me a voice when I really needed one and I have been so lucky to have an audience for this long.

Listening And Learning (or A Brand New Monthly Challenge)

Last month, I challenged myself to listen to my body more. I think many things were coming together that made me feel like I needed to do this. I was struggling a lot with sleep, but that didn’t account for everything I was feeling. I just had an odd feeling of being off. I don’t want to assume that my iron issues were causing this, but I will say that taking my new supplements has been helping with that feeling so maybe that was it. But I just knew I needed to listen to my body with so many things and I needed to find a way to feel like myself again.

I think sleep will always be an on-and-off issue for me. I naturally don’t wake up early, but I make myself do it so I can go to my workout. I make an effort to go to bed early and not stay up as late as I’d like, but that doesn’t always mean I’ll fall asleep quickly. I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night, and I don’t know why I do that. It’s not that I’m thirsty or in pain, I just don’t always sleep all night. But I made sure to note when that happened and took things a bit easier the next day since I knew I’d be tired.

But I think the biggest thing I did with listening to my body was to use that with how I ate. Just like sleeping, I know food will always be an issue for me. I can’t just always eat what I want, but I know that listening to my cravings can help me manage food better. I also didn’t stress myself out as much about eating at official meal times. I did try to have 3 meals in a day, but sometimes it was more like 2 meals and 2 snacks. I don’t track calories or other nutrition like that, but I do have a general idea of how much I’m eating and I know I’m staying within the right amount of calories. And I was feeling more satisfied when I did try to indulge in my cravings a bit more. If I was craving something sweet or salty, I didn’t ignore that. I didn’t necessarily eat exactly what I would like if it wasn’t the best choice, but I tried to figure out something that would help that craving. And yes, sometimes I did eat the “bad” thing because I knew that was going to be the only thing that I wanted.

Overall, I’m happy with what I did with my challenge in February. I feel much more like myself now. I still have some physical ailments that I know won’t be resolved by listening to my body, but things are much easier on me when I don’t have extra things I have to work through.

And for March, I decided to go back to the type of challenge I did when I started doing these. I recently got a new-to-me camera from a friend. It’s a very nice camera and so far I’ve only used it with all the auto settings. But because it’s the first camera I’ve owned that has all these settings and ways you can take amazing photos, I want to learn how to do that. So I’ve decided this month that I’d like to take some online photography classes.

I’ve already saved a few different free classes I found online and I’m going to work through them. I don’t think I’ll be able to get through them all within the month, but I’d like to have some idea about how to use more than just the auto setting on the camera by the end of the month. I don’t know how often I might use this new camera since the main reason I got it from my friend is to do self-tape auditions, but I think it would be fun to be able to take nice photos from time to time. I don’t want to get myself in a situation where I regret not learning how to use the different features before having an opportunity to use it.

I’m hoping by the end of the month, I will feel more comfortable using the new camera and I’ll start to have some fun with it. I don’t know if I’ll pick up photography as a new hobby, but you never know. New hobbies start after trying something, so maybe I’ll end up finding a new creative way to express myself!

Another Quick Santa Barbara Day (or Celebrating My Niece)

I don’t go to Santa Barbara too often, even though it’s not that long of a drive. But I do go up at least a few times a year to see my family. I go up for my niece’s and nephew’s birthdays, and I’ll continue to do that as long as their birthday parties are family parties. I don’t know how many years that will go on so I have to take advantage of them when I can.

Since it’s an easy drive, I only go up for the day so I don’t need to pack an overnight bag. I really can’t remember the last time I stayed overnight in Santa Barbara since I’d rather not have to bring all that stuff and like to sleep in my bed. I still end up feeling like I bring a lot of stuff with me, but it’s usually because I’m bringing stuff to give to my parents so I don’t have to ship things to them. And my parents usually have a bag of things to give to me as well. Typically, my dad is bringing me some tools or things that I mentioned would be helpful to have. This last time, I mentioned not having clamps to hold things down when I glue them, so he got me a set of clamps.

I went up recently for my niece’s birthday party and I really didn’t have much to bring with me this time. I did have her birthday present, but that was all I had to remember to put in my car. But I did get a new-to-me camera recently (it was a trade with a friend), so I brought that too so I could practice taking some photos with it since it had been a while since I had used anything other than my phone to take photos. I got the camera mainly to do self-tape auditions, but learning how to do more on it is a good idea in case I want to use it for photos and other things.

The drive up was pretty easy, and I felt lucky about that. The day of the party was supposed to be a very stormy day, but I didn’t have much rain on my drive. I lucked out with the storm because it only rained a little bit going up so I didn’t have to worry about extra traffic caused by people who aren’t good drivers in the rain.

Most of the birthday parties that my niece and nephew have had before only had a few friends there. This time, there were a few more friends than at their past parties (I’m guessing my nephew will have a lot of friends at his birthday in about a month). It made things a bit more hectic, but I ended up talking to my parents most of the time. The kids were doing different crafts like decorating cookie boxes (which had glitter so I was trying to stay away from that) and playing with all the toys they have. Once my niece opened her presents, they started to play with those things too. I got her a dress-up set, but she got a lot of dress-up stuff so she had a lot of new things to open up and try on.

The party only lasted a few hours before all my niece’s friends started to head home. I stuck around a little longer to talk with my parents about a few random things, but once it looked like the rain was about to start, I knew I needed to leave too so I could try to avoid driving in a crazy rainstorm. I don’t love to drive in the rain anyway, but to drive 90 minutes or more in the rain sounded awful. Just like with my drive up, my drive back down home only had a few minutes of rain and then it was easy for me the rest of the way. I’ve done the drive up and back enough to have experienced a lot of random situations that make the drive harder or longer, but this ended up being one of the easier drives I’ve had.

Hopefully, when I go back up in a little over a month for my nephew’s party, it will be just as easy of a drive. And I hope it won’t have the threat of rain so the party can take advantage of the bounce house they have been using for other parties since that is always a big hit with everyone!

A Weekday Show (or A Pre-Broadway Adventure)

Since I started getting season tickets for the Pantages, my tickets have been on Sunday evenings. The group that I joined at first previously had done Sunday evenings so when I was added to the group things just stayed the same. And while the group has changed multiple times over the years, we’ve always just kept the shows on Sundays. Even when we’ve had to change the date, they usually stay on Sundays. It’s just easiest to do that and keep the routine the same since that’s what we’ve gotten used to.

I’m sure that there has been another time that I’ve seen a show at the Pantages on a weeknight, I just don’t remember it. So when we had to change our most recent tickets to a weeknight, it felt like something new. We had to change from a Sunday to a weeknight for a few reasons. The show we were seeing was “The Wiz”, and this production was a pre-Broadway run. So the cast was the cast that was expected to be on Broadway, which meant we had some names in the cast when we usually don’t get that. So all the dates were a lot more crowded than normal. So for us to change our date (which we needed to do because of my schedule), we had to search for a night that would have tickets for us together in our section. And we had another friend who was going to join us, so we needed to find 3 seats together. We ended up finding 3 tickets in the last row of the balcony, but it was in the center so they were actually considered a higher level of seating than we normally have. And being in the center was nice since normally we sit off to the side.

Before the show, we met up for dinner at RDen. I’m so glad they reopened so we could return to our pre-show tradition. We had looked at other places to eat before the show, but no other place has good reviews, decent food/prices, or is so close to the theater. It’s honestly the best place I can imagine going for dinner before the show. It was a bit more of a rush for me to get there since I was working before the show, but I made it work and wasn’t late. But I do prefer going on a Sunday when I don’t have to stress as much about rush hour traffic. But once we were all seated for dinner, it wasn’t a rush and we were able to have a nice dinner before going across the street for the show.

I don’t think I’ve seen a pre-Broadway show before. I know others who have but I think they have all seen brand new shows that were doing a tryout before going to Broadway to see if they needed to change the show at all. This time, the show was an established show so I can’t imagine they would make many changes at all. They wouldn’t change the script or the songs, but there were a few moments that I think weren’t as strong as others so I hope those are fixed before their premiere in New York. But the actors were incredible and I thought the actress who played Dorothy was so good! The closing number of the show was so powerful and that had the show end so strong! I think because I’ve seen so many shows over the years, I just notice the little things so the things I picked up on that I hope will be fixed were not things that others would notice. For example, the way the screens were used as a background was awesome in the second act, but I didn’t like how they were used in the first act. But it was still a good show and I’m so glad that we were able to find another night we could go and we were able to bring another friend with us.

The next season for Pantages will be announced in a few days. I can’t imagine that we won’t be renewing our season since my friend and I both agree that we just like having a reason to get out and enjoy theater. We might change where we sit because now we have been able to experience what it’s like when you are closer to the center of the theater. We won’t be doing super close and center tickets since those are out of both of our budgets. But upgrading a bit depending on cost might work.

But before we worry about the next season, we still have a bunch of shows this season! It’s pretty much a show a month from now until August. That’s a lot of nights out to look forward to!

Building Upon Another Good Week (or PR Weeks Are So Much Fun)

I really got lucky this past week with having another good week. I didn’t have the pain and nausea I deal with each month and my weekly injection didn’t make me feel sick. I don’t know if I’m getting used to the new dosage or if I lucked out with injected it in the right spot. I did have some extra hip pain this past week due to the weather, but that is minor compared to what I am normally used to. I know that I will be having another bad week either this week or the week after with pain and nausea, but I was just so happy to have a good week this past week and I really took advantage of that.

I think because we have the Transformation Challenge going on right now, we are getting a lot of benchmarks and specialty workouts. And I know I can’t always get a PR or have an incredible workout, but I was still on a bit of a high from my PR the week before and wanted to continue my streak. This past week, we had Catch Me If You Can. This challenge has been a tough one for me in the past. I was always getting caught at the same checkpoint each time. I knew it wasn’t impossible to get past, but I was always shy of the distance I needed to be on the bike to continue going.

But the last time we had this challenge, I somehow made it to the distance I had to get to so I could continue going. I felt so proud that I finally made it and I got past another checkpoint after that. I wasn’t able to get to the end, but very few people make it to that point so I was ok with not completing it. I was just so happy that I finally got past the point that I was always caught at and felt so accomplished. When I knew we were going to do this challenge again this past week, I reviewed what I did in the past. I wasn’t sure if I’d get a PR again this time, but I was really hoping I would beat the past checkpoint that I was always getting stuck at.

When we had the challenge, we had a little paper in front of us that showed what the various checkpoints were. But I noticed that the one I had for the bike wasn’t accurate (there are 2 types of bikes at Orangetheory and the paper was the distances for the other type of bike). I was able to get my coach to give me the one that had the distances for the treadmill and I just had to do the math and multiply those by 4 to get the bike distance. Yes, doing a little bit of math at 6am isn’t fun, but it was fine.

I kept the resistance level on the bike at my normal base pace level because I knew I needed to pedal really quickly to get past the checkpoints I wanted to beat. I felt like I was cutting things close to the checkpoint where I’ve gotten caught in the past, but I managed to get to that distance right before the time cutoff. And just like the last time I got past that one, the checkpoint after that was a lot easier for me, and the one after that was another close call. But I was at the spot where I was the last time and I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to the distance for the next checkpoint. Even though I was certain I was going to get caught at the same checkpoint as my last PR, I was hoping I would be able to at least get a little bit further than I did the last time. It’s not as easy to do that on the bike since the distance tracker isn’t as precise as the treadmills. But when we got to that checkpoint and I was caught, I managed to squeak by with an extra .1 miles compared to my last PR.

It wasn’t easy to get that done and I was exhausted for the rest of the workout, but I was still so happy that I got another PR. I wasn’t expecting the one I got the week before and I wasn’t certain I would be able to do this one. But to get PRs on back-to-back weeks was so incredible. I know that not every week or every challenge can be like this, so I celebrate them when they happen.

We have another challenge coming up this week, but I’m not expecting another PR. It is a team challenge and I usually do them solo so I don’t track how I do. And I’m not sure how I’ll be feeling so I don’t want to set myself up to be disappointed if it doesn’t go well. I’ll see how I feel when that day happens and maybe I’ll surprise myself again. But no matter what happens, I will still be so happy with how the past 2 weeks went with my workouts and I’ll continue to celebrate those wins!

A Social Weekend (or Spending Time With Friends)

I’ve said many times that I need to work on being more social and leaving my house. And I finally had a nice and social weekend this past weekend. I didn’t plan to have back-to-back friend hangouts, but having a few opportunities to see friends and not be as isolated at home after work was nice.

I had my traditional cheesecake hangout on Friday with my birthday twin, Joanna. It was a bit later in the month than we normally do (in the past, we had it much closer to New Year’s), but we also had to coordinate when it would work for both of our schedules. And it might have worked out nicely to go later in January because when we got there we didn’t have to wait for a table! We’ve had times in the past when we’ve had to wait an hour or two, but this was the first time I remember that we could be seated right away.

And we had our usual hangout that we get to do twice a year. We caught up on each other’s news and the craziness of life. I got to tell her about finding a new agent and the new headshots that I took recently. She was telling me about the trip that she was planning with her boyfriend. We both talked about random industry news that we’ve been hearing since the strike ended. It was a really nice and chill dinner and that’s exactly what I want these hangouts to be. And of course, we got cheesecake to share between us. It was an indulgent meal, but totally worth it and something I had been looking forward to all month.

Then the next day, my friend Robert and his boyfriend had a party to celebrate their new apartment. They just moved in together into a really great new place. I had been helping Robert look for apartments when they were searching and sent him so many links to different places. But this place is the perfect one for them. It doesn’t have as much square footage as they were originally looking for, but the layout makes it feel so much bigger. The apartment is brand new with great appliances and a washer and dryer, so I think those are better things to have than more space. And I learned from my last place that the technical square footage doesn’t necessarily represent how big or small a space feels. Nobody seemed to believe me when they found out my last place was only about 400 square feet because the layout and how I put my furniture made it feel much bigger.

I had only seen photos and videos of their new apartment, so I was excited to see it in person. And it was a nice party too. A lot of people who were there were people I knew, so I didn’t feel like I was surrounded by strangers. But there were also some new people I got to meet. But all of us just hung out and had a nice time talking about all the randomness of life. It was very chill and low-pressure, which is exactly how I like parties to be. I am an extrovert, but also a bit of an introvert when things get too overwhelming. But I never felt that way at this party so that was perfect.

I did have a bit of an extrovert hangover the next morning, which is probably something I should have expected since I don’t usually have social events 2 days in a row. I know I used to live life like that, but I’m out of practice. In a perfect world, I think I would have one party or friend hang out a week just so I could be more social. But it’s ok when they are back-to-back every so often since I really don’t get to do these that often.

Feeling Like Things Are Picking Up (or I’ve Missed This Productivity)

When I worked at getting as ready as possible with things for my acting career, I knew that a lot of it was out of my hands. I took control of whatever I could, but there’s only so much I can do. I got a new agent, which was huge and the biggest thing I was worried about. And after that, I could start the ball rolling on a few other things that I was putting off.

I got new headshots done, which I had been putting off for a while. I would love to have my weight lower before taking photos, but I need something for now. And I was lucky that I got to work with someone I have known for a while and he was able to give me a good deal so the new photos weren’t quite as much as they could have been. It’s always fun getting to work with a new photographer because every photographer has their methods for helping you get the best shots possible. I think the photos I got in this shoot came out so good and I’ve already gotten the selects back from my new agent so I can get them posted on the different casting sites as soon as I get the retouched images back. Having new and fresh photos should be helpful, plus I feel like these have a bit more personality than the ones I’ve had up for a while. I can’t guarantee that I will get a ton of auditions because of the new photos, but I feel really good about how these represent me and the characters that I might be cast as.

But even before my new photos got onto the casting sites, I had my first audition through my new agent! It’s been a while since I’ve had an audition. Between the strike and then having my last agent close their agency, there weren’t many opportunities for me. I was still doing submissions on my own, but those are much more limited than what an agent sees. I was thrilled to get the email about the audition and was ready to get back into the swing of things.

This audition was a bit different from many that I’ve had. Before the pandemic, most of my auditions were in-person. Since the pandemic, all my auditions have been self-tapes. But this audition was on Zoom, so it was a mix of what I’m used to. I was able to audition from home so I could be comfortable, but I had casting watching me as I performed. I do prefer having casting watching me so I can make adjustments as needed, so I was excited to do a Zoom audition. But I did discover while getting everything set up that I don’t have the best set-up for a Zoom audition. I have a tripod for my phone to do self-tapes, but I didn’t have a stand for my laptop since I knew it would be better to use that for Zoom. But I was able to make things work with a big stack of books and using my desktop ring lamp.

I am looking at finding a stand for my laptop to add to my home audition equipment just so I have something ready if I need it. It also might be a good thing to have for self-tape auditions if I have a reader over Zoom instead of in person. But I wasn’t going to buy a bunch of stuff right away, so I made it work with what I had.

I felt so good after this audition. I have no idea if I will book the part or not, but it felt so good to perform. I know some people, including myself, question from time to time if this is still the career we want to pursue. I know my life would probably be a lot easier if I didn’t want to be an actor. But every audition and chance to perform proves to me that this is what makes me happy and this career is what I want to do if I’m lucky enough to have that opportunity. I also loved feeling like I was actually doing something for my career and not just waiting for things to happen. I obviously will have to wait for the next audition to come, but I know that I have been doing the work that got me ready for this audition and will have me ready when the next one comes my way.

I really hope that with all these things I’ve been doing recently, things will get busier for me. I know I might get stressed out with having to balance everything, but it will also be worth it because I know how much happier I was in general after my audition. I crave performing and I know that getting to do it feeds my soul. And I just want to have more chances to have that feeling because I know how awesome it is!

Dinner And A Show (or Back To Seeing Musicals)

When the last season of musicals ended, it felt like it would take so long before the next season would start. But as I’ve said before, time has flown by and it was the new year before we knew it! This current season of musicals is pretty much one show a month through the summer, so I’m really excited about having a lot of fun nights out for over half of the year! I don’t know when the season after this one will start, but maybe that will fill out the rest of the year for us!

And with the start of a new musical season, of course we had to go out for dinner before the show! I was so sad last year when I noticed that Wood & Vine had closed down because that was the perfect place to have dinner before the show. But I was thrilled to see that a new restaurant opened in that space. Now, it’s called RDen and there are a few people from Wood & Vine who are still there. And of course, that’s where we had to go for dinner.

The menu has a lot of new things on it, but there were also a lot of familiar favorites. And as always, the food was gorgeous and delicious!

It was the perfect way to start off the evening and felt like a return to something that makes me so happy! We were so full and stuffed by the time we walked across the street to the theater, but I’m so glad we are able to go back to our favorite spot for a pre-show dinner again.

With every season of musicals that I see, there are some shows I’m more excited about seeing than others. And the first one for this season was one I was a bit more hesitant about.

We saw “MJ The Musical”, which is about Michael Jackson’s life and features his music. I’m not really a Michael Jackson fan. I know he has some amazing songs and he did incredible things for the music industry, but he also was a very problematic person and I can’t ignore some of the things that people said he did. But I always try to go into a show with an open mindset and that’s what I did this time.

And I’m glad I kept an open mind because the show was really good. It didn’t cover a lot of the problems that he had and it did gloss over some things that maybe should have either been discussed or completely skipped over, but overall the show was so well done. And I loved how the show ended. I don’t want to spoil anything, but it was just really good and made me happy with how they were able to wrap everything up.

We also had a very unique experience at the show. Our season tickets this season are in the orchestra, and we don’t plan on moving seats around much if we can help it. But there was an issue with our seats for this show and it was very uncomfortable to be sitting where we were. So during the intermission, we went to the audience services booth to see if they could move us to different seats for the second act. I was joking to my friend that maybe we would be upgraded to better seats, but I expected to be seated in a similar level of seats as our season tickets. To my surprise, my joke came true and we got to watch the second act from the center of the orchestra only about 15 rows back! We could never afford these seats for our season tickets, but now we are tempted to do maybe one level above our current one when we renew our tickets for the next season. I almost hate how much nicer it was to watch the show from the center orchestra and be that close up, but it was a very nice and special treat for us to kick off this season.

As I said, we pretty much have a show every month for the next several months, so we’ll be back before we know it to continue this musical season. And I’m so excited to see the rest of the shows we have coming up, even if they are shows that I’m still a bit unsure of. I proved to myself with this one that I can be very pleasantly surprised and I hope that will happen again!

Ending The Year With A Very Productive Challenge (or Starting Off 2024 With Another Repeat)

My monthly challenge for December was one that I knew I needed to do. I wanted to get myself as ready as possible for 2024 with my acting career. This was something that had really taken a backseat in my life over the past few years. I was still pursuing acting, but I knew I wasn’t doing things the best way I could. Things haven’t been what we all considered normal for the industry between the pandemic and the strike. But that’s also just an excuse because things have been happening since the pandemic, and commercials weren’t affected during the strike so there was still a possibility for me to audition. However, I discovered that I no longer had an agent during the strike. That was the kick in the butt that I needed to get back in gear.

I knew I needed new headshots, but I wanted to see if I could get a new agent first since that agent would likely have an opinion on those headshots and I didn’t want to do a shoot only to need to do another one after that. It’s been over a decade since I’ve had to look for an agent, so I wasn’t sure how things worked now. So I decided to start with people I knew since that would be the easiest way to start and I would love to be represented by someone who really knows me and doesn’t just see me as another actor on their roster. My first submission was to someone I have known since I was in college. We did improv together when I was in my 20s so we’ve known each other for over 2 decades. She transitioned to being an agent and I knew that her agency represented actors both theatrically (for film and tv) and commercially. It seemed like it could be the ideal situation for me and I was hoping she would think the same. And fortunately, that’s exactly how she felt and I was signed to her agency when we met! I know I’m insanely lucky how easy it was for me to get a new agent and this isn’t how it is for most people. And I’m also grateful that I have stayed in touch with people I’ve been in classes with for this long so I would still have this connection.

Getting a new agent was a huge win for my challenge and technically that was the only thing I got done during December. I did shoot new headshots last week after discussing what looks my new agent wanted to see. That shoot was in January, but I think it still can count as a win for my December challenge since it only was delayed because of the holidays. And now, I feel like I’m really back to acting and I hope that the combination of the new agent and new headshots will result in some amazing auditions and some bookings!

I know that not all challenges can go as well as my December one did. I didn’t even expect it to go that well and was thinking I might still be submitting to agencies and trying to get meetings through the next month or two. But it was a great way to end 2023 and I’m hoping that my challenges in 2024 will be close to that successful.

For my first challenge of 2024, I’m doing a bit of a repeat again. But I’m modifying it so hopefully I can be a bit more successful at it. I’ve tried multiple times to create a budget for myself and get on top of my finances. I’m doing much better with it now than I did before, but I’m still not great at having a budget. So this month, my challenge is to find the parts of my life that I can create a budget for. I might not be able to budget for everything, but I can try to budget for certain categories so I can be more mindful of my spending. I think that creating a budget for meals (both groceries and going out) would be a smart one to have. Also, I’d like to have some sort of entertainment budget. I don’t go out that much right now, but budgeting to go out and do things would be smart as I try to be out and social more. I also want to look more carefully at regular or recurring expenses to make sure there aren’t things I don’t use anymore that I’m paying for.

Maybe by budgeting for a few categories, I can ease into creating a larger budget for myself. I have some unplanned expenses right now that I don’t have the funds for and I need to save up. Knowing where all my money is going will help me save for what I need to do now and what might come up in the future. I know that I don’t make a lot of money, but finding any extra money right now would be so helpful. I don’t expect everything to be perfect, but I’d like them to be better than they are now so I can continue to get things in order as I have more things in my life that cost me money.

My 2024 Goals (or Things Already Might Need To Change A Bit)

Happy 2024! I hope everyone had an amazing New Year’s and the year has gotten off to a good start already. I had a pretty chill and low-key New Year’s (except for one thing) and that’s exactly how I like to do things. Before I went out to celebrate with friends, I set aside some time to work on my goals for 2024 and I came up with 4 that I really want to focus on for this year. But I might have to make a few modifications already.

My first goal for 2024 shouldn’t surprise anyone who has seen my goals over the past few years. I want to do at least 200 workouts this year. This is the same number I have had as my goal for a few years, and I don’t expect that I will ever change this since 4 workouts a week at Orangetheory feels right to me. I know I’ve had random weeks when I’ve done 5 workouts in a week, but I can’t imagine doing that regularly. I hope that I will do a few more than 200 this year, but this number allows me to have some missed classes if I get sick or something else prevents me from getting to a workout. But as long as I get to at least 200 workouts in 2024, I’ll be happy.

My second goal for 2024 might need to be changed. The original goal I had for myself was to find a way to save money so I could finally go on a vacation. I still want to see if I can accomplish this goal this year because it’s been a very long time since I’ve had a vacation. I think my trip to Catalina was my last vacation, which was awesome, but I’d love to get away from LA for a fun trip this year if possible. But on New Year’s Eve, my car was hit by a firework and has some pretty decent damage on the door. My car is drivable and the lock and door work, but it will need to be fixed. And I know that any work I do on my car will be pretty expensive. I’m going to work on getting some estimates soon and I’m going to look into whether I want to go through my insurance or not (going through insurance might end up being more expensive if my premiums go up after making a claim). But the amount that I was hoping to have for a vacation may have to go into fixing my car instead and a vacation might have to wait another year. I’ll just have to see how expensive the repair will be.

My next goal is a continuation of one from last year. I want to go as full force as possible with my acting career this year. I am starting the new year in a good place with a lot of things happening for my acting career. I have a new agent, I’m getting new headshots, I’ve re-edited my reel, and I’ve worked on updating my online casting pages. There are other things I haven’t had a chance to do or look into just yet, but I’ve made a lot of progress in the last month that will help to support things moving forward this year. I know that getting auditions and booking jobs aren’t fully in my control, but I’m doing whatever I can to make sure I’m ready for opportunities and I hope that I see some new progress in my career over the next 12 months.

My final goal for 2024 is another one that I feel like I’ve kind of done in the past, but it’s still important. I want to find the time to enjoy life. It’s so easy for me to wake up early, go to my workout, work my day job, make dinner, go to bed, and repeat. Week to week my schedule is pretty consistent, which isn’t a bad thing, but it also makes time go by without me realizing it at times. I want to enjoy my life as much as possible because that is the point of life. I do make plans with friends when I can, but I need to be more active in reaching out to friends and scheduling things. I have some days that are really difficult for me to do things after work, but that’s not every day. So I should take advantage of the evenings when I do have more flexibility and do things that aren’t just sitting at home and doing nothing.

I know these goals aren’t anything crazy or extreme, but I think they are good goals for me to focus on so that I can make the most of 2024. I still will have my monthly challenges that will push me to do more than just these goals throughout the year. But I think these main 4 goals are things that will really benefit my life in the long run. And I hope in a year, I will be reflecting on these goals and proud of what I have been able to do.