Monthly Archives: October 2015

A Week Until Race Day (or Helping Out My Friend’s Place)

Posted on October 30, 2015 | 1 comment

The 3rd Hard Rock Cafe 5K is just over a week away. I’m excited for the race to see if I’ve made any improvement since my last 5K. And my best friend is coming to town to do the race with me! I’m also nervous because I know that my calf injury isn’t totally healed (it’s super close!) and I don’t want to hurt myself during the race.

There’s not much I can really do about how my calf (or my hip) will feel during the race. I know that I’m not going to push myself as much as I might have just to be careful. And I am going to time out my workouts leading up to the race to make sure I have rest days right before.

Since I can’t do much about dealing with injuries at the race, I’m trying to focus on something else. Last year, I got to tour My Friend’s Place, which is the official charity of the Hard Rock Cafe race. I’m so glad that I had that opportunity because I never really thought about homeless youth in Los Angeles. I’ve helped at shelters for homeless adults, but youth have very different needs. After touring  My Friend’s Place, I knew that I wanted to help out with donations in the future.

I hadn’t really been able to donate in the past year, but My Friend’s Place was always on my mind. Whenever someone mentioned having things to donate, if they were things on the wish list, I’d recommend they donate there.

Then, at the SAG-AFTRA Convention, one of my fellow delegates mentioned how AFTRA used to do donations at their conventions (this was before the two unions merged). Many delegates come from out-of-town and stay at the host hotel, and we know that most people don’t use the toiletries that the hotel provides in the bathroom. So at the AFTRA conventions, they would collect these toiletries and donate them to a place that could use them.

I connected with the delegate who brought up the donation idea (and got it all started) and said that if she didn’t have a charity in mind that I’d love to donate them to My Friend’s Place. So all of our donations (about 5 bags full) went to My Friend’s Place recently and we know that they will be going to good use.

I’ve also told my parents to bring all of the dog supplies that were Dante’s or Tucker’s that Tucker is too big for because My Friend’s Place allows the youth to bring their pets there and they need collars, leashes, and other pet supplies. So I will be doing that donation after Thanksgiving when I get them.

And the other day, a box showed up at my house. Somehow, I am on a baby/pregnancy mailing list (I’m not pregnant) and lots of baby related coupons have been arriving at my door. But this day, there were two cans of powdered baby formula inside!

Baby Mailing List

So I will be adding those to my post-Thanksgiving donation and several of my friends with kids will be giving me baby clothes that their kids have outgrown, the leftover diapers in a box that their baby has sized out of, and other baby supplies that are on the wish list. I’m really excited to have another nice size donation that I will be bringing to My Friend’s Place soon.

If any of you are in Los Angeles, I highly recommend donating to My Friend’s Place if you can. They are so happy for any donations they can get and I know that they are working on helping the homeless youth find jobs and homes so that they don’t have to sleep on the streets as adults. I know that I haven’t made a lot of donations in the past there, but I’m hoping to fix that now and to make donating there a somewhat regular thing.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing To Support My Friend’s Place (or Learning New Ways To Help Others) Default ThumbnailA Donation Drop-Off (or Grateful I Can Help A Little) Default ThumbnailLunch and Learn (or Learning More About My Next 5K) Default ThumbnailI Can’t Believe My Race Time (or A 5K With My TIU Friends) Default ThumbnailFriends Helping Friends (or Not Being Afraid To Ask For Support) Default ThumbnailGetting Back To Normal (or Finishing Hell Week and Race Prep)

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Restoring My Computer (or Glad For A Backup)

Posted on October 29, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve had my computer for close to 6 years now. That may not seem like a lot, but considering how much I use it every day (I have to do multiple jobs on my computer every week), it’s pretty impressive how long it’s lasted. I’ve been pretty good about trying to update things as they come up and making sure that I clean out old files when I can. And of course, I have an external hard drive always attached that backs up my laptop on a very regular basis.

The other day after work, I got an alert that there was an update ready for my computers. I checked the reviews online first to make sure the update was good and compatible with my computer. And once it all looked good I started the download.

The actual download of the update went fine, but when my computer rebooted and tried to install the update everything went wrong. It froze on the update and no matter how many times I tried to restart my computer it wouldn’t budge.

Finally after an hour or so of restarting I got my computer up and running again but everything was gone. There were no settings, no photos, no documents, and no downloaded apps on my computer. It was like it came straight out of the box (or more like straight out of the box 6 years ago because it was using the operating system that came with the computer when it was new).

After a minor freak out and google search on my phone on how to restore my computer from my backups, I finally got the restoration process started.

Computer Restore

Restoring my computer took about 6 hours and then resetting the last few things on it took another hour or so. I was up all night making sure that this worked because I knew that I had to work in the morning and if my computer wasn’t working I’d have to figure out how to fix it before 10am.

This entire problem was resolved pretty simply (I’m very lucky), but it made me realize how reliant I am on my computer. Obviously, I need it for work but it also has all my photos on it. And while I feel pretty good that my backup is reliable, it still terrified me that all my things might be gone.

I’m not going to try to update my computer again. I’m worried that I’ll have this issue again and I’m planning on getting a new laptop in December or January. While this laptop does an ok job, I need more storage for photos and files and it’s getting very slow and glitchy (in order to open my web browser I usually have to attempt to open it 5 or 6 times and force quit it until it works).

I know that a new computer is a really big expense and probably considered a luxury. And people may think I should buy the cheapest computer I can to save money. But those cheaper computers seem to not last as long and I won’t be able to do all the fun things that I use my computer for (editing photos, collage projects, syncing with my phone the same way). To me, it’s worth spending the extra money in order to make sure I have a computer that is good and will last me at least another 5 years.

I’m getting very excited for a new computer because I know it will work really nicely, but I’m already starting to think about how I will transfer all my data from one computer to the other. My mom is also looking at a new computer (her computer is as old or older than mine) and I want to be able to help her too.

I’m doing so much planning for this purchase that won’t happen for another month or two. But there’s nothing wrong about getting excited for something that should make my life much easier!

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Default ThumbnailA New Computer (or Out With The Old And In With The New) Default ThumbnailFall Cleaning (or Making My Workplace Spotless) Default ThumbnailHoping To Fix My Computer (or Can The New MacBook Pros Please Come Out Soon?) Default ThumbnailNew Shoes! (or I’m Glad I Had A Pedicure) Default ThumbnailTrying To Cut Back On Clutter (or Why Won’t My Computer Do What I Want It To Do?!?) Default ThumbnailMore Computer Frustration (or Trying To Let It Go)

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

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How Is This Year Almost Over? (or Doing A Check In On My Goals)

Posted on October 28, 2015 | 1 comment

I was on the phone with a friend the other day and it came up that this year is over in 2 months. I know I say this every year but it’s crazy how fast the year is going by! It feels like my birthday was just a few weeks ago!

I’m not the type of person to do quarterly check ins with my goals (so many friends are trying to get me to do this and I’m thinking about maybe doing it next year), but with 2 months left I did want to see how I’m doing with what I set as goals for this year.

My first goal was to do 175 workouts at Orangetheory this year. Not counting the workout I’ll be doing today, I’m at 142 workouts. I’m very much on track to hit my goal, but I need to get back to 4 workouts a week soon so I make sure that I get there. But it’s very possible and I’m really happy with myself that I’ve gotten this close so far.

My next goal was having at least 4 home cooked dinners a week. This one I’m not doing so great with. If you could microwaved dinners as home cooked (I don’t), then I’m doing amazing. But I’ve really gotten out of my cooking trend that I was in for so long and I’m struggling to get back in to. A lot of that has to do with working one of my jobs on the weekends when I used to do meal prepping or knowing that I won’t be at home many nights a week. This is a scheduling issue that I’m always working on and I know that I need to make it a better priority in life.

Next on my list was getting down to 2 main day jobs. This one I actually did! I now have my box office from home job (which I’ve been at for over a year) as one of those main jobs and my data entry job with my old boss as my other main day job. I also have my sporadic jobs (babysitting, the film festival, my weekend box office job with an old boss), but I’m definitely down to 2 main day jobs. I have to admit that I’m shocked that I accomplished this one since it was the hardest one in my mind. I’m now looking at some other day jobs with more flexibility (my main box office job isn’t as flexible as I’d like it to be), but I’m very happy for now with the 2 main jobs I have and I’m super grateful to have them both.

Getting into an improv class was checked off the list last week when I started at UCB and I’ll be doing those classes for 6 more weeks. Again, I’m super shocked that I got this done because I’ve been wanting to do it for a while and haven’t had the chance or money to do so.

I haven’t been able to travel a lot this year. I’ve gone to San Diego a bunch and I went to Napa earlier in the year, but I was really hoping to do another New York trip this fall. There were schedule and financial issues with doing that trip, but it’s looking like it might be in the works for 2016.

And my final goal (as it always has been) was to keep blogging. I’ve had people ask me how long I can keep up blogging 5 days a week every week and I’m happy that I haven’t quit doing that yet. There may come a day in the future that I miss a day or that I decide to go down in the number of posts a week. But I’m still happy with my schedule as it is and it seems that you all like reading my posts too.

So that’s my almost the end of the year check in with my 2015 goals. They aren’t all done yet, but I’m making huge steps and progress so far and I feel like on December 31st I will be looking back and realizing that I got most or all of my goals accomplished for the year.

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Default Thumbnail2015 Recap (or How I Did On My Goals) Default ThumbnailWhat I Plan To Do This Year (or 2015 Goals) Default ThumbnailMy 2016 Goals (or I’ve Got Some Big Ideas This Year) Default Thumbnail2014 Goals (or Hoping To Get More Goals Done This Year) Default ThumbnailAn Almost End Of The Year Review (or Looking Back At My Goals) Default Thumbnail2020 Goals (New Year, Not All New Goals)

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Homework and Other Work (or Taking My Class Seriously)

Posted on October 27, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve now completed two weeks of my 8 week UCB Improv 101 class. The class is going well so far. It’s still a lot of review of basics for me, but that’s never a bad thing. And some of the basics at UCB are different from the basics in other improv classes I’ve been in since this is long form improv and not short form improv (short form is about games like on “Whose Line Is It Anyway?”). It’s a little crazy to think that we are a quarter of the way through the class and at the end we are doing a show, but I’m sure things will be moving faster the closer we get to our show and it won’t seem as odd that we are performing in front of guests.

I’m debating if I will be doing Improv 201. I have a feeling I will be doing it because that’s more of the scene work and less of the basics, and that’s what I want to do. I’m not sure how soon I’ll have the $400 for class ready, but I’m hoping it won’t be too long (I think there are also some work-study opportunities at UCB to help bring down the price of class).

Even though my 101 class is the basics, I’m taking things seriously. I do take notes during class and I’m listening to all the critiques that the teacher gives me and the other students. There is a book that all students are required to read and I’m working on it.

UCB Book

I’ve actually had the book for a while because I knew it was a requirement for the class and I was hoping to do the class earlier in the year. So I got it on Amazon a while ago and have had it in my room waiting for when I got into the class (I’m not sure why I didn’t start reading it sooner, but what matters is that I’m reading it now).

The other thing that all students (or at least students in Improv 101) have to do is to see 2 shows during the 8 week class. We really don’t have to see the 2 shows until the end of the class, but it’s recommend that we see them as soon as possible because it will help us in class.

So I took that advice seriously and went to a show last Thursday. It was a musical improv show (not something that I’d do myself, but I was happy to see it) and it was so awesome! The performers were super talented and it’s so impressive that they can sing a song that is being made up on the spot together and they really tend to be singing the same thing (I don’t get how they do that?!?).

I’m not sure if I’ll be able to see a show every week, but I’m really going to try to. It might be tough with some of my schedules for the next few weeks, but maybe there are a few weeks that I can see more than one show. Just because we only have to see 2 shows doesn’t mean I’m only going to see 2 shows.

I’m starting to make friends in my class, so that will help make my scenes better in class (not as awkward) and we are trying to go see shows together as a group since when I went alone it was a little lonely and not as fun as it could be.

Just because the class is all about the basics doesn’t mean that I’m not trying to get the most out of it that I can and hopefully doing that will help me make the decision if I want to keep doing more levels. I’m really enjoying being back in class and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I started at UCB. I’m glad to have this back in my life and I know that it’s only doing positive things for me.

I’m seriously so glad that I finally got the money together and over my fear of going back into improv class.

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Default ThumbnailHalfway Through Class (or Not Thinking About The Next Step) Default ThumbnailMaking Strides In Class (or Relaxing And Having Fun) Default ThumbnailMore Comfortable In Improv Class (or Making Friends With My Classmates) Default ThumbnailGraduation Show (or Completing Improv 101) Default ThumbnailBack To School (or Another Round Of Improv) Default ThumbnailTaking A Run Class (or Proof I’m Faster and Stronger)

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Still Taking This A Bit Easy (or Not Going To Push Too Hard)

Posted on October 26, 2015 | 1 comment

I had every intention of doing 4 workouts this past week. My calf feels normal most of the time and I’m almost back to my old treadmill speed. Instead, I only did 3 workouts and it looks like I’ll be doing that for the next few weeks as well.

It’s not really all about how my calf feels. I did feel some pain this week (many during a strength day when all the treadmill work was on hills), but it’s not unbearable. I also felt some hip pain that was a bit scary at first, but fortunately was not my cartilage tearing because the pain ended the next day.

One of the big reasons for not adding the 4th workout into my week yet is scheduling issues. I know that that shouldn’t be my excuse, but it is. And with my 5K coming up soon, I don’t want to push myself too hard so that I can do the best that I can at the race.

Besides only doing 3 workouts this week and having some pain issues, I did have some pretty great moments in my workouts. I’m still working on the rowing improvements (which I’ll need this week because it’s Hell Week!) and I had some great sprint rows. I know that distance rows are my weakest point, but those are rare in class and they get pretty painful for me to do.

On my weights, I did most of my things with 15 pound weights, but I was doing squats and pullovers with 20 pounds so I’m very happy with that. I’m hoping that I can do some of my stronger arm things (like bicep curls) with 20 pound weights soon. I’ve never been scared of bulking up by using heavier weights so the only thing holding me back is my own strength.

I’m still stuck at 3.4 miles an hour on the treadmill. And I have a feeling that I’ll probably be there for the next two weeks leading up to the race. If my race ends up being at 3.4 miles an hour, I won’t PR. But since my adrenaline on race day always makes me walk faster (plus I won’t be at an incline), there’s still hope for me. But I’m scared to increase the speed and hurt my calf because that will definitely hurt my race time. So I’m just going to focus on staying where I am for now and after my race is done I will reevaluate and see what I’m hoping to do for my race in April.

I’ve had so many huge improvements over the past year that it can be tough to feel stagnant and not moving forward anymore. But no matter what fitness level someone is at, there is always a point where you hit your max. I know I’m not there yet, but I have to get through this time now where my focus is recovery before getting back to working on improvements again.

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Default ThumbnailWorkouts With Modifications (or Dealing With A New Injury) Default ThumbnailTough Workout Week (or I Made It Through My 4 Workouts) Default ThumbnailMore Progress And Steps Back (or Trying My Hardest) Default ThumbnailTaking Things A Bit Easier (or No More Injuries) Default ThumbnailNew Limits (or Having Friends To Push Me) Default ThumbnailTime To Push Myself Again (or Running Some Hills)

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff

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10 Years Later (or A Good Memory and A Bad Memory)

Posted on October 23, 2015 | Comments Off on 10 Years Later (or A Good Memory and A Bad Memory)

10 years ago, I was visiting my cousin Adam and his girlfriend Keri in Portland for the weekend. It was a pretty amazing weekend. It was the first time visiting my cousin on my own without other family there and we went out and did so much fun stuff! I really felt like it was a real “adult” trip.

The highlight of my weekend in Portland was going out on Adam’s sailboat. I remember that there was pretty much no wind that day so we were more motoring than sailing, but I still got to go out on the boat and check out the work that he had done on it. Even with not really getting to sail, I loved being on the water.

100_0462.JPG

After saying goodbye to Adam and Keri at the Portland airport, I went to my gate and waited for my flight (I think this was still in the time where you had to line up for Southwest to have a good spot in the A group). I was sitting by the gate and when it was time for me to get up and get on the plane, I tried to stand and immediately had a shooting pain and collapsed on the ground.

To this day, I have no idea how I got onto the plane, through LAX, and home. I’m sure I was a little out of it due to the pain. I just remember waking up the next morning and not being able to put weight on my right leg. Of course, my first reaction was to call my mom. And since I had awesome health insurance then, she told me to make an appointment and see a doctor to figure out what happened.

At first, I was diagnosed with a torn quad muscle (knowing what a torn calf feels like now, I finally understand why I was diagnosed with that at first). After a few weeks of the pain, I saw another doctor and got the same diagnosis again but was also told to go to physical therapy 2-3 times a week to help my recovery (at the time, my insurance covered all appointments in full so I was fine doing that). I was getting ultrasound therapy for a few months with very little improvement. My pain started to change into a locking sensation in my hip.

After sharing that information with my physical therapist, he got me a referral to the surgeon who ended up being my first hip surgeon and properly diagnosing me after months of believing that it was a muscle tear.

9 months from collapsing in the airport I had my hip surgery. The journey with my hip issues has been going ever since.

It’s so crazy to think that it has been 10 years since I fell in the airport. It feels like yesterday and a million years ago at the same time. But instead of focusing on that somewhat annoying anniversary, I’m focusing on the fun that I had on that trip. I had the best time with Adam and Keri that weekend and I think that that was the trip that really built my friendship with Keri. I saw her in person so few times from the time I met her until she passed away. So each of those in-person memories is so precious to me.

Even though that trip 10 years ago ended on a pretty sucky note, everything else leading up to it was so amazing and my only regret is that I don’t have more pictures from that weekend.

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Default ThumbnailLosing A Friend (or Life Can Be Just So Unfair) Default ThumbnailFearing The Worst (or Trying To Hope For The Best) Default Thumbnail7 Years (or Time Really Does Fly By) Default ThumbnailTen Years Ago (or Another Big Milestone) Default ThumbnailIt’s Like I’m Back At The Beginning (or Muscle Memory Is Weird) Default Thumbnail67 Years (or Celebrating An Anniversary With Fondue)

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Travel

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More Friends More Fun (or Still Building My Social Circle)

Posted on October 22, 2015 | Comments Off on More Friends More Fun (or Still Building My Social Circle)

I’ve talked before about how I’ve had to work hard as an adult to make friends. I lost a lot of my friends when my best friend from college and I ended our friendship and it was tough for me to start over. I was eventually able to reconnect with people I had lost track of in the past (social media was a huge help in doing that) and also went out of my way to make new friends. And after a while, I had a ton of amazing friends that I am incredibly grateful to have in my life and continue to push me to be the best person I can be.

Because I have so many amazing friends now, I do get lazy from time to time when it comes to making friends. I meet people at events and we friend each other on Facebook, but then we never really hang out. And my schedule is partially to blame for that because I’m still over booking myself a bit (I think life will calm down after Thanksgiving).

But lately I’ve been in opportunities to not only meet lots of amazing people, but to get to spend time with them and build real friendships. The SAG-AFTRA Convention is the perfect example of this.

I spent so many hours with my fellow delegates. A lot of the time, we were exhausted from long hours and lack of sleep which helps to put everyone’s guards down and make friendships much easier to start. I did know some of my fellow delegates going into the convention, but through the convention (and the fun of the gala), I got to know so many more people and I’m happy that I’m already finding time to hang out with some of them!

I had the chance to work with one of my fellow delegates when I did coaching for my audition I had recently. While I had an hour of coaching, I was really there for like 4 hours because we were having too much fun hanging out and getting to know each other.

I’ve seen delegates at the SAG-AFTRA Film Society screenings I’ve gone to lately. I’m sure we’ve seen each other at the screenings in the past (most of us go to as many screenings as we can), but since I didn’t really know them until the convention, I never really paid attention. Now, we are all running into each other at each screening and usually we also end up trying to sit together. It’s nice to have friends at the screenings with me since we usually have to wait in line to go into the screening (sometimes for a pretty long time) and there is always time to kill once we are in the theater. And while I’m always prepared with a book, I’d rather use that time to be social.

With it being the start of awards season, I’ve got a lot of screenings coming up. And I’m making a serious effort to try to reach out to my friends (old and new) to come and be my plus one for them. For the past few screenings, I’ve been able to bring a different friend to each one and that’s been pretty awesome. I get that one on one time with a friend while we are waiting for the movie to catch up on life and be silly. And that’s something that I know I don’t do often enough.

I know I always say this, but I have to make my social life a bit more of a priority in my life. These screenings are helping, but once screening season is done I don’t want to neglect my friendships. I don’t know what I’ll do to fix this problem. Maybe I should start going out after I do my late afternoon workouts, but usually by the time I get home all I want to do is shower, eat dinner, and be lazy on the couch for a bit before going to bed. My weekends are getting a bit packed with work obligations until Thanksgiving (seriously, I don’t have a free weekend until after then) but I’m going to start trying to schedule things with friends more in advance so it’s on my calendar and becomes a priority.

Even though I always have the concern about not spending enough time with my friends, I’m glad that right now it’s not a huge issue and that I’m aware of it enough that hopefully I can make sure that it’s not an issue in the future.

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Default ThumbnailFinding Time For Friends (or Busting Out Of My Routine) Default ThumbnailAnother Meeting of Mentees (Social Hour and Not Business Hour) Default ThumbnailMaking Friends As An Adult (or Am I Weird?) Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends) Default ThumbnailHow I Spent My Actual Birthday (or Friends, Friends, and More Friends) Default ThumbnailSeeing Friends In Random Places (or Unscheduled Hangouts)

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Posted in Fun Stuff

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No More Slacking (or Paying Attention To My Fitbit)

Posted on October 21, 2015 | 1 comment

I have a confession to make. I have not been doing my 10,000 steps a day lately. This all started when I lost my Fitbit. When I didn’t have it, it was pretty much impossible to get my steps in for the day (my phone counts my steps, but I don’t always have my phone with me). I started to not really look at my Fitbit app, even when I got my replacement. There were plenty of days where I looked at the app first thing in the morning (to turn off the sleep tracker) and didn’t look at it again until bedtime (to turn on the sleep tracker). I didn’t look at how many steps I was getting in for the day, but I know that I was not getting close to my goal.

I was in such a habit of not thinking about getting in my steps that I wasn’t doing them. The only 10,000 step day I had since getting my replacement was when I was at Disneyland. It’s pretty easy to get in my steps there. I average 3,000 steps in an Orangetheory workout, but I wasn’t doing the work to do the other 7,000 steps.

But on Monday, I had my workout early in the morning (and got about 3,000 steps in) and with all the games in my improv class and walking around doing errands I got another 2,000 steps in. So I decided that it was time to start taking charge again and making sure I do my best effort to get to my goals each day.

Fitbit

I managed to get my 10,000 steps in on Monday. And yesterday, I was back at my old routine of doing steps in place before work while catching up on my DVR. And I got my 10,000 steps in again.

I’m really hoping that this will be the start of the trend of hitting my step goals. When I first got my Fitbit, I was obsessed with not missing my goal every day. I remember the first time I missed my step goal and how upset I was. But since I’ve lost my Fitbit and have had a couple of weeks where I didn’t get my step goal, I’m much calmer about this all. Of course, I want to reach my goal every day, but if it doesn’t happen it doesn’t happen. It’s not the end of the world.

I’m not sure how much getting my steps in helps my weight loss efforts, but I know that it can’t hurt. And the more healthy routines that I can build into my life and don’t have to really think about, the better.

I think part of the motivation that got me back into my steps was the fact that I was invited to be a part of a bunch of step challenges this week. I don’t care if I win, but I want to at least try to be in the top half of the challengers.

So, thank you to my friends who invited me to a challenge this week. Because of you all, I’m back on track.

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Default ThumbnailGiving Fitbit Another Chance (or Doing Laps Around My Living Room) Default ThumbnailExcellent Customer Service (or A New Fitbit) Default ThumbnailLosing Weight The Techie Way (or My FitBit Fail) Default ThumbnailGetting My Rowing In (or Burning Lots Of Calories) Default ThumbnailBaby Steps (or Trying To Be Proud Of The Little Victories) Default ThumbnailNot Being So Hard On Myself (or Missing A Workout Goal This Month)

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff, Health

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Back To School (or Another Round Of Improv)

Posted on October 20, 2015 | 2 comments

I’ve been saying that this would be a goal of mine for a while, but yesterday I officially started improv classes at UCB! I was able to save up the money for the class in August, but I had to wait until there was a class time that worked with my schedule (I wasn’t going to quit my job to attend a class that lasts 8 weeks).

Finally, there was a Monday mid-day class on the registration list and I paid right away to guarantee my spot. I signed up a little while ago, so I’ve had a lot of time to think about going back into an improv class.

This is my first improv class since my beloved acting coach, Kip, passed away 5 years ago. Maybe if money and the schedule wasn’t an issue that I would have taken a class earlier this year. But before this year, I wasn’t ready to do an improv class. Kip was very influential in my life and I was scared that doing improv was going to make me sad.

Fortunately, the class didn’t do that to me yesterday. There were times that made me think of him because the lessons we were doing were identical to things I used to do in Kip’s class (which I found ironic because Kip was a founding member of a different improv company), but I think that overall the class was great and I’m looking forward to the next 7 weeks.

Besides my classes with Kip, I’ve done a couple of years of improv training with a different troupe. But because it wasn’t very well-known (even though it’s based in LA), many casting directors are asking for actors to study improv with one of the big schools. So taking this class at UCB is helping me accomplish that.

In the first class, it was a lot of introduction to improv. There are some people in the class who have never taken improv, and I needed to learn the style and rules of the improv games that UCB does. And it was a good refresher course for me to make sure that I’m the most supportive team member that I can be.

I have to say, I was very impressed with the UCB setup. I’m used to taking improv classes in a casting room (after hours) or at the theater where the shows would take place. But at UCB, they have a big building with dozens of classrooms, a theater, and a cafe. It was more like a school than a theater, and I really liked that.

UCB Classroom

I have a bit of homework to do before my next class on Monday next week, and I’m really going to try my best to get it all done plus do a little extra. Just because this is an introduction to improv class doesn’t mean I’m going to slack off. I’m taking this seriously and maybe after completing this class I will feel at home here and will continue to take the next set of classes.

I’m glad that I was able to get together the funds and a class worked out with my schedule. After taking my first class, I don’t feel the same pull holding me back from taking classes that might “replace” Kip. I’m aware that that was a weird issue to have, but because Kip was such a huge part of my life, I had trouble moving on. But I feel like I’m finally at that point and I’m excited to see how I can use what he taught me over the years in a new space with new people.

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Default ThumbnailMore Comfortable In Improv Class (or Making Friends With My Classmates) Default ThumbnailFinding Soul Mates (or Why I’m Having A Tough Time Finding An Improv Class) Default ThumbnailGraduation Show (or Completing Improv 101) Default ThumbnailHomework and Other Work (or Taking My Class Seriously) Default ThumbnailMaking Strides In Class (or Relaxing And Having Fun) Default ThumbnailHalfway Through Class (or Not Thinking About The Next Step)

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Setting Some New Personal Records (or Getting Closer To My Old Self)

Posted on October 19, 2015 | Comments Off on Setting Some New Personal Records (or Getting Closer To My Old Self)

I’m happy to share that I actually had a pretty amazing workout week! I’m actually surprised that I feel so great about my workout week because I had a setback on the treadmill and that’s how I’ve been measuring my success for a while now.

I’m not doing horribly on the treadmill, but I’m back to 3.4 miles an hour. I can do some moments of 3.5 miles an hour, but it’s starting to hurt again. But I’m starting to not stress about that as much as I was before. At 3.4 miles an hour, I’m about 30 seconds slower than my 5K PR time. And I know that I have a tendency to be faster on race days and my treadmill training is at 4% incline (at least) and my race day is pretty much a flat road. So knowing that, there is still a decent chance that I will PR at my race in a few weeks even if all my treadmill training until then is at 3.4 miles an hour (although I’m not going to stop pushing myself to go faster).

While I had a small setback on the treadmill, I had jumps forward in everything else. My strength work was much more fluid and less jerky than it was in the past. I also finally conquered my fear of using the next set of weights when I was doing arm work. I finally did some of my upper body weights with the 20 pound weights! I’m not going to do that for everything, but it’s nice to prove to myself that I can do it and that it’s not as bad as I thought it would be.

I also had to use fewer modifications this past week. Some of that was because of what the workout programs were during the week, but there are some things (like certain types of planks) that I was able to do the normal way instead of the way I’ve been doing them. I still had to do a modification on one move on the Bosu (where you do a sit up and then stand), but that’s something that I’m aware will likely always be very difficult or impossible to do. And I did burpees much cleaner than I think I ever have!

But my biggest success of the week was my rowing. Yes, it shocked me as well that I have good rowing news to share. We had a ton of rowing to do this past week. And while most of my rowing kind of kicked serious butt (including getting a higher wattage than I can ever remember), I mainly want to share about my rowing victory on Wednesday.

Part of the workout routine on Wednesday was a 1,000 meter row. Those intimidate me so much. I know that if I want to do a Dri-Tri that I’ll have to do a 2,000 meter row, but for some reason that doesn’t scare me as much as the 1,000 meter row.

Whenever rowing is part of the workout plan, there is a guideline for how long it should take you to complete it. Beginners should average 100 meters every 30 seconds. For the shorter rows, I can do that pretty much all the time. But when I have to do the longer rows, it normally doesn’t happen.

So going into the 1,000 meter row, I just wanted to be under 5 minutes. I knew that I could maintain that pace for at least the first half of the row, but the second half would be a struggle. So I set up my rower so it would count down the meters and stop when I got to 1,000 (instead of just continuing to go as long as I don’t reset it). With the rower set up that way, I could focus on other things in the room and not really pay attention to the countdown. I also knew that with it set that way I would see exactly how long it took me to complete it versus making a guess.

When I started, I just counted each stroke in my head. It doesn’t really mean anything to me, but it’s a good distraction. The first time I checked the monitor I was about a quarter of the way done. I just kept going and trying to not slow down. It was so hard. I was sweating like crazy (and not stopping to wipe off the sweat) and my heart rate got a bit higher than I like it to be. But I managed to complete the 1,000 meters with pretty much no breaks.

And when I looked at the monitor (and I regret not having a picture of this), it said 4:58.9. I was just over a second under my 5 minute goal!

Of course, the rest of the workout was a struggle for me because I was exhausted from the row, but I was also on such a high from accomplishing something that I wasn’t sure would be possible.

Of course, I had to take a post-workout selfie to celebrate this accomplishment!

Post Workout

I’m excited to see what this week of workouts will bring. I have to start doing very early workouts on Mondays for a while (more on that tomorrow), so hopefully I won’t have too many issues with that.

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