Posted onJanuary 31, 2019|Comments Off on A Donation Drop-Off (or Grateful I Can Help A Little)
I’ve personally donated to My Friend’s Place whenever I have something to donate. I also have encouraged friends of mine to donate there as well since it is such an incredible organization. I know a lot of people don’t really think about where they donate items and what may be done with them, that idea never sat right with me. So once I learned about My Friend’s Place I knew it would be where I would be doing my donating from that moment on.
I don’t always have a lot of things to donate and I always wish I could help out more. But I know that one thing I can do to help out is to share information and make sure other people know about the charity. And that’s exactly what I was able to do at the SAG-AFTRA Convention when I went for the first time in 2015. Another member mentioned donating hotel toiletries to charity and that they would be finding a place to donate them to later. I was able to suggest My Friend’s Place and that’s where we have done our donations for the past 2 conventions.
I assumed the next time I would be going over there with a SAG-AFTRA donation would be after the convention in the fall. I might have been there sooner with donations on my own, but I didn’t think there would be anything from the union. But fortunately I was wrong.
When the National Board members meet, many members have to travel for the meetings. The suggestion about donations came up at the meeting and my friend Ellen (who is on the board) collected these items and asked me if I wanted to go with her to drop off the donation. Of course I said I would love too because I want to help in any way that I can. I didn’t help with the collection, but assisting is good enough for me.
Before we met to do the drop-off, I went around my house to see if there was anything I had that I could donate. I did find some random toiletries that I got in different swag bags that I knew I wouldn’t be using. I also had some food I got in a Secret Santa exchange that I didn’t need. I would rather donate them to a place that needs them if I don’t feel like I had to have them. I filled a paper bag with the items I had and drove to Hollywood to meet up with Ellen.
She had a box full of amazing things to donate. Besides the regular toiletries that I knew she had collected, she had health items that were leftover from the union health fair. I know that My Friend’s Place always needs a variety of items and if they can’t use them they know so many other places that could. And since they provide services for free to the youth that come in, I am happy to give them whatever we can since I know they won’t be sold or wasted.
I wish that I had been more involved in helping with these donations this time, but I know that I have limited involvement right now with the union. I don’t attend board meetings so I can’t make the suggestion to collect items. But I am so grateful that Ellen is as passionate about this as I am and she makes sure that people know what we want to do.
Election season for the union is about to begin and I’m hoping I’ll be elected as a delegate again. Of course, I want to be at the convention so I can vote on the issues and represent my fellow actors. But I also want to see what I can do to encourage other members to donate what they can so we have a huge collection to drop off at the end of the year.
One day, I’d love to have the money to buy all the things I know they need because many of them are things that aren’t as easily donated as toiletries (like new socks and undergarments). Right now, that’s not an option for me but it is a dream of mine. But for now, I help out in whatever way I can and whenever I have the opportunity to do so. And I know that doing that is better than doing nothing.
I am not a fan of changing doctors. I like having a medical team that knows me and understands whatever issues I’m going through. I’m a medical weirdo so it can take a while to update a new doctor on my current situation and I’d rather avoid doing that. I’ve been lucky that many of the doctors I see on a regular or semi-regular basis are doctors that I have had for years, but occasionally I have to switch doctors for one reason or another.
I mentioned that my body is starting to show signs of stress. Some of the stress was showing up as odd bumps on the back of my neck that I didn’t know what they were. I tried not to freak out about them, but they weren’t getting smaller and they were sore so I knew I needed to make an appointment to see my dermatologist. Unfortunately, this time of year seems to be very popular with all dermatologists and the doctor I have been working with for a while wasn’t available for at least a month. I didn’t want to wait that long, so I asked if I could see a new doctor and I was able to get an appointment for earlier this week.
By the time I had my appointment, the bumps on my neck were almost gone. But I still wanted to get them checked out along with a few other skin issues I wanted to ask about. I don’t like to stack up medical issues, but this time that’s just what happened naturally.
Fortunately, the bumps I had on the back of my neck were nothing bad. It was more to do with my hair follicles than my skin and I got a recommendation for a new soap I could use that would help prevent them and make them go away if they return. I also asked if my recent hair loss in the spot that I had the bumps was related, but they weren’t. I just happened to have a bald spot in the same spot and that may have been the reason I noticed the bumps. If they had been covered by my hair, while I might have still had a bit of pain I wouldn’t have noticed them or realized they were bumps instead of a bruise.
And since I was seeing a new dermatologist, I also wanted to ask about the wart that I’ve had for over a decade. My last dermatologist considered doing a biopsy because she questioned if it could be a wart (typically even without treatment they will go away within 6 months), but it got postponed and I honestly forgot to do a follow-up to schedule it. I haven’t done anything to treat it recently and it’s been bothering me just as much as it always has.
This new dermatologist had the same hesitation as the last one about whether or not I have a wart on my face, but he didn’t hesitate on what we should do. He suggested that I come back for an in-office surgical removal. This is what I had discussed with a plastic surgeon a long time ago and that doctor made it seem like it would be a very difficult process with a very horrible scar. I didn’t want to disfigure my face, so I didn’t pursue the surgery with the plastic surgeon further.
And my last dermatologist never felt like it was the right option to take. I don’t know why I didn’t push the issue further and see what she felt would help this go away since all the treatments she had been trying had failed, but I know what hasn’t worked for over a decade. And while there are a few other options that I know I could ask to try, I also know the success rate of those other options are usually under 50% and most of them are painful.
This surgery is super minor and will be done with just a numbing shot. I will have stitches in my chin for about a week before they are removed and I will have a scar. The scar might be very obvious at first, but the dermatologist feels like it should be faded within 6 months and it will be easy to cover with makeup. And even with having a scar there, it will be less noticeable than what I have now. But to me, it’s not about how I will look. This wart has been painful for years and I want that pain gone.
I know it sounds like a rash decision and that I’m just hurrying things along. But this is something I have considered for a very long time and every doctor I have brought it up to has hesitated and told me that they didn’t feel this was a good option. This doctor was very confident in being able to make it work and to make the scar as small as possible. And for me it is so important to work with doctors who feel confident. I don’t always need my doctors to have all the answers, but they need to be confident in what they say even if they are saying they don’t know the answer at the moment. And I like the confidence of this doctor and I am ready to take the leap and finally get rid of something that has bothered me for years!
Posted onJanuary 29, 2019|Comments Off on A Night Of SAG Awards (or Watching Union Unity)
Every year I look forward to watching the SAG Awards. I love all award shows, but ever since I became a member of SAG-AFTRA I feel so connected to the SAG Awards. I know a part of feeling connected is because it is the one award show that I currently get to vote for. My vote helps to decide the winners and that’s something that most people don’t get to experience.
I also think that I feel so connected because I feel like the people on my screen are truly my colleagues. I know that’s technically true for any award show where there are actors, but there’s something different with the SAG Awards. It seems so much more obtainable and closer to me and it really is a unique experience.
Even though the SAG Awards feel different for me, they are pretty standard award shows. The awards are only for actors and they categories are a bit different, but they are still about someone winning and giving a speech thanking the voting body and the people they worked with and in their life. It’s nothing too crazy compared to other award shows and this time of year there are so many of them!
But this year, the SAG Awards really felt different. I heard this from several of my friends and we all had a similar reaction. In the speeches this year from the winners, there was so much pro-union and union inclusive language. There were winners that thanked all actors that work on their show and specifically named background actors. Background actors are almost never thanked, so to see them get acknowledgement was very cool. And it also seemed like most speeches were talking about how important being a union actor is and how we all need to stick together.
Some of the things being said reminded me of what is said in the Union Working videos. They talked about making sure all actors on set are being paid what they earned and not missing out on different things like a meal penalty if a meal period is skipped. There may be some lead actors not aware that those little bonuses are being skipped, but if they are looking out on their contracts they can see if they are skipped and make sure that everyone working is getting paid what they are promised by our contracts.
One of the best moments of union unity was during the lifetime achievement speech by Alan Alda. He had a very nice speech talking about his career and what it has meant for him. And he ended his speech urging everyone watching to honor our union contract. This is such an important thing to hear as we are currently on strike with an ad agency over them deciding to not honor the contract that they previously signed with us. And with the contact negations about to start, it’s important that we have a united front saying that we want a fair contract. It was such an awesome moment watching him add that to his speech because we do need everyone to hear about it. While I have been working hard at educating myself with union issues, I know not everyone is doing that and maybe hearing someone in their speech emphasize how important it is to honor our contract will be a reminder to them or push them to learn more.
And it wasn’t just in the speeches that we saw moments of union unity. When SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris spoke, that was the theme of her speech. She reminded all of us that the union is us and we need to make sure we are working together to make the union strong for all current and future members. And Megan Mullally even got to share a moment of why our union is important while she was being the host of the show. She shared about how her dad, who has passed away, is still receiving residual checks for work that he did decades ago. Residuals are an important part of our union contracts and it was awesome seeing someone share that to the audience so those who aren’t in the union yet have an idea about what we are fighting for as a benefit for all actors.
I don’t know if any other award shows this season will have the same vibe of union unity or strength, but to see it happen in any award show is so special. While I know that it won’t change the minds of the people we are in negotiations with or people who have nothing to do with our industry, it is important for all of our union members to hear. I know there are some people in the union who don’t do much with the union but enjoy the benefits and the screeners we get for the SAG Awards. If they watched the show, they would have seen so many examples of people sharing why the union is important to them and maybe that will inspire them to support the union in whatever way they feel is best.
I said last week in my post about my workouts how I didn’t want to keep making excuses for why I was using the bike over the treadmill. And of course, this week I feel like I do need to explain myself a bit. But at least it’s not because of my normal reasons. This past week, my workouts were a struggle because of weird issues with my body. Over the weekend leading up to this past week, I hurt my neck. I think I slept on it funny, but it was causing me a lot of pain through the week. I know it’s nothing too bad, but it still affected me. And once that was starting to feel better toward the end of the week, I did something to my hips and quad muscles. It might have been another weird sleep thing, but I knew I had to go easy on my body. I guess I should be grateful that I am used to working with limitations because I was still able to get some good work done this past week.
Monday’s workout was a very interesting class. When you were on the treadmills you had cardio/floor work and the other half of class was doing rowing and cardio work. The pacing of things were determined by the person who started each block on the cardio side. We had 3 blocks on each side, but since we switch stations during the block it really felt more like 6 blocks on each side.
When you started on cardio, every time you started with a distance run (I was on the bike). There was a time limit 3 minutes for getting to the distance, but most of us were done in 2 minutes or under. After completing the distance, you headed to the floor. The first block had single arm neutral full thrusters and burpees. The second block had skater lunges and push ups. And the last block had hip hinge reverse flys and lunges. Everything in that block seemed to go by so quickly, but we made up for cardio time when we were doing the other half of the workout.
When you started on the rower, you rowed until the person on your treadmill was done with their distance. Then you switched to the treadmill (or bike) to be at base pace until the last 3 minutes of the block. Those last 3 minutes were a push pace, base pace, and all out pace. We repeated that for all 3 blocks we started on the rower. This workout was much more cardio and strength work, but it was a nice challenge to have and it felt very different from what I’m used to which made it fun.
Wednesday’s workout was an endurance day and we stayed in each section of the room for 15 minutes before switching so we had 1 lap around the room. For cardio, we had push paces to base paces for a few rounds. The push pace and base pace matched each time and we started with 2 minutes each and went down to 60 seconds each ending with a 30 second all out pace. I stuck with my normal resistance levels for the bike but tried to work with the speed a little. It wasn’t anything amazing, but I was able to just keep going which is sometimes all I can ask for in a workout.
On the rower, we started with a 250 meter row and then had arm raises using the mini-bands. Each time we were back on the rower we decreased the row but kept the arm raises the same. I decided to try using the medium mini-band for the arm raises to see if I could do it. Normally I would use the lightest one, but I was able to use the medium one without too much trouble. I could really feel the difference in how hard I was working, but it wasn’t so hard that I struggled with completing them. We don’t use the mini-bands that often, but I think I need to start using harder mini-bands with my arms.
For the floor, we had a really challenging workout. Normally, we do all the exercises in a block one after another so we don’t feel too exhausted or burned out. The idea of this workout was to get burned out. For all exercises we had 12, 10, 8, 6, and 4 reps; but we had to do all those rounds of each exercise before moving on to the next exercise. We had one leg squats using the bench, lunges, sumo squats, lunges with weights, and single arm shoulder presses. I sometimes would just try to do as many as I could in a set before a break and just made sure that they all added up to 40 reps (the total we had to do), but I also tried to split them up properly when I could. It wasn’t easy, but it was such a relief when we got to move on to the next exercise.
Friday’s workout was a power day, and even though we only had 1 lap around the room we had 4 little blocks on cardio and the rower which helped the time go by quicker. The blocks were the same length on both sides. We started at 2 minutes and then had 2 1/2, 3, and 3 1/2 minute blocks to follow.
For cardio, we started with a 1 minute push, 30 second base, and 30 second all out. Then we had a push before the all out. Then the base pace got longer for the last two blocks. My legs and hips were feeling the worst this day so it was a struggle to use the bike. I used my normal resistance levels but I was pedaling very slowly. Even my base pace resistance level felt like a hill to me and it was hard not to feel frustrated. I know that I didn’t pick to feel this way and doing something is better than nothing and I tried to focus on that as much as I could.
On the rower, every block started with a 200 meter row and then we had exercises with weights to finish out the block. First we had front raises and then each block we added on something else. We added hip hinge low rows, sumo squats to front raises, and shoulder presses. I might have gone a bit too heavy with the weights for this work but I really felt like I had to make up for what I didn’t get to do on the bike. And on the floor, we had one long block that had all medicine ball work. We started with woodchoppers and then had 3 rounds of lunges to tricep extensions and sit-ups to shoulder presses. Then we had more woodchoppers and rounds of side lunges to front presses and sit-ups to torso rotations. While my legs didn’t hurt too bad with this block, it wasn’t easy on my neck. I know that I have to go easy when my neck is feeling weird because it would be very bad to hurt my neck more. I took breaks when I needed them and tried to be very aware of my posture and how I was holding my body.
Saturday’s workout was a 3 partner workout and it was a special workout for Australia Day (although I don’t know how the workout connected to that). Also, while my neck was still a little sore my hips were feeling better so I was excited to work with partners and not scared I’d be holding them back.
We started with 3 minute blocks on each section of the room before we partnered up. We had a 3 minute run (or bike) for distance, 3 minute row for distance, and 3 minutes doing floor work ending with burpees until time was called. We had to remember our distances and how many burpees we did and then we got into groups of 3.
For a majority of the workout, we were doing the partner workout. Each of us was trying to match what we did in those 3 minute blocks and whoever finished first started the switch. So it could be the person on the floor, rower, or bike who finished first. I was lucky with my partners that we were all using the bike so that made things a bit easier. And I think we were equally matched so we all had our turn finishing first. The other exercises on the floor were lunges, bicycle crunches, plank punches, and full burpees. Since I use the bench for plank work, I did lose a little time getting that set up and put back each round (I didn’t want to keep it out as my partners needed that space to work). But on average we were switching every 3 minutes and it was a good amount of time to work hard before feeling exhausted.
My group did 3 rounds around the room (9 total switches) when the partner part of the workout was done. Then we had 3 blocks similar to how we started the workout, except this time we had 90 second blocks. The goal was to get half of what we were able to do when we had the 3 minute rounds at the beginning of the workout. I didn’t quite make it there on the bike, but I did make it there on the rower.
I’ll be honest, this recap was a bit of a struggle because I tried to do it without making excuses with my neck and hip issues. But I realized that those excuses were not to explain away why I was using the bike but why I might have had a tough time in the workouts. I still pushed through and was very proud of myself and I think that is what is most important to me.
Posted onJanuary 25, 2019|Comments Off on 2 Restaurants and 2 Rides (or A Very Low-Key Disney Afternoon)
I haven’t been able to have a full Disney day in a while, but I’ve been doing a bunch of random Disneyafternoons after work lately. It does only give us a few hours at the parks, but usually we only have a few rides we really want to go on so it’s not a big deal. One of the biggest advantages of having an annual pass is that I can go for an hour or two and be ok with it. I never feel rushed to have to get things done because I know I can go back another time.
I was able to do one of those Disney afternoons this week with my friend Dani. We didn’t really have an agenda of rides we wanted to go on, we just wanted to have a few hours of Disney fun. We didn’t realize before arriving there that the parks were closing relatively early that day, so we only had about 4 hours from the time we arrived until they closed. But since we didn’t have a plan of things to do, that was fine with us. We both just enjoy being at Disneyland and it was such a nice evening that it just made everything feel magical.
We were both a bit wishy-washy about what we wanted to do first, but we knew we wanted to get some food. We thought about a few different places we would like to go to, and we decided we should check out the Lamplight Lounge. Normally, there is a big line to eat there, but the parks were unusually empty so we decided to take a chance. There was a small line when we got there, and we figured it would be fine to wait it out. Only a few minutes later a woman got our information to have us put on the list and told us that our table would be ready in about 10 minutes. We went out to wander in one of the stores and before we could take more than a few steps away I got a text that our table was ready!
We were seated at the bar which had a really nice view of Pixar Pier and the sun setting.
This restaurant is known for their lobster nachos and I had never had them before (the nachos were also offered when this restaurant had a different name for the past few years but I never made it there). So we knew that we were going to be getting those and they didn’t disappoint us!
We also got dinner to go with the nachos. I got the ratatouille and even though I was already a bit full from the nachos I couldn’t stop eating it because it was so good!
Dani had the spinach salad which was also good, and there were so many things that were on the menu that we wanted to try. I know we lucked out by the lack of line there, but I think we are going to try to plan a day when we can make a reservation there so we can try more of the entrees and get the nachos again!
After eating and doing some shopping, we did our first ride of the day: Radiator Springs Racers. I feel like I haven’t been on it for a while, and my favorite time to ride it is at nighttime. It was just as fun as always even if the car we were in didn’t win.
Then we headed over to the Disneyland side where we rode the train for the loop around the park. I really just love the train and it’s a nice relaxing ride. I wish that there were more lights around so we could see all the scenery, but it’s still nice having the little bits we could see. Plus, I love the diorama between Tomorrowland and Main Street.
Once we did our loop on the train, there was about 30 minutes before the park closed. And we had one more stop that we wanted to make: Dole Whips!
We went to the Tropical Hideaway again for their Dole Whip options. Dani got an orange/raspberry swirl on top of pineapple juice and I got a pineapple/orange swirl. It was a bit cold outside, but Dole Whips are so good that it was worth getting extra cold eating them!
By the time we were done with our desserts, the parks were technically closed. But the stores are open after closing so we did a lap through the stores to see if there was anything we liked. Then we went to World Of Disney in Downtown Disney to see what they had there. I’m pretty picky when it comes to Disney attire. I like cute and fun Disney shirts, but I don’t like them to be super obviously Disney. The shirt I was wearing that day was one I found online that said “Gaston’s Tavern” (from Beauty and the Beast). But Disney is getting better at creating fun shirts and I found one that I had to get for a future Disney day.
I love that it’s a Disney themed shirt but not everyone will know that it’s a Disney shirt unless they are familiar with the Haunted Mansion. I will totally be wearing it soon when I’m back in the parks!
My pass is due to be renewed in a few weeks, and even though the prices were raised I will be renewing it again. I get so much joy out of going to the parks and I know I couldn’t do these short and relaxing Disney afternoons if I had to pay every time I went to the park. I know that I probably shouldn’t spend the money on my pass, but with the payment plan option I think I will be able to figure out a way to afford it without it being too bad. And I think that if I couldn’t go to the parks as often as I go, I would end up spending the money somewhere else (or by getting one day tickets to the parks), so it’s worth the splurge.
Posted onJanuary 24, 2019|Comments Off on Feeling A Bit More Luck (or Hopefully This Was Just A Bad Phase)
I’m aware that several of my posts lately have been a negative lately. I hate when they are like that, but I also believe in being real and honest on here. When I’m going through a tough time, I don’t want to lie and pretend that everything is great. I know that people do that on social media by only showing the best parts of themselves and that can actually make other people worse. If you are only seeing amazing things from other people and you are struggling, you can feel alone. I know that feeling and I don’t want anyone to ever feel that way because of something I’ve posted.
A lot of my negativity has been around my job situation. It’s horrible when you feel like things are finally going your way and then the rug gets pulled out from you. And I’m aware that I was not setting myself up for this possibility and was not in a good financial place to lose about half of my income. I don’t know if anyone is really ready for that, but I do know that most people at least try to have  an emergency fund to tide them over. I didn’t have that since any extra money I have goes to my credit card.
While I have been offered a new temporary job, it hasn’t started just yet. Originally it was supposed to start at the beginning of the week, but it’s been a bit delayed. I’m trying to not think anything horrible like the contract has been canceled because I have seen my contract (it’s just not the version to sign, it only has the terms on it), but it’s hard not to slip back into that mindset. But I know that soon enough I will have everything ready so I can start that job and I will be making the money that I need to cover my bills.
I haven’t slowed down on my job hunting because I know that job is only for a few months, but it’s been tough finding legitimate jobs that are what they claim to be. There was one job to be a virtual assistant for a company that I was referred to by a friend. It seemed like the perfect job for me and my phone interview ended up being over an hour because the owner and I really connected and enjoyed talking to each other. When I didn’t get that job, I was a bit sad because it seemed so perfect for me. But I knew that it must not have been meant for me.
But I did hear back from the owner saying that she wanted me to reach out to her again to discuss things. She told me that she did hire someone else for that job who had a bit more experience with the specific things she needs, but she enjoyed talking to me as much as I enjoyed talking to her. And while she doesn’t have a job for me right now, she wants to hire me for something in the future. It may just be temporary jobs or a few hours here and there, but I would be so grateful for anything I could get!
Obviously, I would have been so happy to get the job I interviewed for and that would have been incredible. But to know that I impressed the owner enough in my interview that she wants to find a way to work with me really gave me a confidence boost that I needed. I was feeling so down after encountering so many scam job posts and it was hard not to feel hopeless. And when I didn’t get this job that feeling was coming back. But knowing that she does see a future where we could work together gave me that hope back and we have a plan to check in with each other soon when she thinks she may have work for me.
I know I can’t rely on temporary or unreliable jobs, but anything I can get right now helps. I still have to work on job hunting until I have another job that has some stability, but there is a chance that one of the temporary jobs will become that job. I want to leave myself open to that possibility but also to make sure that I don’t get myself into the same situation that I’m in right now again.
Posted onJanuary 23, 2019|Comments Off on Reaching A New Audience (or Laughing At My Dating Adventures)
I’ve shared a bit about my onlinedatingadventures on here in the past. I’ve also shared about how I am working on a book about dating and the stories that I have. I love sharing my stories because most of them are so ridiculous that I want other people to get some entertainment out of it. Or some are lessons that I’ve learned that I want to share so others don’t have to go through the same things that I have. I’ve been very open about dating and I hope that the people who read my posts about it are enjoying them.
Whether or not they are enjoying them, I know my friends see that I post about dating. So when a friend of mine saw that his friends were starting a new podcast about dating and they were looking for guests with fun stories, my friend told me about it immediately. I messaged the hosts and gave them a few different stories of things that have happened and they loved them! They asked me for my availability and I was able to record 2 episodes of their podcast this past weekend.
I don’t have a ton of information about the podcast as it hasn’t launched yet, but I promise to share it when I have it. But it is a podcast that is all about dating and the situations that people find themselves in. Each episode is about a general topic but someone might have multiple stories about that topic to share. The 2 episodes that I recorded were about cheaters and nude photos or other over the top sexual messages that I get.
I also wanted to share how I used to not want to look guys up online before going out with them because I didn’t want to have to act like I didn’t know anything about them. But I learned that it was in my best interest to look them up to see if they were not single (or lying about who they are) and there is a way to do it without learning too much about them. I know other friends who have struggled with the idea of Googling a guy before a date, but I think there is a middle ground between not looking them up and stalking them online. And that middle ground allows you to confirm they are who they have told you they are.
Sharing those stories was so fun and the hosts were pretty entertained by the cheaters I’ve caught and how some guys really don’t think they are doing anything wrong. And they also had their own stories to share which I loved hearing about.
The second episode I recorded that day was about the things that guys send to me that are no necessarily appropriate. It’s shocking what some guys will send thinking that it will intrigue you and not disgust you. I don’t think there is any reason to send someone an unsolicited nude photo, and many of these guys send photos that include their face. I would never share a photo that someone sent to me, but I wonder if there are people out there who would use that photo to try to harm or blackmail them. One guy who sent a photo to me that included his face is a teacher, and I know that if someone shared that photo it could ruin his career. I’m always surprised when I get a message like that, but I guess these guys have either found one woman who it worked on or it’s never worked but they are hoping their luck with change.
And just like with the cheating stories, the hosts had a few stories to share about weird messages too. Neither of them have stories as crazy as mine, but I don’t think either of them have been doing online dating as long as I have (and for the male host, I really doubt most women send nude photos as an opening line). We tried to be sensitive and not shaming to the guys who write some of the creepy things to me, but at the same time we just couldn’t get over some of the messages I get and how creeped out we were.
I’ve only done a few podcast interviews, and with every one I feel like I talk too much. I felt the same way with these interviews, but I also knew I had so much more I could have said. I tried to write some notes before I went to the interview so I wouldn’t forget any stories and I didn’t get to share them all. But I think I might be asked back to the podcast to share stories about another topic and I would love to get to do that.
I’ve had some friends ask me how I don’t get annoyed or pessimistic about dating because I’ve had so many bad and weird stories to share. I think what keeps me sane and encourages me to keep going is having outlets to share the stories on. I love sharing them on here and writing the stories for my book. And now I’ve had the chance to share them with a new audience in a new format and I can’t wait to be able to share the links to the episodes when they are live!
There is no question that things have been stressful in my life lately. There are lots of different things that have causing me stress, but the biggest one has been my job hunt. Finding a job has been surprisingly difficult for me. I’ve applied for so many jobs and most of them have turned out to either be scams or misleading. Companies will post that their job is a remote position but then when you have an interview they tell you that it’s not and the pay rate is significantly lower than what they posted. I don’t know if they figure that since you went to the interview you would be ok with any changes or what. But it’s been very annoying to be spending time on interviews that are for jobs that aren’t what I believe them to be.
I’ve had several breakdowns while doing this job hunt. There have been days where I can’t stop thinking about my situation and will be calling different friends or family members crying hysterically. I’ve had to limit how much time I spend job hunting because when I didn’t limit myself I would feel so much worse about things. I’ve tried to keep thinking positively about things, but it’s not easy when it seems like you can’t make any progress or have even the smallest of victories or wins.
Stress is never really that good for anyone. I’m sure having minor stress in your life is good for something, but not having the type of stress I have been dealing with for the past few months. But I also have a few different auto immune diseases and I know that stress makes them so much worse. I was lucky that things hadn’t been that bad for me until recently, but it’s definitely hit me now and it’s showing on my body.
My auto immune diseases have different physical symptoms, but only one is really obvious when I’m out and about. I have alopecia which means I have patches of hair loss. This started when I was 14 when we discovered that behind both of my ears I lost a lot of hair. My parents took me to the doctor where I was diagnosed and we did some different treatments to make my hair come back. I’ve had patchy bald spots from time to time on my head and in my eyebrows, but it’s never been as bad as that first time. Most of time, it’s been weird little patches that are hidden by my hair. I sometimes see them and my friend who does my hair will see them. But when the bald spots aren’t on my hairline they aren’t as obvious.
But a few weeks ago, I started to notice my hair falling out more than normal. I would wash my hair and have handfuls of hair coming out. I didn’t find any bald spots so I assumed it was just all over hair loss (something else I have to deal with). But then I noticed a big patch on the back of my head where I lost my hair. I think I’m lucky because the way it fell out it looks more like that’s my natural hairline. But I can tell the difference and it’s very obvious to me. It is on my hairline on the back of my head, so there is a chance that it had been a bunch of smaller bald spots that just got worse recently. But all I know is that I only discovered the bald spot about a week ago.
There are some treatment options for me to try, but I’m not too sure if I want to do them. The best option that has worked for me is to get a bunch of shots in the bald spot. If it was worse looking, I probably would do it. I think I’m the only one who is really noticing it now and I don’t want to have to do all of the shots I know I’d need to do.
And the other reason I’m not going to do treatments now is that my stress has been lessened quite a bit. I still don’t have another job that I can count on, but I did get an email from my old boss last week. There is not a contract for my old job, but she was able to offer me a contract for a temporary job! I will be working for about 4 months and it will be more hours per week than I had on my old contract. It’s not enough in those 4 months to cover an entire year, but it will give me some time to breathe and figure out my next step. I will still be job hunting like I have been doing, but now I will be able to pay my bills.
I hate how much the stress has affected me, but I also know that how my body reacts isn’t always in my control. Auto immune diseases are complicated and I have had to learn how to roll with the punches with them. I’m just glad it wasn’t worse and that there’s a chance that it will start getting better now.
Posted onJanuary 21, 2019|Comments Off on Having Some Realizations About My Workouts (or Still Adjusting My Thinking)
Before I get into my workout recap, I want to mention something that I realized this week. Here’s a little behind the scenes with my workout recap posts: I work on writing these throughout the week. After each workout I write the section for that day’s class because I never would be able to remember it otherwise. And because I do that, things might seem a bit disjointed or I repeat things. And when I was working on the recap of last week’s workouts, I realized that I often will give my reason or excuse for why I’m using the bike and not the treadmill. There’s no reason I need to do that, but I feel like I have to explain myself. I might still do that from time to time, but I’m going to be making an effort to not do that as much as I have.
Having that realization was kind of a game changer for me. It happened midway through the week and it really made me think about the reasons I’ve been giving myself for using the bike. This is something I’ve been struggling with for a while and I’ve said before how I’ve been working on my mindset. But even when I was working on my mindset, I didn’t realize that I was putting negative thoughts into it by putting reasons and justifications when I was writing these posts each week.
Now, on to the workout recap.
Monday’s workout was a strength based class. I’ve been working more and more with the resistance levels on the bike so it was exciting to see what I would be able to do this time. We didn’t have that high of inclines/resistance levels to work with this time, so I didn’t do anything too crazy. But I am noticing that the resistance levels that seemed like my legs were pedaling through jello before now seem much easier. It’s really motivating to feel the progress in the resistance levels that I’ve been making because I still struggle to notice the progress a lot with the bike.
On the floor, we had 5 blocks and 4 of them were add on blocks. Everything was timed for us and those 4 blocks started with lateral lunges with shoulder work. The combination of the lunge and shoulder work was a bit tough for me so I split them into 2 different moves instead of one smooth move. Each block we added on another exercise like static over under, sit-ups, and static crunch heel taps. The last block started with a plank and then had all the ab exercises (but not the lunges). With the ab work, I had to modify almost everything. With the weather we’ve been having in LA, my hip has been hurting and I had to make things a little easier on my hip. But I’m working on figuring out how to make things easier on my hip but not easier in general.
Wednesday’s workout was a 3 group class (I think now my Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday workouts will all be 3 group classes) and it was a mix of endurance, strength, power but it did feel much more endurance and power based. For cardio we had 2 different 6 minute distance runs (or bikes). The first one was paced by the coach with different push and base paces and the second one was on our own. For the second one, I used the resistance level between my base and push and I was able to go further on the second attempt than I had on the first.
On the rower, we started with a 5 minute row for distance. I was able to get just over 1000 meters in 5 minutes and then we had squats to shoulder presses with the medicine ball. Then we were supposed to row half the distance we did before and then more squats to shoulder presses. Finally we cut the row in half again with more squats, but I was still working on my row when the block ended. And on the floor triceps with a dumbbell, chest presses on the straps, sumo squats, and single arm chest presses. I did go a bit heavier on my weights than I normally do because the weights I usually use were being used by other people. That is a good motivation to move to heavier weights, but I also was lucky that all the rep counts were really low.
Friday’s workout was another strength based day, but we only had limited hill work. We had 2 blocks for each section of the room and we switched between blocks (there were 6 blocks total). For the cardio blocks, we had similar patterns. We had a push pace, base pace, base pace at incline/higher resistance level, flat base pace, and an all out pace at an incline/higher resistance level. For the first block I did 2 levels higher than my normal all out level for the incline work and the second block I did 3 levels higher. Those levels made my legs work so hard, but it was a really good hard feeling!
For the row blocks, we started with a 400 meter row and then had squats with overhead presses and calf raises using the medicine ball. Every round we went down 50 meters on the rower and did the exercises between each row. They were all pretty short rows which was nice after having cardio blocks but I wasn’t as fast as I would have liked to have been. And on the floor for the first block we had deadlifts, shoulder presses, and leg raises. For the deadlifts and shoulder presses we had drop sets. That means we had a low rep count with a higher weight immediately followed by a higher rep count with a lower weight (we had 4 reps and then 12 reps). I went really heavy for the low rep count and it was a nice relief to have the lower weights after. And the second block was a block where I had to modify everything. What I did was lunges with weights, bench tap squats, and crunches.
Saturday’s workout was probably my favorite workout of the week. My hip pain from the rain was finally done and the class was a really great workout with lots of switching. It was an endurance day, but everything went by quickly so it didn’t really feel like endurance work.
We had a 3 group class and the rower and cardio sections did kind of a run/row format. I started on the bike and I started with a 4 minute bike for distance. Then I was on the rower for a 2 minute row with squat twists with the medicine ball. Then it was back to the bike for another 4 minute distance challenge. When I was on the rower side, I did the 2 minute row with squats for the first and third parts and another 4 minute distance challenge on the bike in the middle. Since the cardio side uses the rower second, those blocks were back to back for me so I got all the cardio work done together.
On the floor, we had 2 blocks. The longer block had weight work with bicep curls, upright rows, and hip hinge low rows. After those we had ab work that added each round that we did. I only made it through the first 2 rounds so I had static crunch scissor kicks and sit-ups. The second block was shorter and it was all work using the straps. We had Y-raises, high rows, and low rows. My arms and shoulders were killing me by the end of the workout!
I’ve been using the bike exclusively for a while and I’m still torn on how to work the treadmill into my workouts again. In another week or so I’ll be back to being nauseous so it’s a weird thing to try to figure out. But maybe this time is exactly what I needed to do so I could keep having these realizations to be happier with using the bike.
Posted onJanuary 18, 2019|Comments Off on Just Being Lazy In The Rain (or Not Much To Write About)
We’ve been getting a lot of rain in LA lately. It’s a good thing since we need the rain so much right now. It is a bit bad due to all the fires we’ve had recently because of the mudslide risks, but overall it’s a good thing. And as much as I’ve been trying to think positively about the rain (free car wash), I’m not a huge fan of rain. And even more, I’m not a fan of a week of rainy weather. We’ve had rain almost every day over the past few days. The timing has been funny because the past few days it didn’t start raining until I was done working so all the non-rain time was when I couldn’t leave my house. And once I was free, I didn’t want to go out in the rain for a few reasons.
My hip always feels bad when the weather is like this. I usually start feeling it a day or two before it starts and it ends once the weather clears up. I’ve been dealing with this type of pain since I had my hip surgery so I’m somewhat used to it. I know that it will happen and I’ve got a few things I can do to make the pain a bit more tolerable. It’s never a great time for me, but rain is not a very frequent occurrence so I’m lucky that I don’t have to worry about this too much.
The best thing I can do for myself when I feel like this is to take things easy. I have to stretch out a lot and I end up sitting or laying down in weird ways to make things feel better. The best way to explain the pain I have is that it feel like there is a huge air bubble caught inside my hip that is causing a ton of pressure. I imagine that if I could take a big needle and put it into my hip, it would release the pressure immediately and the pain would be gone. I know that it’s not really that, but that’s the only way I can think of how to explain it. I know that there are a bunch of people who have a similar issue with various body parts when the weather is like this, so at least I know I’m not a total weirdo.
Since the rain has been happening all week and I usually lay low when it’s raining, I haven’t really done anything this week. I’ve worked, worked out, read, watched tv, and looked for a new job. This isn’t necessarily something I did this week, but the video about the collaboration I’m doing with Andrew Coleman Smith came out this week. If you haven’t seen that video, I highly recommend checking it out!
I hate when I have nothing interesting to write about in these posts, but I really don’t have much to say. The rain has been keeping me inside most of the time and I just having had the motivation or energy to do much. Even my normal errands have been getting postponed because I don’t feel like leaving my house. I am trying to make the most of my time and being productive when I can, but there’s also the feeling of wanting to be lazy when the rain is falling outside. There’s something about this weather that makes you want to wear sweats, get under a bunch of blankets, and watch trashy tv or cheesy movies. I’ve done some of that, but I’m also being mindful of my time so that I don’t waste an entire day;
The weather is supposed to be clearing up so hopefully I can get back to my normal life of going out and doing things. I do enjoy being lazy from time to time, but I know this round of laziness has been too much and I’m ready to move past it. It’s not easy to do that when I hurt, but I’m hoping the pain will be over by the weekend.
I know this sounds like a whiney and complaining post, and it kind of is. But I’m also aware of having issues with weather like this and that’s why I don’t live somewhere that I have to deal with the rain all the time. I couldn’t imagine how much pain I’d be in if I lived in Seattle or Portland where rain seems to be all the time. I love the sunshine of being in LA and I’m ready for the weather to be back to what I’m used to.
Sorry for the boring post today, but honestly my life has been pretty boring this week.
Continuing To Support My Friend’s Place (or Learning New Ways To Help Others)
