I don’t like when I have short posts on here, but I’m sorry this is going to be one. I’m struggling right now with some really bad nausea and pain that has really made yesterday (when I’m writing this) drag on. I did too much and I should have taken it easy, but I didn’t. I did things that I know made my nausea worse and I didn’t take care of myself the way I know I need to.
I’ve also been dealing with a severe lack of sleep lately. This isn’t due to my pain and nausea, it’s a bad habit that I’ve been struggling to break. I’ll write more about this tomorrow but I’ve been having a lot of nights with only 4 or 5 hours of sleep. Having those nights occasionally isn’t great, but it’s tolerable. Having them for an entire week or two really makes it tough and makes me feel like I need to nap. On Sunday, I ended up taking 2 different naps that were each over 2 hours long. I needed that time to get other stuff done, but clearly I needed the sleep more. But I should have gotten that sleep overnight and not during the day.
Pushing myself to my limit when I’m not feeling great is a recurring issue for me, but it never seems to go away either. I knew that I was doing too much, but that didn’t stop me. I just wanted to push through and see if I could get it all done (I did) and see if it might not wear me down like it normally does (unfortunately, I had the same reaction as always). So I’ve had to find where I could cut back on responsibilities so I could take care of myself. And writing this blog post was something I felt like I could cut back on.
I know some people would say this is a sign to not blog every day, but if I planned things out better I would have gotten this post written sooner and what happened during the day wouldn’t have mattered. But I didn’t do that and I’m sticking with my commitment to myself. Plus, writing posts like this shows that even if all my posts around this one were exciting and happy that my life isn’t always like that. I struggle just like anyone else and that’s exactly what happened to me yesterday.
Hopefully tomorrow’s post will be better and I will be feeling more like myself and more rested.
Posted onApril 29, 2019|Comments Off on Another Week Of Pushing Through (or Feeling Strong Before Feeling Sick)
This past week of workouts was the week that my nausea was starting. I’m sure some people would not be happy to know that they were going to be getting nauseous, but I like knowing what’s going to happen so I can prepare for it. I also think it gives me a little extra motivation to push harder because I know that the next week I probably won’t be able to do so. I had some moments that were tough, but overall I was happy with how I pushed through things.
Monday’s workout was a partner workout, which I was excited about. I know that not everyone loves partner workouts, but they do give me a lot of extra motivation to work hard. And the last time we had a partner workout, I wasn’t really able to participate properly because I was dealing with a lot of pain and nausea. So getting to do one on Monday was awesome.
The workout had 2 blocks and for both blocks the person on the floor controlled the switching. For both blocks the person on the treadmill (or bike in my case) went at a push pace until we were tagged to switch. On the rower the first block was rounds of 100 meter rows and squats and the second block was rounds of 30 second rows and squats. You didn’t reset the rower during the entire block and the goal was to go further on the row in the second block than the first. My group didn’t accomplish that, but that’s ok.
The first block on the floor had squats, plank low rows with weights, and crunches. We started at 12 reps and every time you returned to the floor you increased your reps by 2. And the second block had tricep work with weights, plank reaches, and sit-ups. For the second block we started at 20 reps and went down by 2 every time you got back to the floor.
As far as the timing goes, I think my group was pretty equal. If the person on the treadmill or rower controlled the switching I would have been a bit more concerned that I would be the slow one in the group. But on the floor I feel like I’m pretty average along with the other people in my class. I tried to limit my breaks to when I was on the bike since that was the time that my partners weren’t depending on me and I managed to do that for almost all the water breaks I needed. But I also had a good group and we all understood if someone needed to drink some water or catch their breath while on the floor.
Because of how the partner workouts go, I really don’t know how well I did on the bike or rower. I kept my bike resistance level at my old push pace just to make things easy on me since I didn’t always know how long I would be on there. But I do feel like I worked really hard and that’s the most important thing.
Wednesday’s workout was strength based and it ended up being the start of my nausea. Fortunately, the workout kind of worked well with being nauseous so I didn’t feel like too much was affected.
For cardio, we had base paces at no incline and then each block we had a little more incline work. I was able to just increase my resistance on the bike by 1 each time we had a bit more work so I was never that high on the resistance level. I was still doing a bit of a hill workout, but it was much less intense that it was supposed to be. But that worked well for taking it easy in class.
On the rower, we started with 4 rounds of a 150 meter row and squat front raises. Then we had 2 rounds of 300 meter rows with squat front raises. The block ended with a 600 meter row and I was working on that when the block ended. My rowing wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great. It’s frustrating when I’m in that middle space because I feel like it would only be a little more effort to do my normal rowing. But that little extra effort just isn’t possible when I feel nauseous.
The floor had 3 blocks and all the blocks included drop sets. Drop sets are when you have a small number of reps with a heavy weight immediately followed by a larger number of reps with a lower weight. I like doing them because I feel like I get to lift really heavy but I still get to do a lot of reps. The first block had drop sets for hip hinge low rows and then we had core work. The second block had drop sets for shoulder presses and hip hinge low rows with core work. And the last block had drop sets for goblet squats, shoulder presses, and hip hinge low rows without the core work. All of the floor work was stuff that was fine for me to do when I’m nauseous so it was a high point to end my workout.
Friday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. My nausea was a little bit worse, but still not too bad so I just tried to manage things the way that I normally do.
There were 2 blocks for cardio and the first block was a mix of hill work and rounds of 30 second all outs. I did the same thing I did on Wednesday and just kept increasing my resistance level by 1 each time. I was never at the resistance level I use for my all out pace, but it was still increasing the levels like I was supposed to. The second block was a 6 minute distance challenge. We could intervals or just maintain the same pace the entire time, it was our choice. I decided to set my resistance level at my new push pace and just keep it there the entire time. It wasn’t easy to do my push pace level for that long, but I did have little breaks when I had to let the nausea pass so that helped a bit.
The rower was also 2 blocks. The first block was a 300 meter row and then squats until we matched up with cardio and did rounds of 30 second all out rows. The second block was supposed to be a partner block, but there was an odd number of people so I was alone. I was happy to be alone so I’m glad it worked out that way. It was supposed to be one partner on the rower doing 200 meters and the other partner doing pulsing half squats. I did 200 meters and then 20 squats and just continued that until the block ended.
And the floor was also 2 blocks. The first block was high rows with the straps, skater lunges, and lunges while holding a weight overhead. The second block was lateral lunges with medicine ball front presses, pushups, and toe reaches with the medicine ball. I did a few different modifications for the exercises to limit my nausea, but it wasn’t too bad. And the modifications I picked allowed me to put some extra focus on my form so I tried to see it as a positive.
Saturday’s workout was a power day and even though it was the day I was most nauseous it always ended up being one of my best workout days. The cardio and rowing were done similar to a run/row pattern and we were only at each section for 4 minutes at a time.
Every time we were on the treadmill we had a 2 minute distance challenge, 1 minute of recovery, and 1 minute all out pace. I did my distance challenge at my push pace and I used my old all out resistance level for the all outs. But overall it was much easier than expected because by the time the nausea started to kick in from pushing myself the block was over and I was on the rower.
The rowing was an interesting pattern. We started with a 500 meter row and tricep extensions with a medicine ball. Every time we went down 100 meters on the rower. But because of the timing of the switches, most of the time I was in the middle of a row when I went back to the bike. So I had to remember where I was in the row and get back to finish it when I was on the rower again. It wasn’t too hard to remember, but it was something extra to focus on.
And the floor was 1 long block. We had shoulder work with weights, triceps on the straps, rollouts, deadlifts with weights, high rows on the straps, and ab work. The rollouts and ab work were both things I couldn’t do while nauseous the way we were supposed to because it involved being face down. So I did the rollouts on the straps and did the ab work on my back to accommodate how I was feeling.
I’m prepared for this week to be a tough week for me. I am hoping that because my nauseous kicked in early that maybe it won’t be as intense as it has been. I’m also trying to be more on top of my various medications and remedies so hopefully things won’t be as severe. But if it is, I know I can make it through and I’ll just have to do what I can.
The new commercial contract has been something that my union has been working towards for a long time. It’s been a big part of what Union Working has been working on and making sure that we have a great contract. I know that this isn’t important to a lot of people who aren’t actors or in the entertainment industry, but I feel like it does have a much bigger impact than just how actors are paid for commercials. This is about being a strong union and making sure that other recognize the strength of unions.
I wasn’t able to be as involved in things prior to the official negotiations as I would have liked, but I tried my best to do what I could. Even when I couldn’t attend various events, I stayed educated on what was happening and made my best efforts to find out what I could. Many of the meetings I couldn’t attend were confidential events so I couldn’t find out what was discussed. But there were still things that I could learn from others and make sure any concerns I was having could be addressed.
The negotiations for this commercial contract was last month and some of my friends were a part of the negotiation team. They worked really hard in meetings with our negotiation partners making sure they created a contract that was mutually beneficial for all sides. I know the idea of a negotiation might bring up the idea of sides fighting and not working together. But from what I heard it seems like this negotiation was not like that and all sides were working together and making sure everyone was happy before creating a contract that could be made public for everyone to see.
Our contract was officially announced recently (if you would like to see it, the changes to the contract are posted online). It can be a bit overwhelming to read the changes and what everything means, so SAG-AFTRA is having different events around the country so members could learn what everything means and ask questions they may have about what was negotiated. The meeting in Los Angeles was this week and I was so glad I could make it to learn about the new contract.
The meeting was held at the Universal Sheraton, where the convention has been held. It was a bit weird being there again because I was hit with a sense of deja vu. The meeting room we were in was one of the side rooms where breakout sessions were held during the convention and it felt just like I was going to one of those sessions again.
I felt like there was a very good turnout for this meeting. I still wish more members could have made it or wanted to make it, but it was still a full room. I wanted to sit in the back because I had been sitting down all day and wanted to have the option to get up and stretch when I needed to without disturbing other members. But I ended up staying in my seat almost the entire time because I was just so fascinated by all the new and exciting things in our contract.
A big issue for my union has been commercials going non-union, so we have new things in our contract that allow things to be a bit easier for productions to have a union project. We still will have our old options and traditional ways to be paid for work, but now there are also options for buyouts with a lump sum. I know some members were concerned about that idea, but one of the buyouts is such a large buyout that members would hit the minimum income required to be eligible for health insurance with a single commercial! That’s so awesome and I love that I can be 1 commercial away from that eligibility (which I have never made it to). There are other buyout options that are not as much money, but they have limited use of those commercials unless they pay the actors more.
Having these buyout options allow productions to plan for their budgets with fewer variables. Before, they might have had to worry about residuals and hold fees along with the regular pay. Now they have a way to pay a lump sum (which is more than the actors would have made with residuals and hold fees) so they know exactly how much it would cost them. It really is beneficial to both sides as production can have a simple formula for how much it will cost to hire an actor and the actor will make more money!
There are also new options for commercials that are only seen on social media or other online options like YouTube. Those commercials are becoming more common so to have a plan for those is important and necessary. Many of the other changes are protections for the actors like how things can be renegotiated if they want to use the commercial more or to make sure that stunt coordinators are required to be hired on projects that have stunts. All of these changes seem to be great things for us and I feel like they really are moving forward with this contract in a great direction.
After getting the overview of the changes to the contract, it was time for the Q&A. Many members got up asking questions about things that weren’t discussed or to get clarifications about the changes. Because this is a big (but positive) change, it can be confusing. But as things were explained they made more sense to us all. And everyone who was getting up to ask questions seemed very positive about the new contract. I was expecting people to ask questions that implied they were not happy about the changes, but it was nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was. Someone mentioned to me after the meeting that they showed up expecting to be upset and fight about the changes because they had heard rumors about some of the new payment options, but once they heard what they really were they were so excited about it. I loved hearing how positive everyone was feeling about it since that is not always the case.
If you are a member of SAG-AFTRA, please educate yourself about the new commercial contract before voting. There are some people saying things that aren’t accurate and are trying to scare people into thinking some things that aren’t true. I will be voting yes on this contract and do encourage others to do so as I love the changes that have been made. I think this contract really reflects where commercials are now and where they are going in the future. And it is making huge steps into recapturing commercial work into the union.
Posted onApril 25, 2019|Comments Off on Fiddler On The Roof (or A Modern Take On A Classic)
This week was not only filled with musicals, but it was filled with Jewish musicals! I think that was pretty funny timing especially with Passover just being a few days away. Maybe both the Ahmanson and the Pantages timed out their shows to be around the holiday, but I’ll never know for sure. It doesn’t really matter because whenever “Fiddler On The Roof” was in our season I would have been excited to see it.
I’ve seen the show a few times plus I’ve seen the movie. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any version of it. But it’s one of the classic musicals that I’ve always loved and I was happy that I would get to see it again. Out of the 4 of us in the group, 2 of us had seen the show before and 2 had not. So it was a mix of those of us excited to see it again and those who were happy to see it for the first time.
My group had to change the dates of a few of our shows due to “Game Of Thrones”, so this was one of our shows that wasn’t on a Sunday in our regular seats. We were up again in the balcony, but we were very centered up there. I’m not sure if this show would have been better up close or not, but I loved the balcony seats that we had.
“Fiddler On The Roof” is not just a classic show in the sense that it was written a while ago, but it takes place a long time ago as well. Because of that, I wasn’t expecting a lot of changes compared to productions that I’ve seen in the past. They obviously won’t be wearing modern clothes while singing about how things have always been for men and women. But this show somehow added a lot of modern touches in it.
There was a moment at the beginning and end of the show that was added for this production that made it more modern, but I’m going to stay vague about it so it’s not spoiled for people who are going to be seeing the show. But I really liked those moments and how it connected the show to the present time. It made me feel like even though we were watching something that would have happened over 100 years ago, it is still relevant to today and we can learn lessons from what happened in the past.
They also added more modern dance moments. Dancing has always been a bit part of the show, but mixing classic and old-fashioned dances with a few more current dance moves was a really fun thing to watch. And the way that the sets were done also felt modern. They used doorways and limited set pieces in really interesting ways and I loved how they created the environment with both more elaborate and simple sets. It was like the mix of classic and modern; having a mix of elaborate and simple made things feel interesting and gave the show some variety and extra interest.
And with almost all shows that I see, the performances were awesome. I loved how each character added some personality into the script. There were some great comedic moments that weren’t expected and the intonation of some of the lines gave things a fresh take. This show has always had interesting asides, but I felt like I saw more of those this time than I remembered from before. Of course, I might be forgetting some of those from the past productions I’ve seen since it has been so long. But either way, it still felt like things had been updated without actually changing what they were saying or the storyline.
Overall, I really enjoyed the show and this production in particular. I think I am more attracted to shows that have large casts and big musical numbers since that is very different from what working in film and tv is like. I love seeing productions that are very different from what I experience with my career. And this show for sure had a big cast and big musical numbers with lots of awesome dancing! It’s exactly what I love to see and this show didn’t disappoint at all!
Posted onApril 24, 2019|Comments Off on The Power Of My Voice (or Even More Closure)
A month ago, I wrote about how almost every month I learn something new about myself through my adventures in dating. And of course, I’ve learned another thing recently. And it is actually something I learned through the same guy I was writing about before. He is someone I was seeing on and off for a while but he is now engaged. He has continued to message me saying how he was confused and wanted to talk. While I felt like I had the closure I needed, I also couldn’t deny him the same. I know I don’t owe anything to anyone, but I can’t help it.
When we saw each other, he panicked and freaked out. He said he wanted to leave and while I didn’t want to hold him hostage I also didn’t want to lose this chance. I don’t plan on seeing him again because I have moved on and don’t care what he does with his life. He is the one who is still confused. It’s unfortunate since he is the one getting married soon, but I can’t control what he wants to do with his life. If he feels like he needs or wants to get married but is still confused about it, that’s on him. And I wanted to finally have the talk in person that we have been avoiding for a while.
He didn’t do much talking, but I did. Most of the things I said to him were things I have said to him over text. It was mainly about how he hurt me and how I have had to move on. I mentioned how I couldn’t forget what he did and how he was a coward in failing to be honest to me. I wasn’t trying to be mean or harsh, just truthful in what I felt and thought. I know it wasn’t nice and he didn’t like hearing what I had to say, but if he wasn’t going to talk about what he wanted to talk about I was going to talk about what I wanted to say.
He eventually left without saying much more than that he was sorry and that he couldn’t talk. He left very shook up by what I was saying and it surprised me to see that. I wasn’t saying things he didn’t know already. But I realized that every time he heard that from me in the past it was over text. Since he previously knew me as sweet and gentle (how I normally am in real life), maybe he was reading those messages from me with that same vibe. But hearing me say it and how strong I was being probably made him realize I wasn’t kidding before. Hearing the words come out of me most likely hit him in a different way than he had experienced before.
So much of our communication these days is over text. Not just with dating, but with work and personal stuff too. Even with my day job, I get more customers using our online chat system than phone calls. Texts are so much easier to do sometimes and they allow people to multi-task. But it also can lead to confusion since there is a lack of tone over text. While I feel like missing the tone usually leads to a text sounding worse than it really is, in this case with this guy it seems like it made it seem better. My feelings and thoughts were probably not taken seriously because my tone was missing. At least now I know that he knows exactly what I meant and if he is still confused that is completely on him. I cannot force him to be clear in what he wants, all I can do is make sure that I make myself clear. And that’s what I did.
Since meeting up with that guy, I have been more aware of when I send a text instead of calling or saying something in person. I know that not everyone likes to talk on the phone, but I can at least make an effort if I feel like something would be better over the phone. And some people will answer or will text if they can’t talk asking if they can call back later. I’m being extra cautious about what I text to someone and am going that extra step to call when I’m not totally sure if my tone would come across. It might be a silly thing, but realizing how little someone understood what I meant over text has made me so aware of making sure that it doesn’t happen again. It’s not about things as seriously as they were with this guy, but I’m still glad when I feel like someone knows what I’m saying and what I feel about it.
Obviously I will still do a ton of texting since that is much easier than calling and a lot of things can be said over text with no issues. But realizing the power of my voice with this one guy made me realize that I don’t appreciate that power enough and I should use it more often.
Because I have my season tickets to the Pantages, I don’t usually look at what shows are happening at other theaters around LA. I know that from time to time I have looked at other seasons and sometimes I do buy tickets for a show if I really want to see it, but that’s pretty rare. It’s not that I don’t like other theaters, but I usually don’t have the money to buy more tickets and when I see shows I want to see it’s often at the end of the run and there are no more seats left. I could be more proactive about seeing what other shows I want to see, but it’s not a huge priority for me right now (if I had all the money I needed to see everything, I think it would be different).
But I do love seeing shows at other theaters when I get the chance to do so. And over the weekend a friend of mine posted online that they had an extra ticket to “Falsettos” at the Ahmanson and they wanted to know if anyone was interested in going. I replied and asked how much the ticket was, and they said that it would be free for me if I wanted to join them! Of course I said yes! I lucked out because the show was on Easter Sunday so a lot of people couldn’t go. But I had no plans so I was excited to have another show to get to see.
I knew nothing about “Falsettos” when I said I’d like the extra ticket. To me, I’m always down to see any musical because you never know what you will like. And I had seen a few friends post about going to see it earlier in the week and everyone was raving about it and encouraging others to go. But once I found out I’d be going, I decided to do a little bit of research on the show so I would have a little bit of an idea about what I was going to see.
I tried to avoid too much information about the plot because I didn’t want things to be spoiled for me. But fortunately there was a lot of information about the creation of the show so I was able to look at that more than plot information. I thought it sounded really interesting that this show was actually created from 3 different 1 act shows. The first act of the current show was based on the second 1 act play and the second act of the current show was based on the third 1 act play. It was a different way to create a show, but it sounded really fun and from the things I read online people enjoyed how each act of the show was a bit different. Even though I knew nothing about the show and I had no clue I was going to see it, I was so ready to see it when Sunday came!
My friends who had the tickets met me at the theater. Since it was a holiday and a weekend, I was able to get to downtown very quickly. I parked in their parking lot because it was just easier to pay the $9 to do that than to search all over downtown for a spot that might be ok to use. I let my friends know when I got there and waited for them by the will call booths.
They got there closer to the start time of the show (which is what we had agreed to) and we had a few minutes to chat and catch up before going inside to head to our seats. I’ve only been to the Ahmanson a few times so I am not as familiar with the seating there as I am with other theaters. But all the times I’ve been there the seats have been good no matter where we were sitting. This time, we were toward the back of the orchestra section near the side. But even the back of the orchestra is pretty close to the stage so we were able to see the actors just fine.
I don’t want to give away a ton about the plot since I think sometimes it’s better to go in knowing very little (and if you really want to know all of the plot you can find it other places online), but the main plot of the show involves a divorced couple, their child, and their new partners. The show does not have dialogue outside of the songs but the songs are clear and easy to follow. The plot isn’t too complicated so that helped with being able to follow it as well.
My quick review of the show is that it was really great! There were some incredible songs and the performances were awesome. I think all of us in the group preferred the second act to the first, which was surprising. There are a lot of times that I feel the second act of a musical goes too quickly to have a conclusion of everything that has happened so far. And when a second act is like that, I usually prefer the first act. But considering that both acts are based off of different 1 act shows it makes it make a bit more sense. And even though I preferred the second act, that doesn’t mean the first act was bad. There was one song I didn’t love, but it was still enjoyable.
I thanked my friends for inviting me to the show and I’m so glad I got to check out a new show. I wish I could do it more often (and that’s why I do my season tickets for the Pantages) and every time I get to see something extra it really is special. And getting to see another show at the Ahmanson was awesome as well since I rarely go there. Maybe one day I’ll have season tickets for there as well and then my life will be even more filled with musicals!
Posted onApril 22, 2019|Comments Off on Still Testing Things Out (or Finding Another Advantage With The Bike)
Recently I wrote about how I was working on increasing my resistance levels on the bike for my cardio work. I know I need to do that every so often because as I get stronger I need heavier resistance to get the same workout. But it’s a hard balance to find and that’s something that I ended up playing with this past week in my workouts.
Monday’s workout was a power day and we had a bunch of 4 minute blocks. After each block we switched stations so we were constantly switching. That can be a good thing since I don’t usually get too tired and can go a lot harder each time I’m on the bike, rower, or floor. Every block at each section was the same which also helped with not thinking too much and just putting my energy into working hard.
For cardio, every block was 2 rounds of 1 minute push paces with base paces after and ending with an all out. I know that last week I worked on increasing my resistance levels on the bike, but I mixed up what I had worked on. So for the first 2 times I was on the bike I had an increased base pace but used my old push and all out paces. I realized my error after 2 rounds and finished using my regular base pace and new push and all out paces. To be honest, I’m not sure which one was better and I’m going to be checking with some of my coaches about if I should focus on increasing my base pace or my push and all out paces. But both ways I did the resistance levels, it felt harder than normal and that was exactly what I wanted.
On the rower, we had 2 rounds of a 45 second all out row with squats after. We kept doing squats until the last 45 seconds when we had another 45 second all out row. The first time I was on the rower I was getting really frustrated because I couldn’t get my wattage up. I only discovered the second time that my rower was not set to wattage but MPH. I’m not as familiar with what MPH I should be doing on the rower so I had to listen to my body more and feel what felt like an all out to me.
And on the floor, we had 1 long plan and we just continued working on it each time we were on the floor. The plan had 3 mini-blocks and each mini-block had 2 exercises that we were supposed to do for 3 rounds. We had pop jacks, push-ups, hip hinge swings with weights, tricep work with weights, squats, and high rows on the straps. After each mini-block we also had sit-ups. I did a little more than 2 full rounds of everything when I finished the last time I was on the floor and I was lucky that I usually ended at the end of a mini-block so it was easy to come back to exactly where I was when I got back to the floor.
Wednesday’s workout was an endurance day and I decided to do the higher base pace and lower push and all out paces. I feel like I’ll be playing around with the resistance levels on the bike for a while to figure things out, but this past week ended up being more of an experiment than anything else.
The cardio was rounds of push paces to base paces with the push pace getting longer each round. Using my old push pace level was really the right choice for this because of how long some of the push paces got. But since my base pace was higher than before, it kept it a challenging workout. I definitely had moments of struggling with the longer push paces, but I allowed myself to take a moment to breathe and get some water and not forced myself to just work through it.
On the rower, we started with 100 meter rows and went up 100 meters each round. And after each row we had squats with the medicine ball that started at 50 reps and went down 10 reps each round. The rows were fine, especially because I never got that high in how far I had to go. But the squats were tough for me. My hip was not having the best day so the squats were starting to hurt me. Just like on the bike, I had to allow myself to take a break and not force myself to go through every rep without stopping. I don’t like doing that, but it’s necessary for me to do it sometimes.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had burpees, low rows on the straps, chest presses on the straps, and sit ups. I was very grateful for using the bench for my burpees because it allowed me to get through them quicker than if I was on the floor and having to step back instead of jump back. The second block was a core focused block. We had leg raises, bicycle crunches, hip bridges, straight leg hip raises, and v ups. I actually didn’t make it all the way down to the v ups but I was able to get all the other core work done.
Friday’s workout was a mix of power and endurance which is a pretty interesting mix to have. I played around a bit more with the resistance levels on the bike, but I ended up being more comfortable using my old base pace level and my new push and all out levels.
Cardio had 3 blocks but they all had a similar format. We had rounds of push paces to base paces with an all out at the end. What changed was how long the push and base paces were. The first block was 4 rounds of 30 second intervals. The second block was 3 rounds of 30 second push paces and 1 minute base paces. And the third block was 1 round of a 1 minute push pace and 90 second base pace. Every block had a 30 second all out at the end. The new push paces were tough at times, but it felt much better when I was able to go back to my old base pace which was much easier. And since the intervals were on the shorter side, it helped make the blocks go by faster.
On the rower, we started with a 700 meter row. We were supposed to see what our time was on that row to use for the rest of the rows. I just went with the idea that I did it in 3 1/2 minutes (which was close to what time I finished in). After that first row we had squats with medicine ball front presses and then we were back on the rower for another round. Each time we were on the rower, we were supposed to do 30 seconds less than the round before. Using round numbers make that so much easier which is why I don’t mind using a slightly longer time as my 700 meter row time.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block was high rows using weights and skater lunges. The second block was weighted pull overs and sit-up to stand and squats on the bench. I had to split that last one up and did my sit-ups at one time and then did squats at one time since it’s hard for me to get up from the bench. And the last block was a core blast with straight leg raises, bicycle crunches, hip dips, and ending with a plank hold. My core was on fire at the end of that workout, but at least I was able to relax while working after I was done.
Saturday’s workout was a strength day and it felt like another good chance to play around with the resistance levels on the bike. I knew that we were going to have hill work for cardio, but I saw it more as a way to test out a few different resistance levels to see how they feel.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks that were the same. Each block started with a 1 minute push pace and 1 minute base pace. I used my new push level and old base level. Then we had a 4 minute hill climb where we increased the incline/resistance level each minute. I started at 1 level above my old base pace (which is my new base pace) and it ended at my new old all out pace. It really gave me a chance to see how my body felt at all those levels and I focused on that much more than how far I was going each block.
For the rower, the two blocks were the same and very similar to cardio. We started with 1 minute of squats and then we got onto the rowers for a 4 minute progressive row. Our rowers were set to display our mph and the idea was to increase it a bit every minute. I struggled to increase it but I tried to do my best. I wasn’t really able to do it every minute like we were supposed to, but it did go up over the 4 minutes and I was able to go very hard for the last 30 seconds and got the mph up pretty hi
Posted onApril 19, 2019|Comments Off on A Non-Surgery Anniversary (or Another Year Of Being A Medical Miracle)
Tomorrow will be the 2 year anniversary of when I didn’t have surgery. I know that sentence sounds really weird, but that’s exactly what it is. 2 years ago tomorrow, I was supposed to be having some of my liver tumors removed along with a portion of my liver. But because by some miracle my tumors decided to shrink on their own, that surgery didn’t happen. And I feel like that is something to celebrate!
I’ve had some things to work through mentally with all this. When my surgery was canceled, I didn’t know how to feel because this was something I had been preparing for and all of a sudden it wasn’t happening. Some people thought I was acting disappointed that I didn’t have surgery, but that’s not it. It was just an overwhelming feeling of confusion and a disconnection with things. I’ve gotten over that feeling as I have been able to identify it, but it’s still a bit of a weird spot for me.
I do also still have a little fear when I have another MRI because I don’t want to discover my tumors have decided to grow again. My next scan isn’t for another 6 months, but I’m already a little nervous because of the gallbladder attack I had recently. My surgeon and I have discussed that it’s possible my attacks stopped when my liver stopped being distorted by the tumors. That’s not something we know for sure, but it’s something we have thought is possible. So to know I just had another attack does make me a bit fearful that maybe that means my tumors are growing and making my liver misshapen again. There’s no point in me worrying about it right now, but I know that I won’t get the idea out of my head until after my next scan.
Even though I do have some weird feelings about the non-surgery anniversary, I have way more feelings that are positive about it. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to the surgery even though I knew I needed it because I didn’t want to have to deal with the recovery. It would have been a very tough and potentially long recovery and I didn’t need that in my life. While your liver does regenerate so I would eventually have had a full sized liver again, during the time that it’s regrowing there are a lot of other issues that can come up. Leading up to when I was supposed to have surgery I was trying to stay optimistic about what side effects I might have, but I was also realistic. I’m so grateful I didn’t have to find out what would happen.
From the time I discovered I have liver tumors to the time my surgery was canceled was a pretty hectic time. It all happened in under 6 months and there was so much we had to do in that time to get my life prepared for such a major surgery. Once I had that out of the way, I was able to focus on things I enjoyed in my life again. I feel like this really was a turning point in my life to stop putting things off and to really work on finding what I want to do and not what I have to do. This is still something I am working on, but I know that the past 2 years have been filled with much more enjoyable stuff than the several years prior to discovering the tumors. I don’t want to say that this experience made me re-evaluate my life or make me have a new outlook on how I was spending my life, but I guess that’s kind of what it was.
I think this year celebrating not having surgery is a bit different from last year. I’m still excited about recognizing how amazing and incredible my body was to be able to shrink the tumors. But the focus this time seems to be less about not having surgery and more about the new start point of things. I don’t split my life up as before surgery and after not having surgery or anything, but I do see not having surgery as a fresh start of figuring some things out about myself. I’m not 100% where I want to be or who I want to be, but I’m significantly closer now than I was before.
I’m sure eventually one day I won’t be celebrating the non-surgery anniversary anymore, but for now I still feel like it is something to celebrate and acknowledge. It’s a big part of my recent history and has been something that changed the plan of my life. I feel like that’s important to remember.
Posted onApril 18, 2019|Comments Off on Slowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way)
I’ve read “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up” quite a while ago. I haven’t watched the Netflix series yet, but it’s on my watch list to watch eventually. But I am familiar with the idea of what Marie Kondo says in both even though I haven’t read the book in a long time. A lot of it is stuff that I already do, but it seems like every so often I have a big push to do some extra cleaning and organizing.
Right now, I’m in the middle of doing some organizing. But instead of doing it in a big effort, I’ve slowly been doing it. In the past, I have gotten rid of things that I probably should have kept or I forgot where I stored something until I found it again months later. I don’t want to have that issue again because there’s no need for it. And I don’t have any sort of deadline to when I need this to be done so I can take my time.
Since I’ve been in this long cleaning/organizing habit, I’ve debated about going back to the book or watching the Netflix series since so many people have been raving about how it has changed their lives. But I remember when I read it the first time how I really didn’t connect with everything in it. I don’t have a ton of stuff I have to get rid of. My issue is just making sure that I am putting things away in places that make sense and can be done over and over again. If the place I decide to store something isn’t the most convenient option, I probably won’t be doing it as needed. I’ll wait until things get bad and then I’ll have that mad rush to clean.
I know one of the big organizational things in the book and series is about how to store clothing. I love the file folder idea of storing shirt and pants. But I actually don’t have clothes like that in drawers. I have a drawer of workout clothes where I have one pile of workout towels, one pile of workout pants, and one pile of workout shirts. This drawer is just what I use for Orangetheory so I only have exactly what I need in there. I don’t have to dig through things to find what I like to wear in class. I found it the easiest way to store things compared to having a drawer for tops and for bottoms. I do have another drawer of random workout/lounge clothes that probably could be organized in the file folder style, but since I don’t go into that drawer that often I don’t feel pushed to do it. My bra/underwear/socks/pj drawer has dividers and is organized, but I know it could be better and that will be something I will be tackling soon. But besides that, all my other clothing is hung up so I don’t have a way to fold them. Everything is on the same type of thin hangers and is organized by type and color.
With everyone raving about how they love the system in the book and series, I felt like I should do it to. But the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me to do it. There’s nothing wrong with her method, but it doesn’t have to be for everyone. And for my system in my current house, it’s not right. Maybe when I move one day I’ll revisit it and decide to do it, but not now.
I think letting go of the idea that I should be doing what everyone else is doing has been helpful. I don’t feel the same pressure as I did before about what I should be doing with cleaning and organizing and making sure it’s done quickly. I can take my time and there’s nothing wrong with that. I probably could be working a bit faster and that’s something I’m going to try to focus on this weekend. I have been doing little bursts of cleaning and sometimes I use that as an excuse to not do more.
I know the idea of spring cleaning is usually a big to-do with a huge day doing everything. But I’m enjoying taking my time and allowing myself to test out different things with how I want to store stuff around my home. And I have a feeling this won’t be just spring cleaning but a longer, ongoing thing. And that’s fine too. With such a small house, I know how quickly things can go from a little messy to a big disaster and working on it each day helps prevent that.
Posted onApril 17, 2019|Comments Off on Finding More Ways To Help Via Social Media (or Continuing To Share Good Things)
One of my monthly challenges a while ago was to share entertainment industry or union related things on social media every day. I’ve been able to keep that up every day and I feel like it has been a very good thing. Not only am I sharing news with the people who follow me on social media, it makes me more aware of what news is happening as well. When I’m going through the various tweets to see which ones I want to share, I have to go through the news as well. I’ve been a big fan of making sure I’m staying educated with my union and this has been a great way to continue that.
My activity on social media hasn’t gone unnoticed. Some groups I’m a part of have used me as an example to others about how you can make a daily habit of sharing news online. I get a bit embarrassed when that happens, but I’m also proud that I am able to set a good example. I never did this to make others do it as well, but the more people who can educated themselves and others about what is going on the better.
It was also noticed by the slate that I am a part of for the SAG-AFTRA elections. They have had different people running their social media from time to time, but they needed a new person and asked me if I’d like to do it. I was so honored that they asked me and of course I said yes! It’s been a bit of a learning curve to find exactly how we want to represent the slate on social media, but everyone is going through the same thing so the expectations are similar among us all. I hope that as we get closer to election season that it will be easier to know what are the right things to post and be able to have a unified message.
I want to make our slate’s social media feed a great resource for other actors. I have so many Twitter accounts that I follow to use when I share news every day. I want the same for our account. I do try to repost things on that account that I would use on my own and then retweet it from the slate’s account. And I post original content as well too. Everyone with the slate knows that this isn’t a paid or regular job so they don’t expect me to be posting all the time. But I try to do is when major news happens so we can share what is current.
And through being active myself as well as doing work for my slate, I’ve had people come to me asking for help with their social media. I’m in no way an expert (and there are experts as a part of my slate) but I’m always happy to help however I can. Usually it’s pretty simple work like showing how to use Twitter or Instagram and I’m able to keep it very basic. That’s all they need and I don’t want to overwhelm them with all the amazing things you can do besides just posting. Hopefully they all find it easy enough to do and eventually they can start doing more advanced things because I know how much they will benefit from them. But when I’m helping someone start out, I have to remember that if they get overwhelmed that they aren’t likely to use the basic things.
I know that social media isn’t everything and educating myself and other about union issues should also be done in person, but it’s a big part of the picture. Our union and industry are all over the world and social media is a great way to connect myself to others and visa versa. It’s a very quick way to spread the news when big things happen and to make sure that other people are aware of things that might affect their career. And the good thing about doing all this union/industry related social media work is that it about sharing good things. Not all news is good news like when there are strikes or things that affect the industry. But being aware of even the negative things is a good thing.
A Low Key Post (or I Guess Things Come In Threes)
