Monthly Archives: August 2019

Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

Posted on August 30, 2019 | Comments Off on Late Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go)

Wednesday was the day that the union elections were officially done. The ballots were collected from the post office at 6:30 am and brought to the union headquarters where they were opened and counted by the secure election service that is used (ballots are not counted by union members). I was not a part of the group that was there starting at 6:30 am, but I wanted to be a part of the counting like I had for the other 2 elections.

Both elections I had been a part of previously had very different timelines. The first election took until about midnight for us to get answers on who won and the second election was done before I got to the union! I know that there is no way to know what to expect, but I assumed it would be something in between what the timeline was for the past few times.

Because I have taken a bit more of a leadership role within my slate this election, I volunteered to be in the room for the last shift to watch the count. That meant being there starting at 4 pm until it was done. We were hoping it would be done around 6 or 7, and there was a party for the slate that started at 7 that I was going to go immediately to after. So when I was done with work on Wednesday, I went straight to the union, dressed for the party, ready to watch the ballot count. I knew I’d be there for a while, but I was excited to get the results and get to the party even if I was going to be a bit late.

When I got there, things were moving along and we were hoping that maybe the official information would be announced by 8. We knew it would be later than we were hoping for, but we still wanted to be done in time to go to the party. There were people from the other slate in the room as well and they had a party to get to too. Even though the election wasn’t the most positive thing, the people in the room were positive and we were all getting along and just waiting on things to be counted.

Once all the ballots that could be counted by the machines were done, then it was time to work on the hand count ballots. That’s when things were a bit more interesting for me as an observer. Even though the candidates were not allowed to make decisions on the ballots, we could watch the election committee decide what marks on ballots might have been mistakes or if someone overvoted and then that section of the ballot was disqualified. The hand count took a while, but this was important work. Fortunately, most of the hand count ballots were easy to understand the intent of the voter. The voter might have exed out a mistake and the computer just can’t recognize that. But since people can see that means they didn’t want to vote for that person, it was an easy fix.

While this hand count was going on, the party for my slate was happening and people were texting me to get updates. We were not allowed to use our phones in the room, so I had to step out every so often to check my phone and text people back. Time flew by and went slowly at the same time and before I knew it, it was already 11 pm which was the time the party was supposed to end and we still didn’t have the results.

I knew at this point that no matter how late the party went, I wasn’t going to go. I was a little upset about that because I was really looking forward to celebrating with everyone. I had worked so hard during this election and I wanted a fun night with the other candidates. We tried to have as much fun as we could in the room watching the ballot count, but I really felt like I was missing out on something that I had looked forward to for this entire election. It didn’t help that the last 90 minutes seemed to take forever and there were a few random delays that we weren’t sure why they were happening.

But in the end, we did finally get the election results around 1:30 in the morning. First, I did get re-elected as a convention delegate. I was so worried I wouldn’t get it, but I am glad I did and I will be representing LA actors at the convention in October. I did not get elected to the local board, but I knew that was a long shot and I wasn’t expecting to be elected. Of course, I would have loved to have gotten a spot on the local board, but it just wasn’t my turn this year. I was very excited to see that I did do much better in the local board election that I expected and I was much higher ranked on the list than I ever thought I would be.

Overall, our slate did not do as well as we hoped. I’m trying to not take this as hard as I have been, but it does feel like I am a bit at fault for this. I know that everyone is responsible for campaigning, but I did run our social media and I keep wondering if there was more that I could have done. But I also don’t have any regrets with what we did so that does make me feel a bit better.

But to end on a positive note, the 2 biggest officer positions that were a part of this election were president and secretary-treasurer. For the past 2 elections, my slate won president and the other slate won secretary-treasurer. And this year, it was so exciting to be in the room when we got the news even before the candidates heard.

Both Gabrielle Carteris and Camryn Manheim from my slate won! I’m so excited to have them as the leaders of our union. I have gotten to know them through this campaign and I know that they will be incredible leaders. Every time I have heard them speak or have been able to work with them, I have been inspired and I know they will do the same for the membership. I am so glad the members were able to see that they make an amazing team and elected them together.

While this is the end of election season, now we have to start getting ready for the convention. And I will still have my work with my slate doing the social media. But at least it will be a little less intense than it has been recently. This election has been crazy, rewarding, intense, stressful, and so many other emotions; but it also has been something that I don’t regret at all. If anything, it has pushed me to do this again and to work harder the next time.

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Default ThumbnailThe Votes Are In (or An Uneventful End To The Election) Default ThumbnailThe End Of The SAG-AFTRA Elections (or Being An Observer) Default ThumbnailThe End Of The Election (or Actors Please Remember To Vote) Default ThumbnailUnite For Strength (or SAG-AFTRA Election Time) Default ThumbnailElection Season Time (or Being A Part Of Unite For Strength) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season)

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A Random LA Evening (or Taking Time To Enjoy The Sunset)

Posted on August 29, 2019 | Comments Off on A Random LA Evening (or Taking Time To Enjoy The Sunset)

There is no question that I have been a bit too stressed out lately. Some of it I have put on myself and I’ve been trying to work through that. Some of it is unexpected stress and I’m just trying to get to the other side. But it doesn’t matter what type of stress it is, stress sucks and I have been feeling the effects of it a lot. The mental effects of stress are obvious, but I’ve been noticing the physical effects too. I ignored them for a while thinking they were related to other things, but it’s clear that my stress got to my body.

By the time you are reading this post, the results from the election should have been announced. As I am writing it, the ballots are being counted and the results should be done in a few hours. This has been a huge part of my stress lately. It’s good stress since I have been working hard toward something I care about so much. But at the same time if things don’t go well for my slate I know I will take it hard. I hope that by the time you are all reading this that I have been celebrating on social media that we have won many of the seats we were running for.

Most evenings during the past few weeks have been filled with doing election related tasks. I had different events to go to, work I had to finish, campaigning to do, and other little tasks that needed to be done that I couldn’t do for one reason or another during work. But on Tuesday night (the night before we found out the results), there was no more election work to do. The ballots had to all be at the post office by that point so nothing else was necessary. We had done all we could do and hope that it was enough. I knew that being home that night was going to be weird, so I decided I wanted to go out and just do anything. I didn’t have a plan in mind, I just knew I didn’t want to sit at home and stress out.

My friend Dani was able to be free after work and we tried to think of a few options of what we could do. We thought about seeing a movie or something, but there wasn’t much we wanted to see. And I don’t know if I could have sat still through a movie. We ended up deciding to get some dinner and going to the beach since neither of us goes to the beach that often. There’s a new restaurant near me called Buratta House that she had been wanting to try, so we got some sandwiches from there and drove to the beach.

We found a free meter only 2 blocks from the beach and walked over to where there were a few tables. It wasn’t the fanciest area to be in, but at least we were at the water and could sit down and eat. After our sandwiches, we walked over to Coldstone for some ice cream before heading over to the pier to watch the sun go down. I wasn’t sure if the sunset would be an epic one, but even with the colors being a bit muted it was still gorgeous.

We just hung out on the pier for a while and watched the sun go down. It was a peaceful evening and the beach wasn’t too crowded since it was a weeknight and most schools are back in session. I live so close to the beach and I rarely do this. It felt like such a treat but this was really a simple thing for us to do. The drive over was maybe 15 minutes and if you didn’t count the food we bought it was totally free. But I think if I did this more often I wouldn’t be as grateful for it as I am when I do make it to the beach to watch the sun go down.

After the sunset, we headed back to the car and were trying to figure out if there was anything else we wanted to do. Somehow, we ended up at Target which kind of was a random and fun adventure. We were wandering through the beauty and skincare aisles looking at all the new products and just having fun seeing what Target was selling. I don’t go to Target that often and this one recently was remodeled so they sell a lot of nicer things now. It almost reminded me of being younger and going to the mall and looking at everything in every store. I also figured wandering through Target would help me get in a bunch of steps for the day.

Eventually, we had to leave our adventure at Target because I had to get home and get to bed. But between getting food, watching the sunset, and randomness at Target; it ended up being such a fun evening. I was looking for an evening to distract me and help me have a less stressful night and it was so much more. I love when something that you don’t really plan ends up being one of those great and fun nights out.

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Default ThumbnailPlaying Beach Chicken (or How To Fully Enjoy Only Having To Work A Half Day On Saturdays) Default ThumbnailDisneyland At Christmastime (or An Evening Of Rides) Default ThumbnailThe Convention Gala (or An Evening Under and With The Stars) Default ThumbnailAnother After Work Disney Adventure (or Holiday Time And Random Fun) Default ThumbnailLA Adventure (or How To Enjoy A Day Without Your Own Car) Default ThumbnailDoing Some Marathon Watching (or Helping Random Runners Power Up)

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Belated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore)

Posted on August 28, 2019 | Comments Off on Belated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore)

I haven’t done much for my birthday this year. I don’t mind that I haven’t been celebrating like I thought I would because I’ve had other things taking up my time. I am hoping to maybe do some birthday things next month, but I don’t know if I’ll be motivated to do them by the time things calm down. If I don’t really celebrate my birthday, it’s not the worst thing. While I love celebrating my birthday and it’s one of my favorite things, having an off-year is to be expected. And this August has been extremely busy for me and I just couldn’t put my focus on my birthday.

I usually take advantage of several birthday freebies as well. Many of them have to be done on your actual birthday and I have to skip most of those. But the things that are for your birthday week or month are things I usually do. But just like with celebrating, I haven’t really taken advantage of that this year. I haven’t even gone to Sephora for the birthday freebie (which most women would agree is the one birthday thing everyone seems to do). But there is one birthday freebie that I prioritize over all others and that’s going to my birthday dinner at Truxton’s with my birthday twin Joanna!

The birthday dinner deal has changed over the years. It started as a free entree and free dessert for each of us. Then it was $20 free for each of us and they would combine them on one check. Now it’s still $20 free for each of us, but they have to split the checks. Because of that, we no longer can have a completely free birthday meal. But we know that and expect that so it’s ok. We still are having an almost free meal and the best part of the tradition is our hangout anyway.

Because of all the work I have been doing for the election and some family that Joanna had in town, it was tough for us to find a time that worked for both of us. But we were able to find time this past weekend so we didn’t miss getting our dinner in before the deal ended since the requirement is that it just has to be during your birthday month.

We had a pretty routine meal for us. We had the monkey bread like we always do, we both had a burger, and we split the cookie ice cream dessert. It was delicious as always and the perfect birthday meal. And just like always we had lots of fun and random stories to tell each other. We did talk a lot about the election since things have been a bit crazy with that and she has been seeing the stories in the news. And we both had some random dating stories to share. Although I think she might have had a crazier story than mine with a guy that basically through a temper tantrum after he had a medical issue and she was worried about him. I don’t think either of us will ever understand why some guys act out that crazy when they don’t need to act out or react at all.

We also both talked about how neither of us did much for our birthdays this year. We might be able to do something together later as a late birthday celebration, which would be nice since we rarely do a big birthday thing together. But even if we don’t manage to get that organized, I’m so glad we did get our birthday dinner in. It’s one of my favorite birthday traditions and I love how much we both look forward to it. And it’s been one of the main ways I’ve been able to celebrate my birthday this year.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing The Birthday Celebrations (or A Birthday Twin Adventure) Default ThumbnailAn Almost Free Meal (or Amazing Food And Crazy Dating Stories) Default ThumbnailAnother Birthday Outing (or Seeing My Birthday Twin) Default ThumbnailAlmost Free Birthday Dinner (or Spending My Birthday With My Birthday Twin) Default ThumbnailVery Belated New Years Cheesecake (or A Birthday Twin Dinner) Default ThumbnailBirthday Twin Tradition (or An Almost Free Meal)

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Guess Stopping The Medication Was The Right Choice (or Maybe I Should Have Read More Into The Side Effects)

Posted on August 27, 2019 | Comments Off on Guess Stopping The Medication Was The Right Choice (or Maybe I Should Have Read More Into The Side Effects)

I wrote last week about how I was stopping the new medication that I was on for my eating disorder. I was a little disappointed to be stopping it because I wanted to see if it was going to work, but I was just not happy with the side effects that I was having and they were starting to affect my life more than I was ok with. At first, they didn’t seem that bad. But they started to get worse and the benefits I was seeing weren’t worth the issues I was having.

I’ve been slowly decreasing my dosage and it will still be another week before I’m off it completely. And technically the medication can be in my system for another 6 weeks so there is a chance I will still experience some of the side effects for a while once I am done. The thing that bothered me the most and got me to want to stop was the vertigo. And fortunately, that has pretty much stopped. I still have a few moments of vertigo, but they are mild and brief. It’s nothing like what I experienced a week ago when I wasn’t able to sit without falling over. I have a feeling the pins and needles feeling in my hands and feet will take a long time to go away. But that is more of an annoyance to me than an issue so I’m ok with that taking longer.

I did do a lot of research before starting this medication and I was aware of a lot of the side effects. Of course, there are hundreds of potential side effects with any medications so I try to just look at the big ones that people have and not the little random ones. But I guess I should know better than that because I have a history of being the person who gets the one in a million side effects. But I also know that reading all of the random things can be scary and I don’t want to freak myself out before starting something.

I mentioned in my workout recap post that my workouts were not that great last week because I was dealing with horrible nausea again. I also mentioned that I expected that it was going to be an easier week for me because it was supposed to be the week that I got my period so things would be getting better. But I didn’t have my period that week. I knew I wasn’t pregnant and I knew I was under a ton of stress so I didn’t worry too much about it. But when my stress level went down and I still didn’t have my period, I started to worry a little bit since I usually am not late. For some reason, I was looking at the side effects of this medication and happened to see that one of the random and rare things can be irregular or changes with menstrual cycles. And I knew that there was a good chance that the medication was the cause of this.

Irregular cycles could be a good thing if I could guarantee that I would have fewer cycles a year, but it could also make PMS or periods longer (like what I dealt with recently with two weeks of PMS). I don’t want to risk having longer PMS or periods for the off-chance that I will have fewer cycles a year. I want to keep my cycles regular so I know when to expect things and to be able to plan things out. I can’t do anything now since I’m working at coming off the medication now, but I’m so glad I’m doing that because I don’t want to have to deal with this any longer. It’s a side effect I wish I knew about because I might not have taken the risk with taking it knowing how bad things already are for me.

I know that this isn’t my therapist’s fault. She warned me about the major side effects and gave me information on the other side effects. I probably should have been a better advocate for myself and looked into the side effects before taking it, even if that meant going down the rabbit hole and looking at the one in a million ones. I was just so excited to see if this medication was going to work and I didn’t want to look into the problems. But now I’m dealing with the issues with it and I’m just hoping that it’s out of my system soon.

I guess I just have to be grateful that I did decide to stop the medication last week so I already started working on decreasing the dosage so that I am almost done. I didn’t let the idea of success cloud my head and make me ignore the pain I was in. And now I just have to work through this and hopefully, I’ll be back to my normal self again soon.

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Another Hard Workout Week (or A Repeat Of The Last Week In More Ways Than One)

Posted on August 26, 2019 | Comments Off on Another Hard Workout Week (or A Repeat Of The Last Week In More Ways Than One)

In my last workout recap, I mentioned how I was writing it in a different style than I normally do because it was a really hard week for me. I was cautiously optimistic at the end of the post because I know that sometimes when the week before my period is really hard for me the week of my period is a little easier. So I was hoping that would be the case for me this time. But my body decided to mess with me a bit this time and gave me an extra week of nausea before I got my period. So instead of 2 weeks of nausea and pain this month, I got 3 weeks. As I’m writing this recap (the night before it goes up), I’m finally starting to feel a bit better. But all last week was just as bad if not worse than the week before. And that made my workouts suffer again like they did the week before.

I really wasn’t able to do much during all 4 of my workouts this week. For the cardio on all the days, I kept the bike at my base pace level and just worked from there. I did try to pedal faster and slower depending on if we were in a base, push, or all out; but I didn’t adjust the resistance once the entire week. Part of that was due to not having much strength to work harder, but also leaning over to adjust the levels made my nausea really bad. That was a feeling I’m not used to so I didn’t want to push it too much. So cardio became time to just try to keep going and not think too much about it.

On the rower, for most of the workouts had squats between the rowing segments so at least that wasn’t too bad for me. I did modify the squats when they were types of squats I couldn’t do (like jump squats) so I often did froggers or regular squats between my rowing. Most of the days we had short rows which were nice, but one day we did have long rows and I just had to take breaks when I needed them. I don’t like stopping in the middle of a row, but I also know that when I have to do that I just need to or it’s going to get worse. I think it was just extra frustrating because I was expecting this week to be a bit better and it felt like 2 weeks back to back of half-ass workouts for me.

On the floor, I kept my standard modifications for when I’m nauseous with using the bench a lot to help me with plank work. I tried doing heavier weights when I could to make up for what I wasn’t able to do on the bike or the rower, but sometimes even lifting weights would make me nauseous. I was also dealing with much more severe cramps than I usually do and I didn’t want to accidentally drop a weight if a cramp hit me too hard, so I had to be careful. I also tried to add in some stretching between exercises on the floor when I needed them to help with the pain a bit and it at least made me think I was feeling a bit better.

I don’t want to just dwell on all negatives with my workouts because there were some good things too. First of all, I went to my workouts. This past week was one of the more miserable weeks for me with the nausea that I’ve had. And it wasn’t that the nausea was that much worse, it was that I had been dealing with it at this level for so long. People started to think I was sick because my voice was sounding funny, but it was because of how long I had been getting sick and I’m guessing the stomach acid was starting to irritate my throat (it hasn’t done that before). It would have been easy to stay home and sleep in or try to take things easy, but I didn’t do that. I went and kept my normal routine and just tried.

I also continued to work with my new base pace resistance level on the bike. Although I should probably stop calling it new since I’ve been using it for a while now and it seems normal to me at this point. But I still kept using it even with how I was feeling this past week and I didn’t even consider once going down to the level I was using before.

Finally, this past week we also had a benchmark challenge. In Monday’s class we had the 500-meter row. I knew that I wasn’t going to PR on my benchmark, or even come close. I didn’t have any thoughts in my head that I would do that. My main goal was that I wanted to row the entire thing without taking a break. My other goal was that I wanted to see if I could do it in under 2 1/2 minutes. That’s not fast, but it’s under the time we are supposed to be able to do it under. I really didn’t know if I could do that, but I wanted to try. And when it was my group’s turn to do the benchmark, I took a little extra time to take some deep breaths before starting and went for it. I was able to finish just under 2 1/2 minutes and I was thrilled. It wasn’t anywhere near my PR or any times I had done for the benchmark in the past, but it was what I had hoped for considering how I was feeling.

Just like I ended the post last week, I’m hopeful that this week might be a bit easier on me. My nausea is a little better now, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it won’t come back during the week. But I finally know that the end of the nausea for this cycle is coming up and I’m so relieved. I just want to get back to my normal workouts. Although, I have to say these different workout recaps are a bit fun to write so I may start switching up the blog posts a bit.

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Default ThumbnailFinally Getting Back To Feeling Like Me (or A Transitional Workout Week) Default ThumbnailA Good, Strong Workout Week (or I Really Love Feeling Like Myself) Default ThumbnailNot My Usual Workout Recap Post (or I Survived A Bad Week) Default ThumbnailShort Workout Week (or Finding Ways To Fit It All In) Default ThumbnailI Hate Having A Hard Workout Week (or Not My Usual Workout Recap) Default ThumbnailBeing Patient With Myself (or Being Ok With A 3 Workout Week)

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Another LA Anniversary (or I Kind Of Already Celebrated This Once)

Posted on August 23, 2019 | Comments Off on Another LA Anniversary (or I Kind Of Already Celebrated This Once)

This week marked 18 years since I moved to LA. As I’ve mentioned in my other LA anniversary posts, I moved out here to go to college and I’ve never left. It’s always felt like home to me and I’ve been happy here. I never thought about leaving and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. It feels like I was always meant to live here.

I mentioned in my birthday post that this pretty much splits my life into half. With half my life being in the Bay Area and half my life in LA. I think technically it will be a few more weeks before it’s really half and half, but that’s just a technicality at this point. I do see my life as half in one place and a half in another. But at the same time, I still can’t believe that I have been in LA for half my life. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long and at the same time, it’s hard to remember when I didn’t live here.

It feels like I’ve lived a million different lives since I moved here. I started out as a pretty typical college student. I think that only lasted my first year of college because by my sophomore year I was taking a lot of acting classes outside of college. By doing that, I earned college credits and was able to graduate early. Then I had a few different day jobs before taking a “real job” for a while. I was miserable at that job and was going to quit when I found out I would be getting laid off in a few months (my boss was awesome and let me know when I told him I was thinking of leaving). After that, I lived off unemployment for a while and tried to focus completely on acting. Then I had to try to find a balance with day jobs and acting. Doing that took several years and more day jobs than I would like to remember. Finally, for the past few years, I’ve had a sense of stability and have been able to try to find a few other things in life to focus on because I need to have more of a life than just work.

In the 18 years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen a lot of friends move here and leave. Some left because they got an amazing job offer somewhere else. Some of them left because they hated LA. Some moved here to pursue acting and gave themselves a very strict timeline and refused to budge if they didn’t reach the level of success they felt they needed by their deadline and left. I’m proud of myself for sticking it out because it’s not easy. I’m not judging the people who have left because they all had valid reasons for leaving. They wouldn’t be a reason I would leave, but the reasons I stay wouldn’t be reasons they would stay either. I am sure I could have a much easier life living somewhere else and doing something else, but I don’t think it would be a happier life. And I have realized that my happiness, at least for now, it more important than having an easy life.

Just like I’ve said in other timeline or milestone posts, this is not where I thought my life would be at this point. I had no clue where I would be after 18 years in LA. I don’t even think I thought about it. But to think about the friends, adventures, and memories that I have gained in those 18 years is pretty amazing and I am proud of what I have accomplished. It hasn’t all been positive, but the positive definitely outweighs the negative.

Just like I didn’t think 18 years ago where I would be now, I’m not going to try to predict where I will be in 18 years. The only thing I will hope is that I will still be happy (and hopefully still happy in LA). Life has taken so many interesting twists that I can’t even try to guess where things will be in 18 months (or at this rate, 18 days). But I know that as long as I keep moving forward and making sure that I am staying true to myself and focusing on what makes me happy, things will turn out the way they should and hopefully I will have dozens of more LA anniversaries.

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Default ThumbnailMy LA Anniversary! (or 13 Years Have Gone By Quickly) Default Thumbnail15 Years Later (or Reflections On LA) Default Thumbnail19 Years In LA (or The LA Anniversary Between Two Big Milestone Anniversaries) Default ThumbnailReflecting Back On 2017 (Kind Of Reaching My Goals) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or What Will Year 15 Bring?) Default ThumbnailAnother LA Anniversary (or Almost Half My Life Here)

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Gearing Up For Another Temp Job (or At Least It’s More Work)

Posted on August 22, 2019 | Comments Off on Gearing Up For Another Temp Job (or At Least It’s More Work)

When my temp job ended with my old boss, she let me know that there may be another temp job coming up in a few months for me. It wouldn’t be the old contract that they used to offer me (I don’t think that contract is ever coming back), but it would be something similar. It would be creating content for the website like I used to do for them. But instead of creating content within the events section of the website like I did on my old contracts, this would be more writing work. My old boss wasn’t too sure when the work would start, but I knew that she would tell me as soon as she knew.

And it wasn’t that long after that last job ended that I got an email that it should be starting up pretty soon. Things were still being finalized, but she knew it would be in the next few months and that I should expect to get a contract soon and at least have an idea for how much the contract was for (my contracts are for a total funding amount and then we base the hours on that). I did get my contract and I was so happy to see that it was for more money than I was expecting! I really expected just a little money, but this is enough to help me get through the rest of this year (which is how long the contract should last for).

I had a meeting with my old boss and the woman who will be my direct supervisor for this new contract. I don’t have my exact start date, but they wanted to go over some of the basics with what myself and the other woman doing the same work will be doing. Fortunately for me, the work is actually very similar to writing this blog! The subjects will be very different, but the technical work will be familiar to me which will be helpful. And hopefully, I will have either a list of topics to write about or will have lots of inspiration (I’m not completely sure on how that part of the job will work just yet). With most of the jobs I’ve done with this company, the job is still a little abstract to me and will be like that until I can start playing around with the work systems. But they know that’s how I work and I should have a chance to start working with things soon. And since this work isn’t with a very strict deadline, I should have time to get comfortable and not feel rushed and risk making mistakes.

And even though this job isn’t permanent, I’m still so grateful for it. Any temporary work is good because it brings in money that I know I need. And I do hope that somehow there is a more permanent contract they can find for me. Even if it’s just another 1-year contract like I used to have. Knowing I have a job for a year would be a huge relief for me.

I’m still doing my job searching like I’ve been doing for a while, but it hasn’t been as intense as it could be. The election has been taking up a lot of my time and energy lately. After next week, that won’t be that way so I should have more time to job hunt and I am looking forward to that. I don’t like feeling like I’m slacking on doing something that I know I should be doing.

But I’m also slacking a bit because I have another job opportunity that could be something good. I don’t want to share too much just yet, but a friend of mine offered me an opportunity to help them with their business. It would let me work from home, but it is commission only. I know this sounds like an MLM or a pyramid scheme, but it’s not. It’s more sales type of work, but I’m being vague because I don’t want to share too much about a job that I haven’t started yet. We both have agreed that it would be something to try out because we don’t know how it would work out for both of us. But I told them I had to wait until after the election to try it out because again, I have no time just now.

I don’t want to say things are turning around for me just yet, but I’m cautiously optimistic. Being hopeful is a nice thing and I’m glad I can feel that way.

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Default ThumbnailJob Hunting (or You Never Know Unless You Ask) Default ThumbnailTime To Make A Game Plan (or Guess I’ll Be Doing Some Job Hunting) Default ThumbnailA Little Job Update (or It Was Silly To Be Scared) Default ThumbnailTemp Job Time (or Feeling Like It’s An Old Job Again) Default ThumbnailWork Work Work (or Another Very Part Time Job) Default ThumbnailConnecting Work And Dating (or Is My Job Affecting My Mental Health More Than I Realized)

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Union Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season)

Posted on August 21, 2019 | Comments Off on Union Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season)

Last week was the first Union Working President Town Hall. It was a really great event and I was so glad I got to attend. I knew this was something that they wanted to do for the last election, but it wasn’t able to be done for a few different reasons. But they were able to coordinate it for this election and I was excited to see how it all turned out.

At the last Union Working meeting, all meeting attendees were able to brainstorm to help come up with questions that we wanted all candidates to answer. There would be 5 questions that all 5 candidates would answer (the 3 candidates who were at the town hall and the other 2 would be submitting their answers and they would be posted online). There were lots of different categories that people wanted the candidates to discuss, and I had no idea how it would be narrowed down. Even though I am involved quite a bit with Union Working, I wasn’t involved at all with selecting the questions or with planning the town hall. The only thing I did was help them with the soundcheck the day of because they needed a third person to help test out a microphone. So I was not sure what I would be hearing when I arrived that day.

I am not going to pretend that I don’t have a bias. Obviously, I do and I think that Gabrielle Carteris did an amazing job. She was prepared, had a lot of information in her answers about things that we have done and what we want to do, and she was able to communicate her ideas clearly and eloquently. I was so proud that she is currently my union president and I really hope that she wins reelection because I want her to represent the union for another 2 years.

After each candidate answered the 5 questions that all candidates had (and they had these questions ahead of time so they were able to prepare their answers and have their answers written down and have notes), then it was time for questions from the audience. These questions were submitted ahead of time so they were vetted, but they were not things the candidates were able to prepare for. Again, I thought Gabrielle did a great job. There were some questions that she couldn’t answer because they aren’t things she is directly involved in (like being a trustee to our pension), but she was open to saying she didn’t have the answer. Being able to say that is something I admire.

One of the other candidates, Jane Austin, did a good job as well. While I am not supporting her for president, I thought she had good answers to the 5 questions that all candidates were asked. She brought up some of her personal experiences to explain why she thinks certain things need to change within the union. I don’t feel like she was ever attacking anyone, which I can respect. She also brought up some new ideas that I hadn’t heard anyone else discuss before. I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say and thought she did a great job.

I don’t want to say much about the third candidate because I don’t have much nice to say about them. I will say a few things. They made a few jokes that I am aware of were jokes, but they were not the most tasteful things to say. They were a bit sexist and not something I would want someone who wants to represent me to say. They also joked about showing up to the town hall unprepared. Again, even if it’s a joke I don’t want someone who is going to lead a negotiation for a contract to meet with studios and producers to joke about being unprepared. They didn’t have a lot of concrete examples of things they wanted to do to change things within the union and they did attack specific people. It, unfortunately, ended the evening on a negative note.

This town hall was not live-streamed so I didn’t have to worry about working while at it. That decision had been made by Union Working ahead of time because they knew that some confidential things may be discussed. I was grateful that I didn’t have to focus on that because I was dealing with some horrible nausea while at the meeting. And I was also trying to take notes on my phone when I wasn’t feeling as sick. While there wasn’t a live-stream or any sort of recording allowed, all the candidates put their answers to the 5 main questions on the Union Working website so all members around the country could see them.

I know that some people reading this may have seen the news about things that happened at the meeting or about how someone made a recording even though they had signed an agreement that they understood that no recordings were allowed. I’m extremely disappointed someone decided to go against the policies that Union Working set for the town hall. This event was something they were generous enough to create for all members. We all should respect their rules and policies that they set and I hate that someone felt that they should disrespect them for whatever reason. I hope that whoever made that recording is found out because they should not be allowed at other events that are not open to the public. If they want to break the rules, then they shouldn’t be at meetings that have those rules.

But I want to end this post on a more positive note. The town hall was a big success in my opinion. The members who were there got to hear from 3 candidates back to back and were able to compare their answers to the same questions. Members around the country were able to read those answers. Over 100 members were able to be at this event and be involved in a great evening and get educated on the issues and hopefully be more motivated to vote. And one week from today, we will find out the results of this election.

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Default ThumbnailFinal Union Working Meeting For 2017 (or A Commercial Roundtable) Default ThumbnailUnite For Strength (or SAG-AFTRA Election Time) Default ThumbnailYou Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members) Default ThumbnailAnother Union Working Evening (or Doubling Up On Live Streams) Default ThumbnailThe Official Start To Election Season (or I Can Finally Share Some Things I’ve Been Working On) Default ThumbnailA Virtual Town Hall (or Getting Some Answers About My Industry)

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Almost Giving It A Full Try (or Ending Things Early)

Posted on August 20, 2019 | Comments Off on Almost Giving It A Full Try (or Ending Things Early)

When I had my appointment with my therapist, one of the things that we talked about was a new medication that I was going to start. The medication was being prescribed off-label for me. Normally, it’s for headaches and sometimes for seizures. But it has also been found to have some side effects that work as benefits for people. Specifically, it has been found to cause people to lose weight and lose their appetite. So if I had those side effects, it would be a very successful medication for me.

It is a strong medication and there was no way to know how my body would react. So I had to do a very slow dosage increase over 4 weeks. The plan was that I was going to try this medication for 6 weeks and then I was going to have a phone check-in with my therapist to discuss how I feel and see if I liked how things were going and if the dosage seemed right. 6 weeks seemed like a good trial period to me and I was excited to see how it went.

Immediately, I noticed side effects that were not the ones I wanted. I noticed tingling and numbness in my hands and feet. For some reason, this was bothering me the most when I was rowing in my workouts. It got worse as I increased the dosage but then got better. So I was thinking that maybe I got over the hump of getting used to this medication.

I didn’t talk about any other side effects from this medication other than the tingling feeling because that was the only one that really affected me a lot in my day to day life. But I did have other things that I noticed and I wasn’t sure if they were side effects or not. I was trying to think maybe they were just feelings of stress or being tired because I am dealing with both of those a lot right now. And I wanted this medication to work. While it’s not suppressing my appetite the way I was thinking it would, I am losing some weight. I’m not the incredible shrinking woman, but I am down about 12 pounds in a month which is pretty impressive considering I don’t think I’ve made a huge difference in my food.

But I have realized these other little side effects can’t be ignored anymore. Yesterday, I had the worse bout of vertigo that I could remember. It was terrifying. I was holding to the ground to try to stay still. I couldn’t sit up without falling over. It started when I was sleeping. I woke up and the room was spinning. I tried to sit up and I couldn’t do that. The next thing I knew, I fell out of bed and was on the ground and couldn’t get my head up. I finally was able to get back to bed and sleep some more, but the entire morning I was dealing with vertigo (including in my workout which also was while I was nauseous).

The vertigo got a bit better in the afternoon, but I was still having moments when the room felt like it was spinning around me. I know that anything could have caused this, but I need to take variables out of my life. I already have had other weird issues with this new medication and I don’t want to be paranoid that anything wrong with me is caused by this medication. Right now, that’s the thought I have any time something seems off and I just want to get that variable out.

But because the medication is so strong, I can’t just stop it. I emailed my doctor and we came up with an ease off plan. Fortunately, I can ease off it quicker than I got up to this dose. But I will need to be working on it for 2 weeks before I can stop completely. I don’t know if my side effects will lessen as I lower the dose since most of them started even at the lowest dose, but it would be nice if they were a little easier on me. And I don’t know if when I am off the medication if they side effects will end right away or if they will linger.

I’m a bit disappointed that I didn’t get to give the medication the full 6 weeks that I was planning on, but at the same time, I have to prioritize my health and how I feel. And I just don’t feel right and I don’t think it’s going to get better. It really has only been getting worse and I don’t know if I want to give it more time to try to get better. Maybe if I sucked it up a few more weeks I would be over a hump, but I don’t know if I want to suffer through a few weeks. But I am glad that at least I tried and know I know that it’s just not the right thing for me so I can move on and keep trying other options.

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Default ThumbnailGuess Stopping The Medication Was The Right Choice (or Maybe I Should Have Read More Into The Side Effects) Default ThumbnailOver A Month On Vyvanse (or A Meeting With My Therapist) Default ThumbnailA Quick Vyvanse Update (or I Guess Forgetting Helps Time Pass) Default Thumbnail1 Week On Vyvanse (or Hoping To Answer Some Questions) Default ThumbnailA Super Easy Therapy Appointment (or Just Doing A Check-In) Default ThumbnailEnding My Challenge Early (or I Guess I Made A Mistake)

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I Hate Having A Hard Workout Week (or Not My Usual Workout Recap)

Posted on August 19, 2019 | Comments Off on I Hate Having A Hard Workout Week (or Not My Usual Workout Recap)

I normally have a pretty set format for doing these Monday workout recap posts. I do each day as its own recap and I keep things organized. I like having them that way. I only have written these posts a different way once or twice, and this is going to be one of those rare occasions.

I knew going into this workout week that it was going to be the start of my nausea. While the beginning of the week wasn’t that bad for me, I didn’t have the time to do my usual notes on my workout because of how crazy my schedule was. I can look back at some forums that have what the workouts were so I can tell you the basics of what I did, but I don’t remember how I felt or much more than the bare minimum of what I did for the workout. Monday was my usual class with the 2 group class and it was fine. It was nothing extraordinary for me, but it went well.

But Wednesday was when my nausea started and from that point on my workouts suffered. They all had the same issues and it really came down to me just doing what I was able to do. I hate when my nausea gets so bad that it gets to this point, but I am grateful that it’s not this bad every month. This has been one of the rare extreme ones, but when they happen they are pretty brutal.

For my Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday workouts, I had the same plan for the bike. I kept it at my base resistance level and just tried to pedal as much as I could. When the nausea got too much, I stopped and tried to just keep breathing through the nausea until it passed. I’m so lucky that for some reason I don’t throw up when I’m in class. I know that the nausea will pass as long as I wait it out. When the cramps and pain hit, I have to do the same. I take a break and breathe through it. It’s not fun, but it’s the only option I have.

I have a similar plan for rowing. The nausea hits me a different way on the rower. It’s hard to explain the nausea I get on the rower. It’s not worse than what I feel on the bike, just different. It’s almost like a mix of nausea and feeling hungry. But it’s the same plan with having to stop what I’m doing and just having to wait until it passes before I can continue. When the nausea and pain are mild, I can work through it. I only have to stop when it is really bad, but I also think that I have built up my tolerance a bit so maybe I’ll continue to get better at this and I won’t need to take breaks as often.

And on the floor for those 3 days, I tried my best to work hard to make up for what I wasn’t able to do on the bike and rower. If there was something we were supposed to do face down like plank work, I do have to modify it. Typically, that modification is just to use the bench for my hands instead of the floor. Sometimes I have to do something different, but since we do a lot of the same exercises (or the same type of exercises), I’m pretty good and knowing what to do to modify things to make them work for me. But with things that involve weights, I try to go hard when I can. I see that time as something that isn’t affected by my nausea and the moment I can feel like I really am getting my workout in and that I don’t feel so upset about not working hard.

I’ll admit, this past week of workouts was hard to keep my confidence up. There were a lot of things going on (more on that later this week) and I really wanted my workouts to be the escape that they usually feel like to me. But they just were such a struggle for me and I really hated that they felt like a challenge in the wrong way for me. But even with how hard they felt, I never questioned if I should go. Even if I was doing 1% of what I normally do, that’s still 1% more than I would have done if I was sitting on my couch or if I was sleeping in. And I love my routine of going to my workouts and having my days have the same pattern. I am glad that I have found a way to still do something even if it’s not what I am used to.

I’m not sure how this week will go for me. Sometimes when the nausea is really bad in the beginning it can be a bit easier for the rest of the time I usually deal with it. I’m hoping that’s how it goes. But I’m also prepared for it to be just as bad this entire week as well. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

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Default ThumbnailNot My Usual Workout Recap Post (or I Survived A Bad Week) Default ThumbnailStruggling Sucks (or Thank Goodness It Was A Short Workout Week) Default ThumbnailAn Up And Down Workout Week (or I Love Having Workout Buddies) Default ThumbnailHills And Power Outages (or Not My Usual Workout Week) Default ThumbnailI Hate Not Having As Much Motivation (or A Week Of Workout Struggles) Default ThumbnailAnother Hard Workout Week (or A Repeat Of The Last Week In More Ways Than One)

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