Monthly Archives: November 2020

Almost Missing An Entire Week Of Workouts (or Another Issue With Vertigo)

Posted on November 16, 2020 | Comments Off on Almost Missing An Entire Week Of Workouts (or Another Issue With Vertigo)

When I wrote about how I thought this past week of workouts would go for me, my big concern was how I was going to deal with nausea during my workouts. Even though I’ve been having to deal with monthly nausea for 4 years now (almost exactly 4 years to the day), it never really gets easier for me. I have learned tricks to manage it, but it’s still something I have to push through and that causes me to not be able to do my full workouts.

What I didn’t expect was having to deal with vertigo instead. In one way, I guess it’s nice I didn’t have my usual nausea (although vertigo did cause some). But I know how to deal with nausea. I don’t know how to deal with vertigo. And I especially don’t know how to deal with vertigo that is as severe as it was for me. I’ve never had vertigo that lasted more than maybe a few hours. Dealing with it for a week is unheard of for me. And not only did it last really long, but it was also really severe for a lot of that time. And there was nothing I could do about it.

My workouts weren’t necessarily a priority for me while I was dealing with vertigo, but it was something I was thinking about. I knew on Monday that there was no way I could work out. I was barely able to walk that day. So doing more than walking from my bed to my couch was unimaginable for me. Honestly, that walking felt like a huge workout. I never knew trying to find my balance could be so strenuous. Wednesday was a little better than Monday, but workouts were still not an option for me. I tried to do a little more walking around my house, and that was enough for me. I know it’s not a real workout but it’s all I could do.

Friday was a bit of a better day. I actually thought I might be able to work out. I knew I couldn’t do the Zoom workout I normally do on Fridays, but I was hoping I could do the OTF at Home workout that was posted on their app. So that morning I put on my workout clothes when I got dressed. But after getting dressed I got very dizzy again. The vertigo had been getting better, but it hit me really hard and I was a bit surprised by it. I thought maybe I could rest a bit and it would go away, but it never seemed to do that. It did get a bit better, but not to the point where I felt comfortable trying to work out. It did feel really weird to spend my entire day in workout clothes, but I was trying to be optimistic and think that maybe I could do an evening workout.

Saturday was another day that I felt like a workout would be possible. It’s tough to judge if I’m really doing better or just telling myself that I’m better even if I’m not. But again I tried to be optimistic. I got into my workout clothes and didn’t have a lot of extra vertigo. I did feel a little bit more, but I also think now that it might have to do with just getting dressed. So I sat down for a few hours to try to get things feeling better and this time it worked! So I finally could work out again!

The workout on Saturday was not like a normal workout for me. It wasn’t even like a normal workout when I’m nauseous. I was dealing with being weak from not working out at all for a week plus the vertigo issues. I’m grateful that I wasn’t really nauseous on top of all that, but I did have a little nausea to deal with. I had to do a lot of modifications to the workout. If a block had some floor stuff and some standing stuff, I rearranged it so I did all the floor stuff back to back and all the standing stuff back to back. For one block, I actually skipped the floor stuff so I didn’t have to get on the ground again. I was slow and cautious with all my movements because I didn’t know what might trigger vertigo. And I had to take a lot of breaks. I tried to be good and pause the video when I took a break, but that wasn’t always possible.

I did experience vertigo during the workout. Many times, if I was doing something while standing up, I had to hold onto a wall to stay balanced and upright. On the ground, I had to sit up a lot to let vertigo happen and go away. I never knew that crunches could cause vertigo, but I guess they do. And just like earlier in the week, just being balanced was a workout in itself. I was sweating so much just standing. But I’m glad I tried because I was able to do a little bit of a workout. Most of the sweat was probably related to vertigo and not the workout, but at least I know I did something.

And I added a workout on Sunday. I did this for a few reasons. First, I was continuing to feel better so I wanted to do another workout. Also, I figured if I added a Sunday workout, I only missed 2 workouts and not 3 over the week. And finally, I had a minor freakout after my Saturday workout when I tried to do the math about getting to my goal for workouts this year. I don’t know what math I was doing, but somehow it made it seem like I had to do 5 more workouts than I would normally do to make up what I missed (I’ve since figured out my math was very off and I don’t know exactly what happened).

Sunday’s workout went very similar to Saturday’s. I did a lot of modifications to do some exercises while holding on to a wall. I also limited floor work because there was no way to do those without triggering vertigo. I was able to do a bit more than I had the day before, but I also am being gentle with myself and trying to listen to my body more than normal. I know that if vertigo hits me really hard, I am somewhat safe at my house. There are not a lot of things that I would fall onto or trip over if I started to stumble. But I still don’t want to trigger vertigo if I can help it. It’s going to be a lot of trial and error to see what makes it worse and what doesn’t until I’m back to normal. And that plan might change each day that I work out. But I’m willing to try and I’m glad I did the Sunday workout because it did make me feel better.

It wasn’t easy to not workout when I really wanted to this past week. My body wasn’t up to it but my mind was. And as I’ve said before, my workouts help my mental health so it was really hard on me to miss them. I am glad that it seems like my math was wrong and I am still on track for my workout goal. Of course, I’m still going to keep checking on that because I’m paranoid now that my math is still wrong. But I only missed 2 workouts this past week and over the rest of the year, I haven’t missed that many. And I can miss 8 workouts a year and still hit my goal.

Originally, my plan was to try to maybe get to an outdoor workout at one of the studios this week, but I don’t think that will be possible. I’m still recovering from vertigo so my workouts are still hard on me. And because of vertigo, I’m not ready to try to drive yet. I might be safe to drive, but I want to wait until I feel a bit more sure about it. So I’m hoping that this week I can just do my 4 workouts at home and that will be a victory for me!

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Not The Family Visit I Planned On Having (or An LA Afternoon)

Posted on November 13, 2020 | Comments Off on Not The Family Visit I Planned On Having (or An LA Afternoon)

One of the most upsetting things about getting vertigo is having my weekend plans ruined. I was supposed to be with my family in Santa Barbara and I had done lots of things to get ready for that visit. When I first got vertigo on Saturday, my mom was trying to be optimistic and told me that maybe I would wake up on Sunday and feel ok. And I wanted to believe that too. But that’s not how it worked for me.

I tried to not be too upset about missing my family time, but it was impossible to not be. Fortunately, my parents said that they would come down to LA to see me one day so I didn’t miss all of my family time. I would still be missing some of my family, but at least I wouldn’t miss all of them. So this past Monday, my parents came down with the dog for a few hours.

I was still not doing that great on Monday, so I couldn’t do much. I was able to walk a bit more than I had the past few days, but I was pretty much stuck on my couch (which I guess is better than being stuck in bed). I kept apologizing to my parents for not being a good host and not being able to do much, but they understood. And it was nice to just have some time with them and the dog and not feel like I completely missed out.

I had missed what was supposed to be our family Thanksgiving on Sunday evening, but my parents brought me some leftovers so I could still have Thanksgiving food. And they brought other leftovers so we could have lunch together. That was really awesome and I appreciated my parents doing that. And for the majority of the time, we were just hanging out on my couch since that’s all I could do.

But it also had been a while since my parents were at my house so they were checking out the changes I had made since they were there the last time. And there were a few projects I wanted my dad to help me with and we got them all done. We actually almost forgot about some of the projects since I wasn’t preparing to work on them with him, but we did get them all done. Nothing was too big, but they were projects that I couldn’t do alone so it was good to be able to accomplish those and feel a bit productive (even though I wasn’t able to help much at all).

And we also exchanged Hanukkah gifts since I was going to do that over the weekend. And my parents took the gift I got for my brother and sister-in-law back to Santa Barbara for them so I didn’t have to ship it. It was not how I planned on exchanging gifts, but at least I didn’t miss out on some in-person gift giving.

After a few hours, my parents headed back to Santa Barbara. I was exhausted from being out of bed so I didn’t mind that it was a short visit. I would have liked it to have been a longer visit, but I knew I couldn’t handle it. But at least I had a little visit and a little social time. I needed the in-person social time for sure, even if it wasn’t what I planned on. I wish I had a few days with my family and not only a few hours, but it wasn’t meant to be this time.

I’m not exactly sure when I’ll see my family again. It might not be until next spring, which is a while away. But it seems like the most likely time I will see them. But at least I got a little time this week to be with them. And when I get to see them again, I just hope that I don’t get hit by vertigo again.

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Still Dealing With Vertigo (or This May Take A While To Recover From)

Posted on November 12, 2020 | Comments Off on Still Dealing With Vertigo (or This May Take A While To Recover From)

As I wrote yesterday, I have been dealing with some very severe vertigo. This is vertigo like I’ve never experienced before. I could be laying down in bed and the room would still be spinning around me. I’m used to being able to make it stop if I am not sitting or standing. But this time, even being flat on my back wasn’t enough to stop it when it was the most severe.

It started on Saturday and I would say that Saturday night and Sunday were the worst days for me. I couldn’t walk. I had to crawl to the bathroom. I wasn’t able to make it to my kitchen for the majority of that time. And when I did make it to my kitchen, it exhausted me and took a long time to make everything stop spinning.

Monday and Tuesday were a bit better, but still pretty brutal. I slept most of Tuesday away because I just couldn’t stay awake. I am writing this on Wednesday and I’m still dealing with vertigo. I’m doing a bit better than I was the day before, but it’s still not gone. I have been holding on to the walls when I’m walking from time to time. I can stand up for longer without falling over, but I still have to keep catching myself. When I did my dishes, I needed breaks because it felt like I was working out so hard. When I finally felt like my balance was enough so I could shower, that felt like a huge ordeal. I had no idea how much it can take it out of you to just stay balanced.

I didn’t go to the doctor because this is pretty standard (although severe) vertigo. And I’ve been trying different over the counter things to help. I also have started to do some exercises that are supposed to help. The exercises are mainly turning your head from side to side in different positions. The idea is that vertigo like I have is typically caused by the crystals in your ear being in the wrong spot, so your brain can’t figure out what is up or down. So these exercises are supposed to help get the crystals back into place. Most of them say that you will have instant relief when doing it, but that’s not my case. But I am seeing improvements so I’m doing them and hoping for the best.

It’s so frustrating to not really be able to do much. I can’t work out. I struggle to watch tv because I can’t focus on the screen. Reading is pretty much impossible right now. All I feel like doing is sleeping, and I’m letting myself do that because clearly, my body needs it. But I’m on day 5 of this is I’m ready to move on. My body doesn’t agree with my brain so I have to just listen to my body. I’m hoping that it will only be a few more days before I can start getting back to normal, but I also know that I might have another week of recovering ahead of me.

All I can do is rest when I need to, listen to my body, and keep trying the few things I have that are supposed to help. I know this isn’t going to last forever even if it feels like it will.

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All My Plans Didn’t Happen (or Vertigo Knocked Me Down)

Posted on November 11, 2020 | Comments Off on All My Plans Didn’t Happen (or Vertigo Knocked Me Down)

I’m sorry if this is a short or rambling post. But I hope you understand.

I was all prepared to see my family this past weekend, but that didn’t end up happening. I got struck by a horrible case of vertigo.

I’ve had vertigo since I was a teenager. But it’s usually not that bad. I might have a quick severe case, but it’s done in minutes. This time, it’s been severe and lasting a long time. As I write this post, I’m at 72 hours and counting.

Saturday, I knew I was having mild symptoms pretty much when I woke up. But it didn’t affect my workout or getting some things done. I still knew something wasn’t right, but I hoped it would pass. But it didn’t. It only got worse. By the time I was supposed to start getting ready to drive to Santa Barbara, I could no longer stand. The room was spinning. And even laying down, everything was spinning around me. I could only make it stop by laying down on one side.

Obviously, there was no way I could drive and I was upset that I had to cancel my plans with my family. Sunday, I only got out of bed a few times. And when I did, I had to crawl to do things. I couldn’t even walk to the bathroom, which is about 3 feet from my bed.

Monday and Tuesday, I was able to start walking a bit, but I had to hold on to walls to hold myself up. It was tough to sit up, but I could do it.

I have no clue how much longer this vertigo will last, but it is finally starting to get better. It’s so frustrating because I want to get back to my life, but doing some of the smallest things is exhausting me. Just walking to my kitchen feels like a marathon.

But hopefully, it won’t take that much longer before I can do normal things again so I can get back to my life.

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Getting Another COVID Test (or Making Sure I’m Safe To See My Family)

Posted on November 10, 2020 | Comments Off on Getting Another COVID Test (or Making Sure I’m Safe To See My Family)

A little over 2 weeks ago, I did my first COVID test. As expected, I tested negative. I would have been shocked if I tested positive. I don’t really go anywhere or see anyone. I just stay home and be by myself.

I did the test because I wanted to take some extra precautions before seeing my family. The past few times I’ve seen everyone, I just went for the day and spent a few hours. But this time, I was going to be there for a few days and spend the night in the same rental house as my parents. So being extra careful seemed like a smart thing to do.

But as I think most of us know, just because you test positive one day doesn’t mean you will always test positive. From what I have read and been told, the best way to confirm you do not have COVID is to test, then do a quarantine for 2 weeks, and then test again. Because you tend to test positive within 14 days of exposure, this would be as close to a guarantee as you can get that you haven’t been exposed and are an asymptomatic carrier. So that’s exactly what I planned to do.

Originally, I was going to do the second test exactly 14 days later. But after seeing how things were looking regarding the election, I did it a day early. I didn’t think this was a big deal since leading up to the original test I hadn’t been out doing anything so I already had been doing a bit of a quarantine.

Just like the first time, getting an appointment was very simple. It was almost easier this time because I was able to find an appointment that was the same day that I was looking online! It was only 30 minutes from the time I was searching, so it was perfect. I had enough time to get registered to be tested, get my things together, and drive over to the testing location.

I decided to go to the same testing site as before since I knew where it was and it was pretty much the closest location that I could go to (unless I could get an appointment at my hospital, but I didn’t even try that this time). And just like before, there was a pretty long line of cars when I got there. This time, I remembered to look at my car so I could track how long the line of cars was from start to finish. It was a little over a mile, which is what I had guessed it was last time. And like before, the line moved really quickly so it was done before I knew it.

It was the same procedure as last time except for this time I didn’t have someone telling me exactly how to swab my mouth for the test. I could have had that, but I didn’t feel like I needed it and I wanted them to be able to help the people in the car behind me to make the line move as quickly as possible. It’s not that difficult, but I did review all the instructions before I drove to the appointment so I knew I was sure about exactly what to do.

I dropped the test in the collection container when I was done and I was on my way home. From the time I got into the line at the testing location to the time I was getting back on the freeway to go home, it was less than 45 minutes. I know that not all testing sites are like this, but hopefully they can become more and more efficient as they have them set up. I know the LA ones were not this fast when they started. It took time to get the system working the best way possible but now it’s super easy.

And I’m glad it’s easy because at least for now, getting tested is going to be a part of normal life. I don’t expect to do this on a very regular basis unless I need to for a job, but it shouldn’t be a big deal to get tested if you feel like you might have been exposed or you want to be extra careful.

It took a little more than 24 hours this time to get my results emailed to me, but they were just what I expected.

Even though I wasn’t that nervous that it would be any different, it is still a relief to know that I’m healthy and that I was good to go with seeing my family. I don’t want to worry I might get anyone sick, and now I can feel pretty certain that won’t happen. I know nothing is a guarantee, but then again, it never is. Even for other sicknesses like having a cold or something, you can always pass it on to someone even if you don’t know you are sick. But I’m doing everything I can to make sure I’m ok and that’s all I can really do for now.

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A Weird Workout Week (or Election Week Workouts)

Posted on November 9, 2020 | Comments Off on A Weird Workout Week (or Election Week Workouts)

I think everyone can agree that the past week was a weird one. There were so many moments of heightened emotions and many of us didn’t get a lot of sleep. I know at least I didn’t sleep much. And the week and the events going on definitely affected my workouts. Sometimes in a positive way and sometimes in a negative way.

The most normal workout this past week for me was on Monday. While I was already nervous about the election, there wasn’t much I could do about it. I had been making sure all my friends were going to vote and that was that. So my workout was pretty much what I expected. I still have struggled with trying to push myself a lot, but I’m getting better at it. I am starting to modify the workouts a bit more than normal and replacing exercises that I’m more excited to do. I still try to have lots of variety, but sometimes I need to switch it up so I’m not dreading an exercise. It’s not ideal, but it’s how I’m managing.

Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a sluggish one. I didn’t sleep much at all the night before. I was exhausted and emotional. I was also stressed and a little obsessed with checking the news. I tried to look at the workout as a break from the news because I needed it, but taking a break also was stressful because I wanted to see what was happening. I didn’t know if something would be actual breaking news (not just how cable news was calling races too close to call breaking news) and I didn’t want to not know. But I was able to keep my phone face down while working out and I didn’t check social media once during the workout. I know that I was still a bit distracted, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

Friday was my Zoom workout. I think all of us were really tired that morning. So much had happened overnight and I didn’t get a lot of sleep because of being excited about what was going on. But when I have a Zoom workout, there’s no way I can be distracted. I know my coach would call me out if she saw me on my phone or if I disappeared and wasn’t working out anymore. It was a good break for me and the first real forced break I had from the news since Tuesday. And I know I needed the break and the hard workout. I could tell how much better I was feeling as soon as I was done. Also, as soon as the workout was done and we were stretching I did check social media and updated everyone on how the election was going. I think we all were feeling better knowing that things continued to look good for us and more likely that Joe Biden would be announced President-Elect.

And on Saturday, my workout happened after the announcement had been made. I actually worked out a little later than I planned to because of the news. I was just so excited that the election was finally called. We had been prepared for an Election Week instead of just an Election Day, but I was ready for it to be done. I was getting frustrated with the news not calling it because it seemed like they had called lots of other states that didn’t have as large of a margin. But I guess it was worth the wait because it was such amazing news!

But I didn’t want to miss watching the news and seeing all the celebrations around the country, so I decided to keep my tv on while I did the workout. I always have my workout going on my iPad, so it was easy enough to keep the news on my tv. And I just lowered the volume of the workout during the blocks (after the instructions) so the news ended up being my soundtrack.

It was a good choice for me to keep the news on because it was motivating me. But I know that normally I won’t do that because it also was a bit distracting. But I was ok being a little bit distracted that day because of how incredible it was to see history being made. And while I was trying to work hard, I also was just dealing with a lot of emotions because of the election. I was tired from not sleeping, happy that the results were the way I was hoping (at least with the President and Vice President), and relief that I think we are going to have amazing leaders running our country and hopefully getting things back under control.

This week, my workouts are going to be a bit different because of my schedule, but I’m still planning on getting my 4 workouts in. And hopefully now that the election is done, I can focus a bit more on them than I did this past week. I do know that this week is when I am expecting my nausea to come back, but I’m prepared to push through. I pushed through Election Week, so I can push through Nausea Week.

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Being Social Feels A Bit Cold (or Another Realization About The Pandemic)

Posted on November 6, 2020 | Comments Off on Being Social Feels A Bit Cold (or Another Realization About The Pandemic)

I’ve been making more of an effort to try to be social over the past month. I know that I’m very isolated at home and I can’t keep doing that. But it can be hard to find the balance between being social and being safe. I don’t want to go out where there will be a lot of people and I really don’t want to be out somewhere that a lot of people aren’t wearing masks. And I keep being fearful that I will take a slightly higher risk than I have and that’s what will get me sick. So I have to make sure that whatever I choose to do, I pick things that are safe.

I think that’s one reason why I’m happy to go see my family. I’m sure I would have seen them just as often without a pandemic. But when I’m with my family it’s the one time I can be social and not scared. Before we see each other, we take precautions to make sure that we aren’t going to get each other sick. When I’m around my family, I do still have a little hesitation because of the new fears in my head, but I know I don’t have to worry as much. If anyone in my family thought for a moment that they had been exposed, we wouldn’t be seeing each other.

My social time outside of my family has been very limited. Most of the time, it’s virtual socialization. I’ve rarely seen a friend in person and when I have it’s been at a distance and wearing masks. And thinking about that has been making me sad and I couldn’t figure out exactly why. But earlier this week, I finally was able to put a word to the feeling.

All the social interactions I’ve had (outside of my family) have been very cold. You can’t hug your friends. You can’t be completely comfortable because you have to be cautious. With very few exceptions, you have to be wearing a mask. And wearing a mask almost takes away some of the human element of being social. It’s hard when you can’t see the bottom half of someone’s face. It is like a barrier between you and your friends (and yes, I know it literally is) that keeps you from connecting the same way you are used to. There is a degree of separation that we aren’t used to having when we are out with people.

I think having virtual hangouts has the same issues. There is something that isn’t quite right and feels normal. You aren’t getting the same connection that you get when you hang out together in person. I know that everyone is trying to make it feel like it’s not weird, but there’s something that will never feel the same when you are looking at someone on a screen and you aren’t in the same space.

I don’t know how to fix this feeling. I know that some of my friends have been working on creating bubbles where they know that they are only seeing each other. Many of my friends don’t have the luxury of not having to go out to work, so it’s not easy for me to find someone that I could be in a bubble with. I know that we could try to find things we could do outside and if we sit far enough away we wouldn’t necessarily have to wear masks, but that still feels a bit too risky for so many of us. Again, it’s all about finding what risks we are willing to take. And I know that my group of friends is probably more cautious than most, but it’s for good reason. I’ve known too many people who got sick. One of my friends had only been leaving their house to go to the grocery store (where everyone is wearing a mask) and they still got sick. Fortunately, most of my friends have made full or almost full recoveries. But some are still dealing with issues months after they were told that they were over it.

We’ve been in this pandemic for about 8 months now. I am still learning so much about how to survive in such isolation and what I feel like I need to feel better. New things are discovered all the time. A month or two ago, I probably would have said that I didn’t care if I was seeing people in masks because it was being social. Now I know that doing that helps but it still leaves me feeling sad and like I’m not fully experiencing my time with my friends. But I don’t know if I can do anything to change that for now. I just have to continue to find ways to manage right now and hope that soon enough we will be through this pandemic and I won’t have these concerns anymore.

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Still Celebrating Halloween (or A Virtual Costume To Go With A Virtual Party)

Posted on November 5, 2020 | Comments Off on Still Celebrating Halloween (or A Virtual Costume To Go With A Virtual Party)

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Even if I don’t have a great costume, I love dressing up a bit and being creative with a costume. And I especially love seeing the costumes that my friends come up with. The party that Marie and Chris throw every year is such an incredible Halloween party, and I look forward to it every year. When the pandemic started, I don’t think anyone thought we’d still be staying home by Halloween. I mean, I remember thinking that we’d all be able to be together for the 4th of July. But here we are, almost 8 months later and still staying home.

But being at home didn’t mean that Marie and Chris weren’t going to throw a Halloween party. I had a feeling they would do a virtual party, and that’s exactly what they did! I was running a Netflix Party group that night, but I was able to time it out so I didn’t miss too much of the party. They had teased that there was going to be something special at 6:30 and I figured out how to make the Netflix Party work so that I was done at 6:25!

Since the party was virtual, I thought it would be funny to do a virtual costume. I knew I wanted to do something fun with my Zoom background, but I wasn’t sure what to do until I saw a post in a Facebook group that inspired me. The post was about funny ideas for Halloween decorations and it was a bunch of crosses in a yard with the names of guys that have ghosted women. I loved that idea, but I had to make it work in a Zoom background. So I found an image of a graveyard and I added text on it to have some nicknames of guys I’ve gone out with and the dates we were texting or seeing each other before they ghosted me. I did a test with the background before the party and even though you couldn’t see one of the tombstones, I think it looked pretty funny!

It was a little hard for the tombstones to be read, but I was ok with that. I knew I’d have to explain the “costume” no matter what. So I just planned on explaining it and reading to everyone what I wrote.

I made it to the virtual party before 6:30 so I was able to chat with my friends for a few minutes before the guest arrived. And the guest wasn’t as much of a guest as it was a puzzle and mystery for us all to solve! Marie and Chris had a video of them as skeletons saying their souls were stolen and needed our help to get them back. It was so clever and creative and all of us were enjoying it so much while watching the video!

We were told that we could work together as a group or solve it alone. The thing from the video was about solving a riddle, so I figured I could solve that alone and I did that and followed the instructions to give them the answer. After I did that, I got a crossword puzzle in return. That’s when all of us at the party decided to work together. I was the designated answer writer since I printed out the crossword. We quickly were able to get all the answers and I submitted that for the next clue.

And the next clue was a pattern of lines that was an overlay to put over the crossword. Then we wrote down all the words that were under the lines to get the next clue. That took us to Facebook and a specific photo they had posted. If you zoomed into the photo, there was a tiny.url listed and we realized we had to go there. That led to an unlisted YouTube video that mentioned a series of numbers. Someone in the group realized those numbers could be a Zoom meeting code and password, and they were right! After we entered the new Zoom meeting, that became the full party!

It was so much fun working through all the clues and puzzles we had to do to get to the party. It made things feel much more like we were together and not just a bunch of people looking at each other on screens. And we were able to get through the puzzles relatively quickly because we had worked together. So it was a nice moment for us to bond as a group since there were some people in the party that I hadn’t met before.

Once we were in the second party, it was like the other Zoom parties Marie and Chris have done. Some people were in costumes and some people were not. And a few had fun Zoom backgrounds like haunted houses and things like that. There wasn’t a costume parade, but I still liked to see what people dressed as and it was nice that we were trying to be festive.

And we just all talked about lots of random and fun things. We discussed random movies and Halloween stuff. Marie and Chris even had trivia questions so we could do little trivia games where we competed against each other. I only got 1 trivia question right, but I still had so much fun.

I wanted to be able to stay at the virtual party as late as possible since I didn’t have to drive home after it and I was able to sleep in the next day. But it seems like being on Zoom hangouts takes it out of me more than I would expect. I just felt so tired after being on there for a few hours. I think by the time I was saying goodnight to everyone, I was in the party for about 3 hours. I also had been on the computer almost the entire day without a break, so that might have been part of it too. I didn’t want to say goodnight to everyone, but I needed to so I could get some sleep.

Of course, having a party in person would have been the best and would have made all of us so happy, but there just isn’t a way to do that right now and be safe. And a virtual party is much better than nothing at all. I think all of us just want this pandemic to be under control to the point where we can see each other in person again. And it’s tough when we have no idea when that might happen. The next big party for the group is usually New Year’s Eve, and I’m not sure if things will be any better by then. After that, we have the Oscar party. Maybe by then, we can be together since the Oscars have been pushed back to be a bit later. The Oscar party was the last party that we were able to have this year, so it would be nice if that was the first one back.

I hope that everyone had a good Halloween, even if it wasn’t what you are used to doing. And hopefully by next year, we will all be able to celebrate the way we are used to. I have a feeling that if we can, all of us are going to have epic Halloweens in 2021!

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Default ThumbnailVirtual Memorial Day (or Doing The Best We Can For Now) Default ThumbnailA Busy Halloween (or Dressing As A Box Office Employee) Default ThumbnailLow-Key Halloween (or A Work In Progress) Default ThumbnailHaving Some Halloween Fun (or Creating A Clever Costume) Default ThumbnailLow Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback) Default ThumbnailFirst Halloween Party Of The Season (or At Least I Made An Appearance)

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Gaining A Little Control In My Kitchen (or Continuing To Repeat Monthly Challenges)

Posted on November 4, 2020 | Comments Off on Gaining A Little Control In My Kitchen (or Continuing To Repeat Monthly Challenges)

For October, I challenged myself to find more simple recipes to have as easy meals I can make with little effort. I know that cooking for myself doesn’t have to be an elaborate production, but it’s felt like that for quite a while. And I know that in order to be more on top of my health, I need to be cooking for myself more often. I can’t just rely on delivery food and frozen dinners. But it’s been a struggle for me for so long.

I don’t know if I will say I was totally successful last month, but I think I made some really big steps forward. I wanted to have a few more easy recipes that I knew I could turn to, and I don’t know if I got as many as I would like. But I did add a few more that only require a little shopping. For example, I found a good chicken recipe that only really takes some chicken, the healthy type of cream of chicken soup, cream cheese, and Italian seasoning. While these are not things I normally have in my house, they are easy to get ingredients. And to put this meal together, it only takes about 15 minutes in my pressure cooker. The recipe says to serve it on pasta, but I had it with some broccoli mixed in and ate it by itself. It almost felt like a deconstructed pot pie.

I’ve also realized that it’s ok to use some frozen ingredients along with a little cooking to make a nice meal. My friend Tara sent me a super easy recipe. All it took was some frozen pepper pasta from Trader Joes and pancetta. Make the pasta as directed and cook up the pancetta and it’s almost like a pasta carbonara. I made this and added some peas to it (although I know I added too many peas) and it was really good! I don’t know if I’d use the pepper pasta again because it was a little too peppery, but it was still very tasty!

And even though my goal was to cook more, I also tried to find ways to make cooking easier or to find shortcuts. I know it’s super easy to boil water for pasta, but when I’m just cooking for me it takes a long time for the water to boil (sometimes I’m waiting over 10 minutes and it’s still not simmering). Pasta isn’t the healthiest thing to eat, but sometimes it’s the easiest thing and it’s healthier than ordering delivery food. So when I saw this microwave pasta cooker, I ordered it. I know that I don’t need it, but it’s nice to know I can make pasta super fast and without getting a giant pot dirty. And I know that it says you can cook other things in it as well, so I’m going to explore those options too.

While I didn’t get as many recipes added to my list of things I can pull together with minimal effort, I’m happy with the steps I did take and how much more comfortable I am with just looking around my kitchen and finding things I can pull together to make a simple meal.

And for November, I’m doing something I’ve already challenged myself to do in the past. I’m participating in NaNoWriMo again. But this time, I’m not working on my book that I’ve been working on the past few years. That book is pretty much done. I know that technically it might never feel done, but I feel very happy with where it is. I do have another chapter or two that I want to write with lessons about dating during a pandemic, but it’s not something I feel like I need to work on this year. This time, I’m working on a completely new book.

This time, the book I’m working on is fiction. It is also about online dating, but it’s a completely made-up story. I don’t want to share too much about it since I don’t have it outlined yet and it’s still just ideas, but it’s almost like a mystery/suspense book that has online dating as a way to move the story forward. I’ve had this idea in my head almost since I started writing the first book, but it’s only been a few notes that I’ve saved. Now, I’m trying to flesh out the idea and actually get some things written down.

This time, writing a book is different from the last book. I don’t have the entire story in my head. I don’t have real things that happened to me that I’m writing down. I’m making it all up and I don’t have much done at all. So I don’t know if I’m going to get to 50,000 words this time, but I’m going to try. But the main goal I have with NaNoWriMo is that I want to get a full outline done for this book. I do want to get as much written as I can, but I also know that there may be a time this month where I’m stuck and don’t know how to write the next chapter. So I’m lowering my goal a bit. But it would be nice if I surprise myself and am able to write almost a full first draft by the end of the month!

I’m excited to see what I can get done with writing this month. I think it will be a really good thing for me to do for so many reasons. This idea has been in my head for too long and it’s time for me to get it out in words. Also, this will be a good way to spend time each day. I need to work on being more productive and this will give me something to do every day.

I can’t wait to share with you all how it goes and I hope I have exciting news about how my writing goes by the time I write my update on this challenge!

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Election Day (or Just Vote)

Posted on November 3, 2020 | Comments Off on Election Day (or Just Vote)

I’ve written about the importance of voting on here the other day. I’m not going to go into those same discussions again in this post. But since today is Election Day, I’m asking all of you again to please just vote.

I’m sure many of you have already voted either by mail or early in-person. And thank you for doing that. Voting is always important, but I think most of you would agree that this election is critical. There are so many things happening in our country that could be fixed or worked on if our elected leaders wanted to do so. But right now, many elected leaders do not see those issues the same way. For example, the extra unemployment could have been extended but the politicians in charge did not see that as something they needed to do. In fact, they have said they wanted to wait until after the election. So they felt like people getting a few hundred dollars a week was more than enough and it didn’t matter (for example, I’m only getting $200 a week right now which doesn’t even cover my rent).

There has been a lot of stress leading up to this election. I honestly don’t know how I’m going to feel after it’s all done. I didn’t do as much as I could have to help get the vote out, but I did as much as I could handle. I wish I had the ability to do phone and text banking like many of my friends did. And I looked into writing postcards. But honestly, my mental health couldn’t take it. And I had to be ok with that. I focused on what I could do, such as reaching out to my friends and posting on social media and amplifying voices that were more informed than mine.

And because so many of us haven’t been working, we’ve had more time than ever to worry about this election. While I don’t expect us to know who won by the end of tonight, by tonight there will be very little that we can do. All that is left is making sure that all the votes are counted and that the courts don’t stop counting ballots that arrived on time because of an arbitrary deadline. I think everyone would love to know for sure who won tonight, but that’s never really the case. So I’m mentally prepared for several days of uncertainty.

Since there will likely be uncertainty, I am doing things to make the time a bit easier on me. And one step I can do is to write these blog posts in advance. I have the next few days planned out and will likely be writing them before this post goes live. So I want to explain that the next few days will probably not mention the election or current events. I might re-write posts or move things around if I feel up for it, but I’m allowing myself to not have to worry about blogging for the next few days. I do have some fun things to write about and I’m looking forward to sharing them. And when we have more news about the outcome of the election and I can put my thoughts together, I will write about it then. But I don’t want to write a bunch of posts saying I don’t know what’s going to happen or speculating. So until there is something to write about, I don’t think I will be writing much about the election again.

So this is my last time asking you all to please vote. Being apolitical or not voting is not a sign of anything other than that you are perfectly fine with how everything is happening right now. You don’t have to have a perfect candidate to vote for them. You just have to vote for the one you feel would do a better job running our country. If you aren’t registered to vote, please check your state as many states do allow Election Day registration. If you haven’t voted in multiple elections and are embarrassed to be a first-time voter, don’t be. It doesn’t matter what you have done before now, it matters what you do this time. So vote. That’s it. That’s all you have to do. And let’s hope that this election will be one that helps our country move forward and start to improve.

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