Monthly Archives: January 2021

Maybe I’m Too Good At Figuring Out Gifts (or At Least I Didn’t Already Buy It)

Posted on January 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Maybe I’m Too Good At Figuring Out Gifts (or At Least I Didn’t Already Buy It)

I’ve said it a few times before on here, but I love buying gifts for people. If I had more money, I would buy more gifts. I love figuring out the perfect thing to get someone. And I usually end up planning gifts almost a year in advance. I keep a running list of websites in a favorites tab of all the gifts that I want to get for people. And I get so much joy out of seeing someone’s face when I get them a gift that ends up being perfect for them.

A lot of the time, perfect gifts also end up not being the most expensive things. But I would like to be able to buy more extravagant things when I see gifts that are more expensive. But maybe because I have to work on a budget, that’s why I work so hard on finding gifts and feel so good when the recipient ends up loving them.

I tend to be better at buying gifts for people I’ve known longer, but that’s not really possible with my nephew. Then again, he’s a baby so he doesn’t have a ton of likes and dislikes. So I just have to find good baby gifts. I’m still so happy with the busy board that my dad and I built for him for his Hanukkah present. And as soon as my dad and I finished that project, I realized I needed to start working on what I was going to get him for his first birthday.

And I figured out the perfect gift right after that last visit. I wanted to get Rory a ball pit! I had seen a kiddie ball pit on someone else’s Instagram and they had posted where they bought it. I didn’t need to buy it right away, but I found the shop online and saved it to buy later.

I had told my parents what I was planning on getting for Rory and they loved the idea too. The ball pit had a bunch of color options and I discussed which ones I thought would be best and they agreed with me. I was so excited to find this gift and couldn’t wait to buy it and see his face when I gave it to him.

I was getting ready to purchase it because I knew it would take some time to get to me. I had it in my cart and ready to purchase, but I was going to finish the purchase a little later. And then I got a text from my brother and sister-in-law of Rory playing that day while it was raining outside.

They got him the exact same ball pit in the same colors that I was about to order! I couldn’t believe it! I was a little disappointed because I was so excited to Rory this gift. But also, it was so cute to see how much he was already enjoying it. And I took it as a sign that I was on the right track for what types of gifts would work well for him. But I obviously knew that I needed to work on finding a new gift for his first birthday.

I think I’ve figured out what I’m going to get Rory instead. I’m still super excited about the gift and I think it’s something that he will love. I also have been working on presents for my niece because she will be born in about a month! I’m getting my niece almost the same present that I got Rory when he was born. I’m finding some great books and also making custom bookplates. My brother and sister-in-law know that I’m getting my niece these as gifts, so my sister-in-law helped me decide on a few things for the bookplates so they match what her nursery will look like.

I think I’m going to see Rory around his first birthday, so I should be able to give him his gift in person. And hopefully he likes it as much as he enjoys the ball pit!

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Default ThumbnailFinding The Perfect Gifts (or A Gift A Year In The Making) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Gift Giving Time! (or Excited To Finally Give A Present) Default ThumbnailFinishing Holiday Shopping Before Halloween (or Thank Goodness For Internet Bookmarks) Default ThumbnailFirst Half Of Thanksgiving (or Hanukkah Gifts And Birthdays) Default ThumbnailI’m Officially An Aunt (or Welcome Rory!) Default ThumbnailHaving Fun With Photos (or My Brother And Nephew Are Twins!)

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

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Trying To Find More Fun (or Being More Ok With Spending Some Money)

Posted on January 28, 2021 | Comments Off on Trying To Find More Fun (or Being More Ok With Spending Some Money)

For a good portion of last year, I really hesitated to spend money on things because I was not working much. There weren’t a lot of things I could spend my money on that I wanted either. I didn’t need new clothes for going out. There weren’t events that I was getting tickets for. Even though I was getting some delivery food, I wasn’t going out to dinners with friends. I guess in a way, it was good that while I was out of work I didn’t find things I needed to splurge on.

And now, even though I am working much more, I still am very cautious of spending money. I’m not making as much as I did a year ago and I don’t want my spending to get out of control. But at the same time, I’m finding myself getting bored so often. I think I’ve done pretty well with staying home and not doing things. I’ve dealt with boredom before and gotten past it. But it is happening more and more frequently. And I’m not happy just watching more tv or reading more. I want to have new experiences and adventures. It’s just not that easy to do that these days.

But I’m trying to be better about finding things to do. There are online events I can get tickets for and some other events where you watch from your car. For the car ones, I have to either go alone or go with a friend who I can trust is being as safe and cautious as I am (like I did when I went to the drive-in screening over the summer). And if I’m in the car with someone else, wearing masks and keeping the windows open is pretty much a must to try to keep things as safe as we can. I am trying to not do too many of these car events because they are a bit riskier than I’d like, but doing them occasionally isn’t bad.

But with the virtual events, I finally am starting to look into more of them and seeing what I want to sign up for. I’ve got one coming up that is a lecture event that my parents had an extra ticket for. I think that will be really fun to watch and learn from. And I’m looking at some of the plays that are being done over Zoom and other live stream things and might be buying some tickets for those. Again, I do have to be cautious of my budget and not spending more than I should, but I also need to allow myself to have some fun.

I still feel pretty certain that we are past the halfway point of us all having to stay at home. I’m hoping that by the end of summer or the beginning of fall that things will be safer and we can all start going out and being social again. But even though we should be past the halfway point, it doesn’t make this time any easier. I need to find ways to stay entertained and ok with being home. I want to have more fun in my life and the ways that I’m used to doing that aren’t really options for me. I hope I can find more online events that I can attend so I have more going on in my life. I’d love to have less time where I’m just sitting and looking at the walls in my house.

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Default ThumbnailWorking on Budgeting (or Spending Money To Save Money) Default ThumbnailGirls Shopping Day Out (or Spending Free Money) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge) Default ThumbnailExpress Headshot Day (or Another Fun Podcast Event) Default ThumbnailNot Quite Winning At Taxes This Year (or Owing Money And Seeing Car Accidents) Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Christmas (or Not Spending My Day Off Doing My Usual Stuff)

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A Different Type Of Self-Tape Audition (or Recording An Audition In Bed)

Posted on January 27, 2021 | Comments Off on A Different Type Of Self-Tape Audition (or Recording An Audition In Bed)

While I haven’t had a lot of self-tape auditions, I have had enough that I feel pretty good about my setup. There are still a few things that I want to get to make my self-tape auditions better, but nothing is desperately needed. But I have a feeling that even when auditions can be held in-person again, there will still be more self-tape auditions than there were before the pandemic. And I’m ok with this because I’m happy for any auditions I can get!

All of my self-tape auditions have been on video. Some have been for tv shows and some for commercials. I don’t think I’ve had a movie self-tape yet, but it’s the same idea as tv and commercial auditions. They are filmed and it’s on-camera. I have a place in my house that I use for recording these because the light is the best and I have a way to set up my tripod and everything else I need to look the best I can. And I know I have to look good when I do them. I might wear sweats on the bottom with a nice top or dress on top, but I look presentable and have my hair and makeup done.

But not all auditions are on video. Voiceover auditions are just sound recordings.  I rarely audition for voiceovers, but I have had them in the past. But those auditions were all done at a casting office or recording studio where they had a sound booth to do the audition in. I know that recording voiceover auditions (and even some jobs) at home has been common for a long time, but it’s not something I had any experience in.

Until this past weekend.

I got an audition notice from my commercial agent about a voiceover commercial audition. It was pretty simple, only 2 lines, but it needed to be done at home. I guess I could have rented a recording studio for my audition, but that would have cost money and I knew it wasn’t necessary. My audition didn’t have to be perfect, but I needed to find a way to make things as clear sounding as possible.

I knew using my external mic on my phone was going to be the best option. I guess I could have tried my headphones, but I know that things usually sound better on the mic than when I use my headphones. And I also knew that clothing and fabric are great for soundproofing and muffling other noises so a lot of people recommend recording in your closet. But my closet is a weird shape where it’s almost like a little hallway with the handing rods in the back. I did try doing one take in there, but it was very echoey and you could hear some ambient noise.

So I did some research online for other options and one that kept coming up was recording under a blanket. Covering yourself with a blanket is the same idea as being in a closet. You have fabric all around you and have a good chance to not have any echoes. I don’t own a ton of blankets, but I figured the comforter on my bed would work. And I didn’t have to sit up to do this, so I got back into bed with my phone in front of me to have the script up and my mic near my face.

I still did a few different takes to make sure I had a take that I liked. There were a few where it didn’t sound the way I wanted it to, but that was about my performance and not any outside noise coming in. It didn’t take too long, but I still took my time doing this. And after doing a little bit of editing to cut out the dead air at the beginning and end, my audition was done and ready to be submitted!

I don’t know if I want to try to pursue more voiceover work. There are a lot of things I don’t know about doing voiceovers that I should learn if I want to do it more often. But it was fun to play with it this time and it would be really cool if I booked it! I don’t expect to since I know some of the other women who auditioned for this part are very experienced in voiceover. But no matter what, it was another day to audition and have fun. And anything that makes me happy and brings joy into my life these days is amazing!

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Default ThumbnailAlmost Getting To Act (or Being On The Other Side Of A Self-Tape Audition) Default ThumbnailAnother Self-Tape Audition (or So Grateful For Anything Related To Acting Right Now) Default ThumbnailUpgrading My Self-Tape Set Up (or 2 Auditions In 30 Minutes) Default ThumbnailAn Isolation Audition (or Working On My Self-Tape Game) Default ThumbnailAudition Horror Stories (or Sometimes I Like Things To Be Boring) Default ThumbnailSelf-Tape Saturday (or Turning A Video Shoot Into A Photo Shoot)

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

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Watching History Happen (or Actually Enjoying A Political Morning)

Posted on January 26, 2021 | Comments Off on Watching History Happen (or Actually Enjoying A Political Morning)

I didn’t realize I was going to be writing about politics again so soon. But then again, I didn’t realize how much I was going to react to the inauguration happening. I knew I’d be watching it, but I wasn’t expecting to be so emotional about it. But I was.

This inauguration was literally history happening in front of my eyes. To see the first woman saying the oath of office to be the Vice President was amazing. In one sense, I can’t believe that this is happening in my lifetime. But in another sense, I can’t believe it took this long to happen. And I know for many of my friends, it was even more meaningful to see someone who looked like them or was of similar ethnicity. I feel like everyone I know was just in awe watching everything happen considering what happened only 2 weeks before.

And it was so nice to know most of the people in my life were watching the same thing at the same time as I was. I had several texts going with friends plus one texting group where we were all reacting in real-time to what we were seeing on tv. Some of it was serious and emotional and some of it was silly (like discussing fashion). But it really gave me a sense of community and communal experiences, which is something I have missed so much during this pandemic.

I wasn’t able to watch the entire thing without distractions. I did have to log in for work right after President Biden took his oath. But because my job now doesn’t require me to make phone calls, I was able to keep it on while I worked and I was able to listen to it. And I was recording it on my DVR so I did go back and watch some parts that I knew I hadn’t really been able to listen to. And there were so many good parts during the inauguration.

I loved seeing so many people posting positive things about politics for a day. People were feeling so much hope and not the fear that many of us have felt for a while. That’s how I felt. I knew things wouldn’t be changing right away, but at least now we had someone in charge who would make some changes for the better. For example, Trump had been saying for a while that there was a plan for vaccinations. But now we know that there wasn’t one. If he was still in charge, how long would be believing a plan was coming when one wasn’t in the works.

But I think one of my favorite things from the inauguration was seeing all my friends post photos of their kids watching it happen. I loved seeing kids watching history happen. Even if they were born during the last presidency, they might not remember that happen. So many of them will grow up in a world where a woman has been elected to such a high office. It won’t seem like a dream or something to hope for. It’s a reality of their world.

After seeing so many friends post photos, I texted my sister-in-law saying I wanted to see a photo of Rory watching. One day, he will learn about this time in school and I wanted him to have a photo proving he was there when it happened. And I loved the photo that I got texted back to me.

Since that day, it’s been nice to have things feel almost a little boring in politics again. There are daily press conferences. Things aren’t being announced on social media that others are confused about. Nobody is reacting based on just emotion. Things may be slow and boring, but they are working on getting things done and making sure they are done correctly. And that’s what I want out of my government.

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Default ThumbnailA Day Of Watching Politics (or I Believe Her) Default ThumbnailEnjoying Movie Nights (or Watching My Screeners) Default ThumbnailThe End To One Political Era (or This Is Still Just The Start Of My Involvement) Default ThumbnailSAG Awards (or Watching After Knowing The Winners) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Holiday Party (or Just Enjoying Being Around Good People) Default ThumbnailI Have To Be Political (or Hoping My Healthcare Stays The Same)

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More Proof I Need To Plan My Workouts (or Wasting More Workout Time Than I’d Like)

Posted on January 25, 2021 | Comments Off on More Proof I Need To Plan My Workouts (or Wasting More Workout Time Than I’d Like)

I knew that I was going to be doing a lot of mix and match workouts this past week and I had said I wanted to try to make some sort of plan with what I would do each day. But when I said I would make a plan, I was thinking about having lower body days and upper body days. I didn’t think much beyond that.

And that’s what I tried to do this past week but I wasn’t very successful at it. I felt like I was jumping around trying to figure out what workouts to do. And I didn’t necessarily plan what day would be what type of workout. I ended up spending time each day trying to see what I wanted to do and checking out what different videos online had to offer. And that took up a lot of time.

Before last month, taking time to set up my workout for the day wasn’t a big deal because I had all the time I wanted to do my workout. I rarely had anything I had to do in the mornings so if I wasted 30 minutes getting things set up it was fine. But now, I have a pretty tight schedule in the morning. I know I could switch my workout to be after work, but I am really trying to keep my workouts in the morning. But in order for me to work out, shower, and be logged in to all the websites I need to use for work before my shift starts; I don’t have a lot of extra time. I really need to be able to get to my workouts quickly and not have to plan that morning.

Since I didn’t plan well and didn’t have time to waste, I ended up not having a lot of variety in what I did throughout the week. That’s fine, but not what my goal is with my workouts. One of the things I love about Orangetheory is the variety in the workouts and how each day is different. And another thing I love about the workouts at Orangetheory is how I don’t have to think about what I’m doing. I know that isn’t how everyone does their workouts at other places, but not having to plan out my workouts is a luxury that I’ve gotten used to. But now, I have to build the skills to plan out some workouts each week.

I’m struggling a bit with how to do this because this isn’t something I’ve really done before. Even when I belonged to regular gyms, I wasn’t good at planning workouts. At one gym I belonged to, I worked with a personal trainer twice a week and the other days I would just do cardio. At another gym I belonged to, I rarely did anything other than cardio. And if I had cardio machines available for me to use, planning cardio is pretty easy (I am on a waitlist for renting a WaterRower but I won’t know for a while if I get one). But planning the strength part of my workout is something I’ve never really tried to do.

And I know, I don’t really have to plan everything with the strength part of my workout. I can still do the videos online from Orangetheory or other sources. But I do need to plan which videos I want to do or if I find a workout somewhere else that I want to follow. And I’m in the trial and error stage of figuring out how to accomplish this. Right now, I’m trying to look at the videos over the weekend to see what the exercises are and make a list of what I want to try to do for the week. I don’t know if this will work or if I’ll be able to keep it up, but I have to try.

Hopefully, planning my workouts this week will be a bit easier than the past week. And it continues to get easier for me. I’m still excited for when I can start back at Orangetheory (whether that will be for the outdoor workouts or the regular in-studio ones), but I need to find a way to make things work for me right now.

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Default ThumbnailA Full Workout Week (or Sticking With My Plan) Default ThumbnailBeing Forced To Change Up My Workout Routine (or I Thought I’d Have A Little Time To Settle) Default ThumbnailAlmost End Of The Year Workouts (or Hitting A Milestone And Debating A New Plan) Default ThumbnailA 4 Workout Week (or Only A Few More Weeks Of 2015 Workouts) Default ThumbnailFirst Week of Workouts After The Challenge (or Weird Workout Times) Default ThumbnailWorking Out Into The New Year (or The End of My 2015 Workouts And Beginning of My 2016 Workouts)

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Posted in Fitness

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My First Doctor Appointment In A While (or Not Everything Can Be Done Over The Phone)

Posted on January 22, 2021 | Comments Off on My First Doctor Appointment In A While (or Not Everything Can Be Done Over The Phone)

Last year, I didn’t go to a lot of doctor appointments that I was planning on having. Because of the pandemic, I didn’t want to have to go to the hospital more than I needed to. And while some of my appointments were regular ones, the ones I skipped weren’t urgent and I knew I could put them off for a little while. If any of my doctors told me I had to go to an appointment, I would have gone. But nothing was needed and I think all my doctors understood why I was postponing them.

One of the appointments I skipped was with my dermatologist. That appointment was going to be for a regular annual checkup and most of what is done at those appointments are things like skin checks for skin cancer. Since I didn’t really go out in the sun at all last year, I didn’t think having my skin checked for sun damage was really necessary. I also had some other questions I wanted to ask my doctor, but again, nothing was urgent so I was fine putting it off.

But then my autoimmune condition flared up really badly and I knew that I needed to get some more help than what I can do on my own. My dermatologist wasn’t the one who diagnosed me (that was another doctor), but he was the most recent one to discuss treatment options with me so I figured he would be the right person to reach out to. I started with just an email to my doctor and he wanted to set up a phone appointment to talk about what’s going on. I was hoping somehow a phone appointment would be enough for me to get some help even though this was discussing something with my skin.

I had my phone appointment the other day and it went ok. I discussed the pain I was in and what options I knew I was ok with and what I wasn’t ok with (there is one medication I could try but it would make me immunocompromised so I don’t want to do that). But like I suspected, this type of appointment wasn’t really able to be done on the phone and my doctor said I needed to come in.

Fortunately, I was able to get an appointment for next week, so things should be better for me soon. And I am lucky because my dermatologist is familiar with my autoimmune condition (it’s not something that all doctors understand or have experience treating). He wants to go over a few options that I have for treating things and he didn’t seem too worried about my concerns with some medications. So I’m hopeful that after next week I will have a good idea of a treatment plan I can work with.

I’ve had this issue for a long time and have tried a few different treatments in the past, but I’ve never really worked with one doctor who was very familiar with it and was willing to work on a long-term plan with me. I’ve had other doctors who wanted me to temporarily try one medication or another to see what it would do, even though the studies say those medications don’t work. That’s why I never have stuck it out with one doctor or a treatment plan. But now, I feel good about going forward with this and I’m hoping that in a week or so I will have a better idea about how I can get out of pain and maybe make it so I don’t have to deal with this as often as I do. I know it’s not likely to be resolved right away, but feeling like I’m on a path to figuring it out will be helpful.

I am a little nervous about having to go into the hospital for this appointment, but the medical offices are not the same building as the main hospital. So I won’t be around as many people and those who are going in for more serious things will be in a different building. And I’m sure there is some sort of plan so that there aren’t too many people in the waiting room at one time.

Even if I feel totally comfortable after this appointment with how things go at the hospital, I still think I will be waiting on some other appointments for a little while. Unless I have something come up where I need to be seen sooner or my doctors tell me they want me to come in, I want to wait until I am vaccinated and the case numbers are a bit more under control. And then I can go in and take care of everything I skipped.

Hopefully, next week goes just as smoothly as I hope it will be and I will have a good treatment plan in the works and out of the pain that I’ve been in for a while.

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Getting Hopeful About The Vaccine (or Why I’m Being Even More Careful Now)

Posted on January 21, 2021 | Comments Off on Getting Hopeful About The Vaccine (or Why I’m Being Even More Careful Now)

Since March, I’ve been very careful with what I do. I don’t leave my house that often. I try to get most of the things I need delivered to my house so I can avoid going to the store. There are a few times I do go to the store to get things, but that’s pretty rare. I usually only do that if it’s a store that I can’t get things delivered to me or if I have an urgent need to get something (like when I needed more bandages and had to go to CVS instead of waiting on a delivery).

I have seen friends and family very few times. When I do see people, it’s typically wearing masks and I’m doing a full quarantine before and after. If I can’t be outside when I see people, usually windows and doors are open. I know that even doing that isn’t as safe as it can be, but it’s better than not taking any precautions and I have tried to limit those visits as much as I can. It’s hard to not see anyone in real life, so having a few times where I can see people has helped in the very lonely moments.

I feel like in a way I have become a bit of a germaphobe and agoraphobic, but I feel like these fears are temporary and should go away once it’s safer to be out and I don’t feel like it’s a big health risk to be out and about. I’m not fearful of anything other than COVID as far as germs go. So once that isn’t an issue, I don’t see why I would still be scared. I want to leave my house and do more, but COVID is the one thing holding me back from doing that right now.

And with all the precautions and measures I’ve been taking lately, I’ve actually started to do more work to keep me safe now. This may seem odd because we now have a vaccine and people are starting to be vaccinated, but that’s exactly why I am being more careful now.

I feel very good about the vaccine. It is amazing how well it is showing to stop COVID and the technology that led to this vaccine might be able to do some great things for other diseases and conditions. I will be getting the vaccine the moment that I am able to. I still have to wait because I’m not in a group that is eligible yet, but I hope that in the next month or two I will be able to get my first shot.

My brother (who works in an ER) has already gotten both of his shots. My parents (who fit into the older age category) got their first one earlier this week and have an appointment for their second one next month. My cousin (who is a nurse) has also already gotten one vaccine. I’m so grateful that my family is hopefully going to be safe and soon I won’t have to worry about them as much as I have been worried over the past year.

And it’s just a matter of time before I will get a vaccine and be protected. But I don’t want to be the person who takes risks before being fully vaccinated and gets sick at the end. I remember reading stories of people who died right before they could have been saved, and to me, that is one of the saddest things. In almost all of those cases, the people died at no fault of their own. But in this case, I can have a little control over whether or not I get sick. I don’t have to take risks now when we are almost at the end. The finish line is closer and I don’t need to rush anything. I don’t love being isolated, but I’m almost done with it. And being isolated for another few months is worth knowing that I am safe and healthy.

I do not want to get sick when I am so close to not having to worry about it. And hopefully, once I’m vaccinated there will be enough people vaccinated that we will see a big decrease in cases. That will protect others who won’t be vaccinated yet. There will be a snowball effect of decreasing risk. And while we don’t know if this is going to be an annual thing that we need to be vaccinated against, like the flu, I think we all need to see that we can get past this time to feel better about any times we have to battle it in the future. If we see the vaccines end the pandemic, hopefully if there needs to be an annual booster people will get it.

I know that I won’t be able to just be free and do anything once I’m vaccinated, but I think it will help take the edge off of my fear about getting sick. I will still take a lot of precautions and will probably stay isolated a little longer until more people are vaccinated and the cases are much lower than they are now. But knowing I’m almost safe and protected is giving me so much hope and I just have to keep going with that feeling.

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The End To One Political Era (or This Is Still Just The Start Of My Involvement)

Posted on January 20, 2021 | Comments Off on The End To One Political Era (or This Is Still Just The Start Of My Involvement)

Today, Joe Biden goes from being the President-Elect to being the President. I’m still shocked that he won because historically an incumbent wins the election. But I’m so excited to have Biden as our President and to see what happens with this country. And I don’t think it’s a surprise that I’m glad that Donald Trump will not be our President anymore.

I’ve never really hid my unhappiness with him. He liked to spread half-truths (or complete lies) and found that dividing the country worked to his advantage. He didn’t see how to help the entire country but how to help himself and those in his inner circle. And yes, I did benefit from some of his tax cuts because I’m considered a business owner, but the benefits I personally got weren’t worth all the financial penalties other people I knew got. I’d rather things be much more equal (which would mean I owe money) than for my friends to owe extra money and for me to get some bad.

And his mishandling of the pandemic continues to make me mad. We have seen how other countries have gotten things under control. Or if they aren’t totally under control, they have a fraction of the cases and deaths that we have. If Trump hadn’t been talking for months about how this is all a hoax and discouraging ways we could stay safe, who knows how many lives could have been saved. Things didn’t have to be like this. And if we had politicians who were setting better examples for us, maybe we wouldn’t be in such bad shape a year into this.

And I know that with Biden being President, things won’t just change immediately (although some Republicans did claim that nobody would be talking about the pandemic after the election and it would miraculously end). But I do have hope that things will be turning around and getting better in the near future. I hope that we will have a better plan for vaccine distribution and more guidance on ways we can stay safe while we wait. So many countries got this under control without a vaccine, so maybe we will do the same and the vaccine will just be extra protection.

While I’m not really grateful for much about the Trump Presidency, there is one thing I am grateful for. Because of him running and understanding the risks 4 years ago, I became much more involved in politics. I don’t know if I would have been involved if another Republican was running. If Trump lost, I don’t know if I would have kept things up as much. But now, I have seen how politics is something I need to be involved in. I will not be unaware because something doesn’t personally affect me. I will not hide my political views to try to be polite. Being politically involved is something I feel like I have to do. I need to do it for everyone, not just the people in my life. And I have seen what happens if our elected leaders do not feel the same push to be working for everyone.

I hope to be more involved in the future. I know that I didn’t do as much as I wanted to in this past election. But I also have learned of more ways I can be involved in the future and I am on a lot of different email lists to be notified when there are opportunities for me. I want to take advantage of them as they come up and continue to be more and more involved.

Today, I’m celebrating our country having a new president. And yes, he is the candidate I voted for, but I also believe that he feels he needs to work for everyone. He is not going to divide the country into those who voted for him and those who didn’t. There may still be a division with people who believe he was fairly elected or not, but that division is not because of Biden but because of other politicians. And if they want the unity they claim they want to see, they know they need to let their followers that Biden is the president and that he was elected fairly. We cannot have unity until those who have worked hard to divide us make things right. And I don’t know if that will happen, but I hope it will. I am so sick with how some people have believed some extreme conspiracy theories and that they cannot see beyond it. I have people in my life who do believe this pandemic was created to get Trump removed from office (they don’t believe it matters that other countries were affected too). I know people who believe that somehow, Biden will be removed and Trump will be president again, even though that’s not how it works. I have tried to reason with them and explain how certain policies and rules work, but some people still won’t listen or believe that the rules have to be followed that way.

But I do have hope that in the future, some of those people will start to see what happened and that they were misled. I don’t think they will become Democrats or huge fans of Biden, but I do hope that they understand how he was elected (and not claiming it has to be fake because Trump had bigger crowds). I want there to still be a debate within the country, but not the violence and hate that we have seen recently. We don’t all have to agree on everything, but we need to agree that everyone deserves a voice and that our elected leaders represent everyone and not just those they voted for.

And hopefully, as I become more and more involved in politics, I will find ways to help bring things together and to get others involved, and trying to help this country heal from the past 4 years.

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Default ThumbnailTrying To Make The Debates More Fun To Watch (or Group Chats Make Things Better) Default ThumbnailI Have To Be Political (or Hoping My Healthcare Stays The Same) Default ThumbnailAdventures In Healthcare (or Trying Not To Be Too Political) Default ThumbnailPlease Wear A Mask And Stay Home If You Can (or This Shouldn’t Be Political) Default ThumbnailOverwhelmed By The Election (or Politics Time) Default ThumbnailMOVE LA (or More SAG-AFTRA Involvement)

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Having Weird Reminders (or Needing To Remove Some Things From My Calendar)

Posted on January 19, 2021 | Comments Off on Having Weird Reminders (or Needing To Remove Some Things From My Calendar)

Even though I have a planner, I don’t use it for scheduling out my day. I use my Volt Planner for goal setting and things like that. My schedule can change a lot so I like using digital calendars to have appointments and plans. Plus, it’s easy to have things that recur set to appear automatically each time (like when I have to submit timesheets for work).

I use the Mac calendar app on my devices and one of my jobs uses Google Calendar (but I can import my personal schedule into my Mac calendar). I’ve used this for a very long time and it’s an easy system for me to use which is why I haven’t tried to find a different app.

And the simplicity of the app also meant I got a bit lazy with entering things into my calendar. I had my work for my old customer service job in there even though my schedule didn’t really change each week. I put my OTF workouts in there even though those were very consistent. I didn’t need to have reminders to not schedule other things then, but I just put it in there to have an accurate schedule somewhere.

When the pandemic started, I didn’t remove things from my calendar. My work schedule didn’t change at first and I figured OTF would be opening again soon so I didn’t feel the need to remove it. But as we all know, that didn’t really happen. But I still kept all those things in my calendar. It didn’t really bother me for a long time because I didn’t have to look at my calendar for anything. I had nothing scheduled and nothing to work around in my day.

But now that I have a job that I need to check my schedule for (not for my normal work hours, but for any meetings I have to attend), I’ve realized I need to get rid of the other things on my schedule. It was actually starting to upset me when I thought about the things I was missing. It was bad enough thinking about my old job and my workouts. But this past weekend was also supposed to be the weekend my parents were going to be in LA and we were going to see “Hamilton”.

This wasn’t the first time we had tickets for “Hamilton”. We had some in the spring last year that were canceled. We figured scheduling them for January this year was a safe bet for things to be better. And they were going to be on my dad’s birthday, so I was so excited to get to spend my dad’s birthday with him. I know that it’s for the best that things are still canceled, but it doesn’t mean I can’t be a little upset about it.

So over the weekend, I worked on removing all my old recurring things in my calendar. It will be easy enough to add them back in when things start back up again. But it’s important for me now to have things on my schedule that I really have and not things that are reminders of what I was supposed to have and not getting to do.

I know it’s a bit silly to be upset about things like this, but when I have so little happening in my life and so much that I feel like I’m missing, every reminder of what my “normal” life was like hurts a bit. I’m glad it was an easy fix for me to make and that it didn’t take me a long time. And hopefully, now I can focus on making plans going forward and not looking back at what I was hoping to do.

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Default ThumbnailRemembering To Do What I Like (or Weird Disappearing Time) Default ThumbnailTrying To Plan Ahead (or Hopefully Things Will Normalize Soon) Default ThumbnailSocial Media Reminders (or Another Thing To Celebrate) Default ThumbnailAn Up and Down Workout Week (or a Weird Week and a Weird Milestone) Default ThumbnailFeeling Optimistic About My Jobs (or Working This Year Has Been Weird) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Needing To Declutter Again)

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Being Forced To Change Up My Workout Routine (or I Thought I’d Have A Little Time To Settle)

Posted on January 18, 2021 | Comments Off on Being Forced To Change Up My Workout Routine (or I Thought I’d Have A Little Time To Settle)

I just changed up my workout routine. I had to get used to waking up earlier so I could work out before work, and that’s still something new for me. Even though it’s not a huge change, it’s still a change. And I thought I’d have some time to get used to that before I would have another change. I was wrong.

Since the pandemic started about 10 months ago, the Orangetheory at Home workouts has been the same style. It’s a video with the full workout that is posted once a day. The videos are different every day and the length can vary, but they were all about 40-50 minutes long. I loved having a single video to watch and workout with and it’s been a very easy thing to do. When I’ve tried other workout videos online, one of my biggest issues has been having to combine videos to get a full workout in. Either the videos are too short or they only have half of what I want to do. And that’s one of the reasons why I loved the OTF at Home workouts and have stuck with them for so long.

But this past week, OTF changed it up and now they are posting 5 videos at the beginning of the week to mix and match. And they are designed to be combined. The videos were cardio, upper body, lower body, core, and stretching. And all the videos were about 20-25 minutes long. So I had to start combining workouts in order to get the full workout in.

I spent this past week trying things and testing them out. I did a day with the cardio and upper body videos and that was good. Another day was with the lower body video and a jump rope workout (which I need to get back into doing more because I noticed a decrease in my endurance). I still wish the videos were a full workout each day because that’s easier for me to do, but these were still good. And because I’m being forced into doing a mix and match workout, I also added in some workouts from other videos too. If I have to find different components, then I might as well give myself as much variety as possible.

I’m still experimenting with all this and I know that it will change over the next few weeks, but I know I’ll figure out something eventually. And I know, because this is how life goes, as soon as I figure it out things will change again. Hopefully they don’t change before that, but it’s very possible to happen that way again. I hope that the next big change for me will be switching from home workouts to the outdoor classes. But for me, I think I won’t be switching to those classes until I am fully vaccinated. And the way that vaccinations are doing, that probably won’t be until late spring.

There’s also a chance that in-studios workouts will open by the time I’m fully vaccinated, but I don’t think that will happen until more of the population is vaccinated in the summer. I know there is no real way to know this information. I mean, I thought that when the studios had to close that it would only be for maybe a month. Now, I’m pretty sure that they will be closed past the 1-year mark.

The only other possible change in my workouts that could happen is if I get some new workout equipment. I put myself on the waitlist for renting a rowing machine, but there is no guarantee that I will get one to rent. I looked at buying one, but they aren’t the cheapest things if I get the one I want (about $800) and while I did find a way to make space for it in my house, I know that once I’m back to the studio workouts that I won’t be using it as much. So renting one would be ideal for me, I just have to hope that I get one.

I’m going to spend this week continuing to experiment with mixing and matching my workouts and maybe figuring out some sort of routine (like having set days for upper and lower body). But even if I don’t figure it out, at least I’m doing some workout for those 4 days a week and as I have said so many times, something is better than nothing.

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Default ThumbnailThis Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Default ThumbnailSome New Workout Milestones (or I’m Doing Better Than I Thought) Default ThumbnailA Full Week Of OTF At Home (or Getting A Little Bit Of My Normal Routine In) Default ThumbnailBack To The Same Workout Debate (I Don’t Know What To Do) Default ThumbnailTrying Other Types Of OTF At Home Workouts (or Adding More Variety) Default Thumbnail5 Workout Week (or I Did It, But I Don’t Know When I’ll Do It Again)

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