Posted onJuly 16, 2021|Comments Off on 9 Years Of Blogging (or Just Keep Writing)
9 years ago, I published my first blog post. Or at least I published my first post on here. I had attempted a blog before that failed after only a few days. But I was trying again and just started writing. I wasn’t sure what I’d be writing about or how long I’d be able to keep it up, but I had to try. And here I am, 9 years later, still posting every weekday without missing a single day.
I know I don’t have to write every day. Some people might say it’s actually smarter for me not to because if I was worried about my reader numbers some studies show daily posting isn’t ideal. And I did start my blog originally to be something more than just me rambling and putting out my thoughts into the world, but now I am ok if it’s like that. Yes, doing sponsored posts and things like that are fun and I do consider opportunities that come my way. But I don’t do everything that is offered because I don’t want to do things just to make money off of a post. I have found my authentic voice and true self over these past 9 years and that’s something I don’t know I would have done another way.
There have been a lot of times I wondered what to write or what to do with this blog. But I just keep on writing. Even when I have nothing to write about, I find something to say about being bored or having writer’s block. As much as I try to plan out what I will be writing about in advance, there are times I’m still trying to figure it out late at night and just write whatever I’m thinking.
And last year, when the pandemic hit, I wondered what I would do. Even when I have writer’s block, I usually have things coming up that I could write about and look forward to. But when things were shutting down, I knew I wouldn’t have much to say. Except not having much to say ended up being something to write about. I am grateful that I have a written record of my time in this pandemic. I have my thoughts and fears in my posts and I’m sure that one day it will be interesting to reflect back on this time (we just have to get out of this time first).
Even though I have been consistent for the past 9 years, I know that can change in the future. Maybe I will decide to write less frequently. I think I would still want a blogging schedule so I have something regular, but maybe it won’t be every day. As of right now, I don’t have any plans to change things up. I want to just keep writing because I learn so much about myself from doing that. Even if these posts are just for me and nobody else sees them, I benefit from them and that’s awesome. And if someone else finds the posts and either learns something about themselves or doesn’t feel as alone in their struggles, that’s amazing and incredible! Both helping myself and helping others is what keeps me going.
Next year, I will have been blogged for over 1/4 of my life. That’s crazy for me to think about but I’m also so excited for that milestone. And that is going to keep me going when I feel like I have nothing to say this next year. I’ll keep writing, even if they aren’t super amazing posts, and then I can celebrate 10 years of blogging in 2022!
Posted onJuly 15, 2021|Comments Off on Tired Of Online Shopping (or There Aren’t A Ton Of Great Options For Me)
Ever since I’ve been an adult, I’ve done some of my shopping online. Sometimes the store I want to order from isn’t near me or the local one doesn’t have something in stock. Sometimes the store is online only. And sometimes it’s just about convenience and I’d rather order online than go to a store. I’ve done this for so many things in my life. I can’t think of much that I use that I haven’t bought online at one point or another.
And I went from doing some of my shopping online to all of my shopping online when the pandemic hit. Anything I needed could be ordered online and delivered to me. I didn’t love doing this, but it felt like the safer thing for me to do. And the few places I did go in person to were limited to grocery stores and drug stores. Nothing interesting or exciting, only places to get things I needed. That doesn’t mean I haven’t bought a lot of fun things over the past year and a half. It’s just that everything else has been purchased online. And I’m really starting to feel over it.
I recently found some new bedding I wanted to get for my room. My comforter has been torn for a bit and I was excited to have something new. I took my time to look at a few different places and did price comparisons and looked at reviews. Even though I knew I could return something, I’d rather not do that so I wanted to pick the right thing the first time. And when I got it, it was nothing like what I thought I got. The color was wrong (I ordered something that was supposed to be green and this was more of a yellow) and the fabric was very thin and not soft at all. If I had bought this in a store in person, I wouldn’t have gotten it because I would have known right away that it was wrong. But online, I had no clue until it arrived.
I know that returning things isn’t a huge deal and it’s actually easier now than it used to be. When returning stuff to Amazon, you don’t need a box or anything. You print out a return slip and take the item and the slip to the UPS store and they handle everything else. So that is nice to do, but I’d prefer to not have to do that at all and have the items be right.
It’s even more frustrating with clothes. I look at the size charts and take my measurements to make sure I’m ordering the right size, but that’s not always enough. The fit of items can vary so much. And sometimes, I do end up ordering multiple sizes so I can test them out and return what doesn’t work. Even if I felt comfortable going into stores, I still have to order so much online. Some stores that sell plus-sized clothing only sell it online and not in their stores. And there are a lot of stores that are only online. So trying things on isn’t an option for me. I’m really trying to find new things for my wardrobe, but so far everything I’ve ordered online this month has been returned. I do try to see if I could do some alterations and make the items work, but that isn’t always easy or cheap. It would be so nice if I could just find things that fit me, but I haven’t had any luck. I haven’t given up yet, but it’s hard to feel excited about getting new things when lately everything I get goes back.
I’m trying to be a bit more adventurous with the stores I shop at. I see things online and seek out where they got them and I have discovered new stores I didn’t know about before. Most of the time, I still have to order online, but at least I’m not just shopping at the same places over and over again. And I know that eventually, I’ll have some luck and some new things that I can wear on the random adventures I have now going out of my house and feel awesome and comfortable.
Posted onJuly 14, 2021|Comments Off on Kicking Off Election Season (or Time To Be Busy With Campaigning)
I’ve gone through SAG-AFTRAelectionseason3 times in the past. And my involvement during election season has changed and increased over each election. It’s a stressful time for so many of us, but it’s also very worth it. I am passionate about the direction my union is going and making sure that we have the best union possible for all members. And while I hope that I will be elected to the position or positions I’m running for, I also know the importance of getting others who have similar mindsets elected too. And that’s why I’m so happy to be with the Unite For Strength slate.
Things are only getting started with this election season. We have not announced our full slate just yet, but we will be doing so soon. And that’s when I’ll share more about what I’m running for. But we have announced our candidates for National President and National Secretary-Treasurer. And I’m so excited about those candidates as well as the ones we haven’t announced just yet. I love when I discover other members who have a similar passion for union service as I do and I also love to see people move into more and more leadership positions. I know that one day, my group of members will be the leaders of the union and it’s amazing to see that growth happen in front of my eyes. I don’t know how far in union leadership I personally want to go into, but I don’t think there will be a time that I’m a member of SAG-AFTRA and not wanting to be a part of union service in one way or another. Before my first election, I never imagined doing this. Now, I can’t imagine my life without it.
I am doing the social media work for my slate again, just like I have before. I can’t share a ton of information just yet, but I can’t wait until we announce more and I start posting more. Of course, this can be a bit stressful too, but it’s worth it just like election season is. And even though I know there can be a lot of negativity on social media, especially when it comes to politics and elections, I usually see more positive things online than negative which helps a lot.
Normally during election season, both my slate as well as the other slate campaign in similar ways and they are typically done in person. We pass out information as people are walking into different in-person union events. This year, things will be different. Most of the events that we would be campaigning at are not happening. The main one that I used to campaign at, the Film Society screenings, have not returned yet and I don’t think anyone knows when the next Film Society season would be. I know that everyone is trying to find new ways to campaign and I’m sure I will be doing a lot of it just as I do with campaigning before. And this isn’t the first time we’ve had to do some sort of campaigning without in-person events. We did this for the last contract. And while I will miss these opportunities to campaign in person and meet new people, I know that future election seasons will have that chance when things are safer for us all.
I know the next few months, my life will be a bit crazy and busy with election season, but I’m also very excited about that. I will still try to find ways to be social outside of union stuff because I want to get more of my life back. But having election season here is another thing that feels like the old normal to me, so I’m embracing that feeling. And hopefully I will have some exciting news once all the votes are counted!
Posted onJuly 13, 2021|Comments Off on Just Enjoying My Boring Routine (or Still Working On Adding More Back To My Life)
For a good chunk of this year, I have said that I need to work on adding more things back into my life. I missed so much while being isolated in my house. I was bored for days and weeks and I was ready to be out of my house and busy with anything else. And I do still feel like I need to keep adding more back into my life, but I don’t feel the same pull to force myself to do that as I did before.
There are still some concerns about the pandemic for me. For a while, the numbers were getting better every day and things seemed so much safer. But the past week or two has been different and numbers have been increasing every day. Now, things are close to where they were months ago with the number of cases every day. The deaths and hospitalizations aren’t as bad, and most of the research says that a huge majority of cases now are from unvaccinated people. So I should still be safe. But I’m still being careful when I can with wearing a mask when I am out and not taking too many unnecessary risks. I’m not as fearful as I was earlier this year with going out, but I do notice some anxiety and I have had a few panic attacks at the grocery store recently. I understand that masks are optional now if you are vaccinated, but it still makes me nervous to see people in a store without them (fortunately, almost everyone seems to still be wearing a mask).
But I also think that the reason I don’t feel the need to add more to my life right now is that I’m finally busy again with work. Even though all of my jobs are part-time, when you add up all the hours I do each day I am working full-time hours. Sitting in front of a computer for hours a day is draining and I usually want to rest when I’m done with work. I also still have regular things to do after work that I’m not doing in the middle of the day like I did when I wasn’t working. And I’m working on cooking more at home so that also takes up time.
For me to do more fun things in my life, I do need to plan ahead and add them to my schedule. And I know I can do that and I’m sure if I asked my friends if they wanted to plan something, we would. But I’m back to where I have felt before in my life when I just don’t feel the push to be super social. But this time it’s different since I’m coming off of a year of not be social at all. So I know I should make an effort to make plans, but I’m really just enjoying the routine and normalcy right now. This is something that I was missing for a long time, so routine doesn’t feel as routine as it used to.
I know that more and more things are opening and happening around LA, and I do want to take advantage of this amazing city that I live in. But while going on adventures is a bit about the novelty of it all, so is having a normal schedule again and I’m really just enjoying having something like my old life back and being in a routine that I can count on.
And I’m sure that it’s only a matter of time that I will be bored of my routine and really craving to go out and do something. And I’ll figure out what I can do and what seems safe and I’ll have much more interesting things to write about.
Posted onJuly 12, 2021|Comments Off on At Least This Was Only 1 Bad Day (or Working Hard In 75% Of My Workouts)
I usually have very clear good weeks and bad weeks with my workouts. They tend to be predictable even if I don’t know exactly when things are going to be good or bad. And whenever there is something I’m not prepared for or expecting, it can throw me off quite a bit. And I had that this week, but fortunately, it only affected one out of my four workouts.
On Monday, I didn’t work out at my normal time. Since I had the day off, I was able to work out a little bit later. It was nice to have the extra time in the morning, although I didn’t sleep in any later since my body is really starting to get used to the new wake-up time. And working out later may have been the issue that ended up cursing me during the workout.
Normally, I don’t take most of my morning medications before my workout. They can make me feel a bit nauseous, so I take them once I get home. But I thought I had enough time to take them and make sure I felt ok, so I took my meds before my workout. And I felt fine going to class. Famous last words.
We had 4 blocks for cardio. Blocks 1 and 3 were almost the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. In blocks 1 and 3, we had rounds of all-outs with walking recoveries. All of the all-outs were 30 seconds and the recoveries varied from 1-minute to 30-seconds. And in blocks 2 and 4, we were on the rowers. We started with a squat hold for as long as we could do it. Once we couldn’t hold a squat, we had rounds of 30-seconds on the rower followed by lunges.
Overall, this should have been a great workout and nothing too crazy. But in block 3, I knew that my medication was hitting me and I was going to be sick. In all the times I’ve been nauseous in class, I have never left class because I needed to throw up. I have left to take medication to make sure I don’t throw up, but I joke that my body knows when I’m working out and won’t let me get sick there. But I guess medicated nausea is different from hormonal nausea. I jumped off the bike and ran to the bathroom to be sick. It wasn’t pleasant at all, but I guess I’m lucky that I’m used to this so I was able to get over it and get back to the workout. I did make sure I took some time to drink water and let my body settle before pushing myself again. But I had to go easy the rest of the workout because I was scared it would happen again.
So on the floor, I was going very easy because I was worried. And I did modifications that I normally do when I’m nauseous. Even though I was feeling better after I left the bathroom, I was still scared it would hit me again. For the floor, both blocks 1 and 3 started with 1 minute of burpees and 30 seconds of a plank. I did the burpees modified with the bench but I ended up being ok with the plank. The first block also had full thrusters with weights and hop overs (which I did as lunges) and the third block also had sumo squats with froggers and hop overs (which I did at the end of the bench as little side to side hops). In blocks 2 and 4, we had a lot of core work. Block 2 had mountain climbers and sit-ups and block 4 and plank kick throughs and crunches. Fortunately, I never got sick again during class. But I am still surprised that it happened at all since I have avoided that for so long.
And by Wednesday’s workout, I was back to my normal schedule (so no medications before class and no nausea). We had an endurance day and it was a good one that had a lot of rowing considering it was a 2 group class.
We had 2 blocks for cardio and the first block was all rowing. We set the rowers for 11 minutes and we had 4 rounds of 2-minute rows. Between each row, we had recovery time with front and back shuffles. After completing all the front and back shuffles, we were back on the rowers doing recovery row strokes until the next 2-minute row. I’m proud of myself for getting at least 400-meters for each of the rows and I’m so glad that my foot is finally feeling better so I can put more pressure on it when I row. And the second block was on the treadmills and bike. We had intervals of push paces and base paces. All of the base paces were 1-minute and the push paces started at 2-minutes and went down 30-seconds each round, ending with a 30-second all-out. It was a great bike block for me and I was able to get my pedaling speed up quite a bit during the push paces.
On the floor, we also had 2 blocks. The first block had 2 mini-blocks and we were supposed to do the first mini-block for 3 rounds before moving on to the second. The first block had speed squats, hip hinge swings with weights, and high rows to low rows on the straps as the first mini-block. And speed skaters, plank work, and alternating superman for the second mini-block. And the second block was a regular block with alligators on the straps, lateral lunges with upright rows, hip hinge reverse grip low rows, and side plank pendulums. I had a bit of trouble with the pendulums, but I took my time and got through them without needing to take too many breaks.
Friday was a power day and it was all about exploding motions on the floor. I’m not that great at those exercises since I am so careful with balance, but I was happy to challenge myself. And it gave me a great chance to work on my rowing.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. Each block had rounds of push paces to all-outs. The first block had 2-minute pushes, the second block had 1-minute pushes, and the last block had 30-second pushes. The all-outs were always 30-seconds long. Even with the 2-minute push paces, the time before we had some recovery was pretty short so I was able to pedal pretty fast. I still want to get the watts on the bike higher, and right now I only notice that when I’m increasing the resistance level. But I want to see if I can do that just from my power as well.
On the floor, we also had 3 blocks. And every block started with rowing work. We had a push pace stroke drill, 100-meter row, stroke drill for recovery, another push pace stroke drill, and ended with another 100-meter row. Even though it wasn’t a lot of rowing, I was getting tired at the end of the rowing work so I know I didn’t have my fastest 100-meter rows. But I was still happy with what I got done in each block. After the rowing, each block had 2 exercises that were connected. One exercise was doing the motion but a little more stable and the second was the same motion with more explosive action. The combinations were chest press with weights/power push-ups, goblet lunges/jumping lunges (I modified the second to be regular lunges), and double crunch with weights/power sit-ups. The last block was exceptional hard for me with it just being core work, but overall they were awesome exercises.
And as things continue to change for the re-opening, the classes I take change too. I thought I would get to still have a 3 group class on Saturdays, but now all my classes will be 2 groups. Some of my morning ones might eventually go back to 3 groups, but I don’t think that will be soon if it happens. And since this class was 2 groups, it allowed it to be a run/row day.
The run/row for cardio was one long block. We started on cardio with a 30-second all-out with the incline or resistance level set to be 4% higher than a base level. Then we had 30 seconds to recover before going back to the all-out but holding it as long as we could. Then it was another 30 seconds to recover before one last all-out as long as we could go. And every time we got back on the treadmill or bike, the incline or resistance level went down by 1%. And on the rower, we had 3 rounds of 10 strokes at an all-out pace followed by 5 strokes to recover. Even though I was doing recovery during my row, I was surprised to see how far my distance was getting on the rower. I was close to some of my old PR times for 300-meter rows! When I do those PRs, I usually just go all-out the entire time, but I know I get tired. It was interesting to see that I could do almost the same thing with the recovery in there so I didn’t get as tired.
And on the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first 2 blocks had a similar pattern for the first exercise. We did the exercise 3 times in a row. The first time was for 5 reps and then we had a 10-second rest. Then the next two rounds we did as many reps as we could with a 10-second rest between. So I had a range with how many I was able to do. In the first block, we did that with seated low rows. And in the second block we did that with chest presses with weights. The first block also had scaptions and the second block also had hip hinge reverse fly with weights. The last block was a bit more of the usual thing with the reps being set. We started with 14 reps and decreased by 2 each round. For that block, we had bicep curls and tricep extensions.
Even though my workout on Monday started off my week on a bit of a bad note, I’m so grateful that none of my other workouts were affected by it. I was able to push myself really hard and ignore the one bad workout. And I hope that if I have any bad days this week, I can do the same thing!
Posted onJuly 9, 2021|Comments Off on Almost Forgot My Hip Surgery Anniversary Again (or 15 Years Down)
Every year since my hip surgery, I try to remember to celebrate the anniversary of my surgery. The first few years were a little less celebratory because I was still worried that each year that passed meant I was one year closer to the next surgery that was supposed to be necessary soon. But once I surpassed what my hip surgeon predicted I started to celebrate more and more and I didn’t worry about when the next surgeries would be. Even though I know I will still need a few more surgeries, they don’t seem like they are looming over my head as something I will need to do soon.
I rarely forget my hip surgery anniversary, but it does happen sometimes. And this year was one year that I almost forgot. I didn’t remember it until the day was half over and I realized what the day was. And this was a big anniversary because it marks 15 years since I had my hip surgery!
Almost forgetting about my surgery anniversary is a sign that this isn’t as big of a deal in my life as it used to be. But I don’t think I will ever stop thinking about each year being something to be excited about. And 15 years is a big one. In a few years, my hip surgery will be half a lifetime ago for me! But for now, it is a significant chunk of my life ago. And just like any other surgery anniversary, I’m still impressed by how much I have been able to do since surgery.
I’m so happy that I don’t have to deal with as much pain as I had in the past. I do still have pain every day, but most of the time I don’t have to take anything to deal with it from day to day. Compare that to before my surgery when I was maxed out on 2 different painkillers and still in intense pain. Even though I do have to take a painkiller when things get really bad, those moments are rare and I’m not taking something regularly. Sometimes, I can even go several weeks without needing a painkiller. That would have been impossible to think about before my surgery.
I have accomplished so much that I was told may not be possible after having surgery. I know that sometimes I take a few more risks than I should, but I also have decided to not live in as much fear as I used to. I don’t do the things I was warned about the most, such as things that are real fall risks for me, but I do take chances with things that I was told aren’t the best for me to do but also not super dangerous. And this has allowed me to live life a lot fuller than I thought I would be able to.
I do still spend time every day to make sure that I’m taking care of both the hip that was operated on and the other side which will likely be the next surgery. I stretch almost every day (I’m working on being better about doing it every day). I use foam roller balls to help with my muscles since I depend on them to help support my hip joint. I try to move around during the day when I can so I don’t get too stiff. And I make sure that any shoes I get won’t be too hard on my hips. This means I can’t always wear the shoes I want to and I have to be a bit more practical at times, but after dealing with several days of pain from wearing unsupportive shoes, I know that is something important.
With all the issues I have regarding my health and body, I don’t have a ton I celebrate. But this is one that I should celebrate and be proud of. My hips have been able to do things that I didn’t think I could do. Even with all the medical issues and things I was warned about, somehow my body has overcome that and I haven’t had to focus too much on the negative over the past 15 years.
Posted onJuly 8, 2021|Comments Off on An Unexpected Family Visit (or Making Plans, Canceling Them, And Making Plans Again)
Like I said yesterday, the end of my 3 day weekend ended up being a bit unexpected. But that’s actually not the full story. It was something I had planned for, then had to cancel, and then was able to do again.
A month or two ago, my parents mentioned to me that they would be coming down to Santa Barbara to be with my brother and his family and they wanted to see if I could come up to visit. And I thought at first that it would work out perfectly because I had Monday off of work. If I didn’t have that day off, it would have been difficult to go because I would have left after work and would be driving in rush hour traffic. So I said I’d see them on my day off and thought that was that. But it turned out, I misunderstood some information and my parents were not going to be in Santa Barbara until later that day and I didn’t want to have to drive home in traffic after the holiday weekend. So I had to tell them that I didn’t think I would make it. But I knew I’d be seeing them in September so I was ok.
Then on Monday morning, I called my dad after my workout to tell him something random and my parents mentioned they were already driving down and about halfway to Santa Barbara! I wasn’t expecting them to leave until later, so I mentioned to them that if they were going to have the afternoon free, I could come up and see everyone for a bit. I knew it wouldn’t be that long of a visit because I would still want to leave before the traffic got really bad, but seeing my family for a few hours would be better than not seeing them at all. So my parents confirmed with my brother and sister-in-law that they would be hanging around their house in the afternoon and I quickly went home to shower and change after my workout. I was able to start my drive only about an hour after I talked to my parents and fortunately the traffic wasn’t too bad. I made it to Santa Barbara in just over 2 hours instead of the 90 minutes it usually takes me.
I didn’t take any photos while I was there since we were more focused on just being together as a family for the few hours I was able to be there. It had been 3 months since I had seen my niece and nephew and they both grew so much! Rory wasn’t walking when I was there last time and now he’s walking all over the place and almost running! And Presley was a newborn when I was there and she spent almost the entire time asleep. Now she looks much more like a baby, has a ton of hair, and was awake and alert. It’s crazy to see how much they both grew when it seems like I was just there.
It was also nice to just get to relax and talk with my family. Even though we are connected all the time either via text or on the phone, it’s always better to be together in person. Just like with my niece and nephew, it had been 3 months since I had seen my parents in person. I had a few things for them that I was going to save until September, but I was able to bring them with me (my parents have stuff for me too, but since they were already driving when we figured out I’d see them, that stuff will have to wait a few more months). Nothing was urgent to get to them, but it’s always nice to be able to give them things I was holding onto.
I was only in Santa Barbara for a little over 2 hours before I headed home. Traffic was not horrible and I knew it was going to get worse, plus my niece and nephew were about to take naps. So it seemed like a natural time for me to say goodbye and start my drive home.
It’s crazy how it all worked out this week. Even though I would have been ok not seeing my family, it made my weekend that much better that I got to be with them. And I am just so grateful that it all worked out perfectly and I had the time to drive up and back without too much stress.
Posted onJuly 7, 2021|Comments Off on Finally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July)
My 4th of July in 2020 was so unusual for me. I normally am with my friends, and last year we couldn’t do it. I think we had all hoped that life would be normal by then (I miss how innocent we all were when we thought the pandemic could be over by then), but there was no safe way for us to be together. And as much as I missed everyone, I’m glad we were able to be safe and make sure nobody got sick. I think I’m pretty lucky with my friend group. So many of us were at higher risk and very few people got sick. But I know that’s because we were taking so many precautions.
And even though things are better this year, I think we all agreed that having a big hangout wasn’t the right choice. As much as I would have loved going to a big party, I’m glad I didn’t have to turn it down because it would have been hard to not see my friends and celebrate with everyone. I know most of us are vaccinated, but not everyone has been (such as the kids of my friends), so we are just going to have to be safer for a bit longer. But that just means when we are all finally together again for a big party, we will be celebrating even more. I’m trying to be hopeful for Halloween this year.
Since I wasn’t going to go to my usual big party again this year on the 4th, I had to figure out what to do. And this year, I didn’t really do anything on the 4th. I had a few things I had to do around my house, but I took advantage of having a day off and just relaxing. I needed that little break and I didn’t even go out to watch fireworks. I had gotten comfortable at home and didn’t feel like leaving to deal with crowds (especially when I can’t trust everyone will be either vaccinated or wearing a mask). So the actual 4th was a bit of a bust compared to the past, but that was ok because I had my little celebration on the 3rd instead.
I was able to join some friends for a small gathering at their house. We were outside almost the entire time, everyone attending has been vaccinated for at least a month, and we were all people who do take other precautions when we are out in public. While staying home alone is probably the safest option, this was one of the safest ways I could see some of my friends.
This was actually the largest group of friends I had been able to see since the pandemic started. And I was afraid I’d be crying in happiness to see everyone, especially since I hadn’t seen any of them since the beginning of 2020. But I managed to hold it together and I was able to enjoy a night that felt so normal to me.
I don’t really have photos from that night because we were all focused on spending time together. Seeing friends on a screen is so different from seeing each other in person. And taking photos would have taken away from the in-person time we had together. So while I wish I had some photos of celebrating seeing my friends again, I’m just so happy that I got to see them and spend time reconnecting with people who I have missed for so long!
I know that I am lucky that I was able to see some of my friends and feel safe. Not everyone has friends who have been vaccinated or able to feel this safe around others. And it has taken a long time for things to get to this point with me and my friends. But I am hoping that this is just the beginning of my in-person hangouts with more and more people as things are a bit safer for those of us who have had the vaccine. I wish things would just be normal again and we didn’t have to worry about this, but I know that we are getting there and soon it won’t be a worry. We’ve made it this long, we can keep being careful for a little bit longer.
And yes, I know we had a 3 day weekend for the 4th of July. I’ll be sharing the unexpected thing I got to do on Monday in tomorrow’s post!
Posted onJuly 6, 2021|Comments Off on A New Year Starting Mid-Year (or I Forgot This Was Coming Up)
I don’t know if it’s that this year still feels weird or time flies by and I don’t think about it too much, but there are some things that I seem to just be forgetting about this year that I should have been expecting. It’s not bad, but it’s funny when it happens because I’m surprised and know I shouldn’t be. And I had that happen last week with one of my day jobs.
My day job where I do data entry work is on an annual contract, and I keep getting either new contracts or extensions. Every time a contract ends, I do have a little fear that I won’t get a new one, but that hasn’t really happened. I have had gaps where I was waiting on a new contract, but I know one is coming and it’s just a matter of time before it’s settled. And for the most part, my contracts run from July to June. But whenever a contract is ending mid-year, I seem to forget about it coming up.
And that’s exactly what happened last week. I was submitting my June invoice (this job pays me once a month and I have to invoice my hours to get paid). After submitting it, my boss thanked me and reminded me that was my last day of my contract and I didn’t have a new one just yet. I did panic a bit because I know I’m fine without that job but it’s a struggle. But my boss then asked if we could have a call at the end of the week to discuss what’s next.
I tried to stay positive and not worry about things, but the few days between knowing my contract ended and my meeting happening were a little stressful. Fortunately, my stress was for nothing because the meeting went well.
First the good stuff, I will be getting another contract and hopefully it will be ready for me to approve and sign within a week. It will be backdated to the 1st, so I’m able to work now and invoice it for the end of the month. And my job will be switching up a bit and focusing more on social media where I will have the chance to be creative and add some fun to things. I also might be getting trained on a new part of the job doing more website maintenance and QA type stuff. That will possibly come a bit later since I will need to be trained on a different section of the backend of the website than I’ve ever used. But I do like to learn new things and I think this will be a job I’m good at!
For the not so great news, my contract for now will only be until the end of 2021. This is not about me but because the funding for the service is only approved so far through 2021. They will probably get the rest of the government funding and then my contract will be extended through June like normal, but that’s not a guarantee (but I feel like it’s very certain). And I won’t be doing my event data entry work anymore. The site was glitching a lot and we discovered that several weeks of my work was gone. I was upset to hear that because I didn’t want them to think I wasn’t working. But I wasn’t the only one experiencing the issues, so the way events will be posted is probably going to change. We discussed some ideas in my meeting, but I’m not sure how involved in that process I’ll be moving forward. And maybe when the site is less glitchy, I’ll go back to that work. But it does feel odd to not be doing something that has been a part of my job since they hired me.
I’m not sure yet how many hours a week I’ll have, but even if it’s only 5 hours a week (so 1 a day), that will help me with my budgeting and making sure I don’t have to start only paying part of my credit card. And I do enjoy the work and the people I work with, so I’m glad that will continue. While I do like my other jobs where I don’t have to worry each year if I’ll get a new contract, if this is the worst part of the job I think I’m a pretty lucky person!
Posted onJuly 5, 2021|Comments Off on Working Out With New Pain (or I Just Never Make It Easy On Myself)
Just after getting over a week of bad nausea and pain, I was ready for this past week of workouts to be much more like my usual self and I was happy to be able to push myself again. I hate when I have to go easy on myself and I’m always grateful when I can go really hard in my workouts again. This has always been true, but I think it’s even more true since going back to my workouts after the shutdown. But just like anything I am planning on, things didn’t go the way I planned this past week.
Monday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power. I was feeling normal again so I was ready to push myself in class and see what I could do for each section. I’ve been playing around more with what I can do on the bike, and it’s been tough to push myself enough without overdoing it. But I’m starting to get better.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks. All of the blocks had progressive hills for 3 minutes. The first block was increasing, the second block was decreasing, and the last block was our choice to increase or decrease (I went with decreasing). I didn’t know we had these hills when starting the workout, so I started the class with a slightly higher resistance level for my base to see if I could do it. And I might have been ok without the hills, but when we were increasing the resistance levels, they started to get too high and I had to go back to my normal base level. But the hills were good and I’m glad I did try pushing myself more.
On the floor, we also had 3 blocks and every block started with a 200-meter row. After the row, we had 3 exercises on the floor. The first block had chest presses with the straps, chest presses with weights, and push-ups. The second block had low rows with the straps, low rows with weights, and seated low rows with weights. And the last block had 3 types of sit-ups that I had to modify a lot to be ok for my hips. The idea with each block was to burn out a specific muscle group, and I really felt that! I was sore in the best way at the end of each block.
Wednesday’s workout should have been another day I was feeling amazing, but I had my appointment with my dermatologist on Tuesday afternoon and didn’t think about how sore my foot would be after having something frozen on it. I was struggling to put my heel on the ground and I knew I would have to modify a lot in this workout. I did give my coach a heads up since I didn’t want him to worry if he saw me limping. And I’m glad I told him because there were a lot of things I had to work through.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had intervals of push paces, base paces, and incline work. And the second block had short intervals of base paces at inclines followed by an all-out. I thought I’d be ok on the bike since my heel wouldn’t be pressing down on the pedal, but the way my foot moves and stretches while pedaling got very painful. I had to take random breaks to take my foot out of the pedal to stretch a bit and let the pain subside. But I’m so used to so many types of pain, so this was just one more type I had to work through.
On the floor, the first block had single-arm low rows, lunges, in and outs, hollow hold chest presses, and burpees. I had to modify things to work with not putting my heel down, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been (like if we had a ton of squats). And the second block was timed with the treadmills and we had rounds of single-arm shoulder presses and 30-seconds of rowing. The rowing was very difficult since you have to press your heel into the footplate to be efficient at rowing. I couldn’t do that so my rowing was a bit weak.
My foot was feeling a bit better for Friday’s workout, but I was still sore and having to modify things. But I was glad I was doing better and that I could do a bit more.
The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and each of the cardio blocks represented one of them. The first block was endurance-based and it was rounds of 1-minute intervals of base paces and push paces with an all-out at the end. The second block was strength-based and it was 1-minute intervals with flat base paces and base paces with incline/high resistance levels. And the last block was power-based and we had 1-minute intervals of all-outs and recoveries. I wasn’t able to pedal perfectly, but it was much better than what I could do on Wednesday and my heel wasn’t hurting quite as bad.
And on the floor, every block started with a row. This was still a struggle for me, so I didn’t worry too much about how long it took me to do each row. The first block had a 600-meter row, the second block had a 300-meter row, and the last block had a 150-meter row. After the rowing, the first block was all mini-band work with forward walks, suitcase squats, and torso rotations. The second block had goblet squats, sumo squats with front raises, and bird dogs. And the last block had bench sit-ups to squats, lunges, and mountain climbers. It was a lot of squats and other things that I had to keep my heels on the ground, so that was tough. But I took the breaks I needed to when the pain got bad and just picked back up when I could. The one thing that did help was knowing the pain was not because I was harming myself. When I have hip pain, it can be because my bones are hitting, which is not good at all. But this pain was just soreness, so pushing through it wasn’t the worst decision.
Saturday’s workout was my only 3 group class of the week (I do wish I had 2 of each type, but I’m glad I have a little variety) and it was an endurance day. I was still dealing with a little pain, but I knew it was significantly better and I needed that since I was going to have a lot of rowing in class.
For cardio, we started with a 2 1/2-minute push pace followed by a 1-minute base pace. Then we had a 75-second push pace with a 1-minute base pace. We repeated that again and then ended with one more 2 1/2-minute push but we were supposed to try to end with as close to an all-out as we could. I got really tired during this since we had no real recovery time. But I also wanted to make my best effort so I could know I pushed myself a lot. I still took a few breaks (to drink water and to let my foot rest), but I know this was the best I had on the bike in a while.
For rowing, we timed things a bit with cardio. When cardio had their 2 1/2-minute push, we had a 2 1/2 minute row. When they had their base, we had a rest. And when they were doing their 75-second push pace, we had lateral hops, front and back hops, and squat jumps. I had to modify the hops and squat because I couldn’t land on my heel too hard. So I did lighten the hops a bit and I did squats with calf raises and didn’t go too deep in my squats.
And on the floor, the blocks matched cardio and rowing. In the longer segments, we weren’t timed but just had regular blocks. The first longer block had shoulder presses and hip hinge low rows. The second longer block had bicep curls and push-ups. And the last longer block had a bear hold until fatigue and then a squat hold until fatigue. For the shorter blocks, we had timed core work with hip raises, bicycles, and toe touches. I did modify those since my hips don’t like hip raises, but I did try to keep moving the entire time and my muscles were burning by the end of each block!
While it was annoying to have 2 weeks with pain back to back, but just like the week before, I’m glad this week had 1 really bad day and then it was getting better each day. I think my foot is finally better now, but I know I might still have some extra soreness for a few more days. But I am hoping that I can keep pushing myself more this week and finally have a week with minimal pain!
8 Years In (or Another Blog Anniversary)
