Monthly Archives: September 2021

More Serious Condo Hunting (or Being Real About What I Want)

Posted on September 16, 2021 | Comments Off on More Serious Condo Hunting (or Being Real About What I Want)

I’ve been casually looking at condos around LA for several years now. A friend of mine from Orangetheory is a realtor and I’ve been working with him since I started looking. But most of the time, that just involved me looking to see what’s available and occasionally going to open houses. Several years ago when my parents were in town, we did so a slightly more serious look at what is out there, but we didn’t find anything that was right and there wasn’t a need to really look harder at that time.

But now, things are a little different. I’m not being kicked out of my current place just yet (it hasn’t sold, but I don’t know when it will sell), but I know that I will need a new place in the near future and now I’m really looking. Before it was more about seeing what was out there and if there was something good then my parents and I would discuss it. Now, it is more about finding the right place for me and looking until we find it. I’ve never felt this type of pressure to make sure we find a place, but I am grateful that there isn’t a serious time crunch so I don’t have to feel rushed into anything.

When my parents were here recently, we looked at 6 places in person. Since then, I’ve looked at 3 more on my own. And I don’t want to complain because I know how lucky I am to be in this situation and that I know I will find something that is right, but it has been tough seeing so many places that might be 80% right but something is off. And if I was looking for just a new apartment, I might let some of those things slide. But because this will be something purchased, I don’t want to buy a place (or have my parents and I buy a place) that I’m not sure about.

Ever since I started looking at condos, I’ve had a list of things that were must-haves and nice-to-haves. I’ve kept my must-haves to a pretty small list. Besides the obvious one of being within budget, the only other things on my list were having a washer/dryer (or ability to have my own washer/dryer) and off-street parking. That’s it. On the list of things that would be nice, I had other things like an outdoor space (like a balcony), a gas stove, a dishwasher, and other things that I didn’t feel like I needed but would be cool if a new place had.

Not a lot has changed on my personal list now that we are looking more seriously, but my parents did add things to the list that are on the must-have list. All of them are things that I think are great, but I didn’t put them on my list when I wasn’t looking as much as I am now. Now that this feels a bit more real and happening soon, I think we all had to figure out some real things we needed to make sure my realtor knew about so we could find the right place.

And as I’ve been looking more and more, I’m also learning more about what I really want to find. When I first found out my current place was for sale, I talked to my parents about getting more serious about a condo hunt and mentioned that I might be ok letting go of having a washer/dryer so we could find a place. So when we looked at 6 places together, not all of them had laundry in the condo. But as we looked at more of them, I had to admit that the washer/dryer was more important to me than I thought. I think part of this was also due to seeing the lack of price difference between places that had the laundry and the places that didn’t. So why not get something I want if the price is almost the same. And I’m also realizing that location is more important to me than I thought. When you are looking online, things that might be a bit further away aren’t a big deal. But when you start thinking about driving to things you go to now, it’s made me think more about where I would want to live. I have always said I wanted to stay in my neighborhood, but I was willing to look outside of my neighborhood in other parts of West LA. But now, I really feel more strongly about staying where I am. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of inventory where I live, but as they come on the market my realtor lets me know about them and I can decide if I want to see them.

I’ve been a bit overwhelmed and anxious about all of this because for so long the idea of getting a condo seemed so far from me and something that would happen in the future one day. But now, that day is going to be soon and it’s real. But I know I will be more excited about it when I find the right place. I know that I won’t find the perfect place, but I want to find a place that feels right. And once that part is figured out, then I can probably enjoy the idea of moving and celebrating everything that comes with that.

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Preparing For A Virtual Convention (or My First Task For This Delegate Term)

Posted on September 15, 2021 | Comments Off on Preparing For A Virtual Convention (or My First Task For This Delegate Term)

The time between the union election and Convention is not very long. This is the way it is set in our union constitution, so it’s something we know to expect each time. But even though we know it will be a very condensed time frame, it always seems to be a bit of a surprise too. And in that short time, there is a lot to get done before the start of the Convention and I always try to participate however I can.

One of the big things that happens at the Convention is voting on resolutions that delegates propose. These resolutions can be about so many different things. Some are about changes we want to see in different policies. Some are about having recognition for different things that have happened in the past year or two. There can be hundreds of resolutions and each one that is able to be discussed at Convention is debated (some of them have issues such as not being able to be done by the union for legal reasons or not having enough endorsements to be voted on). And part of the prep for Convention usually involves an event for the LA delegates to discuss resolutions and try to get support from others.

This is something that is normally done at the union and in-person, but like so much over the past year and a half, this was being done virtually. And it was a good way to get ready for Convention because that will be done virtually too! I am a little sad that we won’t be in person because I love getting to meet delegates from all over the country, but at least we will be able to meet virtually. But that will be a much bigger meeting than the resolutions meeting I had earlier this week. So this was a good way to ease into what it will possibly be like next month when delegates from all over the country come together for a virtual convention.

We will have a Convention orientation coming up, so this meeting was completely focused on the resolutions. Each person had a chance to speak about their resolution and why they felt like it was important. Because there were so many resolutions, each time you were limited to a short amount of time to discuss things. And if you submitted multiple resolutions, you could only talk about them one at a time.

I’ve never written a resolution myself, but that doesn’t mean I don’t care about them. I just haven’t had something I felt passionately enough to want to present to everyone. But I love hearing what other people come up with. And this year, I was given a chance to be listed as a co-author on a resolution that I think is a great one! The resolution I’m listed on is about having a way to designate another address you might want your union ballot to be mailed to because some people miss out on voting because their ballots were mailed to a business manager or someone else who gets their union mail. But because ballots are different than things like union dues bills, some people might want to have a ballot mailed to their home even though they normally mail everything to someone else. I think it’s a great idea and a way to help make sure more members vote. So I was very happy to be listed as a co-author.

And because I was a co-author, I also had the chance to present it at the meeting.  The person who wrote the resolution had others that they wrote, so I offered to discuss this one so they didn’t have to do all of theirs. I hate speaking in front of a group, but this was easier since I was just speaking to my screen and I couldn’t tell how many people were watching me. And it seemed that a lot of people who were watching agreed that this was a good resolution and hopefully they will be endorsing it. There is still a bit of time before the cutoff for endorsements, so I’m just going to stay hopeful.

Over the 2 hour meeting, we got to hear about a lot of the resolutions that LA delegates have proposed. It was good to hear more about them than just what we can read online so we understand why someone felt passionate about it. After the meeting was done, I went back to make sure I endorsed the resolutions I liked so they could hopefully get enough support to be brought up at Convention in a month. I do feel like it is important for me to take this process seriously since it’s one of the few responsibilities I have as a delegate. And I think I feel even more strongly about that as things are being done virtually and not in person. I want this Convention to feel just as important and productive as the past ones I’ve been a part of.

I only have a few more things to do before Convention is here. It’s crazy that it’s almost here, but I’m so excited about it coming up!

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Another 20 Year Mark (or Some Thoughts On The Idea Of #NeverForget)

Posted on September 14, 2021 | Comments Off on Another 20 Year Mark (or Some Thoughts On The Idea Of #NeverForget)

This past weekend marked 20 years since 9/11. I’ve written before about what 9/11 was like for me. It was the beginning of college and I was asleep during most of the attack. I was woken up and told if I had family on the east coast they might all be dead. I’m very lucky that all of my family was safe, but that day marked the end of one part of my life and the start of another. I thought going to college was how I would think of my time growing up versus my time as an adult. But it was the 9/11 attacks. That marks the end of the innocence of growing up for me and so many people.

In some ways, it feels like it was a lifetime ago. In other ways, it feels like I was just learning the news and that very little time has passed. But as each year passed, it seemed like things were being remembered differently. And this year, I heard a lot of people talking about how the idea of #NeverForget has been lost in the recent past. At first, I didn’t understand it because it seemed like there was so much in the news and online about how it’s been 20 years. And then I saw someone in a video explain it in a way that really hit me.

There was so much loss on 9/11, but there were also so many acts of heroism. So many people ran into buildings to try to save others only to lose their lives. People came together to do whatever they could to help people and didn’t hesitate about it. And the passengers on Flight 93 voted and decided to do whatever it took to make sure that no other buildings were hit.

Those passengers knew through phone calls with others on the ground about what had happened in New York and DC. They knew the plane was going to be used as another target and it was suspected at the time that it would be either the White House or the Capitol. And they voted and made the decision that they would not let that happen, even if that meant crashing the plane into the ground. From what some of the phone call records say, it does look like they were hoping they would be able to land the plane. But I also think they knew that it would be difficult to land and their main goal was to protect democracy by protecting the buildings. And they made the ultimate sacrifice to do just that.

While I knew what those passengers did was heroic and that they saved so many people, I never thought about the idea of saving democracy as a part of what they did. And after this past January with such a severe attack on democracy, I wonder how many other people remember what the passengers on Flight 93 sacrificed their lives for. And that’s the exact same thing this person online said too. If we are saying to #NeverForget, shouldn’t we also remember and respect what those passengers gave their lives to save for the rest of us? Shouldn’t we think about how they did whatever it took to save other Americans and shouldn’t we honor their lives by doing the same instead of complaining about wearing masks and getting vaccines? How are we remembering and honoring them if we are not honoring what they saved?

I really never thought about it that way, but it’s so true. So many ordinary people did extraordinary things in order to preserve what we have built this country upon. They knew the power of what they were trying to save and how coming together that they could do something that seemed impossible. And right now, it feels like so many in this country are doing the opposite. And to me, that feels like we are forgetting and not remembering.

I thought a lot about this idea on the anniversary of 9/11. I thought of what we should be doing to remember the heroes and the lives lost that day. I wish that we would be acting more like how this country was acting 20 years ago when we came together and did what we had to do to protect each other. I wish that we weren’t as divided as a country right now when we know we can be unified. I wish that more people thought about how to make sure we remember what that day meant and not just what happened. I am guilty of not remembering what it meant. While I have never forgotten that day 20 years ago, I don’t know if I really remembered it either. But I made sure to do that this year and I will work hard to do that from now on.

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Having Good Workouts While Feeling Awful (or At Least I Had Some Distractions)

Posted on September 13, 2021 | Comments Off on Having Good Workouts While Feeling Awful (or At Least I Had Some Distractions)

I knew that this past week of workouts was likely to be tough for me because I would be feeling pain and nausea through most of them. I can’t predict the exact day I would feel horrible, but it was almost a guarantee that it would happen at some point this past week. So I tried to hope for the best before the week started. But I also had some good distractions that helped me when I wasn’t feeling great.

Monday’s workout was a special one for me because my dad was able to come work out with me! We hadn’t worked out together in almost 2 years, and I’m so glad that we were able to do so when my parents were visiting me this time. Also, since it was a holiday I did a slightly later class than I’m used to, so I didn’t have the usual people in class with me. But that’s ok because my dad and I still got a great workout in together.

The workout was a power-based class and the cardio section had 10 all-outs! We had 4 blocks and blocks 1 and 3 were the same and blocks 2 and 4 were the same. For blocks 1 and 3, we had 2 rounds of 1-minute push paces and 1-minute base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. And for blocks 2 and 4, we had rounds of 30-second all-outs with walking recovery after each one. I was on the bike while my dad was on the treadmill, so we weren’t exactly next to each other during cardio. But that just allowed us to both focus on doing the best we could in the cardio blocks.

On the floor, we had 3 blocks on the floor and then 1 block on the rower. Each floor block had 2 exercises. We had single-arm full thrusters with rotations and supermans, split stance high rows and plank punches, and sumo squats and mountain climbers. And on the rower, we matched the final cardio block with rounds of 30-second all-out rows with recovery between each all-out.

And of course, my dad and I had to celebrate working out together with a photo with our coach!

Wednesday’s workout was a bit of a struggle for me. I was really starting to deal with some serious pain and nausea that day. And I found out when I got to the workout that it was also the 2000-meter row benchmark class. I had thought the benchmark was a day I had off, so I wasn’t expecting to do it. It’s the hardest benchmark and we had done it recently, but because the Dri-Tri is coming up we had it again to prep for that.

I started on cardio, which was really more of a floor block. We had a short push pace before going to the floor where we had sumo deadlifts, alligators on the straps, palms to elbows (which I skipped due to my nausea), and sit-ups. It was an easier block than normal because we were supposed to use that time almost like an extended warm-up for the row.

When we got to the rower, I knew I wasn’t going to do a great job. I didn’t have much of a plan for what I wanted to do because I really didn’t know how I would feel. I knew I’d get it done, but I also knew that it was very possible that it would be my worst time ever. So I just rowed when I could and took breaks when I needed to. It was a little frustrating when I didn’t really want to take a break but I was either having a severe cramp or my nausea was really extreme and I knew I needed to. But I just kept going and I did have a very slow time in the end. But I did get it done and after class I also took a photo with the brag board because I wanted to celebrate doing the 2000-meter row when I was feeling so awful.

After the benchmark, we were back on the floor where we had upright rows to lateral lunges (which I did as 2 different moves), tricep extensions on the straps, and side plank work. And we ended on cardio for the last block where we had 1-minute intervals of push pace and base pace before doing a 1-minute all out to end the class.

Friday’s workout was a power day, and I was feeling truly awful. I knew going into the class that it was going to be a day where I just did whatever I could and not stress out too much about what I was doing or how my effort compared to my normal days. We had 3 blocks for cardio that all had push paces to all-outs. Every block had 30-second all-outs and the push paces got shorter each block. I did the first block with the resistance levels on the bike that I normally use, but it was getting too hard for me to keep going so I just kept it at my base pace level and tried to do what I could with pedaling faster.

On the floor, we mainly focused on rowing. Every block started with rowing before moving to the floor. We had 2 rounds of stroke drills where you go back really hard with each stroke and try to let the water settle between strokes and 100-meter row sprints. The stroke drills started with 15 strokes and went down each block. After the rowing we had 2 exercises each block on the floor. We had goblet squats and squat jumps (which I did as squats with calf raises), reverse lunges and jump lunges (which I did as regular lunges for the entire time), and double crunches and sit-ups. I really did try my best during the entire class and I know that if I had gone much harder that I probably would have felt even worse than I already did. But I was annoyed how horrible I was feeling since it’s never fun to feel rotten when working out.

While I wasn’t feeling much better on Saturday, I was doing a little better than I was on Friday. But I knew this meant another class where I just had to do what I could and not stress too much about it. The workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and I used a few different methods to make sure I didn’t make myself feel worse.

For cardio, each of the 3 blocks had a different focus. The first block was the endurance block and we had push pace to base pace intervals. All the base paces were 45-seconds and the push paces ranged from 30-seconds to 2-minutes and we had an all-out at the end. For this block, I did use the resistance levels for the push paces and all-out. The second block was the strength block and we had intervals of either 30-seconds on a hill or 1-minute at a flat road. Again, I was using the resistance levels on the bike to do the hills. And the final block was the power block and we had 30-second all-outs with recovery time after. But for this block, I was really really nauseous so I didn’t use the resistance levels at all and just tried to pedal faster for the all-outs.

We also had 3 blocks on the floor. For the first and second block, we started with rowing and I just rowed at a slow and steady pace to make sure I didn’t make myself feel worse. In the first block, we had all strap work. We did chest presses, Y raises, and back reaches. And in the second block it was all weight work with close grip chest presses, low rows, and squats with shoulder presses. For all of these exercises, I was able to do them without modifying them. The last block was timed with the treadmills and we did pop jacks when the treadmills were in their all-outs and squats when they were recovering. I used the bench to modify my pop jacks and I had to take a lot of breaks during this block to breathe through either pain or nausea. But I did at least a few reps each time.

I’m hoping that this week I will be feeling better soon. I say this each month, but it’s so tough on me when I’m feeling like this because I hate having limitations on my workouts that I don’t feel like I always need but I know how bad it can get if I don’t do them. I think at least the end of the week should be ok, but I hope that the beginning of this week isn’t too bad.

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Short Weeks Can Feel Really Long (or I’m Glad It’s Almost The Weekend)

Posted on September 10, 2021 | Comments Off on Short Weeks Can Feel Really Long (or I’m Glad It’s Almost The Weekend)

For a while, whenever there was a holiday on a Monday I would joke how it didn’t feel like a holiday week for me. My box office job is Tuesday-Saturday, so having a Monday off is normal for me and nothing special. I used to not be a huge fan of Monday holidays because the things I would normally do on Mondays would be much more crowded with everyone else having the day off too. But I also knew that was just how things worked for me. And in some way, having Mondays always off allowed me to have a pretty regular schedule even when there is a holiday. And I do like routine in my life when I can have it.

I do still work that job Tuesday-Saturday, but I have my other customer service job Monday-Friday so Mondays off do now give me an extra day off. And I did take advantage of that time off this past week when my parents were visiting me. Because we were busy all weekend, it didn’t feel like the usual time off, but I did enjoy having more time to be with family.

So it should seem like this week would feel short since I had an extra day off. But this week was also a week filled with dealing with pain and nausea. So each day seemed to drag on and take a long time. Having a 4 day work week ended up feeling like a 7 day work week. I hate feeling awful like I’ve been feeling this week and I hate that it makes time drag on so much longer.

But I’ve been trying to do things this week to try to make time go by a little faster. I’ve been focusing on doing what I can to feel better and staying on top of taking medications that help and doing other things that can make my symptoms not as extreme. I’ve been making sure I schedule time to relax each day and if relaxing means just laying in bed then I will do that. I haven’t been planning much outside of work and my workouts because I never know how I will feel each day. And I’ve been trying to keep my weekend pretty open for the same reason. I know I will have more time to take care of myself over the weekend and I’m looking forward to that. And maybe within the next few days, my pain and nausea will decrease. Sometimes when it’s really bad at the beginning it gets better before I expect it to be over.

I know that I should be grateful for the work that I have and having any time off from work, but sometimes I feel like any change in my schedule throws off my week. I think the combination of the weird week and how I feel just made this week seem really bad for me. But my plan is to work on resetting as much as I can over the weekend and hopefully I will go into next week feeling better and ready to get back to a regular and full work week.

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A Night At The Bowl (or It Finally Feels Like Summer To Me)

Posted on September 9, 2021 | Comments Off on A Night At The Bowl (or It Finally Feels Like Summer To Me)

There are a lot of things I do each year in LA that feel like traditions now. And one of those things for a long time has been to go to a show at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ve been going to shows at the Bowl most summers since I moved to LA. Some summers I’ve gone to a bunch of shows and sometimes I only go to one. But I try to go each summer if I can.

Of course, last summer wasn’t normal and there weren’t any Bowl shows. I remember when they announced that they wouldn’t be open for the summer, it felt like a gut punch. Going to the Bowl is such a big part of what makes it feel like summer in LA to me. And to know it was closed made the pandemic hit me even harder. Also, a year ago, I think so many of us were hopeful that things would be normal again by the summer, and knowing the Bowl wouldn’t be open was a sign that we were going to have to wait longer for normal (if only we knew then how long it would be).

So this summer, when the Bowl announced they’d be back, I knew I had to get tickets to something. Before tickets went on sale, my parents were planning their trip to LA but they didn’t have a date set yet. So we were going to see what shows were happening when and they could try to plan their trip around it and we could go to a show together. Things didn’t exactly happen that way, but it worked out perfectly. I found the show I wanted to go to with my parents and called my mom and she said they ended up booking their trip already based on the availability of other things they were planning. And it happened to be over the weekend of the show I wanted to take them to! So things fell into place perfectly.

And the show I picked for us to go to was the John Williams show. This is a show that I have tried to see each year and it’s really so much fun. I knew my parents wouldn’t know all the movies, but I thought they’d like how it all comes together. I tried to get us tickets in the front section with the tables and chairs, but that was all sold out when it was time to buy tickets. So I found some bench seats toward the center that were the front row of the section (which is my favorite because you have the most legroom).

So this past Sunday, my mom, dad, and I headed to the Bowl. And for the first time, we drove there. Normally I take the bus, but we felt it wasn’t the best option for us. I knew the parking around the Bowl was stacked parking, but we figured it would be ok and we didn’t mind if it took some time to get out of there. And we were able to park in one of the close lots to the entrance and headed up to our seats.

I loved where we were sitting. Of course, sitting closer would have been cool, but we were in the center and had the front of our section to put our drinks and stuff. It’s so much nicer being in the first row so you have that extra space.

The first half of the show was with another conductor leading the LA Philharmonic, but it was still having the music that is the score to movies being played live. I love hearing the music live, and they did some fun movies like “The Godfather” this year. And in the first section, it was mainly older movies and my parents knew all of them. So it felt like the perfect way to introduce them to the show.

And in the second half, John Williams came out to conduct. He’s like a rockstar and the entire place went wild when he walked out. And you can tell he loves doing this show and seeing how excited people are to see him. Everyone was waiting for him to play music from “Star Wars”, but I knew it would be toward the end of the evening since that’s one of those things that is just so special and magical. And just like every other year, as soon as those familiar notes started to play, hundreds of people got their lightsabers out and conducted along to the music.

I started to get a bit emotional seeing this in front of me. I think seeing it made me realize how much I missed this last year and how much I needed to do something familiar to me again. My parents and I did talk about what we were going to do to stay safe while we were at the Bowl. We were masked the entire time and at least it’s outdoors. And most people who go to shows are locals and we have a decently high vaccination rate. But it still felt a bit overwhelming to be around so many people. I have multiple panic attacks while I was there, but I tried to focus on the positive and how much I was enjoying the show. And seeing a show that I’ve seen so many times before really helped me focus on things other than my panic attack.

I think my parents really enjoyed the show too. It’s not something they would have picked out for themselves, but they liked seeing something that I love so much. Plus, it was something new and different for them and they like to see different things when they come to visit me. So overall, I consider it a success!

Seeing this show with my parents was one of the highlights of the weekend for me. And it did make me think if I should try to go to another show before the summer is done. I’m not sure about that because there are only a few things I might want to go see and the people I normally go to shows with aren’t living in LA anymore. I don’t think I’d want to go alone, but I have to think about it more. I enjoyed the night so much, that maybe I can overcome the feeling of not wanting to go solo. Or, I’ll just go to shows again next summer.

Either way, I’m just so happy I got to do something I had missed so much and that I got to share the experience with my parents.

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Enjoying A Family Weekend (or Adventuring Around LA)

Posted on September 8, 2021 | Comments Off on Enjoying A Family Weekend (or Adventuring Around LA)

This past weekend, my parents were visiting me in LA. This trip had been planned for a little while, but the timing ended up being a bit perfect (more on that in a bit). My parents planned a trip to Southern California to go to Catalina first, then to see me, and finally to see my brother and his family. I didn’t plan a lot for when they would be here, but there was one thing I had planned and I’ll write more about that tomorrow. But the plan for my parents’ visit was pretty low-key leading up to their arrival.

And then before their trip, I got the news about my place and how it will be listed to be sold soon. And of course, I had talked to my parents about how stressed I was about the idea of moving and how I didn’t think I wanted to wait to see if maybe I could stay in my house once it’s sold. I wanted to act quickly and not waste time since finding a new place could take time. Even though I don’t have to rush to find a new place, it’s better to give myself the most amount of time possible. And after talking with my parents, we decided to also explore the options of buying a condo. I can’t buy a place alone, but I can if I have some help from family and then pay them back. So we decided to reach out to a realtor we worked with before to see if we could see some condos when my parents were in town.

The day my parents arrived, they got here in the late afternoon and I went over to their hotel for dinner and to hang out. It’s always nice to have family visits that are relaxing and not packed with things we have to do the entire day. The next day, we spent the morning looking at condos with the realtor. We didn’t find the perfect place for me, but it was a very informative time. We got a better idea of the options out there and what we might want to have on our list of what we would like to find. I am trying to limit what is on my list since I would not be the only person making this purchase, but there are a few things that I do want and a few things I would like to have. It would have been amazing to find the perfect place that day and so convenient, but it wasn’t meant to be and I didn’t want to rush into anything because this is a huge thing.

And on the last day of my parents visiting me, we had nothing planned yet for that day and we were figuring out what to do that morning. It was Labor Day, so we wanted to try to avoid crowds as much as we could. So I looked online for options and came across The Huntington Library. I’ve only been one time before, so I thought it could be a really fun thing to do. Plus my mom had been wanting to go there. We knew there were quite a few things closed there, but we figured we would see what we could and we got to see a lot of the gardens when we walked around.

However, it was extremely hot there and I knew I was already a bit dehydrated, which is very unlike me. And while walking around in the sun and the heat, I was sweating a lot which made the dehydration worse. I was starting to feel a bit sick and we ended up taking some breaks in the shade before getting to the little cafe where we could buy some water. I also was starting to experience some really horrible nausea, and I know the heat was making that worse. So we ended up leaving without exploring everything I think we wanted to see, but my parents understood I wasn’t feeling good.

And we were supposed to get dinner that evening, but because of how I was feeling we didn’t get dinner together. My parents hung out at my house for a bit, but then they headed back to their hotel so they could have dinner there (I ended up eating much later and was just picking at food because my stomach was still very unsettled). It was unfortunate that the end of their visit was a bit of a downer with how I was feeling, but I’m glad we got a lot done while they were here and had a lot of fun.

And what I feel was the highlight of their visit was something I was so excited to do. And I’ll be writing about that tomorrow!

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Default ThumbnailFamily Weekend (or Hanging Out With The Dog) Default ThumbnailMore Family Time (or Seeing All My Immediate Family Last Week) Default ThumbnailSan Diego Day (or Some More Family Time) Default ThumbnailSan Diego Day (or Hanging Out With Family On My Day Off) Default ThumbnailAn Unexpected Family Visit (or Making Plans, Canceling Them, And Making Plans Again) Default ThumbnailSanta Barbara Weekend (or Family and Friends Time)

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Having Election Night Alone (or Seeing If My Hard Work Paid Off)

Posted on September 7, 2021 | Comments Off on Having Election Night Alone (or Seeing If My Hard Work Paid Off)

There is so much I stress about during union election season, but sometimes the most stressful thing is waiting while ballots are being counted to see the results. I usually end up having a very late night to see the end of the ballot counting and sometimes I’m so exhausted that things don’t click with me until the next morning. And this year, I knew watching the ballots being counted would be a different thing than normal since it was being done over Zoom.

There were pros and cons to the counting being done online. I didn’t like that I was at home alone watching everything and I didn’t have my friends there to reassure me or to joke with while we wait for everything to be done. But the biggest advantage was that I got to watch while I was working because I could keep the Zoom screen small on my screen while I’m working. I actually was able to watch from almost the start when the ballots were picked up from the post office and brought over to the union. I know it doesn’t sound exciting, but it was cool to see since it’s something I’ve never been an observer for in the past.

I wasn’t able to watch all of the counting process because I was working from 9-5. When I could check the screen, I did. And when people were asking questions on Zoom about the process, I listened. But for those 8 hours, I mainly worked with the occasional check-in on the process. I was also texting and messaging with friends who were watching the entire time.

For all the times in the past that I was an observer for the ballot counting, I was only in the local count room. I was automatically allowed in there because I was on the local ballot (which includes National Board, Local Board, and Delegates). The national count room was for the national president and secretary-treasurer, and to be allowed in that room you had to either be a candidate or listed as a proxy for a candidate. This year, I knew I’d be watching in the local room since that’s the standard for me. But I was selected to be a proxy for one of our candidates in the national room so I was able to be in both (not at the same time, but I switched back and forth).

When I was able to watch, I did try to pay attention to how the ballots were looking to me. The local ballots were harder since there are so many candidates, so I could never tell if someone was voting for me. But on the national ballots, it was easy to see what was happening. And things were looking very close to me. I started to think it might be a split ballot with one slate getting president and the other getting secretary-treasurer. I wasn’t sure if we’d have a very late night or not, but we ended up getting the national results pretty early compared to past years. And I was right, we had a split ballot with Fran Drescher and Joely Fisher winning.

After we knew the results for the national count, we had to wait until the union announced it before we shared the news, but that was easier to do since I wasn’t seeing anyone in person. I switched back to the local count room to see how things were going and to watch the end of those results. When I was back watching the local count, the election committee was working on the questionable ballots and trying to figure out the voter’s intent. Some of these were clear and some were really odd. It’s frustrating when you think that they are voting for the people you are supporting and the election committee can’t agree on what the intent was. I did see the committee debate a few times about votes that they had to decide if the intent was to vote for me or someone else. That was a bit weird.

And in the end, sadly my slate didn’t do as well as we hoped. We didn’t win the local officers and we didn’t get as many board seats as we would have liked. I didn’t get elected to Local Board, which was tough. I knew that it was not going to be easy for me to be elected to the board, but I really had hoped that somehow I would win a seat. But I did win my delegate seat again, so that was good news.

It’s always tough when you don’t do as well in an election as you hoped. And this time, it hit me harder than ever before. Maybe it’s because I did more work for the campaign than in past years. Maybe feelings from the pandemic added to my emotions. Maybe I was affected by watching the count alone at home more than I thought. It doesn’t really matter why, but I honestly was heartbroken when seeing the results. I know that we can’t win everything and having balance is important, but the other side has a significant majority now and it will be harder for us to make an impact in the way we had hoped.

I think I’m still dealing with feeling sad about the results. I know that now it’s time to get back to work and we have to start preparing for the National Convention, but I also need to sit with my feelings and process what happened. The one thing that does help me feel better is that I don’t have any regrets about what I did during this election season. There is nothing I didn’t do that I wanted to do. There is nothing I did that I questioned. I did everything I wanted to do and knowing that I did that made me happy.

And in 2 years when it’s the next election season, I know I’ll be fully in it again and ready to go. And hopefully we will do better then, but now we are just focused on our union service and working hard for all members.

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Default ThumbnailLate Night Election Results (or All Dressed Up And Nowhere To Go) Default ThumbnailThe Votes Are In (or An Uneventful End To The Election) Default ThumbnailAlmost Election Day (or I’m Asking You All To Please Vote) Default ThumbnailThe End Of The SAG-AFTRA Elections (or Being An Observer) Default ThumbnailMore Election Fun For Me (or I’m Running For 2 Things) Default ThumbnailIt’s Almost Election Season! (or Planning For My Summer)

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Having A Shorter Workout Week (or Having A Few Changes In My Workout Plan)

Posted on September 6, 2021 | Comments Off on Having A Shorter Workout Week (or Having A Few Changes In My Workout Plan)

I knew going into this past workout week that I might only get 3 workouts in and I might have to change the times. I was trying to do what I could to keep things as normal for me as possible, but I had to make adjustments and it’s ok that happened. While I love my routine and plan, it’s also good to be flexible because things come up. And I still got in some really good workouts during the classes I did take.

Monday’s workout was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and we had a lot of short blocks. When our coach was describing the workout at first, it sounded awesome but I wasn’t sure if it would feel like it had endurance elements. But this workout ended up challenging me even though the blocks were short and it was definitely an endurance day too.

For cardio, we had a run/row format but it was all coached so we weren’t switching on our own. When we were on the treadmill we had 2 different plans. The first was a 1-minute push pace, 1-minute base pace, 30-second push pace, and a 30-second all-out. The other plan was rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. 45 seconds of recovery isn’t a lot, even when it’s a short all-out! And when we were on the rower, we had rounds of 30 seconds of a base row,  20 seconds of a push row, and 10 seconds of an all-out row.

On the floor, we had a mix of regular blocks and timed blocks. In the regular blocks, we had 2 exercises for each. We had hip hinge low rows and squats, push-ups and bird dogs, and mountain climbers and burpees. And the timed blocks focused on variations of similar exercises. The first one had bicep curls at tempo, bicep curls at our own speed, and holding a bicep curl at 90 degrees out. The other timed block had chest presses at tempo, chest presses at our own speed, and holding a chest press at 90 degrees.

Wednesday’s workout was a strength day and it was my last regular workout this past week. And for cardio, we had lots of hills!

We had 3 blocks for cardio and they all had 3-minute hills. The first hill was increasing inclines, the second hill was decreasing inclines, and the last hill we got to decide if we wanted to start at the top of the bottom of the hill and go from there. Whenever we have a choice to start at the bottom of the hill and work our way up or start at the top and work our way down, I always start at the top. I figure it’s more fun for me if the bike is getting easier as I go and not harder. But all the hills were tough and I got the resistance level up pretty high on the bike. And each block also had a 1-minute all-out at the end that wasn’t on an incline, so I went a little less than normal on the resistance level for the all-outs so I could feel like I was really flying as I was pedaling!

On the floor, we started each block with a 300-meter row. I really wanted to try hard on my rows, but it just wasn’t working for me that morning. I wasn’t struggling that much, but I couldn’t push myself the way I was hoping to. After the row, each block also had regular floor exercises. In the first block, we had curtsy lunges to overhead reaches and reverse lunges to shoulder presses (I did the lunges and shoulder presses separately). The second block had sumo squats to upright rows, weighted squats, and sumo deadlifts to low rows. And the last block had transverse squats (which I did as sumo squats) and goblet squats.

I skipped my workout on Friday. Thursday night was the ballot counting for my union election, and I had no clue how late the night would go. In the past, it went until very early the next morning. But since it was being done on Zoom, I didn’t know if it would be shorter or longer. So it just felt safer to cancel the class. And I’ll talk more about the election results in another post.

And on Saturday, I couldn’t go to my normal class time because my parents were coming to visit me! I’ll write more about their visit in other posts, but I went to an earlier class than I normally do so I could still get my workout done. I didn’t realize that I was going to be taking a 3 group class, but it was a nice surprise! It’s been a while since I’ve had a 3 group class and it made it a good challenge.

For cardio and rowing, we had a very similar pattern with timed challenges that decreased as we went. For cardio, we started with a 4-minute distance challenge followed by a 90-second base pace. Then it was a 2-minute distance challenge, 1-minute distance challenge, 30-second distance challenge, and 30-second all-out. And all of those had the 90-seconds of base pace after them. I was starting to experience a bit of nausea during class, so I did have to take some breaks but I tried to keep those to the base pace times.

For rowing, we had the same thing with the timed challenges, but we didn’t get the same 90-seconds of base rowing after. Instead, we used the medicine ball for 15 reps of squats and 15 reps of shoulder presses. Those 90 seconds almost didn’t feel like enough time to do all those reps and get a moment to breathe or drink water! It was a lot of rowing and more rowing than I’ve had in a while, so I know my form suffered a bit. But it was a nice way to challenge myself without feeling the stress of getting a PR on a benchmark challenge.

And on the floor, we had 1 block that had 3 mini-blocks in it. Each mini-block had 2 exercises and we were supposed to do 2 rounds before moving to the next mini-block. The first mini-block had single-arm dumbbell reverse lunges and lunge jacks. I had to modify the lunge jacks to be regular lunges without the weights. The second mini-block had lateral lunges to suitcase squats and cossack squats. And the last block had sit-up to torso rotations and reverse crunches (I did the sit-ups and torso rotations as separate exercises). I finished all the mini-blocks and was starting on the lunges again when the class was done.

Even though I only got 3 workouts done, I think I did a lot of great work in them. And it was nice to see that I could adjust my routine and not have it affect me too much. And this week, I also have a small change to my workouts, but that’s mainly because I’ll be doing a workout with my dad so we picked a different time from what I’m used to doing. I’m so excited about that class because it’s always fun when I have someone with me in class!

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Default ThumbnailA Good, Strong Workout Week (or I Really Love Feeling Like Myself) Default ThumbnailLast Regular Workout Week Of 2019 (or Still Pushing Through) Default ThumbnailAnother Short Workout Week (or Still Can’t Believe My Milestone) Default ThumbnailThis Wasn’t Going To Be A 4 Workout Week (or Some Pleasant Surprises) Default ThumbnailA Good Workout Week (or Only Dealing With Old Issues) Default ThumbnailFinally A Normal Workout Week (or I Love Having Nothing Crazy)

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I Got To Practice My Monthly Challenge Early This Month (or Still Working On Not Worrying About Job Things)

Posted on September 3, 2021 | Comments Off on I Got To Practice My Monthly Challenge Early This Month (or Still Working On Not Worrying About Job Things)

When I set my monthly challenge this month to be about not thinking too much in the future about things that may go wrong or right in my life, I assumed a lot of what I would be using that for would be related to things I already know are going on. I didn’t want to stress about moving. I didn’t want to worry more about the pandemic. I didn’t want to overthink dating. But because my life is like this, I had an unexpected curveball right at the start of the month!

Things at my customer service job have been crazy lately, but most of the crazy has been good. I’ve been working more hours, taking on more responsibilities, and helping with projects that will help the company continue to grow. But whenever things change in a job, mistakes can be made too. And while I haven’t made any really bad mistakes, there have been things that weren’t communicated as clearly as they could have or procedures that are in the process of being changed and it’s unclear what is supposed to be done now.

So on Wednesday, my manager asked me if I could have a Zoom call with her the next day (which was yesterday). There weren’t any specifics on why we were having the call, so my brain went to all the horrible things it could be. Because of my work history, I am always terrified that I’m about to be fired. I know that’s now what would be happening this time (right after this meeting was set up I was invited to 2 other meetings that are for my entire department). But I couldn’t stop thinking about all the negatives that it could be. I hate that that’s how I think and that’s exactly why I set my challenge to be this for September.

So for the time between knowing about my meeting and when it started, I really worked on focusing on what I did know and what was not speculation. And I went into my meeting a bit nervous, but not nearly as stressed as I might have been if I wasn’t working on not overthinking the future.

And of course the meeting wasn’t a bad thing. There were some communication things to work out so we had a better line of communication when discussing clients so there wouldn’t as many back and forth emails and texts. And we clarified some things that led to the miscommunication that both of us weren’t able to realize in written communication. Those things needed to be worked out and will only make work better for me going forward.

And then we started to discuss things that aren’t happening yet that we might want to change. I can’t go into too many details about it, but we discussed how to manage client communication better so anyone could help clients without needing access to as many things as we have right now. Also, how to make sure all new clients have everything they need in order to understand the company. Some of this would be about what my role might be like in the future, which is good to hear when I was worried earlier that I had done something really wrong and wondered if I was going to lose my job.

I’ve said this so many times before, but I wonder when I will stop worrying that I will be losing my job every time I have a meeting about something. I’ve gone a significant portion of my life since I have had that happen to me. And I haven’t had any quick turnaround with jobs like I did the year that things were the worst for me. I’ve been with my customer service job for about 9 months, and that’s the shortest time of any of my jobs right now. I’ve been working with my box office job for 7 years already! But I still have this stupid irrational fear of being fired for no reason.

Maybe because I am purposely working on fixing this way of thinking, things will be better for me in the future. At least now I know that some of the tools I wanted to use to test this challenge do work because this wasn’t as bad as it could have been. Just like when I set my monthly challenge, I guess I’ll see in a month how I feel. But I got a little idea now of what it could be like.

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Default Thumbnail3 Months At My New Job (or Having Another Job Review) Default ThumbnailWorking On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailMonthly Challenge Check-In (or Doing My Own Version Of An OTF Challenge This Month) Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailA Failed Monthly Challenge (or I’m Possibly Going To Fail Again This Month) Default ThumbnailFailing And Succeeding In One Monthly Challenge (or Another Repeat Challenge This Month)

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