Monthly Archives: February 2023

SAG Awards Time (or I Wish I Had Watched More Movies)

Posted on February 28, 2023 | Comments Off

I know that I’m very lucky that I have so many opportunities to see movies, and most of those opportunities are free for me. Things still aren’t exactly the way they were before the pandemic, but there are still free movie screenings at theaters and screening venues, I just haven’t been to one yet. I know that I’ll start going to those again eventually, but I’m still hesitant to go to theaters. But fortunately, I also have the chance to watch things at home when we get screeners for the SAG Awards.

When I first joined SAG-AFTRA, all the screeners we got at home were DVDs. This included TV shows where we would sometimes get an entire season of a show on DVD. There was one year we got a free month of Netflix so we could watch all the Netflix shows directly on the service. And over time, we started to get more and more screeners as either digital downloads or through various online screening services. I liked the digital screeners because they were instantly available for us and we didn’t have to wait on the mail. And once I got an upgraded AppleTV, I was able to watch the digital ones on my tv instead of on my computer.

In the past few years, we were given the option to opt out of physical DVD screeners and just get digital ones. The first year it was offered, I paid attention to what we got as DVDs versus digital options. And everything that was a DVD was digital too, so I opted out of the DVDs since I didn’t need them anymore. I found the online screening services pretty easy to use, so I didn’t see any reason to get DVDs.

Most years, I make a good effort to try to watch everything that is nominated. I don’t usually make it through everything, but I try to get through the majority of them. And this year, I tried to make a plan to figure out how many movies I’d need to watch each week in order to get through all the movies before we had to vote. It pretty much came down to watching 2-3 movies a week, which is a lot but doable. Or at least it seemed doable until I got sick. I couldn’t focus enough to watch an entire movie. I also didn’t feel up to watching anything and just wanted to rest. And after I was feeling better, I had a lot of things I needed to catch up on that were more important than spending a few hours in front of my tv. So by the time we had to vote for the winners, I had only seen a handful of movies and none of the ones that were the front runners. I decided not to vote this year since it didn’t seem fair, but I still planned on enjoying the awards show and seeing what happens.

Previously, the SAG Awards were on cable. But this year was the first year the show partnered with Netflix. In the future, the show will be streamed live on Netflix once they get their live streaming service set up. But this year, it was available on YouTube through the Netflix YouTube channel.

I actually loved this new format. There were no commercial breaks, so the show was shorter than normal. In place of commercials, between awards they had short compilation clips of past winners and past shows. I really liked how that worked out and it felt much more of a celebration of the union as a whole and not just those who won. And I think those who won had a similar feeling as many of the acceptance speeches recognized SAG-AFTRA members who are not household names and are still working hard for their next role. I really felt inspired by so many of those speeches and I have a feeling I’ll be rewatching some of them in the future when I need a pick-me-up.

Even though I don’t have access to the screeners anymore, I hope that I’ll be able to watch several more of the nominated films. I know they’ll be online eventually and I’ll just have to make the effort to find them and watch them. And hopefully, next year I’ll be able to plan watching screeners better or be able to watch more movies over time if I start going to in-person screenings again.

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Posted in Acting, Celebrations

Tagged acting, sag awards, SAG-AFTRA

Still Getting Some Strength Back (or A Pretty Good Workout Week)

Posted on February 27, 2023 | Comments Off

Coming back to working out after taking a week off the week before was tough, but I noticed improvements in my strength and endurance as that week went on. So I was hoping that this past week would continue to go that way. I knew that getting back some strength would be more complicated, but I wanted to push myself to try to see if I could do most of my workouts with the weights that I’m used to.

Monday’s workout was a bit different for me since I had the day off and could go to the workout later than normal. So I was in a 2 group class instead of a 3 group class and didn’t have as much rowing as I’m used to. But it gave me a lot of time to work on my cardio and weights.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had 2-minute push paces and 1-minute base paces for the entire block. And the second block had 1-minute push paces and 30-second base paces until the end of the block when we had a 30-second all-out. I did notice it was a bit harder than normal, but I didn’t know if that was endurance issues or just because it was more cardio than I normally do in class.

On the floor, we also had 2 blocks. In the first block, we had single-arm step-downs, push-ups, lunges, and then went to the rower for a 15-stroke push row. I don’t always do step-downs, but not only did I lower the bench but I did use the weight like we were supposed to. That was really pushing me and I was so proud that I tried. The weight was one of the lightest ones, but it was still better than doing it without weight. The second block was timed with cardio. First, we did 3 rounds of having one minute to do 12 hip-hinge swings and 24 mountain climbers. If there was any leftover time we could rest. And then we had 30 seconds to do bicycle crunches. After 3 rounds, we did the same pattern again for 3 rounds with a minute to do push presses with weights and hop overs (which I did as squats) and then 30 seconds to do plank punches. And in the end, we had another 90 seconds of work and we could choose which option we wanted to do. It was a lot of work and I only had a few seconds to rest each time, but it was another good challenge.

I was back to my normal schedule on Tuesday, and that workout was a switch class so we moved between each block. Switches and tornados are rare, but they add some extra challenge to the workout since you have to work extra hard when you are working to make up for the time you take switching during the class. We had 2 blocks for each section of the room and the first block was a bit longer than the second one.

The first cardio block had 1-minute base pace intervals at an incline and 1-minute base paces without an incline. The inclines went up each time and I started at my push pace resistance level on the bike and went up from there. The second block had 30-second intervals at an incline but we did all-outs this time. And we had 30-second recoveries between each one. I started with the resistance level one higher than I did for the first block plus I tried to pedal faster.

For the rower, the first block started with a 100-meter row and then we had 12 shuffles after the row. Each time we went back to the rower, it increased by 50 meters. The second block started with a 250-meter row and we had in and out steps after the row. And the row decreased by 50 meters each time. I didn’t get that far in the second block, but I did my best and I tried to keep my rowing consistent with the wattage each time so I didn’t burn out.

The first floor block started with the first 2 exercises and we added another exercise each time. I only made it through 4 exercises so I did lunges, high rows with weights, squats, and hip bridges. For the second block, we started with all 5 exercises and took away an exercise each time. So I also had plank toe taps along with the exercises in the first block. I did try to go heavy with my weights for the high rows and hip bridges, but I ended up going between what I normally use and one set of weights lighter.

Wednesday was a tough day for me because of not sleeping well the night before, but I continued to try to see if I could be close to what I know I can normally do. I really wanted to take advantage of this week because I know it’s one of my good weeks and I’ll regret not trying hard when I have a bad week.

For cardio, we had 3 blocks, and blocks 1 and 3 were the same. We had rounds of 45-second push paces and 45-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. In the second block, we had rounds of a 30-second all-out with a 45-second recovery and I really tried to limit the breaks I took during that block since there wasn’t a ton of time we were working.

On the rower, for blocks 1 and 3 we were timed with cardio so we had the same push rows and base rows. I did struggle a bit in the third block because I was getting tired and needed to take a break during some of the base rows, but I tried to get back to rowing as quickly as possible to get in as many meters as I could. In the second block, we were off of the rowers so we did exercises and were timed with cardio. We had 30 seconds to do squats and 45 seconds to do lunges. The lunges were really tough for me, but I did my best to balance myself so it wouldn’t be harder than it needed to be.

And on the floor, we had one long block split into 3 mini-blocks. For each mini-block, we did 2 rounds before moving on to the next one. We had seated low rows with weights and single-arm squats, chest presses with weights and single-arm deadlifts, and chest presses and high rows on the straps. I actually was able to get through all the rounds with the mini-blocks so I then started to work on the exercises as a single block. And for the last 30 seconds, we got to pick any of the exercises to do for our finisher and I decided to do chest presses on the straps since I don’t do them that often.

Thursday’s workout was a tornado class, so we had 3 blocks in each section of the room and we switched between every block. It was very odd to have a switch workout and a tornado workout in the same week, but I just did my best. Every block for the entire workout was 3 1/2 minutes long so we had to work hard to maximize every minute. And each of the 3 blocks for each section had a different focus between endurance, strength, and power.

The first cardio had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out with a 30-second recovery between them. The second block had 30-second intervals and the incline or resistance level went up by 1 every interval for 90 seconds and then we had a 30-second recovery before doing another 90-second hill. And the last block had 30-second intervals with a base pace, a push pace, and an all-out with recovery before repeating that pattern again.

On the rower, the first and third blocks matched with cardio so we had the same intervals and I really tried to be mindful of the wattage on the rower to increase for my push and all-out rows. For the second block, we did the same 30-second intervals but we tried to stay within specific strokes per minute rates for each interval. I was going a bit slower than the intervals we were supposed to do, but the increases were the same amounts as what we were told so I figured that worked well for me.

And for the first and second floor blocks, we had 2 exercises for each. In the first floor block, we had rollouts and squats to high rows with the straps. And in the second block, we had lunges and plank low rows. For the last block, we only had single-arm neutral thrusters until the last 30 seconds when we had high knees as our finisher. I really wanted to use heavy weights for the weights, but my arms were feeling a bit weak and I knew that proper form was more important than heavy weights.

Considering how I felt the week before (or even the week before that when I was sick), I was very happy with how this past week of workouts went. It wasn’t exactly what I was hoping to do, but it was close and I felt like I made some really good attempts to do what I know I normally can do. Of course, I’m tough on myself and wish I could have done better, but I know that I didn’t go easy on myself and that when I’m having another bad week I will look back at this week as a really good one. And I’m hoping to continue to make improvements and maybe be even better than before in the next week or so.

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Posted in Fitness, Fun Stuff

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, workout

A Long Short Week (or Ready For The Weekend)

Posted on February 24, 2023 | Comments Off

It seems like when I have an extra day off of work because of a holiday, that somehow makes the week seem longer. I don’t know if that is because I usually use that extra time to get more things done than I normally would or if I just feel off because I mix up what day it is. But it seems to really hit me hard and I feel like I need to recover more from a short week than a long week.

I know that I am also still probably used to having Mondays off from when I had my old job, but I should be used to this schedule by now. And when I get a Monday off now, I get to have 2 days without work instead of just 1. It doesn’t always feel like I just have 1 day off a week since I only work 3 hours on Saturdays, but I still have to wake up early in order to work. I just get to have extra time to be lazy or do other things after work.

I know that this short week also was busy with a lot of things. Over the weekend, I drove to and from Santa Barbara. I have done that drive a bunch, but it’s still at least 3 hours of driving in a day. Maybe I had more endurance for driving when I used to commute to work, but now it seems like it’s a decent drive. I do keep myself entertained by making sure I have good podcasts to listen to, but it’s still a good chunk of time. I also had my parents here and even though I don’t have to necessarily entertain them, I still try to be a good host when they are here even if we are just meeting for dinner and doing work around my house like we did this time. And hanging up things on my walls and doing all the house projects on Monday made that day seem pretty busy and not a normal day off.

I’m glad it’s Friday even though I still have work tomorrow. But I’m ready to have a bunch of hours when I can relax and just get things back in order. I still am catching up on housework from when I was sick, so I want to get that done. I also have a few more things to put away after all the projects we did earlier in the week. But I also want to make sure I take time to rest and relax since it will be Monday morning before I know it.

I originally had some plans for this weekend, but they were canceled due to the big storm we are supposed to have. I’m not upset about not having plans since I probably shouldn’t have made them in the first place. I would prefer to not be out in the rain unless I really have to. And if bad weather is what I needed to remind me that I should take it easy this weekend, then I guess that’s not a bad thing.

Hopefully, I can really take some time to get things and myself back to normal before Monday and I have to be back to a busy work week. And if I don’t get as much done but I get more time to relax, then I’ll consider that a good thing too. As much as I know I need to get some things done in my place this weekend, the bigger focus should be resting so I can be back to my full energy soon. And nothing that is on my list of things to do this weekend can’t wait until later, so I won’t allow myself to stress about what I need to do if that’s going to prevent me from resting.

And even though next week will be a full work week and I could easily be more exhausted by the end of the week, hopefully taking the time this weekend to rest will have me ready to go and I won’t be as tired as I have been this week.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged busy, relaxation, scheduling, work

Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

Posted on February 23, 2023 | Comments Off

After my parents were in Santa Barbara, they came to LA for a few days. Sometimes when they come to LA, they are here longer, but this time we had only a few things we wanted to accomplish and we had to work around my work schedule. But we lucked out and the Monday they were here happened to be a holiday, so I had the day off work. So we were able to do a lot in a short amount of time.

Every time my parents are visiting me, I always have a list of projects that I need help on. This has happened at every place I’ve lived, but I think the projects have become bigger now that I own a place. But this time, most of the projects I had ahead of time were pretty small things. I had worked on building a tv stand, but couldn’t get a few of the steps done so I needed my dad’s help to finish it. I also had built a shelving unit for my bathroom and needed help hanging it up and making sure it was secure. And now that I know where most of my furniture is going to be, we worked on making a few things a bit more secure for earthquake safety.

But the biggest project we had to work on was something that I didn’t have until my parents got here. I have a very long wall in my living room behind my couch and I looked online for a few months to find the perfect thing to put there. I found something I liked, but it was too expensive. But I showed it to my dad since it was made of wood and I knew he was learning woodworking. He showed it to his neighbor, who is his woodworking teacher, and they decided that it wouldn’t be the easiest project but it was doable. So my dad was going to make something similar to what I saw online, but more customized for my house.

I had seen progress pictures over the past 6 months of the different stages of the artwork in process. And when I was in Portland we worked on the color design since they needed to stain the wood. The one that I saw online was a single piece, but because of the size of the wall, we knew doing a triptych would probably look cooler. And once the artwork was here and we were able to hang it up, I know that was the right choice.

It doesn’t cover the entire length of the wall, so I might add some photos or something to the sides to make it more of a gallery wall. But it is substantial and really a statement piece. The colors are similar to what I have in my living room, but also a bit bolder so it adds a nice touch. A lot of the things I own are more neutrals and I knew I needed some color. The teal in the artwork really stands out in a great way.

I don’t know if the photos really show off how cool this piece is, but you can see a lot of the texture from this close-up photo.

Most of the visit with my parents was focused on doing all these projects, and I think it was worth it to do that. My place still isn’t fully decorated or complete, but it’s feeling more like it’s not something still being worked on. And the things I don’t have yet aren’t things I urgently need so I’m ok with waiting a bit longer to buy them. I just have wanted to make my place feel like home and every time I get a few new things or work on projects like this, it feels more like it’s mine. I also think the renovation helped it feel like that right away since I designed a lot, but the furniture and artwork helped so much.

I’m glad we were able to get so much done on the day I had off of work since the next day I was busy pretty much until dinnertime. But my parents came over after I was done with work and we went out to dinner. It might have been faster than most of their visits here, but we had some very specific things we wanted to accomplish and we were able to get them done. And even though I have a few other little projects to still work on, those are things that I either need to hire someone to do because we can’t do them or they are very small that I can do at a later date.

I’m not sure when my parents will be in LA next. Possibly at some point this summer or maybe in the fall. But I’ll see them again in a little over a month in Santa Barbara and I’m hoping that maybe I can finally make it back to Tahoe this summer! But whenever they come back to the condo, I’m sure I’ll have more projects on my list for us to work on and we’ll try to be as efficient as we were this time.

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Posted in Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged art, condo, decorating, family, parents

A Santa Barbara Birthday (or Happy 2nd Birthday Presley!)

Posted on February 22, 2023 | 1 comment

This past weekend was my niece Presley’s 2nd birthday. I was happy her birthday fell on the weekend because I was able to drive up for the day to celebrate with everyone. I wasn’t able to do that for her 1st birthday, but I still was able to go up the next day to be a part of a mini-celebration. But I was excited that I could be at her birthday party this time.

It was a small birthday party. The only non-family people there was another family that has 2 little boys around the same ages as my niece and nephew. But I think a bigger party might have been overwhelming for my niece, so a small party was perfect. And it was a really nice afternoon.

For most of the party, all 4 kids were busy playing with all the different toys my niece and nephew have. They have a few different little motorized toys, like garbage trucks and bulldozers. And they are still young enough that they weren’t turning them into bumper cars or anything. But what I think was one of the biggest hits was actually a gift I got my niece and nephew for Hanukkah this past year. I got them a mini-bounce house that was set up in the backyard. It was the perfect size for all the kids to play on it and they all kept going down the slide into the grass.

I’m so glad that my niece and nephew loved the bounce house since it can be tough to pick out good gifts for kids. But I had a good feeling that would be a hit and it was nice to see that it was!

Of course, since it was a birthday party, there were presents and cake (but cupcakes since it was a small party).

Opening all the presents was a bit overwhelming for Presley, so she opened most of them while I was there. But she did open the gift I got her, which was a little flower-building kit, while I was there and she did start playing with it right away. So I think that gift was another hit! I know that she has a lot of toys already, but I wanted to find something fun for her. I’ll probably try to find non-toy presents in the future, but it was fun to find something cute this time.

After a couple of hours, it was naptime for all the kids. So the other family headed home so their kids could nap and then my brother and sister-in-law worked on getting my niece and nephew down for their naps. Both kids were probably over-exhausted and were fighting a nap, but they went down after a bit of a fight. And when they were asleep, that was time for me to head out.

I could have stayed and hung out with my parents for a few hours, but I was going to see them again in a few days when they got to LA, so there really wasn’t a discussion or plan for me to stay in Santa Barbara through the afternoon. And I had things at home that I wanted to get done, so I was fine making the drive home so I could have the afternoon and evening to get things checked off of my errands list.

My nephew’s birthday is only about 6 weeks away, but since his birthday is on a weekday I’m not sure if I’ll make it to his party. I’ll just have to wait and see what day his party is planned for. I did give him his birthday present early since I didn’t want to have to ship it (and he wouldn’t really know the difference between getting it now or later). If I don’t make it to that party, I’m sure I’ll make it to Santa Barbara another time in the future. And I’m so glad that I was able to make it to Presley’s birthday party and have a nice family afternoon with everyone!

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Posted in Celebrations, Family, Fun Stuff

Tagged birthday, birthday party, family, niece, party

A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

Posted on February 21, 2023 | Comments Off

Ever since things shut down, all the union meetings and events I’ve participated in have been virtual. I have been in virtual committee meetings and attended a virtual convention. There was no question for a long time that was the way we needed to do things in order to keep people safe. And for union committee meetings, I actually liked the virtual format because I never could attend in person, and being on the phone while most people are in the same room isn’t the best option. So having everyone on Zoom made it more of an equal playing field for all and I have felt much more connected to the meetings and not just feel like I’m listening in my own little world. Of course, I miss going to the local board meetings as an observer while everything has been virtual, but I knew that those meetings would likely return to being at the union headquarters again and I would be able to go in the future.

And recently, things have been starting to open up again. The union headquarters opened and there are some new guidelines for going to things there in person. It was pretty simple for me to do because it was registering through an app to include my vaccination information. There haven’t been any things in person yet for me to attend, but I’m excited to see what will be coming back and what I can be a part of again.

For some reason, when the announcement of the headquarters opening up came out, I didn’t think much about the committee meetings since I’d never attended them in person. But when I was in a recent committee meeting, someone asked the chair when we would be going back to meeting in person so we didn’t always have to be on Zoom.

That idea seemed to get a mixed reaction from others in the committee. Some of us have been happy with these virtual meetings. Not only does it allow those of us who have to work at the same time to attend, but people who don’t live close by also don’t have to worry about a commute to and from the meeting. The chair talked about how they were happy not spending over an hour each way to get to the meeting so they were fine keeping things on Zoom for now. I believe there will be a poll going out soon so everyone can have a say in what we would like to see, but I think that Zoom will always be an option because how many of us don’t have the time or ability to get to the headquarters for meetings and everyone seems to agree that Zoom is much better than just being on the phone.

It’s interesting how I really am excited to have some things back in person but I want to keep other things the way they’ve been the past few years. I still don’t go out in big crowds that often, but I also crave being social because I was isolated for so long. I don’t think everything will ever go back to how they were before, but things slowly have been going back and it’s been a mix of the old and new normal for a while. And I’m sure that as time goes on, more things will be back to the old way. But at the same time, I think we will never really be back to the old way things were and some things will always be either the new normal or a hybrid.

As long as I can continue to be involved with the union, I’m ok with things changing back to how they are or staying the way they’ve been. I think now more than ever, people recognize how some people want to be able to participate but don’t have the same ability to be in person as everyone else. So hopefully there will continue to be some accommodations or better options for everyone.

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Posted in Acting

Tagged meeting, SAG-AFTRA, union

Getting Back To Working Out (or Recovering And Going Easy)

Posted on February 20, 2023 | 1 comment

After having to take the week before off of working out, I knew going back this past week wouldn’t be a week I could go all out. Whenever I’ve had to take time off, I’ve noticed that it takes a week or two to get back to my routine and not feel too weak. I was still recovering from the cold I had, which added to my weakness, so I was just very cautious. But I also was so happy to be back to working out because I missed it and craved the feeling I get from a good workout.

I was a bit nervous on Monday because I didn’t know how I’d do back in class. I still had some swelling in my throat, so I wasn’t always fully catching my breath. So I knew that I had to be very aware of how I was feeling and take breaks when I needed to even if I wanted to keep going.

For cardio, we had one long block. We started with a 30-second push pace and a 30-second base pace. We continued the pattern of the push and base pace matching, but each time they were increased by 15 seconds. We ended with a 75-second push pace and a 75-second base pace before having a 30-second all-out to end the block. I did ok at the beginning of the block, but toward the end, I was taking a lot more breaks to catch my breath and make sure I was still doing ok. The swelling in my throat also made it tough to drink water, so that was another reason I needed to keep taking breaks.

On the rower, for the first 3 minutes, we matched cardio with the push and base paces. Then we had stroke drills with medicine ball work for the rest of the block. We had 20 strokes on the rower and then squats with front presses and lunges. I didn’t use the medicine ball for the lunges, which I never do, but I did the squats with it and that didn’t feel too hard so I was happy that I seemed to be easing into workouts better than expected for the rower.

And on the floor, it was another long single block but there were 2 mini-blocks in it. The first mini-block was all mini-band work. We had torso rotations, scissor kick crunches, and toe taps. I did take a lot of rest during this, but at least I was seated for this first mini-block so it was easy to rest. The second mini-block was harder, but somehow I think I did better with it. We had skier swings, lunges, single-arm snatches, and standing wood choppers. I was going a lot lighter with the weights than normal, but I was very happy with how I did.

I was doing better on Tuesday, but I still was not fully recovered from my cold. But I was ready to keep going and see what I could get done in the workout. And it was a tough day, even if I was feeling 100%.

For cardio and the rower, we had the same thing on each. We had 3 blocks that were all timed distance challenges. We had a 3-minute challenge, a 6.5-minute challenge, and another 3-minute challenge. It was a lot to do, especially on the rower. But I knew that I could just do as much as I could and take a break when I needed to do so. I’m glad that I was breathing a little easier and I didn’t feel as much pain when drinking water because that helped a lot.

The floor work was a bit crazy and I had to do a bunch of modifications to make it work, but I did it. We started with 3 rounds of doing walkouts to plank pops for 30 seconds and butt kicks for 30 seconds. I did the walkouts but I didn’t do the plank work and I tried to do the butt kicks without jumping and found a way to make it work. The second block had 20 reps for each exercise. We had squat jacks, squats, lunges, mountain climbers, in-and-out hops, speed skaters, and burpees. I modified when I could, but I mainly just went slowly with each exercise and didn’t worry about rushing through them. And for the last block, we had 3 rounds of 30 seconds of squat jacks to knees to elbows and 30 seconds of squat jumps. Again, I took out any jumping elements and just went slowly with each exercise. I think if I was feeling great I still would have been exhausted after this class so I didn’t feel bad about how tired I was when I left.

I finally felt pretty normal by Wednesday, but I knew I still needed to keep easing myself back into things.

For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace or a base pace for 1 minute each with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block was rounds of a 30-second push pace with an incline followed by a 90-second base pace without an incline and another 30-second all-out at the end. The incline/higher resistance work was something I hadn’t done earlier in the week so it was another challenge for me to ease into. But I just kept things a bit lighter than normal and they were only 30 seconds each so that helped.

On the rower, the first block had rounds of a 200-meter row followed by a good morning using the medicine ball. Normally, a 200-meter row is a good distance for me to do, but I was getting tired quickly on the rower so I couldn’t quite push myself the way I wanted to. It’s hard when my mind is telling you one thing and my body is saying something else. But I knew I had to listen to my body. The second block had rounds of a 30-second all-out row with calf raises after each row, so that block went a little better for me and I was able to get very close to what I can normally do in a 30-second row.

And on the floor, we had 2 blocks that each had 3 exercises. We had single-arm high rows, shoulder presses to stands, and squats in the first block. And we had single-arm chest presses, deadlifts, and pullovers in the second block. I used a bunch of different weights for the floor so some of the exercises were with weights I normally use and some were with slightly lighter weights.

I’m glad I was feeling like myself for the end of the week because it allowed me to really try hard for Thursday’s workout. I did notice a few times where I needed to rest more than normal, but I think that was much more about a few lasting symptoms of my cold than me needing to work back up to my normal in my workouts.

For cardio, we started with a 90-second push pace, a 1-minute base pace, and a 30-second all-out. After a recovery, we did the push and all-out again without the base pace. We had that same pattern again but with a 1-minute push pace. And we ended cardio with an extra 30-second all-out at the very end of the block.

On the rower, the first block was focused on stroke drills. We did 15 strokes on the rower and then halos with a medicine ball. I usually do pretty well on stroke drills, and I was very happy with the distance I was getting each time. The second block had us doing 150-meter rows as quickly as possible and then rainbows with a medicine ball between each row. I wasn’t as good at the speed rows, but I know I never really am.

And on the floor, we had 1 block with 3 mini-blocks in it. And for each mini-block, we were supposed to do the exercises 3 times before moving on to the next one. We had lateral lunges and regular lunges, balance bicep curls and single-arm rows on the straps, and crunch hold over under and plank work. I did a few modifications such as doing bird dogs instead of the plank work, but I really tried my best to do as much as I could even if it was pushing me a bit more than I normally would. And I was very proud at the end of the workout with how I did.

Overall, this past week of workouts was a lot better than I expected after returning from being sick. I did have to ease myself into things a bit and I know that if I hadn’t been sick I could have done more, but this was a much easier easing in than I thought it would be and I think that shows how far I’ve come recently in my workouts. I can recover from time off faster and that’s a big deal! I never like taking time off, but how this past week went made me feel a bit better about possibly having to do that in the future. I know I can come back after being gone, and this past week really proved it to me.

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Posted in Fitness

Tagged fitness, Orangetheory, workout

Reorganizing My Space (or Enjoying The Possibilities I Have)

Posted on February 17, 2023 | Comments Off

When I was living at my old place, I felt like I didn’t change my furniture that often because most of the things I owned fit a very specific space and I couldn’t imagine anything else fitting there. The only real changes I can remember making were getting a new couch and tv stand. But for both of those things, I was replacing something from my place before that didn’t really fit into the tiny house I was living in at that point. But when I was moving out of that place and into my condo, I did end up getting rid of quite a few things, and many of them I had for over a decade.

I’ve slowly been upgrading things in my current place. Some of the new things I got were things I had when I moved, like my new bed. Others were things that took a bit of time to find, like my couch. And there are also some things that I am saving up for and will eventually get but I’m not in a rush to buy them. I want to make sure that I get the right things and not waste my money, so it’s taken time to find the things I want.

One of my more recent upgrades was to get a new tv and tv stand. I first set up my new tv on my old tv stand since that was the easier project. And over this past weekend, my friend Pamela came over to help me build the tv stand. I was excited to build it since the box was huge and heavy and it was taking up a lot of room in my entryway. The project ended up being harder than expected and there were a few steps that we just couldn’t figure out how to make work. So my dad is going to help me when my parents are here soon. But at least I got most of it built and it’s looking pretty good so far. The cables are a mess for now since I’m waiting until it’s done being built before organizing it, but it’s so much better than my old setup.

But after building it, I had to find a place to put my old tv stand while I work on selling it. I also need to sell my old tv but that is easier to store away for now. I had a few options for where I can put stuff, but I ended up putting the old tv stand in my office for now since the wall where I will eventually have a bookcase murphy bed is still empty. And since I put that in that room a few days ago, it’s made me wonder if I should keep it there for a while since I won’t be getting the murphy bed any time soon. I probably won’t do that since I want to sell things while I can, but it’s interesting to plan for different options that I hadn’t considered before. I’m not used to being able to have multiple options for furniture and it’s kind of fun to imagine what I can do with different things.

I’ve been so used to having to be set into a specific layout and now I feel like my mind has been opened a bit more to what I can pick with the other things I want to buy. I have been looking for new nightstands and a dresser for my room, but I’ve been looking at a lot of the same things over and over again. And now I’m expanding my search a bit more and have had some more interesting and creative ideas of what I could do. Since I don’t need to buy new things immediately and can just keep using what I have for now, I have the freedom to consider more options and I think my search might take a bit longer now that I have started looking at some different possibilities for how I can reorganize my room with new things.

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Posted in Fun Stuff, Shopping

Tagged condo, decorating, home

Another Virtual Therapy Appointment (or Preparing For Potential Changes)

Posted on February 16, 2023 | Comments Off

My therapy appointments have been every 6 months for a long time and ever since the pandemic, they have also been virtual appointments. I did some virtual appointments before the pandemic, but they weren’t every appointment because there was a rule that you had to be seen in person every so often. I’ve been grateful they have been video appointments that I can do from home because that makes them very easy to fit into my work day. I just take my lunch break when my appointment happens so I don’t have to worry about much. If I had to drive in and wait for my appointment time, I might still be able to fit it into a lunch break, but it would be harder to do. So keeping them virtual has worked out perfectly for me.

Because of the timing of when these appointments switched to being every 6 months, my appointments are now around my birthday and half-birthday. And the one this month just happened to fall on Valentine’s Day. I found that kind of funny, but I also didn’t mind having my appointment then since I knew it would be a pretty routine check-in.

And for the most part, it was very routine. My therapist made sure that I was still doing ok in general and I did let her know I was getting over a cold so if I sounded down it was because of that and not my mood. She confirmed I was doing ok on my current dosage of the medication I have been taking for years, which I am. And we discussed the new medication I’ve been taking and how it’s been working for me. She’s happy that I’m seeing success with it but was frustrated for me about the medication shortage. But she agreed that there’s not really anything I can do other than to be patient and pick up my refill as soon as it is available.

After my check-in, my therapist gave me a heads up that the medication she prescribes me might have a shortage soon. For some reason, of all the medications that do similar things, all the doctors at the hospital are switching their patients to the one that I am taking. So there will be a higher demand for it than there was before. We discussed what this shortage could mean for me, but hopefully it won’t affect too much if it happens. And if I have to go a week or so without my medication, I would be able to start back at the same dosage I’m already on and I wouldn’t have to worry about starting at a low dosage and working back up. I won’t need to order my refill for another month or so, so there is a chance there won’t be a shortage when I have my refill in. But she wanted to make sure I knew so I could be prepared.

And she also gave me a heads up that I may have to go to occasional in-person appointments again. My next appointment in August will be virtual, but the one in about a year might have to be in the office. She’s not sure if that will be necessary because the policy is about making sure patients see a doctor in person at least once a year, and I do see other doctors in person on a regular basis. So I might not have to go in for therapy. And a year is a long time from now, so a lot of policies could change in that time. But just like with the medication shortage, she wanted me to be prepared for this potential change and not have it seem sudden or surprise me. I really appreciated that.

That was about it for my therapy appointment. It was simple and easy, just like it’s been for a while now. And I guess I’ll just have to see if I’m affected by this other medication shortage in the next few months and if in the future I’m back to going to in-person appointments again. But maybe nothing will change and my appointment in 6 months will be another boring and routine check-in, which sounds perfect to me!

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Posted in Health

Tagged binge eating, doctor, eating disorder, health issues, mental health

Another Medication Shortage (or I’m Feeling More Calm This Time)

Posted on February 15, 2023 | 1 comment

I’ve recently dealt with a few different medication shortages. I understand if I’m taking something that a lot of other people are taking, this can happen. I don’t understand why the manufacturer didn’t plan for something like this because they should have realized when a medication is approved for something that affects so many people that they would have increased interest. But there are a lot of things about the medical community that I don’t understand and that I believe are done more about profit than healthcare.

Every time I’ve had a medication shortage, it does get resolved in one way or another. Sometimes it means I have to miss a week or so of medication and sometimes the medication is back in stock before I run out so I just have to pick it up at the last minute but I’m not missing a dosage. There’s nothing I can do to change the situation. I order a refill as soon as I can (which is usually a week before I run out) and I pick up my medication when it’s available. Sometimes it’s on time and sometimes it’s not. But I don’t stockpile or do anything else that could make a shortage worse. I just take things as planned.

With my injectable medication, the first time I had experienced a shortage things stressed me out. In the end, my dosage was increased early so I could get a refill sooner, and that brought some other issues for me but in the end, I’m glad that’s how it worked out. But not knowing what was going to happen made me worry and I didn’t know how my body might react when I missed a dose, especially since it was a new medication for me. I don’t know exactly how I reacted since when I started it up again, my dosage was higher and those side effects were intense.

The next shortage I had with that medication ended up not affecting anything because I was able to pick it up right before my next dose was supposed to be so I never missed anything. I was a bit worried about what would happen if I had to take another week off, but I’m glad I didn’t have to experience that. I had no idea how long the shortage would take since all I could find out was that it was out of stock, so it was a big relief when I got the text alert that it was ready for me to pick up and I could go that same day.

I ordered my next refill this past weekend because I knew my last injection with my current pen would be on Monday this week. Originally, the system said it would be available to pick up mid-week, but then I got an alert that they are experiencing another shortage. I have no idea if this shortage will be resolved before I am supposed to take my next dose on Monday or if I’ll end up missing a week again. But for whatever reason, I’m feeling much more relaxed about the situation this time.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve been noticing the medication working more and more. I’m not experiencing as many side effects which is nice too. Even though it is working, I’m not worried about maybe missing a dose. I know that I will pick things back up as soon as I can if I can’t take it this coming Monday and I don’t have any reason to believe that it won’t continue to work. Maybe the stress in the past was because I wasn’t experiencing all of the positive outcomes yet and the stress was also about worrying if this was the right thing for me to take or not. But now, I know I’m doing the right thing and that I will just continue doing it as soon as I’m able to.

I hope that this shortage isn’t something I have to deal with every time I get a refill, but I know it might be like this for a while. The company that makes it hasn’t really increased how much they can make and more and more people are being prescribed this. Fortunately, it’s not a medication that anyone needs to stay alive, but it is something that helps so much and it’s unfortunate when you don’t have that help, even if it’s temporary. But all I can do is continue to try my best with the other things I have been doing and know that as soon as I can get my refill I’ll be back on track with things again.

1 Comment

Posted in Health, Weight Loss

Tagged binge eating, eating disorder, health issues, medication, weight loss

Monthly Archives: February 2023

SAG Awards Time (or I Wish I Had Watched More Movies)

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Still Getting Some Strength Back (or A Pretty Good Workout Week)

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A Long Short Week (or Ready For The Weekend)

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Getting Some Custom Artwork (or Finishing Up More Projects At My Place)

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A Santa Barbara Birthday (or Happy 2nd Birthday Presley!)

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A Mix Of The Old And New Normal (or Waiting To See What Future Union Meetings Will Be Like)

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Getting Back To Working Out (or Recovering And Going Easy)

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Reorganizing My Space (or Enjoying The Possibilities I Have)

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Another Virtual Therapy Appointment (or Preparing For Potential Changes)

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Another Medication Shortage (or I’m Feeling More Calm This Time)

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Monthly Archives: February 2023

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