Posted onApril 14, 2023|Comments Off on And Another Season Of Musicals (or Continuing My LA Tradition)
Seeing musicals at the Pantages has been a tradition for me for several years now. I’ve been so happy every year I’ve gotten season tickets, even if I’m unsure about some of the shows. There have been very few shows that I haven’t enjoyed, and even if I don’t love a show I usually have a great time there and it’s a fun night out. It’s been a great way to have regular hangouts with friends and to feel connected to LA and the entertainment industry.
I’m so glad that I’ve been able to get tickets for the season each year, even if the people I’ve gone with have changed over the years. I wasn’t sure who was going to go with me after my friend Dani moved away from LA, but I’m so happy that my friend Jodi decided to join me for the shows this current season. And we’ve been having a great time getting dinner together before each show and seeing the variety of shows that have been happening this season. It’s one of the few regular things that I did before the pandemic that I continued doing since it reopened.
Every year when they are getting set to announce the next new season, I wonder if it will be a season I want to see. I usually feel pretty certain that I would want season tickets again, but if a season was mainly shows I didn’t want to see or that I’ve seen before and didn’t enjoy, I would probably consider not getting a full season and just getting a couple of shows. And I also have always wondered what the person or people going to shows with me would think as well. I know the tickets aren’t horribly expensive, but they aren’t cheap and it’s not worth the expense if you know you won’t be enjoying the shows. I’m always so happy when it’s worked out for me and I haven’t had to stress too much about what I want to do next.
So when the 2024 season for the Pantages was released about a month ago, I was excited to see that it looked like a pretty fun season.
It’s a 7 show season since we aren’t going to be doing the add-on shows, but that’s a good number and more than what we have in the current season. I checked with Jodi, and she was interested in doing another season as well. So we just renewed our tickets so we are all set for the next season!
In past seasons, once we set up our season we rarely changed things. Sometimes we would have to change the date and we would end up with different seats. But we wouldn’t make plans to change our seats for the same night. But Jodi and I have been having fun finding better seats than what we have in our current season. I think we only will have 1 show out of the 6 this year where we sit in the seats we originally got. And I have a feeling we will be moving our seats around again for the next season. We couldn’t do that when renewing since you have to renew for the same seats each year, but it’s simple for us to change them online whenever we have time to see what our options are. And once the regular ticket sales are open, then we can see where we can move around to for each show. We don’t really care if we sit on the same side or in the same section from show to show, so that gives us a lot of flexibility to get better seats.
I’m so happy that I’m continuing this tradition since it has brought me so much joy over the years. And I’m so glad that I also will be having a lot of fun nights out with a friend already planned for 2024!
Posted onApril 13, 2023|Comments Off on Creating Another LA List (or Really Trying To Find Things To Do)
I have gone on some really interesting and creative dates over the last several years, but most of the dates I go on have ended up being at the same few locations. It’s fine with me that those first dates are somewhere that I’m comfortable and feel safe, but it can also be a bit of a rut. And this rut isn’t just with my dating life, in my regular life I seem to go to the same places or eat at the same restaurants. It’s not a horrible thing to have this type of rut, but it also can feel sometimes that I’m not taking advantage of the amazing city that I live in.
I recently went on a few dates with a guy who moved to LA at the end of last year, so most things in the city were new to him. We had some really fun phone calls between dates making a list of places that would be fun dates. They weren’t necessarily anything extravagant, one of them was going to a rooftop movie venue, but most of the things on the list were things that I wouldn’t normally think of when I’m thinking of something to do. There were some places that were new to me and some that I had been to before. But they were all things that I was excited to go to.
I’m not seeing that guy anymore, but the idea of the list that we had made has stuck in my brain. I didn’t keep the list that he and I made, so I don’t have all the places we thought of, but I realized that I should make one of my own. I think some places could be good for both dates and hanging out with friends, but I also want to see if I can think of some places that would be better for one thing or another.
This isn’t the first time I’ve had an idea to do something like this, but I haven’t really been good at checking things off of a list that I create. But I think the dates that I went on pushed me to realize how much fun I could have if I make more of an effort to go to places and not just do the same things that I always do. I also feel like there is a sense of LA feeling new to me again since I have been staying home for so long. I know that not everything is safe and I do still have some hesitation as I’ve had for a while, but I also have noticed that as I push myself a bit more I’m getting more comfortable as well. It’s been all about finding a balance between what is fun and what is safe for these last few years, and I think I’ve probably been too timid to push that balance until recently. I don’t regret doing that because I’m very grateful that I haven’t gotten sick, but it’s too easy to stay in this rut.
I also know that I need to push myself to go and hang out with friends more than I do right now. That’s also still a struggle and it’s also tough with how many people have moved away from LA. But I’ve been doing better at making sure I spend time with the friends I do have here and it’s been so nice to take friends who became more like acquaintances into friends again. I know that I will miss my friends who aren’t here, especially when I do something that I would have done with them before. But I’m working on appreciating the people who are still local and also making new friends when I can.
The list that I am working on is just a draft email right now. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s something I can look at when I’m trying to make plans to do something. And it’s not something that has a deadline of when I want to get all of them accomplished, I just want a list that is a reminder of all the amazing things I can go out to do when I am looking for something different from the usual things I do. And hopefully, between friends and dates, I will get more fun things added to the list that I will get to experience with others in the near future.
Posted onApril 12, 2023|Comments Off on Busier Work Days (or Continuing To Take On More Responsibility)
Since I started my main day job in December 2020, a lot of my job has changed. I started part-time and moved into full-time. I started with solely doing direct client communication and slowly shifted into spending a few hours each day with direct communication and then the rest of the time doing other projects and tasks. And eventually, that shifted into no direct client communication outside of very specific messages I sent and almost completely focusing on projects.
Most of the projects I’ve focused on have been regarding managing our client records. This has a lot of different components to it, but I do tracking for clients from the time they sign up until the time they cancel. And there are a lot of things to track during that time and I feel like what we track has only increased recently. This might be because before this was my main focus, nobody had the time to do this work. So it’s something that we probably needed to do for a while but never had the ability to do. Some of these tasks can take a lot of time because I’m going back through a few years of past data to update our systems, but I know it will be worth it for us as a company when it’s done. And once I finish the old data, it will be pretty easy to update each month going forward.
Earlier this year, my manager reached out to me to let me know that they wanted to add some additional responsibilities to my role. This process has taken a bit longer to get set up than expected due to some unexpected things with work that took up more time, but it’s finally starting to be in the works. I’ve had a few training sessions to learn the new tasks I will be taking over, but the work won’t be my responsibility for another month or so. I also will be taking over a few other tasks that a co-worker was doing before but they have left the company. Many of those tasks were things we were working on together, so it’s not a huge change for me other than I’ll be working on them alone.
I remember pre-pandemic when my main job was my box office job and I would spend a lot of time reading or doing other things while I waited for the phone to ring. I know it sounds weird to be doing other things while I’m being paid for work. But I could work a 7-hour shift and only have a handful of calls. So there would be several hours where I was doing nothing and I needed to do something to fill my time. And yes, it was nice to get paid to essentially do nothing at times, but I did get bored quite often. I don’t think a lot of people realize how boring it is to just sit and stare at a screen all day and not really do much.
And now, I’m pretty busy for the entire time that I’m working at my main job. It can get hectic and I have to balance a bunch of projects at once sometimes, but at least I have something that is taking up my day each day. Time does go by faster when I’m busy, so that is nice. I don’t have as much time to do silly things as I did before, but that’s ok. I know I’m still very lucky with my job because I get to work from home and I don’t have a lot of issues that many of my other friends have said their jobs have. I work with people who understand this is a day job and not my entire life. If I have an audition or something else that is a conflict, it’s not a big deal like it’s been at other jobs. And even with my new, busier schedule, I don’t think it’s overwhelmingly busy. I do get stressed when there are a lot of things that need to be done at the same time, but it also isn’t life or death if I have to ask for an extension.
I’m sure I’ll figure out a new groove with work once I fully take on these new tasks and I’ll have some days that are crazier than others. But I’m excited to be continuing to work my way up at this job and have more opportunities to do some good work. Even with it just being a day job, I do take pride in what I do and make sure I do the best of my ability. And I’ll have more chances to do that now and to make sure that I make my mark with the company.
Posted onApril 11, 2023|Comments Off on Finally Meeting An Online Friend (or An After Work Ice Cream Outing)
Even though I have had my Movie Club group for over 3 years now, I’ve never met any of the women from the group in person. A few of us in the group have gotten close over the last few years and have a text group together, but I’ve never seen them outside of a screen. Most of the women from that text group got together about a year ago when they all met up, but because they are all on the east coast and it was really difficult for me to travel there and find an affordable flight, I had to miss out. It was tough being left out of that mini-vacation, but I knew that it wouldn’t have been the right choice to miss work and spend a huge amount of money on just a weekend trip. We’ve talked about having another group trip, but as things have been opening up more and everyone has gotten busier, it’s harder to organize.
I’ve had some conversations with some of the group one on one about them coming out to LA. Again, it’s not easy to plan trips when everyone is so busy. But one person in the group might need to be out here for work, so that could be a possibility for meeting up. And another member of the group has a brother who lives only a few blocks away from me, so we had said the next time she was here we should meet up. And finally, she was going to be in LA for a very quick time so we were able to make some plans.
We had to work around some family things she already had scheduled and the limited time she was going to be here, but we made it work to meet up for an hour or so when I was done with work last week. Since she was staying with her brother and was only a few blocks from me, we met up by the Culver Steps since that was easy for both of us to get to. She had dinner plans after we met, so we met up for some ice cream as a pre-dinner treat. And it happened to be a place I had a gift card for from work, so it was a free treat for both of us!
In a weird way, it reminded me of meeting someone from a dating app. It was in a location where I tend to do a lot of dates and I was meeting someone who I had only known virtually. But since we’ve been texting and talking for years (compared to dating apps where it’s usually only a few days), there was no weirdness when we finally met in real life. It felt like we’ve known each other forever and not that we only knew each other for the past 3 years.
It was so awesome to be face-to-face and hang out. It was a quick hangout and we were talking about the same things that we talk about via text, but it was so nice to have the hangout feel so normal. It’s crazy to think how the women in our text group have become some of my closest friends and I really have never met them. But I think a lot of us learned through the pandemic how friendships can be formed in unique ways. And making friends as an adult is hard enough, so I’m always open to however I can make new friends.
We weren’t able to sit and chat too long before we both had to get to what we had to do that evening, but even having an hour of face-to-face time with a friend helps me feel much more involved in the world. I’ve said so many times how I’ve become more isolated and how I want to work on being out and about more. This quick hangout accomplished that plus it allowed me to finally meet a friend that I’ve known for years but have never seen.
Hopefully, some more of the women in the text group will be able to make it out to LA in the near future so I can get to know more of them in real life. But even if that doesn’t happen soon, I’m so grateful that I at least have had some face time with one person from the group now.
Posted onApril 10, 2023|Comments Off on An Expected Bad Week (or Just Trying To Stay Motivated)
I knew going into this past week of workouts that it was going to be a hard week for me. I sometimes am grateful that I know when pain and nausea are going to affect me, but it doesn’t make it easier to deal with. And sometimes when I take all the medications I have, it doesn’t help so it’s just frustrating. I had some mornings when my medications helped a bit and some when there was no difference in how I felt. And for the entire week, I just had to push myself to keep going and not give up.
Monday was probably the worst morning of the week for me. We had a sub coaching our class and I think I worried him a bit because he asked me how I was doing and then he sent in the front desk staff to see if I needed help. I probably should have explained that I’m used to feeling this horrible in class and it’s unfortunately normal for me. But I did appreciate the concern.
We had 3 blocks for cardio. The first block had 2 rounds of a 1-minute push pace and a 30-second base pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. The second block had 1-minute intervals with increasing speed for a total of 4 minutes. And the last block had a 3-minute push pace with a 1-minute all-out at the end. Even with how bad I was feeling, I was happy with what I did on the bike, especially in the last block. I did my normal push pace resistance level for the 3 minutes and didn’t feel that much worse than normal.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks. Each block had a specific distance to row and an exercise to do between each row. The first block was a 200-meter row and back-and-forth hops, which I did as quick steps. The second block was a 150-meter row and side-to-side steps. And the last block was a 100-meter row and twisting hops, which I did as squats. The nausea was really hitting me hard on the rower so I had to take a lot of breaks during each block and a few times in the middle of a row.
And on the floor, each of the 3 blocks had 2 exercises. We had lunges, plank jacks, single-arm clean-to-press, plank shoulder taps, single-arm snatches, and hip bridges. It wasn’t the worst set of floor blocks for me, but it wasn’t that great either. I did a lot of modifications, mainly for the plank work. And fortunately, there wasn’t a lot of work that needed to use weights so I didn’t have to worry too much about trying to go heavy.
I wasn’t feeling that much better on Tuesday, but it wasn’t as bad as Monday was. The medication I took did take the edge off of things for me, but I still struggled. But I was glad that at least things were a little easier for me.
We had 4 cardio blocks. The first and last blocks were the same with 30-second push paces and 45-second base paces with a 30-second all-out at the end. The second block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 45-second recovery. And the third block had rounds of a 30-second all-out and a 1-minute recovery. The shorter intervals helped me not feel as horrible on the bike and I was able to take fewer breaks.
On the rower, we had 3 blocks. The first and third blocks were timed with cardio so we had push rows and base rows. And for the second block, we had stroke drills for 15 strokes on the rower with halos using a medicine ball between each row. I felt a lot better about the second block than the other blocks since the rowing was a lot shorter, but I tried my best with the longer blocks knowing that I do have more rowing endurance than I think I do.
And on the floor, we had one long block. We had 4 exercises on the straps and 2 using weights. On the straps, we had chest presses, high rows, tricep extensions, and y-raises. And with weights, we had lateral lunges and regular lunges. I did skip using weights for the lunges since it’s always a balance issue for me, but I was very happy that I didn’t have to modify anything else for the floor.
Wednesday’s workout was a new themed workout. This one was a playlist designed by a woman who posts treadmill playlists on TikTok. The idea of her playlists is that you want to match the beat of the music to your steps for each song. I had seen her playlists before on TikTok, so I was curious to see how it worked for class.
For cardio, we had one long block with 45-second intervals. There were 20 intervals total and every 45 seconds you were supposed to increase the incline on the treadmill for the first half and decrease the incline for the second half. And everyone on the treadmill was a power walker instead of having some people running. For the bike, it was the same idea but with changing the resistance level. I tried to match my pedaling cadence to the beat of the music, but there were times when we were at the top of the hill when I was using resistance levels I almost never use that had me pedaling very slowly.
On the rower, it was also one block. We started with a 100-meter row with high knees after the row. We went up 100 meters each time until we got to a 500-meter row and then we went down by 100 meters each time. I did the high knees as marching steps as I normally do, but between those taking longer than normal high knees and the breaks I had to take in the rowing, I didn’t get past the 500-meter row to start working down again. I wasn’t expecting to do much better than that, so I was ok with only getting half the row distances completed.
And we also had one block on the floor. Almost everything was with weights, and I used the normal weights I use instead of trying to go heavier. But considering how I was feeling, that was ok with me. We had reverse grip low rows, squats, arnold presses, deadlifts, and bicycle crunches. Only the bicycle crunches were without weights. And for the last minute of class, we had squats to arnold presses, which was not an easy combination for me.
Thursday was the day I felt the best and mainly just felt a bit off instead of feeling super sick. The nausea wasn’t too bad, but I did have some pretty extreme cramps that hit me throughout the workout. But I just took a break when I had cramps and waited them out before continuing on with the workout.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks that were identical. We did a 3-minute push pace and a 1-minute all-out. I did my new normal resistance levels for the bike for every block. It was a bit hard in the last block to keep going and I debated lowering the resistance level a bit, but I’m glad that I didn’t do that and pushed through.
On the rower, we also had 3 identical blocks. And the goal was to get further in each block. We had a 200-meter row followed by foot exchanges and squats before getting back on the rower and rowing until the end of the block. I was surprised to see that I did get further every block and I had a pretty significant increase between the first and third blocks. I think it was more about getting the exercises done quickly and less about my rowing, but I was happy no matter what the reason.
And on the floor, we had one block with 2 mini-blocks in it. We were supposed to do each mini-block twice before moving on to the other one. The first mini-block had close-grip chest presses, leg raises on the bench, and hip hinge swings. And the second mini-block had sumo squats to upright rows, rollouts on the straps, and step-ups (which I did as lunges). I had to modify the leg raises to be single-leg because they were hurting my hips too much. And when I was starting with the second mini-block, I didn’t have a lot of time so I didn’t do the sumo squats to upright rows to get through the other exercises first. The floor might not have been as great as the other sections of the room, but it was still pretty good considering how the rest of the week had gone for me.
I am glad that I probably am done with the worst of the pain and nausea for this month. I might have a little bit more for the first few days of this week, but it shouldn’t be as bad as what I dealt with last week. And before I know it, I should be feeling normal again so I can try to push myself without having issues stopping me from really going for it.
Posted onApril 7, 2023|Comments Off on One Busy Week And One Unscheduled Week (or I Guess This Is Balance)
Last week for me was a bit of a busy week. I had some really funthings that I got to do and I was around a lot of people. It felt like a week I would have had before the pandemic. And I was surprised that I wasn’t feeling burnout after being so social since that’s something I’ve experienced before. I was just living my life and loving having things to do and being around others. But I guess my new way of balancing is having one week on and one week off because this week has been the exact opposite.
I knew this week might be a tough one for me because I was expecting to have my pain and nausea kick in. And it did do that right after I got home from Santa Barbara (I was so glad that I wasn’t feeling horrible while I was with my family). And this month, it has been extremely bad. I have been taking all the medications that I have available and it hasn’t been taking the edge off. I’ve been working a lot from my bed because it’s uncomfortable to sit up at my desk for too long. And I’ve been using my heat pad so much that I’ve been turning on my air conditioning even though it’s not hot out, I’m just getting overheated from having the heating pad on me for so many hours in the day.
I’m glad I didn’t have anything really scheduled for this week because I just wouldn’t have been up for doing it. And I’ve also been exhausted so I would probably be tired if I were doing something and not enjoying it the way I should. As much as I’ve been trying to get enough sleep each night, I’m not sleeping well and I can see that in the app I use to track my sleep. I’m tossing and turning all night and I feel like I’m dragging all day. It’s not that I’m going to bed too late, I’m just not sleeping when I should be.
I know that this week is not necessarily normal for me. I also know that every month I can have a week or two like this. It’s always just frustrating and annoying when they are as bad as this week has been so far. I don’t have a lot of motivation to do stuff, so I have to put my focus on doing things that I have to do like working. But anything outside of my required things each day seems like too much effort. I’m trying to not be upset with myself for acting like this because clearly, my body has needed this week to not be a social one. But when I was so happy last week with how being out in the world again made me feel, this can feel a bit depressing.
I don’t have any plans for this weekend yet, but I also don’t want to make any plans until I know how I feel. I might need this weekend to rest and relax or I might be craving being social again and will make plans at that point. It’s so hard to know what I’ll want to do when I don’t know how I’ll be feeling. And I also worry because I could be feeling ok one moment and then I start experiencing really bad nausea again. So it can be better to lay low instead of making plans and having to cancel them. And hopefully, it won’t be that much longer before I feel ok again and I can get back to trying to make some fun plans.
Posted onApril 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)
When I went to Santa Barbara for my niece’s birthday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be making it back up there for my nephew’s birthday a few weeks later. His birthday was going to be on a weekday and I knew my brother and his family were going to be out of town right before his birthday. So I thought his party might be on a weekday, which would mean I would have to miss it. But after I was in Santa Barbara in February, I found out the party would be the Sunday before his birthday so I would be able to go!
So this past Sunday, I made the drive up to Santa Barbara for the day as I have done so many times before. It’s not a horribly long drive, but with some traffic and road construction it was about 2 hours for me to get there. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that I’d be driving up so I had a bunch of podcasts saved so I could be entertained on my drive.
I knew the party would be pretty low-key since my nephew was turning 3 and he doesn’t have a ton of friends yet. And I appreciated that it wouldn’t be a huge party full of people I didn’t know. It ended up being my family, my sister-in-law’s family, and 2 of my nephew’s friends from preschool. And they set up the bounce house I got my niece and nephew again for the party, so it was fun seeing all the kids having fun on it (and knowing that it was a good gift since not all of the gifts I’ve gotten them have been hits).
Since my nephew was busy playing with his friends, I spent most of my time at the party with my family and my sister-in-law’s parents. Even though I had seen them all a few weeks earlier at my niece’s party, there was plenty to catch up on. And I didn’t realize my sister-in-law’s mom hadn’t seen all the photos from my condo remodel, so I was showing her those and sharing what we did for the renovation and how it’s been since I moved in almost a year ago.
Everything about the party was casual and chill. They had a taco bar for lunch and I was eating outside with my parents (which was much quieter than being inside). And instead of a cake, they had cupcakes. My nephew loves garbage trucks so the cupcakes were decorated with little trucks.
And both my niece and nephew loved them, but I think my niece had a bit more fun making a mess out of the frosting and seeing how crazy she could get.
After cupcakes, the party was winding down. My parents had the dog with them, but he wasn’t able to be inside for the party so I was hanging out with my parents in the driveway so I could also spend a little time with Tucker. We mainly were just sitting in the front of the house for that, but it was still nice to see the dog since I don’t get to see him too often. And after my niece and nephew went down for their naps, my brother and sister-in-law hung out with us for a little bit before we all said goodbye.
I know I could have stayed a little longer if I wanted to and continued to hang out with my parents at their rental house, but I wanted to get home before it was too late. I know that going back on Sunday evenings can be crazy, and I wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible. Even though I didn’t leave that late, it still took me almost twice as long as normal to get home. But that’s ok since it was worth it to get to have some time with my family. I know that isn’t as easy for everyone to do as it is for me, so I like to take advantage of it whenever I can.
I’m not sure when my next trip to Santa Barbara will be, but I’m sure that there will be another day up there at some point soon. I usually plan them around when my parents are there, so I’ll just have to wait until they plan their next trip. And even with this trip up there being short, I’m glad it was still full of family time and it was on a day that I could make it.
I haven’t been going out every night, but I feel like I’ve been getting out more and more and I’m feeling less anxious about it. There are still some things that make me a bit hesitant or that I don’t know if I’m fully comfortable with, but I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to find things that have been fun and feel safe. And last week, I had another adventure that really was awesome.
I was supposed to go on a date to an outdoor rooftop movie thing, but the day before the venue emailed saying they had to cancel the event. They didn’t say why, but it wasn’t a weather thing. But the guy I was supposed to go out with and I still wanted to meet up so we tried to think of something fun to go do. We both thought about it during the day and we said we’d have a phone call after work to figure out our plan. And while I was trying to be inspired and think of fun ideas, I saw something online about how that day was the opening day for the Dodgers, and the next day there would be another game. I looked online at the tickets, and there were quite a few seats left and they weren’t horribly priced. So I added that to my list to discuss when we had our call. And we decided that going to the game would be something fun and since it was outside it would feel a bit safer than being inside with a lot of people.
I haven’t been to too many professional baseball games and it had been several years since the last time I went to see the Dodgers, but I always have fun when I go to the games. As I explain to people who ask me if I like to watch sports, I don’t really care about sports but I love enthusiasm. I think it’s a similar feeling to going to a musical with experiencing something with a group of people who are really excited to be there. And of all sports, I think baseball is probably the one I enjoy watching in person the most. At least I seem to understand the game the most.
When we looked at the ticket options online that evening, I was showing him the options for cheap seats. But he wanted to spend a little more so we could sit a bit closer to the game. I didn’t mind spending a bit more, and the tickets weren’t too expensive. And it ended up not mattering much because he bought the tickets and then didn’t let me pay him back.
The game was an evening game after work, and we got there a little after the game started due to traffic. We got a pretty good parking spot and were in the stadium quickly. We decided to get food before going to our seats but wanted to make sure we knew where our seats were first. And I guess I didn’t quite understand the seating chart because we were much closer to the field than I thought! I thought we were one level higher, but we were so close to the game and really could see the action!
I kept saying how I was so surprised at how close we were because it was just amazing to not be sitting far away. I usually am sitting in the outfield or much higher up. This felt like such a change from how I’ve experienced baseball games in the past.
The game was really fast, partially because of the new pitch clock and partially because there were no runs until almost the end of the game. There was one home run by the Dodgers and the energy of the crowd was truly electric. It was a moment that made me so grateful to be in that crowd that night and reminded me how much I love experiencing events like this.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost the game that night. But it was still fun to watch. And most games have some special thing happening, such as a giveaway or fireworks. And after this game, there was a drone show. I’ve seen drone shows on tv before, but never in person. And it was really neat seeing all the different formations they made in the sky above the stadium.
I know I’ve said this before, but I need to be better about doing things like this. Not just for dates that I go on, but with my friends as well. It would be pretty easy to organize going to a game with a friend or two and I think I’ll try to do that sometime this season. It doesn’t have to be too expensive to go if we sit up high and it can be a really nice way to spend an afternoon or evening. And even if we aren’t paying a lot of attention to the game, the energy there is great to be a part of and really helped me feel more connected to my city and others again.
Posted onApril 4, 2023|Comments Off on Strength and Savings (or Picking A New Monthly Challenge I Know I Need To Do)
Happy April! I feel like March both flew by and took a long time and it also felt like more than one month with many things happening in my life. It wasn’t the craziest month of my life but the craziest month I feel like I’ve had in a long time. Â While it wasn’t all good things, it was nice that a lot of them were positive and reminded me more of what my life used to be like. And I’m proud of myself for not letting a bit of craziness get in the way of my monthly challenge.
I think I really needed the challenge I set for last month, which was to try to make some improvements in my workouts. I know that I have been wanting to do that for a while, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. But wanting to do it and needing to do it finally came together in March and I really think I found a way to try to get this done. I didn’t make all the improvements that I had hoped to, but I found ways to test myself and to try to see what I could do. I didn’t focus as much on improving on the bike, but I think I was able to get more comfortable with my new resistance levels. On the rower, I focused on things other than how fast I could row and I know I saw a lot of improvements doing that, including having faster rowing times. I think I’m going to continue focusing on things that aren’t how long it will take me to row a distance and I should hopefully continue to see results that include faster rows. And on the floor, I didn’t really get to use heavier weights like I wanted to, but I tried. I know that as I continue to try, eventually I’ll be ready for those heavier weights. But it will take me a bit longer than a month to get that accomplished.
Considering that I had a month, I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish but even more proud that I have decided to continue with some of the plans I created in March to see more progress moving forward. I know that I might not see the results in the next month or two and it could take longer, but at least I know I’ll be working toward them.
And for my April challenge, I’ve thought of something that combines a few different things that I know I’ve been trying to work on. My challenge this month is to significantly reduce my food waste. When I go to the grocery store, I always have the best intentions with the things I buy. But far too often, I don’t use up what I get or they expire before I use them. I hate when I’m cleaning my fridge and discover things I forgot about or that have spoiled. And it’s frustrating to have to throw out things because I hate wasting money as well as food.
Reducing my food waste will require me to be much more aware when I go grocery shopping. I also think I might need to get back to how I was shopping before the pandemic when I usually went to the store to get things only for the next few days instead of trying to get everything for the week at one time. I might buy something on Sunday thinking I want it but by Friday I really don’t want to have to make it. So if I’m shopping more often, then I can focus on what I want for that day or the next and not what I might want a week away.
I also will need to make sure that I’m eating at home or from things I made more. I’ve been getting much better about this and don’t order in that often anymore, but I also know I can be better. This might mean I need more easy meals as options, so when I went to the store most recently I made sure that I got more frozen meals as options so I could make a quick dinner if I don’t feel like cooking. I also want to get back into using my food saver to freeze things so I can make things on my own and have them as frozen meals, but that’s not something I want to do in bulk and just do it as I have things to save.
There are some things I’m allowing myself to not feel too guilty about with this challenge. There are some things I buy that I just can’t use up fast enough before it expires. For example, I don’t use mayonnaise that often, but I do use it sometimes. So I bought the smallest container of it months ago and I’m only about halfway through the container and it expired last week. I also won’t be forcing myself to eat everything on my plate if I make something and realize I don’t have the ability to finish it. That will mainly be something to worry about if I’m making a frozen meal since something I cook myself will be my own portion sizes and I normally serve myself less than I think I’ll want and get more if I’m still hungry.
I don’t have a goal of being zero waste or eliminating all my food waste, but I also know that there is a lot of improvement I can see in this aspect of my life. And I hope that by the end of this month, I feel like I’m not wasting as much food or money so I can know I’ve made a difference.
Posted onApril 3, 2023|Comments Off on A Bit Of A Recovery Week (or Easier Workouts To Deal With Pain)
After completing the Dri-Tri, I knew this past week of workouts might be a bit tough for me. I’m usually a bit sore after a Dri-Tri, but I also pushed myself more than normal so I knew I might be sorer than expected. I also had a few other things working against me this past week. I knew my pain and nausea could kick in and the weather predicted some rain. All of those can affect my workouts, and the result was that the entire week was a bit of a recovery week where I had to go easier than I would have liked to.
I knew Monday could be one of the toughest days for me, so I didn’t really push myself at all. I went easy from the beginning of the workout, and I think that was the smartest move for me to make because it helped me not get too sore during the workout.
For cardio, the first 3 blocks were all the same. We had a 3-minute push pace with a 45-second recovery after each one. The last block was a 2 1/2-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out which was a bit harder. I used my new normal resistance levels for all the blocks, I just pedaled slower than normal to make it easier.
On the rower, for blocks 1 and 3 we had a 3-minute push row. And in blocks 2 and 4, we did rounds of 150-meter rows with foot exchanges between each row. Even though I just did a much longer row for the Dri-Tri, those 3-minute rows felt really hard. I think it was just being tired and sore, but I did need to take breaks during those rows. I did better on the short rows, but I didn’t really row as quickly as I normally do for sprint rows even though I tried.
And on the floor, in blocks 1 and 3 we had timed exercises. We did 1 minute of lunges, 1 minute of bicep curls to upper cuts, and 1 minute of squat jumps. And in blocks 2 and 4, we had plank punches and scissor kicks. The timed exercises were really hard, but I modified things when necessary and tried to keep those to a minimum. But even with the modifications, I think the floor was the best for me in this workout.
I was less sore from the Dri-Tri on Tuesday, but I also wasn’t fully recovered so I still went easy but tried to go a bit harder than I did the day before. There were a few moments I worried I was doing too much, but I was happy with what I was able to get done.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks and they all had the same format. We had 2 rounds of a 30-second base pace at an incline followed by a 75-second base pace with no incline with a 30-second all-out with an incline at the end. The incline/resistance level went down each block, so that helped me to go a bit harder as the workout went on. And I did increase my resistance level above my all-out level for the highest incline to make it a bit harder for me.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks that all had stroke drills followed by exercises. The first block had 15 stroke drills, the second block had 12 stroke drills, and the last block had 10 stroke drills. The exercise for the first block was lunges, the second block had deadlifts to low rows with a mini-band, and the last block had low rows to hammer curls with a mini-band. Since all the rows were pretty short, I did a lot better than Monday. And I feel like stroke drills are some of my strongest rows since I have a lot of patience, so I was happy to work on them.
And on the floor, we focused on doing work on one side at a time. We had lunges, single-arm low rows, single-arm cleans, single-arm shoulder presses, and side plank crunches. It wasn’t easy doing one side at a time since I know that I can tire out quickly, but I allowed myself to go a little lighter with the weights I used so I was better than expected and didn’t have a sloppy form for any of the exercises.
On Wednesday, I was mainly dealing with pain in my hips due to the rain, so that was what was affecting my workouts instead of soreness from the Dri-Tri. But that is a bit easier to manage, so I was able to do a bit more again.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 1-minute push pace followed by a 30-second base pace. We did 3 rounds of this pattern but the push pace got 15 seconds shorter and the base pace got 15 seconds longer each time. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 45-second all-out with increasing recoveries between each one. I was able to go a bit harder in the second block compared to the first, but I was doing better than I had for the first two workouts of the week.
On the rower, we started with a 1000-meter row. After the row, we had halos, tricep extensions, and presses with a medicine ball. Then we had 2 rounds doing 500-meter rows with the same exercises. Just like earlier in the week, I knew I had done a longer row over the weekend for the Dri-Tri, but this row was just challenging for me. I was going slower than I would have liked and I took breaks. Maybe the adrenaline from the Dri-Tri allows me to do more with my rowing than I normally can do, but I want to keep getting better with my endurance rows. This workout just wasn’t a great example of that for me.
And on the floor, we had one long block. We had skater lunges, pop jacks, upright rows on the straps, single-arm snatches, woodchoppers, and plank shoulder taps. It was a lot of work, and I think by the time I got to the floor I was getting a bit burnt out. I was going slowly, but I tried. And toward the end of the floor time, I just focused on the exercises that weren’t hurting me as much so I skipped the lunges and pop jacks.
Thursday was a similar day to Wednesday as far as pain goes. It was mainly in my hips due to the rain. I was a bit shocked that I hadn’t really experienced any pain or nausea during the week, but that might have been masked by the other things affecting me during the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace followed by a base pace with an all-out at the end. And the second block was about the same length as the first one, but we went at our own pace and just tried to beat the distance from the first block. For that second block, I set my resistance level a little higher than my base pace but lower than my old push pace. I just tried to keep my cadence steady for the entire time and I was very happy with how well I did. When I did the Dri-Tri, I was worried about setting the resistance level too high, but this proved to me that I might have underestimated myself.
On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 20 stroke drill. Then we looked at the distance and tried to get to that distance in fewer strokes. After those rows, we had lunges and then repeated the pattern. The second block was similar but we had a 15 stroke drill and bicep curls with the medicine ball between the rows. I was very happy that I was always able to beat the number of strokes for the distance in both blocks.
And we also had 2 blocks on the floor. In the first block, we started with neutral grip thrusters to rotations and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raises). After 3 rounds of those, we had sit-ups and back extensions but because I was moving a bit slowly I only got to the sit-ups. For the second block, we had skier swings, push-ups (which I did as chest presses on the straps), and balance bicep curls. And after 3 rounds of those we had crunches and leg lifts. I got more done in the second block, but I think that was a bit random because I was still moving slowly.
I wasn’t really expecting the entire week to be a bit of a recovery week for me, but I guess that’s what my body needed to do. And this week might be similar since it’s very likely that my pain and nausea will kick in, especially since it didn’t happen this past week. But maybe I’ll surprise myself and things will be better than I expect since this past week was a bit worse than I expected.
Kicking Off Another Season Of Musicals (or A Really Impressive Start To The Season)
