Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Finally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July)

Posted on July 7, 2021 | Comments Off on Finally Seeing Some Friends (or Having An Almost Normal 4th Of July)

My 4th of July in 2020 was so unusual for me. I normally am with my friends, and last year we couldn’t do it. I think we had all hoped that life would be normal by then (I miss how innocent we all were when we thought the pandemic could be over by then), but there was no safe way for us to be together. And as much as I missed everyone, I’m glad we were able to be safe and make sure nobody got sick. I think I’m pretty lucky with my friend group. So many of us were at higher risk and very few people got sick. But I know that’s because we were taking so many precautions.

And even though things are better this year, I think we all agreed that having a big hangout wasn’t the right choice. As much as I would have loved going to a big party, I’m glad I didn’t have to turn it down because it would have been hard to not see my friends and celebrate with everyone. I know most of us are vaccinated, but not everyone has been (such as the kids of my friends), so we are just going to have to be safer for a bit longer. But that just means when we are all finally together again for a big party, we will be celebrating even more. I’m trying to be hopeful for Halloween this year.

Since I wasn’t going to go to my usual big party again this year on the 4th, I had to figure out what to do. And this year, I didn’t really do anything on the 4th. I had a few things I had to do around my house, but I took advantage of having a day off and just relaxing. I needed that little break and I didn’t even go out to watch fireworks. I had gotten comfortable at home and didn’t feel like leaving to deal with crowds (especially when I can’t trust everyone will be either vaccinated or wearing a mask). So the actual 4th was a bit of a bust compared to the past, but that was ok because I had my little celebration on the 3rd instead.

I was able to join some friends for a small gathering at their house. We were outside almost the entire time, everyone attending has been vaccinated for at least a month, and we were all people who do take other precautions when we are out in public. While staying home alone is probably the safest option, this was one of the safest ways I could see some of my friends.

This was actually the largest group of friends I had been able to see since the pandemic started. And I was afraid I’d be crying in happiness to see everyone, especially since I hadn’t seen any of them since the beginning of 2020. But I managed to hold it together and I was able to enjoy a night that felt so normal to me.

I don’t really have photos from that night because we were all focused on spending time together. Seeing friends on a screen is so different from seeing each other in person. And taking photos would have taken away from the in-person time we had together. So while I wish I had some photos of celebrating seeing my friends again, I’m just so happy that I got to see them and spend time reconnecting with people who I have missed for so long!

I know that I am lucky that I was able to see some of my friends and feel safe. Not everyone has friends who have been vaccinated or able to feel this safe around others. And it has taken a long time for things to get to this point with me and my friends. But I am hoping that this is just the beginning of my in-person hangouts with more and more people as things are a bit safer for those of us who have had the vaccine. I wish things would just be normal again and we didn’t have to worry about this, but I know that we are getting there and soon it won’t be a worry. We’ve made it this long, we can keep being careful for a little bit longer.

And yes, I know we had a 3 day weekend for the 4th of July. I’ll be sharing the unexpected thing I got to do on Monday in tomorrow’s post!

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Default Thumbnail4th Of July On The 1st (or Another Awesome Party With Friends) Default ThumbnailFabulous 4th Of July (or Fireworks!) Default Thumbnail4th Of July Weekend (or An Early Holiday) Default Thumbnail4th Of July (or Hot Dogs, Fireworks, And Rooftops) Default ThumbnailNot My Typically 4th Of July (or Taking Advantage Of A Day Off) Default ThumbnailHave A Low-Key 4th (or Friends, Fries, and Fireworks)

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Being Organized and Stylish (or Working On Getting Into A Post-Pandemic Life)

Posted on July 1, 2021 | Comments Off on Being Organized and Stylish (or Working On Getting Into A Post-Pandemic Life)

Happy July! 2021 is officially half over! And half my monthly challenges for the year are done as well. I haven’t done really well with my monthly challenges, but it’s also been a tough first half of the year for me. Things are getting better for me, so hopefully the challenges will as well. But I also have been picking challenges that I know might take me longer than just a month.

For June, I had a challenge to work on organizing my desk. This was a project that I have been putting off for a while and I knew it needed to be done. My desk has been very messy for a long time and I got lazy with keeping it organized when my work life was in flux. I was storing a lot of paperwork that I might need or used to need and wasn’t too worried about keeping my workspace clean and easy to find everything. But as I started to work more and more, the piles were making my workspace cluttered and I wasted time looking for things.

While this challenge can’t be considered complete, I have made a lot of steps in the right direction and have more work I plan on doing. I have to do a big overhaul of my filing cabinet and storage and it takes time to go through everything I have in there and decide what to keep. I also have been working on scanning paperwork that I want to keep but don’t need the originals. This is a big project and I knew that going into it, but I’m seeing lots of progress and I know it will continue to be worked on. Hopefully soon, I’ll have the nice and clean workspace that I dream of.

And for July, my challenge is all about being out and about in the world again. I tend to wear a lot of comfortable clothes. When working at home, you don’t need to dress cute and I would prefer to be comfortable. And when I wasn’t going out for anything, staying in comfortable clothes all the time became the norm. But as I am going out and doing things more and more, I want to find ways to feel cute and stylish again.

This doesn’t necessarily mean I need to buy a ton of new clothes. I will buy a few new things, but I’m working on being a bit picky and making sure they are really what I want. But I have plenty of clothes that I could wear, I just am out of the habit of putting together outfits. And I want to take more risks with style a bit. For a long time, I dressed to hide my body. I don’t know if that made me think I was hiding my size and shape or it was just a lack of confidence. But I’ve realized that there’s no point in me doing that. I want to feel cute and if someone sees what I really look like then they do. A good example of a risk (that seems like a very nothing risk) I took recently with clothes was tucking in a flowy shirt with jeans. In the past, I would let it stay flowy over my stomach and feel ok that you couldn’t see anything. But it also made me look bigger than I really am. So I did a French tuck in the front so it was still flowy but you could see my shape. I won’t say I was completely comfortable with it, but it felt good to not feel like I’m in shapeless clothes and I tried to feel more confident. But I think the more I do this, the easier it will be for me.

So hopefully this month, I will work on finding new favorite outfits in my closet and finding ways to feel more stylish. I know this is superficial, but finding some more confidence is important to me. And I think being confident can lead to other positive things in my life.

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Default ThumbnailAnother Rut In My Life (or Time For Some Shopping) Default ThumbnailWorkout Clothes Addict (or Didn’t I Used To Complain About Workout Clothes?) Default ThumbnailWorking On Cleaning (or Time To Declutter) Default ThumbnailWorking On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailTrying To Be An Organized Packer (or Another Bit Of My OCD) Default ThumbnailMy First 2017 Monthly Challenge (or Working On My Tumors)

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2021 Check-In (or The Year Is Halfway Over)

Posted on June 30, 2021 | Comments Off on 2021 Check-In (or The Year Is Halfway Over)

It’s crazy to think that 2021 is half over already! And this first half of the year feels like it was split in half as well since I got my vaccines in the first quarter of the year and in the second quarter I was finally able to relax a bit more and not have so much fear every day. But I’m still not back to my full and normal life since things are not over. But I’m hopeful that maybe the second half of the year might have just as many changes as the first half of the year did!

And just like I have done for the past several years, I set some goals for 2021. It was tough setting goals this time since I had no clue when things would normalize a bit. I knew that I might spend the majority of the year isolated as I did in 2020. So I had to set some goals that could be accomplished isolated in my house or living my life again. And with the year half done, I figure this is the perfect time to check in with myself and see how I’m doing.

My first goal was to do at least 200 workouts. And I’m doing great on that goal! I passed my 100th workout for 2021 last week, so I’m on the perfect pace to get it done. And while I was keeping things going at home when I had to, I’m so glad I’m back in the studio. I know I have better and harder workouts in the studio. And while working out at home did help my mental health a bit, I know working out in the studio helps my mental health even more. It’s crazy to think that I think this is the easiest goal for me to get done every year, but it really is. I’m in a great routine with my workouts and there is very little that can stop me.

My next goal is to work on my budget. This is still a bit of a struggle for me. I’m trying to get my budgeting app in a good place, but I’m also starting to wonder if maybe I need to find a different app to use. Even though I’m not doing great at creating a budget and tracking everything, I am much more aware of my money than I used to be and I’m doing better each month with my spending and making sure I don’t go overboard. I haven’t had a month where I couldn’t pay off my credit card in full since I paid off my debt, and that’s a huge thing for me. I would like to find more ways to be better with my spending and to work on saving more money, but just being this aware of my money is a good step in the right direction. And hopefully, the second half of the year will help me get to where I want to be with budgeting.

The next goal was to organize my house more.  This one is connected to a lot of the monthly challenges I’ve been doing. And I think the idea I had for this goal isn’t exactly what I’ve been doing, but I have been working on it. I’ve been much more aware and cautious about when I buy new things for my house. I make sure that I find really want I want and not just something that will work for now. There are things in my house that need to be replaced for one reason or another, but I’m waiting until I find what I want. And I am working on finding storage solutions so my house doesn’t look as cluttered. Even the small change of putting all my workout stuff into a storage bench did wonders! I don’t just want to hide everything to have the appearance of being organized, I want to actually be organized. That takes a bit more time, but I have been seeing progress.

My next goal was to try more and take more risks. And along with that, being better at accepting failure. I haven’t had as many chances to work on this as I would have liked, but I am taking more chances. There are some things I can’t share just yet, but I am working on getting out of my comfort zone with things that do scare me. I’m also not playing the cool girl in my social life and in dating. As long as it doesn’t hurt anyone, I’m not hiding my feelings. If I am dating someone and really am starting to like them, I tell them. And that does sometimes lead to being ghosted, but I’m working on being ok with that. I would rather be ghosted now when they know what I think than to let something drag on for a long time and not be getting what I want out of a relationship.

And my last goal was to be better about asking for help and support. And this one is one that I feel I have been doing much better about. I struggled to ask for help last year because so many people seemed to downplay how tough things might be for me. I stayed quiet because I didn’t want to correct my friends and let them know I was struggling. But now that I’ve been more open about it, I am getting the support I really could have used last year. And I haven’t had anyone talk down to me or judge me for asking for help and support just because my struggles are different. And that has helped to make this year much easier for me to get through some of the rough times.

Overall, I think I’m doing pretty great with my 2021 goals. I’m not doing perfectly, but I couldn’t expect that from myself. I’m seeing progress in my life and I’m adjusting my goals when I see that I need to do that. And I’m hoping in 6 months when I’m doing my end of the year recap, I will have a lot to share about how I was able to complete my goals!

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Finally Back To Brunch (or The First Mentoring Group Meeting In Over A Year)

Posted on June 29, 2021 | Comments Off on Finally Back To Brunch (or The First Mentoring Group Meeting In Over A Year)

For the past few years, having meetings with my WIF mentoring group has been a regular part of my life. We have changed the frequency of the meetings over the years, but we have been meeting up regularly since 2015. I’m always so proud of our group for being able to maintain our meetings even after the official mentoring circle time ended. And while there are a few members of our group who aren’t a part of it anymore, a majority of us have stayed connected and we have 6 of us who have been regularly there since the beginning.

In 2020, we had one of our brunches. It was right before everything shut down. I don’t think any of us could have imagined what was going to happen in a few weeks. I know we were all aware of what was happening, but it felt like it was on the other side of the world and wouldn’t come here. But of course, we know now that it did come here and we’ve been dealing with this for over a year now.

We talked about having a meeting over Zoom, but we never ended up making that happen. I think all of us were feeling a bit burned out on Zoom, so we didn’t want to do it. As much as we wanted to connect, we didn’t make it happen. Also, I know for myself, I had nothing to really update the group about.

But earlier this year, we agreed we wanted to see each other again and start our brunches. We wanted to wait until we were all vaccinated, just to keep things as safe as possible. And finally, 16 months after our last brunch, we got together this past weekend.

Almost everyone could make it, so that was nice. We used to do our brunches at a restaurant, but we wanted to wait until restaurants were a bit safer. So one member of the group offered to host. That’s how the group started, so it seemed fitting that the restart of the group would be the same way.

It was a really hot morning, but we were able to be in the shade so it wasn’t too bad. And I was just so happy to get to see everyone again! I just wanted to catch up with everyone, even if it was more of a social catch-up than a career one.

But we still went around the group to discuss what we’ve been able to accomplish in the past year. Some people had more than others, but that’s ok. Honestly, I’m just glad we are all ok. One member of the group had gotten COVID, but she didn’t have too severe of a case and she is fine now. But I know how lucky we are that everyone is safe and healthy.

And I did share the few career-related things I had to update everyone on. I have had auditions during the shutdown and I have gotten better at self-taping. I also have a way to do voiceover auditions now, and I didn’t do those before. And I shared some of the struggles I had while isolated and not being able to be around others. It was nice to share those things with a group that understood how I felt and was completely supportive of me.

We had a longer brunch than normal. Partially because we hadn’t seen each other in a while and partially because we weren’t at a restaurant and felt like we needed to leave. I’m so happy we did this. I missed all of these women so much and I missed the support of the group and the special bond we have with each other. And I needed time around friends, and this was the biggest group of friends I’ve been around in a long time.

We are hopefully now back on track with our regular meetings. We might not be back at a restaurant for a bit longer, but we will find ways to meet regularly. Maybe we will just rotate from one house to another. Maybe we will find a park or other public space. We don’t know how we will meet up just yet, but we know we will meet.

I’ve said so many times how special this group is. And showing how we didn’t let a pandemic stop us just proves it even more.

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Cleaning Up From The Pandemic (or Storing Away The Things I Needed This Past Year)

Posted on June 25, 2021 | Comments Off on Cleaning Up From The Pandemic (or Storing Away The Things I Needed This Past Year)

I bought a lot of new things right after everything shut down. Some of it was stuff I got to organize my house or redecorate. I got a lot of random projects done while I wasn’t working and isolating myself in my house. I also got things I needed to survive during the pandemic. I remember how hard it was to find masks right when they were required. I had some fabric I used to turn into a makeshift mask, but as soon as I was able to order some better ones, I did. And I got quite a few of them. Some were to have some cute-looking ones and others were for specific functions (like the workout masks I got). And the other big thing I got to survive the pandemic was everything I got for my home gym.

I slowly acquired things for my little home gym. So many things that people would use for workouts were very hard to find at first because everyone was shopping for the same thing. So I had a little random collection of things when I started. And I slowly added to it with more and more equipment and things I wanted to use in my home workouts. While I still had things that were on my wishlist for home gym items, either they were not things I could get due to money or availability or I just didn’t have space. And while I was doing all my workouts at home, I kept all my gym stuff in a little corner of my living room. I did store some of the things I didn’t use as often in the big fabric hamper, but most of it was just laying on the ground. Things weren’t messy, but they were a bit cluttered feeling.

Once I started back at Orangetheory, I knew that I probably wasn’t going to use my home gym equipment like I had been doing. I wasn’t going to get rid of what I got because I know that there will likely be a time in the future that I want to do more than just the workouts in the studio. So I had to figure out what to do. I do have a garage that I can store things in, and I considered getting a big plastic tub to put everything in. But I know if I do that then I will probably not use that stuff again, at least while it’s there. So I started to look for good storage solutions for inside my house.

It’s never easy for me to find new things for my house because I have such limited space. I also wanted something big enough to fit most of the home gym stuff together (I knew it wouldn’t be possible to get everything together unless it was a giant storage unit). I didn’t have to move everything by a certain date, so I took my time looking for what I wanted. I wasn’t going to buy something super expensive, but even something that’s under $150 is something that I should make sure I really want so I don’t waste my money. And it took a while to find something and I debated between different ideas (storage bench versus an ottoman for my couch, for example). But I finally found something that fit the space I had and I thought would look good next to other things I have.

I only ordered it a few days ago, but somehow it arrived already at my house! I wasn’t expecting to have it until next week, but getting it early just meant to could start organizing things earlier too. After having a few struggles with building it (I didn’t realize you had to elevate part of the bench to screw the top on), I got it done and started to put my home gym away.

I did have some mismeasurements when I was planning because I thought it would fit my medicine ball and it was just a bit too small. But since I was already planning on not being able to fit everything in there, it’s ok if one more thing had to find a different place. I think I can store that in my closet or somewhere else, I’m still working on it. But almost everything else I used for my home workouts is now organized away so I can have it available if I want to work out but hidden if I’m not going to need it. And I do like that this storage bench provides extra seating if I need it.

Having everything put away makes my home feel a bit more like what it used to. At some point, I’m sure I’ll be storing away all the masks I’ve gotten as well. But for now, I still wear them when I’m out in public around a lot of people. And in the future, all the things I got to survive the pandemic will be stored away and just memories instead of things I need to use all the time.

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Getting Back Into Podcasts (or Finding More Time Even When I’m Busier)

Posted on June 24, 2021 | Comments Off on Getting Back Into Podcasts (or Finding More Time Even When I’m Busier)

For a long time, podcasts have been the main thing that I listen to when I’m listening to something. When I used to drive to my day job, I listened to podcasts in the car. When I was driving around LA doing things, I listened to podcasts. Once I started working at home and wasn’t on the phone during my entire work shift, I had podcasts going while I worked and I paused the episode when I had to take a call or do something else that required my full attention. I’m not a big music person, so I rarely would listen to music instead of a podcast. The few times I did listen to music, it was due to me being out of episodes to listen to.

When I wasn’t working, even though I had all the time in my day, I wasn’t listening to podcasts that often. I don’t listen to them when I’m just sitting around my house, and I definitely don’t listen when I’m watching tv or reading. So even though I had more time than ever, my podcast listening went down. And when I wasn’t listening as much, I started to evaluate the podcasts I was subscribed to.

For a long time, I would listen to every episode of every podcast I was subscribed to. That became harder as I had more and more podcasts on my lists. It took me a while to be ok with deleting random episodes if they were interviewing a guest I wasn’t interested in or discussing a topic I didn’t care for. And it took even longer for me to start deleting shows as I realized I’m not enjoying them as much. But there is no reason for me to keep podcasts in my feed that I knew I wasn’t going to listen to. I became a bit more selective while I was out of work because I wasn’t listening as much. But most of the deleting happened before the pandemic.

Even when I was deleting shows I wasn’t listening to anymore, I always had a ton of podcasts in my feed. I can’t remember a time where I was subscribed to fewer than 20 shows. Some of them have episodes every day, some are sporadic. And there is a variety of lengths, with the shortest ones being around 5 minutes and the longest ones going an hour or two. And I could always pick and choose what I wanted to listen to during different tasks. Some are better for work and some are better for when I’m driving. I’ve always had fun picking out what I want to listen to for the next few hours.

Now, I’m getting more and more used to my work schedule. And I do have a lot of time that I’m not on the phone between all of my jobs that I can listen to podcasts again. I do still have times I need to have quiet to focus on a task, but so much work I do is a form of data entry, and having something to keep me entertained helps to pass the time. There are some podcasts that are easier to listen to at work than others, so there are some podcasts I have to carve time out in other parts of my day. But those tend to be the fiction podcasts, where I have to follow the story, and not the interview or news-related podcasts.

It’s crazy that somehow it feels like I have more time to listen to podcasts now that I actually have less free time in my day. But I’m glad I still enjoy podcasts and have something to keep me entertained while I work. I think working in silence would make the time go by slower and I do spend a lot of hours every day in front of my computer. Just like so many other parts of my life, this is another part that is finally getting back to the normal that I’m used to and it makes me happy.

 

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Hair And Groceries (or Being Out And About When Masks Aren’t Required)

Posted on June 22, 2021 | Comments Off on Hair And Groceries (or Being Out And About When Masks Aren’t Required)

I wrote last week about how I was nervous about going out and doing things now that things have reopened and masks were no longer required for people who are vaccinated. I would probably feel differently if I knew that the people without masks were really people who were vaccinated, but since they aren’t currently requiring proof I can’t know that for sure. I do know that a lot of people in LA have been vaccinated and we are having lower case rates than many places around the country. But there are still cases every day and it is slightly increasing right now. This is nothing like the surges in the past and I don’t know if the new cases could be all unvaccinated people. So I have to continue to believe that things really are getting better, even if they aren’t completely better yet.

I wasn’t sure how soon I’d be going out and doing errands and other things now that things are reopened. I really thought it might take a week or so to feel ok. But it turns out that it happened over the weekend when I had a few things to do on Sunday.

First, I got my hair done on Sunday. This isn’t the first time I’ve had my hair done since the shutdown nor is it the first time I was in a hair salon since. I went to my friend Erin’s salon toward the end of last year to have her do my hair. When I went then, we both knew that we had to be careful. We were both in KN95 masks and there weren’t any other people in the salon. But besides that time, I either dyed my hair at home or I went to Erin’s house to have her do it. And originally, I thought I was going to go to her house to have my hair done, but she’s at a new salon now and wasn’t able to have me come to her place. But we picked a day and time when there weren’t a lot of other people with appointments.

It is weird to figure out if it’s ok to not wear a mask or not. I know that I am pretty safe since I am vaccinated, but I also don’t want to make a dumb decision. But with Erin, we are at Orangetheory together without masks, so I wasn’t as worried about being around her. I did keep my mask on for some of my appointment and had it off for other parts of it. I will say, being without a mask in public does seem really odd to me. It’s weird how quickly this has become a part of what feels normal, especially when it did take me some time to be comfortable with it.

I’m glad I got my hair done and I’m glad I’m back to a somewhat regular routine with it. I haven’t started back with other parts of my beauty and self-care routine that I don’t do at home, but I know that will come eventually. I think getting used to things one at a time is going to be key for me and my anxiety.

Since I was already out and about, I decided to go to the grocery store too. I know that I can still get groceries delivered and I do plan on continuing that for a while for some things, but I’m trying to get back to being not as isolated all the time. Plus, I wanted to go to Trader Joe’s and I can’t get things delivered from there (and some things are only found at Trader Joe’s). I knew that whatever the policy was there, I was going to wear my mask. The store isn’t that big and people can be close together. And for me, it was important to feel ok with being there and that required wearing a mask.

There was a sign in front saying their policy was that vaccinated people had the option to be without a mask but if you were unvaccinated you were required to wear one. And just like everywhere else, this was on the honor policy. But I will say almost everyone inside was wearing a mask. It was pretty crowded since I was there on a Sunday afternoon, and I think I only saw 3 or 4 people without masks. Nobody was making wearing a mask a big deal and it seemed like we all knew that it was just as normal of a thing to do as wearing shoes. Seeing that a majority of the people there were wearing masks made me feel much better about going out for groceries and not letting my anxiety or fear stop me and only use delivery services.

It will really be baby steps back to my normal life unless a miracle happens and there are no more cases anywhere. I don’t think that will happen and it will hopefully slowly be getting better until things are like they used to be. And if there are better treatment options for COVID so getting it would be more like getting a cold or the regular flu, then that will help too. But knowing how dangerous it can be and how bad the long-term symptoms can affect someone makes me feel like I have to be careful to stay safe.

But I’m glad that I didn’t continue to let fear or anxiety stop me and I started to rejoin the world again. It’s been a long 15 months and I am ready to see what else in my old life I can regain and enjoy again.

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Default ThumbnailAlmost Deja Vu (or Not My Usual Hair Appointment) Default ThumbnailCoconut Oil Hair Mask (or Trying A Simple DIY Beauty Trick) Default ThumbnailSome Of The New Normal (or I’ll Need To Get Used To This) Default ThumbnailAt Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager) Default ThumbnailThoughts About The Reopening (or Feeling Safe And Scared At Once) Default ThumbnailGetting A New Look (or Two Attempts To Dye My Hair)

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Finding Some Crossover With My Skills (or A New Way To Use Self-Tape Skills)

Posted on June 11, 2021 | Comments Off on Finding Some Crossover With My Skills (or A New Way To Use Self-Tape Skills)

There are a lot of skills I have gained in life that are really only good for the reason I originally learned them for. For example, I used to work in credit card disputes and I gained a lot of skills on how to complete and win the disputes for the company side. I guess technically I can use these skills in understanding how disputes work for other aspects of my life, but so much of what I learned there was specific to that job. It’s the same with a lot of my acting skills. Some I can use for other things, like becoming good at memorization, but many don’t have a purpose outside of acting, like breaking down a script into beats.

But occasionally, I will discover that a random skill that I have learned at some point in my life works for something else. This doesn’t happen too often, but it’s really fun when it does. And I had that happen the other day when I was preparing to renew my passport.

I didn’t realize my passport was going to expire this year until I was doing something and happened to look at it. This was the 3rd passport I’ve had, and sadly it was the first one that had no stamps in it. My last international trip was in the beginning of 2005. I do want to travel again and have ideas of countries I want to visit, but I have no clue when that will happen. Now, it’s not as much of an issue of money (since I have money saved up), but it’s an issue of the world being safe again for traveling. I hope this won’t be much longer, but I am in no rush either. I just hope that by the time I have to renew my passport in 10 years, the one I’ll be getting soon will have at least 1 stamp in it.

Even though I have no plans to travel internationally right now, it’s important for me to have a valid passport. If I do make plans to travel, that’s one less thing for me to worry about. Also, one of the things most actors have is a valid passport because you never know when you might book a job that is out of the country. And since it can take time to get the new passport, having a valid one is the easiest way to be prepared.

The passport renewal process is pretty simple. I was able to complete my application online and print it out. I have my old passport that is about to expire so that eliminates some of the work I’d have to do too. The only thing that I really had to do was to get a new passport photo.

Every other time I’ve gotten a passport photo, I’ve gone somewhere to do it. I don’t remember if my past ones were at AAA or a drugstore like CVS, but I do remember getting them done and having them printed out. I’ve had a few good passport photos, but I have always hated my most recent one. So I was happy to be getting a new passport with a new photo. But I didn’t necessarily want to go somewhere to get it done, and I know some places that used to do passport photos have put them on hold for now.

But I did remember I had some photo paper that I’ve never used so I decided to do it at home. So I set things up just like I did for taking a self-tape audition in my dining room. I already knew how make sure I had good lighting and had a ring light available if I needed it. I also have gotten pretty good at setting up my phone or iPad on a tripod for self-tapes so I am in the frame the way I want and I know I’ll be in focus. I thought about doing a video first and taking a screenshot from it for my photo, but it ended up being easy enough for me to set the timer to take photos. I took a few photos, looked at them, changed my setup a bit, took some more, and repeated that process until I was happy with how my photo looked. And that was a nice benefit of doing my own passport photo. I could make sure it would be a photo I’m ok with for the next 10 years.

There is also a guide on the government website for passport renewals where you can upload your photo to make sure it has the right dimensions. I know there is still a small chance it won’t be perfect, but I did use that tool online to have the site crop my photo and make sure it has the dimensions around my face (it’s not just the size of the photo, you have to have a certain amount of space from the edge to the top of your head). I’m hoping for the best and that I won’t get something back saying my application has been rejected for my photo. But I feel like enough people print out photos at home that it should be fine. Not everyone probably uses a ruler to confirm everything like I do.

I don’t know how many other ways I will use my self-tape skills to use for something else, but it was nice to find a new way to use them. And it got something accomplished that I needed to do, so that’s a win too. And hopefully, renewing my passport is a sign that maybe I will be traveling again soon.

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Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff, Travel

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Even More Redecorating (or One Planned Change and One Due To Being A Klutz)

Posted on June 10, 2021 | Comments Off on Even More Redecorating (or One Planned Change and One Due To Being A Klutz)

I have done a lot of redecorating around my house recently. There have been a few reasons why, but boredom has been a big one. But I think I finally have some of the boredom feeling out now that I’m able to go out and do things again. But that hasn’t brought me to the end of my redecorating in my house.

But there are also other reasons why I changed things up in my house. Sometimes they are planned and I just needed to be motivated to do it. And right now, my planned change is with my home gym setup. I’ve been so grateful to have all the workout equipment I was able to get for my house while Orangetheory was shut down. But now, I’m not using it anymore. I know I could add more workout days to my week if I wanted to, but I’m feeling good about working out 4 days a week right now. But I am not getting rid of what I have. One day in the future, when I own my own place, I would love to have a little home gym setup. But for now, there is no reason for me to have everything in my living room where it has been set up since I created my little gym.

I’m torn between just getting a giant storage container and putting it in my garage or getting a cuter decorative storage piece (like a storage bench) and putting it where my home gym setup is right now. I’m looking at some options and taking my time since there is no rush for me to do this. I don’t need the little space my gym takes up now for anything else. So I’d rather spend the time looking for something I like.

And then there are reasons I redecorate that are not planned and feel a bit more rushed. The other day, I was walking next to my bed and my hip went out. This is a normal occurrence for me and I don’t always fall down. But this time, I did fall and somehow managed to trip on my comforter while also holding onto it. And when I got up off the ground, I discovered that the seams of my comforter had split. I’m still impressed that I was klutzy enough to make this happen because it almost doesn’t make sense. But it did and now I need to get a new comforter or bedspread for my bed.

I’m planning on throwing out the ripped one this week when it’s trash day, and I’m lucky that it is summertime because I don’t need to get a replacement right away. But I am trying to find something soon because I don’t like the look of just having a sheet on my bed. So I’ve been looking online at a few different places to hopefully find something I like. But I also don’t want to buy something just to have it. It’s weird because this does feel rushed, but also I want to take my time.

Sometimes redecorating is fun and carefree and sometimes it is stressful. And I seem to be experiencing one of each right now. But I also know that this isn’t a life or death decision and it’s going to be fine no matter what. So I’m trying to have fun with this when I can.

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Working On Planning My Summer (or Really Hoping Things Continue To Get Better)

Posted on June 8, 2021 | Comments Off on Working On Planning My Summer (or Really Hoping Things Continue To Get Better)

Whenever things seem to be getting better with the pandemic, I’m a little worried that the improvements will lead to another uptick. We’ve slowly been opening up more and more in California (and in LA) and fortunately, the numbers haven’t been getting much worse. I think we are lucky here because so many people are vaccinated or almost fully vaccinated. So as we have more opening up, the risk factor isn’t that much worse.

I know we aren’t out of this just yet, but it continues to improve and seems hopeful. We do have a big change coming up in a week when things are supposed to be opening up 100% and masks are not always going to be required (although individual stores and businesses can still require them) and knowing that is about to happen does make me nervous. But I’m trying to stay in a positive mindset that everyone has been doing what they need to do so we can safely reopen. And I know other states have reopened already, and while they did have an uptick at first things have calmed down as people are vaccinated.

And since things are looking good, I’m finally starting to try to plan for my summer. Last summer was spent isolated for so much of it and I spent so much time in fear of getting sick. And while I’m still cautious and will probably continue to feel that way at least through this year, I am starting to see what is open and what I want to take advantage of and do.

There is the small downside of having fewer friends living in LA now than there was a year ago. So many people that I would have made plans with are no longer local and I either need to find others to hang out with or be ok with doing things alone. And I think I will be doing a mix of that. There is nothing wrong with doing things alone and there are plenty of things that I have done alone for years. But I also want to take advantage of being able to be around others again.

There are some things I want to do that aren’t necessarily time-specific for the summer. I want to go to the beach at least once. I don’t always go to the beach every summer since I need to be careful in the sun, but I also can be careful so hopefully, I won’t get that sunburnt. I also want to look at some easy hikes/walks around LA that either I haven’t done in a while or have never done. I want to do more things outdoors, even though I know that I will likely never be a big hiker. But I want to take advantage of what there is around me because I know I haven’t been doing that. And once I feel safe to go to the movies again, I want to see movies in the theaters. This one might take me a bit longer to be ready to do, but I think I will have a better sense of how I feel about this once masks aren’t required everywhere and we can see how the numbers look.

And there are things that either I want to do with others or don’t like to do alone. I want to be going out for more meals with friends. I have only been to 2 restaurants to eat there since last year. Both times I ate outdoors and it felt pretty safe to be there. I don’t know about eating inside just yet, but again, I have to see how the numbers look as more and more people are out and potentially not wearing masks. I also might want to go to Disneyland. I usually don’t go in the summer since my pass hasn’t been good over the summer, but now that there are no passes, I have to buy a ticket whenever I want to go. I know it will probably be very crowded, so I have to decide if I might want to wait until the fall when things might be a bit less crazy. But I also miss Disneyland so much and really want to have a fun day there with friends.

And one of my favorite summer things to do, going to the Hollywood Bowl, is already on my schedule! The Bowl has announced they were opening for this summer and I took a look at the schedule as soon as it was posted. I found a few shows that I want to go to and discussed summer plans with my parents. And they decided to come to LA for a few days to see me and one of the shows I thought they’d like is the weekend that they are here! I bought tickets the day they went on sale because I wasn’t sure how quickly things would sell out. And I didn’t get exactly the seats I wanted, but I did get us the first row of a section which is my favorite since you have a better view and the barrier to use as a table for whatever snacks we bring with us.

And of course, I’m sure there will be some random friend hangouts that I won’t plan since that’s how things naturally go. It will be nice to be able to be spontaneous again and not have to worry if someone has been around others or what the risks would be to see each other. I don’t know if there will be any BBQs or other things planned since so many of us are being careful and waiting to make sure things don’t take a turn before we plan anything. But the more time that goes on, the better we all have been feeling about it.

Hopefully, I can have a summer that has a lot of fun stuff happening. I don’t plan on going too crazy since I know then I will hit burnout, but I want to make up for lost time from the past year. And I can’t wait to see what adventures I get to have this summer and what traditions I get to have again and what new things I might want to turn into traditions.

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