Posted onNovember 28, 2019|Comments Off on Happy Thanksgiving (or A Quick Post)
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m spending today with my family and I’m excited to see what craziness might happen at my family Thanksgiving. We don’t always have something crazy happen, but when there are this many people together you never know what will happen.
This year, we have 3 generations of my family together plus 2 dogs (not sure what generations to consider the dogs) so it should be an awesome group. And everyone in my family is going to be there, which hasn’t happened for a long time. I know there will be a bit of sadness since this is the first time we are all together after my grandma passed away, but hopefully, that loss will be more about remembering my grandparents and all the awesome memories we have and not being upset about the loss. I have tried to focus on it that way and it does help.
I hope that all of you are spending Thanksgiving doing exactly what you want to be doing today. I know not everyone wants to be with their family, but I hope you are spending the day with the people you want to be around. I hope you all have amazing meals today and it’s an awesome holiday. And if any of you are Black Friday shoppers, I hope you get all the deals you are hoping for!
I’ll be posting more about my Thanksgiving trip tomorrow. Happy Thanksgiving everyone and I hope you all have so much to be grateful for this year!
Posted onNovember 26, 2019|Comments Off on Broadway Princess Party (or Fate Allowed For Some Dreams To Come True)
This post is seriously all about things coming into place the way they are supposed to and how fate can be an amazing thing. Over the summer, I went to a show at the Bowl and mentioned how sitting in the picnic area near me was Laura Osnes, a Broadway star that I have dreamed of seeing live. I didn’t bother her that day, but I said in that post that hopefully one day I would get to see her perform in person. Only a few weeks after that night out, I saw a post online that the Broadway Princess Party was coming to the Rockwell! That show was created by Laura Osnes and it is her and other Broadway stars singing Disney princess songs. I immediately checked with Dani to see if she wanted to go, and she said yes so I got us tickets. I splurged on getting the best seats I could because this was someone I really had dreamed of seeing perform and I figured it was worth the money.
I was so excited that I was going to see the show and I felt like it was fate that I was able to get tickets after just saying that hopefully one day I’d get to see her perform live. But then a month or so later, Dani let me know that she couldn’t make it to the show. She had warned me that her work schedule might change so I knew this might happen, but I was sad she couldn’t come with me. But this ended up being another twist of fate because I remembered a friend of mine that I know through union service might be perfect to come with me.
Jackie is also a member of my union slate and I remembered her mentioning to me in the past that she knew Laura Osnes. I didn’t know the specifics, but when I found out that I needed a new person to come with me I immediately asked Jackie if she wanted to join me. She said yes and I was so excited because she was thrilled to be coming with me. I found out the next day that Jackie emailed Laura to say that we were coming to the show and that was even more amazing! Jackie said that we would get to talk to her after the show and I couldn’t believe it. I knew this was going to be the best show ever!
Jackie and I had spent time together with union work, but this was the first time we got to hang out socially and I’m so glad that we had this time. I picked her up for the show and on the way there she was telling me all about her life and the amazing work she has done over the years. She has been in this industry for decades and she has worked with so many Hollywood legends. It was like hearing the history of Hollywood and it was incredible!
We got to the Rockwell a bit early, but as soon as they opened we went to our table so we could order our dinner. We didn’t want to have to eat during the show, so ordering early was important. And we got a selfie together because Jackie wanted to send a photo to Laura saying we were there.
Once the show started, I was just speechless. Not only was it an amazing show and Laura, Courtney Reed, and Susan Egan were so talented, but it was exactly what I hoped it would be and I just couldn’t believe that I was there.
I loved all the performances and the special guests were so great too. And getting to see Laura perform really was something that I have dreamed of doing for so long and it was just unreal that it was happening. I don’t fangirl over actors that often, but for some reason, this was just that much more special to me and didn’t feel like I was seeing one of my peers as it does for most actors I meet.
And Jackie was enjoying the show just as much as I was. She had seen it before a few times, but I think it changes up so it was different from the other times she had seen it. And she loves Laura so much and loves seeing her perform so I know she was having fun there just like I was. I knew the show couldn’t go too long because there was a second show later that evening, but it still felt like it came to a close way too soon. When everyone was on stage at the end for the final song, I was sad it was done but I also felt like I just saw the perfect show.
When the show was done, I knew there was a meet and greet and Laura had told Jackie that she would come to see us between the end of the show and the start of the meet and greet. And that’s exactly what she did! We saw her looking for Jackie and as soon as she saw her she rushed to us to say hello. I really tried to not be too crazy, but I just couldn’t believe I was getting to meet Laura. Jackie introduced her to me and the first thing she did was give me a huge hug to thank me for coming to the show.
She is honestly one of the sweetest and nicest people I have met and she genuinely was excited to meet me and so happy to see Jackie. I was able to tell her how I had wanted to see her perform for years and how much I loved the show. Getting to tell someone that is rare so I was so grateful I had that time. And of course, we had to get a selfie of the 3 of us to remember the evening.
And I wanted to make sure I took a photo of Jackie and Laura together and I love the photo I got of the two of them.
Laura had to get to the meet and greet then so we said our goodbyes and Jackie and I headed back to my car. We also ran into Courtney Reed on the way out and I was able to tell her how much I enjoyed her performance as well. That was amazing too.
In the car ride driving Jackie home, I couldn’t stop thanking her. Seeing the show was going to be amazing enough, but Jackie was able to take it to a new level and make it so much more than I could have imagined. And Jackie loved that because she loves helping other people when she can and she said this was an easy thing for her to do. I told her she is officially my fairy godmother now and I think she liked the new title.
Even though this show was several days ago, I’m still in a bit of shock that this all happened. It was so much more than I could have hoped for and I feel like it was meant to be this way. Of course, I would have loved it if Dani was at the show with me and I know it would have been an incredible evening. But because of fate (and Dani’s work schedule), things fell into place to make it really special and a dream come true.
Posted onNovember 21, 2019|Comments Off on “A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood” (or Doing A Rare Movie Review)
I am so lucky that I get the opportunity to attend so many different movie screenings. Some of them I do pay for on top of my union dues, but that cost is still much lower than what movies in the theaters cost. I know lots of people have different movie subscriptions through theaters now so they can see things as cheaply as I can. But there is one rare bonus that I get sometimes through my union.
It’s not often that this happens, but sometimes the screening I go to is before the movie is released in theaters. I’ve only had a few of these screenings and it’s always been so much fun to get to see something early. They sometimes make a big deal over it being a pre-release screening and there are extra rules, but this time they didn’t say much so I didn’t realize it was a pre-release until I got there.
I was already excited to see this movie because I knew it was going to be good. I can’t remember a movie with Tom Hanks that I didn’t enjoy. And I loved the documentary about Mr. Rogers that came out recently so I was looking forward to seeing what this movie would show about his life. I knew it was based on a magazine article, but I didn’t research the article too much so the movie would still be a bit of a surprise for me. I did do a bit of research and read the article after watching the movie, and they did change a bit. But I don’t think they took anything away from the real story, they only added to it. I do encourage people to check out the article, but I would recommend seeing the movie first.
I don’t want to spoil things, so I’m not going to discuss the plot too much. But in my opinion, Mr. Rogers isn’t the main character. The writer of the article is really the lead and what he is able to show in his journey is so beautiful and makes the movie. I loved what they showed, and even though I know they embellished what the true story was, it added to the experience knowing it was based on something that really happened.
I went into the movie prepared to cry, and I did cry. A lot. I had tears in my eyes as soon as it started. Tom Hanks just does such an incredible job playing Mr. Rogers and you forget that you are watching someone playing someone else. It just seems so real. And I cried plenty during the movie. Sometimes it was happy tears and sometimes it was sad tears. And the closing scene made me cry too. I honestly don’t remember crying this much in other movies, but I also know I was a bit more emotional than I normally am so that might have been a factor in it. But all the tears were worth it because I really loved this movie.
There is so much sadness and negativity in the world and this movie was a great example of how you can work through that. The idea is not to ignore the negativity or to not experience it in your life. Life isn’t always perfect and we can’t expect it to be that way. But we can learn how to work with what may come our way and how to not let it bring us down or take away from good things in the world. I know I needed to be reminded of this and it was really the perfect thing for me to watch. I was able to be entertained by the movie but also take away a great life lesson. I think that makes a movie that much better.
I think that most of my friends are excited to see this movie too. And I’m sure that it will be nominated for various awards so maybe I’ll have the chance to see another screening of it or maybe I’ll be lucky and get a screener at my house for it. I know I want to watch it at least one more time because I think I’ll get something different out of it from another viewing. But even if I don’t get another chance to see it, I’m so glad I was able to see it this time.
Posted onNovember 15, 2019|Comments Off on Cleaning Up And Giving Things Away (or Finding More Space In My House)
The ongoing battle in my house is that it is very tiny and can look very cluttered easily. I love my house and I’m actually grateful to have a smaller space. In the apartment that I lived in before I found my house, I had significantly more space. My closet in that apartment could fit a bed inside of it. I had a lot of things in my room because I had space and I was living with roommates. So I needed my room to be more than just a place to sleep. I had a little couch to relax on plus my desk. I wasn’t working from home back then, but I still needed a place to do some work.
I probably have more space in my house than I did private space in my apartment, but I also don’t have as much storage as I did before and there are some rooms that were being fully used by me at the old apartment. Mainly the kitchen and bathroom (I had a private bathroom which was maybe triple the size of my current one). And I did a lot of downsizing when I moved here, but I also kept some of the habits from my old apartment in my house. For example, I had the storage space before to keep things that I didn’t really use but might use again one day. And now I don’t have that space but I struggle with getting rid of things because I’m worried I will need it again and don’t want to have to pay for it again.
I have needed to get over that struggle and have slowly made changes in my life to work on getting rid of things. And when I got my new tv stand, I had to do a lot of work with downsizing again. I’m still working on finding space for some of the things I had on my old tv stand that don’t fit on the new one, but I have gotten rid of a lot of things that were taking up space. And I think that project really kicked off wanting to do this in more areas in my house. The problem with these projects is that when I’m in the middle of them it makes my house so messy. But I have been able to find little projects I can do without making too much of a mess.
The first area I tackled was my entry closet. This already has a lot of organizational stuff inside of it, but the floor was a bit crazy. This was such an easy fix because the main thing taking up floor space was the storage box with all the holiday-related decorations I own. I rarely need to access this box (I don’t always decorate for the holidays) so having it take up so much floor space was unnecessary. I found a place in my utility room that isn’t easily accessible but fits the box perfectly. So even though I will need a ladder to reach the box when I need it, that’s a much better place than somewhere that I use every day and blocking things I really do need.
And when I was in my utility room, I knew I needed to do a lot of work on that space. That area has become a catchall for lots of stuff when I don’t know where else to put it. I’m so grateful I have that room because it is a great storage area that is inside my house. I can store things in my garage too, but I don’t store a lot there because I have to move my car to reach it and it’s not inside. So if I needed something in the middle of the night, it’s not really convenient. I try not to have too much in my utility room, but it can easily gather stuff. And a lot of it is stuff I don’t actually need and might have forgotten about.
I found some health and beauty stuff that I don’t need or use like unopened bottles of lotion I don’t use anymore or unopened bags of cotton rounds (I use reusable fabric rounds instead of cotton ones now). This doesn’t need to be in my house because I’m not going to use them. So they went into a bag that I’m using to collect things I can donate to a charity that needs it. Yes, I guess I wasted money on things that I never needed, but that’s in the past and I’d rather find a place that needs them instead of keeping them in case I decide to use them.
My dad helped me create some nice storage in my utility room, but I haven’t been maximizing it for a while. I have a sink that doesn’t work in there, and my dad built a custom topper so it becomes a flat counter. That space was used for my wine storage and I had a wine bottle holder on there. But I haven’t had alcohol for a long time and that wine bottle holder was just being used for me to put other things on top of. I could find a much better storage holder than a wine bottle holder for things like tools and cleaning supplies. So I asked a friend if they wanted the wine bottle holder and they took it off my hands. My utility room is still a work in progress, but I’ve been able to get rid of so much and I’m finally able to see what organizational things I need to make it a more efficient space.
I’m going to start working on organizing my kitchen and bathroom next because I know I have products in those rooms that I don’t need. I know my pantry has stuff that probably is past its use-by date that I forgot about. I know I need to store my baking supplies in better containers instead of just the bags they come in. And while my bathroom doesn’t really have storage space where I can forget about things, I know that there are products that I see in there that I tell myself that I use that I really don’t. I will probably take those products out of my bathroom and store them in a bag for a week or so. Then I can see if I go into that bag to get it out or if I really have been lying to myself that I need them and use them. After that, I need to work on my desk but that is going to be a much longer process and will probably require more time to decide what I need to save.
Even with the limited cleaning and organizing that I’ve been able to do, I have noticed a huge difference in my house. Things are easier to find and I don’t feel like there is just stuff around me. I like feeling more peaceful at my house since I am here so many hours a day. And once I have things clean and tidy, I might look at more decorative things to add since I know I want some more personality in my space too.
Posted onNovember 14, 2019|Comments Off on Taking Time For A Show (or Seeing Summer)
I feel like a broken record because I am always saying how much I love going to the shows at the Pantages and how much they have benefitted my life. Not only are they awesome entertainment, but they also give a sense of routine or normalcy with my life. When I’m going through a crazy time and I have a show coming up, I know I will take that time to go and that I’m going to have a great time. Or if I’m feeling down for one reason or another, I know the show is going to get me out and social and I’ll be in a better mood. I still can’t believe how much I get out of having my season tickets, but it always makes me so happy when I see a show coming up.
I’m going to write about this a bit out of order by talking about the show first. This time, the show we saw was “Summer” which is the jukebox musical about Donna Summer.
For most jukebox musicals, I know going into it that I will probably know a bunch of the songs even if I don’t know that I know them. Since I’m not a big music person, I expect that I won’t know songs by the name or artist. But they are familiar when I hear them and that’s exactly what happened this time. The show was good and I enjoyed the music, but I wish they had shared more about her life. I thought there was a lot of interesting stuff that was starting to be talked about but then didn’t go into them much further. But since the show was done without an intermission, there’s only so much you can put into a show without making it too long.
But before the show, Dani and I went to dinner at Wood & Vine. Going there is one of our favorite pre-show dinner locations and we were worried about what we were going to do when our shows move to the Dolby soon. When we sat down for dinner, we ordered and then looked at what restaurant options would be over there. There are a lot of chain restaurants so we wanted to find anything interesting and unique. We weren’t having much luck, but we decided that we would have some time to do the research. We wanted to focus on our awesome dinner at Wood & Vine instead of looking up other places.
We got some of our familiar favorites and some new things as well. The Cesar salad was so good! It was really garlicky which I love. We were debating getting another salad but decided to wait until after we had everything else. We also got the vegan risotto with mushrooms which was incredible. It had great seasoning and was very flavorful. The mac and cheese and pork are favorites of ours and I figured we’d get them because we always love them. And for dessert, we were torn on what to get and we shared a few of our favorites and said they could surprise us. We got the banana caramel and butterscotch, which were perfect ways to end the meal.
While we were eating, the manager Wally came over to talk to us. We love chatting with him before the show because he always shares fun things with us about what happened when he saw it or things we should look out for. He was the one who told us that there wasn’t an intermission and I was so grateful he told us before we were sitting in our seats. And we talked about what we were going to do when the shows move to the other theater.
Wally mentioned how there is the subway and I had completely forgotten about that until he mentioned it. There’s a stop right next to both theaters so it would be easy for us to do that. We also could take a rideshare from one place to the other. And there may be some sort of shuttle service that we could use too. Knowing all this made me feel so much better about our dinner options for the other shows because it wouldn’t be too hard to eat where we like to go and still make it to the other theater. We may have to do things a little earlier to make sure we have enough time, but that’s a minor change we would need to make. I would be much happier going to our favorite restaurants a little earlier than having to try new restaurants and maybe not enjoying them as much. Wally gave us a lot to think about and I’m so glad we discussed this so Dani and I can figure out exactly what we want to do.
We still have 1 more show at the Pantages before they switch. And then it will be a very different experience seeing a musical at the Dolby because we will be sitting in a different area than we are used to and it’s a much bigger theater. But I think that even in the new theater, the shows are going to make me just as happy as I am seeing them at the Pantages.
Posted onNovember 8, 2019|Comments Off on Finding Little Things To Make Me Happy (or Shopping And Text Groups)
I have been in a bit of a down mood lately. To me, this is obvious in the posts that I have been writing. But it took me a while to be in a place where I want to work out of the funk. I know that this is probably due to a few different factors, some of which I have no power over and can’t control. And just fixing the ones I’m in control of (such as getting enough sleep) hasn’t been enough to make me feel better. I’ve had more depressive episodes before, so I knew this wasn’t anything serious. But I still don’t enjoy being in a down mood for an extended period of time.
I finally was ready to work on fixing this over the past few days. It’s not easy to get yourself out of a bad mood, but I wanted to work on it where I could. Like I said before, getting enough sleep has been a big fix I’ve been needing to work on. I still am struggling a bit with falling asleep when I should, but at least now I’m getting to bed at a more appropriate time and not staying up doing other things until very late. But since this wasn’t enough of an improvement, I’ve been working on finding other things that I know make me very happy.
Fortunately, it’s the time of year for me to do some gift shopping for my family. I bring Hanukkah presents for my family to Thanksgiving, so I only have a few weeks left to do my shopping. But because I’m a bit crazy, I had gift ideas as soon as I had bought their gifts last year. A few gifts have changed since then, but I’ve been having so much fun doing some shopping and trying to figure out the perfect gifts to get for everyone. I’m also bringing birthday presents for my parents to Thanksgiving to give them those early since I had ideas for those as well.
If I had unlimited money, I would spend so much buying presents for other people. I get so much joy out of finding the perfect gift and seeing how happy it makes someone. I do have to be careful with how much money I spend on presents, but I will always find a way to get presents for my family. I don’t have to get them expensive things if they are creative. And I seem to be good at finding unique and creative gifts. I have all the presents picked out now for my family, and I’m already so excited to give them what I got and see how much they like them. (sorry dad, if you are reading this and were hoping to get some hints of what I got you)
And while I haven’t been feeling particularly social while I’ve been down, I do still crave being social a bit. Going out isn’t always the best option when I’m in a mood, but texting can still keep me from feeling isolated. And I’ve really been enjoying different group texts that I’m a part of as well as texting with my friends individually.
One of my text groups is with my friends from Orangetheory. We have always been a bit silly in that group so that is appreciated no matter if I’m in a good mood or bad mood. We will share random GIFs and memes and joke around about the workouts. We aren’t always in the same class together (and one friend in the group doesn’t live in LA anymore), but it is nice to have workout friends to chat with even if we aren’t in class. I’ve got another texting group with other Orangetheory friends, but those aren’t as active as the main one I’m in.
I also started a text group for women in the online dating FB group I’m a part of. I created it for safety because not everyone has a friend that they can use as an online dating safety buddy as I do. The text group is for us to share the information of who we are meeting and where just as a safety measure. And we check back into the group when the date is done and we are safe. I don’t love that we have to be so cautious, but it’s necessary and I’m glad we have a safe space with no judgment. I am glad I’ve always had a friend that I can use for this and not worry about what she thinks, but I’m even more glad now that I’ve created a space for others to use when they didn’t have someone. That group is very new so we haven’t had a lot of texting yet, but we have been sharing a bit of silly stuff as well. But what makes me happy about it is that I was able to start a group like that and feel like I have done something that would benefit others.
I can still feel a bit of my down mood lingering, but I’m so glad it’s starting to lift. Â I have to stay aware because if I don’t keep working on it I know that things might go back to being down again. Knowing that I have some ongoing things that are making me feel better helps, but I’m going to keep working on finding more things that will bring me joy and make things feel more normal for me again.
Posted onNovember 7, 2019|Comments Off on Another Observer Opportunity (or Watching The Local Board)
When I went to the SAG-AFTRA local board meeting recently, one of the things on the agenda was when the next local board meeting would be. I made sure I wrote that date down because I wanted to make sure I didn’t accidentally schedule something else that evening. I really am trying to make an effort to go to all the board meetings that I can. First, because it will help keep me informed about what is going on in the union. But also because I want to get an idea of what my responsibilities would be like if I get elected to the local board in the future. Even though I was prepared to be on the local board if I was elected this time, I’m glad I’m getting this time now to truly understand what it would require and the work I would be doing.
Many of my friends are thinking the same way as I am with wanting to go to observe to understand the union more. So when we had the local board meeting this week, several of my friends were signed up to go as well. There were so many members signed up to be observers that they list was full and some people couldn’t request a spot ahead of time. They also have a walk-up list, but with so many people signed up, it was unlikely that everyone would get into the boardroom. There is an overflow room for people to watch the board meeting on a closed-circuit tv, so everyone who showed up did have a chance to observe.
I got to the union early because I wanted to guarantee I got a seat inside the room. Only the first 40 or so people to check-in get a ticket that allows them in the room. I was the 3rd or 4th person in line, so I felt a bit of relief when the check-in started. I knew I was going to be in the room and I could relax. They also provide some food for us, so once I was checked in I got some of the pizza and hung out with my friends in the holding room for observers.
I’m now getting used to the routine of observing meetings, so when it was about time to go inside we had a quick review of the rules and policies. Mainly, as observers, we cannot speak or contribute to the meeting. We just observe. We can take notes, but we cannot take photos, videos, or audio recordings. Since I had friends there as well, I knew that I didn’t have to stress out as much about taking notes since we could share. And the information I heard wasn’t confidential to members, so I could also ask people I knew on the local board to explain something or clarify something I heard.
I ended up sitting in the same seat I was in last time, which was good. I like being in the last row since sitting for too long can make my hips hurt. This way, I could get up to stretch if needed without disturbing too many people. And because the last meeting went long, I was prepared for this meeting to do the same.
But I was pleasantly surprised by how quickly things moved during the meeting. There were disagreements and things to debate, but much less than the last meeting. And there weren’t as many things on the agenda so even if they were taking time to get through something, it wasn’t delaying a lot of other things. Also, having fewer things on the agenda made things easier for me to follow. I was so prepared for things to run long that when there was a motion to conclude the meeting I was thinking that I was hearing it wrong. I thought maybe it was to conclude discussion for one thing and not the entire meeting. But the meeting ended almost an hour early after accomplishing everything that was on the agenda! It was a very nice surprise for everyone in the room.
Since we ended early, I went to a restaurant next to the union with a few people from my slate to hang out and discuss a few things. But most of our talk was about silly things and it was nice to get a chance to do that. I’m usually in work mode and serious when I’m with those people, but this gave us an opportunity to relax and have fun. I had a few moments where I was thinking “how is this my life?” because it’s still so crazy to me that these amazing actors are my peers and that they wanted to hang out with me. But it also gave me a confidence boost and made me think that I am in the right place and pursuing the right career.
The next board meeting is next month, and it’s already on my calendar. Unless something crazy happens with my schedule, I’ll be signing up to be an observer again and trying to make sure I get into the room. I will keep encouraging other members to do the same because I feel like this is so important to do and not enough members take advantage of this chance.
Posted onNovember 6, 2019|Comments Off on A Halloween Outing (or Dressing Up As Me)
With Halloween being on a Thursday, I knew the party that I go to wouldn’t be on Halloween night. But because I have to be up early most mornings, I figured that it would be a night that I couldn’t be out late. And when the party was scheduled to be the day after Halloween, I saw I was right. I work early on Saturdays, so I rarely am out late on a Friday night. It also didn’t help that I was already tired from my week. But I was determined to have a fun time at the party even if I was tired.
I try to be fun and clever with my costumes, but I also want to be very comfortable. And this year, I thought of a fun costume that wouldn’t be too hard to make about a month before. I had to make a run to Staples to buy some supplies, but I didn’t have to get too much and I knew I could make it the week of. I ended up having some time right after work the day before Halloween and spent about 20 minutes making this (it took longer than expected because I wanted to make it look good).
I took some paper borders and covered them with white duct tape. And then I added some letter stickers for my name and had to tape some pens on the back for stability. But I made a pretty awesome looking photo frame. And with my name on it, I made a frame for a headshot!
When I get my headshots taken, I usually dress super comfortable on the bottom since you only see the top half of my body. So I dressed in yoga pants and flip flops on the bottom and a nice sweater with full hair and makeup on top. When I got to the party, I could hold up my homemade frame and I went to the party as my headshot!
I was so happy with how my costume turned out and everyone at the party seemed to love it too! When I wasn’t holding up the frame, some people were confused with what I was dressed as, but most of them understood what it was as soon as I held it up.
The party was themed as The Ghosts of Halloweens Past and the backyard had a mix of decorations from old parties and collections of photos from the past several years. I found a few of my old costumes in the photos and loved looking at all the other photos that were decorating the party.
Because I was so tired while at the party, I knew I wasn’t going to make it too long. I hated that I felt this way, but I also didn’t want to force myself to be there late and then feel really bad over the weekend. But I did stay there for a few hours and got to have some great time hanging out with my friends. I loved their costumes and seeing how clever they were. There were a few costumes that I didn’t know what they were, but once I found out they made so much sense. I love seeing how creative all my friends are and I always wonder if I’ll have a costume as impressive as theirs.
Even though I was so proud of my costume and was hoping I might get votes in the costume contest, I wasn’t able to stay out that late. I found out a few days later that the costume contest was much later than it normally is and even if I wasn’t tired I probably would have had to leave before it happened. That made me feel a bit better. And the costumes that won were much better than mine so I know I wouldn’t have won. But it would have been fun to see if I did get votes.
I really had some high expectations for Halloween outings this year, and they ended up not being exactly what I thought they would be due to me being tired so often. It’s frustrating when I know it’s my fault that I’m not able to be as social as I want to be, but I’m always so grateful that I have amazing friends who understand why I can’t make it out or have to go home early. And I did still have a lot of fun even if it wasn’t what I planned it to be. I love going out and seeing the costumes that other people thought of and just spending time with people that I love to be around.
Posted onNovember 1, 2019|Comments Off on Not Sure How I Did With My Last Monthly Challenge (or Another Attempt At NaNoWriMo)
When I set my monthly challenge for October to be working more on my acting career, I was so excited about the things I had in mind. I had some things in mind that were bigger plans that I knew would be things I would need to save up for, but there were several things I knew I could work on. And honestly, I don’t really know how much I succeeded or failed at my challenge.
I knew that I would have the convention and that would be a big acting related event. And it did help my career in many ways, but my plan was to try to do more than just that. I wanted to do some research into classes, work on organizing things to be ready when I have auditions, and schedule and hopefully take new headshots. And I did a little bit of research work (part of that includes my tv research), but I didn’t do a majority of what I wanted to.
I don’t want to make excuses for myself, but I know why this didn’t happen. First, I was dealing with money issues and that made me hesitant to plan for anything that would require money. I also didn’t expect to be as tired after the convention as I was and that took a lot out of me. Part of being tired (and another reason why I didn’t do much for my career) had to do with my grandma passing away. I’m grieving this loss very differently than I expected and I think part of that has been that it hasn’t fully hit me yet. When my grandpa passed away, I was with my family a few days later. When I have had friends pass away, it felt more real because of how I had been staying in touch with them. This time, I don’t know if it will fully hit me until Thanksgiving. But for the past few weeks, I’ve been just having this weird feeling that is almost like I have a bit of grief and sadness affecting other things. I’m ok and nobody needs to worry about me about being depressed or anything. This is just how I am processing it and it wasn’t what I thought it would be.
Obviously, working on my acting career is a challenge that isn’t going to stop just because it’s a new month. I need to work on this and keep working on this. I still want to accomplish the things I had in mind for last month, so I will keep making plans and trying to get them done. I do still have the same financial restrictions for now, but planning can be done without spending money. And for the things that will require money, I can take steps towards those too.
And for my monthly challenge this month, I’ll be repeating one I’ve done in November before. I’ll be working on writing a book. I’ve stopped working on the book about online dating that I was working on in the past because I didn’t like how it was coming together. And a few months ago, I had the idea to change the book to be more about life lessons I’ve been learning from online dating. I’ve been working on notes and organizing ideas for what these lessons are so that I could be ready to start working on the new book. And I’m planning on working on it this month.
I still do not think I will have a finished first draft for the book after the month is done because I don’t know if the book is done yet. I know that I will have more stories from online dating that haven’t happened yet, so I will want to add those as they do happen. But I want to get each section that I’ve got notes on right now written during the month. I don’t know if I want to work on one lesson/chapter each day that I write or just try to work a bit every day. I’m allowing myself to be flexible and see how it works best for me.
I feel much better about working on the book this time because I do have notes that help me see the flow of how the book can go. I have shifted lessons around so that it makes more narrative sense to me. And I’m excited to be able to write down some of the crazier stories that weren’t going to be in other versions of the book because they weren’t substantial enough. But now, I can’t put a bunch of stories together in one lesson if they work that way. I can’t wait to see what happens as I write and what I might be inspired to edit and change as I work on it.
I do also have an idea for a fiction book about dating that I have notes on, but I don’t have the same pull to work on it as I do with my life lessons book. I also think reflecting on the lessons I’ve learned will be a good thing for me and will remind me that even though dating hasn’t been going the way I wanted it to that I am getting some good things out of it.
Hopefully, when I do my update after the month is done I will have some great things to share about how the writing went. I have high expectations for myself since this is not the first time I have tried working on this. I know how I didn’t succeed before and want to make sure I don’t repeat those mistakes. And even though this book will still be a work in progress after the month is over, I want to feel like I’ve gotten a lot of work on it done and that it’s more of a book than a bunch of ideas.
Good luck to anyone else doing NaNoWriMo this month! I hope you get everything out of it that you are hoping for!
Posted onOctober 24, 2019|Comments Off on First Halloween Party Of The Season (or At Least I Made An Appearance)
There has been a lot of Halloween party invites lately and so many of them are happening on the same nights. As much as I want to attend everything, I know I can’t and I know if I did that I’d be feeling overwhelmed. So I had to be selective a bit with which parties I would be going to. I didn’t think about how I’d be feeling the days of the parties, and unfortunately for the first Halloween party I attended I was dealing with nausea.
The party was for SAG-AFTRA NextGen Performers. I do love going to NGP events because they are always so fun. Even though I was feeling rotten, I knew I’d find a way to make it. I would have loved to have figured out a costume to wear to the party, but I hadn’t had a chance to figure out what to be. And I also was struggling enough getting dressed and getting out of the house, so even if I had a costume I don’t know if I would have worn it.
I’m glad the party wasn’t too far from my house, so I didn’t have to worry about driving over there and traffic. And the party was only supposed to be about 2 hours long, so I decided I would try to make it for an hour before heading home. I didn’t take any photos while I was there, but it was a really good turnout. There were so many people at the event and lots of amazing costumes. Even if I had figured out a costume and felt good enough to wear it, I wouldn’t have come close to placing in the costume contest.
Right when I arrived, I found several of my friends. The entire time I was at the party was spent socializing and catching up. Even though I just saw most of these people at the convention, we didn’t really get to socialize too much then. If I had been feeling better, I probably would have spent time meeting people who were at their first NGP event and seeing who else was there, but I was feeling like just chatting with my friends. It wasn’t the best thing to do, but I was just proud of myself for pulling things together enough to go out and not just sit on my couch. Some of my friends were in charge of helping to judge the costume contest, so I walked around with them and got to see more of the costumes that people wore. There were a lot of awesome photo opportunities like a step and repeat and a photo booth, but I didn’t do either of those. I did end up being in a few of the photos the photographers took while they walked around, but I haven’t seen them posted online yet so I can’t share them.
Just when I was starting to feel really bad, I realized that I had been there for an hour so I didn’t feel bad that I was going to leave. My goal was an hour and I didn’t feel like I needed to push myself more than that. Plus, I was starting to get more nauseous and when that happens I get sweaty and tend to look sick. So I knew that it wasn’t going to be my best look.
I worked on making my rounds around the room to say goodbye to my friends. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to everyone, but my friends knew I wasn’t feeling well and knew that I might leave before I saw them again. Driving back home after the party was tough and I was glad when I got home and could lie down on my bed to let the nausea waves end. It was also time for me to take medications again, so I took those and waited for them to kick in.
I know that the first Halloween party I attended was a bit of a bust. I didn’t do much and I didn’t talk to too many people. But for me, when I feel as sick as I did, just leaving my house is a victory. I have bailed on so many plans because of my nausea and I’m trying to push through that as much as I can. It’s not always possible, but I also know that if I don’t take chances than I won’t know how much I can do. And I was proud of myself for taking the chance and finding out that I was able to at least do a little something. And the nausea is getting better now so hopefully I’ll be fine for the other parties I will be going to.
Happy Thanksgiving (or Hope You Are Spending Time With Those You Love)
