Posted onAugust 29, 2019|Comments Off on A Random LA Evening (or Taking Time To Enjoy The Sunset)
There is no question that I have been a bit too stressed out lately. Some of it I have put on myself and I’ve been trying to work through that. Some of it is unexpected stress and I’m just trying to get to the other side. But it doesn’t matter what type of stress it is, stress sucks and I have been feeling the effects of it a lot. The mental effects of stress are obvious, but I’ve been noticing the physical effects too. I ignored them for a while thinking they were related to other things, but it’s clear that my stress got to my body.
By the time you are reading this post, the results from the election should have been announced. As I am writing it, the ballots are being counted and the results should be done in a few hours. This has been a huge part of my stress lately. It’s good stress since I have been working hard toward something I care about so much. But at the same time if things don’t go well for my slate I know I will take it hard. I hope that by the time you are all reading this that I have been celebrating on social media that we have won many of the seats we were running for.
Most evenings during the past few weeks have been filled with doing election related tasks. I had different events to go to, work I had to finish, campaigning to do, and other little tasks that needed to be done that I couldn’t do for one reason or another during work. But on Tuesday night (the night before we found out the results), there was no more election work to do. The ballots had to all be at the post office by that point so nothing else was necessary. We had done all we could do and hope that it was enough. I knew that being home that night was going to be weird, so I decided I wanted to go out and just do anything. I didn’t have a plan in mind, I just knew I didn’t want to sit at home and stress out.
My friend Dani was able to be free after work and we tried to think of a few options of what we could do. We thought about seeing a movie or something, but there wasn’t much we wanted to see. And I don’t know if I could have sat still through a movie. We ended up deciding to get some dinner and going to the beach since neither of us goes to the beach that often. There’s a new restaurant near me called Buratta House that she had been wanting to try, so we got some sandwiches from there and drove to the beach.
We found a free meter only 2 blocks from the beach and walked over to where there were a few tables. It wasn’t the fanciest area to be in, but at least we were at the water and could sit down and eat. After our sandwiches, we walked over to Coldstone for some ice cream before heading over to the pier to watch the sun go down. I wasn’t sure if the sunset would be an epic one, but even with the colors being a bit muted it was still gorgeous.
We just hung out on the pier for a while and watched the sun go down. It was a peaceful evening and the beach wasn’t too crowded since it was a weeknight and most schools are back in session. I live so close to the beach and I rarely do this. It felt like such a treat but this was really a simple thing for us to do. The drive over was maybe 15 minutes and if you didn’t count the food we bought it was totally free. But I think if I did this more often I wouldn’t be as grateful for it as I am when I do make it to the beach to watch the sun go down.
After the sunset, we headed back to the car and were trying to figure out if there was anything else we wanted to do. Somehow, we ended up at Target which kind of was a random and fun adventure. We were wandering through the beauty and skincare aisles looking at all the new products and just having fun seeing what Target was selling. I don’t go to Target that often and this one recently was remodeled so they sell a lot of nicer things now. It almost reminded me of being younger and going to the mall and looking at everything in every store. I also figured wandering through Target would help me get in a bunch of steps for the day.
Eventually, we had to leave our adventure at Target because I had to get home and get to bed. But between getting food, watching the sunset, and randomness at Target; it ended up being such a fun evening. I was looking for an evening to distract me and help me have a less stressful night and it was so much more. I love when something that you don’t really plan ends up being one of those great and fun nights out.
Posted onAugust 28, 2019|Comments Off on Belated Birthday Dinner (or We Don’t Mind It’s Not Totally Free Anymore)
I haven’t done much for my birthday this year. I don’t mind that I haven’t been celebrating like I thought I would because I’ve had other things taking up my time. I am hoping to maybe do some birthday things next month, but I don’t know if I’ll be motivated to do them by the time things calm down. If I don’t really celebrate my birthday, it’s not the worst thing. While I love celebrating my birthday and it’s one of my favorite things, having an off-year is to be expected. And this August has been extremely busy for me and I just couldn’t put my focus on my birthday.
I usually take advantage of several birthday freebies as well. Many of them have to be done on your actual birthday and I have to skip most of those. But the things that are for your birthday week or month are things I usually do. But just like with celebrating, I haven’t really taken advantage of that this year. I haven’t even gone to Sephora for the birthday freebie (which most women would agree is the one birthday thing everyone seems to do). But there is one birthday freebie that I prioritize over all others and that’s going to my birthday dinner at Truxton’s with my birthday twin Joanna!
The birthday dinner deal has changed over the years. It started as a free entree and free dessert for each of us. Then it was $20 free for each of us and they would combine them on one check. Now it’s still $20 free for each of us, but they have to split the checks. Because of that, we no longer can have a completely free birthday meal. But we know that and expect that so it’s ok. We still are having an almost free meal and the best part of the tradition is our hangout anyway.
Because of all the work I have been doing for the election and some family that Joanna had in town, it was tough for us to find a time that worked for both of us. But we were able to find time this past weekend so we didn’t miss getting our dinner in before the deal ended since the requirement is that it just has to be during your birthday month.
We had a pretty routine meal for us. We had the monkey bread like we always do, we both had a burger, and we split the cookie ice cream dessert. It was delicious as always and the perfect birthday meal. And just like always we had lots of fun and random stories to tell each other. We did talk a lot about the election since things have been a bit crazy with that and she has been seeing the stories in the news. And we both had some random dating stories to share. Although I think she might have had a crazier story than mine with a guy that basically through a temper tantrum after he had a medical issue and she was worried about him. I don’t think either of us will ever understand why some guys act out that crazy when they don’t need to act out or react at all.
We also both talked about how neither of us did much for our birthdays this year. We might be able to do something together later as a late birthday celebration, which would be nice since we rarely do a big birthday thing together. But even if we don’t manage to get that organized, I’m so glad we did get our birthday dinner in. It’s one of my favorite birthday traditions and I love how much we both look forward to it. And it’s been one of the main ways I’ve been able to celebrate my birthday this year.
Posted onAugust 23, 2019|Comments Off on Another LA Anniversary (or I Kind Of Already Celebrated This Once)
This week marked 18 years since I moved to LA. As I’ve mentioned in my other LA anniversary posts, I moved out here to go to college and I’ve never left. It’s always felt like home to me and I’ve been happy here. I never thought about leaving and I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. It feels like I was always meant to live here.
I mentioned in my birthday post that this pretty much splits my life into half. With half my life being in the Bay Area and half my life in LA. I think technically it will be a few more weeks before it’s really half and half, but that’s just a technicality at this point. I do see my life as half in one place and a half in another. But at the same time, I still can’t believe that I have been in LA for half my life. It doesn’t seem like it’s been that long and at the same time, it’s hard to remember when I didn’t live here.
It feels like I’ve lived a million different lives since I moved here. I started out as a pretty typical college student. I think that only lasted my first year of college because by my sophomore year I was taking a lot of acting classes outside of college. By doing that, I earned college credits and was able to graduate early. Then I had a few different day jobs before taking a “real job” for a while. I was miserable at that job and was going to quit when I found out I would be getting laid off in a few months (my boss was awesome and let me know when I told him I was thinking of leaving). After that, I lived off unemployment for a while and tried to focus completely on acting. Then I had to try to find a balance with day jobs and acting. Doing that took several years and more day jobs than I would like to remember. Finally, for the past few years, I’ve had a sense of stability and have been able to try to find a few other things in life to focus on because I need to have more of a life than just work.
In the 18 years I’ve lived here, I’ve seen a lot of friends move here and leave. Some left because they got an amazing job offer somewhere else. Some of them left because they hated LA. Some moved here to pursue acting and gave themselves a very strict timeline and refused to budge if they didn’t reach the level of success they felt they needed by their deadline and left. I’m proud of myself for sticking it out because it’s not easy. I’m not judging the people who have left because they all had valid reasons for leaving. They wouldn’t be a reason I would leave, but the reasons I stay wouldn’t be reasons they would stay either. I am sure I could have a much easier life living somewhere else and doing something else, but I don’t think it would be a happier life. And I have realized that my happiness, at least for now, it more important than having an easy life.
Just like I’ve said in other timeline or milestone posts, this is not where I thought my life would be at this point. I had no clue where I would be after 18 years in LA. I don’t even think I thought about it. But to think about the friends, adventures, and memories that I have gained in those 18 years is pretty amazing and I am proud of what I have accomplished. It hasn’t all been positive, but the positive definitely outweighs the negative.
Just like I didn’t think 18 years ago where I would be now, I’m not going to try to predict where I will be in 18 years. The only thing I will hope is that I will still be happy (and hopefully still happy in LA). Life has taken so many interesting twists that I can’t even try to guess where things will be in 18 months (or at this rate, 18 days). But I know that as long as I keep moving forward and making sure that I am staying true to myself and focusing on what makes me happy, things will turn out the way they should and hopefully I will have dozens of more LA anniversaries.
Posted onAugust 14, 2019|Comments Off on Overcoming The Confidence Gap (or Taking A Risk And Having It Pay Off)
I’ve heard multiple stories of the idea of the confidence gap. There’s a lot to the idea of it, but it comes down to the idea that women tend to wait until they feel more confident before taking a chance. Studies show when it comes to taking a risk or asking for a promotion, women usually will wait until they feel that they can do 100% of the tasks required while men will go ahead when they feel they can do 60%. This is something that I have tried to overcome, but it is not easy when it almost is a natural feeling that I want to be perfect before I take a chance. I don’t want to look stupid or make a mistake and have someone tell me that I shouldn’t have tried.
I am getting better about taking chances, but that usually only happens when those chances only affect me and not anyone else. If someone else may need to make up for my mistakes or it could delay or affect someone else’s day, I tend to not want to try. It’s hard to not be scared that someone might be upset with me if I try and fail. But I also know that if someone took a chance and it affected me when they couldn’t accomplish it, I wouldn’t blame them because at least they tried. I just need to believe that someone else would feel the same way about me.
I had the opportunity to try to take a chance last week. With this election, we have all been working hard at creating different things like graphics and videos. We do have people who’s primary jobs are to create things like that, but sometimes things come up and either they are swamped with other work (or with life since this is all volunteer work) or we have to pitch in to help because we have a time crunch and the person who typically does the work is not available. Everyone is happy to pitch in where they can because we all are passionate about what we are doing and want to make sure we do everything we can to get the word out about the vote and the slate.
We had recorded some videos recently and they were being edited into individual videos for each candidate that filmed. But we had an idea to turn it into a larger video that included everyone who was there that day. But the person who was editing the video did not have the time to put that video together. I have edited a few things before, but nothing like this. But I said I would give it a shot. I wasn’t sure I could do it, but I wanted to try. I knew if I couldn’t do it, someone else could try and we wouldn’t be any worse off than we were before I started. So I was sent all the video footage from the shoot and spent some time watching it and seeing what made sense to me as a bigger video.
Fortunately, the concept came to me quickly. And, while I’m sure there are multiple ways I could have done the editing a lot faster or more efficiently, I had to do it the way I knew how and pull the clips I knew I was going to use and put them in one section and put all the extra clips in another. Then I got to trying to sort those clips and organizing them and moving them around until I was happy with the order and it seemed to make sense to me.
Fortunately, I was able to send multiple versions of the work in progress to some people from the slate for notes and they were able to give me feedback on what they thought and if they felt things needed to be moved around. They also got me the still frame for the end of the video that included the required disclosure that the video was not paid for with union funds. And my friend Ben had a lot of credits on a royalty-free music website so he let me use his login information and download a few options so we tested some music clips out. When I originally tested the clips out, I was torn between 4 different ones. But once I put them all into the video I made, one stood out as the clear winner.
From the time I got the video footage until the time I finished exporting the final file, it was only about 24 hours (and probably about 8-10 hours of total work). That’s not that long, but it also is only about a 2-minute video. When I was done, I sent it out to the leaders of the slate and said that I could fix anything if they noticed anything off and for some reason, I felt like I also had to apologize because I’m not an editor. Thinking back, I feel so stupid that I apologized for my work, but at the time I did it. I guess it was that feeling that I wasn’t 100% ready to edit a video so there was something for me to be sorry for. But I was ready enough to create something that I am now extremely proud of.
This video has been posted on our social media and I think everyone is very happy about it. And now I am happy about it too. Taking the risk of editing a video even though I wasn’t completely sure I could do it worked in my favor. And not only did it work in my favor, I proved to myself that I can do something that I questioned I could do. It wasn’t easy and I had to look up how to do a lot of things, but I got it done. And while this isn’t something I will probably do regularly, it is something that I want to practice a bit more so I feel more confident doing when I need to edit something in the future.
Posted onAugust 12, 2019|Comments Off on Birthday Workout Week (or Continuing My Progress)
Last week, I wrote about how the week before I increased my base pace for my workouts. I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to keep that up, but I figured I would play around with what my base pace would be and at least I knew I could use that as an option. And going into this past week of workouts, I wasn’t sure what I’d be doing with my base pace, but I knew one thing: I was going to have an awesome week of workouts because it was my birthday week! But I managed to do even better than that!
Monday’s workout was a 2 group workout and because it was only a 2 group class we were able to have a run/row! Since most of my classes are 3 groups, run/row classes are rare and they are a fun treat for me. And the numbness issue while rowing has continued to get better so I wasn’t too worried about how I would do while rowing. The run/row had quick hill work for cardio and then decreasing rows after. Each time I was on the bike, I was done in under 3 minutes. And the rowing started at 400 meters and decreased by 50 meters each round. The hill work was supposed to be a push pace with no incline, a base pace at incline, and then a push pace at no incline. I did use my regular push pace and for the incline work, I was keeping the resistance level above my normal all out.
On the floor, we had 3 blocks. The first block had chest presses, lateral flys, and double crunches. The second block had low rows with weights, bench pullovers, and toe reaches, and the last block was a core blast with bicycles, side toe taps, and plank work. I was able to go heavy on the weights, but I was having a few issues with catching my breath and had to take some moments to calm down. I think I was having some nerve issues because I had my doctor appointment after my workout, but once I calmed down I was able to get back to the workout and continue working hard.
Wednesday’s workout was a partner workout and it was called Follow The Leader. The person on the rower always set the pace of the team. It was a tough workout because we were always working hard and unless you were on the rower you weren’t sure when you’d be switching.
On the rower, you started with a 700-meter row. All 3 of us had the 700-meter row before we moved to the 600-meter row round. Once all of us did that round we went down to the 500-meter row round and so on. The person on the treadmill (or bike in my case) always had a run/bike for distance and every time you were back to the treadmill/bike you increased the incline/resistance level. I was able to do all the cardio work starting at my new base pace level and increasing it every round. And on the floor, we had burpees, bench hop overs, chest flys, bicep curls, and single-arm rows. You picked up where you left off on the floor when you returned to it.
My partners and I were a pretty equal team so we seemed to have a consistent pace moving around. And I did have to leave this workout a little early because I had something I had to get to before I had to work. One of the other partners also had to leave early (that’s why we were partnered up), so toward the end of the workout, we did have a bit of a weird pattern. But we made it work and that’s what matters.
Friday’s workout was my birthday workout! I never thought I’d be the type of person excited to get to work out on my birthday. And I especially never thought I would be excited about having a workout at 7am on my birthday, but I guess I am that person now!
The workout was a strength-based class, which isn’t my favorite but I was still excited since it was my birthday. And it was a switch class so at least we moved around a bit.
For cardio, the first block had a push pace with no incline, a base pace, a 3-minute hill, a base pace to recover, and an all out. And the second block had the same pattern but all the segments were shorter and the hill wasn’t as high of an incline/resistance level. And the second block was also shorter.
On the rower, we started with a 90-second row and then we were supposed to have lunges with shoulder presses. I changed those to be squats with shoulder presses. Then we decreased the row by 100 meters every round with the squats and shoulder presses between each row. The second block started with a 1-minute row with squats between each row. And each round the row decreased 50 meters.
And on the floor, we had a lot of work with the Bosu. The first block had goblet lunges, back extensions on the Bosu, and sit-ups on the Bosu. And the second block had lateral lunges and weighted crunches on the Bosu.
And of course, I had to get a birthday workout photo (even though it’s a post-workout photo so we are all tired and sweaty).
Saturday’s workout was an endurance day, which was a tough one to do when I was exhausted from working hard during the week. But I was grateful that it was a 3 group class since I knew it would be a bit easier with switching every 15 minutes. But it’s still hard no matter what.
For cardio, we had 4 rounds with 2-minute push paces. After the first push, we had a 90-second base pace. After the other ones, we only had a minute. I was using my new base pace and my normal push pace. After those 4 rounds, we finished cardio with a 90-second distance challenge and I set the bike at the resistance level between my push and all out.
On the rower, we started with a 100-meter row and after that, we had 20 pulsing half squats. We increased our row by 50 meters each round and decreased the squats by 2 each round. And we did that for the entire 15 minutes. That is a long time to row and do squats and it was starting to be a bit hard on my hip. I also started to have a bit of numbness in my feet, but considering this was the first time all week I had that issue I wasn’t too worried about it. But I still had to be careful with my floor work because of how hard the rowing work was for me.
On the floor, we had one long block. We had bicep curls, hip bridges, chest presses, tricep extensions, lunges, and dumbbell swings. The only big modification I had to do was change the tricep extensions to be using the straps instead of using weights. I was feeling a bit off balance and having a weight over my head wasn’t feeling comfortable. But for weight work, I was going heavier than normal which felt like it made up for it.
I didn’t think about it until the end of this past week, but I didn’t even think about going back to my old base pace once during this past week of workouts. It just seemed normal to use the new base pace and I didn’t question it once. Yes, it was challenging from time to time, but not so challenging that I wanted to go back. It was so cool when I was done with the week and I had that realization. I was already excited about the week being my birthday week, but it was extra nice to end the week with something else to be excited about.
Posted onAugust 6, 2019|Comments Off on Standing Up For Myself (or A Bad But Funny Date Story)
I feel like it’s been a while since I’ve shared a random dating story. Lately, it’s been more about lifelessons from dating. But there have been so many one-off date stories lately and I haven’t been sharing them on here. Most of them are pretty simple. There have been guys who don’t match the photos that were in their profiles, guys that I don’t click with for some reason or another, and of course more guys that ghost at various points in time. But last week, I had another epic date story.
This guy seemed totally normal while we were messaging on the app. We chatted about a few different things and then decided to meet up for a drink since it’s important to see if there is chemistry in person. We didn’t really live too close to each other, so we decided to meet somewhere that was in the middle. And Hollywood was somewhat between us and I suggested that we meet at Wood & Vine. That worked for him and I was happy that we were meeting somewhere that I knew well and was comfortable with.
We were meeting there while a show was going on at the Pantages, so the restaurant only had a few people there. We sat at the bar and he ordered a beer and I had water. He was debating about getting food, but I was secretly hoping he wasn’t going to order anything because I still wasn’t sure how this was going to go and I didn’t want to have to feel like I had to stay there while he was eating.
He ended up not getting food and I am so grateful he didn’t because this date was just awful. I don’t even know how it started going wrong. The conversation was awkward as it sometimes is when you meet someone new, so I asked about what he did since that is usually a safe topic. Turns out he doesn’t work. He was a bit vague about how he pays for things, but I think he lives off of family money. And he seemed to be surprised that I had to work to make money. I don’t know why that is so surprising, but he also wasn’t American so I thought maybe he mixed up some words and said it wrong so I didn’t let it affect me too much.
Since he didn’t have work to talk about, I asked him what he did for fun. He had a long list of stereotypical LA things to say like yoga, go to the beach, swim, hike, self-improvement, cook, and be outside. Everything was generic and not much that I could connect to or start more of a conversation about. Finally, he mentioned reading and I could talk to him about that. So I asked what he reads and he said that he only reads things that will benefit him and that would be self-improvement or self-help. I then asked if he ever reads for fun and he almost laughed at the idea of that.
I said how I read for fun and he said something about how I needed to entertain myself by reading. That just made me made. I don’t have to entertain myself by reading. I love to read. I get so much pleasure out of it, and he made it seem like I needed it to not do something destructive or harmful. It was so annoying.
At this point, I was debating about just getting up and leaving because there was clearly no connection and this was not going to go anywhere and he asked me what I was thinking. The implication was if I wanted to go home with him. I couldn’t believe that he thought that things were going well! This wasn’t the worst date I had been on, but it was not good at all. I said that I didn’t feel the connection but I was glad that we met so we could at least see. You never know if you click with someone until you meet.
He didn’t seem to understand why I didn’t agree that there wasn’t a connection. He brought up that he likes big girls so I should want to be with him. He had no way of knowing that is one of my biggest pet peeves. I do not want to be with a guy that wants to be with a big girl because hopefully, I will not be this size my entire life. I want someone who wants to be with me for me and is attracted to me no matter my size. Someone who is attracted to big girls might stop being attracted to me when I lose weight (I’ve had it happen to me before). This guy seemed to think that because he was willing to be with me, I should be grateful and be with him. But I am not that type of girl.
We got up to leave (thank you again to the staff at Wood & Vine for helping make it a quick exit) and this guy still couldn’t get it in his head that I wasn’t interested and that it wasn’t going further. We were on the street and he kept bugging me to tell him why I didn’t want to continue this. Finally, I was tired of him bugging me and wanted him to leave me alone so I said I would tell him the truth. I said that I felt like he was a pompous asshole and a douchebag. I’m still a bit shocked that I said that to someone, but he deserved it and it felt good to be honest.
It might not have been the smartest move to say that because he didn’t take that well and he wanted to know why I felt that. He ended up saying I had no right to feel the way I felt and that I had to feel the way he said I should feel. It was ridiculous. And there was a small crowd starting to watch this happen which was odd and I just was ready to get out of there. The guy stormed off when I wouldn’t back down and agree with him that I wasn’t allowed to have my own emotions and I went back toward where my car was but waited off to the side before going to my car because I wanted to make sure he wasn’t following me or watching me.
And of course, I blocked and reported him on the dating app before I got to my car.
When I was driving home, I called my friend Dani and was shaking and crying. I don’t know why I was having that reaction because I wasn’t necessarily upset over what happened. I think it was more about the adreneline because I was so close to punching this guy. I’m glad I didn’t hit him because that wouldn’t have been wrong. But I am glad I said what I said even though it was not something I would normally do.
Maybe this guy is used to being with girls who look like me that will tolerate anything and will accept whatever comes their way. I was never that way, but I also know that I did tolerate more in the past than I do now. I don’t think I would have stood up for myself quite as much as I did this time if this happened a year ago. I wouldn’t have gone home with this guy or had a second date, but I probably would have played it off and just unmatched him later. I wouldn’t have told him that I had no interest in seeing him again. But now, I have found new confidence and power and have realized that I have the right to get what I want and not be embarrassed by that. And if I am treated in a way that I don’t deserve, I don’t have to stay quiet and take that.
I’m sure this guy will just be back on the app looking for another girl he can treat this way hoping that she will put up with it. But maybe in the back of his mind, he will think twice or have a little hesitation after I stood up to him and he realized that he can’t get away with it.
I am someone who likes to know what types of workouts I am going to do before I go to Orangetheory. I am lucky that I have ways of finding things out before I drive over there (knowing what class I have never makes me not want to go to class, I usually am more excited knowing what I’m in for). And sometimes I find out when there is going to be a benchmark class or something else like that. But somehow, I must have missed some of the warnings for the challenges of this past week, but it ended up working out really well for me.
Monday’s class was all about working with a new base pace, and I decided to take that challenge. I’ve been playing around with not necessarily using the exact same resistance levels on the bike all the time, so I figured I could play around with what my base level might be. I also know that I need to keep challenging myself when I’m having good weeks because it’s too easy to not do that because I feel like I’m just spending that time recovering from feeling so gross the week before.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had decreasing push paces and all the base paces at 1 minute. And the second block had increasing base paces and all the push paces at 1 minute. The push paces for the first block started at 2 1/2 minutes and went down to 1 minute and the base paces in the second block started at 1 minute and went up to 2 minutes. Because the difference between my base and push was only 1 resistance level on the bike this time, it didn’t feel like a huge difference. Maybe I should have increased my push level too, but I didn’t want to go too hard and make the new base level too difficult for me. The new base level was challenging, but I also think it was because it was a 2 group class so I was on the bike for a while.
The floor was also 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses, squats, front raises using the mini-bands, and scissor abs with the mini-bands on our wrists. We also had rowing after each round of exercises. My feet were still going a bit numb with rowing, so I struggled a bit with that. I really think the numbness has to be a combination of foot position and my heart rate being elevated because it doesn’t happen any other time. So I have been working on stopping and trying to calm my heart rate down when it gets really bad and it seems to make it a little better. The rowing was 400-meters, 200-meters, and 100-meters for that first block. The second block started with an 800-meter row which took me much longer than I would have liked it to take. Then we had mini-band plank side reaches, mini-band strap low rows, and tricep work on the straps without the mini-bands. At least the non-rowing floor work went well for me.
Wednesday’s workout was a power day and we were moving around the room so quickly! All the blocks were under 5 minutes and we had 3 blocks at each section of the room.
Every block for cardio was the same. We had a 30-second push pace, 30-second base pace, 30-second all out, recovery, 30-second push pace, and 30-second all out. I was using my new base pace for this and my normal push and all out. For the recover,y I was using my old base pace since that’s what I’m used to using for my recovery. The new base pace was used so little during these blocks so it didn’t feel like that much of a change for me. That was probably a good thing and an easy transition for me so I’m glad that I had this class as my first one after the new base pace class.
On the rower, we had very similar blocks for all the blocks. The first block started with a 300-meter row and 12 frogger squats. Then it was a 200-meter row and 12 frogger squats. I made it to starting the 100-meter row before the block ended in the first block. The second block had the same rowing but the frogger squats were down to 10 reps. And in the third block, the frogger squats were 8 reps. But every block, I was always working on the 100-meter row when the block was done so I never did the very last round of frogger squats. Fortunately, the foot numbness problem was better in this class than it had been. I had changed my dosage that day to add a pill in the morning, so that might have helped somehow. I will never try to understand side effects, but it was interesting to see how it worked that day when I had been very nervous to see what would happen.
The floor had different blocks for each block. The first block had step-ups and squat jumps. I had to modify these to be lunges and regular squats. If the block was longer, I would have done modified step-ups with using the straps, but it takes me time to get onto the bench and to get my balance and I didn’t want to use up too much time during the block. The second block had hollow hold chest presses and pop jacks. I modified the pop jacks to use the bench instead of the ground, but that isn’t a big modification. And the last block had reverse mountain climbers and sit-ups. I changed the reverse mountain climbers to be regular ones because I don’t have the same range of motion and wanted to do the full exercise, but again it was a small modification.
Friday’s class was an endurance class, and I continued to challenge myself with my new base pace level. This was a really hard challenge in this class for me. Not only was it just a tough class, but I was exhausted from not sleeping well (or sleeping enough) and my hips were hurting a lot from that lack of sleep. But I wanted to try to push through the best that I could and see what I could do.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block had 3 rounds of 1-minute push paces to 90-second base paces and it ended with a 30-second push to 1 minute all out pace. And the second block had 2 rounds of 1-minute push paces to 1-minute base paces and ended with a 30-second push to 1 minute all out pace. I did the new base pace level for all my base paces and the normal push and all out levels. For my recovery between the blocks, I did go a bit lower than I normally go, but I needed that recovery time. And I did take a few more breaks than I would have liked to have taken, but again, I needed them. Even though the cardio time wasn’t longer than a normal 3 group class, it felt longer than a 2 group class for some reason. I think it really was just because I was so tired.
On the rower, we had 1 long block. We started with an 800-meter row. Then we had 20 squats with a medicine ball. Then it was a 400-meter row and 15 squats and 15 overhead presses with the medicine ball. Then a 200-meter row followed by 10 squats, 10 overhead presses, and 10 tricep extensions with the medicine ball. I was just sitting down to start the 100-meter row when the block was done. I had a little bit of the numbness issue in my feet during the rowing, but just like on Wednesday it was better than it had been the week before. And I’m learning how to deal with it a bit more. I’m still hoping that it will go away, but at least it’s getting better and I’m doing better with my rowing.
And on the floor, we had 2 blocks. The first block had chest presses with weights, push-ups, and tricep extensions on the straps. And the second block had lateral raises with weights, full thrusters with weights, and plank work. I had to change the full thrusters to be shoulder presses because my hips were not able to squat down anymore. It’s not the biggest modification, but it still annoyed me for some reason because it felt like a big one. Maybe because I felt like I was going to make it through a workout without modifications and then one just snuck in there. But I still did something and worked hard so it counts and I should be proud of myself.
Saturday’s class was a mix of endurance, strength, and power and it was yet another opportunity for me to work with my new base pace resistance level. I had a few things I had to modify to make the workout work for me, but since so much of the week was focused on the new base pace I wanted to continue to work on that.
The cardio was split into 2 blocks. The first block was 4 rounds of 45-second all outs with recovery in-between. Because things were going back and forth so quickly between the all outs and recovery, I decided not to change my resistance level on the bike and I used my new base pace level for everything. I just worked on pedaling faster for the all out time. And the second block was 4 rounds of 1-minute push paces with base paces in-between. This time, I did switch up my resistance level and used my normal push level (I still haven’t played around with increasing that just yet).
The rower was one long block. We started with a 100-meter row and went up 50 meters until we got to 250 meters. Between each row, it was supposed to be lunges with tricep extensions using a medicine ball but I modified them to be squats with tricep extensions. Then we worked our way back down from 250 meters to 100 meters and the exercise between each row was squat front raises with the medicine ball. As the trend was over the week, the numbness issue continued to get better. I still had a few moments when my feet were numb, but it was so much better than it had been and I was so grateful for that.
And the floor was also one long block. We had reverse lunges, side toe touches, side plank pendulums, hip bridges with weights, and sit-ups. I had modifications to the first two exercises, which I expected to need. But I went heavier than normal with my hip bridges so I figured that balanced things out for me.
Going into this past week, I had no idea I’d be increasing my base pace level and I hadn’t really been thinking about doing it. But I jumped into that challenge on Monday and really went for it all week. I will hopefully be able to continue to keep it up from now on, although I am open to playing around with the resistance levels on the bike depending on the type of workout like I’ve been doing. But knowing that I can just increase my resistance level as I did with no preparation and really go for it makes me feel so strong and powerful.
Posted onJuly 31, 2019|Comments Off on A Perfect Night At The Bowl (or Checking Some Things Off My List)
As I mentioned in my post about the end of my Pantages season, I wasn’t completely done with musicals for the summer. I still had one more show left (at least one more that I knew about). And that was the musical that was being done at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ve gone to the musicals at the Bowl severaltimes and they are usually very fun experiences. This year, they did “Into The Woods” which I have seen a few times and really like. And since we went to the show on Sunday, we were still able to get good seats even though we didn’t do them right when they went on sale.
Besides being excited to be going to the Bowl (which I already love) and seeing a musical (which is one of my favorite things), I had some extra things to be excited about. Some of the stars of the show are actors that I have dreamed of seeing live. I have a list of shows that I’ve always wanted to see and actors I’ve always wanted to see. And I’ve been so lucky to be able to check shows and actors off my lists over the years. And this show had a lot of the actors I’ve been wanting to see in it so I was beyond thrilled. The top 2 actors I have wanted to see live are Sutton Foster and Laura Osnes and Sutton Foster was starring as the Baker’s Wife in the show. I was so excited and couldn’t wait.
When we got to the Bowl, we were all already excited. We were at a show we were excited to see, the weather was nice, and we had a lot of great food with us for dinner. We decided to see if there was any chance we could find a table to sit down at to eat, and by some miracle, we found one! There were some guys upset that another table wouldn’t give them their chairs (they needed the chairs for their family so they didn’t want to give them to the other group), so they left and we were able to take their table. It worked out really well and I was thinking about how we were having the best luck ever.
But things got even better.
We were eating and I was looking at a group sitting on the ground next to our table when I saw someone who looked familiar. When they got up, I realized that it was Laura Osnes, the other actor at the top of my dream list of actors to see! She was there to see the show and she had been sitting right next to us! I didn’t want to bother her as she was there with her husband and friends, but it was so random and cool that an actor that I’ve dreamed of seeing perform was at a show that had another actor on my dream list. Hopefully one day I’ll get to see her perform too.
After we finished our dinner, we headed to our seats. We had bought 4 tickets but there were only 3 of us at the show. But because the bench seats are so packed, it actually was really nice to have the extra seat so we didn’t feel squished on the bench. We were closer to the stage that I feel like I normally am, which was a nice treat. I guess since it was a Sunday show we were able to do a better section for the same price as our cheaper seats on a Saturday.
The other thing about the show being on a Sunday was that it started a bit earlier. This was a good thing since it is a long show and we still were there late, but it was still light out when the show started. That was different, but not bad.
The show was just as good as I thought it would be. I love the story already and I knew I loved the actors. The combination was just perfect. The sets were minimal as they usually are with the Bowl shows, but they didn’t need much. And they used projections around the stage to add things that couldn’t really be done with set pieces. There were lots of funny little moments that were a bit of breaking the 4th wall or making fun of the stage or situation. All of those things make a show special and unique and they make me so happy.
One of the things that is so funny about “Into The Woods” is how it seems like the story is wrapping up when it’s really coming to the intermission. Some of the people seated near us were packing up their things and getting ready to leave thinking the show was done. I’m glad I told them that it was only intermission so they didn’t miss the second half.
Even though the show did end a bit later than I would have liked, I was so glad that we got tickets. It was such a perfect night out and I don’t think we could have planned a better night at the Bowl. It was a great show, had a cast that I had been wanting to see, we had a great picnic dinner at a table we lucked into getting, and we had a bunch of different celebrity spottings. It really was the best night and I just continue to feel so lucky and grateful that I get to have nights like that one.
Posted onJuly 30, 2019|Comments Off on A Special Birthday For A Special Friend (or Celebrating A “College” Friend)
I’ve written about my amazing friend Marie on here so many times. She is the one who hosts the parties I usually go to for the Oscars, Halloween, New Year’s Eve, and the 4th of July. There have also been so many random parties that she has hosted over the years, plus her wedding and bachelorette party! I’ve had so many adventures with Marie over the years, so when she was celebrating her birthday this past weekend, I knew I had to be there.
It wasn’t a huge gathering, but every single person who was there loves Marie as much as I do and we all consider each other family. It’s the most incredible group of people and I am always so grateful to be considered to be a part of them.
I think the reason I feel so grateful to be a part of this group is because of my history with this group and how I became friends with them. I met Marie and most of this group 17 years ago. I just joined an improv group and was taking classes and doing shows. I wasn’t the youngest person in the group, but I was close to the youngest. And I seemed to be the youngest out of the group that I was hanging out with. Most of the people in the group I would hang out with after class or shows were in their late 20s or their 30s, and I was still a teenager. This did occasionally cause issues when we were trying to hang out in a bar at night, but besides that, I was never looked down at or was considered something like the annoying little sibling.
Of course, I looked up to everyone like they were my older siblings. And I looked up to them even more because they treated me like one of their peers. Having that respect really made me feel special and like an adult. I think that was part of the reason I didn’t get along with people at my college too much. I was used to being in an adult world and I wasn’t related to my fellow students as much. In the last 2 years of college, I hung out with my improv friends more than the students in my classes. So I started to joke that these friends were my real college friends even though they all finished school quite a while ago. I even used my improv friends as the actors in different projects I had in class so they felt like a real part of my college experience.
If I had only been friends with everyone while I was in college, that would have been special enough. I was about a decade younger than most of the group and that was unique. But the fact that we’ve maintained this friendship for 17 years is just amazing. In a little over a year, I will have been friends with this group for half of my life. There aren’t that many people that I’ve known for half my life, and this is a big group! Again, it’s so special to me and I appreciate it all the time.
Marie’s birthday party was a very fun and relaxing hangout. It was a potluck and there was a ton of food! Everyone was hanging out and having fun celebrating Marie. It was hot out, but their backyard has shade and there was a bit of a breeze there. I don’t love the heat, but I was managing it the best I could with drinking lots of water and staying out of the sun as much as I could.
And of course, there was a birthday cake. Our friend Mandi, who also made a cake for Chris and Marie’s wedding, made an amazing cake for Marie’s birthday. It had 2 different cakes, a lemon cake and a chocolate peanut butter cake. And it was decorated with things all about Marie and things that we love about her.
After enjoying some cake, I started to get a bit exhausted (a combination of lack of sleep, a long day, and the heat), so I made my way around to say my goodbyes to my friends there. But I took my time talking with Marie because I really wanted her to know how much I love her and appreciate her friendship.
She is the glue that holds this friendship group together. I know that she is the one responsible for making this group as strong as we are and making sure we are as connected as we are. We can all turn to her when we need something and she is always there for us. I only can hope that we do the same for her, but honestly, I don’t know if I do even a fraction. To have a friend like Marie is one of the biggest gifts and I don’t know how to even express how lucky I am (which is one reason why I’m writing this post).
I have so much to be grateful for with this group of friends, and the center of this group is Marie. Everything that I have with this group is because of her and I am so lucky. I think I can speak for the entire group when I say that we feel this way and that every time we get to hang out with Marie we feel more and more grateful for this friendship. I know that every time I see the group I feel like I have a boost in my life that I didn’t know I needed. It’s the best feeling and I only hope that everyone has someone in their life that makes them feel that way.
I love that Marie and I have been friends for almost half my life. That means that almost half my life has been blessed by her friendship and awesomeness. That’s amazing. There’s a bit of time before we will have been friends for half of her life, but hopefully, when we get there I will be able to make her feel as lucky as I feel.
Marie, I know you are reading this, so I just wanted to say again how much I love you and am so grateful for you and everything that you do for the Mammoth Lodge group. We are all so lucky to have you as the center of the group and I don’t know how we could ever repay what you have done for us to you. Happy Birthday and I can’t wait to keep celebrating birthday, holidays, Oscars, and randomness with you!
This past Sunday was the last show for my current season at the Pantages. This has been a great season and I have really enjoyed it. Even the shows I didn’t love were still enjoyable and I was glad that I got to see a bunch of classic shows that I hadn’t seen before or had never seen on a big stage.
It’s been a slightly different season this past season because my group had a few date conflicts from time to time. We rarely all made it to a show, which was fine. But I do wish that we had been able to go as a group more often. And for this last show, it was just me and my friend Dani as the other 2 people in the group couldn’t make it.
But Dani and I had a lot of fun. We started our evening at one of our favorite pre-show dinner places.
I think this was the first time that it was just 2 of us for dinner at Wood & Vine. One of the things I love about Wood & Vine (besides the amazing food) is that everything is designed to be shared with the table. That allows us to order so many different things so we can try a lot and not be overwhelmed by too much food. But with just me and Dani, we had to limit what we ordered so we weren’t stuffed.
For our dinner, we got some of our favorite things like the charred romaine salad, the pork shanks, and the shells and cheese. They were all as good as we remembered them and I think we ordered the perfect amount with a mix of some healthier options and some splurges. And since we made our dinner reservation on the earlier side, we had plenty of time to enjoy the food and patio before we had to head across the street for the show.
But before we left, the manager at Wood & Vine sent us 2 of the new desserts on their menu to try.
We got to try the dark chocolate cake and the banana caramel cream. The dark chocolate cake was so luxurious! It was like the most perfect mousse and the caramel on the side was so good! But I think my new favorite dessert is the banana caramel cream. It was one of the lighter desserts we’ve had there and the perfect summer dessert. It wasn’t overly sweet and every bite was a little different. I hope the banana caramel cream stays on the menu because I know I want to get it again!
Once we paid for dinner, we headed across the street to the theater for our show. And just like so many shows this season, this was another one I had seen before.
I had only seen “Miss Saigon” one time before and it was almost 19 years ago. I saw it on my 17th birthday when I was in New York on my drama club trip in high school. I remembered the show a bit and had some random memories of things like how we learned how some of the actors had to wear their mike packs under their wigs instead of on their backs. It’s so odd what I remembered about the show, but I was excited to get to see it again to remember more of it.
Once the show started I remembered how much there is in the plot. It’s very busy to get in the story and it can be confusing. I, fortunately, remembered enough about it to be able to follow along well. I also took a glance at the main plot points online before going to the show, so that probably helped too. But it still was a bit overwhelming to watch it again.
Also, this show had some of the most obstructed views for us. Because we do cheap seats, we are off to the side. And because of how the set was done, we didn’t get to see a few moments that were far off to the side. We didn’t miss much, but it does make me a little sad whenever we have a blocked view like we did that night.
But even with how busy the show is and the obstructed view from time to time, it was still an amazing show. It was just as good as I remembered it and I loved the performances. Everyone was very talented and I especially loved The Engineer. He was so funny and Dani and I joked how there should be just a show of him and his fun songs. His character brought some needed levity to the show because it is a very heavy show. Even though I knew that going in, it still hit me really hard.
And I think it hit me hard because of some of the things that Dani and I discussed after the show. Whenever you see a show, you see it from a specific viewpoint and mindset. And when I saw this show before, it was a different time. And now, with there being so much hate regarding immigrants and the “other”, this show connected on a different level. It was similar to how I connected to other shows this season that weren’t as heavy for me in the past. It’s interesting to have very different memories of seeing this show, but they both are good memories and make me think of very different things which isn’t bad.
Our first show for next season is in October, so it is a bit longer until the show than I originally thought. For some reason, I thought our new show started at the end of August. But that’s ok because we have had a lot of shows recently and it will be a little break. I do have another musical thing this weekend, but it’s a little different (and I’ll write about that next week). Looking back at the entire season, it’s very close to what I thought it would be before the season started. Lots of fun shows, some great classics, and a chance to see a show again that I hadn’t seen in a very long time. Next season will be very different, but I’m excited about that!
Playing Beach Chicken (or How To Fully Enjoy Only Having To Work A Half Day On Saturdays)
