Posted onApril 7, 2023|Comments Off on One Busy Week And One Unscheduled Week (or I Guess This Is Balance)
Last week for me was a bit of a busy week. I had some really funthings that I got to do and I was around a lot of people. It felt like a week I would have had before the pandemic. And I was surprised that I wasn’t feeling burnout after being so social since that’s something I’ve experienced before. I was just living my life and loving having things to do and being around others. But I guess my new way of balancing is having one week on and one week off because this week has been the exact opposite.
I knew this week might be a tough one for me because I was expecting to have my pain and nausea kick in. And it did do that right after I got home from Santa Barbara (I was so glad that I wasn’t feeling horrible while I was with my family). And this month, it has been extremely bad. I have been taking all the medications that I have available and it hasn’t been taking the edge off. I’ve been working a lot from my bed because it’s uncomfortable to sit up at my desk for too long. And I’ve been using my heat pad so much that I’ve been turning on my air conditioning even though it’s not hot out, I’m just getting overheated from having the heating pad on me for so many hours in the day.
I’m glad I didn’t have anything really scheduled for this week because I just wouldn’t have been up for doing it. And I’ve also been exhausted so I would probably be tired if I were doing something and not enjoying it the way I should. As much as I’ve been trying to get enough sleep each night, I’m not sleeping well and I can see that in the app I use to track my sleep. I’m tossing and turning all night and I feel like I’m dragging all day. It’s not that I’m going to bed too late, I’m just not sleeping when I should be.
I know that this week is not necessarily normal for me. I also know that every month I can have a week or two like this. It’s always just frustrating and annoying when they are as bad as this week has been so far. I don’t have a lot of motivation to do stuff, so I have to put my focus on doing things that I have to do like working. But anything outside of my required things each day seems like too much effort. I’m trying to not be upset with myself for acting like this because clearly, my body has needed this week to not be a social one. But when I was so happy last week with how being out in the world again made me feel, this can feel a bit depressing.
I don’t have any plans for this weekend yet, but I also don’t want to make any plans until I know how I feel. I might need this weekend to rest and relax or I might be craving being social again and will make plans at that point. It’s so hard to know what I’ll want to do when I don’t know how I’ll be feeling. And I also worry because I could be feeling ok one moment and then I start experiencing really bad nausea again. So it can be better to lay low instead of making plans and having to cancel them. And hopefully, it won’t be that much longer before I feel ok again and I can get back to trying to make some fun plans.
Posted onApril 6, 2023|Comments Off on Another Santa Barbara Birthday (or A Quick Trip To See Family)
When I went to Santa Barbara for my niece’s birthday, I wasn’t sure if I’d be making it back up there for my nephew’s birthday a few weeks later. His birthday was going to be on a weekday and I knew my brother and his family were going to be out of town right before his birthday. So I thought his party might be on a weekday, which would mean I would have to miss it. But after I was in Santa Barbara in February, I found out the party would be the Sunday before his birthday so I would be able to go!
So this past Sunday, I made the drive up to Santa Barbara for the day as I have done so many times before. It’s not a horribly long drive, but with some traffic and road construction it was about 2 hours for me to get there. Fortunately, I knew ahead of time that I’d be driving up so I had a bunch of podcasts saved so I could be entertained on my drive.
I knew the party would be pretty low-key since my nephew was turning 3 and he doesn’t have a ton of friends yet. And I appreciated that it wouldn’t be a huge party full of people I didn’t know. It ended up being my family, my sister-in-law’s family, and 2 of my nephew’s friends from preschool. And they set up the bounce house I got my niece and nephew again for the party, so it was fun seeing all the kids having fun on it (and knowing that it was a good gift since not all of the gifts I’ve gotten them have been hits).
Since my nephew was busy playing with his friends, I spent most of my time at the party with my family and my sister-in-law’s parents. Even though I had seen them all a few weeks earlier at my niece’s party, there was plenty to catch up on. And I didn’t realize my sister-in-law’s mom hadn’t seen all the photos from my condo remodel, so I was showing her those and sharing what we did for the renovation and how it’s been since I moved in almost a year ago.
Everything about the party was casual and chill. They had a taco bar for lunch and I was eating outside with my parents (which was much quieter than being inside). And instead of a cake, they had cupcakes. My nephew loves garbage trucks so the cupcakes were decorated with little trucks.
And both my niece and nephew loved them, but I think my niece had a bit more fun making a mess out of the frosting and seeing how crazy she could get.
After cupcakes, the party was winding down. My parents had the dog with them, but he wasn’t able to be inside for the party so I was hanging out with my parents in the driveway so I could also spend a little time with Tucker. We mainly were just sitting in the front of the house for that, but it was still nice to see the dog since I don’t get to see him too often. And after my niece and nephew went down for their naps, my brother and sister-in-law hung out with us for a little bit before we all said goodbye.
I know I could have stayed a little longer if I wanted to and continued to hang out with my parents at their rental house, but I wanted to get home before it was too late. I know that going back on Sunday evenings can be crazy, and I wanted to avoid as much traffic as possible. Even though I didn’t leave that late, it still took me almost twice as long as normal to get home. But that’s ok since it was worth it to get to have some time with my family. I know that isn’t as easy for everyone to do as it is for me, so I like to take advantage of it whenever I can.
I’m not sure when my next trip to Santa Barbara will be, but I’m sure that there will be another day up there at some point soon. I usually plan them around when my parents are there, so I’ll just have to wait until they plan their next trip. And even with this trip up there being short, I’m glad it was still full of family time and it was on a day that I could make it.
I haven’t been going out every night, but I feel like I’ve been getting out more and more and I’m feeling less anxious about it. There are still some things that make me a bit hesitant or that I don’t know if I’m fully comfortable with, but I’ve been lucky that I’ve been able to find things that have been fun and feel safe. And last week, I had another adventure that really was awesome.
I was supposed to go on a date to an outdoor rooftop movie thing, but the day before the venue emailed saying they had to cancel the event. They didn’t say why, but it wasn’t a weather thing. But the guy I was supposed to go out with and I still wanted to meet up so we tried to think of something fun to go do. We both thought about it during the day and we said we’d have a phone call after work to figure out our plan. And while I was trying to be inspired and think of fun ideas, I saw something online about how that day was the opening day for the Dodgers, and the next day there would be another game. I looked online at the tickets, and there were quite a few seats left and they weren’t horribly priced. So I added that to my list to discuss when we had our call. And we decided that going to the game would be something fun and since it was outside it would feel a bit safer than being inside with a lot of people.
I haven’t been to too many professional baseball games and it had been several years since the last time I went to see the Dodgers, but I always have fun when I go to the games. As I explain to people who ask me if I like to watch sports, I don’t really care about sports but I love enthusiasm. I think it’s a similar feeling to going to a musical with experiencing something with a group of people who are really excited to be there. And of all sports, I think baseball is probably the one I enjoy watching in person the most. At least I seem to understand the game the most.
When we looked at the ticket options online that evening, I was showing him the options for cheap seats. But he wanted to spend a little more so we could sit a bit closer to the game. I didn’t mind spending a bit more, and the tickets weren’t too expensive. And it ended up not mattering much because he bought the tickets and then didn’t let me pay him back.
The game was an evening game after work, and we got there a little after the game started due to traffic. We got a pretty good parking spot and were in the stadium quickly. We decided to get food before going to our seats but wanted to make sure we knew where our seats were first. And I guess I didn’t quite understand the seating chart because we were much closer to the field than I thought! I thought we were one level higher, but we were so close to the game and really could see the action!
I kept saying how I was so surprised at how close we were because it was just amazing to not be sitting far away. I usually am sitting in the outfield or much higher up. This felt like such a change from how I’ve experienced baseball games in the past.
The game was really fast, partially because of the new pitch clock and partially because there were no runs until almost the end of the game. There was one home run by the Dodgers and the energy of the crowd was truly electric. It was a moment that made me so grateful to be in that crowd that night and reminded me how much I love experiencing events like this.
Unfortunately, the Dodgers lost the game that night. But it was still fun to watch. And most games have some special thing happening, such as a giveaway or fireworks. And after this game, there was a drone show. I’ve seen drone shows on tv before, but never in person. And it was really neat seeing all the different formations they made in the sky above the stadium.
I know I’ve said this before, but I need to be better about doing things like this. Not just for dates that I go on, but with my friends as well. It would be pretty easy to organize going to a game with a friend or two and I think I’ll try to do that sometime this season. It doesn’t have to be too expensive to go if we sit up high and it can be a really nice way to spend an afternoon or evening. And even if we aren’t paying a lot of attention to the game, the energy there is great to be a part of and really helped me feel more connected to my city and others again.
Posted onApril 4, 2023|Comments Off on Strength and Savings (or Picking A New Monthly Challenge I Know I Need To Do)
Happy April! I feel like March both flew by and took a long time and it also felt like more than one month with many things happening in my life. It wasn’t the craziest month of my life but the craziest month I feel like I’ve had in a long time. Â While it wasn’t all good things, it was nice that a lot of them were positive and reminded me more of what my life used to be like. And I’m proud of myself for not letting a bit of craziness get in the way of my monthly challenge.
I think I really needed the challenge I set for last month, which was to try to make some improvements in my workouts. I know that I have been wanting to do that for a while, but it’s not the easiest thing to do. But wanting to do it and needing to do it finally came together in March and I really think I found a way to try to get this done. I didn’t make all the improvements that I had hoped to, but I found ways to test myself and to try to see what I could do. I didn’t focus as much on improving on the bike, but I think I was able to get more comfortable with my new resistance levels. On the rower, I focused on things other than how fast I could row and I know I saw a lot of improvements doing that, including having faster rowing times. I think I’m going to continue focusing on things that aren’t how long it will take me to row a distance and I should hopefully continue to see results that include faster rows. And on the floor, I didn’t really get to use heavier weights like I wanted to, but I tried. I know that as I continue to try, eventually I’ll be ready for those heavier weights. But it will take me a bit longer than a month to get that accomplished.
Considering that I had a month, I feel pretty good about what I was able to accomplish but even more proud that I have decided to continue with some of the plans I created in March to see more progress moving forward. I know that I might not see the results in the next month or two and it could take longer, but at least I know I’ll be working toward them.
And for my April challenge, I’ve thought of something that combines a few different things that I know I’ve been trying to work on. My challenge this month is to significantly reduce my food waste. When I go to the grocery store, I always have the best intentions with the things I buy. But far too often, I don’t use up what I get or they expire before I use them. I hate when I’m cleaning my fridge and discover things I forgot about or that have spoiled. And it’s frustrating to have to throw out things because I hate wasting money as well as food.
Reducing my food waste will require me to be much more aware when I go grocery shopping. I also think I might need to get back to how I was shopping before the pandemic when I usually went to the store to get things only for the next few days instead of trying to get everything for the week at one time. I might buy something on Sunday thinking I want it but by Friday I really don’t want to have to make it. So if I’m shopping more often, then I can focus on what I want for that day or the next and not what I might want a week away.
I also will need to make sure that I’m eating at home or from things I made more. I’ve been getting much better about this and don’t order in that often anymore, but I also know I can be better. This might mean I need more easy meals as options, so when I went to the store most recently I made sure that I got more frozen meals as options so I could make a quick dinner if I don’t feel like cooking. I also want to get back into using my food saver to freeze things so I can make things on my own and have them as frozen meals, but that’s not something I want to do in bulk and just do it as I have things to save.
There are some things I’m allowing myself to not feel too guilty about with this challenge. There are some things I buy that I just can’t use up fast enough before it expires. For example, I don’t use mayonnaise that often, but I do use it sometimes. So I bought the smallest container of it months ago and I’m only about halfway through the container and it expired last week. I also won’t be forcing myself to eat everything on my plate if I make something and realize I don’t have the ability to finish it. That will mainly be something to worry about if I’m making a frozen meal since something I cook myself will be my own portion sizes and I normally serve myself less than I think I’ll want and get more if I’m still hungry.
I don’t have a goal of being zero waste or eliminating all my food waste, but I also know that there is a lot of improvement I can see in this aspect of my life. And I hope that by the end of this month, I feel like I’m not wasting as much food or money so I can know I’ve made a difference.
Posted onApril 3, 2023|Comments Off on A Bit Of A Recovery Week (or Easier Workouts To Deal With Pain)
After completing the Dri-Tri, I knew this past week of workouts might be a bit tough for me. I’m usually a bit sore after a Dri-Tri, but I also pushed myself more than normal so I knew I might be sorer than expected. I also had a few other things working against me this past week. I knew my pain and nausea could kick in and the weather predicted some rain. All of those can affect my workouts, and the result was that the entire week was a bit of a recovery week where I had to go easier than I would have liked to.
I knew Monday could be one of the toughest days for me, so I didn’t really push myself at all. I went easy from the beginning of the workout, and I think that was the smartest move for me to make because it helped me not get too sore during the workout.
For cardio, the first 3 blocks were all the same. We had a 3-minute push pace with a 45-second recovery after each one. The last block was a 2 1/2-minute push pace and a 30-second all-out which was a bit harder. I used my new normal resistance levels for all the blocks, I just pedaled slower than normal to make it easier.
On the rower, for blocks 1 and 3 we had a 3-minute push row. And in blocks 2 and 4, we did rounds of 150-meter rows with foot exchanges between each row. Even though I just did a much longer row for the Dri-Tri, those 3-minute rows felt really hard. I think it was just being tired and sore, but I did need to take breaks during those rows. I did better on the short rows, but I didn’t really row as quickly as I normally do for sprint rows even though I tried.
And on the floor, in blocks 1 and 3 we had timed exercises. We did 1 minute of lunges, 1 minute of bicep curls to upper cuts, and 1 minute of squat jumps. And in blocks 2 and 4, we had plank punches and scissor kicks. The timed exercises were really hard, but I modified things when necessary and tried to keep those to a minimum. But even with the modifications, I think the floor was the best for me in this workout.
I was less sore from the Dri-Tri on Tuesday, but I also wasn’t fully recovered so I still went easy but tried to go a bit harder than I did the day before. There were a few moments I worried I was doing too much, but I was happy with what I was able to get done.
For cardio, we had 3 blocks and they all had the same format. We had 2 rounds of a 30-second base pace at an incline followed by a 75-second base pace with no incline with a 30-second all-out with an incline at the end. The incline/resistance level went down each block, so that helped me to go a bit harder as the workout went on. And I did increase my resistance level above my all-out level for the highest incline to make it a bit harder for me.
On the rower, we also had 3 blocks that all had stroke drills followed by exercises. The first block had 15 stroke drills, the second block had 12 stroke drills, and the last block had 10 stroke drills. The exercise for the first block was lunges, the second block had deadlifts to low rows with a mini-band, and the last block had low rows to hammer curls with a mini-band. Since all the rows were pretty short, I did a lot better than Monday. And I feel like stroke drills are some of my strongest rows since I have a lot of patience, so I was happy to work on them.
And on the floor, we focused on doing work on one side at a time. We had lunges, single-arm low rows, single-arm cleans, single-arm shoulder presses, and side plank crunches. It wasn’t easy doing one side at a time since I know that I can tire out quickly, but I allowed myself to go a little lighter with the weights I used so I was better than expected and didn’t have a sloppy form for any of the exercises.
On Wednesday, I was mainly dealing with pain in my hips due to the rain, so that was what was affecting my workouts instead of soreness from the Dri-Tri. But that is a bit easier to manage, so I was able to do a bit more again.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 1-minute push pace followed by a 30-second base pace. We did 3 rounds of this pattern but the push pace got 15 seconds shorter and the base pace got 15 seconds longer each time. And in the second block, we had rounds of a 45-second all-out with increasing recoveries between each one. I was able to go a bit harder in the second block compared to the first, but I was doing better than I had for the first two workouts of the week.
On the rower, we started with a 1000-meter row. After the row, we had halos, tricep extensions, and presses with a medicine ball. Then we had 2 rounds doing 500-meter rows with the same exercises. Just like earlier in the week, I knew I had done a longer row over the weekend for the Dri-Tri, but this row was just challenging for me. I was going slower than I would have liked and I took breaks. Maybe the adrenaline from the Dri-Tri allows me to do more with my rowing than I normally can do, but I want to keep getting better with my endurance rows. This workout just wasn’t a great example of that for me.
And on the floor, we had one long block. We had skater lunges, pop jacks, upright rows on the straps, single-arm snatches, woodchoppers, and plank shoulder taps. It was a lot of work, and I think by the time I got to the floor I was getting a bit burnt out. I was going slowly, but I tried. And toward the end of the floor time, I just focused on the exercises that weren’t hurting me as much so I skipped the lunges and pop jacks.
Thursday was a similar day to Wednesday as far as pain goes. It was mainly in my hips due to the rain. I was a bit shocked that I hadn’t really experienced any pain or nausea during the week, but that might have been masked by the other things affecting me during the week.
For cardio, we had 2 blocks. The first block was rounds of a push pace followed by a base pace with an all-out at the end. And the second block was about the same length as the first one, but we went at our own pace and just tried to beat the distance from the first block. For that second block, I set my resistance level a little higher than my base pace but lower than my old push pace. I just tried to keep my cadence steady for the entire time and I was very happy with how well I did. When I did the Dri-Tri, I was worried about setting the resistance level too high, but this proved to me that I might have underestimated myself.
On the rower, we also had 2 blocks. The first block started with a 20 stroke drill. Then we looked at the distance and tried to get to that distance in fewer strokes. After those rows, we had lunges and then repeated the pattern. The second block was similar but we had a 15 stroke drill and bicep curls with the medicine ball between the rows. I was very happy that I was always able to beat the number of strokes for the distance in both blocks.
And we also had 2 blocks on the floor. In the first block, we started with neutral grip thrusters to rotations and squat jumps (which I did as squats to calf raises). After 3 rounds of those, we had sit-ups and back extensions but because I was moving a bit slowly I only got to the sit-ups. For the second block, we had skier swings, push-ups (which I did as chest presses on the straps), and balance bicep curls. And after 3 rounds of those we had crunches and leg lifts. I got more done in the second block, but I think that was a bit random because I was still moving slowly.
I wasn’t really expecting the entire week to be a bit of a recovery week for me, but I guess that’s what my body needed to do. And this week might be similar since it’s very likely that my pain and nausea will kick in, especially since it didn’t happen this past week. But maybe I’ll surprise myself and things will be better than I expect since this past week was a bit worse than I expected.
Just over 3 years ago, at the start of the pandemic, I posted something in a dating Facebook group that I’m in about ideas for virtual dates. One of those ideas was virtual movie nights through a service called Netflix Party (which has since been renamed Teleparty). Someone in the group suggested that we organize movie nights within the Facebook group, and Movie Club was born out of that. And about 3 years ago, we had our first movie night together.
Movie Club started as just a part of that Facebook group and eventually, we became our own group. We also started with just one movie a week, then we went up to 2 movies a week, and then we switched to movies on weekends and tv shows on Wednesdays. We’ve watched hundreds of movies virtually together and we are about to finish our 4th tv series. We’ve watched one-off movies and we’ve gone through movie series (like watching all the MCU and Star Wars movies).
I know I’ve written this before, but I feel like Movie Club really helped me survive the pandemic. When I was experiencing the most severe isolation, I knew every week I’d have somewhat regular interaction with others. Our chats in Movie Club were different from texting because we were all experiencing the same thing at the same time. And it helped me not feel like I was on my own little planet. When I was not working, having these on my calendar gave me something to look forward to and helped me have things to do other than just sit and be alone.
And for a while, we had a lot of people joining in every week. We could have 8 or 9 people in a movie or tv show and the chat was so lively and fun! And while I didn’t know any of the other people in Movie Club in real life, we all got to know about each other’s lives and would always be checking in with each other. There are people from that group that I do honestly consider friends now and I know we wouldn’t have come together without these movie nights.
But recently, Movie Club hasn’t been as active. We used to do movies every single Friday or Saturday, and for the last few months, I have been doing polls just to see what days people would be interested in watching something. We could go a few weeks without a movie due to everyone’s schedules and also possibly a lack of interest. And with the recent tv series we’ve been watching, most weeks it’s just me and one other person. I’ve still been enjoying watching a show with someone else, but it’s not what it used to be. We are almost done with the current series, so I put out a poll to see what the interest would be in starting a 5th series. And the poll was clear, there wasn’t really any interest in having regular tv or movie nights.
I knew this was coming. When Movie Club started, most of us had nothing to do. We weren’t going out with friends for dinners and many of us were either working from home or not working at all, so our evenings were pretty free. And things have been opening up more and more, so everyone is starting to get busy again. I have always made sure I kept the evenings we watched things free just in case we’d be watching something, but lately I’ve had to work around other things that could have been on those evenings. One of the issues I’ve had with finding an acting class is finding one that works around the Movie Club schedule.
So I posted this week in our Facebook group that once we finished the tv series we were currently watching in a few weeks, we wouldn’t have any more regular Movie Club nights. I am not going to get rid of the group and I said I’d be happy to run a random movie night if there is a movie people want to watch, but I think if those happen they will be only a few times a year.
I remember when I started Movie Club I thought I’d be sad when one day the group would be ending. I knew it wouldn’t be forever, and when it started it really was a big part of my life. So thinking about the end was depressing. But now that I’ve announced that things will be ending, I’m not as sad as I thought I’d be. The reason this group was created was to help us not feel alone when the world seemed to be shut down. I know that not everything is normal and open again, but it’s getting closer and closer to that. And it’s a good thing that we all have been able to resume the social lives that we had before the pandemic. I think that’s a positive thing. And I’m happy for all of us in the group.
I’m sure that I’ll miss the group from time to time or I’ll hope that someone wants to watch a movie, but I also know that I’m working on being more social in real life so I might not miss it as much as I think. I might be busy with other things and not realize that it’s Wednesday and I’m not watching a tv show with the group. But I’m choosing to look at the end of this era as the start of something else that is good and I’m looking forward to seeing what adventures my life will have for me coming up.
I’ve done the Dri-Tri at Orangetheory almost every time it’s been offered. I have only missed 2 that I could have been a part of (this doesn’t count when the studios were closed). It’s a challenge that I have never regretted doing, even if I question why I’m doing it again as I start. But I do love seeing how well I do because it’s a real test of my progress and I usually push myself hard to prove to myself what I can do.
The Dri-Tri is offered twice a year, and the one that just happened was my 11th one when you count the relay and at-home versions or my 9th when you only count the full in-studio ones. So I think I’m pretty experienced in the challenge and things aren’t really unexpected for me anymore. I went into the one this past weekend having a pretty good idea of what time I wanted to get certain parts done and what I wanted my overall time to be. I hoped my row would be done between 11 and 12 minutes and my overall time would be around 55 minutes. This wouldn’t be anything crazy, but it would be an improvement compared to what I have done before.
I was really worried about how I might do since I feel like I haven’t had a lot of improvements recently in my workouts. But I also knew that even when I’ve been having really horrible days, I’ve been able to complete it and that’s my main overall goal. As we were getting ready to start, I focused on getting in a little more stretching so my body wouldn’t be totally cold as we started.
The row has been a struggle for me in workouts, but I really wanted to see what could happen if I focused more on my endurance for the row than what the time or other stats on the rower said. I picked just the 500-meter split time as I was rowing and tried to keep it as stable as possible throughout the entire thing. I did slow my rowing down quite a bit compared to other 2000-meter rows I’ve done. I paused at the back of the rower and made it a bit more like a strength row. I don’t know what my stroke rate was because I didn’t want to focus on that, but I’m guessing it was a lot slower than what I would want it to be if I focused on that. And when the row was done, I was shocked to see that I finished in 10:19. I really thought it would be just over 11 minutes. I couldn’t believe I was 40 seconds faster than my goal!
The floor section isn’t my favorite but it’s not the worst. It can be tough when you are halfway through it because you repeat what you just did. But I tried to zone out when I could and just get through each of the exercises. And I allowed myself to take breaks when needed since that’s one of the only sections where it’s easy to take a break. And when I was done on the floor, I was about 4 minutes ahead of what I thought the time would be. So I knew I was doing great with time when I got to the bike.
The bike section is always the longest for the Dri-Tri. When I used to use the treadmill, it also was the longest section. But I think it’s a lot more manageable for me on the bike. I knew that the last time I did the Dri-Tri, the bike took me about 28 minutes. I figured that was a good time to strive for and I knew that getting it done that quickly would get me below my overall goal time. I put the resistance level below my current base pace level, so I was able to pedal so much faster than I normally could. The RPMs I was getting were so much higher than what I get in class. I knew I was pushing myself a bit harder than I wanted to, but I was noticing that there was a chance I could get the entire thing done in under 50 minutes and I set that as my new goal. About halfway through the bike, I realized that I couldn’t get to that goal if I continued doing what I was doing, so I started to do sprint intervals. I did a sprint for about 30 seconds and then pedaled the rate I was doing before for about 90 seconds or 2 minutes. I knew toward the end that I probably was going too hard, but I was too stubborn to give up on my new goal and just went for it. And it paid off because I finished my distance on the bike and my overall time was 49:44!
This wasn’t the fastest Dri-Tri I’ve ever done, but it’s at the top. And honestly, I felt more accomplished with this than I remember from past ones. I really thought I knew what I could do and what my results would be, and I was over 5 minutes faster than expected! That’s a huge difference!
Of course, I had to take a victory photo after I was done.
We all got medals for completing it plus there was other swag we could take if we’d like. I got a tote bag (which I can always use) and a really nice tumbler.
And when I got back to Orangetheory on Monday, they had a whiteboard up with the overall results. I knew I wouldn’t have placed in the top 3 for women, but since I was the only person who did it on the bike, I technically placed 1st for bike Dri-Tri.
I’m so proud of what I was able to do and how much I shocked myself. I was very sore after I was done and I know that’s because I might have pushed myself a bit too much. But honestly, it felt worth it to me. And hopefully, when the next Dri-Tri comes up in about 6 months, I’ll be able to do it and I’ll have even more improvements in how I do!
Posted onMarch 23, 2023|Comments Off on Getting Out In The World More (or Enjoying An LA Museum)
I’ve been saying over and over again that I need to get out more because I’m not being as social as I used to be. I still want to be cautious about where I’m going out since I’ve seen more and more friends get sick recently and I want to avoid that. But there are safer options that allow me to go out and do things but not be around a lot of people. I just haven’t been taking advantage of that. I’m trying to be better about making plans, but it’s not as easy for me as it used to be.
One great excuse I’ve had recently for getting out of my house more has been going on dates. I’m not dating as much as I was before the pandemic, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m being a lot pickier about who I meet and I’m also being more upfront about what I’m looking for and my standards. That may scare some guys off or make them not want to meet me, but I don’t mind that since I don’t want to keep wasting time. Even without as many dates as I used to have, I’m still pretty active on dating apps and making the effort to find those guys that I do want to meet up with. And I’m trying to be more flexible about where we meet since I typically go to the same few locations. But as long as the places they suggest are public and will have others around, I know that it should be somewhat safe. I do still give a friend all the information about where I will be, but I’m glad I’m allowing myself to be a bit more open-minded about where a first date might be.
Earlier this week, I had a first date somewhere I’ve never gone on a date and somewhere that I haven’t been in a very long time. LACMA is one of the bigger museums that is near me and I drive past it a lot. One of my first random drives at the start of the pandemic to just get out of my house was to go over by the museum since it’s pretty and I knew it would be a nice drive. I actually don’t remember the last time I had gone inside, but I feel pretty safe saying it’s been at least 10 years. So when the guy I was going to meet up with suggested it, I thought it sounded like a great idea.
We met after work and the museum was pretty empty because it was a member’s only night (and he is a member). It was nice to not feel crowded with a bunch of people and able to take our time looking at the different galleries. And there was a lot of really interesting art.
One of the first exhibits we went to was all about early computer and digital art. Some of the art was about text and some was computer drawings. It was really interesting to see how digital art started out and how it changed so quickly even when technology was still in its infancy. There were also some videos of early computer animation and the different techniques those artists used to make it work. We went through most of the galleries and a lot of the other sections were more traditional collections with paintings and pottery. I know the other galleries had themes to them, but to me I felt like they blended together a bit and I just was having a nice time walking around and looking at the different pieces.
I think I forgot how nice it can be just walking around a museum. I haven’t done that in a long time, way before the pandemic started. And there are so many museum options around LA that I should check out. Most of them are ones I haven’t been to at all, and I should look into when they have free nights or other specials so I can get a list together and not have to worry if I’m having money stress at that time. I know those free nights can be more crowded, but that might be something I just have to force myself to be ok with.
I should be more proactive about going out and doing things on my own, but I’m glad I had a date that got me out of my usual routine and helped me remember that there are so many things in LA that I should be taking advantage of.
Posted onMarch 16, 2023|Comments Off on Oscar Night (or A Very Low-Key Award Show)
After going to the Artios Awards earlier in the week, I was ready for a casual party for watching the Oscars. I was going to go to the same party that I normally go to, and I usually try to wear something comfortable when I go since I spend most of my time there sitting and watching the show. But since it’s also a costume party, I try to figure out something fun to do that also isn’t too awkward to sit in. I seem to be pretty good at figuring out lazy costumes, but this year I was cutting it close with making a costume.
Since I hadn’t seen that many of the movies, I knew it wouldn’t be too easy for me to be inspired for my costume. So I decided to pay attention to the names of the movies and use that for my inspiration instead of the characters and storylines. And I think I figured out something that was really funny and easy. I decided to go as the movie “Blonde”. For my costume, I used a box I already had and printed a photo of a hair dye box and covered the box with that. I know I could have gone out to buy hair dye, but I was doing this about an hour before I was leaving for the party and it was much cheaper to do this. But I think the box turned out ok and my lazy costume came together.
I didn’t wear anything to go with the costume, so I knew that there was almost no chance I would win the costume contest. But I know that I never place in the costume contest so I don’t try too hard. I just like to make a costume of something and this worked perfectly for me.
I got to the party right as it started, which was about an hour before the show started. Since I am in a room watching the show for most of the time I’m there, I wanted to get my social time in during that hour. A bunch of people were there early as well, and we had a nice food spread that was much fancier than what we normally have. Right before the show started, I put together a little plate and brought it to where I would be watching.
There are two viewing areas at this party, the quiet room and the loud room. I’m always in the quiet room since I like to focus on the show. We do talk during commercial breaks and sometimes we say little comments to each other during the show, but for the most part, we are quiet. Most people at the party hang out in the loud room, so we are a small group and I didn’t really see people who showed up after the show started until I took a break to get something during a commercial break. It does feel a bit weird to not be social when so many of my friends are hanging out just one room away, but I think everyone understands that we will hang out a little later in the evening.
I really enjoyed the Oscars this year. The show didn’t feel long even though it was a bit longer than in some past years. I loved the speeches and everyone seemed like they were happy for each other. There was a nice sense of community at the show that I don’t remember seeing in the past and that made it feel more like a celebration of the work that was done in the past year versus a competition. I think there are some things they should still fix, such as letting the winners speak and not cutting them off, but there have been changes that they have been working on making and I think they are paying off.
Once the awards were done, we all gathered to vote on the best costume and see who guessed the most winners correctly. I sometimes do well with guessing the winners, but this year wasn’t my year. I missed so many of them and I think there were 8 people who did better than I did. But that’s ok since almost all my guesses were random and not based on seeing the movies. And I just have fun being around everyone and winning something at the party isn’t something I feel like I need.
I wish I was able to stay later than I did, but I needed to head home to get to bed early so I could get enough sleep before my workout. But even with the limited social time I had while I was there, I still had a great time seeing my friends and I know I’ll see them again at whatever the next party will be. And that next party will be much more social since we won’t have a 3 1/2 hour long show to focus on.
Maybe next year, I’ll have a more interesting costume or will have seen more movies so I can make more educated guesses on who the winners will be. But even if that doesn’t happen, I know I’ll still have a great time watching the show in the quiet room and being in my lazy and casual costume.
I know I’ve written quite a bit about how I feel very lucky with my main current day job. I do work that can vary from day to day, I know my contributions are appreciated, and I make more than I did at past jobs. Plus, most of the people I work with are either actors or used to be actors so they understand needing flexibility and the entertainment industry. I don’t really get to see my co-workers in person since we all work from home, but there is still a collaborative feeling since we are in meetings together quite a bit. I know they are trying to have more in-person events for everyone, but it’s not easy to organize.
The company I work for has been a part of some really awesome events, sometimes it’s because we are running the social media for the event and sometimes we are a sponsor. I haven’t really had a chance to be a part of those events since it’s a different part of the company than where I work, but I still think it’s pretty cool to know we are a part of something big.
But I got a chance to attend something very cool this past week. The company I work for was running the social media for the Artios Awards, which is an award show for casting directors. The company had a table at the event, and there was an extra seat that was offered to me. I had to double-check with my other job to make sure I could switch around my hours and that I had something that was appropriate to wear (I don’t have a lot of excuses to dress fancy and I got rid of a lot of clothes in my move), but I was able to make it work so I could go!
It was held at the Beverly Hilton, which isn’t that far from me and where the last in-person SAG-AFTRA Convention was. Oddly enough, the outfit I decided to wear for the Artios Awards was the same thing I wore to the Convention gala. As soon as I got there, I met up with some co-workers so we could get a few work things done before the event started. We weren’t able to be a part of the official red carpet, but we were allowed to use the step and repeat before the red carpet opened and I was able to get some fun photos.
Once the red carpet started, many of my co-workers were busy with doing tasks, but I was able to hang out with a few people while we waited for the dinner and award show to start. It was the first time I got to hang out with some of these co-workers, so it was nice to get to know them outside of a Zoom screen.
And when we got inside for dinner, we had a table very close to the front of the stage.
The dinner was before the show started, so we didn’t have to split our focus. And since our table was just for our company, it was nice having time to get to know everyone else and be a bit silly when we normally are doing more serious tasks in our meetings.
The actual awards show was really fun. It recognized casting directors for different types of film, tv, and theater. I had heard of many of the casting directors who were nominated and won, but there were so many that I didn’t know since they are a part of a different side of the industry than what I typically audition for. Even though I was there for work, I did take some mental notes of who was nominated so I could make sure I followed them on social media later.
And this was the first large award show that I had been able to attend. I haven’t been to any of the big award shows (yet), and for some of the smaller ones that I could potentially go to, I haven’t gotten a ticket or had the money if you had to pay for a ticket. I was so grateful that I was invited by my job to this because I had a great time and it was a wonderful experience.
As I’ve said frequently in the past, I have been trying to push myself to be more social and put myself out there, and this was the perfect thing for me to do. I had a chance to meet a lot of new people, see people I haven’t seen in years, and just be around others which is something I haven’t been doing that much. And yes, having the chance to dress up and be on a red carpet was nice as well and something that I hope I will have more opportunities to do in the future.
Making Busy Days Busier (or I Guess I Like To Maximize Only Certain Days)
