Category Archives: Fun Stuff

Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

Posted on May 22, 2019 | Comments Off on Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

This post is a bit of a mishmash about a few different things, but it weirdly all is about one purchase I made on Amazon. I recently purchased reusable cotton rounds to replace the single use cotton rounds I use twice a day for my face toner. And that purchase inspired a few changes that I’ve been trying to make.

The original reason I bought these reusable cotton rounds was that I realized how many I went through in a day. My bathroom trash can was usually at least half full with them because that’s one of the few disposable things I use in my skin care routine. It’s not that they are super expensive, but it does add up when you go through over 50 in a month. And I had read a few stories online about how they can have different chemicals in them and that they aren’t the most environmentally friendly because of how they are made. It seemed like an easy purchase to make so I did it. They weren’t that expensive, although since cotton rounds aren’t that expensive to begin with it might be a bit of time before I break even. But it wasn’t just about money, so that’s not that important.

So that single purchase got me thinking about what other disposable things I use in my day to day life. I’m proud that there aren’t that many things, but there are enough to look at what options I have to replace them. There are a few things I had already done like getting nicer straws so I didn’t use disposable ones (although when I did use those, I used them for a while before throwing them out). And I’ve looked at paper towel alternatives, but I haven’t found any that I like and I still like to use regular paper towels. But it has gotten me to look at what I buy and what I have stored in my house.

As I have been replacing things, I have been able to clear out what I have been storing in my little storage area in my house. It’s been a slow process because I do try to finish out what I have already purchased, but it’s getting there. I am not buying things in bulk and trying to find a place to put them. And I don’t have to think about repurchasing something because I am running out. It’s been a nice feeling when I don’t have to make a trip to CVS in the middle of the night because I desperately need something.

The few purchases that I have made that are more environmentally friendly haven’t always been because of that reason. The cotton rounds were more about being aware of what I am using on my face and I was tired of feeling like I was just throwing out so much every day. I also hated that even the premium rounds I purchased left fuzz on my face and hands. The fact that they were better for the environment was a bonus after I looked into them more. But I guess it doesn’t matter what the motivation was for the purchase, if they are more environmentally friendly that is a good thing. I know we all need to be more aware of the single use things we have in our lives, and I’m slowly doing that and seeing what I can replace.

Just like so many other parts of my life, it’s hard to make the changes until I really become aware of what the problem is. I can’t just look at my house and see what I need to change to save money or have greener options. But once I’ve discovered where the issue is, I have been quick to look into what I can do. I know that not every green option is the best for my financial situation, but not all of them are that expensive if you take the time to shop around online. For example, some of the cotton rounds I found were over $20 and that seemed too much. But I looked around and found them for about $5. I have to be picky right now on what I buy so I don’t just spend money, but again, it will save me money in the long run.

I’d love to hear what other inexpensive changes I can make to be more environmentally friendly. I know there are so many things I don’t know about yet that would be easy swaps. And obviously if they also save me money that would be amazing.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailFinding New Money Issues (or Looking At Doing A Fresh Budget) Default ThumbnailTax Time (or Happy To Owe The Government Some Money) Default ThumbnailWorking On Not Spending (or Trying To Not Get Sucked Into Sales) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money Priorities (or What’s Worth The Splurge) Default ThumbnailWorking On Money (or A Prosperous Heart Update) Default ThumbnailFinding Ways To Treat Myself (or I Wish Money Wasn’t An Issue)

Comments Off on Saving Money and Trying To Be Green (or Revamping Some Things)

Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff, Saving, Shopping

Tagged , , , ,

The Official Start To Election Season (or I Can Finally Share Some Things I’ve Been Working On)

Posted on May 17, 2019 | 2 comments

The SAG-AFTRA election season has finally started for me and my slate! I haven’t been able to put in my petition for delegate yet, but that’s just a technicality. I will be running again and I’m so happy that I will be a part of the Unite for Strength slate again. I love what this slate stands for and the work we have done so far. I really believe in what we are doing and hope that we can continue to do the work we have been doing.

I’ve been able to get a little more involved each election cycle. The first election, I ran as a delegate and while I did do some campaign work I really didn’t do much. The second election I did that plus I helped to run some of the leafletting events. It wasn’t a ton of extra work, but it was more than I had done before and I loved getting to do more and understand the election more than I did before. And for my third election, I’m even more involved!

This time, I’m doing everything that I did before and I’m also helping to run the social media pages for Unite for Strength! It’s been something I’ve been doing for a little while, but now that election season has officially started there is a lot more work to do. I’m really loving helping with social media and making sure that we are sharing important information regarding the election, the campaign, and union matters. I love making our twitter feed a great source of news and information since educating other members is a passion of mine. I’ve also been a part of the design ideas that we’ve been using and I love getting to play with that side of my creativity.

But the look of our campaign is really because of my amazing friend Robert. He is an actor and also a graphic designer and he has worked hard and creating amazing graphics for us to use. We got to share one yesterday when we announced that Gabrielle Carteris will be running for re-election as SAG-AFTRA president.

He has created some amazing art for us to use this election season and I’m excited to get to keep posting them online as we get closer to the election. Plus, getting to work on this campaign with several of my friends makes it more fun. It can be (and I’m sure will be) a very stressful time that can have a lot of negativity. But being surrounded by my friends and working hard on a goal with them hopefully will make it a bit better.

This work has been something I’ve been working on for a few weeks, but primarily over the past week. It’s been taking up a lot of my time, but it’s for something I enjoy so I don’t mind. It’s been a good distraction when I’m not feeling my best because everything I’ve been doing has been encouraging and motivating. I always say how I want to be more involved in the union and this is such a great way for me to do this. I know that not everyone I know agrees with my slate or will be voting for it, but that’s to be expected. I just have to keep working with people that I believe in and know that I’m with a slate that does support the same issues I am passionate about. Being involved is so important and for many people that just means voting and making sure their voice is heard in the union. For me, I’m lucky to get to do even more than that.

I’ve been able to be enthusiastic about the work the slate has been doing as well as what I have had the chance to help with. I just haven’t been able to share it that much since many things have been confidential until this week. And there are still more things that will be shared for the next few months when we can. I’m hoping that my enthusiasm about this will be able to continue through election season and beyond. And I hope that others will get just as excited as I am about all of this.

For anyone who is a member of SAG-AFTRA and has questions about Unite for Strength, please feel free to reach out to me. If I can’t answer something, I can connect you to someone who can. And whether or not you are a union member, if you would like to help the slate we are accepting donations for the campaign. It is not cheap to run a campaign (it costs money to have campaign materials and to get it out to the membership). While everyone who is a part of the slate are all contributing, any extra help is always appreciated. I hope many of you will support me and Unite for Strength during this election season and I can’t wait to tell you more about things as I can share them!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailThe End Of The Election (or Actors Please Remember To Vote) Default ThumbnailMore Election Fun For Me (or I’m Running For 2 Things) Default ThumbnailElection Campaigning (or Being A Captain And Getting Out There) Default ThumbnailUnion Working Town Hall (or Getting Close To The End Of Election Season) Default ThumbnailElection Season Time (or Being A Part Of Unite For Strength) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom)

2 Comments

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged , , , ,

Taking Time To Laugh At Myself (or Having Some Dumb Moments)

Posted on May 10, 2019 | Comments Off on Taking Time To Laugh At Myself (or Having Some Dumb Moments)

I’m sure everyone has moments where they just can’t think straight or they have some crazy incorrect idea. I for sure have my dumb moments and when they happen I usually go a bit crazy. If I don’t realize the moment is happening, I’m going crazy trying to fix it. And if I do realize what happened, I go crazy going over it in my head. And then of course I go crazy thinking about how crazy I got over it. It’s a very bizarre cycle but in the end I usually can laugh about how I behaved.

Last year, I had one of those moments where I didn’t realize what happened until it was over. I’ve written about how I work when I’m out of town for Thanksgiving. I’m so lucky that I work remotely so I can do this and I work out the hours I can work with my manager. I usually have to change the hours I work to accommodate family stuff but I can either work extra hours another day or use my banked hours to make up for it.

But as I’m sure a lot of people know, when you are out of town and not doing your normal routine you can forget what day of the week it is. Last year when I was working the day after Thanksgiving, I started early and my manager knew that I would be ending early based on what the plan was with my family. But because I do start early a few days a week, somehow I got it in my head that I was supposed to start that early and I was going to have to use banked hours to make up for the time I lost. Everything went fine that day and when I was in the car with my parents on the way to the airport that night, I suddenly realized what day of the week it was. Because of my schedule, I actually worked more hours that day than I was supposed to, not less. I had a huge moment of freaking out in a good way about what happened and I messaged my manager to let her know what happened. It was fine and it all worked out with no issues, but it was still a truly dumb moment on my part.

And I had another dumb moment this week. It was also related to work but it was for my other (temporary) job. Because it is a contact job with a specific number of hours, I have to be very aware of how many hours I have worked and how many hours I have left on my contract. It’s not that hard to track and I have a good general idea of how many hours a day I need to work to get all the hours in before the contract needs to be completed.

But even with being on top of all my tracking, I freaked out when I was looking at my hours worked versus my hours in the contract because I thought I had to finish out my contract this month. If that was true, I would have been very behind in my hours and I would have needed to work almost double the hours I expected this month. I went into planning how I could accomplish this and probably spent 20 minutes trying to figure it out before I realized I should double check my contract.

If only I thought of doing that first because I discovered that my contract is not done this month but next month. And I was exactly where I should be in my hours and everything was perfect. I wish I had skipped the time I spent panicking and just looked calmly at things and made sure I was correct with the hours as well as my contract. That would have saved me so much stress.

But at the same time, even though this incident caused me stress it is now giving me some happiness at laughing at myself. It’s so silly how insane I was acting and how irrational I was since I just couldn’t look at the situation calmly. Looking back, I’m so glad nobody was watching me have that moment because I’m sure I looked like I was having a breakdown and trying to solve the world’s problems with math with all the post-its and paper I had used to work out how to do all my hours.

With all the things in my life that do stress me out, it’s nice that I can bring some levity and happiness to my life from my dumb moments. It gives me a moment to sit back and not think about everything else that is happening. I can just think about how crazy it was that I thought things were the way I believed they were and just enjoy that things are all working out for the better.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAt Least A Little More Work (or Getting My Contract Extended Again) Default ThumbnailA Little Job Update (or It Was Silly To Be Scared) Default ThumbnailAnother Time A Friend Found Me A Job (or It Really Is About Who Knows You) Default ThumbnailTaking Care of Me (or Making Sure I’m First in My Life) Default ThumbnailA Night Of Very Little Sleep (or At Least I Could Laugh A Bit About This) Default ThumbnailThe World Series (or I Try Not To Be The Dumb Girl Asking Questions About Sports)

Comments Off on Taking Time To Laugh At Myself (or Having Some Dumb Moments)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged

Sharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved)

Posted on May 3, 2019 | Comments Off on Sharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved)

I’ve been a proud member of my union for over 7 years now. I have worked hard to educate myself about union issues and trying to be involved in different aspects of it. I cannot control when I get to work, but I can control what I understand about the union and staying involved. It has given me a sense of control in an out-of-control career path.

I have felt very lucky to be involved with the union the ways that I am and a big part of that was how I started my union involvement. The first event I attended was before I actually joined SAG-AFTRA. I was invited to an event that was supporting the merger of SAG and AFTRA (which were different unions until the merger). I felt a little out of place when I went to the event, but I was so grateful that I went. I met amazing people and learned so much. It was overwhelming, but it helped me learn that being a union actor isn’t just a job title, it is being a part of a bigger movement. And I have tried to keep that idea in my head ever since.

I have always appreciated my friend who brought me to that event before I joined the union and I have wanted to pay it forward ever since. I have tried to bring friends of mine who are eligible to join to the events that are open to non-members when I can. Some of them appreciate learning about the union like I did and some just get bombarded with so much information that they aren’t able to take it in. But I always love when actors who haven’t joined yet come to check things out because that is a big step and it can feel scary.

I was lucky enough to get to bring one of my workout friends to a union related event recently. We are getting ready for election season again and there will be more opportunities to bring new people in to events like this one. I warned my friend that there would be a lot of things said that she wouldn’t get and that she should be prepared to be overwhelmed, but she would also get to meet a lot of amazing people and hopefully she would be inspired a bit by what has been happening within the union lately.

And that’s exactly what happened. She told me after that she was definitely confused at points and I tried to clarify things when I could so she could understand them. But she also got to hear amazing accomplishments that we’ve had in the past year or two and how it will benefit her when she does join (which hopefully will be soon!). And she also did get to meet some of the most incredible people. I hope that I will always have these little “pinch me” moments where I’m shocked that these actors are my peers and that they know me. I had a lot of those moments at this event and my friend really enjoyed getting to meet actors that she knows from film and tv.

And it wasn’t just great watching my friend experience her first union event like how I did so many years ago. I got a lot out of it too. Every time I get to meet with actors who want to be involved in the union and to continue to strengthen it I leave on a high. I feel inspired to do more and a push to make sure other actors understand what is going on with the union. Sometimes it feels like the union is a different entity than the actors who are a part of it, but the union is us and we need to remember that. If we want there to be a change, we are in charge of that.

And of course, I love getting to see people who I don’t always get to see. There are other actors that I only get to see around election season and it’s like a big family reunion. Everyone is so kind and generous. I could go on and on about how I feel so lucky to be a part of a group like this, but it’s going to sound mushy and like I’m under some sort of spell. But that’s honestly how I feel getting to be around these other members. There’s just something magical when you get to be around the people who want to see our union be the best it can be and they really work hard for everyone else.

I will have more and more union events coming up soon because of election season. I will be running with my slate again and I know that there will be events to get the slate together so we can all make sure we know each other and we can coordinate different campaign events. We also still have general union meetings coming up regarding the various contact negotiations (one just ended and another will be starting up soon). I am trying to make it a priority to attend a variety of events so I can be knowledgeable about different issues, but I also don’t want to risk burnout if I do too much. And I know with election season starting that the risk of burnout is high. I just have to find the balance with it just like everything else.

But even with the risk of burnout, I will keep going to events and bringing new people in. And I think getting to see someone else be inspired the same way that I am inspired will also help me not get too overwhelmed and burned out with all the events happening. Getting to watch a friend have the same excitement about things as me really does make me feel even more encouraged to keep doing what I’ve been doing.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Fun Union Hangout (or Hopefully This Is The Start Of A New Regular Thing) Default ThumbnailUnion Working (or Connecting With My Fellow Actors) Default ThumbnailFinal Union Working Meeting For 2017 (or A Commercial Roundtable) Default ThumbnailStaying Educated With Union Things (or A Meeting Of The Minds) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Be Inspired By Podcasts (or Turning A Passion Into A Paycheck) Default ThumbnailA MOVE Mixer (or Learning More About What I Can Be Involved In This Year)

Comments Off on Sharing My Union With A Friend (or Continuing To Be Inspired And Involved)

Posted in Acting, Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

Revisiting Old Characters and Stories (Or A Journey Of Re-Reading Books)

Posted on May 2, 2019 | Comments Off on Revisiting Old Characters and Stories (Or A Journey Of Re-Reading Books)

I have always loved to read. I learned to read at an early age and I was a voracious reader as a kid. I remember reading in bed when I was probably 4 or 5 years old and having a pile of books next to me that I had read that night. I briefly didn’t do much fun reading when I was in college, but I’ve become a huge reader again as an adult. I’m so lucky that the library has free Kindle books because I could easily spend thousands of dollars a year in books.

One of my favorite things is when I discover an author I didn’t know before and I learn that they had an entire book series already or have written lots of books. I love when I find someone new to me and there is an entire collection of books I can work through. It’s so fun when I know the next 5 or 6 books I’ll be reading because I want to read everything that someone has written.

I also love when an author I already know and enjoy has a new book coming out. I usually recommend the books to the library so I will be one of the first ones on the wait list for it. There are a few authors where I buy their books instead of getting them from the library, but I try to limit how many books I buy since they can add up quickly. I know I should support authors I love by buying their books, but I at least am recommending that my library buys the books and I also am supporting the public library system. One day, if I don’t have to worry about money, I will buy all the books I want and I’ll probably go back and buy the books I have already loved. But that isn’t my financial situation right now.

And I have also always enjoyed re-reading books. I like going back to a book I’ve already read and see if there is something different that I pick up that I didn’t notice the first time around. Or I like to see how it connects to me at this point in my life versus when I read it before. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a book you can open to any page and just start reading and know everything you need to know about the story to that point.

Most of the books I read over and over again are books that I read for the first time as an adult. I sometimes will re-read a book within a year and sometimes I wait a bit longer. Sometimes I will read something again just because I don’t have anything else to read at the time, but more often than not I will pick to re-read something and it’s not the only option.

But lately I have gotten into a kick of reading books that I read for the first time when I was younger. They are mainly books that I read as a teenager although there are a few that I think I read for the first time when I was 11 or 12. It’s been a really fun journey going back to these books that I haven’t read in a decade or longer and seeing what I remember. Some books feel so familiar to me that it’s hard to believe that the first time I read them was over half my life ago. It’s crazy how much I remember from those books and how quickly the stories come back to me. It doesn’t bother me that I remember the stories because there are always parts that I forgot about that give me little surprises as I read. And some books have been updated to be more modern and I have to look online to confirm that they have changed the story a bit since the last time I read it.

I’m sure there is something that can be psychoanalyzed about me re-reading books I read when I was growing up. Maybe it is giving me a sense of control because I know what will be coming in the story. Maybe I am wanting to go back to a different version of myself. I know I have changed a lot in the past few years and I am not the same person that I was before. Sometimes it does surprise me how much I’ve changed but I feel like it has all been for the better. But that doesn’t mean that deep down in my mind I am hoping to go back to the old me.

Whatever the reason, I’m getting something out of revisiting these books and stories and it is filling my soul with something that I’ve needed. And thank goodness for the library having all these e-books because it really has made doing this so much easier!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailHaving A Book Nerd Moment (or The Little Things That Make Me Smile) Default ThumbnailFirst Monthly Challenge Of The Year (or Setting Up For The Year And Self-Improvement) Default ThumbnailSo Much Reading (or Really Taking Advantage Of The Library) Default ThumbnailBooks and Roses (or A Day By USC) Default ThumbnailAdjusting Monthly Challenges (or Books And Happiness) Default ThumbnailMore Eating Disorder Research (or Reading About HDE)

Comments Off on Revisiting Old Characters and Stories (Or A Journey Of Re-Reading Books)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

Fiddler On The Roof (or A Modern Take On A Classic)

Posted on April 25, 2019 | Comments Off on Fiddler On The Roof (or A Modern Take On A Classic)

This week was not only filled with musicals, but it was filled with Jewish musicals! I think that was pretty funny timing especially with Passover just being a few days away. Maybe both the Ahmanson and the Pantages timed out their shows to be around the holiday, but I’ll never know for sure. It doesn’t really matter because whenever “Fiddler On The Roof” was in our season I would have been excited to see it.

I’ve seen the show a few times plus I’ve seen the movie. But it’s been a long time since I’ve seen any version of it. But it’s one of the classic musicals that I’ve always loved and I was happy that I would get to see it again. Out of the 4 of us in the group, 2 of us had seen the show before and 2 had not. So it was a mix of those of us excited to see it again and those who were happy to see it for the first time.

My group had to change the dates of a few of our shows due to “Game Of Thrones”, so this was one of our shows that wasn’t on a Sunday in our regular seats. We were up again in the balcony, but we were very centered up there. I’m not sure if this show would have been better up close or not, but I loved the balcony seats that we had.

“Fiddler On The Roof” is not just a classic show in the sense that it was written a while ago, but it takes place a long time ago as well. Because of that, I wasn’t expecting a lot of changes compared to productions that I’ve seen in the past. They obviously won’t be wearing modern clothes while singing about how things have always been for men and women. But this show somehow added a lot of modern touches in it.

There was a moment at the beginning and end of the show that was added for this production that made it more modern, but I’m going to stay vague about it so it’s not spoiled for people who are going to be seeing the show. But I really liked those moments and how it connected the show to the present time. It made me feel like even though we were watching something that would have happened over 100 years ago, it is still relevant to today and we can learn lessons from what happened in the past.

They also added more modern dance moments. Dancing has always been a bit part of the show, but mixing classic and old-fashioned dances with a few more current dance moves was a really fun thing to watch. And the way that the sets were done also felt modern. They used doorways and limited set pieces in really interesting ways and I loved how they created the environment with both more elaborate and simple sets. It was like the mix of classic and modern; having a mix of elaborate and simple made things feel interesting and gave the show some variety and extra interest.

And with almost all shows that I see, the performances were awesome. I loved how each character added some personality into the script. There were some great comedic moments that weren’t expected and the intonation of some of the lines gave things a fresh take. This show has always had interesting asides, but I felt like I saw more of those this time than I remembered from before. Of course, I might be forgetting some of those from the past productions I’ve seen since it has been so long. But either way, it still felt like things had been updated without actually changing what they were saying or the storyline.

Overall, I really enjoyed the show and this production in particular. I think I am more attracted to shows that have large casts and big musical numbers since that is very different from what working in film and tv is like. I love seeing productions that are very different from what I experience with my career. And this show for sure had a big cast and big musical numbers with lots of awesome dancing! It’s exactly what I love to see and this show didn’t disappoint at all!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailAnother Round Of A Repeat Musical (or Seeing A Show A Different Way) Default ThumbnailBig Musical Instead of Big Game (or Another Sunday Night Out) Default ThumbnailAnother Musical Season (or Enjoying A Repeat Musical) Default ThumbnailThe Color Purple (or Such An Empowering Musical) Default ThumbnailLes Miserables (or Another Classic 19 Years Later) Default ThumbnailAnother Dinner And A Show Night (or Classic Musicals And Yummy Food)

Comments Off on Fiddler On The Roof (or A Modern Take On A Classic)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,

The Power Of My Voice (or Even More Closure)

Posted on April 24, 2019 | Comments Off on The Power Of My Voice (or Even More Closure)

A month ago, I wrote about how almost every month I learn something new about myself through my adventures in dating. And of course, I’ve learned another thing recently. And it is actually something I learned through the same guy I was writing about before. He is someone I was seeing on and off for a while but he is now engaged. He has continued to message me saying how he was confused and wanted to talk. While I felt like I had the closure I needed, I also couldn’t deny him the same. I know I don’t owe anything to anyone, but I can’t help it.

When we saw each other, he panicked and freaked out. He said he wanted to leave and while I didn’t want to hold him hostage I also didn’t want to lose this chance. I don’t plan on seeing him again because I have moved on and don’t care what he does with his life. He is the one who is still confused. It’s unfortunate since he is the one getting married soon, but I can’t control what he wants to do with his life. If he feels like he needs or wants to get married but is still confused about it, that’s on him. And I wanted to finally have the talk in person that we have been avoiding for a while.

He didn’t do much talking, but I did. Most of the things I said to him were things I have said to him over text. It was mainly about how he hurt me and how I have had to move on. I mentioned how I couldn’t forget what he did and how he was a coward in failing to be honest to me. I wasn’t trying to be mean or harsh, just truthful in what I felt and thought. I know it wasn’t nice and he didn’t like hearing what I had to say, but if he wasn’t going to talk about what he wanted to talk about I was going to talk about what I wanted to say.

He eventually left without saying much more than that he was sorry and that he couldn’t talk. He left very shook up by what I was saying and it surprised me to see that. I wasn’t saying things he didn’t know already. But I realized that every time he heard that from me in the past it was over text. Since he previously knew me as sweet and gentle (how I normally am in real life), maybe he was reading those messages from me with that same vibe. But hearing me say it and how strong I was being probably made him realize I wasn’t kidding before. Hearing the words come out of me most likely hit him in a different way than he had experienced before.

So much of our communication these days is over text. Not just with dating, but with work and personal stuff too. Even with my day job, I get more customers using our online chat system than phone calls. Texts are so much easier to do sometimes and they allow people to multi-task. But it also can lead to confusion since there is a lack of tone over text. While I feel like missing the tone usually leads to a text sounding worse than it really is, in this case with this guy it seems like it made it seem better. My feelings and thoughts were probably not taken seriously because my tone was missing. At least now I know that he knows exactly what I meant and if he is still confused that is completely on him. I cannot force him to be clear in what he wants, all I can do is make sure that I make myself clear. And that’s what I did.

Since meeting up with that guy, I have been more aware of when I send a text instead of calling or saying something in person. I know that not everyone likes to talk on the phone, but I can at least make an effort if I feel like something would be better over the phone. And some people will answer or will text if they can’t talk asking if they can call back later. I’m being extra cautious about what I text to someone and am going that extra step to call when I’m not totally sure if my tone would come across. It might be a silly thing, but realizing how little someone understood what I meant over text has made me so aware of making sure that it doesn’t happen again. It’s not about things as seriously as they were with this guy, but I’m still glad when I feel like someone knows what I’m saying and what I feel about it.

Obviously I will still do a ton of texting since that is much easier than calling and a lot of things can be said over text with no issues. But realizing the power of my voice with this one guy made me realize that I don’t appreciate that power enough and I should use it more often.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailYet Another Life Lesson From Dating (or Finding Power When Not In Control) Default ThumbnailAdventures In Online Dating (or My Luck Might Be Changing) Default ThumbnailMore Ridiculousness In Online Dating (or I Think I’ve Been Ghosted) Default ThumbnailMore Thoughts On Online Dating (or Not Letting My Past Dictate My Future) Default ThumbnailThis Might Be A Breakthrough For Me (or Trying To Believe I’m Not Unloveable) Default ThumbnailBeing Hurt And Finding Closure (or Still Finding Out More About Myself Through Dating)

Comments Off on The Power Of My Voice (or Even More Closure)

Posted in Dating, Fun Stuff, Tough Stuff

Tagged , , , , , ,

An Unexpected Musical (or Seeing A Show At A Different Theater)

Posted on April 23, 2019 | 1 comment

Because I have my season tickets to the Pantages, I don’t usually look at what shows are happening at other theaters around LA. I know that from time to time I have looked at other seasons and sometimes I do buy tickets for a show if I really want to see it, but that’s pretty rare. It’s not that I don’t like other theaters, but I usually don’t have the money to buy more tickets and when I see shows I want to see it’s often at the end of the run and there are no more seats left. I could be more proactive about seeing what other shows I want to see, but it’s not a huge priority for me right now (if I had all the money I needed to see everything, I think it would be different).

But I do love seeing shows at other theaters when I get the chance to do so. And over the weekend a friend of mine posted online that they had an extra ticket to “Falsettos” at the Ahmanson and they wanted to know if anyone was interested in going. I replied and asked how much the ticket was, and they said that it would be free for me if I wanted to join them! Of course I said yes! I lucked out because the show was on Easter Sunday so a lot of people couldn’t go. But I had no plans so I was excited to have another show to get to see.

I knew nothing about “Falsettos” when I said I’d like the extra ticket. To me, I’m always down to see any musical because you never know what you will like. And I had seen a few friends post about going to see it earlier in the week and everyone was raving about it and encouraging others to go. But once I found out I’d be going, I decided to do a little bit of research on the show so I would have a little bit of an idea about what I was going to see.

I tried to avoid too much information about the plot because I didn’t want things to be spoiled for me. But fortunately there was a lot of information about the creation of the show so I was able to look at that more than plot information. I thought it sounded really interesting that this show was actually created from 3 different 1 act shows. The first act of the current show was based on the second 1 act play and the second act of the current show was based on the third 1 act play. It was a different way to create a show, but it sounded really fun and from the things I read online people enjoyed how each act of the show was a bit different. Even though I knew nothing about the show and I had no clue I was going to see it, I was so ready to see it when Sunday came!

My friends who had the tickets met me at the theater. Since it was a holiday and a weekend, I was able to get to downtown very quickly. I parked in their parking lot because it was just easier to pay the $9 to do that than to search all over downtown for a spot that might be ok to use. I let my friends know when I got there and waited for them by the will call booths.

They got there closer to the start time of the show (which is what we had agreed to) and we had a few minutes to chat and catch up before going inside to head to our seats. I’ve only been to the Ahmanson a few times so I am not as familiar with the seating there as I am with other theaters. But all the times I’ve been there the seats have been good no matter where we were sitting. This time, we were toward the back of the orchestra section near the side. But even the back of the orchestra is pretty close to the stage so we were able to see the actors just fine.

I don’t want to give away a ton about the plot since I think sometimes it’s better to go in knowing very little (and if you really want to know all of the plot you can find it other places online), but the main plot of the show involves a divorced couple, their child, and their new partners. The show does not have dialogue outside of the songs but the songs are clear and easy to follow. The plot isn’t too complicated so that helped with being able to follow it as well.

My quick review of the show is that it was really great! There were some incredible songs and the performances were awesome. I think all of us in the group preferred the second act to the first, which was surprising. There are a lot of times that I feel the second act of a musical goes too quickly to have a conclusion of everything that has happened so far. And when a second act is like that, I usually prefer the first act. But considering that both acts are based off of different 1 act shows it makes it make a bit more sense. And even though I preferred the second act, that doesn’t mean the first act was bad. There was one song I didn’t love, but it was still enjoyable.

I thanked my friends for inviting me to the show and I’m so glad I got to check out a new show. I wish I could do it more often (and that’s why I do my season tickets for the Pantages) and every time I get to see something extra it really is special. And getting to see another show at the Ahmanson was awesome as well since I rarely go there. Maybe one day I’ll have season tickets for there as well and then my life will be even more filled with musicals!

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailBig Musical Instead of Big Game (or Another Sunday Night Out) Default ThumbnailThe End Of My Musical Season (or Finally Enjoying Phantom) Default ThumbnailAnother Round Of A Repeat Musical (or Seeing A Show A Different Way) Default ThumbnailFinding Neverland (or An Unexpected Musical Experience) Default ThumbnailAnother Musical Season (or Enjoying A Repeat Musical) Default ThumbnailSchool Of Rock (or Just A Good Fun Musical)

1 Comment

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , , ,

A Non-Surgery Anniversary (or Another Year Of Being A Medical Miracle)

Posted on April 19, 2019 | Comments Off on A Non-Surgery Anniversary (or Another Year Of Being A Medical Miracle)

Tomorrow will be the 2 year anniversary of when I didn’t have surgery. I know that sentence sounds really weird, but that’s exactly what it is. 2 years ago tomorrow, I was supposed to be having some of my liver tumors removed along with a portion of my liver. But because by some miracle my tumors decided to shrink on their own, that surgery didn’t happen. And I feel like that is something to celebrate!

I’ve had some things to work through mentally with all this. When my surgery was canceled, I didn’t know how to feel because this was something I had been preparing for and all of a sudden it wasn’t happening. Some people thought I was acting disappointed that I didn’t have surgery, but that’s not it. It was just an overwhelming feeling of confusion and a disconnection with things. I’ve gotten over that feeling as I have been able to identify it, but it’s still a bit of a weird spot for me.

I do also still have a little fear when I have another MRI because I don’t want to discover my tumors have decided to grow again. My next scan isn’t for another 6 months, but I’m already a little nervous because of the gallbladder attack I had recently. My surgeon and I have discussed that it’s possible my attacks stopped when my liver stopped being distorted by the tumors. That’s not something we know for sure, but it’s something we have thought is possible. So to know I just had another attack does make me a bit fearful that maybe that means my tumors are growing and making my liver misshapen again. There’s no point in me worrying about it right now, but I know that I won’t get the idea out of my head until after my next scan.

Even though I do have some weird feelings about the non-surgery anniversary, I have way more feelings that are positive about it. I wasn’t necessarily looking forward to the surgery even though I knew I needed it because I didn’t want to have to deal with the recovery. It would have been a very tough and potentially long recovery and I didn’t need that in my life. While your liver does regenerate so I would eventually have had a full sized liver again, during the time that it’s regrowing there are a lot of other issues that can come up. Leading up to when I was supposed to have surgery I was trying to stay optimistic about what side effects I might have, but I was also realistic. I’m so grateful I didn’t have to find out what would happen.

From the time I discovered I have liver tumors to the time my surgery was canceled was a pretty hectic time. It all happened in under 6 months and there was so much we had to do in that time to get my life prepared for such a major surgery. Once I had that out of the way, I was able to focus on things I enjoyed in my life again. I feel like this really was a turning point in my life to stop putting things off and to really work on finding what I want to do and not what I have to do. This is still something I am working on, but I know that the past 2 years have been filled with much more enjoyable stuff than the several years prior to discovering the tumors. I don’t want to say that this experience made me re-evaluate my life or make me have a new outlook on how I was spending my life, but I guess that’s kind of what it was.

I think this year celebrating not having surgery is a bit different from last year. I’m still excited about recognizing how amazing and incredible my body was to be able to shrink the tumors. But the focus this time seems to be less about not having surgery and more about the new start point of things. I don’t split my life up as before surgery and after not having surgery or anything, but I do see not having surgery as a fresh start of figuring some things out about myself. I’m not 100% where I want to be or who I want to be, but I’m significantly closer now than I was before.

I’m sure eventually one day I won’t be celebrating the non-surgery anniversary anymore, but for now I still feel like it is something to celebrate and acknowledge. It’s a big part of my recent history and has been something that changed the plan of my life. I feel like that’s important to remember.

You Might Also Like

Default Thumbnail3 Years Knowing About The Tumors (or I Forgot An Anniversary) Default ThumbnailMedical Miracle Anniversary (or A Year Of My Liver Being A Badass) Default ThumbnailA Tumor Miracle (or I Wasn’t Expecting This) Default Thumbnail3 Years Of Being A Medical Miracle (or Just Enjoying Being Healthy) Default ThumbnailMy Hip Surgery Anniversary (or Lucky 13) Default ThumbnailSurgery Anniversary (or I Guess It’s Good I Almost Forgot)

Comments Off on A Non-Surgery Anniversary (or Another Year Of Being A Medical Miracle)

Posted in Fun Stuff, Health

Tagged , , , ,

Slowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way)

Posted on April 18, 2019 | Comments Off on Slowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way)

I’ve read “The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up” quite a while ago. I haven’t watched the Netflix series yet, but it’s on my watch list to watch eventually. But I am familiar with the idea of what Marie Kondo says in both even though I haven’t read the book in a long time. A lot of it is stuff that I already do, but it seems like every so often I have a big push to do some extra cleaning and organizing.

Right now, I’m in the middle of doing some organizing. But instead of doing it in a big effort, I’ve slowly been doing it. In the past, I have gotten rid of things that I probably should have kept or I forgot where I stored something until I found it again months later. I don’t want to have that issue again because there’s no need for it. And I don’t have any sort of deadline to when I need this to be done so I can take my time.

Since I’ve been in this long cleaning/organizing habit, I’ve debated about going back to the book or watching the Netflix series since so many people have been raving about how it has changed their lives. But I remember when I read it the first time how I really didn’t connect with everything in it. I don’t have a ton of stuff I have to get rid of. My issue is just making sure that I am putting things away in places that make sense and can be done over and over again. If the place I decide to store something isn’t the most convenient option, I probably won’t be doing it as needed. I’ll wait until things get bad and then I’ll have that mad rush to clean.

I know one of the big organizational things in the book and series is about how to store clothing. I love the file folder idea of storing shirt and pants. But I actually don’t have clothes like that in drawers. I have a drawer of workout clothes where I have one pile of workout towels, one pile of workout pants, and one pile of workout shirts. This drawer is just what I use for Orangetheory so I only have exactly what I need in there. I don’t have to dig through things to find what I like to wear in class. I found it the easiest way to store things compared to having a drawer for tops and for bottoms. I do have another drawer of random workout/lounge clothes that probably could be organized in the file folder style, but since I don’t go into that drawer that often I don’t feel pushed to do it. My bra/underwear/socks/pj drawer has dividers and is organized, but I know it could be better and that will be something I will be tackling soon. But besides that, all my other clothing is hung up so I don’t have a way to fold them. Everything is on the same type of thin hangers and is organized by type and color.

With everyone raving about how they love the system in the book and series, I felt like I should do it to. But the more I think about it, the less it makes sense to me to do it. There’s nothing wrong with her method, but it doesn’t have to be for everyone. And for my system in my current house, it’s not right. Maybe when I move one day I’ll revisit it and decide to do it, but not now.

I think letting go of the idea that I should be doing what everyone else is doing has been helpful. I don’t feel the same pressure as I did before about what I should be doing with cleaning and organizing and making sure it’s done quickly. I can take my time and there’s nothing wrong with that. I probably could be working a bit faster and that’s something I’m going to try to focus on this weekend. I have been doing little bursts of cleaning and sometimes I use that as an excuse to not do more.

I know the idea of spring cleaning is usually a big to-do with a huge day doing everything. But I’m enjoying taking my time and allowing myself to test out different things with how I want to store stuff around my home. And I have a feeling this won’t be just spring cleaning but a longer, ongoing thing. And that’s fine too. With such a small house, I know how quickly things can go from a little messy to a big disaster and working on it each day helps prevent that.

You Might Also Like

Default ThumbnailA Big Cleaning Week (or An Excuse to Organize) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Needing To Declutter Again) Default ThumbnailDoing A Lot Of Spring Cleaning (or Trying To Fill My Day) Default ThumbnailIs It Too Early To Be Spring Cleaning? (or Out With The Unused) Default ThumbnailSpring Cleaning (or Feeling Pampered) Default ThumbnailFeeling Like A Fresh Start (or Spring Cleaning and New Toys)

Comments Off on Slowly Spring Cleaning (or Tidying Up My Way)

Posted in Fun Stuff

Tagged , ,