Tag Archives: isolation

At Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager)

Posted on May 20, 2020 | Comments Off on At Home Hair (or I Haven’t Done This Since I Was A Teenager)

With isolation/quarantine lasting as long as it has, there are a lot of routine things that people are missing out on. Some of them are things that only happen once a year or so (like some doctor appointments or fancy spa days that people might plan), but there are a lot of things that people do regularly that they can’t do right now. And a lot of those things are beauty-related. I don’t do a ton of regular beauty appointments, but I do have a few. I do get waxed once a month (waxing is better for my skin than shaving for my autoimmune disease) and I do miss doing that. I was supposed to go in just as things closed, so it is a little annoying since shaving isn’t an option for me. But at the same time, I’m not seeing anyone so I don’t care too much.

The other regular beauty thing I do is my hair. Haircuts and color something that I have seen a lot of protestors complaining about. And I get it. If you need a haircut or your color looks bad, it’s frustrating that you can’t do much about it. But at the same time, there is no way to keep proper distance while doing someone’s hair. And nobody’s hair is worth risking getting sick or being a carrier and getting someone else sick. I know that not everyone agrees with me, but there are so many other things to worry about than hair.

I was lucky because my hair was done right before things closed. And even though my hair grows quickly, I didn’t care that it was getting longer. Most days, I just pin my hair back so it’s out of my face. Again, I’m not going out so it doesn’t matter how I look. When I need my hair to look good, I can blow dry my hair and style it. When I did my self-tape audition, my hair didn’t exactly look like it does in my headshot. But the casting directors know that nobody can get their hair done right now so hopefully, they aren’t judging us on that.

But the one hair frustration I was dealing with was my hair color. I’ve been going gray for almost 15 years now, but the grays have been significantly worse in the past few years. I do have different products I can use to cover my grays between appointments. And if I needed to look good (like for my audition), I just used those. I don’t like seeing so much gray in my hair, but if that was my biggest issue then I am lucky.

But my friend who did my hair the last time said that she was going to come by with some hair color for me as a gift. I knew a lot of people were buying box color, but I wasn’t going to do that. So to have a friend drop off professional color for me was so nice! She gave me enough to do my roots and cover the grays. It wasn’t for a full color, but it was something to hold me over.

When I was a teenager, I did dye my hair at home. Back then, I did use a cheap box color. It never looked horrible, but it never looked great. It was mainly to add some red to my hair and sometimes in the sun, it did look a little orange. But compared to some of the hair fails my friends in high school had, mine wasn’t bad. But that experience did scare me a bit about coloring my hair at home. Even if it was professional color.

Fortunately, my friend was able to help me via text with what I needed to do. I sent her photos to show her where I had the color for her to check that I was doing it right. There wasn’t a lot I could screw up (I just had to mix 2 products and then use the brush she gave me to put it on my hair), but I was still nervous. By the time I got the color all over where my grays were, I sent her another photo and she confirmed that it looked good.

I had a little bit of leftover color, so she told me for the last 10 minutes that I should mix that leftover with some conditioner and put it on the rest of my hair to refresh things. I did that (sorry, forgot to take a photo that time) and before I knew it, it was time to wash out the color. I didn’t think too much about washing out the color, but I’m glad it didn’t stain my tub too much (I did have to clean it after this because some dye did stick to it). My friend was right, it was a pretty simple process and I don’t think I screwed it up. I wish I had taken a before photo, but I wasn’t thinking about that. But this is my after photo and I can tell you that before dyeing it, I had a lot of gray hair on the side of my head. And now I don’t!

This wasn’t as good as getting it done by a professional, but it was much better than what I did in high school. And I will admit that I do feel a little better about myself now that I’m not seeing all the grays. But I never would have been protesting to get a salon open even with the boost that this gave to me. I know that right now, this is the safest way for me to color my hair. And if things remain closed for a few more months, I’ll probably ask my friend if she can help me with getting me some color again. Most of the people I know who do hair have been offering this to their clients. So if you are worried about your roots, reach out to your hairstylist to see if they can mix some color for you.

This isn’t how I normally would do my hair, but as I’ve said so many times, this isn’t normal times. I’m just grateful that I did have a chance to have a small bit of normalcy and to feel a bit more like myself. And I’m glad that nobody had to put themselves at risk for getting sick for me to do this.

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Default ThumbnailDoing Some Beautification (or Feeling Better From The Outside In) Default ThumbnailTime For A Bit Of A Change (or Getting Chopped) Default ThumbnailGetting A New Look (or Two Attempts To Dye My Hair) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Get Back To Me (I Needed My Hair Done!) Default ThumbnailCoconut Oil Hair Mask (or Trying A Simple DIY Beauty Trick) Default ThumbnailGetting Pushed Into Changing (or A Story About My Hair)

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Posted in Beauty, Fun Stuff

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Trying To Not Be Sad About Missing Things (or This Was Going To Be An Awesome Weekend)

Posted on May 15, 2020 | Comments Off on Trying To Not Be Sad About Missing Things (or This Was Going To Be An Awesome Weekend)

So many people are upset that major events in their lives are being canceled or postponed right now. I’ve had friends who have had to postpone their weddings and baby showers. I know that those in school have had their graduations and proms canceled (or only happen virtually). There are very few people who haven’t had to miss a major event that they were looking forward to.

I consider myself lucky that I have only had smaller things that have been canceled. For example, I have no clue what will happen with the rest of the season of musicals. I do know that some shows have been canceled, but others are just postponed. But postponed until when? I have been sad about missing the shows, but I know that I will appreciate them even more when they are able to come back. The next season is also still a bit of an unknown. Some of the shows that were supposed to be in it have said they might cancel their tours. But they could reschedule them at another time. So maybe they will tour in LA.

This weekend was supposed to be an amazing show weekend for me. Earlier this week, I should have seen the musical “Mean Girls”, which was a part of the season. But tomorrow, I was supposed to be seeing “Hamilton” again. My parents were going to come to LA for a fun weekend. We were going to see the show (and I was planning on taking them to Wood & Vine to dinner). We didn’t have a lot of the other things planned for the weekend, but I had talked to my mom about maybe going to Disneyland together. I’m sure we would have done some projects around my house. It would have been a great weekend. And now, obviously, there is no way for that to happen.

I don’t know when I’ll see my parents again, but I do talk to them most days on the phone. So at least this trip wasn’t my only chance to connect with them. And I know when things are safer that they will plan another visit to LA. I have no clue about what will happen with “Hamilton”. I want to hope that they will reschedule their residence in LA and there will be a chance for us to go see it together. But it did improve my mood a bit when Disney+ announced that the “Hamilton” movie was going to be released a year earlier and on Disney+ (it was supposed to be released in theaters). We are going to do a family movie night where we watch it at the same time and maybe do a video chat after. We’ve got some time to plan that out. But at least it is allowing us to have a bit of what we had been excited about still happen.

I know that there will be more things that I will be missing out on that I was looking forward to. Everyone has to deal with that now. Just the other day, the Hollywood Bowl announced that they have had to cancel their entire season. I hadn’t looked to see if they had announced their season, but I figured there would be a few shows I would want to go to. The Bowl is a tradition for me during the summer and I know so many people in LA are sad about this tradition having to be canceled for a season. But even if they didn’t cancel, I don’t know if I would feel comfortable going to a show. Maybe there will be better circumstances by the summer, but right now it’s still too scary to think about what might happen if you catch COVID-19 for me to feel ok being in a huge crowd.

Things are starting to very slowly open up again in LA. Retail stores can do curbside pickup. The beaches are opening for activities (but not for hanging out at the beach). And hopefully, with people wearing masks when they are out, we will not see a surge in cases. And if there is no surge, then more things can open up. It’s going to take a long time to get back to something even close to normal. But it’s getting there. And slowly we will be able to reschedule all of these things that we had to put off. And I’m looking forward to when that day happens. Even if it’s a year away.

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Default ThumbnailA Virtual Musical Night (or Trying To Replicate My Routine) Default ThumbnailHaving Another Lazy Weekend (or Trying Not To Feel Like I Missed Out) Default ThumbnailFeeling Like Something’s Missing (or Getting Sad In The Greeting Card Aisle) Default ThumbnailTrying To Make A 5K Plan (or Maybe This Is The Motivation I’m Missing) Default ThumbnailMore Musicals! (or Another Season At Pantages) Default ThumbnailAnd Another Season Of Musicals (or The Next Season Will Be A Bit Different)

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Posted in Tough Stuff

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Having A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)

Posted on May 12, 2020 | Comments Off on Having A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts)

I know a lot of people feel like they are living the same day over and over again right now. This is probably happening a lot for people who are completely out of work. I am lucky with my work because I do still have some (even though the hours are a fraction of what they used to be). I know that 3 days a week, I work from 8-9 am with doing customer voicemails. And I do still have my other job, but those hours are limited too as I can’t find a lot of things to add to the calendar. I also have my workouts a few days a week, so that helps to make things feel a bit different. I usually know what day of the week it is based on if I have a workout or work that morning.

But besides those things, there isn’t a lot of variety in my day. I’m working on not just sitting in front of a screen all day long and trying to continue to be productive, but there have been days where sitting and watching tv is all I feel up to doing. And it’s not easy to find other things to fill my day with while staying inside and staying safe (and yes, I know I can go out for walks or drives, but it’s not the same).

I wrote about 2 different things I’ve been doing a lot of lately. And those are organizing my house and having virtual hangouts. Honestly, that’s all I’ve been doing a lot of lately to change things up. And I know these are good habits or activities to have, so I don’t feel as guilty as I do when I watch tv for hours on end.

Fortunately, doing organization in my house was long overdue, so there have been a lot of projects to work on. Some of the projects have been pushed off because I needed something to complete them, so now I have been ordering what I need. Because of the pandemic, there are shipping delays with some things, so I just work on what I can as I get things. And this week, I got these little drawer organizers that I had been looking at online. I know it’s hard to make them fit perfectly in my drawers, but I found some that don’t actually snap together so I can keep open space between them. My plan was to just organize my desk, but I had so many extras that I also did 2 of my kitchen drawers. I didn’t really get rid of anything as I did these projects, but it looks much better and my drawers look like there isn’t as much because there is some space to spare.

I’m sure I’ll continue to modify these over time, but for now, it’s so much better than it was and I can start working on the top of my desk and my file cabinet now.

And with my virtual hangouts, I’m trying to plan them with different groups of friends so I have them as often as I can. And the one group of friends that I had been working on scheduling one with is with my workout friends. Right now, we are spread over 3 states and we all have different schedules and things we have to do each day. So it hasn’t been easy to find a time that works for us all. But we were able to plan one for this past Friday. And I felt like that was the perfect time to do it because when we all worked out together, Fridays was the day we were all there!

And it was so nice to see my friends. We did talk about workouts briefly (I think I’m the only one doing the official home workouts regularly), but we mainly talked about all the random things we could think of. We were all laughing so much and laughing so hard that we were crying. I needed this virtual hangout so much and I didn’t realize how badly I needed it until it was done. It really boosted my mood and made my day so much better. And now that we’ve done one, I think everyone agrees that we need to do these more often.

I’m sure this week will continue to be filled with more organizing and virtual hangouts. I also have some ideas for new skills that I want to learn since I have so much free time. Anything that can change up my day a little bit is exactly what I need to do right now.

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Default ThumbnailMy Monthly Challenge To Finish Out The First Half Of The Year (or Sleeping And More Organizing) Default ThumbnailA Big Cleaning Week (or An Excuse to Organize) Default ThumbnailFinding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts) Default ThumbnailEven More Organizing (or This Was An Overdue Project) Default ThumbnailVirtual Memorial Day (or Doing The Best We Can For Now) Default ThumbnailAnother Virtual Friend Hangout (or Trying Not To Miss A Summer Tradition Too Much)

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My Workouts Are Never Simple (or I Need To Keep Working On Modifications)

Posted on May 11, 2020 | Comments Off on My Workouts Are Never Simple (or I Need To Keep Working On Modifications)

I knew going into this past week that my workouts weren’t going to be my best. I was going to be dealing with nausea and I was still struggling with losing some motivation. I’m not going to lie and say working out when feeling like this is easy. It’s not even as easy as it is when I’m in the studio (when it’s really not that easy). Pushing myself when I’d rather be lying in bed is tough when there’s nobody expecting to see me at a workout. I could easily lie and say I worked out when I did, but I know that would just make me feel worse.

What I wasn’t expecting going into this past week of workouts was dealing with the injury to my finger. That caused an entirely new set of issues for me. Of course, I knew I didn’t want to stress my finger as it was starting to heal because I didn’t want to delay the healing process. I always bandaged up my finger when working out because I wanted to protect it. And part of that protection involved not allowing myself to bend it that much. Bending my finger stresses the injury and can damage any scars or scabs on it. So I had to be as careful as possible.

Even though I knew I was bandaging my finger to prevent it from bending, I guess I didn’t think through how much that would affect my workouts in terms of being able to hold or lift anything. Monday’s workout was the worst for that. I tried to lift even the lightest things, and I couldn’t get a grip on it. Even though I was using the rest of my fingers, it was like I lost my grip strength because I was not able to use my middle finger. It might have been how I wrapped my finger or it might have been how new the injury was. Lifting things was a struggle through the rest of the week, but it did get easier as the week went on. I think it’s still going to take a few weeks before I’m completely healed and able to use it. The healing process is going much faster than I expected, but the lack of movement in my finger is almost the same as it was when it happened. I have no clue how long it will take to get that back.

And the pain and nausea were also worse toward the beginning of the week, so at least all the tough things were easing up through the week. I continued to struggle with figuring out modifications for the plank work, which was made harder by the limits I could do with my finger injury. I’ve tried so many types of chairs and ladders to be similar to a weight bench, but they don’t work. And the things I have found online that could be good are either out of stock or cost too much. I know that people are hoping the studios can open up again in about 2 months, but that’s still 2 months of home workouts that I want to have as much success as possible. So I need to figure this out.

Even though I would say that this past week of workouts was probably the hardest one I’ve had since starting the home workouts (possibly the hardest workouts I’ve had in years), I still got my 4 workouts in for the week and I still tried my best. I took a lot of breaks and rests for various reasons, but I did remember to pause the workout video sometimes so I didn’t use workout time as break time. And I just keep telling myself the same thing over and over again. I am doing something. I am trying. I am not giving up and saying I’ll just get back into my workouts when the studios open up again. I have prioritized my workouts and that is a win to me. I just look forward to when things are a bit easier for me so I can feel like I’m making progress or getting some wins in my workouts each week.

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Default ThumbnailWorking Through The Workouts (Modifications Are Harder At Home) Default ThumbnailWhy Can’t I Just Have A Normal Week? (or Another Bad Week Of Workouts) Default ThumbnailSome Holiday Workouts (or Back On The Treadmill This Week) Default ThumbnailMissing My Normal Workouts More Than Ever (or I Needed Someone To Push Me This Week) Default ThumbnailWorkouts With Modifications (or Dealing With A New Injury) Default ThumbnailWorking Out Into The New Year (or The End of My 2015 Workouts And Beginning of My 2016 Workouts)

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Finding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts)

Posted on May 8, 2020 | Comments Off on Finding A Social Life Where I Can (or Virtual Parties and Distance Hangouts)

I can write so many posts about how isolated I feel right now. I know that technically we are all isolating, but most people I know are isolating with others inside their home. They might be with family, roommates, a significant other, or a pet. But I am just alone. I know I’m not the only person living alone right now, but I think it just adds another layer to things right now that makes it tough.

I’ve been trying my best to not feel as isolated as I really am. But there are only so many things I can do. I’ve had a lot more phone calls with friends than I can ever remember. I’ve done video chats with friends that I never normally would do that with because they live so close. I’ve really tried to find ways to feel like I’m still connected to others out there, but my options are limited.

But I feel like there have been 2 things that make me feel so much more connected than anything else. The first is something that hasn’t happened that often. In fact, I think I’ve only had this happen a few times since isolation started. And that is having a friend come by for a social distance visit. Once this happened when a friend came by to borrow something from me and she was in her car and I was in my driveway. Another time was when a friend did some grocery shopping for me and I was in my car and she was in her driveway (yes, there is a bit of a theme here). And this week, my workout buddy Erin came by!

She was dropping off some stuff for me like hair dye to do my roots (which I know I don’t need to do but I appreciate the chance to not see my gray hairs!). We made sure we stood pretty far away from each other. I know the guidelines say to be 6 feet apart, but we were probably more like 12 or 15 feet apart. But it didn’t matter because it was so nice to see a friend! This was the most face to face time I’ve had with a friend in a while and I needed it. Just talking to a friend in person for a few minutes made my day (and my week) so much better! I know that right now it’s not necessarily safe to do hangouts like this often, but if I can do one once a month until it’s safer to have them more often, I think that will be so good for my mental health.

And the other thing that has been giving me a social life right now is my Netflix Party group that I have. The group has been going strong since we started it and I love knowing that on Wednesdays and Saturdays I will have a virtual hangout with the women in the group. We’ve changed things a little in the group since we started. Now, we are usually doing double features on Saturdays and we are trying to have a theme each week. And on Wednesdays, we are watching a tv series together. We did a vote and we are watching “Schitt’s Creek”, which is a show that I had been meaning to watch. We watch a few episodes each week and it’s been so fun.

And the group that does the parties has really bonded. We have a group text going which was originally set up to share the links for the movies we watch. But that group text has turned into an amazing support group. If someone is feeling lonely, they can write something and we all rally around them with support. When someone posted that they lost their job, some people replied with help with filing for unemployment, and others replied with other things they might need to do. And when it was a Friday and someone wrote that they were sad it wasn’t Saturday because they didn’t want to be alone, we scheduled an impromptu bonus movie night and were all watching a movie together within an hour. It’s been an amazing support system that I am so grateful for.

Right now, it’s not easy to feel connected to others (or others who don’t live in your home). We are all trying to figure out how to not feel alone, and there is no right answer. For right now, these things are what work for me and what feels right. If this continues for several more months, I might have a different plan. I just have to stay flexible with what I do to feel social and keep trying new things to see what will work for me.

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Default ThumbnailSo Many Virtual Movie Nights (or Thank Goodness For Technology) Default ThumbnailFinding Time For Friends (or Busting Out Of My Routine) Default ThumbnailSocial Days Off (or Finally Seeing Some Friends) Default ThumbnailHaving A Lot Of Repeat Days (or More Organizing and More Virtual Hangouts) Default ThumbnailGetting Ready For A Fun Rewatch (or More Netflix Parties) Default ThumbnailRemembering To Have Some Fun (or Hangouts Don’t Always Have To Be Events)

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More Virtual Union Meetings (or It’s Funny I Wrote About This Not Long Ago)

Posted on May 6, 2020 | Comments Off on More Virtual Union Meetings (or It’s Funny I Wrote About This Not Long Ago)

A few months ago, I wrote a post about how I was attending some of my union meetings virtually. That post was about learning how some of the union things I attend can be virtual and how it was exciting that I could still be involved even if I couldn’t make it to a meeting in person. I had no clue how relevant that post would become right after I wrote it.

There are not a ton of union meetings right now as the union is focused on essential things such as getting residuals out to members and our current negotiations. The committees I’m a part of can still meeting, but those would be on our own and not through the union. None of the committees I’m on are doing those meetings just yet, but I think that’s because those committees are all about going to events in person and in large groups. Those aren’t happening so we don’t need meetings to discuss upcoming ones or how we can support them.

But I have been a part of virtual meetings with my slate. Those meetings are a bit more of hangouts where we can see each other’s faces over Zoom and a lot of the time is spent checking in with each other. We also go over any news that we should be aware of or that we should make sure other members know. For example, our union dues were just due and I know that some people couldn’t afford them right now. Dues couldn’t be waived completely as the dues go toward paying our staff. But the union did make some accommodations for those who cannot pay. There will be no late fees this dues period if someone cannot pay. We also have an option to pay half of our dues this summer and the other half this fall. I am in a fortunate position and was able to pay my dues as usual, but I know not everyone is in that position. And I’m glad that my union is trying to help with those who cannot pay.

Our union has also been working with politicians a lot to make sure that actors are a part of various relief packages. They worked to make sure anyone who is not a standard employee is included (which I am so grateful for as I am in that category). And I know that some people are saying that actors and performers are not essential and don’t need help, but I think those people are just thinking of celebrities. There are so many performers who work normally but aren’t wealthy. And now that there is no work, they need help. Also, while people are isolating at home, I think most people are enjoying the work that we create. People are watching tv and movies or listening to music. And broadcasters (such as news anchor) are members of SAG-AFTRA as well, and we know that we rely on them for getting us the news and keeping us informed. So making sure the members of our union are included in the help the government is providing is important.

Even though there was a lot of news that we covered in the virtual meetings that we have had, I am most grateful for just feeling like I’m a part of something. I’ve shared how isolated I feel since I live alone and any connection I can get is big. So if that connection is a virtual meeting with people that I love spending time with, then that’s amazing and I am so happy to have it. I just can’t wait until I can see them in person because I appreciate them all even more now!

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I Hate Not Having As Much Motivation (or A Week Of Workout Struggles)

Posted on May 4, 2020 | Comments Off on I Hate Not Having As Much Motivation (or A Week Of Workout Struggles)

I’ve written before about how I’m really doing my best with the Orangetheory at-home workouts. I am so appreciative of Orangetheory for doing these for everyone every day. There are other workout studios that either took much longer to pull something together or still have not found a way to do virtual workouts. I’m so lucky that the place that I consider my workout home was one of the leaders when it comes to creating home workouts to do right now.

And I have maintained my workout schedule by doing the workouts 4 days a week. I’m not necessarily doing the workouts at the same time as I usually do, but I do get them done. And I do try my best in the workouts with every exercise that is given in each workout.

But just because I am trying my best, it doesn’t mean I am doing my best. And I know that this past week was not my best at all. I had 2 things working against me that just made things harder than normal.

The first thing was that this past week was the start of another cycle of nausea. I was hoping that it wouldn’t be that bad this time, but it really did kick in a lot this time. And the workouts weren’t ones that were easy for me to do while nauseous. I’m used to having the ability to make modifications for a lot of things that are hard for me to do when I’m nauseous. But because I don’t have all the equipment that I normally use to help me. I really tried to find ways to do things like making burpees easier, but I really don’t have the right setup. I thought maybe I could use a step stool as a replacement for the bench, but it didn’t really work the way I needed it to. It wasn’t wide enough for the plank work and it was slipping on my floor.

I have looked at what other alternatives I could use for a bench. There are a few ideas like different types of workout boxes (like a wooden box). Some of them are really expensive or really huge, and I don’t want to make it something that isn’t easy to store in my house. I’m looking at the brands that make them seeing if they have some other types that would work better for me. And I have been looking at workout benches to see if there are better portable ones that I wasn’t aware of.

But even without the issues of not having the right equipment to modify my workouts, working out when I’m nauseous is always a tough thing for me. And it was just so much harder when I wasn’t surrounded by my workout friends or have my coach helping me out. There is no question that a big part of what makes my workouts so amazing is being around people that are so incredible. And lack of motivation was another big issue this past week that made things harder.

I never knew I would connect to a workout the way that I have. And so much of that workout is about what happens when you take a class in the studio. I’ve never been a huge fan of working out at home. I’ve tried it so many times and it just has never clicked with me. I’m forcing myself to do them this time, even if I don’t feel like doing it. But when I’m not feeling like it, I know that I’m not doing the workouts as hard as I can and I’m not necessarily getting as much out of it as I should.

I’ve been doing this for a while now, but there’s a chance that I haven’t even gotten through half the time that we might need to do this. There is so much unknown still about when things will be reopening. Even states that have reopened aren’t really fully open. The studios in the states that have opened gyms back up have released statements saying that they will not be opening until they can make it safer. California isn’t close to being open again. I’ve seen some things that people think that gyms (of any type) won’t be open again until maybe July. Obviously I don’t want things to open up until they are safe, but July seems so far away. And I’m trying to not focus on how much longer I will have to work out at home, but I also can’t forget that. I’ve been looking at options to still be working out at home but not feeling as alone, but they haven’t happened just yet. But I need to figure out something to make these home workouts better for me because there is a chance that I’ll be doing these for a while.

I really hope that this week of workouts goes a bit better for me. I’m expecting another week of nausea (fortunately, I haven’t been experiencing as much pain as normal). I don’t know what it will take to feel more motivated, but maybe something will kick in as well. I wish I had a better post to write about how my workouts went last week, but I feel like being honest is the most important thing. And honestly, this past week just wasn’t that great for me.

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Default ThumbnailThe Motivation Struggle Is Real (or Nausea Really Kicked My Butt) Default ThumbnailThis Does Feel Like A Normal Routine (or Another Full Workout Week) Default ThumbnailNot The Workout Week I Planned On (or Starting To Prepare To Go Back) Default ThumbnailFinally A Good Workout Week (or Continuing To Build My Home Gym) Default ThumbnailI Hate Having A Hard Workout Week (or Not My Usual Workout Recap) Default ThumbnailAnother Mixed Motivation Week (or I Might Be Almost Done With At-Home Workouts)

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Struggling To Figure Out Challenges Right Now (or I’m Just Going To Try To Stay Hopeful)

Posted on May 1, 2020 | Comments Off on Struggling To Figure Out Challenges Right Now (or I’m Just Going To Try To Stay Hopeful)

March felt like it lasted 6 years. April felt like it just flew by. I guess that’s a sign that we are getting used to isolation and the days are starting to go quicker. But there’s no question that I’m ready to see how we try to find a new normal. It will take time and this won’t be happening overnight. But I know that it will happen. And until it does, everything I do has to be something I can do at my house.

And figuring out monthly challenges while in isolation isn’t easy. Even though very few of my challenges require me to leave my house, there is a different mindset that we are all in while isolating. Motivation isn’t the same. It’s hard to plan but at the same time, most of us have nothing but time.

That’s why last month, my challenge was to try to get a better handle on how I was handling things. I could feel my life feeling out of control. And while there are very few things that I can control right now, I spent April focusing on what I could control. And those things focused mainly on things related to a daily schedule.

I do still need to wake up at my normal time a few days a week, but I was getting into some bad sleep habits with going to bed late and sleeping in if I could. Sleeping in didn’t mean I was sleeping very late, but I wasn’t getting up with my alarm. And that is a habit that I didn’t want to start. Sleep schedules aren’t easy for me to get into, but very easy to ruin. So I wanted to make an effort to be better about that. I haven’t been perfect this past month, but it’s been much better than it was in March. I haven’t slept later than my alarm, even if I was up too late the night before. Yes, that results in me being tired sometimes. But I’m working on fixing that too.

I also wanted to get better about when I was eating. With nothing really dictating my schedule, it was hard to get into a routine. Just like with sleeping, I am still working on this. I’m pretty much having 2 meals a day (which I don’t know if that’s good). I pretty much have brunch and dinner. I eat brunch after I do my little bit of work or my workout (depending on the day). And dinner is pretty much at a normal dinner time. I’m cooking a lot, which is a good thing. But I also want to get better about what I’m cooking and adding variety to my recipes.

I’m glad that I made my monthly challenge last month to try to get things back to how they should be. I needed that sense of control and regularity in my life. And even though I still have moments that I struggle, April was much easier for me to deal with than March.

And for May, I wanted to continue working on feeling better. But I did struggle again with what I could make my challenge to be. Doing something like picking up a new skill doesn’t feel right for right now. So I decided to make it another challenge related to being in insolation and the state of the world right now.

My challenge for May is to work on staying hopeful. I want to be hopeful that things will be ok. I want to be hopeful that we will be able to be out with our friends and family again soon. I want to be hopeful that I will stay healthy and so will the people I love. And I want to stay hopeful that I will get through this and soon enough it will be just a memory. It’s not always easy to stay hopeful, but I know I need to do it. I need to work on keeping a positive mindset as much as I can. And hopefulness will do that for me.

Hopefully, when I do my recap of this challenge, we will have a better idea of when things will be changing to close to normal again. But if not, I know that day will come one day. And it’s going to be so amazing when that happens.

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Default ThumbnailRecapping A Few Challenges From Last Month (or Getting Ready Stop Going Easy On Myself) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailStruggling To Figure Out A Monthly Challenge (or Finding Myself Again) Default ThumbnailContinuing To Work On Myself (or More Reflective Challenges) Default ThumbnailAnother Attempt At Mindfulness (or I Think I Need To Work On This Until I Figure It Out) Default ThumbnailGetting More Productive (or More Monthly Challenges)

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Working On Self-Care (or Continuing To Try To Fill My Day)

Posted on April 30, 2020 | Comments Off on Working On Self-Care (or Continuing To Try To Fill My Day)

My days aren’t filled with too much right now. I have very little work. I do my workouts, but those only take about an hour (and I don’t spend extra time driving there and back or talking with friends). I do virtual movie hangouts with friends, but I don’t do those every day. There is only so much tv I can watch (although I am watching a ton of tv). And even reading can’t fill all of my day every day.

I remember not that long ago wishing I had a day where I didn’t have anything to do. Now, I would do anything to be overscheduled again. I’m not used to being bored the way that I am right now. And I know that boredom could potentially lead to some destructive behavior. So I’m trying to find ways to fill my time with things that are good for me.

I’ll be writing about some of the things I’ve been doing around my house next week because that is still a work-in-progress and I’m hoping to have a lot of it done before I share. House projects have been a majority of the good stuff I’ve been doing. But I’ve also been taking time to do good things for myself as well.

I have been a big advocate for self-care for a while. And I do have some regular self-care routines that I have been doing for years. But there are several things that I haven’t done for one reason or another. Often, I don’t have the time to do something. But now, I have nothing but time.

One of the more basic things I’ve been doing for my self-care is what I’ve been doing for my hair. Or I guess it’s more about what I haven’t been doing. Unless I need to look good for some reason (like a self-tape audition), I am not using any heat tools on my hair. I usually don’t let my hair air dry because it is a weird curly texture that isn’t very uniform. And my hair sometimes takes a long time to dry and if I shower before I work I don’t want to work with wet hair. But now, I usually have nothing I have to do after I wash my hair, so I can sit around with wet hair with no issues. This is letting my hair take a bit of a break from the damage that heat tools can cause. I don’t know if my hair will look any better after not doing it, but I know that it’s not adding any damage.

I also have been taking this time to learn how to do my makeup better. I’ve never been great at makeup, but now I can practice without the fear of someone seeing it. So far, it’s mainly been learning how to do eyeliner (which is something I never could do) and it’s been going ok. I will be practicing looks and trying to perfect things so that when things start coming back that I will have a great look that I know I can do!

But the self-care thing I’ve been most excited about was something I did for my feet. My feet aren’t that great. I wish I could get pedicures more often so that they would look better. And now, I have no clue when pedicures will be an option again. I had heard about the Baby Foot foot peel before, but everyone said that you need to do it when you know that nobody will be seeing your feet for about 2 weeks. I never knew when I could do it before, but now is the perfect time to do it!

I asked friends who have used it for any advice that they had. The main thing they said was to soak your feet before using it and doing daily foot soaks starting the day after using it. Your feet start to peel after a few days, and it doesn’t really hurt.

The day I used the peel, I got everything set up in my room before starting. I knew that once I used it, I was going to be stuck for about an hour. My hips were getting a bit uncomfortable, but nothing was causing pain in my feet. And for the few days after doing it, I soaked my feet in a basin for at least 15 minutes.

I was worried that it wasn’t working on me because I didn’t see anything happening. But yesterday, that all changed. I won’t share photos because my feet look like a zombie or a snake shedding its skin (if you really want to see examples, there are plenty online). But it’s definitely working! And I’m really glad that I did this when I’m not going to be out in public. The peeling should be done in a week or so, and I can’t wait to see how good my feet look by then!

With so much time to kill every day, adding new self-care practices will probably continue to be something I do. I can use this time to be a bit selfish if I want. And these don’t have to be things that I keep doing. They can be one-offs like the foot peel. But at least the time is being used for something good.

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An Isolation Audition (or Working On My Self-Tape Game)

Posted on April 28, 2020 | Comments Off on An Isolation Audition (or Working On My Self-Tape Game)

With pretty much the entire entertainment industry shut down right now, there aren’t a lot of opportunities to work. Everyone is experiencing the same stoppage of work and we are all trying to find ways to not feel as far away from our careers. Some people are doing acting classes over Zoom, I’ve had friends who have been doing script readings and performances on different live video platforms, and some people are creating their own solo work (or work with other people they live with). I haven’t really done a lot of those things yet, but they are ideas that I have been exploring.

But right after the social isolation started, I heard of friends who were still getting auditions because we can do self-tapes. I’ve done self-tape auditions before, but they have always included someone else working with me because I need a reader and someone to run the camera. I wasn’t too worried about how to do a self-tape in isolation until I got an audition notice from my agent.

This audition notice wasn’t for a specific project or part. It was a general. A general is when a casting office auditions actors to see who they like and want to keep in consideration for the future. When casting offices work on multiple shows that may have dozens of minor characters each episode, it’s good for them to have a shortlist of actors they like so they can get them scheduled for an audition right away. Generals aren’t as common as they used to be, so to get one was really awesome! And I’m hoping that maybe this time will lead to more.

I have a pretty decent self-tape setup at my house, but it’s not perfect. Fortunately, perfection was not required for this one. I have my tripod for my iPad (since that is the better camera), but I didn’t know how I was going to have a reader or someone to make sure I looked ok in the video frame. But I had recently gotten a ring light to use since I was doing a lot more video chats and wanted to not be backlit. The ring light had a tripod and a holder for a phone, so I realized I could have a friend on Facetime on my phone, put that on the ring light tripod, put that tripod behind my iPad on the other tripod, and then they could read the other lines and check how I looked on camera.

It was a really weird setup and I regret not taking a photo of it, but it did the job. My friend Andie was the one who was on Facetime as my reader and she did a great job making sure that I was word perfect with the script and that I looked ok on camera. I did struggle a bit with acting against a phone screen instead of a person (and I had to put a post-it on my phone to cover up where I was on the screen), but after a few takes I got used to it and it was fine.

Once that was done, I immediately sat down to edit it. The editing was pretty simple since there were just 2 parts that I had to combine. I just had to find the best take of each part and put them into one clip. I’m glad it was an easy editing job because it’s been a while since I’ve edited using iMovie.

And as soon as the editing was done, I uploaded it to the casting site to send it off to the casting director. I didn’t want to procrastinate on that because I might start thinking I didn’t do a good job with my audition and want to do it again. I try not to have those regrets after an audition and you really don’t get do-overs when you go to an audition in person. So I try not to let myself get into that headspace for a self-tape.

I actually would love to have another self-tape audition during isolation so I could feel even more confident in my self-tape skills. But I also hope that things can open up again soon so we can get back to a more normal life. So if this is the only isolation audition that I have, I’m so grateful that I had it. It really made me happy and allowed me to focus on my career for a day instead of everything going on in the world.

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