Tag Archives: labor day

Getting In Some Extra Rest (or Feeling Like It’s A Super Long Holiday Weekend)

Posted on September 6, 2022 | Comments Off on Getting In Some Extra Rest (or Feeling Like It’s A Super Long Holiday Weekend)

My weekends are usually shorter than what most people get. Since I work a half day on Saturdays, I get about a day and a half each weekend without work. I used to have more time when I was mainly working my box office job since I had all of Sunday and Monday off, plus a half day on Saturday. But since I’ve been back to working both jobs, I’ve gotten pretty used to only having Sunday entirely off of work. And besides only having only one day off of work each week, I’m also used to getting up early every day. Before the pandemic, because my workout schedule was a bit different, I usually got up around 7am every day. Now, I get up at 5:45am most days. And since I do that most of the time, I don’t usually sleep in later than that on my days off.

But I’ve been able to enjoy several days sleeping in recently. I didn’t work out on Thursday or Friday, so I got to sleep in until about 7am both those mornings. And since this was a holiday weekend this past weekend, I also got to sleep in a little bit on Monday. I don’t sleep in that late, but it still feels really nice getting up at 6:30 instead of 5:45 in the morning.

To get 5 days of being able to sleep in a little bit later was such a luxury. I’ve been going to bed a bit too late and not getting enough sleep and this allowed me to be much closer to my sleep goals for multiple days in a row. And I really have felt a lot more rested because I’ve been able to do that. And as much as I want to say that this has motivated me to work on getting to bed earlier, I know that I still need to work a lot more on getting that done. I know that I don’t need as much sleep as some other people might, but I also know that I’m getting less sleep than my body wants and I have been feeling the effects of that.

The last time I had the opportunity to sleep in a bit for so many days was when I had the minor surgery on my foot. But that didn’t feel too restful since I was in pain and dealing with healing. And when I was going through that, I still had my full regular work schedule. So this time, it was much better since I wasn’t working each of those days and I really did get to feel like I had some time off.

I didn’t do much with my extra long weekend. I did need the time to do a lot of nothing. I am still trying to get my back to feel better so I’ve been doing a lot of stretching and pain management. I’m not completely better yet, but I’m doing significantly better than I was last week. I feel like the pain is much duller and like a bruise than muscle spasms. And it’s not happening as often so I can move more with less pain. I also did a lot of cleaning that I had been putting off last week since my back was hurting. I usually start to feel uncomfortable when my place starts to feel dirty (even though I know it’s still clean), so being able to take the time to clean and then rest when my back was hurting too much was nice.

I probably could have been more social with my long weekend, especially since I did have the chance to sleep in later so I didn’t have to worry about being out late. But just relaxing at home and not doing much ended up being the perfect way for me to spend a long weekend and get myself ready for another busy work week.

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Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Holiday Weekend (or Enjoying A Real 3 Day Weekend) Default ThumbnailGaining Back A Bit Of My Weekend (I’ve Really Needed This Extra Time) Default ThumbnailTime For A Short Christmas Post (or I Hope You Have A Great Holiday Weekend) Default ThumbnailSuper Productive and Super Lazy (or A Balance Over 2 Days) Default ThumbnailReally Having A Lazy Weekend (or I Guess Sometimes Bad Days Can Be Helpful) Default ThumbnailFeeling More Like Myself (or I Know Getting Back On Track Takes Time)

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An At-Home Labor Day (or The Unofficial End To A Weird Summer)

Posted on September 8, 2020 | Comments Off on An At-Home Labor Day (or The Unofficial End To A Weird Summer)

I think most people will agree that Labor Day is the unofficial end to summer. Some schools don’t start until after Labor Day, but I think most start before now. But even with school starting before Labor Day, the long weekend still seems to designate the end of summer for so many people. I think the 3 summer holidays are the markers for summer. Memorial Day is the start, the 4th of July is the middle, and Labor Day is the end.

Even though LA is experiencing the worst heat wave that I can remember, it does feel like we are out of summer and heading into fall. But at the same time, I don’t feel like we had a summer at all. I know there were people who went out and did more things than I did, but so many things that are summer traditions in LA didn’t happen this year. There were no shows at the Hollywood Bowl. Beaches were closed for a lot of the summer, and when they reopened things weren’t really the same. Most restaurants were closed for the summer. And even though it’s safe to do things outside, most outside things that would have a crowd didn’t open. In a way, it doesn’t feel like this summer existed.

I’ve been feeling this way for a while. We are almost 6 months into being told to stay at home and it doesn’t feel like time has moved. I feel like my life has been frozen in time since March. I do feel like others have moved on and I’m the only one stuck, but I know that’s just what I’m seeing on social media. Most of us staying home aren’t posting about it. The few who are not staying home are the ones posting. So the posts I see are from the small portion of the people that I follow who aren’t staying inside.

I know that having a summer spent inside my house was for the best. I have been very lucky with not getting sick or even worried that I could get sick. I didn’t have any moments where I got the call that I was around someone who tested positive. I know a lot of people who weren’t as lucky as me. I have so many friends who tested positive, even if they thought they were doing all the right things such as wearing a mask and only leaving their homes for essential errands. I know people who have died. I know more people who know someone who died. I’m glad I took this seriously even if I feel like I lost my summer.

Labor Day was spent pretty much like any other day the past 6 months. I stayed home. I tried to keep myself busy. I found things to do so the day didn’t drag on too much. And because Labor Day is all about unions and workers’ rights, I took some time to be grateful for my union and all the benefits we have in this country because of what unions have gained for everyone (like 40 hour work weeks and weekends off). 3 day weekends don’t mean much to me normally since I have Mondays off work. It means even less to me now that I’m really not working at all. But I am still going to appreciate what the day means and that’s what I did. And I tried to not be too upset that now it feels like the summer ended and that I didn’t get to experience it at all.

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Default ThumbnailWeird Feelings About Reopening Things (or I Might Just Keep Staying Home) Default ThumbnailUnemployed Again (or Trying To Not Make It Feel Like Summer Break) Default ThumbnailTrying To Avoid Holiday Burnout (or Staying Home For Self-Care) Default ThumbnailRepresenting For My Union On Labor Day (or A Beach Day Fail) Default ThumbnailLow Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend) Default ThumbnailA Summer Of Movies (or Grateful For Union Membership)

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Representing For My Union On Labor Day (or A Beach Day Fail)

Posted on September 7, 2017 | 1 comment

This past Labor Day I didn’t really have any plans. Mondays are my days off anyway so I knew I’d be going to workout in the morning and needing to do errands at some point that day. But since I knew most of my friends had the day off as well I figured I should try to make some plans. But of course, I procrastinated until the last minute and the night before I was trying to figure out what to do.

I texted a few friends to see if anyone was free, and only my friend Dani got back to me. We decided that even though the beach would be really crowded, we should try to go to the beach for a few hours. I hadn’t been to the beach this entire summer and figured it was a perfect thing to do for the day. Plus, it had been so hot and I knew the beach would be a bit cooler than where I live.

We decided to meet up around 1pm at her place because she lives closer to the beach. I was going to pick her up and then we were going to try to find somewhere to park near the beach that wasn’t too expensive. I packed up some magazines, sunscreen, and a towel and got into the car to drive over. And when I got to Dani’s house, she opened the door and had a better suggestion than going to the beach.

Dani recently moved to a new place and she suggested that we just hang out at the pool at her apartment complex. There wasn’t anyone there, we wouldn’t have to deal with the sand, and if one of us had to run to the bathroom there was a clean place to go (and not have to deal with gross dirty beach bathrooms). It sounded like a perfect plan and I happened to find a parking spot right in front of her place.

Once I parked and we got inside, we grabbed some lounge chairs and got ready to have a nice afternoon of relaxing. There were a few other people at the pool once we got there, but it was still pretty peaceful and felt like a nice mini-vacation in a way.

It was a bit overcast and significantly cooler than it had been all weekend, so we just spent time reading on the lounge chairs and didn’t go into the pool. Plus, I didn’t want to have to drive home in a wet bathing suit. But I wasn’t going to go into the ocean either, so relaxing on a towel was exactly how I had been planning on being on the beach too.

Since it was Labor Day and that day is about unions, I decided that I was going to wear my Union Working hat. It seemed perfect to be supportive of my union and other unions that day, plus it is a really great hat too!

We briefly talked about maybe getting some food (all I had packed for the beach was water), but we ended up not really caring too much about getting anything. It was just nice having several hours laying by the pool and not having a care in the world. My only regret was that I didn’t have my Kindle with me. I didn’t pack it because I didn’t want it to get sand it in, but that wasn’t a worry at the pool. Fortunately, I can use the Kindle app on my phone so after I was done reading magazines I started working on some books.

I ended up being at the pool for about 4 hours. Because of it being overcast (and maybe a bit because I was super careful about putting on a ton of sunscreen), I didn’t get sunburnt at all. I was actually a bit surprised by that and was worried that the next morning I would look like a lobster. But I guess that I lucked out and even though I don’t ever tan, I am always worried about burning. It was like it was a sign that us hanging out by the pool instead of going to the beach was the right choice.

I still haven’t made it out to the beach this summer and I really don’t know if I will go. I don’t always go each summer, but I feel like since I live so close it’s silly for me not to take advantage of that. But honestly, hanging out at a pool where I didn’t feel sandy and gross when I left was so much better for me and made my Labor Day a pretty awesome day!

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Default ThumbnailBeing SAG-AFTRA! (or I’m Proud to be a Union Member) Default ThumbnailAnother Night Of Union Working (or Back To Back Union Events) Default ThumbnailAn At-Home Labor Day (or The Unofficial End To A Weird Summer) Default ThumbnailYou Are The Union (or Finding More Ways To Educate Other Union Members) Default ThumbnailLow Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend) Default ThumbnailBonfire At The Beach (or A Winter Birthday That Feels Like Summer)

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Low Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend)

Posted on September 7, 2016 | Comments Off on Low Key Labor Day (or Just A Regular Weekend)

I know so many friends of mine were so excited to have a 3 day weekend this past weekend. For me, it’s a normal weekend since Mondays are always a day off for me (and I worked my regular Saturday shift as well). It’s weird to see so many people saying how amazing having an extra weekend day is when I know that everything is the same as usual for me (I won’t even get extra time off at Christmas or New Years because of the days of the week the holidays fall on).

My holiday weekend did get off to an exciting start with my outing to the Bowl. But being out later than normal for me (plus my hips were killing me) caused me not to get that much sleep on Saturday night. I woke up later than normal on Sunday feeling groggy and still tired. I’ve been working lately on getting my sleep schedule to be the same pretty much every night (it’s been tough for me) and sleeping in really did seem to throw my entire day off.

I spent the beginning of my Sunday during my usual errands for the weekend, and then my friends Marie and Chris were throwing a Labor Day party. They did their party on Sunday so people would have Monday to recover from being out all night. And while I didn’t get to make drunk fruit like I have for several parties, I did have some of the leftovers from the Bowl (fruit and sea salt brownies) to contribute to the party.

I really wanted to be social and have a great time at the party, but the exhaustion was hitting me pretty hard. I still had fun seeing all my friends and just having a good time being outside with everyone, but I was just feeling off while I was there. I was hoping that I could get over that feeling once I was at the party and around all the energy of my friends, but unfortunately it stuck with me. I managed to stay at the party until about 9pm and then felt it would be best for me to get back to my house to get a decent night sleep.

Labor Day wasn’t anything special for me. I did my usual Monday morning workout and then I really didn’t have much of a plan. I thought about trying to see if any friends wanted to hang out that day, but I never got motivated enough to try to make some plans.

So instead of being out at a BBQ or some other party on Labor Day, I spent the day at my house watching movies and being lazy. It wasn’t the best thing I could have done, but it seemed to be the best thing for me at the time. I really enjoyed just relaxing and watching movies that I’ve been wanting to see while on my couch. I took a couple of breaks throughout the day to read (something else I love) and then went back to watching movies. It really was an ideal day for me and I finally got over my exhaustion and felt back to my normal self.

Now that the summer is over, I’m getting ready for fall and the end of the year (which will be here before we know it!). I know I’ll get time off of work for Thanksgiving but like I said before I won’t get any extra time off for Christmas or New Years. It’s not horrible to not get any extra time off, but I was sad when I realized that I would only get my usual Sunday and Monday off for each of those. But I’m planning on maximizing those two days off each week through the fall and I’ve got some really fun things that I think I’ll be able to do with my weekends coming up!

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Default Thumbnail4th Of July Weekend (or An Early Holiday) Default ThumbnailAn At-Home Labor Day (or The Unofficial End To A Weird Summer) Default ThumbnailLow-Key Halloween (or A Work In Progress) Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Christmas (or Not Spending My Day Off Doing My Usual Stuff) Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key NYE (or I’m Glad I Don’t Have To Impress My Friends) Default ThumbnailLow Key Halloween (or Costume Flashback)

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Being SAG-AFTRA! (or I’m Proud to be a Union Member)

Posted on September 3, 2012 | 5 comments

Happy Labor Day blog readers!

I hope a bunch of you are relaxing today with a day off of work! I’m not working at my day job today (and I also have tomorrow off for my dental work), so I’m enjoying having more than one day off this week!

I’m going to spend today hanging out with some friends and catching up on work at my house (I’m currently redoing my closet and I joke that I’m in Phase 2 right now).

I’m very happy that right now, I’m in a day job that is supportive of my acting career and I have a supervisor who is super cool (and I’m not just saying that because there is a chance he might read this). But I’m also super proud of the steps that I’ve taken recently in my acting career.

Right before the SAG-AFTRA merger, I joined AFTRA. I was SAG-eligible since 2007, but joining AFTRA pre-merger was about $1,000 cheaper. So now, I’m a proud SAG-AFTRA member and have been enjoying some of the perks of being a union actor.

There was recently a makeup class done by MAC makeup artists and I went to check it out with a friend. And by attending the class, we got a year membership for the MAC professionals program for free! So now we get a discount on all MAC makeup!

I’m also excited that now, I’ll only book acting jobs that have residuals. I did an infomercial for a hair product in 2007 and was paid $250 and got a few month’s supply of the product. That infomercial is also in commercial form and is still airing today. I’m not making any more money on it because non-union acting jobs don’t have residuals.

I feel that even though I’m not where I want to be in my acting career right now, I’m taking the steps I need to get there. And I know that my big moment is just around the corner. A friend of mine was saying how I need my “Bridesmaids” moment where it seems like I’m an overnight success even though I’ve been working at this for years.

I know that my weight might be holding me back a bit, but right now this body is what I have to work with. And while I’m trying to change my body to be what I want it to be (and not what the industry might want me to be), I’m going to keep trying to kick ass and keep enjoying my new perks in SAG-AFTRA!

Happy Labor Day to all union members! I’m happy that I was able to join your ranks this year!

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Default ThumbnailEnjoying My Union Perks (or How To Take Advantage Of Things That Are Offered To You) Default ThumbnailUnite For Strength (or SAG-AFTRA Election Time) Default ThumbnailSAG-AFTRA Conservatory (or Feeling Like I’m Back In College) Default ThumbnailUnion Stuff (or My SAG-AFTRA Delegate Time So Far) Default ThumbnailAnother Night Of Union Working (or Back To Back Union Events) Default ThumbnailHanging Out With Unite For Strength (or Talking About The Union)

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