2011 In Review

I don't tend to be terribly superstitious, but there are some things that I always do. I always say Break a Leg. Never say MacB's full name in a show. And I have this thing about odd-numbered years vs. even-numbered years. For some reason - maybe it's fate or maybe it's just by chance - odd-numbered years tend to go fairly well, while things go less well in even-numbered years. For example, in past even-numbered years, I've had family members pass away or major breakups, which, in a word, just sucked. By contrast, in many odd-numbered years I've gone on amazing trips or had great learning experiences.

2011 was an odd-numbered year, so for the most part it was pretty awesome. Here's a few highlights of the year...

• Graduated from college. Some might say this is good, others say it's not-so-good, but I say it was pretty exciting.
• Left college and went straight into an amazing internship at Cal Shakes, where I learned a lot. I felt like a major part of the theater company, was involved in making some amazing educational work happen, and met a lot of great people. I also started to learn what it means to be an adult - not just in responsibility, since I'd say I'm a fairly responsible, hard-working person in general - but in my relationships with other adults. Since I'm no longer merely a student, I shouldn't feel inferior to others based solely on age. Does that make sense? Basically, I'm learning it's OK to have friends who are adults. It's kind of a new concept for me.
• Went on an epic family trip to Europe. Spent a lot of time with the family, saw some beautiful cities, ate some delicious food, and had a wonderful time.
• Started auditioning a lot, and was fairly successful fairly quickly! I did a cabaret of new musical theater in San Francisco, which was a definite learning experience (not as hectic as Spider Baby was, but still a crazy adventure). I had to learn material quickly and on my own, but it was fun to be back onstage again. I auditioned a bunch for local musicals and actually got to turn some projects down. That was definitely a new experience for me, especially coming from USC, where I was frustrated at the lack of stage-time I was getting. But of the first 6 auditions, I was cast/called back/creating a new, good relationship for 5 of them. I think that's a pretty good place to be, 5 months out of college.
• Got a leading role at a local theater company, whose work I really respect! We have yet to start rehearsals, but come January, I'll be back in full-time rehearsal mode, which I miss. I haven't been in a show that rehearses regularly (as in, more than twice a week) for probably three years. Plus, my part's an awesome one: I'll be playing Natalie/Ed in Foothill Music Theatre's production of All Shook Up. It's a character! With motivations! And some really fun music!
• Laughed a lot. Fell back in love with reading. Started a significant workout routine and started working on general health and fitness.

 Here's hoping that 2012 breaks the curse of the crummy even-numbered years. It's going to get off on a good foot: got All Shook Up, teaching some classes with PYT, and will be taking a Voice/Speech class at ACT in San Francisco that I'm absolutely thrilled about.

Here's what else I hope will come my way in 2012:

• Find a day job that I enjoy and that doesn't murder me in the process
• Strengthen ties with my friends, and develop a greater social circle in the area
• Continue to work as an actor and musician
• Complete my goals for my health and fitness - maybe move on to some new goals, and curtail that never-ending sweet tooth in the process!
• Stay close with the people I love

To all you bloggy readers out there, I hope you enjoy the rest of the holidays, and hope that the curse of the even-numbered years passes you by! Here's to a fantastic 2012!

OneHealthyKat Update

Last time I updated this blog, I was 7/7 consecutive days of working out for at least 30 minutes. Today, I'm 20/20. Almost done with the 21-day challenge! It's definitely become much easier to make time to work out every day, even just a long walk down the block, and I feel a lot better too. Unfortunately, having spent this past weekend at the beach means that I ended up eating a lot less healthily than usual, but I'll make it up somehow. Must buy fruit though--I'm at home for the rest of the week, and I want to make me some smoothies!

I spent a lot of time today researching dance studios, yoga centers and local gyms, and I've found some classes I'm excited to take. Tomorrow, I'm going to try a yoga class at Yoga of Los Altos. I've never taken an official yoga class before--just mini-yoga classes during musical theatre courses and a few videos, so this should be interesting! Wednesday I want to do the musical theater dance class at Zohar Dance Company. I'd like to try the tap class as well, but that depends on if I can find my tap shoes or not...

Then once I get back to Los Angeles, I have plans for two more classes. On Saturday morning I'm headed to Burbank a little early before my Spider Baby rehearsal (first rehearsal with the new girl!) to check out a beginner modern dance class at The Dance Collaborative. I've never done modern dance before, so this'll be interesting. I'm tempted to stay for their contemporary jazz class that's right after, but I think I'll give myself time to eat and rest before rehearsal. Then, on Sunday, I'll check out the Broadway class at Your Neighborhood Studio. It looks like one of those big studios with a ton of different classes in many different styles, all going on at once.

Pretty much, I need to get back into dancing shape, especially if USC's doing a dance show as the spring musical. Besides, I love dance and it's fun! Plus it's a very good workout. Next semester I'm taking a yoga class, but I'd like to keep taking dance as well to get in nice and extra-strong shape. If I want to be a singing and dancing fool for the rest of my life, I need to start now!

Hopefully, the plan for next semester is this: yoga class M/W. Internship after class on M/W/F. After I'm done with the internship for the day, I go take a dance class. T/Th will be crazy-busy with classes (Tuesday I have class from 10-6 with one two hour break, Thursday is the same but goes until 8) so I just squeeze in the gym when I get the chance. Waddaya think??

In other news, I won a blog contest! I got some free Moleskine notebooks from Let the Words Flow. I highly recommend the blog if you like to write. I'm no writer, but sometimes I like to pretend ;). So I'm super stoked! Maybe I'll use one of them as a onehealthykat-themed notebook. Hmm...

Working Out Update

So I joined that habitforge website a week ago, and so far I'm 7 for 7.

I've gone a run on the track, tried a treadmill for the first time, used ellipticals twice, done several yoga videos and tried a truly terrible "dance" workout video.

Gotta love that Netflix Instant Watch--if the video is too insanely stupid for words, just stop it and try something else!

Now I'm sore from yesterday's "better bottom" video and today's yoga video, which I couldn't even complete because it was too hard for me! But I feel like it's getting a little easier to have good posture--or at least I think to do so more.

7 days down, 14 to go!

One Healthy Kat

For the last few weeks, ever since I got back from Toronto, I've started paying more attention to my health and general well-being. It's not like I've turned vegan or anything like that (hah... me. Vegan. That's a funny thought. I like chicken nuggets way too much to be vegan!). But I did a lot of walking in Toronto, just to get from place to place (the three flights of stairs to get to the 3rd floor bedroom was just the kicker), and I started feeling a little better about myself. I didn't drink so much soda, and I actually ate a vegetable or two.

Thing is, I know I'm not the healthiest person. I eat a lot of junk food and I never exercise. When I was in high school, I'd be dancing all the time at PYT or for my PE dance classes. And I never worried about my weight or how I looked. I was short but I felt OK about myself. But in LA, I kind of lost track of that. I never go to the gym, I don't enroll in dance classes through SOT because I want to use those units elsewhere, and all the exercise I get is from biking to and from class. Which, needless to say, isn't much. So nowadays I'm feeling like there's a lot for me to work on. I'm not fat, I'm not saying that, but I'd like to feel better about myself. I'm not approaching it as a numbers game (I don't have a "lose 10 lbs" goal or anything like that-I don't even own a scale!), but I'd like to simply feel healthier.

So now that I'm back in the States, I've started working on that a little more. I paid the summer gym membership and went to the Lyon Center (that officially makes 3 times in 3 years--clearly fitness has not been my priority!), I've tried a couple of workout videos from Netflix Instant Watch, and I take the stairs instead of the elevator at home when I can. And if I feel like I've been sitting all day, I try to take a walk or something, just to get out and get moving.

My primary effort has been on eating better. Before Toronto, I would go through a fast food joint every couple of days. I actually don't eat a ton of sweets, despite my gigantic sweet tooth, but I do have a lot of fried food and soda. Coke is my downfall, I'll admit that. But since I've been back, I've done a little better. Haven't had much soda at all-actually bought myself juice a couple of times, and I'm not usually a big juice fan!

I've started making smoothies-I learned how to make them in Toronto and they're super-simple! I just put in yogurt, 100% juice, and fruit and I feel really healthy drinking it. Lots of fruits in one easy sip. And I haven't had a lot of fast food. In fact, the two times I've had a seriously fast-foody meal (last week at In-and-Out and today at Wendy's), I've felt kind of sick afterwords. Not ill, per se, but my stomach isn't totally thrilled with me. Maybe because I overate, or maybe because I'm starting to adjust away from it. I also had 2 Cokes today, which I definitely didn't need. One at lunch and one at dinner. But the one at lunch was so yummy, so I really wanted another one! But I still feel gross now, and it's been four hours since I ate it, so tomorrow's going to be a water and juice day.

Anyway, I feel like I'm on a decent path when it comes to eating. Now it's time to work on that fitness. I'm really lazy when it comes to that kind of thing. I want to find good dance classes in LA, but I don't really know where to start! I'm enrolled in yoga class for the start of the semester, since it's only 1 unit which'll make a full 18 with my 3-unit Costumes class, but I might drop it depending on if I get other classes. But I did an hour-long workout video from Netflix tonight (I love Netflix!) and I'm planning on going to the gym tomorrow morning.

I also joined the website Habit Forge. It's all about helping you create new habits by sending you daily emails asking you if you did such-and-such that day. If you click "yes" 21 days in a row, you win! Well, sorta. If you don't click "yes," it starts you over. I guess the idea is that after 3 weeks of doing the activity daily, it turns into a habit. So my new habit is "exercising for 30 minutes a day." I feel like that's reasonable.

Wish me luck as I begin my journey of being both OneHappyKat and OneHealthyKat!