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Nothing official here; just come chill! |
Welcome! ** Images For Use By Upgraded+ Only ** Welcome to my little Den! Here you'll find all sorts of things- mostly blog challenges, but mixed in, you'll notice: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
I tried to write a post on my phone earlier but the device died and I lost it all. Anyways, hi, I'm alive. Yearly update time I guess. This is somewhat chronologically/topically organized, since I feel like either not much happened or everything happened at once. I left off in late September 2022, so my biggest news for October 2022 is, I was invited to be a Bar Method teacher on Halloween for my home (main) studio!!! I'm lucky/excited because the owner had come in to teach class that morning (it was a Monday, one of my usual 6:15am shifts) and at the end of class she came out and asked me if I wanted to teach. She preceded it with, "there's something I want to talk to you about, " and in my Lululemon days, that was never a good thing. I was a sitting ball of nerves for those next 45 minutes- I made sure to do my job *really well* that morning ![]() ![]() ![]() November was a blur, I was likely memorizing the warmup scripts madly and trying to commit them to memory. December was much of the same, and I went to Texas to see Child and Baby. One of the Zoom bar teachers from weho captured an adorable shot of me holding Baby while Child and I are doing a Bar move. I started formal training in January, went through the intensive corporate training shortly after my birthday in March, and then started teaching practice classes. In Mid-December, the physical studio space for bar weho burned down. It was on top of a restaurant and someone left a stove on overnight so everything went up in flames. I started committing more to my aerial practice since the two studios were right down the street from each other and I leveled up to beginner-intermediate (in my own rankings). I attended/participated in a sequencing workshop for aerial in April where I learned how to better connect my moves and tricks together. But on the last week of the workshop, I fell out of a pose and dislocated my shoulder. ![]() A few weeks later Weho cut me from the zoom demo team. I was devastated, because of the suddenness of it. I missed a Sunday night email from the owner about no longer needing me, and on Monday I was unable to sign up for any more classes because they took my employee pass off. For a while I thought that it had expired, because that happened to me with my other studio, but when a friend helped me reinstate my pass, she got in trouble for doing it! Oops. That was when I saw the email, essentially thanking me for my work and bidding me good luck and goodbye . However, I've come out of the experience with some solid friendships with a few Weho teachers, and I'm extremely grateful to them. One of them, we were close acquaintances, but this experience solidified our friendship and we ended up talking on the phone for 3 hours that night, supporting each other and catching up. (Imagine that, ME, Talking, On A Phone, for 3 hours nonetheless at midnight on a Monday!) We've had many midnight calls since, talking about everything, and truly, it's so NICE to have IRL friends to talk with on a phone even if it's for 3 hours and at midnight. She's also very all-things-Hollywood,and was most recently in JungKook's music video for "Seven" (linked below ![]() I wrapped up my long-term subbing in March, a week before spring break. (Who comes back to teach 2 months before the school year ends anyways? I have thoughts on that!) After that, I subbed around. A Bar friend referred me to her principal for a middle school math position. He lik e what I had to offer, and her recommendation, but I don't have the right credential/certificate for the position so the district won't let me have the position. I took 6 units of math this summer and am signed up for another 14 in the fall. Fun times. Thankfully the 3-hour phone call friend LIKES math so we'll be doing a lot of it together this fall/she'll be helping me out if I'm struggling with concepts. She teaches on Tuesday nights so it's going to be our math night when I go take her class and then we math afterwards. ![]() I've accepted that my Napa trip last year for the Bottlerock festival is likely going to be an annual thing. But It's Going To Be MY annual thing, as in I will not be taking friends along. I did that this year and they weren't a great travel partner. I got to see Jax, Lizzo, and Carly Rae Jepsen this year. Other concerts coming up: Delta in September, Pink in October, a country festival also in September. Delta fans are starting to mwk3 friendship bracelets to trade with each other, like Taylor Swift fans do/did, so I'll be jumping on that bandwagon too. I scored last minute, day-before tickets to Taylor Swift's opening night! Due to the last minute nature, I didn't make bracelets to trade but someone was still nice enough to give me one for "Enchanted" in the merch lines. ![]() Annnnd I think my biggest news would be, I am OFFICIALLY a Bar Method teacher as of late May, right before I left for my Napa and the ensuing Australia trip. I found out the day before I left for Napa, a Friday. I returned to SoCal on Sunday, flew out to Australia for 2 weeks on Monday, and then started teaching my real classes after 2 weeks of no practice. Now I teach both the classic 60 minute format and the express, 45 minute format. My favorite is the express because I get to mix it up and kick butts! I taught one tonight and by the end everyone was red-faced and dying. That's how I know I did my job well. ![]() I've grown so much (internally and somewhat externally) this year and I'm excited to see what happens next! ![]() ![]() [Embed For Use By Upgraded+] |
At this point you'll probably just be getting annual updates from me when I come back to assist with "October Novel Prep Challenge" ![]() ![]() ![]() General highlights: I went to Australia and Napa Valley and met Delta Goodrem both times ![]() ![]() Lots of concerts, I'm seeing Kelsea Ballerini next week at the Greek Theatre. School/Work: Finished student teaching, I started subbing around and working at a boba shop. Boba didn't last long because I quit over the summer from bad management decisions. ![]() I'm finding that I learn more about myself with each job that I take on, though, so I am still glad for the experience. Started WORKING at Bar Method! My local studio where I started. ![]() ![]() Got Covid in June. Felt totally fine, mild fever the first day, lost my smell a couple times and regained it with the orange peel hack. It lasted 10 days and I was miserable for being stuck at home, but not for being sick. ![]() Got invited to work with Bar WeHo (W Hollywood) as a Zoom demonstrator! Now I get free classes across the board. ![]() Got certified as an aerial hammock instructor through the new Weho studio I found. Hurt my wrist back in March and this really agitated it so I haven't been back since. ![]() Was invited for an interview as a long-term sub early this month. Interview was on a Tuesday, principal said they'd contact us on Friday (private interview, 5 candidates total including me) and they called me that afternoon because they loved me. ![]() ![]() Biggest life update: I have another Child! Well, now Child is Child and second Child is Baby. ![]() |
It's been a solid year-and-halfish since I've been on here. I decided to take the time and reprioritize the important things in my life. Unfortunately (Fortunately?), being online has pretty much taken a back burner. I've made a bunch of real, in-person friends through work and working out, and moving on to a new chapter in my life. I am close friends with multiple fitness instructors from various studios I attend classes, and student teaching in the local district that the kids of one of my instructor friends attends. I left the job I was so excited to have gotten 2 years ago- working as an "educator" (store associate) at the lululemon store in our local mall. I went from excited to scared, to loving it, to hating it. In summary, I underperformed my first 6 months, due to people anxiety and shyness, then Covid hit and because virtual work was essentially "homework"/"online school" but for work, I aced it and quickly became one of the top employees at the store. We shut down for about 3-4 months and then reopened with limited capacity in August/September, and through the holiday season. I rocked it as our "bouncer," telling people they had to wear a mask, and signing them up for our digital waitlist. As one of the more tech-savvy people in the store, this was my favorite job. Things started changing around May- the working pods we were in got dissolved and everyone was working as one team. It was a slow decline.. first I had applied for a leadership position within the store, and then got passed over, in favor of a seasonal hire who ended up staying on. It should've been a warning sign, honestly, but I kept applying to different positions and kept getting rejected. Ultimately, I applied for a full-time position, not leadership, and still got rejected. At that point, I was waiting on the results for another interview that I'd done (not surprisingly, also a no) and made up my mind that it was time to go. I worked through July and August- the 30th was my last day at the store, which made it 2 years and 1 month of employment with them. My final month, every shift was a drag, and time just seemed to never pass. As of right now, there's only 1 person still there who was around when I started- everyone else has left, and that person informed me today when I went to exchange some stuff, her last day is on the 18th. Honestly, after her departure, I'll have no reason to visit the store anymore. I also mentioned I'm student teaching in a local district- the school is about 10 minutes away and I'm in a 5th grade classroom. It's a far cry from kindergarten, which was my ideal grade, but I'm just happy I don't have to drive a half hour to get to school and then fight freeway traffic coming back. We had our first full week of school this week- lots of "extra" stuff built into their schedule, like PE twice a week (once with YMCA and once through the district), music class... supposedly it's to help give teachers planning time. My master/host teacher has been super awesome at showing me the ropes of the admin behind teaching and the various numerical codes and categories students get assigned. She's also been very welcoming of me- giving me leeway to do what I think is right in the moment. Typically, I help the kids with tech stuff- logging in to the internet, turning in an assignment, etc. I teach my first "real" lesson on Tuesday- it's Language Arts, about "state of being" verbs. We'll be diagramming sentences, and my host teacher's teacher friend (teaches 4th grade) has a song that goes to "Jingle Bells" with a list of "state of being" verbs. I'll be teaching them the song, having them diagram the sentence, and then going over it with them. I'm excited and nervous- especially since I'll be recording it for my credential and my university supervisor to grade. I still exercise multiple times a day, if I can squeeze them in at night or wake up early enough to catch it before school starts in the morning. Typically, I do barre in the early AM and aerial late at night. I've joined a second barre studio in West Hollywood (yes, it's far from me) but they do Zoom classes, so I'll get home, change into comfy workout clothes, and take a zoom class with them. It's great because with the camera on, it's like taking a regular class, but from the comfort of your own home; and nowadays, with covid happening, that's a really nice option to have! |
I’m frustrated. And I’m writing it here because this is the only place I have where I don’t have work people on it too. One of our leaders, a White female, made a passing comment that our store had gotten feedback before about how guests wish there was more diversity in the hiring process. She agreed, but then qualified it with “but we can’t just hire someone because they speak Spanish, French, and/or Chinese- they actually have to be good workers.” That’s fair and all, but “good” is an adjective in itself, which means the threshold or requirements that make up “good” are relative at best, if not subjective and somewhat arbitrary. This company itself is headed by a White, middle-aged male. It was created (I believe) on a foundation of being a “yoga” brand. But when you truly think of it, when people think “yoga” nowadays, it’s a rich, white woman doing some pose on a mat in a studio with a hardwood floor. It’s not the spiritual practice that it started out as in ancient Hinduism. So going back to my point on “good”- who sets the definition of “good”? Right now, from what I see, it’s the White people sitting in their offices. They decide what the brand’s image should be, and what they want others to think when they hear the brand’s name. Our leadership bench at the store right now is probably about 2/3 White. We have a White person heading the diversity/inclusion aspect of the store. It’s all just very… White. Associates are somewhat expected to be the perky, bubbly “girl/guy next door” type of person towards customers. When you’re not, it’s seen as not taking initiative. *shrug* Consequently, when the company hires or looks for people to promote/who want promotions, it’s those people who fit the definition of “good”- and meet all those criteria the White people set out. And that is where we lose out on diversity. |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I feel like this song embodies my feelings about the music job. I mean, I love teaching the curriculum, it's just.... the admin stuff is so frustrating. I consulted my aunt, who's a lawyer, about the renewal contract. Long story short, I dug up the original contract, and it said we'd talk about renewal one month before the current contract ends. January is obviously not one month, unless she mistook my starting date to be in February, which it pretty obviously wasn't, if I went in for my mid-year review. And her knowing that.... well, that'd be a bit of a contradiction to say "oh I thought we started in February," if January was the mid-year review. ![]() Anyways, so my aunt asked a bunch of questions, and then concluded that if I felt strongly enough, I could probably build a case on duress, because of the (power) relationship between employer and employee, combined with the fact that I was there to discuss my past performance and future stability of the job. Granted, I really wasn't planning to renew the contract in the first place, and the $1 pay raise (from 14 to 15/hour) really doesn't make the extra work worth it. ![]() ![]() For March, I might introduce the concept of the keyboard's notes corresponding to the solfege as well- put colored stickers on the keyboard that correspond to the xylophone, and go from there. We also have solfege hand bells that I occasionally bring out, but the kids get too excited with them and start touching the inside bell part, so I have to take them back. As a quote from Taylor Swift, "This is why we can't have nice things..." because they break them! ![]() |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I absolutely love this song, as I also love Delta Goodrem. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() And now, I'm on a Delta Goodrem binge on Pandora, so my next couple songs may also end up being Delta Goodrem. You've been warned. ![]() I like this song because it's a departure from her sadder stuff she was writing back when this came out. It's also a single, and, I'm pretty sure, not attached to any album of hers. I love that it's different- and the melody of it is also super catchy. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I have a mild obsession/fascination with The Voice live performances, especially when it comes to the judges' live performances. They're. so. good! And then, the CGI in this one is epic, too. ![]() ![]() ![]() Honestly, this song doesn't actually relate to my life much right now, I'd say... this is a very anticipatory song, and there isn't much in my life that's anticipatory right now. ![]() This performance was from 2019, 9 months ago, according to Youtube- and it also had Guy Sebastian- another artist whose voice I also really like. The previous year had Joe Jonas, whom I wasn't completely loving. ![]() ![]() Which reminds me of an incident after lunch today when the kids were going back to their classroom- a bunch of boys were discussing baseball, when another boy turns around and goes, "I don't play baseball. I play T-ball," in a somewhat derisive way.... guess he doesn't actually know which one is better. ![]() ![]() |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] I recently found out Pandora has the albums from The Next Step, so I added them all. Which was probably a mistake, because I don't actually remember a bunch of the songs. ![]() This one, though, was pretty epic, and I'd say is one of the few dances that every time I hear the song, I can still kind of remember how the dance goes in my mind. It's also hands-down my favorite dance of the whole series, and I get chills when I watch it. ![]() ![]() Going back to the song, it somewhat makes me want to get back into dance. I've taken up ice skating recently, and I love it- it's much cheaper than ballroom, which I'm not doing anymore (oh, yes, I used to do ballroom lessons, for like, 2 months? ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] You should know the chances of me doing a playlist, sans Hi-5, is pretty slim. ![]() ![]() And yes, I actually haven't really been listening to much Hi-5 recently, mostly because I haven't been in much of a mood for it. Plus, I don't have it on my Pandora- they only have Hi-5 as a radio choice, in which there's other, low-quality children's songs that tend to make people's ears bleed. ![]() ![]() ![]() I mean, they even have "Frosty the Snowman," "Jingle Bells," and "Rudolph", so what more do I really need in terms of Christmas carols? ![]() I chose this song because I used it for Freeze Dance with the new school I did a trial for on Wednesday, and they absolutely loved it! The teachers were grooving with the song, too. ![]() ![]() ![]() |
[Embed For Use By Upgraded+] We're going to Australia soonish, like, the end of March, and I haven't been for about a year, now. Literally, the last time I went was Spring Break of last year, and the end of March is Spring Break of this year... I've chosen this song because I feel like I've changed since last year's Spring Break. I'm nervous about going back and seeing everyone again because it's been so long, and I also actually have hair this time, which Mom says there's a chance that I may have to shave it off if Grandfather deems it necessary. And, call me vain or whatever, but I really hope things won't come to that. I feel like I've finally kind of found some places I "belong" here away from uni- like barre, and the store, kinda. Thing is, both places have only known me with hair, and I'm a bit anxious about what would happen if I go in and all my hair is gone. The barre studio's clientele is a very rich one, and with money, typically comes a narrower world-view and a certain snootiness of people if they think you don't belong or you're strange. I already dislike big classes for that reason- it's intimidating to me, firstly, and secondly, there's the ladies who've been going for years and years, and yes, they're grown women, but there's still cliques, trust me. ![]() There's also a lady who sometimes attends the morning classes, whose daughter was in Sis's year, and she thinks the girl and Sis were good friends, but honestly, I've barely heard of the girl. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Anyways, yeah, so I'm very apprehensive about my hair's future- to where I've been considering getting a bob cut, but there was someone I saw get a bob cut a few months ago, and it didn't look good on them, so I'm also kinda on the fence about that too. ![]() |