The Challenges of Life

They say if things were easy, everyone would be doing it.. like losing weight.  Well, losing weight can be easy, but like anything you have to be committed to doing it!  Sadly, when I wrote my last post in an attempt to do an 8 week challenge - life threw all kinds of work challenges at me.  I went from working only a few hours a week, to over 30 hours a week.  For example, last week I worked 37 hours in one job, plus another 7 hours in another job (so 45hrs total).  Sure this is full time hours for most people, and it would be fine if it was 8am to 5pm, Monday to Friday - but for me it has been more condensed into 4 days with 5.30am/6am starts and 8pm finishes.  You think that's great- I get a 3 day weekend - but by the time the weekend comes around I'm so damn tired all I want to do is sleep!  So not really that great, and I can see how Personal Trainers can quickly burn out, let alone if they have to work a second job to keep paying the bills!  This has also meant I've had little time or energy to do my own workout, which is very frustrating.

The lack of energy, and tiredness, have led to my poor diet choices once again - where I'm finding myself back on the merry-go-round of sweetness and sugar addiction.  Something I have overcome once before, and know I can do it again, but once again a challenge which I have yet to fully commit to, especially as my depression lurks and feed on sugar, and I find it a constant battle in my mind which I have to conquer once again.

On the upside, however, I did get back into doing the Sat morning Parkrun, and a couple of weeks ago I was able to run the whole 5km without having to switch to a power walk.  I completed it in around 35mins, which is slow for me, but this is great progress as now I can concentrate on getting my speed up again.  Last weekend I also challenged myself by participating in the ROC Race - a 5km un-timed race inspired by the shows "Wipeout" and "It's a Knockout".  Along the 5km were 12 different, larger than life obstaces - many of which resulted in being drenched, soaked or covered in foam - but was so much fun, and I completed the course in around 45-50mins.

Also, this year I have been determined to work more acting gigs, which I set myself the one and only new year resolution of working at least one day per month on a film set (paid or unpaid).  It is now May, and I'm please to say I have already completed 12 days on various films - majority of which have been speaking roles, and about a third of them have even been paid!  So at least my career is looking good, even though my waistline isn't!  But I know I will get there - sometimes we just need to push through the pain, otherwise we never discover our full potential.. so hopefully next time I check in I will be in a much better mindset!

SARI in Sydney

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post, but at least the two weeks I spent in Townsville for work helped me finally get better.  June was pretty much a write off for work due to being sick the whole month!  Townsville was great - average temp of mid 20s, was paid to do some fun Angry Birds promo work, plus got to catch up with my sis for her birthday!!  The worst part of the trip however was the 2 hour flight delay back to Brisbane.  Those that have travelled from Townsville will know there aren't many flights out, and when someone else is paying they are always going to choose the cheapest option.  This meant a 9.30pm flight became an 11.30pm flight, making my arrival in Brisbane at 1.30am in the morning!  Now that wouldn't have been too bad if I could've just gone home and slept the rest of the day, but I had to be back at the airport at 6am to fly to Sydney with my dance troupe, SARI.  So after barely 3hrs sleep, I was back to the airport with a refreshed suitcase, and an air of excitement to participate in our first big competition!

Sydney was great, and actually wasn't as cold as I thought it would be and there was only scatterings of rain.  We arrived about 9am and headed straight to a dance studio so we could workshop our two songs we had prepared - one was our own choice, and the other a judges choice song.  As I hadn't seen the others for a few weeks, this was the first chance I had to actually rehearse it with them.  We were quite excited about our final routines, and headed to the hotel about lunchtime so we could relax and freshen up before heading to the competition venue at 4pm.

This was the first big Indian dance competition we had entered, and whilst I still don't think we needed to be at the venue so early, I was impressed that it was the first Indian event we had attended in 6 years that actually ran spot on time!!   The event didn't start until 6pm and we were asked to be there at 4pm supposedly for a sound check and were also informed we'd be able to change / rehearse at the venue.  However the sound check was just someone asking me if 'this' was our music (which they played on ipod for 15sec) and then we we told to change and sit in a large 'green' room whilst we wait to go on.  There was no room / space to rehearse, so we were glad we had spent the morning rehearsing!  So in my opinion we could've arrived at 5pm and still been ready to go on by 6pm.. (and the extra hour would've meant I might've been able to have more of a nap!)..  Anyway, it did run on time, and was otherwise well organised.  It was also great to meet some other performers from around the country!

We went onstage and did our 'own choice' song - which we were happy with, but apparently it didn't impress all the judges.  Comments were made about our costume not being traditional - but we weren't dancing to a traditional song, so it would've looked out of place.  I found this surprising as there were other groups / solo dancers also wearing 'western' style dance costumes, but some of them got through to the next round.  Mind you, some of those dance performances were quite good too.  Our hopes were to at least get through to the next round so we could do our 'judges choice' song, but sadly this didn't happen.  We left tired and disappointed, but happy to have been able to be part of a fun night.

Anyway, I'm now back home and have been having fun doing some different jobs - the past few days I've been a brand ambassador for a new mobile phone; today I worked on the registration desk / events team for a financial planners conference; and tomorrow I will be doing some demo/sampling of a popular brand of butter.  I also had an audition yesterday for a short film; have 2 more auditions tomorrow for more short films, and possibly one more later in the week - so am hoping to be doing more film work very soon as I've lucked out with the past few films I was hoping to do due to date clashes with work or other events.. so fingers crossed for me, and I'll check in later and let you know how things are going!

Oh, and if you're on Facebook, I now have a public page - so you can follow me on there also.  You'll find the link in the right menu bar on here!  :)  

My Time is Valuable

So this is a little rant I put on Facebook today:

"It doesn't take much to be organised, and don't put your unrealistic expectations on me as I won't take it anymore... my time is just as valuable as anyone else's and I like to think I've earned some respect. I'm not pointing the finger at anyone here in particular, but this is just become a bit of a recurring theme in my life.. I take the time out of my schedule in agreeing to do something, being fully committed to it, even if it means missing out on paid work in the process. So if I do this for you, then all I ask is that you respect my time - I will be there when I say I will. Don't ask me to be at an event 3 hours before just because you can't organise yourself - especially if the event isn't going to run on time (unless you are paying me to be there). Don't ask me to do things at the last minute when you should've asked me days or weeks earlier (except for true emergencies, of course - as that's what friends do). I'm an adult and I have a diary, and I often have more than one thing on per day. So, if I say I'm going be there, then I will be there. It's in my diary. I don't need constant reminders - unless something has changed. If I am going to be late or am sick and need to cancel/reschedule then I will let you know asap. If you cancel or change plans for whatever reason, then I expect courtesy that you'll let me know asap. I do know that plans can change, and unexpected things can arise, but 90% of time it comes down to pure lack of planning or organisation. I will respect you and your time, and I hope you will respect mine in the same way. Thanks & rant over.. ":)

It might seem trivial, but when it happens to you everyday then it can start to become annoying.  I have lost count of the number of shows/performances where they expect you to arrive 2 or 3 hours before your set time.  Yet a professional show will have a 1 hour call time - and this is to make sure you are there and do your make up and get in costume.  Majority of the dance performances I do, we turn up already dressed in costume & makeup, and if we are not being paid then surely a 1hr call time is even a bit much?  I've had last minute requests - prepare this or that, and send it to us with maybe a day or two notice, when surely the organisers knew they'd be wanting this when we first agreed to perform, so why didn't they tell us then?

I don't know how many appointments I've made - whether it's for social or business reasons - where people have been late.  If you are later than 15mins and haven't told me you are going to be late, then why should I still wait for you?  If you have told me you are on your way, then I might wait because I will think maybe you are stuck in traffic, but after 30mins it starts to become unacceptable  I might have to be somewhere else after our appointment, and I'm not going to be late for that person just because someone didn't respect my time enough to be on time for my appointment.

I am also over people that treat you like you are a unorganised as they are.. I shouldn't have to keep confirming the appointment or performance.  I said I would be there, and I will be there.  Is there any change that I need to know about?  No?  Then don't keep calling/messaging/emailing me.  Sure, I get that there are many younger people out there who are flippant about making appointments - but I'm not one of those people and you know that because I've just told you.  So please respect my time and I'll respect yours.  In return you will have an honest, reliable, and trustworthy friend / performer / staff member etc.  I am an adult - treat me like and and I'll treat you like one too!

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