2015 is the year that I . . .
Moved in with one of my best friends
Midway through 2015, the opportunity arose to move in with the friend that I have known the longest. We have known each other since pre-kindergarten, so for about 27 years. That's a long time!
Pretty much the only downside was the increase in rent. I had been very fortunate for the last several years, renting a room that really did not cost me very much. Sharing an apartment with my friend who require me to pay more than $300 more a month, which would definitely decrease the amount of money I could put away or use for other things. However, having lived with her for about half a year now, I can confidently say that it was worth it.
I had forgotten how much of a difference it can make to live with a friend. I was able to do so the entire way through college, but since graduation I have bounced around between several places where I lived with random people. My most recent place was with a friend, which made it better, but it was a friend that I did not know very well and wasn't all that close to. Living with one of your best friends makes all the difference. I'm not one to come home and shut myself in my room (well, maybe sometimes). I like to socialize. I like to chat with someone about their day. I like to be able to give and get advice from someone I trust. My current roommate has long been one of my closest confidants and is a very encouraging person. Her advice is often second to none among my friends. We are similar enough that we are able to relate to each others' struggles. We are different enough that we compliment each other fairly well.
While I do miss my former roommate and the cats we lived with, it's wonderful not having to deal with a third roommate that I don't know and who is always changing.
I have even proposed that my roommate and I start having meetings where we encourage each other to make, pursue, and achieve our goals. This is really the number one thing I have to work on now that I have spent the last several years finding myself and learning how to cope with loss and pain (from my first breakup).
So, as I stand on the precipice of 2016, I feel like I am positioned well for the changes that will need to be enacted to bring my life to the next level. Here's hoping I'm in an even better place come 2017!
Thursday, December 31, 2015
Tuesday, December 22, 2015
2015 in review Part 2: Learning new things
2015 is the year that I . . .
Re-devoted myself to learning about things that interest me
I have never been a stranger to learning. Since college I have taken up improv comedy, read books on philosophy, and traveled to some wonderful places. But in 2015, I became more serious about actively pursuing new knowledge about things that interest me.
It actually began in December of 2014, when I happened upon a book in the bookstore titled, "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die." Having recently discovered Spotify as a way to listen to music at work, I was struck by a realization: I could easily work through that list over time. Instead of just listening to the same music I already knew 100 more times over the next year, I could go through that list and learn more about popular music and its evolution over time, and maybe even find some new favorite artists. And so, my journey begin. Starting where the list begins in 1955, I gradually worked through a couple albums a day. Now, I couldn't exactly listen closely to most of them, since the only way I could get through the list in good time would be playing the albums as background music at work. But I figured I would at least get a feel for the sound of each album, and I could take note of any albums that particularly captured my interest. Twelve months later, I still have a lot of the list to work through, but I've made it to 1991 (quite an important year for my musical taste, since Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden all had breakthrough albums that year). I have found a new appreciation for musical genres that I didn't really care for before, such as jazz, punk, and even hip hop.
I also spent some time in 2015 learning languages. The first language was Italian. I had never studied it before, but after finding out I would be going to Italy for work (with only a month's advance notice), I decided to learn as much of the language as I could. I downloaded the free iPhone app, Duolingo, and practiced with it nearly every day for a month. Italian was surprisingly easy to pick up, having many similarities to Spanish, which I studied for four years in high school. By the time I arrived in Rome, I had a basic familiarity with the language that actually came in handy while trying to navigate the city. Once I got back from my trip, I decided to switch my focus to refreshing my Spanish skills. Living in Southern California, Spanish is a more practical choice and could even theoretically come in handy at my job. Studying it for the first time in 14 years definitely brought back memories of Spanish class. Some things even made a little more sense this time around. After I finished all of the Duolingo lessons my practice frequency went down a bit, but I definitely plan to continue practicing. It helps that I work alongside several fluent Spanish speakers, and also live with someone who studied it in college!
Music and Spanish were fun to learn about, but there was one subject I learned about in 2015 that was completely new to me: coding. After reading online about websites that could teach you coding, I decided to sign up for one: Codecademy. The idea of coding was fascinating to me for several reasons: it was a skill that could theoretically give me a new creative outlet if I went far enough with it and it could theoretically open doors for me if I became proficient at it, I spent several months going through lessons on the website, learning the basics of HTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery. I found it all rather fun, and regretted not taking any computer science classes in college (the subject seemed too dry and impersonal to me back then). I plan to continue learning about it, for there is no down side to learning new skills!
Being a life long learner is an important value to me, and I am pleased with how I expressed this aspect of myself in 2015. I hope to continue this trend into the new year and beyond!
Re-devoted myself to learning about things that interest me
I have never been a stranger to learning. Since college I have taken up improv comedy, read books on philosophy, and traveled to some wonderful places. But in 2015, I became more serious about actively pursuing new knowledge about things that interest me.
It actually began in December of 2014, when I happened upon a book in the bookstore titled, "1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die." Having recently discovered Spotify as a way to listen to music at work, I was struck by a realization: I could easily work through that list over time. Instead of just listening to the same music I already knew 100 more times over the next year, I could go through that list and learn more about popular music and its evolution over time, and maybe even find some new favorite artists. And so, my journey begin. Starting where the list begins in 1955, I gradually worked through a couple albums a day. Now, I couldn't exactly listen closely to most of them, since the only way I could get through the list in good time would be playing the albums as background music at work. But I figured I would at least get a feel for the sound of each album, and I could take note of any albums that particularly captured my interest. Twelve months later, I still have a lot of the list to work through, but I've made it to 1991 (quite an important year for my musical taste, since Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden all had breakthrough albums that year). I have found a new appreciation for musical genres that I didn't really care for before, such as jazz, punk, and even hip hop.
I also spent some time in 2015 learning languages. The first language was Italian. I had never studied it before, but after finding out I would be going to Italy for work (with only a month's advance notice), I decided to learn as much of the language as I could. I downloaded the free iPhone app, Duolingo, and practiced with it nearly every day for a month. Italian was surprisingly easy to pick up, having many similarities to Spanish, which I studied for four years in high school. By the time I arrived in Rome, I had a basic familiarity with the language that actually came in handy while trying to navigate the city. Once I got back from my trip, I decided to switch my focus to refreshing my Spanish skills. Living in Southern California, Spanish is a more practical choice and could even theoretically come in handy at my job. Studying it for the first time in 14 years definitely brought back memories of Spanish class. Some things even made a little more sense this time around. After I finished all of the Duolingo lessons my practice frequency went down a bit, but I definitely plan to continue practicing. It helps that I work alongside several fluent Spanish speakers, and also live with someone who studied it in college!
Music and Spanish were fun to learn about, but there was one subject I learned about in 2015 that was completely new to me: coding. After reading online about websites that could teach you coding, I decided to sign up for one: Codecademy. The idea of coding was fascinating to me for several reasons: it was a skill that could theoretically give me a new creative outlet if I went far enough with it and it could theoretically open doors for me if I became proficient at it, I spent several months going through lessons on the website, learning the basics of HTML, CSS, Javascript and JQuery. I found it all rather fun, and regretted not taking any computer science classes in college (the subject seemed too dry and impersonal to me back then). I plan to continue learning about it, for there is no down side to learning new skills!
Being a life long learner is an important value to me, and I am pleased with how I expressed this aspect of myself in 2015. I hope to continue this trend into the new year and beyond!
Monday, December 21, 2015
2015 in review Part 1: Sketch comedy
I am kicking off a new plan to write more and this blog will definitely be part of it. A sort of pre-New Years resolution, if you will.
Since there is only a week and a half left of 2015, I thought I would take this opportunity to write a series of posts as a reflection of the year.
In some ways, I end 2015 where I began it. I'm still a clinical research coordinator in the same university medical clinic. I'm still a member of the same improvisational comedy troupe. I still live in the same city.
This series of blog posts will not focus on that stuff. Instead, they will focus on all that was unique about 2015.
Now, for today's topic.
2015 is the year that I entered the world of sketch comedy
I have long had an interest in creativity, and improv comedy has given me a great outlet for that over the last several years. This year gave me the opportunity to greatly expand my improv experience, and I'm happy to say that I've now performed in more than 100 improv shows.
As exciting as that is though, 2015 also gave me the opportunity to branch out into another realm of comedy: sketch.
It started in the first couple months of the year, when my troupe's leader invited me to a be a part of the sketch show he had written. Being a history buff, he had written a show full of sketches involving various historical periods and people. Over the course of several months we took the sketches from script to stage, and suddenly I found myself memorizing lines for the first time since middle school. I played in a number of memorable sketches, with settings ranging from ancient Sparta to a wild west saloon. Then, after weekly rehearsals in a local high school drama classroom, we finally debuted the show in Irvine. As much as I love improv, there was something special about being a part of a sketch show that had been rehearsed and tweaked over a prolonged period of time. And then, after five performances in Irvine, we were able to take it up to the Second City Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and perform two more shows. That was such a memorable experience, and something I never would have thought I would get the chance to do a few years ago!
Little did I know at the time, I would get to experience the whole process again just a few short months later. A good friend of mine, who is a fellow member of my improv troupe and was also a performer in the historical sketch show, approached me about being in a sketch show that he had written. This one would be horror themed, as he is quite the horror movie buff. And so began my second experience with sketch comedy, featuring many of the same friends who had performed in the first show. Unlike our troupe leader, this friend had never written a sketch show before. I am so proud of him for having the guts to see his vision through. The show turned out great, and once again we got to bring it up to Second City for two shows. Part of the fun was getting to portray horror movie icons such as Damien from "The Omen" (all grown up and running for president), Ghostface from "Scream" (accidentally calling into Comcast customer service), and Freddy Krueger (who finds himself inadvertently invading a wet dream).
Performing in the two sketch shows was definitely a major highlight of 2015. Not only was it a fun experience that I got to share with some of my best friends, it was also a chance to try something new and learn a lot about the creative process. The creators of both shows have already talked about their plans for future shows, so something tells me was just the beginning of my sketch comedy adventure.
Since there is only a week and a half left of 2015, I thought I would take this opportunity to write a series of posts as a reflection of the year.
In some ways, I end 2015 where I began it. I'm still a clinical research coordinator in the same university medical clinic. I'm still a member of the same improvisational comedy troupe. I still live in the same city.
This series of blog posts will not focus on that stuff. Instead, they will focus on all that was unique about 2015.
Now, for today's topic.
2015 is the year that I entered the world of sketch comedy
I have long had an interest in creativity, and improv comedy has given me a great outlet for that over the last several years. This year gave me the opportunity to greatly expand my improv experience, and I'm happy to say that I've now performed in more than 100 improv shows.
As exciting as that is though, 2015 also gave me the opportunity to branch out into another realm of comedy: sketch.
It started in the first couple months of the year, when my troupe's leader invited me to a be a part of the sketch show he had written. Being a history buff, he had written a show full of sketches involving various historical periods and people. Over the course of several months we took the sketches from script to stage, and suddenly I found myself memorizing lines for the first time since middle school. I played in a number of memorable sketches, with settings ranging from ancient Sparta to a wild west saloon. Then, after weekly rehearsals in a local high school drama classroom, we finally debuted the show in Irvine. As much as I love improv, there was something special about being a part of a sketch show that had been rehearsed and tweaked over a prolonged period of time. And then, after five performances in Irvine, we were able to take it up to the Second City Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and perform two more shows. That was such a memorable experience, and something I never would have thought I would get the chance to do a few years ago!
Little did I know at the time, I would get to experience the whole process again just a few short months later. A good friend of mine, who is a fellow member of my improv troupe and was also a performer in the historical sketch show, approached me about being in a sketch show that he had written. This one would be horror themed, as he is quite the horror movie buff. And so began my second experience with sketch comedy, featuring many of the same friends who had performed in the first show. Unlike our troupe leader, this friend had never written a sketch show before. I am so proud of him for having the guts to see his vision through. The show turned out great, and once again we got to bring it up to Second City for two shows. Part of the fun was getting to portray horror movie icons such as Damien from "The Omen" (all grown up and running for president), Ghostface from "Scream" (accidentally calling into Comcast customer service), and Freddy Krueger (who finds himself inadvertently invading a wet dream).
Performing in the two sketch shows was definitely a major highlight of 2015. Not only was it a fun experience that I got to share with some of my best friends, it was also a chance to try something new and learn a lot about the creative process. The creators of both shows have already talked about their plans for future shows, so something tells me was just the beginning of my sketch comedy adventure.
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