A lot has been happening this past week. Both my acting classes are in full swing, and so they demand a lot more of my time in terms of prep. One of them will be over in the next two weeks though. After that time, I intend to enroll in a martial arts class of some sort. I was studying wushu some time ago, but the class got moved to Sunday mornings, which is difficult for me because I have responsibilities at my church, plus I just enjoy going.

I spent this last week by starting another acting class. This one is geared towards prepping an actor to get in front of casting directors. Now, I’ve been on a fair amount of auditions, but I feel I can always get more experience. Also, I get to work on a comedic as well as a dramatic piece. Comedy has always been harder for me, despite the fact that I am naturally funny in real life, contrary to the opinions of friends. I mean, come on, how can I not be? I’m an Asian from Arkansas.

For anyone who has had the privilege of listening to Julie Lusk’s “Relax Deeply with Yoga Nidra,” you will probably understand what I am talking about.

Last night, I had trouble sleeping. This actually occurs quite frequently as I think my brain is sometimes way too active. I tend to over-analyze things or stay up really late to get things done. So a lot of the time I am up until 4 in the morning. Sometimes I’ve even been known to pull all nighters just to finish something, and last night was one of those nights.

I haven’t practiced yoga for a while, partially because we’ve had a really busy schedule that has temporarily stopped us from doing our daily yoga practice at the office, and partially because I don’t have time or money to go to yoga studios.

A lot of interesting stuff happened this week in terms of people, particularly celebrities, coming out. Ricky Martin announces that he is gay and Anna Paquin announces that she is bisexual as a PSA for Cyndi Lauper’s “Give A Damn” campaign.

What the…? Why me? Why now?

Went to bed last night with an upset tummy, but I figured it was nothing a few zzzzs wouldn’t fix. Then today I woke up feeling fine, but about 20 minutes into my daily morning walk to and from Starbucks (no, I didn’t get my Chai Tea Late, just a Green Happy Planet Juice), I started feeling a relapse of my nausea and wasn’t sure if I would even make it back to the house without having to hurl in a ditch on the side of the road (sorry to be so graphic ;-(.)

Qingming Festival is coming up. As I am told, it usually falls on April 5th – 104 days after winter solstice. However, the association that we belong to will be celebrating it on the April 18th.

I always find it interesting how many Chinese holidays there are in the year. Most of them I have never heard of, but this one (Qingming) is of particular importance to me. The purpose of the festival is to honor your ancestors – “Grave Sweeping Day,” it is sometimes called. As I have read on Wikipedia, Qingming rites are usually celebrated amongst the farmers and have very traditional rituals devoted to the ancestors.

U-Hydration – Your Water, Your Way…

For me, nothing can actually replace the clean, crisp taste of a cold glass of water. But I know that even something as simple as water can come in so many different forms and from such a wide variety of sources.

I’m sensitive. My body, I mean. Fast food, alcohol…can’t do ’em like I used to. One thing that has really surprised me is that I’m more aware of keeping hydrated. When I don’t have enough water, my eyes dry out and feel tired.

This last week has been pretty busy, but nothing out of the norm. I’m halfway through my acting class and near the end of softball season. My workout schedule has tapered off a bit since the start of the year because of these new activities. However, I did go to work out after youth group for the first time late Friday night. I was at the gym from 10:30 to about 11:30 pm. It felt really good so I will continue to do that, and the gym is not overly crowded at that time, so that’s another bonus. Of course, that gym next to church is just better than the one next to where I live, so I need to take more advantage of that whenever I’m at church.