Friends – The Ouchii Guy

*My nephew Cameron, who turned 1 in July!*

I remember being on a Zoom call with my cousins and sibs a few months back and we were talking about how there’s no way the government would have us locked down through the summer and people would start to get impatient and riot.

… and here we are.

A month back or so, we were finally brought to “Phase 2” – which allowed many restaurants to reopen for to go options. To me, that was more than enough to make it seem like we had some form of normalcy because prior to that, I was legitimately cooking and what not. Not much else was open aside from the groceries and hospitals. Another expansion would happen that would allow indoor retail to resume not too long ago. At that point – I began to worry. I made the mistake of walking into a Ross with my mask thinking everyone would be responsible here in the Bay Area and of course I was wrong. It looked like a zoo in there. Masks off, people touching their faces… I knew it was only a matter of time before we got shut down again.

… lol and here we are again. After a brief reopening of gyms here in Santa Clara specifically, 2 days after, they were all shut down again. You’d think people would get it together and follow instructions because other countries seem to get it but evidently Americans are more concerned with having the freedom to spread the virus as they please since they view it as a hoax or something that impedes on their freedoms. I’m not going to get into that though – that in itself is a cluster f*ck and a blog entry all its own.

So instead, I wanted to focus on a few key, pivotal moments that stood out to me personally in no particular order:

1) My Birthday
I was prepared to be sad on my birthday. It usually tends to happen – dating all the way back to my teens (Again, long story). But somewhere along the line in my 20s I just decided that my birthday was as awesome as I was going to make it for myself and made sure I had a great time every single year. With COVID-19, it seemed like I would be right back to sad ass birthdays. But, to my surprise – after teaching Zumba virtually on Zoom to some 100 people and having a glass of wine with them after was one of the most meaningful birthdays I’ve had. Almost cried actually… almost. I was just happy my mom was safe after her tumble, and seeing everyone smile post Zumba with their cups of wine really brought me joy. Thank you everyone who greeted me and especially those who came to dance with me that night. Jey and I also had dinner after upstairs which was nice.

2) Social Injustice
I was prepared to type a full on blog about my birthday but then a week or two after, George Floyd was murdered by a police officer by being pinned down to the ground by his neck. He suffered for 8 minutes and 46 seconds before he was put in an ambulance and declared dead. His murder sparked nationwide protests and riots and sparked heated discussions online between family members, friends and strangers. Just a few months prior in March, Breonna Taylor was killed in her own home by police. Regrettably, I failed to blog about Breonna – or even mention her name. It took yet another murder, nationwide riots and peaceful protests to finally get many including myself to pause and reflect and seek action. While I am starting to see the social media feeds slowly return back to “normal” – I hope the message and mission aren’t lost and continues to bulldoze forward. I hope the the complicated and heated conversations continue. I hope we respect each other and continue to acknowledge our own biases and privileges so we can understand the injustice that happens every single day to the black community. And something that I am trying to practice now more than ever is practicing empathy and learning to listen.

George Floyd. Breonna Taylor. Just wanted to say their names again in case you forgot them. <3

3) Ouchii Fitness
One project that I am so proud of was launching Ouchii Fitness. As a business owner, it’s always important to ask “What does the community need?” And with COVID-19 continuing to keep gyms shut, the answer was clear: the communities need ways to stay fit.

The beauty of group fitness is that the group dynamic encourages everyone to bring their energy and hype each other up. When that was suddenly taken away from us, many of us who enjoy the group dynamic lost the motivation to exercise. My free Zoom sessions were started shortly thereafter lockdown and culminated into www.OuchiiFitness.com. I launched the service just this month and have 50 or so members subscribed to some kind of fitness package and I am lucky to have such a dedicated group of fitness enthusiasts who trust me with their fitness goals.

4) 24 Cans Me
I got an e-mail saying I needed to join a conference call from 24 on an upcoming Wednesday. I dialed in and was greeted with an automated voice mail telling me I was being let go, along with countless others. It stung. I know the company is suffering, as are most gyms right now – but 24 specifically was already filing for bankruptcy. I think what stung most is knowing that I was chosen based on who knows what criteria and others were spared. What about all the people I brought in? The people who joined because of my classes alone? All the events I did? Or the fact that I did all that for half of what some other instructors made?

In a weird way – it all worked out. The other gyms who I feel have a more accurate grasp with what I can do or what I’ve done all reached out to me to return, which I am thankful for. However, with COVID-19 not going anywhere, and all the gyms consistently being asked to shut down – maybe it was all a sign?

I have no ill will toward 24 as a company. Could some things have been handled differently? I think so… but I did get a lot of perks out of 24 – the most significant being amassing a large network of fitness followers. And someday, I’m sure we’ll all be dancing, doing burpees and lifting together in person again at the gyms (maybe 24 again? Who knows?) – but as for now, I am okay running Ouchii Fitness and keeping people healthy and happy from the safety of their homes.

5) Birthdays Galore
My mom turned 65 – she can finally order off the senior menu at Sizzler (assuming they survive). My mom is one cool, funny lady. Both my nephews also turned 1 this month. My siblings of course wanted to give them the big party that most parents tend to do for their first borns (shout out to the forgotten middle children of the world!) but they responsibly decided to do drive thru birthday parties.

*My other nephew, Oliver, born 2 days after Cameron who also celebrated his 1st birthday in July.*

5) Distance Learning Fall 2020
It was also recently announced that my district, along with most of the state will be doing distance learning for the first semester of the 2020/2021 school year. The debate amongst people saying we, as teachers need to go back to the classroom is crazy. I’ll leave it at that.

As I end this entry, I just want to say I am thankful for such a strong network of people to help me get through this pandemic. Not once have I felt alone. I am thankful for my partner to have to talk to daily (and even when I don’t want to talk just knowing he is available to do so), thankful for my siblings and parents, my funny cousins, my friends, and my fitness family.

If you find yourself alone and need to chat – I am all for it. Let’s Zoom.

COVID-19 Project - Garage gym! — *My garage upgrade – call it my COVID-19 project.*

So now that we are in week 4 of social distancing in California, I figured now would be a good time to write about it. Four weeks ago, I was writing on Facebook about how it is ridiculous that we are not out of school if not for the safety of our students, then definitely for the safety and well being of our older staff as well as those of us who live with older folks.

At the time, opinions were all over the place – with some still comparing the virus to the flu, some thinking we did not need to be out of school, some thinking it was Dooms Day… it was actually pretty stressful if not annoying being on social media. I can’t really fault the nay-sayers, because I was amongst them initially. However, I also like to stay informed and constantly read and watch the news and I am very fortunate to have family who are the same, and will constantly update me. (Love you guys, by the way.) As it became more and more clear what a danger this virus was, I became increasingly more vocal about it.

… But let’s not lose focus. 🙂

Here we are in our fourth week, and not only has California shut down all schools for the remainder of the school year, but all non-essential jobs have been ordered to work from home or shut down entirely (my own included). The general consensus is that comparing this virus to the flu is silly. We as Californians are all (well, most of us are) practicing social distancing and limiting leaving the home. People are dying – Italy and China obviously were hit hard and most countries are on some form of lock down. The concept of “flattening the curve” is pretty well understood by most (keyword there is most, unfortunately). News is continually changing by the day, if not the hour.

… And people are still spreading old articles or false information on Facebook. Lol – that part I suppose will never change.

Notably it is Easter Sunday today, and I would like to share a few thoughts. I’d like to start with some things that made me sad. Don’t worry though, I will end with things that made me happy and thankful.

Sad list:

School year ending abruptly – Being unable to properly end the year with my high school students, especially the freshmen and the seniors.
All of my gyms closing – The gyms have become a big part of my life and I have made some great friends in my students. It immediately felt strange knowing that I wouldn’t be dancing around for 1-2 hours almost every day.
Social Life – Not being able to see my immediate family and friends for gatherings and random visits.

Happy list:

Online E-Learning – When things go south unexpectedly, it forces you to take leaps you didn’t think you would ever need to do because now we have no choice. Teachers being forced to stay home allowed us the opportunity to learn how to connect digitally to continue teaching whether through Zoom, Google Hangouts, Facebook/Youtube Live, 8×8, Twitch and whatever else. These formats enable me to connect with both my high school students as well as gym students.
Social Media – Social media is definitely a double edged sword and there is as much bad as there is good there. However, for pandemic life – I say the good outweighs the bad. Imagine for a second if we were locked down the way we are now but in a pre-Facebook, pre high speed internet time and all non essential businesses like Blockbuster were forced to close – we’d be really bored and 10x lonelier. Thanks for social media we are allowed to engage with people and feel connected. I am happy being caught up to date with everyone in my network through the various social media platforms and also laughing at all the memes people come up with.

Reconnecting with MYSELF – Something that I figured out very early into the social distancing order is that I was never home pre-pandemic. A typical Monday for me would be starting the day at 5:30AM, teach high school until 2PM, arrive home, take a nap, take care of Ouchii stuff, and then head to Crunch Fitness for 1 hour of Zumba and then change and get ready for the next 1 hour class at 24 Hour Fitness Crane.

My being a people person in all facets of my life including my 3 careers – I always put others’ needs before my own. Having my schedule suddenly cleared allowed me time to ask myself, “Hey, what do I want to do? Or what do I need to do for myself?” which is something I forgot is so important to do. I came up with the following:
- Exercising – I am able to push my limits and try new exercises that I wouldn’t have to time to do before with the abundance of Zumba I was doing. More Les Mills Body Pump! More learning STRONG choreography. More body weight exercises! Of course learning some Zumba stuff as well.
- “Diet” – Having the time to cook and see what goes into my food and trying to track macros better is a lot easier when I’m not on the road driving all over town. I’ve made strides so much faster, and still eating like a whale.
- Decluttering – Reorganizing the apartment little by little and throwing out unneeded things. First thing up was turning my garage into a space that allows me to exercise and hang out in. (I’m typing this blog from there right now, as a matter of fact.) I cleaned up my desk upstairs and we cleared out our kitchen.
- Ouchii – Reconfiguring the business and planning the next stages.
- Wedding – Figuring out the logistics of how this wedding will happen on August 8 when we are on a tight schedule.
- Sleep – Catching up on sleep as much as possible.
- Upping my Social Media Game – I’ve spent a considerable amount of time learning different tools to promote my endeavors.

The pandemic is obviously a terrible thing, and I do not want to take away from the myriad of problems that faces our daily lives but in the spirit of Easter, I’ve found that taking a minute to think about everything that I am thankful for really does bring some clarity and peace of mind.

Happy Easter, friends and family!