The Jennifer Blogs

Another day, another chiropractor appointment.

I've been going to the chiropractor for some problems with my neck for several weeks now. It started out as a 6-week therapy. Then, because there was really not very much improvement, another 6 weeks were added on. Three days a week for 12 weeks. Let's hope at the end of this we see some improvement.

I initially went to the chiropractor because my neck had been hurting and I'd been having headaches. This has been going on for some time. So the chiro took some x-rays and showed me where my neck is pretty screwed up. A healthy neck is curved about 15 degrees. My neck is curved about 5 degrees -- in the wrong direction! So that's a 20-degree adjustment he has to make on my poor little head-holder-upper.

This is no ordinary treatment, either! We're talking about crazy vibrating beds, neck weights, head weights, vibrating platforms, jock straps on the chin and forehead. Yeah, sexy! (That vibrating bed thing isn't as appealing as it sounds - this is no massage, I assure you!)

How did my neck get so screwed up? Probably from looking down at my computer so much. I have been using a laptop for a long time and I guess it's taken its toll on me. So anyway, posture is important; ergonomics are important; therapy is important. So we're doing all we can to get this thing fixed.

We don’t have cable TV here because we’re worried the kids will spend their lives in front of the idiot box rather than out exploring the country. So when we want to relax on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, this is what we’re stuck with -- Bollywood. The sad thing is? My husband actually watches it and complains when I get between him and the bad acting.

I really love what I do for a living. I can't imagine doing anything but voice-overs.

There's something about using my voice to bring life to some words on a page that really excites me! I love how just using some different inflection or slowing things down or speeding things up or pausing somewhere unexpected can make someone really listen to what I'm saying. I love to voice commercials and audio books and radio imaging. I love all kinds of projects and I love that people actually pay me to listen to me talk! Seriously, what could be better?

This morning I had another session with my voice coach, Moneen. I love how she stretches and me makes me try things I never would have ordinarily tried. I like how I'm a little bit nervous to talk to her sometimes because I know she's going to be honest with me. I need to know what stinks just as badly as I need to know what's good. I'll never get better if I only hear the good stuff, so I appreciate that she's honest with me.

There are a lot of opportunities in Singapore that I haven't even delved into yet! I've been talking with this guy who is pretty much a legend in Singapore radio. He's been doing it here as long as I've been doing it in the US. We've talked about teaming up for some stuff and at some point we'll actually get together and discuss these ideas. So far our schedules haven't exactly matched up though.

In the meantime, I am enjoying my voice coaching sessions and I'm practicing every day. I've started reading out loud more, auditioning for everything I can audition for, and have been practicing my character voices more frequently.

Just think, when the roof blows off this thing, you can say you knew me when I wrote some stupid blog.

As the sign explains, they pretty much do it all here. My favorite is the surgical procedures. If you want it removed -- no matter what it is -- looks like they can do it!

Be honest. Would you have known this was a McDonald’s ad if it weren’t for the Golden Arches in the bottom right corner?

First of all, it’s served in a non-McDonalds-like container. Secondly, there’s a GLASS of green tea. Not a paper cup. I thought it was an interesting local ad for McDonalds in Singapore.

I'm in a great mood today. Strike that. Fantastic mood! Unless great is better than fantastic, in which case I'm definitely in a great mood. Seriously? Nothing can bring me down today!

Ever just wake up knowing it was going to be a great day? That's how I felt from the moment I woke up this morning. Nothing specific. No mail from Ed McMahon. No winning lottery numbers. No brushes with greatness. Just a genuine amazing day that will keep a smile on my face from now until the time I go to bed tonight.

Really? What better feeling is there than the feeling of loving life? None! Absolutely NONE!

Okay, I ate it. I hated it. I will never eat it again. But at least I tried it, right?

This is why choosing a name is so important for your business. The above is a screenshot I took from an ad on my Facebook page. Would you want to buy clothes from a place called Leshita De Closet? Me neither. On top of that, they misspelled “owner.”

My kids don't really remember life before Facebook. They're fortunate to grow up in a time when the Internet is something you can take for granted. It wasn't like that for me.

It was just a few months before my sixteenth birthday when we moved from New York to Florida. That was pretty traumatic for me. I was in tenth grade and had been going to school with the same people since first grade. I remember how angry I was with my parents for making me pick up and move.

Keeping in touch back then was hard. Sure, it’s not like we had the Pony Express or anything. We could write letters, but nobody did. Long distance telephone calls were very expensive. There were no cell phones and no unlimited long distance calling plans.

My friend Chris came to Florida to visit me a few months after we moved. She was such a great friend, but we had a hard time keeping in touch and eventually grew apart.

I graduated from high school, went off to college and the Internet was introduced. At first it was dial-up modems and very slow connections. Of course, we were just amazed that this virtual world existed. Speed (or lack of it) meant nothing. You dial in, go make yourself a pot of coffee or some lunch, come back and spend the next hour trying to log on to a bulletin board. It didn’t take long for the Internet to expand. The speed increased and more information became available at your fingertips.

Then Facebook came around, and with it the opportunity to have virtual class reunions. It’s been so nice catching up with some of my old classmates online. Having gone to two high schools, I’ve got a lot of people to catch up with.

Very cool that last week an old friend I’ve been looking for for about 20 years found me on Facebook. It was incredibly cool to catch up and learn some of the things I learned.

Maybe with Facebook we’ll never have to worry about buying the perfect dress or losing 20 pounds before attending a class reunion. We can just do it all online and post our best photos. All the fun with none of the stress!