chasing the blue ball

    I had an acting coach in L.A., Clay Banks. As part of our acting training, Clay would have use perform certain activities to expand our awareness and become better actors. I'd like to share these with you so that you may expand you awareness and become a better person.
    We take everyday senses for granted. The sense of sight, smell, taste, sound, touch. Our bodies have become so accustom to them (unless you're blind, in which case I'd be amazed since you're reading this.) Something I like to do is start to experience one of my five senses again. This week, I'd like you to try this exercise. Grab your favorite soft drink (I find it works best with Coca Cola, you'll see why). If you don't drink soda, try something with carbonation, ya know.. fizzy. If you don't like fizzy stuff, then forget about it. The next time you decide to suck down the soda of your choice imagine this. You crack open the can.. close your eyes and focus on the feelings that come about. The wind on your face, the cold can against your warm fingers. The sound of the soda fizzing just below your chin. Now, open your mouth and pour some soda in. Before you swallow, before you do anything, stop and experience the sensation of the fizz popping and burning your tongue. Taste the different flavors in the soda and let it wash around in your mouth. Really take that moment in. Now swallow and relish the burning down your throat and the watering in your eyes. And just like that, poof, you've done it! You've had an experience! Lemme know how it goes.

    So Jeff and I went to the gym again today. Actually, let me back up. We went to the store yesterday and bought a whole cartload of healthy food. Our mothers would be so proud. It only took them twenty some odd years to get their boys to eat right. If you were a passer by in the store you might have seen chicken, whole wheat bread, low fat milk, low fat yogurt, orange juice etc etc.. Good stuff. I just want to say how thankful I am that Jeff said chunky peanut butter is OK on the list. Thank God for the Earl of Peanut. Moving on. I'm glad to say that eating healthy can be really ok! It's not a life filled with nasty food that tastes like cardboard. Luckily, Jeff and I like to cook so it's all good. Meanwhile, back at the gym.
    We did the abs and cardio work today. Some people hate doing ab workouts, I love 'em. I love standing up after finishing the workout set and feeling my stomach all tight. It's like it's all clenched up. I like doing crunches and feeling my abs burn and looking at my face all scrunched up. It's like music to my ears when my body lets off an unauthorized grunt. I also dig the sweat. There are a few kinds of sweat:

- Lazy back-of-your-shirt-in-the-car sweat
- At work self-conscious sweat
- Hard work don't-wanna-be-here sweat
- First date sweat
(the worst of the worst, a.k.a. "If nervous was a bodily function, it would be this sweat" sweat.)
- Caught in a lie sweat (you know what I mean)

And finally:
- Beaded, soothing, rolls slowly down the sides of your face, workout sweat.

    I dig on the last kind of sweat, big time. I'm starting to enjoy going to the gym. I find myself bummed because I missed a day. What's really got my knickers in a happy twist is that the gym has two racquetball courts! I haven't played in like 4 years and I LOVE the game! So, for our 25-30 min cardio workout section, Jeff and I decided to play racquetball, which mad me so happy because I've wanted to play racquetball with Jeff since we moved out. Unfortunately, the final count was one to three in Jeff's favor. I'll live. Speaking of increasing your awareness, racquetball makes everything else seem so benign. I mean, I got in my car right after my game and driving seemed like a weird slow-motion thing. Nothing seemed real.. I guess it was the workout euphoria. Whatever it is, chasing the blue ball really did the trick.

-BRiAN