Body No. 1

(I’m feeling a little BLOGMANIA today. This is perhaps due to the fervent blogging activity of my bandmates and others in the LA musical community of late. I blame all of you.)

Woke up wrapped in a sleeping bag and a comforter with a fan blowing cold gusts over the “bedspace” (foam squares over a layer of acoustic soundboard and carpet padding crowned with a sumptuous feather bed) to defend against the fleas in the cracks of my bedding. Apparently they’re the fittest of those who have survived the fumigating that took place like two weeks ago. Yep, the exterminator came and gassed the place and still the invisible guys are taking little stabs at my legs whenever the tube socks are off. A-holes. This week I’m buying myself a bed. A good foot or so off the ground. Away from the little jerks till winter comes and freezes them proper.

I know having fleas is a recipe for pariah and therefore probably not something I should publicize, but most of my friends know anyway, and beyond the fleas, I’ve also got a bad case of BLOGMANIA whereby I’m compelled (like physically) to share the inner workings of my mind with my online peeps. Unfortunately the thing on my mind is fleas because they make my physical existence extremely uncomfortable (Evangenital Julie understands) and it’s hard to focus on more transcendent things when your leg is an inflamed war zone. Matter over mind. As my grandpa liked to say in short passionate speeches: “Body Number One!” The self-actualization kids shout “mind over matter” and they’ve got a point, but you’ve also got to respect the fact that at the end of the day, we are corporeal and that the stuff’s all connected.

Noted:

1) I am a black hole of negative energy and non-inspiration when I’ve had no sleep. I become what is affectionately known as The Poo. When I’ve slept, I’m (according to bandmates Alanna and Sexy Bao), “a completely different person.”
2) A visit to the gym or circumambulating Pan Pacific park three times have been shown to significantly reduce stress levels in lead singers of bands I play in and possibly normal people as well. Exercise brings endorphins and oxygen and tension release bring peace to the those “creative types” freaking out about life and future and destiny.
3) Snacks are the oil for smoothly functioning Fascinoma/Eagle and Talon rehearsals. Me and Kim discovered a while back that when things, i.e., we, started getting peevish or when we started hating our music, a trip to the kitchen and gorging ourselves on Sour Cream & Dill Kettlechips and Double Rainbow Double Chocolate ice cream could quickly reinstall harmony and band faith . And Fascinoma rehearsals are pretty much book-ended by meals and then punctuated midway by a visit to the Japanese market to get treats! (chili shrimp chips, gyoza, bubble gum and sierra mist). Eating makes us happy. Happiness makes us want to make more music.

So anyway, the examples could go on and on, but this is all just to say: Your body’s involved in your life. No way around it. Therefore, be attentive to the “temple” and its needs. Yes, life is still going to get whirlwindy sometimes and in the midst of all the strive and fervor, you’re sometimes gonna have to pull out the old mind-over-matter trick, but a matter-AND-mind mode of daily operations deserves serious consideration…

She can talk but can she execute?

-Alice