April 11, 2006

Three things I don't do anymore, and three I now do

Where I once worked on strength, now I seek speed. I used to be a player, but now I'm a creator. My faith in building homes, however, has become home-body time in front of my TV.

Let me explain. I need to explain. Three times a week I'd lift weights in the gym. Strength training, I call it, while I bragged on myself. I even had a trainer, once in awhile. He knew I was working on keeping down my weight, using weights. He also knew what was missing. "No cardio?" Tony would ask, "You just wanna get big then, right?"

The advice wound up scooting me out of the gym, at least half the time. Now those hours are spent on a bike saddle, where all that strength might help, I guess.

I used to pour my art into the paper cup of plays. Shakespeare, at the best of my performances. Low comedy, musicals, melodrama at the cheesiest. Work, character, memorize, practice in rehearsals. the glory in the footlights. Then it's gone, discarded as any water cooler cup. Now I defer the glory to spread myself further, and for longer. I write, on blogs of mine, on stories, on a novel. The art comes from the heart, just like it did in my better moments onstage — but now it lasts longer, gets better. The rehearsals for the writing are without an end. That's what deadlines are for: Showtime!

Saturdays used to mean volunteering to build at Habitat sites. The borrowed tools, the new techniques, the sore muscles after sundown, plus the warm feeling in those cooler hours of helping people create their first homes. I put at least that much time now into my basketball, our Spurs — my investment, I guess, in my own home court.