Believe it or not, I think I've found a hobby to make money (more on that later). The hobby that's giving me my body back is definitely boxing -- although I'm going to make a concerted effort to give karate a chance this summer because I'm so abysmally bad at it, and I should allow myself to be really bad at something for awhile, to see where it goes.
I love boxing because when each swing is deconstructed and I can get it into my body, it makes perfect sense. I feel as though I'm using my physical self to play a very elaborate and exhausting game of chess. If I can make my body outlast the other fighter, if I have enough stamina to outlast the fight itself, I may win -- but more importantly, I will outgrow myself. That has happened in a thousand ways since I started boxing. It can't be helped. The more you learn, the more your body remembers, the more you grow.
It's the same with the piano. Right now, I'm practicing scales and fingering technique. It's so labor-intensive that it feels like I'm working with someone else's hands. They just won't obey me. I'm going to stick with it, though. I'm convinced that I'm sticking every note into my voice and making it stay there by playing it and singing it and playing it and singing it, one at a time, over and over again.
So that's my summer: boxing conditioning classes and piano practice; getting knocked on my butt all the time in karate; writing a slew of songs and recording them; and playing music with all my projects, including Georgette and my original Black Americana songs.
Oh! And fun the Jazz Age Lawn Party, of course...
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