“Shimmer”

We’re here and now, but will we ever be again
‘Cause I have found
All that shimmers in this world is sure to fade
Away again

--Fuel

It’s been a long time since they played this song on the radio, but this morning, I heard it on my way to work.  The lyrics have always caught my attention, and each time I think of life and memories and fading moments.  The last homepage entry I did talked about cycles in life, and these lyrics seem to play upon that idea as well, but I want to attack this from a different angle.

I’m less than 10 days out from USA’s in Vegas on July 29 and 30.  My physique will never again look the way it does now…today…in this very moment as my fingers tap along the keys of the keyboard.  Each time I reach this point before a show, there is some new variation in my body.  A new vein that has popped up, a new cut in the legs (which I noticed yesterday morning and this morning after my outdoor running sessions), a new look in my face.  How do you capture that moment in time and hold it, keep it from running away into the distance of your mind?  Pictures can attempt to do that, but they still don’t do the real thing justice.

I just try to savor every single detail.  I know how my legs feel, how my glutes feel, how my abs feel, how the peak of my bicep feels, how my heart feels, how my mind feels.  I tattoo it onto my brain and hope that I can conjure up the feeling when the off season rolls around and brings with it some insulation for my body.  I do this with food as well.  I taught this trick to my client, Julia.  Every bite of food becomes a memory as soon as the morsels leave the tongue.  So, allow the taste to remain for a brief moment longer than you usually would.  Don’t race.  Don’t rush.  Concentrate on the flavor, the texture, the reaction of your senses.  Hold onto those tightly like a child holding onto her mother’s hand as she crosses the street.  And then suddenly let go.  Open your eyes and you will see that you have a memory to last for an eternity.  Do this with everything in life, not just food, and when it’s all said and done, the actual action may fade away but the vividness of the experience never will.

I become a variation of myself with every passing show.  My muscles grow, my body changes, my age increases.  I can’t believe I’ll be 33 in just three short months!  But I finally took a look at all that I’ve accomplished in those 33 years, and I’m pretty pleased.  I’m not done yet.  I don’t plan on fading away at all.  I hope to shimmer to my dying day.

One of my latest accomplishments is making an appearance in the September issue of Oxygen magazine.  Turn to page 66 and read about the proper way to do bench dips to work your triceps effectively.  I don’t know which was more exciting:  the term “expert” to describe me, reading my words in print, or seeing my picture (courtesy of Dan Ray) in a worldwide magazine.  I seriously jumped up and down and giggled in the magazine aisle of the local Tom Thumb as I held the glossy pages between my fingers.

I plan on bringing more and more updates to the site.  Jon Howard and I will be spending Sunday together in Vegas after the show, and we should be able to get candid photos, video clips, and desert shots for the site.  I also have plans to work with several other photographers, including Brian Moss, JP Erickson, and Dan Ray, and Melissa Dettwiller and I have been talking about doing a few images together and having Jon capture us on video as we traipse down the Vegas Strip and go shopping (well, window shopping for me; my wallet is looking leaner than I am these days).

Don’t stray too far.  I have a few surprises in store for you.  So take a seat, get comfortable, and shimmer with me.  Ain’t no fadin’ here!

Jodi