Balance

My least favorite event as a gymnast was the balance beam. This competed mightily with the vault which I hated as well. I knew a girl who broke her neck on the vault which gave me significant pause as I thought about throwing myself over it. But the beam was a bit worse -- four inches on which to twirl and spin and flip. You had to do a mount and a dismount (self service humor, make up your own joke) and you had to do a balance pose like a scale. This didn't bother me as I could hold the same position forever. Movement was always the difficulty.

I hear the term balance thrown around all the time, and I use it myself in my more new age moments. But what the hell does it mean? To do something well usually requires throwing yourself out of balance. Writing is the place I struggle with this the most. When I am writing well, everything else is faltering. Everything becomes material which is the sign to me that I'm in the zone. I overhear conversations and see things with a clarity I usually lack. As narrow as that zone is, it sometimes reminds me of the balance beam. As a compulsory exercise, it sucks. But in optionals, you can do your own tricks which is a lot more fun.

Michelle's Spell of the Day
"It's a wonderful day and I feel great." Ray to his buddy Mr. Hunt in Hung

Cocktail Hour
Esquire has a list of fifteen bars you must try before you die, a bar bucket list so to speak? Any nominations for our own list?

Benedictions and Maledictions
Happy Sunday!