Power Pilates Trainer

Boeing 757. 

She's reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma," by Michael Pollan. I'm in the window seat; she has the aisle. One empty between us. She opens the conversation:

"I hope nobody takes that seat. Should be a pretty light flight." 

She's a fitness trainer from Florida.  A self-proclaimed purist, she practices the teachings of Joe Pilates. 

"Joe Pilates was a machinist. He built a machine to help people do the routine. I like the method the way it was created and I try to stay very close to it. It's a very systematic routine and it builds on itself as you get stronger."

I'm thoroughly impressed at how well she knows her subject. But of course she does--she's been doing this over 25 years.

Back to the machine...  "It's not like a piece of gym equipment. You have to be present and centered. You don't have to count. Don't think too much. Just feel it."

She's on her way to see her husband. It's his birthday today. 

"I'm his present," she jokes. "There's a reason humans lose their vision as they get older. It's so your husband can't see you properly so he still thinks you're beautiful."

"I use a lot of imagery when I teach. Not all images work for all people. Like I might say to one person, funnel your ribs, and to another soften your ribs. I might say, pretend you're putting on a vest and now go through the process of fastening each button. Ideao-kinesis, it's what Tiger Woods does..."

"Pilates has a rhythm to it. Sometimes it's quick and staccato, and sometimes more waltz-like. If you saw a group of teachers being taught by another teacher it would look like ninjas."

I thoroughly enjoyed our conversation. I'm glad that seat was empty. 

She's right--it is really hard to stand still on your toes with your eyes closed. I tried it after we landed.

A single phrase to describe my friend Sue Elliott: Excellent Traveling Company

Late in the evening

First thing I remember, she's dancing round the kitchen with a cup of sugar floating in her hands, yeah...

Record player in the corner, Paul Simon's One Trick Pony. 

She's a professional video editor, working in film and tv. It's very cool watching movie trailers made by someone you know.

Last weekend she produced the 48-hour Film-A-Thon, a collaboration of film-makers at Cinema Divina, creating a short film from start to finish, idea to screening, in 48 hours!!!

Next thing I remember, there's a pie crust on the counter and I'm making sure I roll the edges thin, yeah...

It's been such a fun day. 

Earlier, at the tarpits, I asked for 5 things I didn't already know about her. Got more than 5...

Likes rockclimbing

Studied martial arts and fencing

Loves the smell of a photography darkroom

Had her photography published in Performer magazine

Studied theater for two years and even started a theater club

Filmed a documentary in India about a young girl sold into slavery

Salmon and broiled Chard, Big Chill soundtrack, apple pie from scratch, Coen brothers filmography. 

That's what it is! 

It's the way she connects then and now, contemporary with old school. It's that she's teaching me what's new in film-making, but her shoes and her dance and her art and her dreams belong to earlier times. That's what it is. It's that I'm in the 20's and the 2000's at the same time!

Last thing I remember,  we're Raising Arizona and I'm heading for the door and walking home, yeah...

It's late in the evening, and the music's seeping through. 

A single phrase to describe my friend Julia Alty: New Old School

At least one

Office phone rings...

"Good afternoon, Hollywood Adventist Church, this is Lennox."

Voice on the other end: "What's up, Lenny Len! I'm heading your way. 

Got a spot in North Hollywood to show you."

I've been hoping to catch up with this guy for a few weeks now. He's got a lot going on, so I completely understand when our schedules don't coincide. 

California Subs turns out to be everything he promised. Their mixed fruit smoothie and Italian Sub on sourdough leave nothing to be desired.

We talk about his growing success as an actor. His recent performance on CBS's Cold Case airs May 3. 

I once asked him why it is that he gets roles when others can't even get auditions.  He said, "You gotta know what you want and if anyone says you can't have it, that should upset you. If you tell me I can't get it, that pisses me off."

Today he adds, "I would much rather live on the dangerous side, than not realize my full potential."

I ask him what he likes so much about acting. He says it's the chance to feel so many different life experiences and make them his own. "You can experience firsthand what people go through."

I ask if he has fans. He replies, "at least one"

He was on audition recently and practicing his lines when another actor, auditioning for the same role, said "You were on Eleventh Hour, right? I only watched one episode and you were in it. I thought you were really good!"

At first he thought someone was playing a joke on him, but then he realized the guy was serious. Amazing to me how humble is this friend of mine, so talented, so informed, so brilliant. 

I'm also a fan. I'd say you now have at least two fans, sir. My guess is there will be thousands more. 

A single phrase to describe my friend Dennis Hill: Actor Ambassador King

The Other African

She pulled me aside on the ramp outside the main room at church. She's so fun. Exciting to be around. Some people just have that presence. It's not that she talks all that much or cracks jokes all the time, because she doesn't. But there's such fire in her eyes, you definitely sense a real live person in there watching you. Dancing with you, even when you're standing still. 

She's said so many encouraging things to me before. From the first moment we met, she's been building me up. 

She says I'm a gifted musician, and what musician doesn't love that? She says I'm a great songwriter and guitarist. I'm eating this stuff up. When she slows me down this day on the way out of church, I'm braced for another helping of compliments, thank you very much.  

"You were great today, Len"

"Thanks." I'm smiling. Yeah, I like this. 

"Do you believe all that stuff you were saying?"

"Yeah, of course. Don't you?" 

Strange question. Seems an odd way to set up the next compliment. But I'm down with variety. 

"So how come you're not living it?"

"huh?"    and by huh,  I mean "What the...?"

"It's called Lip Service, Len. Clever words about how much you love God and how much you love your wife, but that's not what your actions represent. When are you going to stop paying Lip Service and actually live the stuff you say?"

Emotional Response In My Head: "Who the hell do you think you are, Merna Osborne? And what gave you the idea I want your opinion right now?"

What I Say Out Loud: "duh, ah, um, well, ayah, uh, hmmmm..."

Proverbs 27:6 Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful the kisses of an enemy. 

My friends don't always say nice things to me all the time. That's how I know they're my friends. About 5 years ago, my friend asked me some tough questions. I am grateful to her for caring enough to tell me the truth. 

 A single phrase to describe my friend Merna Osborne: Dancing Spirit Action

More Than Muse

I've come often to the edge of telling, and for close or distant relatives of fear, I retired to safer stories. But this one changed my life.

So much to say about this woman. Where to start?

She's the person I want to call when I fail, and I fail frequently. She's the person I want to call when I win. She's the person I look into the audience hoping to glimpse. I know she's not there, but I still look. She, the laughter that fades beyond earshot.

A few years ago, I realized that I compare all women to her. I'd meet a woman. Confident, kind, pretty. Almost right. Only one thing wrong with her. She's got NS. 

She is Not Suzanne.

At first I didn't realize what it was, but then I began to catch on. It's an Epidemic. As vision develops, I see the letters branded on their foreheads.

Spectacular, magnificent, elegant, but . . .  NS

Compassionate, accomplished, intelligent, but . . .  NS

Conscious, spiritual, radiant, but . . .  NS!

My heart's a weird heart. It's got a space in it that only Suzanne fits. I've lost interest in trying to fit anyone else.

A single phrase to describe to describe my friend Suzanne Palanuk: My Favorite, my only favorite.

Ridiculous!

I have too much to say. 

I'm dying here, cause it's not yet time to say it all. 

Still, I can't just say nothing...

photo by Zoe Pamintuan

I'm thinking of the song "I am a Friend of God" by Israel Houghton, which includes the line "He calls me friend."

I'm thinking that in a blog about my life experience as the summation of my friendships, this is a friendship I gotta talk about. I am having a day I cannot explain to you. I would break confidences and betray trust if I told you the details, but I can't just say nothing. 

God is ridiculously good to me. Ridiculous, I say. As in, stupid crazy Good. Make-no-sense kinda Good. Completely-lost-his-mind Good. That's the kind of Good I'm talking 'bout.

I'm thinking of the phrase "goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life" and I picture myself as I often do, hunted. Followed, searched out, pursued. There is ruthlessness and a relentless intent about the way Goodness follows me. I cannot explain it. I cannot avoid it.

What's interesting is that I would ever run from it. Hunted, as I was by circumstance, and running, as I would from fear. It makes sense to run from fear, but who in their right mind runs from Goodness and Mercy? 

I'm not gon' preach right now. But it's coming soon. I'm gonna tell a story about a man hunted all his life by Goodness and Mercy, until one day he stopped running out of sheer exhaustion. 

And got caught by a ridiculous God. 

photo by Darlene Taylor

A single phrase to describe my friend God: Ridiculously Good!

Classically Not

There's something British about her. I feel I should drink more tea when she's around. There's a decorum, an elegance, a sophistication.

There's something Jewish about her. It was fun hanging out with her and Scott and Levi by the gelato shop in Venice, practicing Cherkessia (Jewish dance step).

There's something Spanish about her. It's amazing to watch Elizabeth in concert. My favorite pieces are her flamenco-style work, fingers flying, drumming the dance of the matador, at least that's what I picture.

Rasgeaudo, that's the name of the technique, that thing where she turns her fingers into a firing squad, guitar strings beware. It would be violent if not so beautiful. Amid the flurry of hands and notes and dancing harmonics, she closes her eyes and leans, smiling, into her imagination.

There's something Colorado about her. She's a still, quiet soul with a calming presence and a healing warmth. She's born of wide spaces and grand nature. Stately like trees. Peaceful like water. Designed by God and full of his glory. Captivating, like Colorado.

There's something Los Angeles about her. Just when you think you've seen this brand of classical before, she breaks into an amazing rendition of a Peter, Paul and Mary tune. Just when I think how proper and elegant she is, she inverts into a head-stand on the beach, explaining that if you fall backwards you'll land on your feet and if you fall forward you will have completed a somersault, the one a comfort, the other an accomplishment.

At lunch on Monday she said, "I wanna go somewhere where life isn't just around the corner, it's already here!"

There's something Classical about her. There's something Not.

A single phrase to describe my friend Elizabeth Busch:

Life Dance Adventurer