I dawdled, I dogged it--I did it

How you ever finally done something big that you'd put off doing forever? If so, you know you'd reached the point where you could barely recall why you'd waited so long. Perhaps the best reason for you, as for me, was that you just weren't the kind of person who did things like that.

Last week I made a call that's already had a massive impact on my life: I responded to a mailing from Century Link that offered home Wi-Fi at a reasonable monthly cost with no contract and no required bundling. Those were three of the concerns I'd had before the call. A fourth concern was resolved in the call: my fear that I'd need pricey personal help with the modem.

The modem arrived on Friday and was functioning after configuration in a call to tech support. And now, in my new studio, I could do everything I'd had to do somewhere that offered Wi-Fi.

Later that night, I realized that a fifth factor had kept me from making that call: my deeply ingrained sense of myself as a Cafe Writer.

A circumstantial gypsy, always on the go--from country to country, city to city, then back and forth from coast to coast, I'd never had a fully furnished, decent place to live. Till now. Maybe Byron's lines 'And even I/Regained my freedom with a sigh' explains why I hadn't made the call sooner.

But now that I have, I'm amazed at the blessings that have followed:
--I'm no longer dependent on cafe hours and holiday closings.
--I'm no longer forced to compete for tables with electrical outlets.
--The home internet cost is far less than my monthly Starbucks bills.
--My connection is secure.
--With my new work schedule (6 a.m. - 2 p.m.) I get home by 3, with ample time to do my thing.


I'm just missing one thing in the picture below.

That's right. It's high time to look for a cat.

How I Became a Time Traveler

I didn't need a time machine to go back 50 years in poundage.

All it took was a Vegan diet and persistent exercise over the course of a year to take me back to my high school weight...and my long lost 32" waist.

Last year I got serious because I'd grown too old for clowning around. I changed to a physically demanding job, went completely Vegan and joined a local gym. My weight plummeted dramatically--from 200# to 145# and my waistline, of course, went down with it: from 40" to 33"...then 32-3/4".

I should have felt good for a man of my age. Maybe I should have felt great. I did not, though: the CG (crowning glory) mocked me, as did the mini-roll of lard around my waist.. I bought items for home workouts: an Iron Gym pull up bar with straps for hanging crunches and leg lifts.

The cargo pants I wore for work only came in even sizes, so I wore 34s with suspenders, worn also to hold up my loose 33" jeans. I felt a like a hick from the country. Furthermore, I felt alarmed: my waist had gone down but my weight had gone up from 145 to 150. Still, the Iron Gym bar and straps were already showing results. So possibly, just possibly...

I didn't know. I only knew that I refused to be mocked any more by the magic number.

Yesterday I went to Macy's, half hopeful the weight gain was muscle, not fat, and half braced for heartbreak

Well...

I ended up leaving with three pairs of 32" slim fit Ring of Fire jeans and a belt instead of suspenders. And all were had at ridiculous low prices.

I felt back in the day in a new kind of way and ready for brave new adventures.

And here's my highest hope for you:

Don't surrender your own crowning glory to time or circumstance for as long as I did. Don't be too quick in assuming that gravity's against you and that the odds are too high. Don't let even your best friends discourage you. There is a way, there is always a way, to realize your dreams

Spare yourself the misery of waking up daily and telling the face that you see in the mirror:

Maybe next year...or the next year...or the year or the decade that follow...

Start today with confidence that your CG awaits you!

My Date with a Bad Redhead: Week One Summing Up

No, I haven't been invited to the Playboy Mansion yet. But week one of Rachel Thompson's The BadRedhead Media 30-Day Marketing Challenge helped me accomplish a list of cool things.
Focusing on Twitter:
--I fine-tuned my bio and display name, including a hyperlink to my new book.
--I experimented with 'pinning; a Tweet to my Twitter timeline.
--To help build my Twitter base, I began using ManageFlitter's Pro plan for $12/month. It's not quite as user friendly as my old plan from JustUnfollow. But JU is no more and CrowdFire, its replacement, didn't pass muster with me. My main issues with ManageFlitter so far are these: I'm not receiving notice when I've been followed or unfollowed. And I haven't figured out how to organize nonfollowers by date (and I don' want to unfollow anyone I've only recently followed). I've messaged MF about both scores and will update in my next report
--I've also learned o dump blank profiles and inactives.
--I'm learning how to target readers of my genre.
--Rachel provides other invaluable tips for maximizing Twitter use: the proper use of hashtags
, Hootsuite, Buzzfeed, Pablo by Buffer, etc.

The excitement continues to build in week two, which jumps straight into Facebook. The first chapter inspired me to set up an Author page. But let's save that for Week two's Summing Up.