success

Thoughts on Melissa McCarthy’s Movie About a Writer’s Struggle to Succeed

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 3 Comments

It’s the opposite of my last post about being inspired by creative people. The recent Melissa McCarthy movie “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” paints a bleak picture of a lonely, struggling writer who turns to forgery to pay her bills.  McCarthy was nominated for a Golden Globe for her moving portrayal of one author’s quest for respect and success.  It’s difficult to write about a movie without spoilers, but I’ll try.  This isn’t a review so much as some thoughts about the difficulties for writers to be creative and stay true to their vision while dealing with the realities of commerce.  This is a theme I often struggle with as I continue to blog and write my book without any compensation in sight.  A review in Town and Country was titled “Can You Ever Forgive Me Is the Funny-Smart-Sad Crime Caper You’ve Been Waiting For”  .  By the way, it’s based on a true story.

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5,143 Miles in 2018: 4,554 Biking + 589 Walking. Pretty, Pretty, Pretty Good for A Dude!

~ A Dude Abikes ~ 12 Comments

The headline is this:  I beat 2017 by 429 miles!  (4,714 Miles Bicycled in 2017 = 10,000 in 2 Years! A Recap of My “Epic Velocimania” (Day 1) 

Of course that’s not proof, for that, see below.  But I can assure you it’s accurate.  Except that maybe it’s not, because the annual strava video shows I rode an extra 100+ miles.  The point is that I biked my butt off (well, it’s still there) and added the daily walking.  So even though I biked 250 miles less, I walked 500+ miles more than last year, when I barely did any.  In addition to my daily yoga practice of 5+ years now, and writing this blog or in my book-in-progress, I had a very busy year.

The effort took me 427 hours, which is about 18 full days of biking.  The elevation was 122,700 feet, which is less than last year, but not by much.  And I definitely didn’t seek out hills this year.  I didn’t go on many group rides, either.  But still, somehow I was able to GIT ‘ER DONE!

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