About

Okay, that’s me over there, the fat guy taking up half of that photo with my dad and my sister. That was 2001.

For some reason I thought I might be a little bit out of shape. I know that sounds dumb, but certain worrywarts consider 320lbs to be too heavy. Weird, right? Anyway, I started riding my bike to work and I lost about 60lbs. I felt pretty badass.

I was even a fat baby!

Then my girlfriend, Cheryl, suggested that if my “ass” was truly “bad” I might also stop smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. I had to do it to keep from losing the argument. I must admit, once I quit it felt kind of good to breathe.

The crazy thing is, I got kind of addicted to the feeling of making big changes. I don’t want to greeting card it here, but I was definitely on a path to die young. Once the weight came off I started to feel like I could do anything.

So I decided to fulfill my lifelong dream of becoming a professional musician. I packed up my things at work and told my boss he could kiss my damn ass. Well, i muttered it when I was outside. Okay, fine, he fired me. Still, I started playing music for a living, and I wrote about it.

Then my mom passed away and I wrote about that too. I developed a pattern where I set goals and plan adventures for myself every year around New Years. Then I give ‘em a whirl and write about the results. Here’s what’s happened so far:

Hamming it up at SXSW with James Hughes. PHOTO: Willis Larry Corley

Contact me, if you like, via email at jim@jimhodgson.com.