It’s been over a month since I’ve last published something. Since my last post, I purchased a 6-acre parcel of land close to the Saguaro National Park and have been engaged in clearing trees and carving out a place for my home; a 2012 Itasca SunCruiser.

This morning I got up and decided to write; but not about travel. I had a jumble of thoughts swirling around in my gray matter and tried to corral them into a ‘Top 10 List’ of sorts.

10 Things I’m Certain Of

1. Neither the Democratic nor Republican Party gives a crap about what’s best for this country. If they did, they would certainly stop deficit spending first.
2. Facebook posts that ask you to repost or copy/paste something to your wall should NEVER be reposted. 
3. Labels like ‘racist’, ‘homophobe’, ‘nazi’ and ‘sexist’ have been thrown about so often that they’re no longer effective. Now we’re going to have to invent more hideous words in order to make a point. 
4. Your chances of earning a decent living increase dramatically with a college education or training in some skilled craft. Natural born sales-people are the only exception I can think of to this statement.
5. Television ‘news’ wants you to be emotionally attached to political drama to keep you sucked in and coming back for more. They will say or do anything to keep you tuned in and believing in their nonsense. News today is nothing like it was years ago when reporters reported and left the thinking and judgement to the viewer. Your mental health will improve when you turn the news off. 
6. One’s perspective of the world changes dramatically when you travel and interact with people who are not like you. 
7. Following your dreams means setting realistic, intermediate goals to take you from where you are at this point, to where you want to be. Dreams without a plan seldom materialize. 
8. The traits we tend to dislike in others are usually the traits we do not like about ourselves.
9. Like that old song, we always hurt the ones we love. Intimacy, because it stirs up old feelings of hurt, loss, anger or rejection is risky and takes effort to attain.
10. You’ll be a lot happier if you stop worrying about what others think of you. Do what’s right, not what will make others happy.

The bonus thought is: Take all advice (even mine) with a grain of salt. I’m going to try to write more soon, but for now I send peace, love and wishes for a fantastic 2019 from my home in the Sonoran Desert.