Sometimes I hate this world soo much if I had a doomsday device I would push the button instantly.

Freedom and Democracy

One of the definitions I like for determining if you live in a free democracy is if you have the freedoms to worship how you please openly, make fun of the government and peacefully protest what you feel is unjust behavior.

I think living in the US provides you with these freedoms. I don't think, I know.

So if Mr NFL QB wants to sit through the national anthem it isn't a sign of what's wrong with the US it's a measure of what's right. A place less free wouldn't tolerate that kind of behavior. Can you imagine a Soviet era athlete doing this? Or a Chinese one today?

While I don't agree with his sentiment, I defend a person's right to lawfully and peacefully express themselves because I know it shows we still have more freedom than most.

Careful careful

Sometimes I wonder what the next tragedy in my life will be. And how soon will it be appearing.

And then wonder what's wrong that it hasn't happened.

Yes!

Yes, finally interviewed a good housekeeper and for close to San Diego prices. I paid $80 to $100 per visit in SD for a whole house cleaning and she came every two weeks. Same housekeeper, she just raised her rates when she moved from TJ to SD.

I'd been talking to neighbors who were paying $300-400 per cleaning visit here in Little Rock. That's crazy!

Martha came by today to meet and do an estimate and she came in at $120 a visit and was happy with the cleaning supplies I currently have on hand. I felt good, she answered all my questions and she's going to do essentially the same services as Oliva did.

Win Win!! Or is that Gana Gana? My Espanol has gone to caca.

Death first

It's hyperbole but I'd rather die than:
-pay reparations for slavery
-pay more income tax to fund "free higher education"
-have a self driving car
-live in a surveillance state (too late I think)
-surrender any gun I own

A list of things for men to do.......

I just read an article linked on facebook (purposely written lowercase) about 20 things men today should not be doing. A list of twenty things starting with "don't" or "stop". Which to me is kinda negative and I'd rather see a list of 20 things to do instead. Taking their article and rewriting it to be in a positive voice, here is there advice (not that I agree with all of it, but still the same):

1. Take pictures of things other than yourself.

2. Work for the things you want.

3. The only person you have to be better than in life is the person you were yesterday.

4. Have sex with real women. (hard to reword as their advice was 'stop watching porn')

5. Read books.

6. Do what you can to make things better rather than complain about them.

7. Being clean and hygienic is more important than being well dressed.

8. Stand up for what is right. There is right and wrong and fight for right and for those who can't fight for themselves.

9. Choose to no longer let fear be a motivator for you.

10. Admit there are things you don't know or understand.

11. Accept responsibility for your own actions and their outcomes.

12. Take 'a job', not 'the perfect job'.

13. Smile, be kind.

14. Kindness is real strength. Have the strength to be kind.

15. Strength is for lifting, not for putting down.

16. Wake up early.

17. Actions are better than plans.

18. Endure your trials.

19. Choose to reactive with a positive voice when asked about yourself, life, work or others.

20. Spend money on experiences and other people rather than physical things.

Bonus 21. Talk about ideas, concepts. Not other people.

The four most important summers of my life.

Not in any order of importance:

1. 2015 in Spain. It's recent enough and powerful enough I can still smell, feel, hear just everything. My room, my classroom, my hall, the people, the food, the heat, the metro, the trips, the city, the mountains, the bulls. Just all of it. Oh how I wish it had been a true semester length class. I was a 40-something fake community college student surrounded by 20 somethings and it still worked out. Spain, and specifically the stuff related to my semester abroad are buried deep in me. I get lost when I look at my pics and totally transported back in place and time. I'd never loved a "place" as an adult until then. Wow.

2. 2007 in Iraq. A civilian in a war zone, working for cash. April, May, June. I was supposed to be there a year but Crohns, dysentery and disillusionment all brought me back home. I wouldn't trade anything in the world for this experience and there is quite a bit I'd trade to do it again. I went all over the country, usually on my own, and got to do and see more than most people. It helped me transition to different work for a while stateside. A chance I had to take and I grabbed it and went for it!

3. 2001 in Arizona. I had just graduated from college. I was divorced. I had no job. My degree took me to finish an externship at a hospital in Yuma AZ. Moving from the Cascade mountains and small towns of my young adulthood to the dirt and desert of southern Arizona. To have my first real adult job. To live in the very first town that didn't have family in it. To never be able to visit my kids from first marriage as they lived too far away and I worked constantly at the hospital for free. But I was learning how to do my job. How to live on my own. How to be "me".

4. 1990 in Oregon. I was running away from real life. I just graduated high school. I didn't get into college. I wasn't going on a church mission. I was in a relationship I loved and feared at the same time. I moved to Oregon to live with my grandma from where I had been in Washington. I had no car, just a motorcycle. I just was clueless about life and really about myself. I was gone just for like July, August, Sept. I moved back in October and was married in December. I should have done soooooo many different things that summer but fear and doubt ruled me. Sad.