Anita, I do need to work on respecting others. Concerned about getting soft with the opposition though.

Also trying to figure out how to find time for everything. And, how to find decent prospects. Would actually like to have the option of having a family, but time isn’t exactly on my side. Really down about my failed attempts.

Probably should also practice being present in the moment more. Mind tends to have a lot going on, and I admit to not catching things when my mind wanders.

Even on my current travels, my mind wanders to what I know is waiting for work when I get back. This trip to the Canadian badlands also shows me a lot of what I have missed these last several years. So many different places to see, and I never took to time to see them. And, saw a lot of couples in the larger towns/cities, which really kind of drove home how lonely my life has been.

Saw something in Regina that made me ponder a lot of things. Just for the heck of it, I decided to go to a sporting goods store. Looked at their firearms/ammo section and commented about the interesting selection they had up here (lots of “vintage” large game calibres) compared to the Dakotas. I got a response from one of the people working there that made me wonder if I had grown horns and a tail. Apparently he had an extremely hostile dislike for Americans, even one who had just paid him a compliment about his store’s selection.

I learned a few things from that experience. Held my tongue and didn’t make a snide reply to his issues. More than that, I was thinking of the feeling I was left with in dealing with the guy, of how much I wanted to dissociate from him. Wound up asking myself how many people I may have driven away.