Success

Well, Day One of my "30 days of positive" project will have to go down as a success.

I smiled a little bit more  often today. It takes concentration and feels strange to replace my usual scowl with a smile, but I did it for a little while. I started to let something negative slip early this morning, talking to a couple of fellow teachers, but caught myself and shut it down. I didn't rip the heads off any kids today (figuratively speaking, of course), and I went to the golf course after work  and hit a small bucket of range balls, so I'll count that as exercise for the day. Tomorrow, I'll actually get up (at 4:15 a.m.) and be at the gym by around 5, for a round of treadmill walking and some resistance training (lifting weights).

After dinner here in a few minutes, I'll pick up my guitar for the first time in a long time and play for awhile. There are no callouses on my left-hand fingertips any more, so it's gonna hurt pretty quickly. Gonna have to work up to  some decent practice time. Then, I'll take a  crack again at my pretty new saxophone. I've always wanted to play saxophone, so I finally decided to go ahead and get one a few months ago. Started practicing, then got a nasty chest cold that lasted forever and couldn't breathe  so good.

I'm writing right now, and I'll probably work a little later on a couple of books I'm editing for my publisher. Not only are they redesigning and reissuing my book, "Finding God in Texas," in paperback and e-book, but I'm  also doing some online proofreading for 'em. I'm great at spotting typos and other errors, and I love doing it. And they're paying me for it!

That's pretty much everything on the list for my new project, except saying, "Today is going to be a great day," first thing in the morning. My close  friend (brother), Bobby, swears he does this every day, as soon as he wakes up. So I will do it, too. I did not do it first thing this morning, but I remembered to say it later on. Another thing Bobby has told me to do is to say this, "God, please help me focus on a positive attitude." Not, give me a positive attitude, but help me focus on a positive attitude. I  don't think I squeezed that one in today.

But I was in a pretty darn good mood today, and I'm feeling pretty good right now.

I'm writing a weekly column for a friend's new newspaper in a nearby town, and part of my daily writing time will be spent finishing my book about me and the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage in northern Spain, which I have walked twice. Also, an artist friend is working on illustrations for a cool, little children's book I wrote, so there are some exciting things going on.

Not to mention the fact that the end of the school year is quickly coming into focus. That sho' nuff gonna be a beautiful day.

Plans for the summer include a solo trip to Key West, to eat, drink and be merry for about a week. A little snorkeling, maybe some deep-sea fishing, lots of fresh seafood consumption. Some other stuff on tap, as well. Hopefully, some book signings! Y'all gotsa  come.

Ciao, y'all  ...