It Was Just Two Points! A Pickleball Story.

I can’t exactly explain why I’m a certain way when it comes to sports. Off the field, off the court, I’m generally a nice person. I’d even go so far as to say I’m more passive than I am aggressive. Then I step onto the pickleball court or put my softball glove on and take the field. I turn into someone else and I kinda like that version of me… most of the time. I guess I can chalk it up to competing with my siblings as we grew up. As the youngest of 4, I was pretty much always getting the L which fed two things: My temper and my drive to not get the L next time. When my temper flares, sometimes I get a little loose with my words too, which can get me in trouble.

There are two scenarios that get me upset: 1. Me. When I do something wrong or make a bad play or whatever. And 2. When the opponents are poor sports. Poor sportsmanship can look like trash talk, cheating, or bragging way too much. The inspiration of this post falls into a secret 4th category: gaslighting. I can’t actually remember any time in my sports experience where the other side wanted me to believe something was true more than what happened earlier this week. Plus, the term “gaslighting” has only become a common phrase in the last few years so maybe it’s happened all of my life it just wasn’t labeled so specifically.

It happened on the pickleball court and without getting into too many details, the doubles team we were up against finagled their way into two extra points. My partner and I, had the score been kept properly won the game 21-19 but somewhere about midway through when we were winning 14-11, the other team questioned the score so instead of fighting about it, our team backed off just to keep the game going. That was one point subtracted from our score so now we’re winning 13-11 instead of 14-11. Then at the end, the other team obtained a phantom point and when we protested, they didn’t back off… which made the score 21-20 in their favor. The game finished at 22-20 because of two points that magically gave them the win. 🥴

Given my sense of playing fairly and absolutely detesting anyone who is even possibly maybe cheating, I was livid. And guess what one of the other players came up to me and said? Seeing I was upset, she smiled and said, “But Ben, we didn’t take that point when it was 14-11.” Umm, what?!!?!?!?!?!? They absolutely DID take that point and now I know first hand (again!) that these two players have a bad reputation for cheating.

But at the end of the day, we’re hitting a plastic ball over a net so I guess I shouldn’t get so upset about a silly game. But cheating and bad sportsmanship (and now, gaslighting) will tick me off every time, no matter how old I am or what sport I’m playing. Here’s a picture of me with Taylor Swift.

-Out of the Wilderness

An Eagle and a Sarcastic Crow

I guess I’ve liked birds for a long time. Just today I went out to a nearby lake puddle (when was the last time it rained in north Florida??) to spy on a bald eagle. Just a minute or two of watching it on land before it flew up so high, and it was swirling around with vultures. And when I say high, I mean…. I’ve never seen birds ascend that high that quickly. It was pretty cool. I recently designed a print with an eagle (on my Etsy site here)…

And my latest design is a crow…..because why not? Crows have been on the forefront of my mind as I thought about what I wanted to make next. This one isn’t even available yet on my Etsy site but it will be soon. The working title is “Sarcastic Crow”…

You’re second guessing your recent decisions, aren’t you? That crow side-eye will get ya, huh. What bird should I work on next?

-Out of the Wilderness

Designing Easter – Jesus, a Serpent, and a Missing Body

If you’ve followed this blog in the last few months, you probably know that I’ve become obsessed with designing. It could be a pickleball theme, a Mahjong-inspired design, or something just for the sake of designing. And then there’s Easter. For Christians like me, this holiday… if Christmas is the Super Bowl, this one would be… the Pro Bowl? Not to cheapen it or make light of either of those holidays. Just a comparison on the level of importance. Easter really does mean everything. I guess that eliminates the Pro Bowl as a comparison, doesn’t it? Oops. OK, Christmas and Easter are both the Super Bowl. I’d even call Easter the cornerstone of the Christian faith because without it, we’d either still be doing things in Old Testament fashion, or simply have no way at all of righting what’s wrong. Jesus. A lot of people say a lot of things about him but what’s been pressing on my mind this Easter season is this:

Either he never existed or he’s always existed.

Some people say he’s just a story and was never a real person. On the flip side, if he WAS a real person, then he’s always existed (because he was with God in the beginning and came back to life and went back to Heaven where he lives now). Only one of those can be true. As I reflect and consider and research, I’m more convinced than ever that he’s always existed. With that in mind, I wanted to design something for Easter. I came up with this.

In the distance is the cross, the only thing on the entire landscape because if it’s true, what else could be added to make the message stronger, you know? The design of the sky background– the small repeating squares– consists of small text. Part of my favorite chapter in the Old Testament. Isaiah 53…

You also might have noticed the serpent a little more disguised in the sky. I wanted something out of the ordinary to help my design stand out. A serpent wasn’t really my first choice… for obvious reasons **ahem–the devil in the Garden of Eden** I thought about a lion, or a lamb, or some other animal that represents Jesus. But I know my limits. How am I going to design a lion? A lamb? I’m not THAT good. Then I found a few references of a snake in the book of Numbers. Moses made a bronze snake as a way to save Israelites who had been bitten by poisonous snakes after they’d complained. All they had to do was look up to the bronze snake and they were made well. It’s a foreshadowing of Jesus, anyone who looks to him for salvation will be saved. Boom. For my design, a bronze snake it is. See, that’s not so sinister!

In contrast to Good Friday, Easter Sunday is much more of a celebratory day because of the resurrection. My design for this is a lot more simple but still holds a ton of meaning. No body. There’s a double meaning with that word/phrase. For one thing, in the tomb that morning there was literally no body. Jesus came back to life and exited the tomb. The second meaning– nobody– is about all the people that knew his resurrection was coming shortly. Nobody. That’s an exaggeration, actually. Many, many people had hoped he was the Messiah and with hindsight now, it’s a lot more clear. But in the moment, hearts were broken and his followers and disciples were discouraged. They must’ve thought everything they were hoping for and everything they believed was a bust.

But then the “no body” thing comes back into play.

In 2026, there is still no body. I can tell you where Muhammed is buried. I can tell you where Buddha is buried. But I have yet to hear anyone discover the dead body of Jesus. And that really does mean everything.

-Out of the Wilderness

And the winner of American Idol is…

OK, I realize this is not any sort of official voting metric the producers use to determine the winner of the show, but if YouTube views convey anything about the direction voters are going, and I think they do, Hannah is alone at the top at this point in the season (which is right after the first live voting episode). There are currently 14 contestants and the top YouTube clips from the most recent airing are:

Hannah: 295,000

Keyla 185,000

Brooks 147,000

Kyndal 113,000

Hannah and Keyla have been separating themselves from the rest in the last few episodes, and then comes Brooks, then everyone else. It’ll be interesting to see who goes home in the upcoming episode. They originally said they were eliminating 2 and then at the end of Monday’s episode, they said they’d go down to 11. Of course, that supports my theory that American Idol just does whatever they want without really explaining (first it was 2 going home, now it’s 3?) but personal pet peeves aside, I’m a big fan of Brooks winning it all. His voice is mesmerizing no matter what song he sings. Reminds me of how the audience just stopped in its tracks every time Iam Tongi performed on his season.

It might be easier to pick the bottom few singers. Based on performances, YouTube views, and overall vibe… My guess is the following 2 (or 3) to be eliminated are: Julian, Lucas Leon, and Daniel Stallworth.

Who’s your favorite? Comment below!

-Out of the Wilderness

What is American Idol doing??

It’s 2026. A moment in the history of mankind where all of the world’s information is available with a few taps on the phone or computer. Events unfold as people watch in real-time. In fact, with artificial intelligence, FAKE events happen in real-time and look as legitimate as the bird chirping outside my camper this very second. What I’m saying is that in media, nearly anything is possible because of the advancement of technology. So what does American Idol do?

They make viewers wait two weeks to find out the voting results of contestants on the show. Two weeks. That’s 14 days. That’s 336 hours. It takes less time to pick a President (barely). You could travel around the world and be back home in your comfy clothes in that amount of time.

I just don’t get how or why they reverted to an by-gone era this season. There are a few other things I don’t like about the show but the silver lining is Brooks. Remember when he performed a whopping 8 days ago and when Idol airs again, it’ll be 14 days since we’ve seen him? He’s got my vote for #1 because his voice is simply unexplainable. Using YouTube views as a barometer, Hannah is in front, then Brooks and Braden. From the most recent episode, Keyla is standing out from the crowd with her fun performance.

It’s a fine season with a few stars. Not like seasons past but with Brooks, Hannah, Braden, and Keyla, it’s entertaining enough if we ever get to find out the voting results. 🥴

-Out of the Wilderness