American Idol’s Fab 5 – Judges Are Annoyingly Positive and Who Wins It All?

There are only a couple of weeks left in this season of American Idol! It’s gone by so fast. It seems like just yesterday the judges were kissing up to Juan Pablo’s daughter (who was a terrible singer, mind you) but now there are only 5 contestants left – Abi Carter, Triston Harper, Emmy Russell, Will Moseley, and Jack Blocker. Each has their identifiable voice and defined style and while I picked Jack to become the next American Idol, I think the real battle for the top spot is between Emmy Russell and Abi Carter.

And Then There Were Five. Once again, the judges were all flowers and blue skies in last night’s episode. Gone are the days when the judges were more like… well… judges.

The absurdity of the judges being so positive peaked last week when Lionel Richie told a contestant that if he kept fooling around (and singing so great), he might win this thing. That contestant was eliminated at the end of the episode. Either the judges are completely out of touch or they aren’t sharing their true feelings.

But I’ll share my true feelings… Emmy is going to win American Idol. Second place to Jack and third goes to Abi.

Who are your favorites and who do you think will become the newest American Idol winner? Share in the comments…

-Out of the Wilderness

Surfing on Florida’s Gulf Coast!?

It doesn’t happen often that the Gulf coast of Florida has waves big enough to surf but at St. Andrews State Park recently, the conditions made it possible and surfers made the best of it. I can’t say enough positive things about St. Andrews but I’ll save that for another post. For now, let’s get to the last images of surfers sitting on top of the world and if you missed it, here are the first sets of photos — St. Andrews surf 1 and St. Andrews surf 2.

-Out of the Wilderness

The Triathlon is Here… and So Are My Nerves!

I keep thinking of that Taco Bell commercial starring Joe Keery, a horror about nacho fries… and no, the scary part isn’t the upset tummy Taco Bell is bound to give you. The climax of the ad goes like this, the guy is haunted by nacho fries but he exclaims, “You don’t consume me, I CONSUME YOU!” Replace nacho fries with tomorrow’s triathlon and I’m that guy. The race has been consuming all of my thoughts.

The race is tomorrow and this whole week I’ve been a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. The nerves! I’m most anxious (or looking forward to the most?) the swim portion because that’s hopefully where I’ve improved a lot. I’ve also set goals for myself and I *think* they’re realistic. It’s a 600-yard swim I’d like to finish in 13:30, a 16-mile bike in 53:00 and a 5K run in 22:30. Accounting for 3:15 of transition time, that brings the total to 1:32:15. So naturally I’ve set my goal to finish under 1:30:00… as well as placing in the top 20 overall and top 3 of my age group. It’s hard to tell which of those could come true so I think that’s what my nerves are about. I don’t remember this level of anxiety in the last races and I’m not really liking it this time around, if I’m being totally honest. Now I know what that Taco Bell craving feels like. Thoughts of the race are keeping me up and night and I know that that isn’t good for my health… just like Taco Bell! 😜

Adding to the internal drama, an email to participants revealed that the water temperature is over 81° so wearing a wetsuit is at each racer’s own discretion. Oh great, telling an indecisive person to make another decision! Thankfully, I’ve joined a group of triathletes that have oodles more experience, talents, skills, knowledge than I do so maybe I’ll just do whatever they do.

Updates coming soon…

-Out of the Wilderness

Emmy Russell Goes Viral – American Idol

People’s version of what “going viral” means varies but it’s generally used when something becomes popular quickly and organically. A picture of a blue (or black) dress, an odd answer during a Miss America pageant, or a guy becoming happily hysterical about a double rainbow. Those are actual things that were viral in the last decade or so. For this season of American Idol and maybe the entire series, the most viral video of a performance since William Hung’s “She Bangs” has got to be Emmy Russell singing her grandmother’s song, “Coalminer’s Daughter.” At the time of this post, just under 4 days since it aired, the YouTube video has over 810,000 views.

If any contestant is trending at the right time, it’s Emmy. Something about her sweet demeanor and her storytelling voice gained traction since her first audition.

I’m a man of my word so I’m sticking with Jack Blocker as my #1 pick and McKenna Faith in the top 3. But…. but….. but………….. Emmy is peaking at the right time. As Lionel mistakenly said to Kayko 🤔… “If you keep fooling around here, my friend, you’re gonna win this thing.”

If Emmy keeps fooling around, she’s gonna win this thing. Quite an accomplishment for a coal miner’s great granddaughter.

-Out of the Wilderness

More surfing at St. Andrews State Park

I was told there were 3 days of high surf at St. Andrews and even though I arrived with my camper on day 3, the surfers were still taking every chance to ride a nice wave. I think I was lucky to be there to capture some of the action with my camera, as surely I wasn’t going to hop in to join them. Although, I really wish I would’ve brought a boogie board! I think this next set of photos includes my favorite images, even with the first one being blurry, which will bother me till the day I ride my final wave up to the sky.

The last group of photos are coming tomorrow, but I hope you enjoyed these today (and my surf post from yesterday). If you are interested in camping at St. Andrews State Park, close this blog post ASAP and book a site. It’s so worth it.

-Out of the Wilderness