Just Put Yourself Out There

I made a joke about the lack of dating I’ve experienced this year and it was followed up with someone saying that I need to put myself out there. Where is “out there” anyway? No one knows. We had a good laugh about it which is better than the alternative, I must say.

So where should one position themselves for optimal dating potential? Lots of people would say the grocery store. That’s sort of a classic answer but I don’t really believe women want to be hit on in the grocery store. How about church? Again, that’s a hard no. In the gym. OK, we all know that’s a terrible idea. So I’m left with women in the car next to me on the road! “How did you meet?” They’ll ask. “Well, I was stuck and traffic and he held up a sign that asked, ‘Want to carpool next time?'”

Yeah, that’s not creepy at all. 🤪

So I’ll say it again, like I’ve said before: If you’re married, try with all your might to stay married because dating is one of the least fun experiences people can have in 2025. I’ve only had 2 first-dates all year and both women almost immediately went back to an ex. Good for them. Bad for me.

What’s a guy gotta do to get a girl in this town? The answer is rather elusive, I’m afraid.

-Out of the Wilderness

Galaxy S25 Ultra Drawing Assisted by Artificial Intelligence – Part 3

Another round of doing something I love– drawing! But I’ll admit that many, many years ago my talent plateaued harder than the 2025 Kansas City Chiefs. So for the last few decades I’ve been stuck drawing like an elementary student. It’s sad, really. But now that I have an awesom phone (Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra), my mediocre artwork transforms into something way better. When I was looking for a phone upgrade after my Flip 4 crapped out, the S25’s “Drawing Assist” was the clincher. Here are a few recent pieces– see how fancy I am now? Calling my drawings “pieces”– along with a story or two.

Musical artist Bad Bunny is all over the news because of the Super Bowl halftime announcement. But what about a “good” bunny? I gotcha covered!

This one serves as my current phone background. The colors offered when it was transformed through AI made me love this owl…

When my brother was in the hospital, we wanted to know which type of fan he wanted us to bring from home. Instead of describing the two types we had easy access to, I drew a pic instead…

I asked for a drawing challenge and “Godzilla kicking a soccer ball” was the suggestion. I was actually pretty happy with my own drawing, but then AI made it better yet again.

My niece was going to a friend’s birthday party so I sent this to her along with the encouragement to have a good time there…

Who doesn’t love elephants?

-Out of the Wilderness

The Kansas Pity Cheats Lose Again!

Why does it feel so gratifying when the Kansas Pity Cheats City Chiefs lose? The truthful answer is that they’ve been a good team for a long time and we’re in the “hero becomes the villain” era. That’s a subtle nod to Travis Kelce’s girlfriend, by the way. Kelce racked up some good statistics in Monday night’s game featuring his team, the Chiefs, against the hometown team, Jacksonville Jaguars.

If you didn’t see the game, you missed a classic. I had just written that college football is the best but after last night’s back-and-forth, the NFL is pretty darn entertaining, too. It helped that the Chiefs lost, of course. Take a look at the wild touchdown from Sunshine to go ahead with just a few seconds left.

It was an awesome game. Like a crying baby, Patrick Mahomes complained about every missed catch– it HAD to be interference. But the referees kept it mostly honest, even though I think they still lean towards favoring the Chiefs if and when possible. And should we talk about the buffoons in the booth? Troy Aikman and Joe Buck have the ickiest love affair with Mahomes and the Chiefs. In their eyes, it’s the Chiefs and then there’s everyone else. Never more obvious than when the game was about to start and they said something to the effect of this: Want to know how good your team is? How do you stack up against the Chiefs?

Did they mean the 2-2 Chiefs? Well, now the beloved Chiefs have 2-3. Joe and Troy might want to find another team to ogle over.

Good job Jaguars.

-Out of the Wilderness

6-7

When parents find out about it… AND start using it, the trend is over. Or at least, it should be. Maybe we can get Dr. Rick from Progressive to put up some short videos. Not “new homeowners turning into their parents” but something like “parents trying to be cool with the yutes”.

Basically what I’m saying is that when people my age find out about some random trend among teenagers, that trend has already been around awhile and probably is on its last lap of popularity. 🤞

Have you heard about the 6-7 thing? I still only sort of know what it means. I guess that means I’m officially too old to understand. But wait, I’m also too old to care. It has something to do with someone’s height. A basketball player, LeBron James, maybe?

It’s just another reason (along with “bruh” and phone addiction and “mid” and TikTok and the list goes on…) that I’m glad I’m 46 in 2025. To their credit, and all I really have to go on is my nieces and nephews, the high school/college age person seems to be taking all of this in stride. They’re (mostly) able to juggle a thousand things coming at them from all sides. So to them I say, good job. Keep it up! But then I whisper under my breath, “Thank God it’s not me.” Growing up in the 80s/90s/2000s had its own share of inside jokes, chaos, and temptations but it just seems like kids today have it a lot harder. Maybe we had hundreds of things competing for our attention, now it’s in the thousands.

But still, some of these trends that pop up couldn’t be more annoying and if I ever partake and I’m not doing it ironically, call Dr. Rick.

-Out of the Wilderness

College Football is THE BEST

The game didn’t go the way the hometown fans wanted it to. At the end, the visiting team had more points on the scoreboard. But the few hours between the kickoff and the last whistle is what I love about college sports. Entertainment at its best.

The college football game I went to was Florida State hosting the University of Miami. One takeaway is that there’s nothing like the energy of a high-stakes night game. Yes, there was a football game. One team won and one team lost. There were big plays, bad plays, drama, excitement, anxiety, all over the stadium. But it wasn’t just the 60-minute game that I enjoyed. It was time with my sister. Watching the kickers and punters warm up. Listening to the band outside of the stadium before the first kickoff. The good old fashioned enjoyment of ‘sport’ and it was great.

I love sports. For the entertainment. The life lessons. The underdogs sometimes surprising everyone. It didn’t happen in this particular instance but what a fun time anyway.

-Out of the Wilderness