Posting daily at 1pm central about all kinds of things. One day it's dating, the next it's TV commercials. I hope you're entertained. Professional photos on SmugMug – https://benwilder.smugmug.com
Megan Moroney just added the video to accompany her song “6 Months Later.” Who else thought it would be a song about being pregnant and the father left 6 months later? Just me? Mmmmmmk this is awkward. Well, it’s less serious than that… Check out the video then scroll down for more!
The Dude. The villain/love interest in this music video is an actor/model named David Koulakav (@dkoulakav). It’s crazy how much he and I look alike and we both have lived in Nashville. People must’ve mistaken for me for him all the time before I moved, they were just too nervous to say anything around such handsome features. I get it.
Do you recognized him from any other country music videos? Hint: He’s in one from another top female artist singing about a breakup. Did you guess Carly Pearce? Good job, here’s David making an appearance in that video.
Congrats on a fun video and great work by all the cast members. Be sure to subscribe below to get notified of my daily posts!
I was going to start this post by saying that I’d forgotten how good the Chic-Fil-A chicken sandwiches were but I don’t like to lie. I remember exactly how good they were over 10 years ago when I withdrew from the meat-eating world and went straight vegan.
But that was then and this is now.
This year has had some milestones in my life and one of them is ending my vegan diet. I’d started it as a way to minimize allergies (my friend challenged me to cut dairy out but I went further and cut out meat too) way back in 2014ish and around Easter of this year (2025) I’d decided the vegan diet had run its course in my life. It was time to open up the menu again, stop being so stubborn, and get some protein (that’s a joke). It’s been a few months and just yesterday I ended my Chic-Fil-A streak when I ate the most delicious chicken sandwich.
Thank you for the Lord’s chicken, it was scrumptious!
Today’s post is inspired by… country music! Have you ever been sitting in a rocking chair, watching the birds, trying to identify which call is coming from the trees? Is it a cardinal? A hawk? A mockingbird? But then you scrap those questions to meet up with the boys to go cruising for chicks?
No, you haven’t. I haven’t either. Why? Because people who care about refilling the bird feeder aren’t going to clubs on the weekend. There’s a giant age gap. I was listening to country radio the other day, yeah the radio still plays music, and a Kenny Chesney song came on. Now before I say what I’m about to say, I want to say this: I like Kenny Chesney. Some of his songs are at the top of my list for country favorites, and by golly an all-time any-genre favorite is “Anything But Mine.” What a fantastic song. But I was listening to the radio and there was a 57-year-old man singing about the awesome experiences of high school. First love, going out on a Friday night, football games, and that girl you like in class.
Umm, Kenny, you’re 57 years old. Blink twice if you forgot high school was 40 years ago! It’s time to move on. I guess I could find some high school yoots and ask them if an artist like Kenny Chesney is relevant to their generation. Maybe they love his relatable music? I don’t know. I’m not about to approach a high schooler though. I can think of 17 other things I’d rather do.
I starting feeling really awkward listening to whatever song that was. Dang it, I made a mental note to remember which song so I could write about it later, but hey, I’m 46 years old and my memory sometimes has hiccups. That’s normal for someone in their 40s and 50s. Singing about touchdowns and prom queens is not.
In entertainment news this week is a beloved couple, Chip and Joanna Gaines, and their new show featuring 3 families competing for the chance to win—- oh wait, they don’t win anything! Well, that’s lame. The purpose of “Back to the Frontier” is to help participants gain an experience that might improve their resilience, increase their appreciation for the simpler things, and grow closer together by way of living without modern conveniences. In other words, get off your phones and live in the moment, you addicted sons of— Oh wow, sorry I got carried away there. OK, no phones. But also, no toilet paper, makeup, electricity, or grocery stores. Are the women going to have hairy armpits? Will the men wash their undies? This oughta be interesting.
Also, there’s no prize money. Don’t forget that. I guess The Gaines’ are the only ones walking away with fatter wallets. But none of the aforementioned stuff is why there’s controversy surrounding the show. Here’s the gay news: Some folks are upset that there’s a homosexual couple (with their 2 kids) included in the casting. The reason this is bubbling up on social media is because Chip and Joanna are Christians and I guess that means they can’t speak to, be friends with, look at, get within 6 feet of, any gay person anywhere at any time. But they better heck be wearing their WWJD bracelets!
Everyone who’s upset about the casting of a reality TV show– emphasis on reality and TV and show– needs to just…
It’s a TV show, not applications to become the next pope. Get a grip people! I’m not going to watch the show for a few reasons, but who is or isn’t appearing in the show isn’t one of them. More closer to the truth is that I don’t have cable and I pretty much detest all reality shows. Plus, did I mention there’s no prize!? So let me get this straight (pun intended): they want us to sit down weekly to watch people grow emotionally and become better versions of themselves? Booooooooring! No thanks. That’s the gayest thing I’ve heard this year.
I remember sitting in the humane society for nearly 3 hours with a beagle puppy on my lap. I was told she couldn’t be set down onto the floor because we were in the cat room so she couldn’t touch the floor (but why??) so we sat there, Piper on my lap while I spent the entire time petting her belly and overthinking the idea of having a dog. Am I making a terrible mistake? Am I too young? Am I really a cat guy?
The twist to the story is that I’m allergic to cats… and Piper wasn’t my first dog. Many years earlier I thought getting a dog was the coolest thing I could do. I was in my early 20s, living with my parents, and working part time. What could go wrong? Welp, me and that dog lasted all of one week.
Little did I know that my life would take twists and turns after that. I travelled some and it wasn’t long before I landed in Nashville, Tennessee, footloose and fancy-free. I worked a lot, made new friends, and if I had a dog, it would have been hard for me and so unfair to the dog. Early in my video production work, there were many 12 hour days so if I had a dog, they’d have to go to a kennel… a lot. That’s no life for a dog! The decision to get that first dog seemed right in the moment. Now that I can look back, I was such a goofball to think the timing was right. But hey, I was 23 and knew everything!
Fast forward about 7 years and Piper came into my life. A year later, Asia. They were the perfect fit at the perfect time. That was over 15 years ago and I bring all this up because some young people I know (who shall not be named) are thinking of getting a dog of their own. My story is an example of having to learn the hard way and it looks as though these people are super happy to put themselves in the same situation, one they’ll look back on with regret. Doesn’t that sound like big fun?
If I could, I’d tell my younger self to stop it. Thinking about getting a dog? Stop it. You have no idea what you’re doing. Stop it. Also, wash your clothes more. But the road ain’t no place to start a family! Oh goodness, I had no idea Journey lyrics would make it into this post but here we are. The lyrics kind of fit though, the people I mentioned earlier are on the road all the time: traveling on vacations or to and from work. The dog just chilling in a crate for 8 hours every day. What a blast.
I think the problem is (and this was true for me, too) younger people think having a dog is joy and fun and playing and snuggling and laughing and everything’s sunflowers and moonbeam ice cream. Well, it’s not. Plus, that isn’t even a real flavor of ice cream (is it Benson Boone??). Hardly anyone mentioned anything to me about the responsible side of feeding, caring for, sacrificing time and money, missing things, and all the stuff that goes into having another whole entity in my life. When you’re young and basically have no responsibilities, why would you tie yourself down on purpose? Don’t be a goofball, you goofball!
Plus, one of these people I’m vaguely describing doesn’t even like dogs. And here they are about to adopt… A DOG. Kind of like me going on a date with an atheist. What exactly am I hoping to get out of this, is what I should ask, right? Side note, I DID go out with an atheist once. Cool woman. She helped resurrect my dating life, so she was an angel for saying ‘yes’… just don’t tell her I sprinkled her with Sprite so now she’s baptized. She’d anoint my head with her fist if she ever finds out she’s going to Heaven one day.
But seriously, why do some people (me included) have to learn the hard way when it’s very possible to learn from other people’s mistakes?
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Out of the Wilderness 