To Date or Not To Date, That Is The Question

I’ve decided to split 2025 in half as a way to distance myself from the first 6 months. Admittedly, it hasn’t been a great year overall up to this point. That’s not to say I’m unhappy or moping around everywhere I go. There have been really great moments with family, friends, triathlon training, trips, and more. But the few lows have kind of stolen the spotlight for the first half of the year. I’m thinking of the gigantic goofball mistake I made back in April. Want to feel good about yourself? Read about my blunder here. I’m also recalling the seven date-rejections in a row. And they weren’t just women politely declining to go on a date with me, or even just a missed friendly get together. Let’s just say the worst that it got was a few months ago: I was on the way to coffee with a woman when she messaged me that she had to back out. I WAS ON THE WAY!!!!! Who does that 30 minutes before? To clarify it more, nothing catastrophic popped up in her life. She didn’t just find out her mom died or that she won the lottery. She just simply cancelled on me and said she wasn’t mentally in the right place. What’s worse, this was the 2nd time she said yes then said no. I guess I’m a sucker for punishment, aren’t I? Want to hear something even worse? A couple of days ago I saw her on a dating app. Still waiting on that text where she’ll tell me she’s in the right headspace now.

No need to dwell on the negative things, though. The second half of this year is going to be great. In fact, I’ve already gone on a date and it was just what I needed. We got pizza and talked for nearly 2 hours. She’s kind, sweet, funny and completely separate from whether it turns into a second date, I’m very happy that even a first date happened at all. I’ll admit I expected her to cancel sometime on the day of the date but I think she was as excited as I was. How refreshing when someone does what they say they’re going to do! So old-fashioned, so mature.

I’m determined to make the next 6 months better than the last 6. I can’t do it on my own and obviously things will happen that are out of my control but by the grace of God I won’t make any dumb mistakes and maybe, just maybe I’ll have a second dinner date sometime soon.

-Out of the Wilderness

Boycotting Sin

Two honks and a negro came together for their *second* album (no, “Nu Thang” was not DCTalk’s first album!!) and the other day I was on a road trip which gave me time to listen to the entire thing all the way through. It came out in 1990 and features songs I liked called “Walls” and “He Works” and “I Luv Rap Music.”

It’s interesting to listen to this album after the stuff about Michael Tait came to light recently. The three guys were so young at this time in their career. They had huge success just on the horizon, I wonder if they knew how big they’d get in the music industry? Success, pitfalls, so much ahead for the guys.

Listening to the album, it has all the signature sounds of late 80s rock/rap. “Cold kicking it,” sampled music, electronic instruments and voices. I’ll admit this isn’t my favorite DCTalk album, that would probably have to be “Jesus Freak,” or the album that will forever be special as it introduced me to the band– the self-titled album with the song, “Heavenbound.” I was a trumpet player growing up so I loved that song the most.

“Nu Thang” was fun to listen to from beginning to end. The title of this post is a line from the song “No More,” in which Kevin digs deep for a gritty, soulful, church choir type delivery of the chorus. Side note: Is there a voice from the 90s more unique and incredible as Kevin Max? Nope.

I don’t remember that song from my childhood in the 90s but, while the sound and style is dated, it still made me smile with its simplicity, Biblical truths, and innocence. I’m still clinging to a thread of hope that the band will get back together again but I know it’s highly unlikely. Until then, I guess I’ll just “take it to the Lord.”

-Out of the Wilderness

I Just Moved Here

When I moved to Nashville, I don’t even think Google Maps existed. I remember going to AAA to print out maps when I would go on trips. My first job in Nashville was driving a van of guests to and from a local restaurant (which doesn’t exist anymore, by the way… RIP Stockyars Restaurant!). Without navigation, getting around Nashville was not easy! But that whole time was one of the best experiences because it gave me an opportunity to learn the roads pretty well. And when I didn’t know where I was going or made a wrong turn, I would say…

Sorry, I just moved here.

Fast forward to this week, over 20 years later, and I was doing some work when the client asked me a question I didn’t know the answer to. Long story short, I ultimately just said “I don’t know.”

It’s funny. I thought I’d have everything figured out by 46 years old. It might be true that I know less than ever, or at the very least I’m becoming more aware every day about how much I don’t know.

-Out of the Wilderness

G20 the movie where a 59-year-old woman kicks everyone’s butt!

Shout out to The Critical Drinker for the review of this movie. He’s just one person with one opinion but he nails it on the head. And dare I say he speaks for a generation. OK, that’s a bit dramatic but he does point out the obvious… in no scenario real or imagined would a 59-year-old woman kick the butt of a man twice her size and half her age. Maybe that’s why I found myself bored and asleep by the end of G20, a movie on Prime starring Viola Davis as President Danielle Sutton. Would I have voted for her? Maybe. But not because I thought she’d take terrorists to the woodshed. As I slept peacefully, the movie ended and Prime rolled right into “The Countdown” without my knowledge (or my consent!). How dare they.

I don’t know how G20 ended but I’ll make a guess that President Sutton came out looking like a bada$$ hero, right?

-Out of the Wilderness

More Fun with Samsung Drawing Assist – Artificial Intelligence

Last week was the annual beach week family reunion and now I’m sitting here wondering how it went by so fast? The only way I’m going to remember anything is by rewatching the video I made… and this definitely doesn’t include half the events of the week.

In my spare time, while I wasn’t editing videos (which is also my day job), I was playing music, taking a nap or two, tending to my pups, and showing people a fascinating feature on my Samsung S25 Ultra. The s-pen is worth going up to the Ultra, y’all. Here are a few drawings coupled with the renderings from Samsung AI. Pretty cool, I think!

A police car courtesy of my nephew.

A car my brother drew.

A pig designed by my niece.

A giraffe from my drawing skills.

I just saw that the Flip 7 was released this week, funny because I was considering the Flip 6 but not really, because they totally backtracked on the entire reason they had a small outer screen but I don’t want to rant! The Ultra is awesome and I’m really loving the drawing features.

-Out of the Wilderness