What I want vs. what I need

I’m in a bit of a spending predicament! There are things I want and things I need and at this moment I don’t think there is one same item that finds itself on both lists. It’s like this itch that needs to be scratched. You feel my pain, right?

Things I want… 

Aftershokz headphones

Palm pocket phone

flamingo yard ornaments

Garmin Forerunner 425 Music

stock in Phillips 66

Things I need…

photo of person holding pen
Photo by Acharaporn Kamornboonyarush on Pexels.com

pay mortgage (every month)

take the dogs to the vet

pay my taxes

anticipate future investments

Sometimes it’s so hard to be an adult! Do you have any nuggets of wisdom to share with me to help temper the pendulum of planning for the future while still enjoying the present?

-Out of the Wilderness

Why do politicians always say they “approve this message”?

It’s an election year so you know exactly what that means. More ads on TV than we can handle promoting this politician or that one. For so many years, most of these ads conclude with, “I’m so and so, and I approve this message.”

I’ve never really looked into it and maybe you have, but in case you haven’t I’ll share my findings now.

Basically, since 2002 it’s required by law (“Stand By Your Ad” provision) for a candidate to use the language in any ad they produce for television. It’s supposed to keep politicians from getting into mudslinging when it comes to their competition. It’s the idea that I, running for a certain office, wouldn’t want to associate myself with an ad that calls my opponent a hurtful name or says something personal or too dramatic about them, so because I must include my name, I’ll keep the ad from being too aggressive or dirty. If you want more details about this, click here for a good article about it all.

There ya have it! That’s the reason for the next 9 months we’ll be hearing this day in and day out. If you’re like me, you don’t exactly care to hear it and it’s more annoying than anything else.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by to check out this post. My name is Ben, and I approve this post.

-Out of the Wilderness

8 movies and songs with “mask” in title

With this coronavirus scare taking over the world and sales of face masks increasing, I thought I’d make a list of movies and songs with “mask” in the title, or if they’re about wearing a mask, etc. I’ve also made a list of 10 movies, songs, and books about pandemic viruses, check it out here. Alrighty, here’s my list of movies and songs with “mask” in the title…

The Mask of Zorro – starring Antonio Banderas

The Mask – starring Jim Carrey

“The Masked Singer” – TV show

The Man in the Iron Mask – starring Leonardo DiCaprio

“Ski Mask Way” – 50 Cent

“Behind the Mask” – Michael Jackson

“Drop the Mask” – Diana Ross

Paper Mask – starring Paul McGann

Honorable mentions: “Can’t Feel My Face” – The Weeknd, The Purge movie trilogy, V for Vendetta, “Face to Face” – Daft Punk, Face/Off 

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

 

Favorite moments from the Democratic debates so far

I’ve somehow managed to watch most of the Democrat debates and thought I’d list some of the most entertaining moments. Maybe that’s why I keep tuning it… because there are enough of these funny, sometimes unbelievable, encounters that can’t be made up. 

Mama said knock you out. Joe Biden suggesting we need to keep punching, punching, punching to make a difference in violence against women. 


White and nerdy. If Bernie Sanders tries out a clever line and no one’s there to hear it, is he still white and old? 


She bangs, she bangs! Amy Klobuchar’s bend but don’t break bangs. 


Amy Klobuchar telling people to go to her website without spelling her name for us. 


No one said you can’t be clear, candidates… no one. We must know you really want to be clear with us, a go-to line being, “Let me be clear.” 


Tulsi “Hotness” Gabbard. Enough said. 


Bloomberg was dis-close to winning the nomination, that is, until his nondisclosure agreements came up in a debate and he had this to say. 


I’m sure there are plenty more unforgettable moments ahead, so stay tuned. 

-Out of the Wilderness

I had a college professor who never used the word ‘the’

It was a strange semester to say the least way back in the 1998. One of my roommates was in the class with me and it didn’t take long for he and I to pick up on this teacher’s quirky mannerism.

Surely it was just a random day where he wasn’t using the word, or he just misspoke a few times, right? Nope. All semester long this guy would skip over the word as he taught us the higher knowledge.

That was over 20 years ago, so why am I sharing this with you now? Well, I guess it just seemed like a story that needed to be told. Because who does that? The use of ‘the’ dates back to almost 1100 years ago so needless to say it’s an important word in the English language. I mean, can you imagine trying to form serious sentences without this word?

I dare you to try going an hour without using the word. As best you can, edit the word out of your normal comments and conversations and see how weird it sounds.

Now imagine you’re trying to get a good grade so you can graduate from college! You see how hard it can be for an innocent little college student trying to navigate world around him and teacher starts doing stuff like this? My roommate and I should’ve gotten A’s for all shenanigans we had to deal with 🙂

-Out of the Wilderness