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
At sunrise, it was downright frigid: frozen dew on the truck, breath floating in the air. Weather is probably the #1 reason I joined the gym last week so did I go to the gym for this morning’s workout? Of course not! Why would I do something so level-headed?
I was determined to ride 30 miles on my road bike– of course, I hastily made that promise to myself before I checked what was going on outside. Oh, great… overnight temperatures are in the low 30s. Beautiful. But I couldn’t back out, not when Strava is watching.
You can’t tell, but that’s me under all those layers. 3 layers in some places, in fact. It was cold. So cold I only cared 9% about where I blew out my nose as I rolled down the local greenway. Multiple nose clearings, too. It was a show for sure. But I did it… I finished all 30 miles with cold toes, a messy nose, and striking a pose (see sexy pics above).
More training ahead (maybe at the gym next time?) as I approach the first race of the year. Just a short one but it was a lot of fun last year- The Super Bowl Duathlon down in Orlando. No affiliation with the actual Super Bowl (legally, I probably have to say that) but it IS the day before, so there’s some kind of connection there. Hey, maybe Josh Allen will come by before Buffalo wins the Super Bowl. He can maybe see how the common athletes live.
Hello there and thanks for checking in on how my dating life is going on this, just the second day of 2025. Of course, not much can happen in two days so let’s call this the baseline for the year. The starting point. The “how it started” half of those picture montages.
Before we get into it, here’s a quick recap of how dating went last year…
Yep. Crickets. Well, that’s not totally true. There were some (few and far between) bright spots– a date here, a date there– but listen, if you’ve heard dating in your 20s and 30s is tough and 40s is nearly impossible, it’s all true. I can’t say everyone is suffering, surely the good-looking people are probably having a grand ol’ time because well, they’re good-looking. They can “slide into the DMs” and it’s flattering whereas us regular people do the same thing and it’s “creepy.”
We can’t all be Ryan Gosling, I guess.
At the tail end of 2024 a potential date popped up. I kept my excitement to a minimum but I was secretly pretty happy about it– looking forward to finishing the year with a sizzle but unfortunately, it fizzled. It turns out that a date cancelling the night before really does suck. I’ve been pretending for about two weeks that everything is fine after the abrupt cancellation but the truth is that it’s still affecting my mood. It’s like I was in a desert and saw a spring of water but when I got there, it was just a mirage.
I’m more on the hopeless side of being a hopeless romantic but I’ll cling to the part of 2024 worth remembering: Something can pop up so fast. I’ll also commit to put myself out there more. That whole miss 100% of the shots you don’t take thing. But seriously, I’m fine.
Country singer Morgan Wallen surprised fans (and everyone, actually) with a new music video on New Year’s Eve. In the video, he sings on the stage of a late night show and right off the bat you can see he goes off script, which worries the producers, director, and crew. The song becomes an instant hit, much to the delight of the producers, director, and crew. Take a look then scroll down for more…
All That Glitters. The relationship is fizzling, but the video is sizzling. As in sizzling hot! His fans are over the moon to end one year and start the next year with the surprise music video. It’s very well done, too. Director Justin Clough did a great job capturing the highs and lows of television… when things happen that can be super good one minute then dramatically bad the next.
Funny how that industry parallels romantic relationships. It’s amazing one day and disastrous the next. Sort of what Morgan’s singing about…. smiling for a picture as if everything is golden when it’s really just yellow.
If this is any indication about the state of country music in 2025, I think we’re in for a great year. I’d love for the genre as a whole to return to songs with deep, emotional lyrics about heartbreak or how life can be rough but fulfilling. Enough of the soft, lovey dovey boyfriend, formula crap from the last few years/decade!
As 2024 comes to a close and everyone prepares to watch Ryan Seacrest for 43 hours while he preps us for the ball drop in NYC, I thought I’d do a quick review of 2024. Skipping over the valleys, here are my top 10 mountain top moments of the year!
Triathlons. This one was easy to pick because I’ve loved (almost) everything about the training, racing, community I’ve found with this sport. Even in the race where I had my worst accident (more here), that still was one of my favorite races because I performed well (except for that clumsy accident, of course) and there was a family-and-friends cheering section for me and my brother-in-law. Good times!
Reading. The best book I read all year is “The Housemaid.” It’s a young adult book so I guess the entertainment part of my academic brain is still an immature teenager but by golly, the twists and turns of that book, plus others I’ve read throughout the year kept me on the edge of my seat. I also read a book about Roy Orbison that was very good, too.
Camping. Always a highlight of each year and 2024 was no different. My favorite place to settle in for a few days–or more– is St. Andrews State Park in the panhandle of Florida. Besides that park, I also managed to find campsites near triathlons so it was fun to double up by getting to camp and race in the same place.
Joining A Gym. I haven’t been a member of any gym since Covid but just last week I ended that streak. I’m excited to workout with weights again, all in an effort to be a better triathlete in 2025.
One is Silver. Through various activities in town and out of town, I’ve expanded the group of people I call friends. A lot of them are connections to things I enjoy so we’re already like-minded in that regard whether it’s… for instance… triathlon stuff, church, or dancing. I’ll also add in family here. They’re the reason I returned to Florida and haven’t regretted it for a second.
Dancing. It’s like square dancing but it’s called Contra. If you have a chance to try it, I bet you’ll get a kick out of all the music, laughing, and not to mention it’s a great workout too. I’ve loved going somewhat regularly in 2024.
Vote. Every 4 years we get to vote for who we want to be President of the United States. This was one of those years. In spite of the non-stop political commercials, it was good to be part of the democratic process. Of course, it helps my morale knowing the person I picked got elected but beyond that, I think he’ll return America to a sense of normalcy and we can all flourish because of it.
I Do. I didn’t… but my niece DID get married so that was a fun season of the year. Maybe not for anyone tasked with any of the wedding duties (there’s a whole heck of a lot of stuff that surrounds a 30 minute ceremony, sheesh!) but this niece is the first of the kids in the family to take this step, so everyone was happy, teary, nostalgic, and excited.
Books. My books continue to sell. I won’t be on the New York Times bestseller list but even having a few sold here and a few sold there over the course of the year gives me a sense of accomplishment. The hard work I put in with the whole process of each book continues to bring a return (happiness, and a few dollars) so for that, I’m grateful. Whether it’s friends or family, it makes me happy that people are enjoying the books! Plus, a church here in town purchased some for a particular ministry and it’s that kind of unexpected blessing that has this year ending with a sizzle (and not a fizzle)… also, if you want to order a book here are the direct links…
Writing. It’s hard to believe I’ve been writing here every day since January 1st, 2020. Crazy how time flies, right? I’ve loved challenging myself with writing so much but I had no idea I’d continue it in 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. I guess I’ll roll on into 2025 doing the same thing… except hoping to be more creative, more transparent, perhaps more personal posts, but at the same time writing about music and TV and movies and commercials and maybe even dating ;).
Thanks for checking out my blog today and I hope you come back often. I post every day at 1pm central!
As 2024 comes to an end and Walmart is already decorating stores for Christmas 2025, I thought today’s post would be a good time to mention how “O Holy Night” has been popping up more than usual… even around the holiday season. Kind of like when I went to Vietnam in 2006 and somehow “My Heart Will Go On” was heard everywhere we went. And mind you, this was about 10 years AFTER Titanic came out in theaters. So it’s not like it was a new song. Asians love Celine Dion, I guess?
Besides the artists you’d normally associate with this song, here are a few new performances of “O Holy Night” by three fantastic singers, one of which I was most surprised by– Billie Eilish. At the end she says she’s not religious at all but just loves Christmas music. Hey, most of the best Christians would say they aren’t religious either… and that’s a good thing. 😉
Next is young country gospel singer Anne Wilson. Her vibrato is… I can’t put my finger on what I love about it but some things just don’t need to be defined, right? She’d probably consider herself religious and it comes through with so much joy in her music… like this song for instance.
And the final is from a former contestant on “The Voice.” And what a voice it is from Thunderstorm Artis. I heard him sing this on a TV show that I can’t remember the name of but this rendition below is just as good. He’s got that shaky vibrato, too, and now I wish I had it so I could sing in public and people would stop what they’re doing to listen.
Do you have a favorite version of this song? Don’t you think it just might be the best Christmas song ever? The lyrics get me every time. And the soul felt its worth.
Out of the Wilderness 