"Crawlin' Out..."

... of a hole.

Man, what a semester... what a school year this has been... I had times where I didn't think it was going to end, or that I just wasn't going to survive it.

This 'hole' seems to have coincided with the illness of my oldest sister back in August... I wrote about it... and then just a freight train  of on-going events.  My sister is somewhat stable, and now my oldest brother is dealing with total kidney failure.

I have had on-going issues with my children... I know some parents are able to separate from their children at some point, but I think I am a great deal like my Mom... they will always be my kids, regardless of how old they are... 

Some of the messes in which they find themselves... Holy Cow...

But...

exams are graded...

grades have been turned in to the Registrar's Office...

Phone calls and email about grades that I "gave" them  are subsiding...

Commencement was Saturday.

I think I mentioned somewhere that I had been nominated for the outstanding professor award here at Alluvial Flood Plain State University...  I wasn't hopeful about receiving it... someone from the College of Business received it last year.  Seldom do back-to-back recipients come from the same school.  Besides, there are many people who get up and come to work everyday and really put forth great effort for their students.

I've been thinking about some musicians with whom I am familiar... and for some reason, they are from Memphis... Memphis has always been a great hotbed of music...

One of the musicians is a fellow by the name of John Kilzer... he played basketball ball, I believe, for Memphis State University... he recorded several albums and had a great Memphis following... Music has to be a most difficult career in which to succeed.

I found one of his songs that I really like on YouTube....

'Memory In The Making'

I used to know the name of the guitarist that played on this album for John, but his name escapes me... much like Nashville, there are great musicians in Memphis.  I've seen John around in Memphis over the past few years... a really nice fellow... I think he is a minister of music today.


My favorite 'unknown' Memphis musician, however, is a fellow by the name of Rob Jungklas... he was a contemporary of John's, I believe.

I finally found my favorite Rob Jungklas song on YouTube...

If you have a good sound card and great speakers on your computer, turn 'em up...

'Memphis Thing'

Augh!!! What a GREAT song!!!!

A few years ago, there was an article about Rob in a Memphis newspaper... it seems that he was on the cusp of having a musical breakthrough... and hadn't been married long.  He spoke of how difficult the life of a professional musician was on a marriage... he chose the marriage over the music career, and last I heard, he's a school teacher in Memphis... How cool...

Well, next on the agenda for Shoes is the trip to Germany and The Netherlands... now I worry about whether I will do a good job and represent myself and Alluvial Flood Plain State in a positive manner...

Mom always said I worried too much...

... and I was awarded the outstanding professor award at Commence on Saturday... I'm still in shock...

All in all, this has become a very good semester...

~shoes~