Hungry Librarian

A classic for any Jazz lover, the sheet music for Blue Turning Grey Over You was released some point in 1929. The master of the pining lovesick ode, Jazz legend Thomas "Fat's" Waller coyly plays his distress over a lover moving onto the next new love and leaving him in a colorful sadness.

Paired with the snappy words of Harlem Legend Andy Razaf you get a wail of a lovesick heart trying desperately to dance its way out of pain.

This song has over 80 decades of finding an audience to resonate with as evidence by it's numerous covers.

While initially composed in 1929 with Fat's signature cheeky jauntiness, The Great Louis Armstrong grabbed a hold of this song a year later and slowed it down to a mournful moan of despair. His trumpet yowling out it's bluesy complaints.

This was a pattern that many covering artists followed. The most notable exceptions being Billie Holiday's silky purrs of annoyance in 1951 and Ringo Starr's (Yes, THAT Ringo Starr) boisterous big band cover in 1970.

I believe in always admitting that I’m wrong.

My children, ages 4 and 6, hate being buckled. I don’t know why they do, as there has never been a time when I ever allowed them to not be buckled. But now, no matter how much pleading, bargaining, rulemaking, I do, they have decided that very principle of not wearing a buckle is the sword they are willing to die on. Which is problematic for several…

No servant can serve two masters

The more I delve into the business world, the more I’m beginning to understand that the way you interact or run a business, (be it an employee, management or owner) it’s essentially an extension of yourself.

For most of my working life, I’ve always believed that I was two separate people when I worked and when I was at home. I believed that in order to be successful, I had to separate the two.…

Makers of Music, Dreamer of Dreams

What does it take to be exceptional?

When I say exceptional, I’m not talking about being good at something. This concept extends way beyond just being “good”. Exceptional is in a completely different plane because exceptional is in the realm of mastery.

Exceptional people aren’t satisfied with “good” or “fine”. In fact, they thrive in living in the unknown and the uncomfortable. These people push…

This week has been…overwhelming.  That’s not much of a surprise, though. I frequently get overwhelmed, I can probably count the times I’ve been ‘whelmed’ on one hand.

This week, I can thank Capsim for my stress.

(Capsim, a simulated program where I run a million dollar business for the next 13 weeks. On which, my grade is hinging on its success or failure.)

There are many things I don’t…

How to succeed, if you’re me

Congratulations, Ricqui. You’ve survived a semester. Now, how are you going to survive the next semester?  Education is a path that can bring a new perspective of the world as well as enlightenment on God’s love for His children. This is not an easy path to walk, I have discovered myself. Now that I’m at the end of this first step, I have learned a few things that could potentially be helpful to…

From there and back again

Here we are at the end of this semesters chapter. Here I am to answer the question that seems to be lingering on all of my professor’s lips “Well, have you learned anything?”.

For the sake of time and my typing fingers, I will narrow down the various life and educational lessons to one.

While I have learned a great many things these past few weeks, the greatest has been, what I have to give.

Have…

A tale of a planner

I’m still very very very very sick. Please accept this essay I wrote a year and a half ago as an adequate substitute. I think it pertains well to what we learned this week about finding balance in our lives.  Thank you.

  I am terrible at managing my time effectively. If things aren’t written down I forget them almost immediately. I have a hard time remembering names, or dates and I’m sure my…

How to adult–sickness edition

Illness is back in my household. It came back with a vengeance. It started with me when I got the Head Cold from Hades. It snuck up on me disguised as seasonal allergies and then knocked me out for the entire week. Then, at the end of the week, my daughter got struck by an awful stomach flu, and anyone who has kids know, it’s impossible to do anything other than take care of your child. When…

I have been thinking about this a lot, this week.

I have a wonderful privilege of being surrounded by many business owners and strong leaders. I can see first-hand what a good, solid leader can accomplish and what a not so strong leader can destroy.

I resonated strongly with President Kim B. Clarks commencement speech Leadership with a Small “L”. The world could use more people who try to lead…

One of my favorite joys in life is being in high places. I love standing on top of peaks, large boulders or even climbing up high in trees. I love being on the tippiest of tops, looking out, and breathing in the magnitude of the Earth below me. For me, that shift in perspective is addicting. The world on the ground can seem persistently large and demanding, yet once I climb a few meters up, they…

7 Ways to be Highly Unproductive: True examples from just this week

Monday: Keep telling yourself you’ll do it later/tomorrow

My alarm went off at 5:00 AM, I had 15 minutes to wearily throw on my workout clothes and shuffle out the door to the gym. After some mental math, I convinced myself I really only needed 5 minutes. What I really need was 10 more minutes of sleep. Hit the snooze button, doze off.

5:10 AM, alarm goes off. 5 Minutes to get to the gym. I don’t…

Behold, my awkward teenage glory

When I was 16, my parents sent me to a wilderness therapy program. I was probably the most pathetic student of a wilderness therapy program that ever was. In the beginning, I cried every day and spent the majority of my time feeling sorry for myself. I did as little as possible and hardly touched the therapy work that I needed to do in order to leave. It took me an embarrassingly long time to put…

One does not simply walk into Mordor

“A hero’s journey is all about you, but it’s not about you at all”-Jeff Sandefer

Every year, I try to make a point to read the Lord of the Ring’s series. It’s one of my favorite set of books. It seems like every time I read them, I learn something new or see something in a different light than I previously have which, fans of the series know, that’s not unheard of for the series. J.R.R. Tolkien…