Musing Interruptus

A podcast meant for sharing thoughts, stories, enjoying idiomatic phrases and words in general. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation.  Hello. Welcome, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Today, Don’t Tell Me What To Do, Mr. Project! Let’s disregard the almost two-minute intro that has its own name, ‘Sirius’. It deserves its own name. The song within the song. The whole thing is kind of self-aggrandizing. It is like playing up your kid a little too much in hopes your kid will live up to their potential. My child is the best child. There is no other child! This sucks for the other siblings, as many of us can attest to. Then again, ‘Sirius’ becomes the perfect segue into the song ‘Eye In The Sky’. It really does deserve its own name. My beef is actually with Mr. Projet and his trying to tell me what to do. I’m talking about Mr. Allan Parsons' Project, of course. If you weren’t aware of his whole name, you now know it. Mr. Project decided to make a song that deserves its own podcast. I will dedicate an episode of Musing Interruptus to it.  While I listen to this song, I can hear two stories happening at the same time, and the cover story. The cover story is that this song was inspired by the idea of constant surveillance by Big Brother, like George Orwell’s 1984. It is like when artists prefer not to disclose their true inspiration. After listening to the song a couple of times, I can see why. I’ve discovered the true story. Here it goes. The second story is a conversation between Mr. Project and a partner during a breakup. I’m positive! Hear me out. Mr. Project, or Allan, is telling this person, that the situation is complex, it seems like something unforgivable has happened. When he says, ‘Don’t think sorry’s easily said’ it seems like a recrimination, either to himself or his partner. What is unforgivable is the repetition of the act! I’m guessing your run-of-the-mill infidelity. Progressive rock doesn’t strike me as a genre that would inspire much impetuosity or passion. Then again, the content of this song tells me there is madness and obsession running through Mr. Project. These feelings are passion’s dumb and ugly brothers. Bottom line, he is not going to give any more chances. He tells his partner, look, you can’t be my spouse anymore because you are a drunk. Your stories were fun for a while, but I just can’t go on. I got this from the phrase about the sun in your eyes… that can mean somebody is drunk. So we are dealing with someone who makes promises or says things and does not come through. Plus there is this whole thing about turning tables, which means, reversing the situation. Allan or Mr. Project is telling this person, “I acknowledge you are trying to manipulate me and it is not going to work.” And then he tries taking control of the situation by telling the other person what to do… issuing a warning as if he were anticipating their poor judgment and guilt! Basically, he is saying, think before you speak, put in your filters because you are just going to make this worse. As if his interlocutor was a child. I don’t think he thinks much of that person.  But that’s not all! There is a menacing warning that follows, it is intrusive. Mr. Parsons says he knows what you are thinking, he can read your mind, just by looking at you. What is he, Santa Clause? Seriously, red flags all over the place. He says he is the maker of rules and can cheat you blind. This guy is bad news. I don’t know what the other person did or didn’t do, but this seems a little over the top. I think you need to take a step back Mr. Project. We should reconsider our whole relationship. Then, to top, it seems like he is convincing himself, in an inner dialogue, that he should ... continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina, and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! We need to carry on for the living. Some have children, some don’t.It is important to find a reason to care, things that move us in life. The living’s well-being for one, your own well-being, is a great place to start. That which gives meaning to your life can change throughout your existence. What you want to experience in your lifetime is fundamental knowledge. Where do you want to go, what do you want to see, what change do you want to be a part of? What do you want to create? How do you want to be remembered? The path becomes clearer when we start to answer these questions.I was thinking about all of this because a dear student has been struggling with an ailment. She suspended our work, temporarily. Just until her health picked up again. We worked together, one-on-one; our classes were sweet, sometimes funny, and we did homework together. And there were stories.I’ve told lots of stories, or parts of them. Shared thoughts. Some of my favorite stories are in music. When we listen to music, we get a part of the story. What the writer was feeling is revealed and accompanied by music and instruments, all of which communicate a piece of a greater tale, a description of a person, or the depth and hues of the atmosphere. Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina, and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." Do you know who is famous for saying that?What a go-getter.Go-getters are quite a breed of people. I wonder if you can become one yourself if you are more of a procrastinator, or would rather be a lover than a fighter, maybe even just sit around doing nothing at all, waiting for the evening to roll in. This is less than procrastinating. Procrastinating would imply some sort of resistance to doing something right now, postponing it for later. I mean, the type of person who is not doing anything now, and never mind later.If you are that type of person, there is hope for you, yet! Go-getting might be in your future. This is not something impossible to attain. Once this happens, you start making lists, prioritizing what needs to be done, until eventually, your morning is packed with activities you never knew could be important, like taking out the organic trash before the acids eat through the plastic container or cleaning the tops of the cabinets in the kitchen well before the grime reaches 4 inches and you need something to scrape it off and bucket to haul it away with. Oh, the things you can accomplish before 10 am.Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! Today, on what it takes to have a heart-to-heart. It sounds like two hearts talking to each other, doesn’t it? If it weren’t a metaphor, that kind of invitation would seem frightening because of the implications. When we get through this, you’ll probably come to realize that that image is child’s play. The reality behind this type of conversation is not for the faint of heart. This is hardcore. Hero stuff. The kind of activity that requires you take a deep breath before you start. Wax on wax off. If someone is inviting you to have a sit-down to talk, and mentions heart-to-heart, you’d better believe that they are looking for the most punk version of yourself, and they want the opportunity to be honest with you as well. Be prepared if you accept. That’s someone looking for the real thing. Not everyone can offer that, and not all the time, and definitely, not to just anyone.The utopia of having everyone be as honest as possible might be appealing to some, but to others, it is a nightmare, especially if the person on the other side lacks the awareness and sensitivity to identify what messages are necessary and which are unnecessary and hurtful. I think these people tend to get off on reactions and shield themselves behind the overused I’m just saying it like it is.  I’m guessing the antidote is empathy, pertinence, consent, and context. You know, underneath clothing, we are all naked; we don’t need to see all of each other all the time. But there is a valid point in there, somewhere. Remembering we’re all just naked can  go a long way to being gentler, keeping an appropriate distance, unless invited to shorten the distance.  Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina, and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! It’s going by so quickly. Everyone says that. Everyone feels that. We get reminded of it, like a swift, blunt kick to the head, every time someone we care about dies. How many times in my life have I had to say to myself, it’s over? A relationship, a person’s place in my life, a person’s life. It's normal and natural. Last night I had some trouble sleeping. I was uneasy, and I kept wondering what it would be like to die. Can pain reach such a high level that it can kill you? Not yet. People die from other things. Diseases, accidents, old age, not pain, not directly. Some other ways we don’t need to bother mentioning. Someone passing can leave us with the feeling of being stranded at sea. A churning stomach, anguish, and melancholy. Stranded at high sea. I’ve been deep-sea fishing, and it is not only the nausea and the movement that never ends, it is a sensation of helplessness and vulnerability from being away from terra firma. Such as the helplessness when we are faced with a someoneless world.  Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! Gone Fishin’There are many fish in the sea. How many is many? What does that imply? Will there be fish for me? What if I take my fishing rod, go out to sea, and catch nothing? Not even a sardine. I’d feel terrible. Plus, I get seasick, so that would make it a doubly terrible day. Then again, what if a whale takes the bait? I’m not sure I’ll be able to reel that catch in. Whales are pretty big. I might need help. It would probably be best if I didn’t catch a whale. Why go fishing in the first place if I can only catch a certain type of fish? I might catch a mackerel or a tuna. Catchable fish. What if I like that particular fish? They might have a beautiful name or be excellent conversationalists.I’ll try not to think of it much. I’ll just go fishing. I’ll hope for Pirates of the Caribbean but I imagine I’ll get something along the lines of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea. At least there will be adventure. I know we aren’t really talking about the sea or fish. It’s about people and opportunities and platitudes.You might hear this when a relationship has not gone your way. You get your heart broken, and that means your friends will provide a list of platitudes that will do nothing, except maybe distract you for a moment. This is a very nice thing to have done for you when things are not going your way.

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! Inquiring minds want to know! Why Do It?That’s a decent question. It begs to be asked and sometimes gets ignored. How many things do we do on autopilot?Thankfully, there are many. That means you don’t have to remember. Breathing, swallowing saliva (I forget how to do this sometimes, and cough up a storm). It still embarrasses me. There are many biological processes that happen on their own. They are called autonomic or homeostatic processes. I’m glad, because recently I’ve realized that I get more distracted than I used to. I leave little unfinished surprises around the house, a laundry basket with folded clothing that is half put away. Last Sunday, I uploaded an episode of Musing Interruptus to YouTube and then left the it in Spotify as a draft. How odd. That little surprise woke me at 4 am on Monday. One click later, I was back in bed and asleep. Odd. That must be an autonomic process, my body waking up if I don’t finish something, closing the process. I’m glad I don’t have to remember to breathe or tell my heart to pump. Then there are the things one does because that is the way they have been done for a while. Breakfast time, how you butter your toast (if you still do that), the way you lace up your shoes, the place you part your hair and how many times you brush each tooth in the morning, after lunch, and before bed. Ok, sometimes I forget to brush after lunch. Have you noticed the way you towel yourself off after you take a shower? Do you ever wonder if you follow the same patterns as your parents when they wrapped the towel around you as a child? Being gentle is a tribute to their care.Things become a bit less automatic when it comes to our jobs. If you have a say in it, then you might work in something you like, that interests you, or maybe something you are passionate about. That isn’t always the case. Sometimes we do jobs that pay the bills, nothing more, nothing less. When asked, What is your dream job? Some people quite honestly say: I don’t dream about working. Truth be told, it is difficult to find remunerated activities that cause high levels of emotional rewards. Difficult, but not impossible. Continue Reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Listen to Musing Interruptus if you like stories and learning idiomatic phrases in different contexts. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! Why do you do what you do?This is a question that might plague you on restless nights. Why did I do that? Why did I respond that way? Why didn’t I say this or that?Oh, if only I had said this, things would have gone differently. Those pesky hypotheticals that take up your time, thoughts, and energy. All of which should be focused on sugar plums, jumping sheep, the monster under the bed, or Mr. Sandman. I wonder if there is a Ms. Sandman by now. These are thoughts and energy well used before sleep, which should take us to a good place in our dreams. However, the would haves of the day or worse, life, can and will keep you up at night, if you don’t put them on a leash. That’s right, you’ve gotta tether those thoughts, rein ‘em in, just like a cowboy does with cattle. 

I loved watching TV when I was a kid, almost as much as I loved diving into my fantasy world. Sometimes, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on my dolls for their next dialogues and adventures. Whenever I write, I visit that place. Whenever I’m invited to play, even if it is just for a moment, I get transported there. That was the magic of teaching children for me. We played, and I had to oscillate between keeping the peace and being the guardian of the rules. Not as difficult at you might think. When I was in a classroom, my height helped. However, when I became a high school teacher. I went back to being short. It’s all relative, you know? Teaching is a very safe place for me, I need it as much as my students need it. And I love that. (I’m glad you can’t see me as I write this. There’s blubbering.) Teaching is a love language and a huge responsibility. Sometimes we have the opportunity to make up for other teachers’ shortcomings, and I pray that other teachers are able to do the same for mine. I’ve been thinking a lot about this recently because a student talked about feeling safe. That made me think about all the mistakes I have made. I hate them. Mostly because I hope they didn’t affect my students. Teaching is an awesome responsibility. Learning is not always easy. We have to face hurdles sometimes. Hurdles like explaining that water, although considered tasteless and odorless, is not all the same.But wait. Isn’t it two hydrogens and one oxygen? I mean, that’s it, chemically speaking. It’s true, but there is more truth than meets the eye. So I’ll tell you a story https://tinyurl.com/mwk7psr2

You could haveRight off the bat, you know that this is going to be aggressive. You could have… This is how you are alerted that someone is about to throw something in your face. Not a cake, mind you. Although you might wish it were a cake, it would probably hurt less and you could lick some sweet frosting or whipped cream off your face. I would. I might wish someone would throw a cake in my face. Yellow cake with sweet whipped cream. As metabolisms change, you make nutritional decisions that make sense for a healthy body but not for cravings. You realize the only way you get a taste of sheet cake is if someone slams it in your face. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I imagine that is why the older you get, the more irreverent you get. 

We love to give advice. Hell, I wish I could have a radio show people would call into to tell me their problems, rant, and disclose secrets. That would be fun. I love flying off the handle. This is one of the ideas I have for an upcoming radio project with my friend Dr. Gabrielle. I’m psyched and kind of scared. The best feelings to have when you are about to start a project. Did I mention that it will be in Spanish? Will you like me in Spanish too? These are a few things that cross my mind. What kind of advice would you give me? I know what I would tell my students. I just could do with someone telling me those things in a determinedly convincing way, right now. To express advice, you could use the phrase: If I were you, I would… This might be better than using the imperative: do this, do that. Cinderelli. For instance, if I were you, I would create a media strategy to rouse listeners for your radio show. Something is enheartening about the phrase if I were you. It is the element of empathy. It is undeniably there, in the the subjunctive were bridging I and you. You recognize that what you are expressing is a hypothetical and that you have gone through the steps of using your imagination to be the other and to disclose what you would do for yourself. If I were you says they have imagined putting themselves in your shoes.  You gotta appreciate that.  Continue reading

Charlie Brown would commonly exclaim, Good grief from being surprised, not necessarily in a good way. More of a way to express dismay, maybe being let down. Being let down is a good way to start to think about grief in general. We feel grief when we lose something or someone. That feeling seems to take the place of that person. I emphasize the word seems because people cannot be replaced. Ever. When I heard Pope Francis passed this morning, I started to grieve. I didn’t expect to, only because I didn’t know how important he was to me, to know he was in the world. When people do good things in the world, they don’t have to say anything. Their actions speak louder than words. That said, it is good to recognize the good people do. Who knows, it might start a movement. I remember when he became pope. This was the first time I was excited about a person at the Vatican. I was aware of what it meant for our region, Latin America, and our shared cultures, to have a leader in the Vatican. From an International Relations perspective, this was big. A Jesuit voice from the third world in this institution. Then other things kept coming, he was eager to use his position to express progressive ideas (progressive for the Church) on the role of women in the church, the lgbtq+ community, the mother’s and family’s of the disappeared, migrants, to sum it up, the teachings of the Church applied to real life issues. I was baptised a Catholic and this was the first time I looked toward the institution with a feeling of hope and possibility of seeing someone apply the tenets of Christianity. I won’t reflect on the inner workings of institutions. Not today. I’ll be grateful for a person’s life who meditated on and spoke out about issues of social justice and acted from a place of love, because he believed in a God who has love for all, in a Chuch that welcomes all. A man in one of the highest positions of power in his milieu. That moves me. His messages moved me several times. He reminded me there is a possibility for change when I felt most at a loss. We know how important it is to say things out loud to make them visible. He did.  That’s two things that come to mind when I think of him. Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Within Garden Walls by Blue Dot.The mix and master were done by Chuy/Jesús Darío, my sound charolastraWhat would the world be without music? Just noise.In the beginning, it was dark, and quiet was interrupted by clamors and clutters, knocks, knuckle raps, the rhythmic sounds of intercourse, yips and yelps, cries, collapses, wind rustling through trees, firecrackling, the sounds of destruction and creation, the roar of the waves, and the fury of the rain. From gentle and inviting to mind-numbing and deafening.It was dark, even when light shone through, beckoning us to organize, repeat at certain intervals, and communicate. Percussions that traveled from our mother’s hearts through umbilical cords and cells and atoms. The beats that would mark humanity's artistic expression of sound. The hearts that set the beats to one of humanity’s greatest developments. Music.It was how the leaf and bamboo reeds became flutes, hunting bows, lyres of Ur, and eventually guitars. Eventually, happened over and through North and East Africa, Mesopotamia, and the Mediterranean, the Greek, Roman, and Spanish empires via the Moors. Too much to mention in a few lines… Too important not to notice.From the randomness and chaos of earthly existence to the systematization of sounds to a beat, humanity arrived at symphonies, a collectivity communicating our history and experience. Strings and winds and percussions and brasses that have accompanied our existence. Crippling solitude is an illusion via the realization that it is not unique. Oh, it is shared across grids and ranges. Music surrounds our senses, not just the auditory. That is only part of it. It is the vibrations that emanate from the earth through our limbs, the intention and intensities, the command of interpretation. What of the lyrics? If any? Words that accompany and explain our existence by regaling victories and failures, articulating feelings, all the feelings, basic and complex. All our thoughts. Weaving in and out of fiction, immortalizing, making that which is internal visible and known. Pendular movements are traced in the evolution of musical expressions. You must learn the classics to appreciate the contemporary. To hear the resistance and how musicians push back, push forward, creating genres. None isolated. All embryonic creations paying tribute to the mother’s heart. 

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Floating Whist by Blue Dot.The mix and master were done by Chuy/Jesús Darío, my sound charolastraWhy did the chicken cross the road? Why does anybody cross the road? Why not stay on this side? Things can’t be that bad if others are trying to cross to where you are. Stay. Let them visit and tell you the stories of what is on the other side. Besides, you are safe from foxes here. You don’t want to become a box lunch for those rabid critters. These are the things our clucky friend would hear in the chicken coop every time they brought up their wonder. The chicken, who is in fact brave and curious, could not let the false and unfounded responses dictate their destiny. They could hear the other chicken’s lack of awareness and fear. This chicken must. The other side of the road was waiting and oh what a delight to satisfy their curiosity by crossing that dusty road. There must be more than the coop. Truly, if you had been there, watching this descendent of the red jungle fowls, you might ask, why not travel up and down that road? Also, have you tried going up, as you have wings. The answer is not complicated.As Mr. XS sings in the song “Never Tear Us Apart”, we all have wings but some of us don’t know why. I think Mr. XS was talking specifically about our friend the chicken.- Domesticated. Exploited. Made to believe they had nothing more to offer than the promise of eggs laid. The chicken didn’t know much, but something would not let them peacefully accept what was tacitly accepted around the coop. Something.There is always a thing in these stories. And here it is:The fixation the chicken had about crossing the road was necessary and simply the stepping stone to other possibilities. Most beings need to build towards more lofty goals. We do not eat an apple in just one bite, unless it is those tiny Rokcit apples from New Zealand. Which I hope one day to taste. Please send apples. I’d rather go and pick them myself. I too must cross the street or go down it. On second thought, I should probably fly. That chicken and I have much in common. Why did the chicken cross the road? Because they needed to start somewhere. Kind of like Mr. Cocker at the supermarket. The greatest journeys start with putting one foot forward, I hope it is the best one. If you set out to explore the world or learn a new language, there is always a first step, sometimes against the innermost demons. You know the kind, the ones whose voices make you second guess your wishes and abilities, the ones that make you stop before the project has even begun. Stabbing your will to move forward, and the phrase, what’s the point? The death blow. If you aren’t careful, it will make sense.  I bet this is resonating more and more with my unconscious mind. Or is it yours? Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I’m curious! The background music is called Young Buck by Blue Dot.The mix and master were done by Chuy/Jesús Darío, my sound charolastraThe last one. In Spanish, la última y nos vamos. We all get there if we live long enough. Actually, time is only relevant for the firsts. What I am getting it is more a matter of perception. After a heap of firsts, we come to realize there will be a last. I've prided myself in learning at an early age to enjoy the moment. Close my eyes when I listen to music and submit to the chain reaction. Look around the table and feel the love. Laugh extra hard instead of emitting a muffled chortle. Mindful about the good things. I felt like this was my superpower as I was growing up. I knew that nothing would last and that I had better enjoy every moment. Of course, I didn’t. I did my best.- Some days, I was great at it; others, I focused on what I didn’t have, the frustration from feeling left out or not getting what I wanted. That can be exquisite. Continue reading

A little regret does us all good. I might be changing my day job soon. It really all hinges on this story. We start out with a little Frank Sinatra and then make our way to a killer vacuum cleaner. This is not only possible it happened and there are AI pictures so you don’t have to imagine all of it. On Musing Interruptus, anything is possible. Listen. Read along. Share your thoughts [with me]. Disclaimer: I am not sponsored nor have I been offered to promote the vacuum cleaner mentioned in this story. I just really, really love mine and I write about things I love. Especially if it is silly. Read along https://tinyurl.com/s3pscrkc 

Musing Interruptus is a podcast for learning idiomatic expressions in different contexts. This is not a textbook. If it were a book, you would read into my soul and bump into creatures from my imagination. Today… Saying goodbye should be taught in school like equations. The ones on the exam are never balanced, much like relationships. The absence of this subject is not felt on account of Fleetwood Mac and  Stevie Nicks; they do it spectacularly. Listen. Read along. https://tinyurl.com/2mu3kdxv Share your thoughts [with me].Writer and voice: Renée ValentinaMix and master: Jesús Darío

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Matamoscas by Blue Dot.The mix and master were done by Jesus Darío, my sound partner. Today, The Fact of The Matter. Since there are many truths, they should each have a name! They kinda do, if you turn to idioms. For the record, idiom has a false friend in Spanish, idioma.An idiom is a phrase that has a different meaning from that of the sum of the meanings of the words in that same phrase. For instance, the idiom when pigs fly means that something is impossible. However, the sum of the words paint the picture of pigs propelling themselves with their curly piggy tails, like early propeller planes. If you ask someone for a favor and they say, when pigs fly, they are not trying to entertain you, they are saying no, never ever, just forget it.Back to the truth. You might get the truth from the source, in that case you would say you got it straight from the horse’s mouth. So you see, this doesn’t mean you actually got information from a horse. But that would be something, to be interrogating a horse, under a hot lamp, with their hooves hooked up to a polygraphy. I’ve never known a horse to lie. I think that a lie detector test is unnecessary. I think you can trust horses to tell you what they think about you. That goes for most of the animal kingdom, except human beings, who tend to lie, pretend, and hide their intentions to get something from you. Not all of them. I know a great deal of very decent and good and basically lovely human beings. I’m lucky that way. Horses are generally good eggs. If I had to wager a guess, I would say that that is the reason we say, straight from the horse's mouth to indicate that information comes from a reliable source.  Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Sino de Cobre by Blue Dot.In case you haven’t noticed, I’m an English teacher. I have been an English teacher for 25 beautiful years. One of my favorite topics is “false friends”. I don’t mean people who pretend to like you and spend time with you on false pretenses. The kind you aren’t supposed to love, and regrettably end up giving your heart to—those I don’t like. Every now and again it has happened to me. I’ve had my share. Luckily, today we are going into the world of trickery, one in which we can play silly games just by talking. False friends are words that look or sound the same in two languages. My favorites in English and Spanish are fabric — fábrica, avocado — abogado, actual — actual, agonizing — agonizante, ass — as, brink — brincar, cull — culo, excited — excitado, grit — gritar. Some situations can be inadvertently funny and of course, borderline ridiculous if you misuse false friends. For instance… Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Musing Interruptus is a podcast for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, subscribe, follow, and share, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! Don’t be shy! The background music is called Vernouillet by Blue Dot. The audio was mixed and mastered by Jesús Darío, my sound charolastra.Don’t get on the wrong side of crazy or Mexicans. I think the crazy one is self-explanatory. I have extricated myself with the swiftness, grace, and agility of an elephant at William’s Sonoma who was previously spooked by a terrifying jumping spider hiding in a teapot. This is a good reason why we should not open teapots in these types of stores. Had the elephant stuck around, he would have had to pay an awful lot in dinnerware, plates, and glasses… you break it you bought it, Mr. Elephant. That is life. However, there are loads of people who seem to get away with things.  Why an elephant would go to William’s Sonoma in the first place eludes me. You can order everything online. It is much more efficient that way. Of course, that is not my point at all. Or is it? Getting away from crazy has been an inadvertent pastime of mine. I’m talking about the crazy that won’t get help, by the way. I take no issue with crazy that is in treatment, on principle. Life offers a myriad of choices of hard things to deal with; choose your hard.  Continue reading