51. Waiting for Pertinence

Musing Interruptus is a podcast meant for sharing thoughts and stories and 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. This Musing will suffer the interruptus numerous times. If anything rings true to you, or you take great offense, share your thoughts. I’ll start with phrases that I love to use. I have my favorites sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the context to elicit their pertinence. They add color and texture to the conversation. For example, the following question has been…. Waiting For Pertinence today, on Musing Interruptus. Have you ever had a fun layover? I think most people would say no. That’s life, isn’t it? The endless layover from the Garden of Eden to Heaven. Seemingly endless, until it is over. There is no final destination without traveling. Travel light, especially in the heart and in the heels. Figure out the secret, what it’s all about. And that is an internal affair. You’d better figure it out sooner rather than later. So we have to travel and make the best of this layover we call life. When I think of layovers I can’t help thinking about a good o’ roll in the hey. I think a good layover should include that.  A word I like and seldom have the opportunity to use is, sidestep. So, I’ve created the opportunity for myself… Sometimes you have to sidestep the first thought you have. This means you avoid it. It also makes me think of dancing. You might dance with your thoughts. The first thought that comes to mind is not destiny and not penitence. Just because you think it doesn’t mean you want it. There can be many reasons you think what you think. So, cultivating thoughts is pertinent. You can identify the right thought, you can train the right thought. You can learn how to think because it is right to think that way. For instance, the scientific method teaches us not to jump to conclusions. There is a method to the madness of truth. You can focus on certain thoughts and not others. Our minds are beautiful muscles capable of so much. Notice the difference between the right way to think and the right thing to think. One is about methodology and the other is plain fascist.  Methodology is nice. Power is nice too. The power behind the phrase, that is not up for discussion, implies you are the owner of the agenda, you dictate the topics that are spoken, you have set the topics, or even more, you are the owner of facts. Which may, in fact, reflect a very good memory. That could be the case. I like all these scenarios. I’d like to be the owner of a powerful memory and be the owner of a lot of facts. I would put them in the bank, amass interest. Perhaps reinvest my earnings straight to capital. That is how memory should work. Not this whole, oh yeah, you forget why you came to the kitchen in the first place. Dealing with the smirks and giggles from the refrigerator, percolator, and Dutch oven can be disheartening. Forgetting the word you need at the precise moment for a punchline. The word you need that happens to be imbued with meaning. Or any word for that matter. Being forgetful can be challenging. I’d love to make a withdrawal from my memory bank, please! Don’t make me pull a heist! I will rob this memory bank if you refuse to give me what I have come here to withdraw. Don’t ask me to repeat myself, because I have forgotten.  As you can see, the waiting room and sidelines are crowded. Not all things are worth saying, some phrases don’t need to be put in the game.  You know, the word pertinence has a cognate in Spanish, pertinencia. Some words share a