Musing Interruptus

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina, and this is Musing Interruptus, a compilation of stories, rants, and sometimes nonsense, hopefully for your enjoyment. You can read along; just click on continue reading in the description to open a Google Doc with the transcription of this episode. For my students; 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. For everyone: if you like it, subscribe, follow, show your support vía paypal, share your favorite episodes, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I love hearing from you! Today, Bordering the LineA guy is walking down the sidewalk, avoiding the cracks, human contact, and contact with anything. The sound of his leather soles against the concrete sidewalk and the sounds people make when they are trying to accommodate someone's needs compete for our attention. This person couldn't care less about anyone else. The next stop is a psychiatrist’s office and then back home. The many compulsive acts seemed to culminate at the bathroom sink. The hand washing protocol seared into my mind. A few lathers of a new bar of soap under scalding water, toss the bar, open another. Do it again. At least, that’s what I remember. Or what I chose to remember from that movie. Do you know which one I am referring to? Continue reading

Hello, Welcome. I’m Renée Valentina, and this is Musing Interruptus. A collection of thoughts, stories, and a few idiomatic phrases. If you enjoy it, subscribe, follow, share, and make a contribution vía PayPal, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I’ve missed hearing from you! Today, the impermanent calm before the stormAn event in itself - that calm- actually happens. I’m not saying it’s a rule. Just that it actually happens. I’ve experienced that type of calm several times. It feels like a grounding process. As if it were possible to gather energy from the Earth for something about to come. For the fuckery the universe has in store for us. What makes this type of calm different from everyday life is the thought that slices through the air and my temples. A sharp instruction: enjoy this, before the storm comes. And I always second-guess it. What storm? I argue with my intuition, mistaking it for insecurity, and that place where fatalism lives and spills out and floods the rest of my brain. Parallely, and just in case, I ask myself not to lose my true north, to remember to take care of myself, and just breathe. An eerie atmosphere, indeed. I wasn’t second-guessing much this time. So far, I’ve managed. –Unlike past occasions-, I’m able to navigate this with a certain aplomb and acceptance of things to come. Acceptance of that which spans out of my reach, far from my control. A fatiguing powerlessness. The thought, what’s the use of resisting, keeps coming to mind. Nothing good comes from resisting arrest, resisting change, or resisting loss. Nothing.The eerie calm before the storm included a reset that sent me down the hole of faux helplessness. Looking back, I don’t really understand my reactions. It was unlike me to make decisions so impulsively. But I did, and I immediately suffered them. A simulated great loss that orbited away, out of proportion and out of this galaxy. I even got an afternoon to cry over it. The next morning, I was able to -undo- it. That’s why I say it was simulated. Everything was put back in its place so I could strategize, back up, and make the necessary changes with a plan. -Like any rational and functional adult.- In retrospect, I flew off the handle for something that pales in importance when compared to what was really to come. For whatever reason, I had this overreaction; it was great to vent, you know, let off steam. Unknowingly making much-needed space. I even got a surprise visit from out-of-town friends and one great night of sleep. All in all, I had gathered my bearings and put things in order. What a year this has been. Much more than what I bargained for. My sister reminds me to give myself grace. I hope she does the same. I can grasp that the evolution of normality is not only a matter of perception; it reveals a need and longing for stability, continuity, and peace, to say the least. I say this instead of accepting impermanence, impermanence being a construct that assures nothing except what defines it. Learning to find peace amidst constant change is the real task. I assume that is real stability. I long for it not to be a challenge. To at peace with all of it, including the possibility of losing someone. Uncertainty doesn’t help. And being at peace with it doesn’t mean it won’t hurt or that it is comfortable. At this point, I think it means not hurting myself through resistance. 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.A voyeur in recovery. Many many years ago I decided to be more respectful of people’s stories and my own. The energy they contain should not be exploited lightly. There is a reason I write what I write and never show what I paint publicly. It’s not just because I’m not a very good painter.With the recognition of the hallowedness of that energy comes a clock that runs on a Platonic schedule. You will learn in due time [and struggle]. This might be applied to the people we meet, teach, and learn from, those whom we love. A Freudian metronome that marks the time in which we pursue certain types of relationships, with ourselves and others. Some stories are shared with that type of precision.Continue reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Du0UyCQOvcI6_ZNf25j5QDr66LY_-mcM84JPWWTyHLI/edit?usp=sharing

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.Yes, you too can join the ranks of the go-getters. They also come up with ideas and find ways to execute them. They take interesting vacations and know where they want to eat, what museums to visit, including nocturnal experiences that the natives might enjoy, before they even board an airplane. Some might say it is a matter of having the right lever and fulcrum, which are different for each person. Or so we would like to think, and some even deign to say out loud, my fulcrum is awfully special, so says my psychologist, or my lever is bigger than the rest, so I get tired faster, but move greater masses. Others quietly get by and enjoy when their fulcrum and lever are admired, once evidence of movement and creation are evident and prime for praise. Things get interesting when you realize that the size of the lever and the type of fulcrum are all in your mind. A great many possibilities begin to open up. I think you can. But it is best if you think you can. Continue reading: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TftMnZyFr936c1HzpaSEHrTyUZehkySbpDkUOD3N86s/edit?usp=sharing

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

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 Rose Ornamental by Blue Dot.Children usually abandon their imaginary friends. You heard me, abandon. The sheer amount of movies alerting us to this situation is telling of the magnitude of this issue. You think I’m joking. That’s ok. You’ve been conditioned to believe that. I’m not clear on whether or not we were supposed to stop using our imagination. The people who continue to use it are generally very successful. I wonder why we are asked to stop. Who does it benefit? Why is adulting correlated with rejecting or suppressing that aspect of childhood? Why are societies more tolerant of childlike irresponsibility and carelessness in adults than of imaginary friends?

It's a Valentine's Day special on Musing Interruptus on the state of limerance!! Is this happening to you? Can you do anything about it? Here are some thoughts...Listen, watch, and read along: https://tinyurl.com/uer3p9y5  and share your thoughts [with me]. Voice and dialogue: Renée ValentinaMix and master (sound charolastra)= Jesús DaríoBackground Music: Blue Dot 

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click oncontinue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow, subscribe, and share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Drop a comment with your answers to today’s questions! I really want to know. The background music is calledLechuza by Blue Dot.I’ve looked into the olive eyes of a young man who saw the object of his desire on my person.I noticed him noticing me a few blocks away.We were alone on the streets of Le Kremlin Bicetre, a comune in Paris. Mid-afternoon Sunday duringla canicule never felt more like a desertedmadrugada. There is no better word in my vocabulary.Madrugada is the word that encompasses the early hours of the morning. Dawn sounds too hopeful and would be misleading. Anungodly houris also misleading since I know the gods always watch from their kinky voyeur posts. Seldom interceeding. A conundrum weexplain away to protect faith.Madrugada is the right word to express the atmosphere of that afternoon in Paris. Etimologías de Chile, a website, provides further explanation. The Spanish,Madrugada, comes from the Latinmaturicare,which means mature and ripe, and also that which happens soon and opportunely or even precociously. The adjectivematurusmeans good and favorable. The adjectivemanis/manedescribes a family’s spirits, protective of their living relatives, who are worshiped in return. You can see whymadrugada fits my story best.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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; just click on continue reading to open a Google Doc. 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 The Shoes They Wear by Blue Dot. Picture this: you have an opportunity to cause a scene. It is coming down to the line. You either take the opportunity or regret missing out on having a new story. This is what I imagined raced through the minds of streakers. Streakers are people who go to public events, become nude, and run in front of everyone, exposing themselves. I thought this was funny and shocking. I mean, breaking the dress code of an event can be disrespectful.  My friend tells me it is strategic to have a variation of no more than 10% in either direction, dressing up or dressing down according to the prescribed code. A streaker breaks all protocol and puts on their birthday suit. What could be more natural or appropriate in this lifetime than wearing our birthday suits? It is counterintuitive, isn’t it? You should wear clothing, especially to cover what we call private parts. This is a social convention and a requirement in some finer establishments. No shoes, no shirt, no service. I promise I'm not as snobbish as I sound.  There is an economic reasoning behind this. The distinction between our public and private parts favors the existence of a market, from erotic photos to downright pornography, and I dare say, it makes a space for those who find the need to expose themselves in public or for the voyeur crowd that is seeking an opportunity to watch. Possible false economic reasoning aside, there is more to it.

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; just click on continue reading to open a Google Doc. 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 Tajo by Blue Dot. Sometimes, you need someone to write a song about you. Stevie Nicks wrote a song about asking her special someone if anyone had ever written a song about them. Say that 10 times fast.  The truth is you don’t need a song to be explicitly written about you to feel like you are seen or even connected with the rest participating in the experience being sung about. That is part of the beauty and my fascination with music. Love songs are understood and felt by at least 50 people at any given time, 100 if it is a Beatles song. That is a fact that I just made up and I hope will catch on.  Basically, the more popular a song, the more common the experience. Again, I wonder if that is true. I’m making up a lot more things than usual today.  Now, a piece of truth:  I’ve fantasized about communicating with lyrics and song titles. The farthest I’ve gone is in the lines of every other Musing Interruptus episode and on Twitter, where I add song titles when I retweet memes, random pictures, quotes, and news. Although I recognize it is annoying, I do it anyway. Maybe someone else sees what I see. It could be the beginning of a story. Imagine it is a good story. It’s best to let it happen.  According to my guesstimates, there are at least 50 other people at any given time who might get it.  Nobody needs a song written about them. Just because I don’t need it doesn’t mean I don’t want it.  There have been people who threatened to write a song about me.  All talk and no song to be seen or had. This has inspired me. So, guess what I’m doing today? If you guessed writing a song in the style of Jarvis Cocker in his early years of Pulp, you would be right. I’m hoping that someone will pick this up and put music to it and then we can sing it together.  I love Pulp, and I wish for a Pulp song about me, Mr. Cocker. Unfortunately, you don’t know me. If you did, you might not write a song about me either. I don’t think I could give you the stuff your Legendary Girlfriend has given you. Or that woman who you were inspired to take to the supermarket, because, you had to start somewhere. And Hardcore, well, don’t we all want to know what they do for an encore? But what about you, Mr. Cocker?  After reading Good Pop, Bad Pop, I wrote this song inspired by the author, and I imagine Mr. Cocker could sing it. Perhaps there is a rule about not having to write songs about yourself and having to sing it. So. I’ve written it, and if Mr. Cocker never sings it, I may have to find a decent impersonator.  In my defense, I will just remind you that imitation is a form of flattery. Whether it is good or bad is a discussion for another day. A few notes for those of you who aren’t familiar with Pulp. The band’s music is a brilliant combination of late psychedelic rock narrated by a very sensual and self-aware lounge singer, I say this in the best possible way. All of it. He has been deeply inspired by Elvis Costello, Barry White, the Beatles, the Velvet Underground, the Stranglers and the Fall, Pink Floyd, and so much more.    Now, I will proceed to the most pres

Hello, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. I created Musing Interruptus as a space for my students and anyone interested in discovering idiomatic expressions in different contexts. Usually, I write stories and rants. On occasion, I do what I love doing most: interviewing interesting people.  Today, we welcome Jordan McMillan Valenzuela: man, entrepreneur, musician, firefighter, and dear friend from childhood, the family our parents picked out for us.  Today, he is in my hometown, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.   

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow subscribe, and share it, 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 Tall Tell by Blue Dot. Don’t read. Read as little as possible. Try not to read at all. This is what I think is going through some of my college students' minds. According to the INEGI (2024), the National Statistics and Geography Institute in Mexico, and UNESCO, and other sources, Mexico has a literacy rate between 95 and 99%. In 1975, 25% of the population was unable to read. The subway system in Mexico City is a relic of this. Instead of writing the name of the station, you see a picture. This is great for people who cannot read and makes traveling around the city easier for tourists. The public transportation system in Mexico City is great. I love using it, except during peak hours. Back to literacy, INEGI (2023) reported that 68% of literate people aged 18 years or more read -something- mostly online, some books. The average of books read in Mexico is 3.4 a year. That is two decimals less than a few years ago.  Let’s remember, the country as a whole can read. This is a beacon of hope. However, as a professor of International Affairs at the National Polytechnic Institute, I have noticed a reliance on the use of artificial intelligence to write papers. This is troubling. Primarily because some of my students have been known to turn their papers in without reading the content or ensuring the activity is in line with the instructions. I have even had students who, not once, not twice… but many more times, have demanded a higher score for these activities, completely ignoring the content or objective of the academic exercise or my feedback.  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow, subscribe, and share it, 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 Calisson by Blue Dot. What kind of food would you want for your last meal? What kind of question is that? Some cruel and unusual game, aimed at putting you in the worst possible mood because it implies you won't have another. Thank you, by the way. My 3 am self salutes the person who asked me this.  The many ways to feel the fire in the belly include actually putting irritating food in there. Spicy or fried or both. But we mustn't be literal, as we seldom are in the Musingverse.   For those of us who celebrate January 31st as the last day of the year, we might experience a diminished version of this feeling. The last meal of 2024 is just a night away. Some traditions call for foods that symbolize or attract abundance, like lentils. To me, that is a healthy option, especially if you are having a late dinner. Others might stay away from the symbolism and have a downright feast. Perhaps the last feast before the festivals in a few months, the first to come next year.  My younger self partied. The meal was irrelevant. The drink was circumstantial. The music was everything. And I had traditions with people I loved (and still love). It was a sort of conjuring of the good vibration. A summoning of love and good fortune. It never occurred to me to think of money. Just a beam of love. Like a carebear. I would forget that I am human and need to make money, pay rent, bills, medicine and insurance policies. Just love.  Maybe if I had see Wolf Of Wallstreet my efforts would have been oriented to more lucrative endeavors. Would my family and friends have gone along with the festivities? I don't think so. Hangovers get worse as years progress. Singing and dancing for a few hours might leave you tired, hoarse, and full of endorphins. And circumstantially hungover. This is how I would concentrate a different type of fire in my belly. A meditation in movement and sound to harness motivation or maybe to prove that I can. Who is adverse to a little show of power? Especially if it is for a greater good? Outside the walls of myself. 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, 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 Child’s Play by Blue Dot. It’s coming down to the line. I’m sorry, but our ideas haven’t given us the desired results. One person suggested we parent-trap Santa and Mrs. Claus. You know, Lindsey Lohan style. Let me tell you, they both saw straight through it. They were having none of it. Someone else suggested we dose them. But we would just lose time waiting for the effect of the drugs to wear off, and honestly, that is not ethical. We can’t do anything illegal. A singer floated we organize a live aid for Christmas Spirit. But we all know what kind of reputation those events get, and it becomes all about the divas. Raúl thought we should just go to the North Pole and take over, but I reminded him that we don’t have the magic Santa has. He knows if you have been naughty or nice. He sees us when we are sleeping and knows when we are awake and who we are thinking of in the shower. He knows who ate those marshmallows in the cupboard and how many you can stick in your mouth at once. And why your mother’s favorite vase actually went missing. Did you scratch someone’s car and not leave a note? Santa saw that, too. Did you needlessly break someone’s heart? You’re getting coal in your stocking for that one! How about taking Saturn’s name in vain? Tks… Were you speeding on a deserted highway? Did you break out of Hotel Califonia? How about throwing a brink through a window? Ghost your friends? Sadistically mistreat your underlings at work? At least three of you know what I mean. He saw that, too.  He also saw when you helped a complete stranger and supported your friends and family with no expectations. He saw when you took care of yourself when you needed it most. All of that. So, no, Raúl, we can’t just take his place. I don’t know…  Wait a minute. This in, we just got news from Santa. He wrote a, a what? He wants us to read a statement. Of course will. Ladies and gentlemen, my dear listeners in the Musingverse, this is certainly unprecedented. It is my personal pleasure to transmit Santa’s message. It reads: Ho, ho, ho! Dear boys and girls, I have recently learned, through Musing Interruptus, that you have been sticking your nose in my personal affairs. That is naughty. You should know better by now, since you are all adults. Gossiping about people’s personal business is not only unkind; it is inelegant. I need to set the record straight here and now. The relationship I have with Ms. Mariah Carrey is and always will be of respect, as she is key to the miracle of Christmas cheer and Merriment. You should be ashamed of yourselves. As for Mrs. Claus’ visit to Acapulco. If you must know, we have an arrangement, and I think no one has the right to speculate or pass judgment on her or anyone. 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow, subscribe, and share it, 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 Turning to You by Blue Dot. You need to know this, we have a confirmed sighting of Mrs. Clause sunbathing in her birthday suit on the coast of Oaxaca. The sighting was this morning, she and her companion were doing sun salutes at dawn at Playa Zipolite. This beach on the Southwestern coast of Oaxaca, Mexico, is famous for its hippie culture, nude beaches, and surfing, and now, it will always be remembered as Mrs. Claus’ place of retreat this year. She has been spotted painting the town red with her companion, Mr. Miguel, who has been perceived as being very doting and romantic. They appear to be two start-struck lovers on the dancefloor and tantric yoga on the beach.  These two love birds are letting it all hang out, figuratively and literally. When it comes to modesty, there seems to be a shortage when they are in the neighborhood. However, I am of the opinion that modesty is overrated. Let them have fun, we should be doing the same.  We were able to interview Mrs. Claus’ AIR BNB host. She says they bake Christmas cookies daily. They are cooking up a storm. Furthermore, the host reported they stay out late, until all hours. The word on the street is that they have even created a trend on the main street. Apparently, when bar hopping, they do a reverse Santa, instead of sitting people on their laps, like Santa does, they spank their bottoms and give them lollipops laced with who knows what, if they can prove they have been naughty this year. You get extra points for breaking social norms. One of the participants in this trend exclaimed: there are new perks to being naughty! Another mentioned that they were shunned for breaking the law. It seems like there is still room for ethics, even if it is from a utilitarian perspective. Breaking the law is bad for more people than just being naughty. There is a difference and Mrs. Claus has made a point of that. Mr. Miguel is said to have been her special helper. He was seen carrying around lollipops and asking for evidence of mischief.  Some onlookers were reported to have disapproving stares and whispered about Mrs. Claus’ antics. They don’t consider her excentricities or extramarital escapades to be amusing. I guess people will always have and share their opinions. That is the way it goes. It is the people who have the strongest will and character who are able to withstand the petty comments made by people who should be busy with their own lives. Also, I don’t think that Santa and Mariah are doing things very differently. This is the season to be kind. If we have been unkind, create the opportunity to rectify it.  Let us remember that each person is a universe. May he or she who is free from sin cast the first stone. Continue reading

50.  The Saturns 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow, subscribe, and share it, 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 Greyleaf Willow by Blue Dot. I’m concerned about how we left things last Musing Interruptus. I’m not sure there is much we can do regarding others' private affairs. Emphasis on affairs. Even if the affected include the -collective us-. How selfish of us to expect someone to suspend their development to satisfy our needs or our childish expectations. But it’s Santa, you might say. Who else should be that man, the one we expect so much of,  other than Santa? I, for one, feel a bit devastated.  I’ve been considering a plan to get Santa back to his shop. Is the solution an expedited divorce? Does he want a new Mrs. Claus? Would Mariah go for it? I wonder what her endgame is. If this is just a fling, could it have come at a worse time? And what’s up with Santa just going awol on the elves? Is there anybody at the North Pole taking care of business? These questions have plagued me, and probably you, since we got the news that the big guy has been distracted from his duties. Aren’t we all entitled to change our lives? Moving away and starting over? After all, we only have one life to live. Then again, aren’t we entitled to Christmas cheer!? It’s been a long year, and for some, a very hard year. Where does Santa get off? To answer that question we need to ask a more important question. If you want to know why someone acts the way they do, you need to know where they have been, where they come from. It is possible he doesn’t know. Or! He has discovered his origins and decided to revel in his own myth.  This is something that can happen with our creations. The nightmare is for them to have self-awareness. The monster or angel we created develops the ability to rationalize. Should the temptation to create be stifled? How far could it go? A long time ago, in Roman times, the festival of Saturnalia was held to celebrate Saturn, the Roman god of wealth, time, dissolution, agriculture, and liberation. A week of indulgence from December 17th to the 25th. Festivities included role reversal amongst men and women, slaves, and owners. They even selected a Ruler of the events, master of disaster, who, according to one source, would be sacrificed at the end of the week to restore order. You can imagine the level of revelry and overindulgence. It's like the Purge movie. Which, by the way, I couldn’t finish watching.  The master of disaster would call out commands impulsively to instigate chaos and absurdity (according to Wikipedia…). Can you see it?! Throw a pie in his face! Everyone jump in the pool! Oh! It's filled with Tequila! You’re welcome! Merry Saturnalia! I’m so ready to celebrate, and I nominate myself as the Grand High Empress of Debauchery!   There was also gift giving on December 19th, toys for children, and gag gifts for the rest. This went on until year 3 or 4 after the common era and eventually fell victim of a syncretic process with Christianity that ultimately became Christmas. Again, according to Wikipedia. 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, 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 Lechuza by Blue Dot. Today, a conversation between Rebecca and Kimberly…  Looks like someone has a bit of gossip. Rebecca: O M G, Kimberly, I just heard the most outrageous news about you know who… the big guy in the red suit.  Kimberly: Jesus, Rebecca. Get on with it; what did you hear? Rebecca: Wouldn’t you like to know? Kimberly: Actually, I could do without your incessant and insidious gossip today.  Rebecca: You’re gonna wanna listen to this. It is going to affect you. It’s gonna affect all of us.  Kimberly: out with it then!  Rebecca: I have it on good authority that Santa was caught making Christmas cookies in another kitchen. If you know what I mean.  Kimberly: I think everyone knows what you mean.  Rebecca: Fine. Well anyway, Mrs. Claus got a whiff of that from a mutual friend. I won’t say who, but let's just say Santa’s little helper was actually a double agent.  Kimberly: nooooo!!!! Who’s kitchen was it?  Rebecca: (pelican face)... are you sitting down?  Kimberly: Yes, you daft cow, I’m right next to you., you daft cow! Rebecca: You are not going to believe it.  Kimberly looks at Rebecca with intensity and curiosity. Rebecca: Let’s just say that Mariah Carey finally got what she has been asking for after all these years. Kimberly:  Snaps the ribbon. Rebecca: Nooo, I don’t know the details… maybe.  Kimberly: Oh my God! Rebecca: So, you can imagine how Mrs. Claus felt when she found out. She packed her bags and left for Acapulco. The elves heard her muttering something about getting it on with Mexico’s Sun. Apparently, she had received several invitations to Acapulco Bay, so she decided to take him up on it.. Rudolph and Vixen confirmed they flew her south.  Kimberly: Good for her. You go get yours, Mrs. Claus.  Rebecca: Yeah. But now… There is a whole commotion about Christmas. The elves are beside themselves like their hero has just fallen from his pedestal. Nobody is working in the Santa’s Shop. Santa is in Colorado! I just don’t see how this is going to work out. He is supposed to be halfway through the naughty or nice list. The elves say they haven’t seen anything like this since the last time Mrs. Claus got angry, and it was over bathroom cleanliness. So you can imagine what this amounts to on that scale.  Kimberly: Gosh darn it, we need to do something.  Rebecca: Yeah, I need another cup of coffee! Waiter! Thank you for listening.  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. Listen for the questions at the end. Drop a comment with your answers! I love hearing from you! The background music is called Stipple by Blue Dot.It's over.The words that have broken my heart endless times. He's gone. She's moved on. It's over.I have the worst habits when it comes to letting go, I procrastinate, resist, and hold on until it is painfully evident there is nothing in my hands. Perhaps that was always the case. I didn't know you had to let go. I didn't know that was an option.Yoga helps liberate the tension in my hands, grasping from behind my ribcage, wishing to keep that for me. Yoga helps liberate the tension in my mind. When I remember, I can breathe out the illusion of retaining and then deal with the painful fantasy of what I thought I was fighting. Some relationships start out with a visible expiration date, and you know it. Your intuition screams it as you turn into the skid. The nagging uneasiness tells you not to get comfortable. You do it anyway and tell yourself, I can handle this goodbye, and it will be worth the salt in my tears and void in my chest. It's not over, though. When people leave your life, you can revisit memories. See their faces, listen to their voices, the mms, and the way they would call your name.When you finish a book, it feels like it's over. However, the pages can be taken into your hands, words at your fingertips at a whim. Unless it is a Kindle. In that case, the thrill is gone. I accidentally hugged my Kindle the other day. Suffice to say, I did not get what I needed.If you are like me, you might create a playlist for the people and books in your life.  A playlist to accompany whenever. In this case, I added each song Bono mentioned throughout the book (except full albums, something I regret now). You can click on the link in the transcription of this episode in the Google Doc, to listen to it. When I listen to the playlist, I try to listen for clues. Kind of like the clues and messages I leave for my loved ones in the playlists I make them. Of course, some songs are just good, they need to be on the playlist because it makes sense or the are just rad. Other songs are a reminder of a moment we shared or a message in someone else’s words and voice, accompanied by a kick-ass melody, harmony, and rhythm. Just yesterday I told my mentor how difficult, awkward,  and funny it is when I tell people how much I care for them with my own words, for my own sake. I am reminded of a voice message I left him at his office number, expressing my gratitude and admiration. I fumbled too much and it sounded more like a declaration of love by a teenager obsessed with a rockstar or actor. It was a declaration of love and admiration. I learned so very much from him. I still have so much gratitude. I just wish I had made it sound more adult and serious and dry; signed off with many regards. You can imagine what declarations of romantic love look like. They are a total mess. I only regret not staying on script. I think. It’s better when I write for other people who mean to communicate feelings of love. <a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OTSLJ15UeE3GRC51oWdy9D0w34OgdX2QYeyUU_KOY1A/edit?usp=drive

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, 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 Judie Grange by Blue Dot. Have you ever wondered what is behind choosing a job? Granted, there are cases where you take what is available. However, there are some jobs you know need to be selected. For instance, who would want to grow up to become a cartoon character? This question has been circling my mind for the past few… minutes. If I think of it too much, I won’t get past writing the title, so I will try to get this out in the most expedited way possible.  I’d like to interview Bugs Bunny. He is self-assured, calm and collected, a strategist. He gets away with everything; he dates Lola Bunny! Rabbit season comes and goes, yet he is unperturbed and alive. The ultimate trickster. I bet he has the best eyesight on account of all the carrots he eats. What a great thing not to worry. I wonder what a real-life Bugs Bunny would be like. Could there be a human that embodies that persona? Furry tail and all. What about becoming a cartoon? Would anybody out there in the Musingverse like to become a cartoon character, either of themselves or perhaps a Mickey Mouse? Is seeing stars a perk of being whacked in the head when you are a cartoon? What about elasticity and free falling and going -splat- like a pancake only to be pumped up with air like a balloon? As a cartoon, you get to undergo a series of transformations that needn't be permanent.  In the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit? We see the interaction between cartoons and humans. There are rules and nemeses. Cartoons can kiss humans and conk them on the head,  slap ‘em in the face. They coexist. The story is fun. I especially liked how the cartoons go to a set, act in movies, and put on shows. What do they get in exchange for this? What is the economics of cartoon work? Is it exploitation? If it isn’t,  what motivates them? This was obviously not written from the cartoon's point of view. Then again, there is something addictive about show biz. Is that enough for a cartoon? If cartoons have a sense of humor, do they have all the other senses? How was this determined?  In Cool World, movie not song, the character played by Gabriel Byrne draws a cartoon realm from inspiration from dreams, ends up in the cartoon world, and has sex with a doodle (that is what they are called in the story), transforming her into a human (at least temporarily). That’s a special kind of superpower, isn’t it? The desire to materialize what we have imagined is not new, nor is the fantasy some men have about making a woman -complete-. I’d ask the Kim Basinger character, who plays the sexiest doodle, why she would want to be real. Although a completely different situation, I’m reminded of Cassiel, the angel that falls to Earth in the movie Far Away, So Close! The answer in that movie is about sensations: taste, smell, touch, hearing, and experience. That is what makes it worth it. Back to cartoons, how interesting that our creations would want to be with us and like us. I guess that speaks well of humanity. If anyone is keeping score. There are a lot of great things about being alive.  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, 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 Vernouillet by Blue Dot. Idiomatic expressions are a lot of fun because of the imagery they evoke. By using a set of words to express an idea, you add color and pictures to your words with more words. For instance, instead of saying someone has a low IQ or is stupid, you can say, they are not the sharpest tool in the shed. Imagine the shed, a little house where you keep and organize your tools. Can you see the tools? There might be some hanging on the walls, like a hammer. If someone is as smart as a bag of hammers… can you visualize the hammers in a bag? Can you imagine picking it up and lugging it around? Now, you can remember this image and use the phrase when describing people like the marker bandits. By the way, I’m not making this up. Some guys wanted to rob an apartment complex; they decided that coloring their faces with a permanent black marker would suffice. If you look at the pictures, you’ll see it didn’t. But I bet most of you would know not to color a mask on your faces, especially not with permanent markers. Back to the tool shed, you might say that they are as smart as a bag of hammers.   You might also find a toolbox in that shed. If you open the toolbox, you could see a ratchet, a pair of needle nose pliers, a screwdriver, a tape measure, a spirit level, and even saws. If the saw is dull, it won’t cut through wood (or whatever else you need it for, Jeffrey Dahmer). If the saw is not sharp, it is useless. Hence, it might not be the sharpest tool in the shed. We say people are sharp when they are intelligent and show it. Intelligent people are useful; unintelligent people end up being made fun of on TikTok and called Karens. Karens might be people who not only are unintelligent they are demanding and entitled, a real tool if you ask me. They are not the sharpest tools in the shed. When you describe these people, the phrase, the lights are on, but nobody’s home is useful. The house is empty the same way people deduce or work out their skull is empty. The lights are on, meaning you know they are alive because there is life in their eyes. This phrase reminds me of the Stepford Wives movie, in which women were implanted with nanochips to make them submissive animatronics. The science on this is not clear, but it's a great visual for the phrase the lights are but there is nobody home.  Speaking of lights, we can also use the adjective dim-witted. I like that one. Dim as in weak, wit as in the capacity to use words in a clever and humorous way (Cambridge Dictionary).  A person that is dim or not very bright. They might be slow on the uptake, which means it takes them a long time to understand something. This has happened to me. I blame it on needing to drink more water. At least, that is what I tell myself.  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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, follow and share it, 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 Just Tuning Up by Blue Dot. Embrace the wild side, naturally. In political philosophy, we learn the story of how we escaped the state of nature and entered into a society, a relationship of civility (at least aspirationally) via the social contract and the creation of the state. In the state of nature, it was every man for himself. I wonder what the women were doing. That means that there were no institutions or, police or laws. You needed to be fast, strong, and adapt. This is during the whole nomad and first settlements. Did you know that the whole men were hunters women were gatherers thing was debunked? If you are interested, I left a link to the article in the transcription. The author, Okobock, indicates that the gender distinction in hunting and gathering isn’t substantiated. There was no division of labor in those times. There is, however, evidence that women in different regions hunted with weapons and dogs. Some women were buried with their weapons.  It seems that entering society made it possible to fossilize power relationships through rules, norms, laws, customs, religion and belief systems. The social contract refers to a philosophical concept that explains how we created society by agreeing to relinquish our right to exert violence. This conversation never really took place, and yet organized life was detonated. Taking a detour off the unpaved roads in the state of nature has a lot to do with the nature of humanity.  Human nature can be considered as fundamentally good or fundamentally evil.- You heard me, we go straight past bad- At least that is how I imagined it. Humanity found itself needing to create mechanisms to protect itself from one another. The need for protection included property. We need an institution to punish those who would take our cheese! You might be a commie and be willing to share your cheese with anyone or even anarchically think that the cheese is there for the taking. However, you need to agree on that within the community. I find it fascinating how humans have created structures of power veiled by culture and religion. Careful! We are warned if we dare speak of a cultural practice that may impinge on human dignity. That has been in place forever, don’t touch it, don’t move it. You are appalled by child marriages because you are not culturally sensitive or of course women prefer not to be recognized by law or study or live a life free from violence. That is a sacred cultural practice; don’t touch it with your tainted Western ways. Oh wait, the West has those practices, too. Oh Snap! We have philosophically escaped the state of nature, but how can we ever escape human nature? It seems that philosophy is urging us to keep up with it, instead, individuals are just trying to keep up with the Jonses or whoever your neighbor is.  This shows that sound arguments should be more relevant than who is speaking. In that vein, I am reminded of the people I loved listening to.  Emphasis on love…<a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1p0IqSQWeKWD_qoUTquKoyUSNTWaH8spdJkSBts-pAcA/e

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Gaddy by Blue Dot.  The feeling of being replaced, unneeded, unwanted, undesired, and unloved comes from a special place in hell. Today, for our 2024 Halloween special, I want to take you there. A place that is closer than it appears. So, I’ll take the wheel, you strap yourself in. If I do this right, it is going to be a bumpy ride. So, good luck to both of us.  For starters, it’s not a place in hell; it is right here on Earth, roaming the streets of your neighborhood, even when you are sleeping. It looms over your home, right over your pillow. It creeps up the stairs and down the corridor, swiftly funneling between the gap made by the door and the floor. There is no impenetrable crevice, there is no escaping the midnight fuckery.  The shake jolts you out of your sleep. You don’t awaken to a delightful confusion or sense of satisfaction but to the realization that it was not a nightmare, it was the continuation of your life. A sweat-soaked pillow where your head lays urges you to move. Your stomach, inside out and dry. The looming entity is the engine behind the palpitations booming in your ears at 3:00 am. Once awake, a special kind of paralysis takes over; you could move, but that would imply facing the awake world; your decision-making feels frozen. Which discomfort is more bearable? There is still time to be in bed. I mean, consider the alternative. Where would you go? What would you do? If you move, there might be more emotional pain. You might never be able to get back to sleep. You probably won’t be able to anyway, but you can dream. Rather, wish. A nice dream would be a welcome vacation, even if it is one of those quick ones. At this point, you can’t even remember what peace and happiness feel like. A comforting dream is the only thing that could reset this. Something to cleanse the palate and make it feel like this day could be a good day. Being awake doesn't make things better; the looming entity is so much bigger and stronger in the wee hours of the morning. Look at you, lying there, so vulnerable to the force that could potentially eviscerate you. But why doesn’t it? Why doesn’t this menacing entity just get the job done? What is this torture about? Whatever it is, you can’t shake it. You might muster up the strength to get out of bed. Face the darkness, not sure if you are walking into the entity, under it, or if it is running through you. That would be the worst. You make your way to the kitchen and flip on the light. There are some decisions you need to make. They are easy decisions because of the hour and having faced the difficulty of pulling yourself out of bed. They call it the witching hour because that is when the supernatural has more power. It makes sense you would awaken and make it out of bed. You realized there was a lapse in your memory of how you got to the kitchen. Your feet don’t feel used yet. You wonder if you are still asleep? Why not the living room or the bathroom? Why go directly to the kitchen? You are pretty sure you arrived directly. You go with it, it is clear that you need something. You chuck up feeling dazed and confused to the early hour and restless sleep. Are you looking to quench a thirst? It doesn’t make sense to eat, but you consider it. It may <e

  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Young Buck by Blue Dot. Today, Analog Rocks! This is an ode to my very digital friend.  If God and my neighbors who can listen to all my phone conversations know it, may the Musingverse know it too. By the way, dear new listeners, welcome and thank you for liking and following Musing Interruptus. It really does make a difference to know you are there.  Let’s take it from the top! Ode to my friend. Well, one of them… and it is unstructured, keeping in line with the leitmotif of Musing Interruptus.  You love your digital clock and streaming music from your digital box.  You play video games on boxes with Xs and Switches You’ve found a way to digitize conversations and program your appliances to make food.  Many a substitution frees you up for other activities Robot food. Robot conversations. Robot music. Robot time.  Don’t you miss the smell and feel of vinyl in your hands or the hiss of the needle and the crackle of a song about to begin?  How could you turn your back on CooCoo Clocks and marbles? Do you honestly prefer your stylo to a pencil or pen?  I know you. You hide your love for the analog behind those flashing lights.  Even if we write using digital letters, it is no substitute for the real thing. Neither of us can go a week without having a conversation with our voices. Your digitality is no match for your nostalgia; you just mask it very well.  Just remember this, and I say it from a position of vulnerability but also the higher moral ground I have climbed up on There are no digital friends; you are stuck with us, the analog. I urge you, do not be seduced. Be wary of the digital siren calls. So now, I will tell you the story of the analog rocks, the ultimate battle between digital and analog. Disclaimer and disclosure are in the most honest proportion possible in this podcast and, more specifically, this episode. The characters are fictitious; any resemblance to people in my very close life is a mere coincidence because, remember, according to Fight Club philosophy, we are not unique snowflakes. Let us turn our attention to an arena located in a not-so-far-away dystopian future. Our very own Hellen S. Parta is on location. Hello Hellen, how are things at the Troy Arena? Renée, I’m so happy to be here; of course, I am reporting from Troy Arena, the sight of tonight's well-anticipated match. In one corner, we have my friend, let's call him Mausto, and in the other, our contender, the Digital Dragon. The ring is surrounded by crowds who travel near and far. They have big traveling tumblers with beer and bags of peanuts in the shell. These will be used to eat when bored from drinking beer or to throw during the match in case things aren’t entertaining enough. I think there might be an elephant that escaped from another story, but I’m not sure we will see him. Don’t worry, I’ll let you know. The arena has two entrances. A very bright light shines from the corridors that lead to the ring. The beacons of light from different forces which prepare the ambiance for today's encounter. 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 and words. 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. The background music is called Floating Whist by Blue Dot. Today, Don't Even Think About It Welcome, come on in, Come in. What can I do for you today? Are You looking for a solution? We have wash-and-wear and custom-made or couture. Put your problem in our hands, and we will design a solution that may or may not work! If you would like a guarantee, we sell those separately, consider paying the fee, you won’t regret it. Why bother with coming up with solutions yourself? We’ve got you covered! From pesky relationship drama to workaday flares of genius for that project you need to turn in, asap. They didn’t hire you to be a paper pusher, did they? Outsource your solution needs. Hire us for a project or pay a monthly fee. We can provide all sorts of solutions. You will need to provide information. If you aren’t sure what we need to know to help you, our specialized consultants are experts at asking questions and prying into your life. Fear no, we are cautious with your information. Confidentiality is of the utmost importance to us and to you. We won’t tell if you don’t. We love keeping secrets.  Call right away and get a quote! How much is the right solution worth to you? Find out! We’re sure that at our prices, you won’t think twice. Hell, you can pay to stop thinking altogether! We’ll do that for you and so much more. Do you need help deciding who to vote for, how to discipline your children, or what movie to watch? How about what to make for dinner or who to date?  Is the office counting on a big idea to revolutionize the market? Or are you looking for something that is -just good enough-? Don’t worry; we’ll read the situation, create the strategy, and give you the tools to execute it.  You’ll never have to think again.  Who needs the frustration of coming up with ideas to make things happen? We know you sure don’t! And we are happy to take that off your hands! Freeing you up to do anything you like! We are a phone call away; you don’t even have to write pesky instant messages. Unlike other millennials, we love getting your calls.  Call now, and stop thinking today! Thank you for listening.  Would you ever hire a service like this? What kind of problems would you outsource? Would you pay per project or a retainer fee?  I’m listening Click to open Google doc with the transcription

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Small World Reveals by Blue Dot.  Cape buffalos, saltwater crocodiles, sun bears, wild boars, cassowaries, wasps, mooses or meese, Tasmanian devils, western diamondback rattlesnakes, and me are the most aggressive and territorial animals in the world, especially when it comes to education, according to Wildlife Informer (2024). Today, It’s Not Magic; It’s Synapse.  Ah, the working man and the working woman and all the collars they wear. Educators are said to be in between collars. There are white collars, blue collars, and some people have written about pink collars. If you ask Marx, these distinctions are bullshit; unless you control the means of production, you are the proletariat.  That said, distinctions are made with subclasses and colors. White-collar workers have administrative jobs, work behind desks, and have attained higher education; they also make more money.  Blue-collar workers, the working class, range from low to high skilled; they work for wages, sometimes low, depending on the job and skill level. However, some blue-collar workers are highly skilled (meaning they educated themselves or trained to attain knowledge), and they get paid more per hour. Where do public school teachers fit? Highly educated, low-paid workers. Many of the hours I work are not accounted for or paid. When I got paid for activities outside of the classroom, it took up to seven months to see those wages, and by that time, they had already depreciated. I don’t think ordinary blue-collar workers go so many months without being paid. Nobody bats an eye. You have to either be wealthy and teach as a hobby or hold down several jobs. I am the latter. I do translations, private English classes, ghostwriting, and copywriting, and now I am endeavoring in voice-over work. Wish me luck and pass my name around, please. The question stands: why do educators stick around the world of public education? Off the bat, vocation. The power of vocation is a double-edged sword; it will be used against you. Sometimes by the very students or institutions that hire you. Many of the teachers that stick around are convinced that their work will positively impact their student’s development and that of their country. An exercise in public service on the taxpayer’s dime. They would be amazed at how far that dime stretches. That dime stretches so thin that, many a time, it is invisible. All you know is that it was once there.  I would say it borders on exploitation, but that’s commie talk. Should you decide to live solely on your teaching wages, you might be accused of having made a vow of poverty. In reality, it is exploitative. I wonder if that is ever going to change. Nobody seems to care.  The world is changing; the pace is being set to achieve more in less time. You are meant to spend less time at the expense of your ethics or the quality of your work or health. Time is of the essence. Recently, artificial intelligence -AI- has been adamantly suggested as a strategy to cut back on time used in creating, wait for it, didactic resources. I'm not talking helper here. It was suggested we use prompts to create resources, substituting our writing. Educators design and draft resources to accompany our students in discovering an

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 and words. 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. The background music is called Remsen By Blue Dot. Today, I’m Never Really Alone Once the door closes, I am finally free to be with you. I feel like a teenager stealing away to a place where I can be alone with my thoughts. It is a relief. I am relieved not to have to talk outside the walls of my mind. I speak out loud, beyond the confines of my grey matter. Something I do much too often as it is. Filling the airwaves is natural to me. That said, once I am alone with you, I feel giddy. That doesn’t mean there is always something to say or that the translation of feelings into words is readily available. Throughout the years, most of my feelings have become stories in which I take the opportunity to denounce hurt feelings, my broken heart, mourning, anger, joy, desire, and, well, a few choice scenes in my fictitious character's lives. As much as a fictitious character can live. I know this much: they will die with me, and we will all take our last breath together.  I would be considered bananas if the occupation -writer- did not exist. Sometimes paid, hurrah. Most of the time, for free. Meaning free in every sense of the word. Free to say what I mean or hide what I wish. Free to imagine the textures and describe situations as if giving instructions to a painter or someone who could draw all of this into a visual landscape. I wonder if you listen or read and get a visual. Does it translate into something, anything? I write to disclose the jagged corners, at times, being brave, others, as a means of survival, removing the nose before it gets too tight as a teeter on the pile of boxes, propped up by more imagination. A song whose tempo is marked by my heartbeat. That is what this is. Raw, uncouth at times, unfiltered, filtered, evident, underwritten, overacted, misspelled, and many times with words misused, only because I thought their meanings were one and not really that other. Their sonority made more sense than their actual definition, and I could not be bothered to double-check. This, in general, has been an exercise against an internal imploration of modesty in which the need to write wins. It has won until now.  It is not all drama. There is fun in this.  It is fun to describe the hiding places within words, between the lines, behind the scenes, thoughts and feelings, and projections. Riding the story to see wherever it takes me, discovering shades and experiences I later provide a voice for. Full circle. 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Two Pound by Blue Dot. I can’t hear you! La la la la la la! Sings the girl child as loud as possible to drown out her older sister’s voice. A few years down the road, she is blocking reality through her earphones, blaring her favorite song. This one is predisposed to avoid listening to anything that may cause dissatisfaction or discomfort. A lot in the world might deserve to be tuned out.  Disconnecting from the world has its appeal, without a doubt. Traveling without the interference of others' input could be just what the doctor ordered—until it isn’t, especially when it comes to blind spots. There is a time for inner dialogues and a time to let the outside in and connect.  In Spanish, a litany says, I can’t hear anything, I am made out of wood, and I have fish ears. I remember a child who repeated it enough times for me to remember it 25 years later. Although a typical turn of phrase in Spanish, I had never heard it. I liked watching that child march about repeating those words. My school had a student music group called estudiantina, in Spanish. That afternoon they had their first practice of the year. The band leader had a son. I assume he told his son not to talk to strangers; however, he let his young wooden child with fish ears loose around the high school grounds. I was just sitting on a bench reading and waiting for my friend to come out of band practice, silently witnessing the one-person demonstration. I recall my mother took my sister and I to rehearsals, too. So, I understood the meandering child looking for ways to entertain himself. I learned early on that a book is easy to travel with and as entertaining as any toy I had. I wonder if little Mr. Fish ears ever caught on to that. I wonder if he still shuts the world out.  There are harsh realities that I would prefer not to know about. Then again, knowing is always better on the off chance that something could be done to fix it. Receiving constructive or otherwise criticism can be a pain in the neck or a swift kick in the ego. However, not learning what needs to be corrected can bring about issues in your social circles and even with yourself. Learning how to listen, even when we are hard at hearing, is a task that requires humility. Learning to recognize there is something we need to listen to attentively in the face of our greatest resistance is a task I have taken on with caution. There are a great many voices that fill the airwaves with harmful, hurtful, and even unethical intentions. Yet another reason why it is vital to cultivate an active critical apparatus. Has this ever happened to you? You are writing an episode for Musing Interruptus and you are interrupted with the news that serves as a perfect example of what you are writing. As luck would have it, I was notified, in no uncertain terms,  that there is a fake friend in the water. Like a shark who smells blood and is finding the moment to attack. It is his nature to be a shark and I love him all the same. My intuition altered me to this, and I paid no attention. My family and close friends alerted me to this, and again, I couldn’t hear them with my giant fish ears.  I did no

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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Palms Down by Blue Dot.  Today, Cassandra’s Conundrum    Let’s not skirt this topic; impatience will get you to the worst places fast. Such is the case of Casandra, who found herself stuck in a box of cereal. It wasn’t even the yummy kind, with chocolate and marshmallows. It was shredded wheat, a cereal that seemed to be made of the same box it came in. In a pinch, you could add milk to the box and get at least another bowl out of the ordeal. You might call it getting the best bang for your buck. I think Casandra must have thrown a fit when she realized she was stuck in a cereal box. But that is what happens when you open a box too fast. You see, that morning, she was extra hungry on account of a very energetic dream. She was in hot pursuit of a lion and not the other way around, which would probably be even more stressful. In her dream, she was a lion keeper at a zoo. The lion escaped when she was feeding him. He was super strong and could jump with great precision. She could only run and not fast enough. She knew if the lion escaped, it would be her fault, and the townspeople would be in danger. The worst part of it, she was running barefoot, and she had only one dart in her tranquilizer gun. An interesting fact about Casandra is that she knew things about shooting a weapon, even though in her waking life, she had never had a weapon in her hands. For instance, you can’t drive and shoot at the same time. This was only done in movies and was unrealistic, as the shooter's accuracy would be severely diminished. She was very observant when it came to these types of things, especially in case she needed that knowledge in some unforeseeable future. Well, the time came, and it was in a dream. Some dreams are lucid, and others are not. If it were a lucid dream, she could take control and imagine the lion is back in its cage or maybe even jump back in time and avoid the whole situation; she could also just make it someone else's problem. But it was not a lucid dream; she would never shirk her responsibilities. She was running barefoot after a very powerful jumping lion, with a tranquilizer gun in her right hand her index finger on the trigger. She knew this was a mistake, one false move, and it would surely go off.  But she couldn’t take her finger off of the trigger. If she pulled the trigger ahead of time, she would miss her opportunity to sedate the jumping lion, and who knows what would happen next? As I mentioned, it was not a lucid dream.  Cassandra ran through a forest, a desert, and then a city in ruins. Where was this cat going? Why wasn’t he tired yet, and why wasn’t she being chased by the lion? Why was she the predator? All questions she would ask herself once awake. When Casandra was finally about to catch up to the lion, she pointed the tranquilizer gun, loaded with a dart, and squeezed the trigger... 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Paramo Ocho by Blue Dot. Today, What’s Love Got To Do With It? Tina, Tina, Tina, turn us into a more intelligent breed, please. What’s love but a second-hand emotion? She says. Think about that for a moment. Consider the implications. Love is a second-hand emotion. If this were in Spanish, we would have some serious potential for double-entendre. Put a pin in that one. Let’s think about second-hand things. When someone has no use for clothing or pots and pans, appliances, books, lamps, mattresses, bedding, an easel, iPods, blackberries, fruitcakes, ugly Christmas sweaters, or ugly sweaters, for the most part, old cribs, and, perhaps even, the elusive love, they have a few options, pack them up in a box and forget them in a closet or attic, throw them out, or give them away. Get yourself down to the Goodwill, a store with the mission to mediate between those who -don’t want- and those who -need or want-. On a budget, no less! Imagine we are at the store, an empty basket in our hands, we need to get some love. That is what is on the to-do list.  But wait, whatever happened to the Beatles Can’t buy me love. This is my store, so hold on, Paul, hang in there with me for a sec. Tina said it was a second-hand emotion, and this is the second-hand store. And I’m not talking about love on a timer either, got it? Timeless love… you can’t get that on the corner. I’m talking about that feeling we want wrapped around our ribcages and souls, biting our shoulders, and mmmmhmm. The question is, do you pay for used love? Huey Lewis says You don’t need no credit card to ride this train. He is talking about the Powe of Love. Sounds more like the power of sex. So, it’s not money. You pay in sweat and tears! Sounds like sex again. Huey can’t separate sex from love. Are we meant to? I’m not ashamed. Tina couldn’t either, back to Tina.  Is all love a second-hand emotion? Oh, oh, oh! Maybe.  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; the transcription is in the description of this episode; click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the complete transcription. 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. The background music is called Dirty Wallpaper by Blue Dot. Today, Guess: Who is Phil? I’m sharp, see? Some people might mistakenly think I don’t like being sharpened. Let me tell you, that is actually a very satisfying part of my job. I love the feel of the blade shaving the dullness out of me. When my favorite hands are not in the mood, I get angry. We have a mission here. I need you to focus. That is what I think. I’m used to adapting, from heavy and determined to light insecure hands.   I’ve been in the hands of waiters; they are heavy, consultants who take notes, mostly bullshit if you ask me, and standardized test takers. That was very boring, just filling in circles. I could always tell if they would pass or fail, just from the determination in shading in those circles. Don’t get me started on my eraser. I get that that’s what it is there for, but come on, there comes a time when you just have to trust yourself.  As I mentioned, I like working with one hand in particular. It has been my favorite. If I were human, I would marry it or spend the rest of my life with it. He isn’t perfect. I am. That is how I was designed.  I can go for a g e s contouring, shading, and providing chiaroscuro to his sketches.  I can tell the difference between inspiration and boredom. When bored, he aimlessly and even listlessly drags me around a sheet of paper. Sometimes, previously used. Can you imagine?! He says a sheet is never wholly used. He philosophizes on creating art. I don’t need to hear it, I feel it when he takes me, thumb, index, and middle finger, and away we go.  Personally, I hate it when he doesn’t use a new sheet of paper. Why doesn't he use a pen, marker, or crayon when he doodles? Why me? We've made such beautiful things together.  Why waste me on doodles? You w@anna make a house, buddy? How about some spirals? Hey, you seem extra prosaic today; how about a few penises and pound symbols? Pfft. You should see the beautiful works of art that have come out of our collaboration. They are breathtaking. Not that I know anything about breathing. I’ve just been around to see people's reactions to what we do. I don’t even care they never ask about me. I see how they basque with awe in the immenseness of what we created. 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; the transcription is in the description of this episode, click on continue reading to open a Google Doc with the full transcription. 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. The background music is called Stipple by Blue Dot. Today, Be Careful What You Wish For Have you ever heard this saying? Be careful what you wish for. That was said by someone who is obviously spoiled by the universe. Imagine getting everything you wish for, like a pampered prince who merely moves his eyes and indicates things need to be brought to him on a silver platter or diamond platter. I don’t know what is in for princes these days. Perhaps the prince gets things droned in so he doesn’t have to deal with humans. But then, who is reading his looks and glances, eye rolls, stares, raised eyebrows, flushed cheeks, and winks?! That is a prince’s reality? Isn’t it? In my mind, that is true, and they want for nothing and no one. They communicate with their eyes, nod their heads if necessary, and speak if their tongue wishes. There must be a royal eye reader that grows up with the prince. The royal eye reader, we’ll call him RER, the RER, learns to anticipate anything and everything the prince wants. That’s the RER’s job. These wants or whims can change with the wind; the RER knows that. The RER lives to please. — I want a RER. The RER is in tune with the prince, seeing almost everything as the prince sees it. As if through his very eyes.  He is like the prince's second skin. The cold air or unfiltered sun barely graze our prince, and the RER adjusts the room immediately. The prince and RER’s chemistry are so alike that the RER can anticipate a craving for the most obscure textures and tastes, be they food or entertainment. The prince has never been unhappy, hungry, cold, hot, bored, or angry a day in his life. A bland existence. He doesn’t like reading because he was never asked to make an effort to learn. That might imply frustration. He doesn’t watch tv or movies because they require having to care about someone else, a show of empathy. The RER can’t do that for the prince. This leads me to the downside of having such a good RER in his service. He has everything and cares for none. He has no need to care for anyone. Having never been without his RER, he has never felt that absence. He has never been passionate about something; he hasn’t wanted or enjoyed anything enough to experience that intensity. Absence, or lack, is what brings about desire. The greater the absence, the greater the desire, in connection with vitality and power, passion will arise.  The RER has ensured our prince gets everything he wants. Poor prince has no idea there are other feelings to experience.  As we are not princes, we do experience the spectrum of emotions that stem from lack, which takes us to the wish list. A list of things we desire and hope we get. 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 and words. 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. The background music is called Slimheart by Blue Dot. Today, That's Hard To Believe A man walks into a bank and sneezes at the very moment a robber was pulling out a gun with the intention of pulling a heist. There are many things about this case that are hard to believe. For one thing, the sneezing man was known for having the loudest sneeze around, in three counties, no less. He won this contest without even entering it. The year was 1994, he was turning 21 that September. Still a month away from legally having a drink, which made getting his hands on liquor and beer part of the fun and the stories he would one day tell around a table with his closest friends. The stories about testing limits and proving that laws were there for the less intellectually adept would keep their attention in their 30s and 40s. The sneezing contest was held every year at the county fair. The day Steve -the sneeze- went to the fair with his friends, it was dusty and windy. He was buying his tickets when he got a whiff of dust up the old schnoz. They say his sneeze was heard all the way on the stage where they were holding the sneezing competition, a whole 3 km away. It was so loud it boomed off the booths and the Ferris wheel passenger cars. I’m no physicist or acoustics engineer, so I can’t explain what happened. Probably a combination of the Doppler effect and lots of dust for some. His friends were used to his enthusiastic sneezing. However, the rest of the world wasn’t. For seconds, the whole fair fell silent, wondering if it wasn’t something they should be worried about. That’s when a booming voice from the stage killed the silence by announcing the de facto winner of this year’s sneezing contest. Please, could the person who just sneezed approach the stage. You’ve silenced these grounds, it is fair to say, your sneeze is the loudest sneeze. This guy has some luck when it comes to making an entrance.  Back to the present, 30 years later, walking into the bank at the very moment a robber was pulling his gun. Steve the sneeze had an urge he could not deny himself, and sneezed, loudly and what was soon to become his next epic story. The robber, shuddered, squealed, and released the gun through the air. The gun fell on a ladies’ head, knocking her out, cold, instantly. Lucky for her, when she was rushed to the hospital, the attending ordered an MRI and they detected a brain infection in her occipital lobe. She had struggled with remembering people’s faces, but was too ashamed to tell anyone, thinking it was just a sign of times, her times, a sign of aging. She wouldn’t have told anyone, if it weren’t for that errant gun, she might have gone undiagnosed and fallen into a coma. Prosopagnosia was a word she would become familiar with. She would never take her memory for granted again.  Back at the bank, Steve’s harrowing sneeze had interrupted a robber and saved a lady’s life. This time, he wouldn’t get a prize for being so noisy. A life supply of money was not out of the question if you ask me. A fortunate chain of events detonated by an obnoxiously loud sneeze. The old lady would never know what or who was behind the konk on her head, and the robber had a heart attack which led to post-traumatic amnesia. That gave him a new lease on life. He went back to school and learned h

Take a seat, Dr. Dolittle. Today’s guest works around the world taking care of animals. She is a specialist in wildlife and conservation. Listen. Read along. Share your thoughts [with me]. Hello, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. I created Musing Interruptus as a space for my students and anyone interested in discovering idiomatic expressions in different contexts. Thus far, I’ve always written stories and rants. Today, I do what I love doing most: interviewing interesting people.  Today, we welcome Karina Flores Pineda, woman, veterinarian specialized in wildlife conservation, musicophile, and dear friend. She comes to us from Gabon, Africa; she is currently overseeing primate care at Gorilla Project Fernan Vaz. Karina is a dear friend to me and the rest of the animal kingdom.  

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 and words. 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. The background music is called Town Market by Blue Dot. Today, On Second Thought More surprises. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on life, something changes. Maybe in a good way, maybe in a bad way. Oh, God, a pandemic! Oh God, another one. Someone changed their mind, they don’t want to get married, they called the whole thing off, leaving the other at the altar, making space for a big change. It could be construed as an untold story, a broken heart. On second thought, it could be a welcome change. Good riddance, I always say. Why would you want someone who doesn’t want you back?  Our gut or intuition can alert us to things that we should be considering or noticing. For instance, don’t go down that dark ally, don’t run with scissors or talk to the big bad wolf, and under no circumstance drink coffee after 4 pm. Maybe that one is plain common sense. Just when you thought you got life you get a reminder you don’t. Expecting the unexpected is all you can expect. That phrase is not only t-shirt worthy, I got it off a t-shirt when I was 13. It became my mantra for many years, then I watched Dead Poets Society and Carpe Diem became my favorite, until I heard: In Omnia Paratus, meaning, ready for anything. We can count on change. Perhaps someone had a change of heart and stepped down allowing for the energy to shift. A new candidate brings renewed hope. The candidate might have realized that it is in the best interest of the country to step down. This is a move for the greater good. That couldn’t have been easy. The greater the good the harder the personal sacrifice.  We know things can and will change, even if we preferred they didn’t.  We are allowed to change our minds. You might be walking down the street on your way to a movie when you realize you are hungry. You start craving a deli sandwich, maybe roast beef, dijon mustard and pickles on a kaiser roll. You take a necessary detour. Changing your mind, changing your plans is a-okay. You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife, and you may ask yourself, -How did I get here? The Talking Heads ask that question and answer: letting the days go by, let the water hold me down. The thing is, even if you let inertia get the best of you, you are making a decision. Inertia isn’t a good reason to sacrifice your happiness. That is, if the beautiful house and beautiful wife don’t do it for you. If you give something a second thought you might realize you have changed your mind. You might need to hit the reset button. You might even consider a hard reset. That rarely guarantees a do over. These are two different things. Generally speaking, you get one shot, hopefully you do the best you can with the opportunities you get. If things don’t go your way, take a page from Taylor Swift and shake it off.  You might be on your way to becoming an engineer! You might walk in the door to your first class and say, on second thought I think I like literature better. And walk out. It is best not to force situations that don’t feel right. Some people change their wardrobe every season. They apply the Out with the old, in with the new philosophy. I think that it might be a little wasteful, but who am I to criticize that? Start ever