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.