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 On Top of It by Blue Dot.
Today, Life Surprises You, Surprises Life Gives
What I wouldn't give to have certainty.
Science gives you that. I take science for granted. That is not where I want certainty today. I want certainty in dark places when I’m walking next to extra sharp objects, like the razor-sharp edge of my bed or the end table. You know, the place where your left pinky toe gets caught and pops out of its place, leaving your foot deformed, as if hitching a ride in the most awkward way. Imagine your pinky toe sticking out like that, forever. You would need to get new shoes. Or at least modify all the left ones. You don’t want to further hurt your left pinky toe. I wonder how it would affect my balance. I might be able to balance better. Like when I do tree pose in yoga. I might become super sturdy on the left side. I’ll have an extra grip with my pinky toe. Maybe I could even start driving with my left foot. Do the best with what you’ve got. Lack of certainty gives us that. If “need is the mother of invention”, uncertainty is the father of adaptation.
When adaptation and invention meet, pretty clever things happen. I’ve decided, just now, there are two types of people, those who cry over spilled milk and those who do something with the milk. For the record, you aren’t supposed to cry over spilled milk because once it happens, there is no turning back the hands of time. So crying is futile, irrelevant, and will get you no where. However, my therapist would say, cry if you want to cry. Honor your feelings. If I actually spill milk, I might throw up. But the idiomatic expression, don’t cry over spilled milk means that you should just focus on what can be done.
So, again, there are two types of people, those who cry over spilled milk and those--- who make clothing out of milk?! YES, you’ve heard that correctly. Anke Domaske, the German designer did, in 2011, and named the fabric Qmilch/ QMilk and it is made from the casein protein found in milk. She works on biopolymers and other renewable materials (Qmilk, 2024). According to the Yves Rocher Foundation for Nature, she can upcycle 1.2 million liters of milk which can offset 168,000 kilograms of C02. Pretty cool and pretty surprising.
This is an example of things I was not looking for but surprised me. A lot. I don’t like milk very much. But there are several byproducts I enjoy, including cheese and ice cream. I might like wearing milk cotton or milk silk, especially if it is environmentally friendly. So you see, there are those who make money off and do their share to save the planetwithspilled and spoiled milk.
I can see the situation unraveling before my eyes: I’ve spilled milk, no worries; that is my next shirt.
Life holds some really wonderful surprises sometimes. I was feeling really down this week.
I wasn’t able to travel to see a friend because my dog is ... Continue Reading
