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