Musing Interruptus is a podcast meant for sharing thoughts and stories and enjoying idiomatic phrases and words in general. You can read along; the transcription is in the description of this episode. The idiomatic expressions are in italics. Try to get the meaning from the context and then look them up to see if you were right. If you like it, share it, but more importantly, continue the conversation. 
Hello, I’m Renée Valentina and this is Musing Interruptus. Mea Culpa. I was wrong. I was wrong. I was dead wrong. This has happened to me more times than I care to confess. Then again, I am ready to say I was wrong to always want to be Ms. Right. I bet you know where I’m going with this one. Today, Fail Well. And Oh, how I’ve failed.
This is one is going to be more self-deprecating than usual. Let’s put a pin in that for a sec. Failing hard and fast should be taught the same way we are taught to fall off our bikes. I wonder if our reflexes aren’t playing a bigger part in saving ourselves from tumbling. Well, I looked it up and it is called the upper limb falling reflex, which according to Giddens 2021 is the rapid dynamic response leading to the fingers impacting the ground first on falling. Ok, so we don’t actually have to learn how to fall. We improve other aspects regarding our technique when falling. Seems like genetics gets to play another cruel joke on us. Ha- ha! If you have slow reflexes, do your best not to fall, or drive, or walk, or swallow saliva while breathing.  I have been known to swallow incorrectly, on occasion. And that can be very uncomfortable and embarrassing if I am in a social situation. I have to make a thumbs-up sign to let everyone know that I’m not really choking. No, no, I’m just red in the face, and having a hard time breathing, but I know I’m going to be ok. Just relax while I get through this very embarrassing and seemingly life-threatening moment. Thumbs up. See?
This has happened to me when I’m really interested in looking cool. I was specially invited to the U2 concert in Mexico City in 2006. It was for my birthday. The ticket was special because I was upfront. Standing room only for die-hard fans. I had to arrive at 6:30 am. I’m not sure why, but I was not the only one there. The wait was long, in the sun, with very little water (which was good because I hate using public restrooms, especially porta potties. Anyway, someone bought pizza, I had a piece, made conversation, and wouldn’t you know it, I choked on my own saliva in front of strangers who weren’t sure if they should Heimlich the spittle out of me or play it cool.  That was embarrassing, not a failure. I’ve digressed. Failing is the matter at hand. 
The need to fail is real, it allows us to improve naturally. If we are paying attention. If we aren’t, we are doomed to make the same mistake over and over again. 
Make a mistake, learn. Go belly up, learn. Fuck up. Learn. When you are learning something new, this can be particularly frustrating. I’ve taken locution classes. I just finished my first course. It seems now I am worse than when I started. It is out of control. Punk voice, that is what it is. This is not by any means a reflection on the instructors. It just means I have to learn how to apply what I’ve learned without making a mistake. That will take time, failure, and dedication. I’ll hone the hell outta this or my name isn’t Jack’s Medulla Oblongata. 
The most talented and successful people have made failure a part of their paradigm. Education and failure. Learn from those who have traveled the path before you. Fail until you learn how not to. Until you get it right and then improve. I think about it in terms of flight hours. 
We fail in many ways and oh how many ways there are to learn if we are up to the challenge. In each failure, we have the opportunity to be better. Continue reading

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