Beeping world

- a brief story of a man surrounded by beeps

Henry's soul's tired and the world around him beeps.
His cell phone beeps to wake Henry's tired body.
His cell phone beeps every time there's a new message, a new invoice, a newer thing every other minute.
In the kitchen, before going to work, his time is short.
The kitchen around him beeps.
His coffee machine beeps when coffee is ready to be drunk.
His microwave oven beeps when the food has been heated.
His fridge constantly beeps because he often forgets it open.
Henry lives alone and his TV is one of his few friends. 
Road Runner is on now and it also beeps when the Coyote comes.

Road Runner

Henry works all day long and does all housework by himself.
The laundry beeps around him.
His washing machine beeps when his clothes are clean.
His bell rings when the water is delivered.
John suffers from phantom beeping. He struggles against these beeps in his head.
He listens to his heart beeping when it should be beating.
Every beep he takes, ever move he makes is a beep less and a beep more.
Henry's soul is sick of so much beeping.
He turns off all his devices.
He even turns off his cell phone, and his beep as well.
Suddenly, his heart stops beeping.
Henry's soul fly away, silently, free.
There's another world around him and everything has a different sound.
He smiles, he opens his eyes and he listens to his beep again.
And so it goes.
His heart is still there, beating, beeping and Henry feels alive again.
The world around him beeps. 
Henry's soul is thankful because as long as his heart beats the world might be beeping with him.    

SPAMS: an alternate way to learn English

NO! It's not always that I give myself the opportunity to open spams in my email.

As we can recall, spams are disruptive online messages, especially commercial messages posted on a computer network or sent as email.

So, it might probably be a fraud, someone trying to steal your money or commit online crimes as long as you don't clink those links. If you do so, it will probably become an albatross around your neck.

But this morning I could not resist. The email was from: office; the main title was: food. Who can deal with that?

Dear Sir/Madam:

We need to import a container at least of honey . If your esteemed company could provide the honey, Our company wish that we can cooperate for a long time. If you are interested ,please do not hesitate to contact us. We could tell you our contact number. Have a nice day!

Warm greetings,

Paul   

The nicest thing from this email from a domain in China (later found out) is how we always happen to get these awkward messages. I do not own a company and never have produced honey (I don't even like it very much). They are not very sure about calling us Sir or Madam, which is a nice way to start an email to a person. And I don't want to let them think I'm hesitating by not replying it, but I'm just not the person supposed to get it.

In the end, though, they could at least have changed "warm greeting" for "sweet" ones, if they are so interested in getting honey.

Anyway, just be careful with these tricksters!

See you!

P.S.:
ALBATROSS AROUND (ONE’S) NECK: something or someone that is a burden and difficult to get rid of

1. That car costs you so much to repair. It has become an albatross around your neck. Why don’t you get rid of it?

2. I hired my wife’s brother to work in my business but he’s worthless. He doesn’t do anything. He really is an albatross around my neck.

(From the book In the loop: A Reference Guide To American English Idioms; Adapted from:
Something to Crow About by Shelley Vance Laflin; ed. Anna Maria Malkoç, Frank Smolinski)

THE BRIGHT SIDE

When I was eleven I remember how much I could not stand studying English as a second language in Brazil. The problem was not the English language, but my preteen naivety that didn't let me see the difference between the language itself and the person who was in front of us trying to actually teach something.

My first Cs, Ds and there might have been an F as well might have come with English, but until that moment it was not my fault either. Luckily, I can't recall names and faces from those who were considered our teachers. And just to make sure, those were the only Cs, Ds and F in my entire school life in all the other school subjects.

The truth is that I didn't give up because of those people. I continued buying CDs from Alanis Morissette and listening to her songs without even noticing what was being sung. Happy was I when a cousin of mine told me that "What's my age again" was a Blink 182 song and I could finally find this song that I quite liked.

And how was I supposed to like English if all the teachers said in class was that there was a verb and its name was 'to be' or 'be' for the close ones and that the names of the months were... and days of the week, and the seasons of the year and next year all the thing over and over again. So, it will be impossible to see someone mastering English after years of elementary, high school and all the other levels of regular school in Brazil. (Exceptions might be reconsidered here and there)

The thing was that I was on the same boat as everyone else. And this boat, oh, was it sinking! By the age of thirteen I entered for the first time in my life a private English class with other six or seven students. I was afraid, not confident and didn't see the light of the end of the tunnel (especially because I was in the very beginning of it), but for about four years I had the chance to be introduced to the most fascinating, thrilling, interesting and dynamic Mr English. I learned to set my Brazilian Portuguese aside and think in English; and I memorized most of Blink 182's song and Alanis' as well.

Was I ready and fluent and confident and all the good things at once? No. And I'm still not and probably won't ever be. The simple explanation is that English, as any other living language, is alive! It changes every day. And this is one of the reasons I learned to love English: I will never be tired of it, because there will never be a day that a person will have mastered and conquered a language territory. Indeed, it's a long road. But it all depends on the side you take: the dark or the bright one.

I'm 27 today and I had no idea of what the future could hold. I did not imagine myself teaching languages, I did not see me as a teacher at all. But I love what I do and what I do is what I love besides a short list of things that I also love and will be seen here.

So, thanks for letting me share this moment with you and hope this blog becomes likable and desirable through time. This is surely the bright side, the one that I'm in and the direction that can take me up to any place I want to be.