I practice my Spanish every day, thanks to Fulano. I think I have already mentioned in a couple of posts el Fulano, my invisible Hispanic friend I talk to on the phone in Spanish every day. I do it on my voice mail. Then play back the monologue as a means of gauging my progress in the language. So far so good, except, my voice mail no longer functions and I can`t access the service provider since their website doesn`t respond to me. So... I talk on the phone anyway to Fulano (a Spanish word that means What`s It`s Face in English) and those around me assume (I hope) that I am either a native Spanish speaker, possibly a very pale looking Mexican, or, in the case of native Spanish speakers, that I am a local Gringo who speaks the language admirably well but they`re still not going to be fooled by my accent. Unable to play back my recordings, I wait till I get home, then from my landline phone I talk in Spanish onto my professional voice mail which I pick up on my cell phone. I can still listen to myself in Spanish every day, gage my progress then move on.
Of the many conversations I have with Fulano, one recurring theme is how much I have to be thankful for, despite small inconveniences and necessary trade-offs. And at the end of the day, there is always the present moment, the Divine Present, that gift from God of the present moment that sustains and blesses us if we but give it our notice.
Yes, I did say that I have a cell phone, an antique, an old-fashioned flip phone, courtesy of my employers who pay for it. I don`t have an iPhone and I don`t want one. Not only would I rather invest the money for my annual vacation in Latin America, but I also don`t want to be connected twenty-four/seven. I don't get a lot of emails anyway and there is nothing on social media that interests me, so, no Facebook and no Twitter and no Instagram. Do I feel deprived? Why should I? I have friends who I can see for coffee or a meal and we stay in touch the old fashioned way: email or phone, and then we actually see each other. In person. Weird, eh?
While my client and I today were talking about the importance of learning to tolerate slightly intolerable conditions I expressed my feelings about my job as an example. I love my clients and the kind of work I do. There are a lot of other things that I don't like, which I did not mention to my client, and given my employers' delicate feelings around criticism that comes from low-caste workers they have the power to hurt (I guess that I must be like one of those perennially annoying fruit flies always getting in their face) it would probably be wise to keep my mouth shut, especially around a client.
On the other hand, despite my low wage and poor working conditions and absolute lack of respect from higher management I still get by okay. I have a place to live (thanks, BC Housing and More Than a Roof Housing Society!) and I pay a pittance for rent (thirty percent of my monthly income). My place is small but easy to clean. It gets noisy at times from the elephant upstairs and the douchebags in the hard to house building next door, but earplugs help and my central location does much to streamline my life for me. And I can still live in this fabulously and obscenely expensive city of my birth.
Because I enjoy travel I usually can't afford to eat in restaurants, so I cook and enjoy the exercise in culinary creativity which also enhances my good health. I am vegetarian, which is not only affordable but has blessed me with the blood pressure of a young man less than half my age. Even though my pituitary gland is toast and I have to take a thyroid supplement for the rest of my life I enjoy good robust health and physical strength and energy. I don't have a car (never have), so I rely on public transit which, often not that reliable, encourages me to walk a minimum of five miles a day which also keeps me in good health.
I have almost always lived alone, partly because I'm unmarriageable (there is no room for two on my throne) and my asexual orientation along with my strong Christian spiritual focus makes romantic entanglements unnecessary to me and virtually impossible, which keeps me unavailable to potential partners of any gender. I would like to have closer friends in my life but it is difficult to find people who don't try to sexualize close friendship and intimacy. On the other hand, this encourages me to be a better, kinder and more respectful friend. A bit lonely at times, perhaps, but I never end up regretting that I have somehow sold myself for a mess of pottage.
I could go on. Life is so full of trade-offs, but you know something, Gentle Reader? If we were to really focus on the gains that we make through our trade offs instead of whining and whinging about what we think we have lost we would not only be happier people, but we would also be making the world around us a much happier and more welcome place.
Even though I could complain, I'm not going to. Right now I'm too happy.
Not that this couldn't change of a sudden.
Let's just hope and pray that it doesn't.
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