There's an English proverb that goes, when the cat's away, the mice will play.
When the cat's away, the mice will play.
Do you know this one?
Have you heard it before?
It simply means that when an authority figure or someone who enforces the rules isn't around, then people will often break the rules and do what they like and have fun.
Think about a boss who's away on a business trip.
Maybe the employees won't work as hard when the boss isn't around.
Or when a teacher leaves the classroom, then maybe students are more likely to have some fun and play some games and not really study hard in the classroom.
That's what this proverb is all about.
And today, in this episode, I'm going to tell you a story that's a little bit at least a little bit related to this proverb when the cat's away, the mice will play.
So we'll get started with that story in just a second.
But before we do, let me introduce myself.
My name is Andrew.
I'm the host of the Q-Lips English podcast.
And this is bonus episode number 161.
Here in the bonus episode series, what I do is I tell you some stories from my everyday life.
I'm a Canadian guy, but I live abroad in Seoul, South Korea.
And I hope that by listening to these stories, you will be able to improve your fluency.
That's what I'm here to help you do. and help you achieve.
So if you want to be a better and clearer and more confident English speaker, then I think you're in the right place.
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And now, let's get started with this week's story.
When the cat's away, the mice will play.
So how does my story relate to this proverb?
Well...
I don't really think that my wife is the authority figure in my home.
I don't really think she's the boss, but she is away for the weekend and that means I'm alone for the weekend here at my house.
My wife went on a trip with her mom and they went to Hukouka in Japan and they're going to have a mother-daughter away time for the weekend, which is awesome.
I got to say, I'm a little jealous.
I wish I could go on that trip as well.
It sounds like they've got some really cool activities planned.
But that means I'm on my own and alone for the weekend for the first time in a long time.
I can't even remember... the last time I was on my own for a full weekend at home.
Of course, I've been on trips myself and my wife has been in this situation where she was home alone, but I think this is the first time that I've been home alone for a full weekend without my wife, maybe since we've been married.
It's been, yeah, a long time.
It's a little different and she's away.
And so I'm here and I'm allowed to play.
And I was thinking that this could be a cool topic for me to talk about what I'm going to do different while my wife is away.
And I had this idea and I thought it connected to the English proverb that I wanted to introduce to you and teach you about.
But then I was actually brainstorming and making a little list of the things that I was going to do different now that I have all the freedom in the world.
I'm totally by myself.
I can live like a bachelor again if I want to here at home for this weekend.
And nobody's going to say anything.
Nobody can stop me.
However, when I was doing the brainstorming and putting together my little list, I really didn't think of anything else that I wanted to do too differently alone this weekend than I would if my wife were normally here.
So I guess that's a good thing.
I think that means that we have a strong relationship and we really see eye to eye on most things.
See eye to eye is an idiomatic expression that means that you agree on things and you see things the same way.
And I think my wife and I have a pretty healthy relationship because we're really perfectly aligned on almost everything.
We see eye to eye.
We have similar tastes and preferences.
And although our habits and our lifestyles, of course, are different, we're different people, but we really do align on so many things so well.
And so I think that's why we have a good relationship.
But nonetheless, I did some brainstorming and I made a short list.
Three things.
I could only think of three things that I'm going to do differently this weekend, when I go nuts while my wife's out of town.
And so let's get to the list.
I'll talk to you about them here now.
So let's see, where should we start?
Okay, I'll start with number one, because maybe this is the one that's, yeah, I guess is maybe where my wife and I don't see eye to eye on all the time.
And frankly, I don't think anybody would see eye to eye on this all the time.
It is about music and music taste and music preferences are so different from person to person to person.
And that's fine.
That's totally cool.
People can like whatever they like.
I tend to be one of these people who has, I think, pretty varied music tastes.
I like lots of different genres and I like listening to lots of different styles of music.
And to be honest with you, my wife and I, We really do like a lot of the same styles of music.
We really enjoy listening to music together.
We enjoy going to record stores together.
And she's very open-minded about the music that I like to play as well.
I think she would probably say that I listen to a bit more music than she does.
The different styles and genres that I listen to is maybe a wider variety than what she likes to listen to.
However, we really do agree on so many different styles.
However, there is some music that I like to listen to that I just don't think is maybe too enjoyable to listen to for many people.
So I wanna call this kind of music, quote unquote, difficult music.
And this includes genres like maybe drone music or IDM, electronic music that can be very glitchy and mechanical sounding, electric sounding.
I like some styles of heavy music with very heavy guitars and drums.
Think metal or death metal.
I'm not like huge fans of these genres, but from time to time, I do enjoy listening to them.
Rap is another genre that I like.
Hip hop, maybe some gangster rap even.
And some of these genres, my wife will enjoy as well.
But others, it's not that she tells me not to play it.
But at the same time I feel almost guilty about listening to them, because I think you really have to be in the right mindset and the right mood to listen to them.
So like I said, these are not my go to genres that I'm like a really big fan of all the time.
But I go through phases with my music listening.
And sometimes I get into like a zone where I'll really listen to a lot of like really heavy music for a week or two.
And then I don't listen to it anymore.
And usually when I go through one of these phases it's totally fine because I can just listen with my headphones.
I can listen to music when I'm going on the subway or the bus or walking around, walking the dog, even in the home.
And yeah, it's amazing these days.
You know, we have AirPods and Bluetooth headphones and we can just listen to whatever we want.
We don't bother anyone.
However, I've got a pretty sweet stereo setup that I got some nice speakers.
And from time to time I do like to turn up the volume a little bit and really get the full experience of listening to the music.
I wouldn't say loudly, but at a good volume and really just getting the most out of it and enjoying my stereo that way which, like I said, sometimes I can feel just a little bit guilty about if the music is like I said.
Quote unquote difficult music.
So these days I've been listening to some drone music by this artist named Kali Malone.
And it's like it's actually very beautiful music but she makes it just on, I believe, a pipe organ, this record that I've been listening to.
And if you're into this style of music and you want to know more, just send me a DM or leave a comment on our discord community.
And I can send you some YouTube links so you can check this out for yourself as well.
But she makes this really amazing, beautiful music. droney music with pipe organs.
And so the music is just like long, sustained chords with slight changes.
And I'm not the person that can really talk elegantly about music.
So I apologize for that.
However, although it is beautiful, I think it's very hypnotic and almost meditative.
And when you start listening to it you really have to be in the right mindset to interact with the music in a certain way.
You have to be in a mindset to listen to it really carefully.
And I could imagine if my wife were listening to this style of music and I was just trying to get some work done around the house or do the dishes or something I'd be like oh, can we change it to something different?
It's not really that household chore soundtrack that you want to listen to.
It's more something that you have to sit down and listen to carefully.
And so I've been Enjoying this music while I've been out on walks.
I think it's because of the seasons are changing.
And when the seasons change, then I start um yeah, my music taste changes with the seasons and this sort of dark eerie beautiful, droney organ music seems to be a great fit for the fall.
So I've been listening to it in my headphones for the last week or two.
But now that my wife is out of town, I'm going to play it loudly through my stereo and enjoy the full beauty of that pipe organ, and maybe some other music as well.
The Musician that I mentioned, Callie Malone.
She's actually married to a famous guitarist who has this band called Sun, and he makes similar music.
Interestingly enough, maybe this is why they're together, because he makes like similar droney style music, but it's with a very heavy distorted guitar.
And so I also wanted to listen to his band, Sun.
They're called Sun.
I've been like kind of in this droney, heavy music phase the last couple of weeks.
So I'm going to pump up the volume on my stereo while my wife's away and enjoy listening to some music.
And yeah, looking forward to doing that.
So that is the number one thing.
The number two thing, what did I write?
Ah, I also want to watch a movie while my wife is away.
I love watching movies.
Unfortunately, I don't watch them too often just because they take up a lot of time.
And it's really hard to watch a movie these days.
I feel like, I don't know, for whatever reason, I do it less and less and less than I used to.
Maybe it's just I have less time in my life.
Or maybe it's just that my attention span isn't what it used to be.
I'm not sure.
But I find it harder to watch films now. than ever before.
But I really feel again, maybe it's now that the season is changing and it's the fall.
I feel like watching a movie, and this is a great time to do it while I have the place to myself, because when I watch movies, I really tried to recreate the theater experience as best as I can.
And when I say recreate the theater experience, what I mean is have like a dark room only the TV on and have the sound a little bit louder, and Or sometimes I even wear my Bluetooth headphones so I can get like a fuller sound experience and I can hear the dialogue clearly, because for whatever reason, these days I find it hard to hear the dialogue and the spoken words in films.
I don't know if that's just me or if that's the thing that everybody experiences.
I'm not sure, but when I wear my headphones and then watch films, or movies or TV, I'm It's easier for me to hear, especially if I'm doing it in Korean, my second language, which I'll probably try and watch a Korean movie tonight as well.
So I'm looking forward to doing that.
And, like I said, recreating a theater experience is going to be totally possible because when my wife and I watch TV or the movies she likes to have a little light on in the room.
She doesn't like to have it pitch black.
I'm the opposite.
I want to be as immersed in the film or as immersed in the TV show as I can, and having other distractions around like doesn't work for me.
I like to have it dark and like I'm in a movie theater as much as possible, like I said.
So I don't have to compromise on this this weekend.
I can just turn off the lights and enjoy the film.
My wife says it's not great for your eyes.
I don't care.
I'm not going to do it forever.
I'm just going to do it for the one time while she's away.
And so yeah, I'm looking forward to watching a movie with the lights off tonight, or maybe tomorrow night, before she gets back.
Anyways, I'm not sure when I'll do it and I'm not sure what I'll watch.
If you have a good movie recommendation, something that you've seen recently that you think I would enjoy again, drop me a comment on our Discord community, and I would love to hear about your recommendations.
Okay, let's get to the third and final thing on my list, which is something that I'm excited about for tonight.
And that is sleeping alone in my bed, sleeping alone in my bed.
I know it sounds crazy that I'm looking forward to this, But my absolute favorite sleeping position is the starfish position.
I don't know, for whatever reason, when I starfish in the bed I can sleep just so much better and so much more deeply and so much more comfortably than I can when I have to sleep on my side or on my back or on my stomach any other position which requires me to be more like in a pencil shape rather than a starfish shape.
So I usually don't get to starfish on the bed very often.
Maybe if I take a nap, but I haven't even been taking too many naps lately.
So it doesn't really happen very often.
But now that my wife's away, that means the bed's all mine.
So I'm going to starfish away tonight and for the next two nights while she's away.
And I'm really looking forward to it.
I think as I get older...
I'm starting to prioritize sleep more than anything in my life.
I feel like for me and probably for most people, but I've really noticed.
For me, I feel like sleep is the cheat code for doing almost everything well in my life.
Like it's more important, I think, than exercising or eating well.
Sleep is like the number one thing that I can do to make myself better. feel good.
And then, as a result, when you feel good and you're rested, then I can be successful at the other things that I want to do well in life.
So I've been prioritizing sleep more and more and more than just trying to go to bed early, like put myself in a situation where I'm sleeping earlier and then waking up later as well, so that I can maximize the sleep.
And You know, I used to be for the last like well through my 30s, I was really always trying to like OK, got to wake up early and get the day started and grind and do the things that you need to do.
And now I'm like, if I can push it back 15, 30 minutes and get some extra sleep, that's just going to result in, like me, feeling better and being more productive in the day.
So huge focus on sleep these days in my life, trying to get as much of it as I can so that my hours where I am awake are enjoyable and productive and less stressful.
All of that starts with a good night's sleep.
And so yeah, I'm definitely, definitely going to get some good night's sleep here, while I can starfish in my favorite sleeping position while my wife is away.
That is the wild and crazy bachelor weekend that I've got myself planned.
While my wife is away, I'm going to pump up the organ music.
I'm going to watch a movie in the dark and I'm going to sleep in the starfish position in my bed for the next three days, until my wife and my mother-in-law returned from Japan.
So I guess that'll bring me to the end of this week's story.
I'm curious about you.
I know that some of our listeners definitely are in relationships with your partner or husband or wife or whatever.
And maybe from time to time, you get to spend some time alone.
And yeah, it's just like a different kind of situation, right?
Being alone.
And I guess I imagine I don't have children.
So I could imagine that if you were alone after living with your partner and children, and then you had some time alone, that would be a massive change, probably a real big break from your routine.
For me, it's not quite that big.
But if you ever find yourself alone for some time, like a I am alone this weekend.
Let me know what you like to do.
How do you like to go crazy?
How do you like to play when the cat is away?
I'll be waiting for your comments on our Discord and I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say.
So that's going to be it for this week's story, everyone.
Pat yourself on the back, okay?
You did a good job doing some English listening today.
And keep going.
Don't forget we've got hundreds of other episodes over on our website QLipscom, to help you with your English learning journey.
And please check those out.
And also don't forget about the QLips classes upcoming this week.
We've got three of them, and we'd love to have you join us there.
Just click the link in the description to see the schedule.
And yeah, we'll see you in the classes. week.
Please take care and I'll catch you in the next episode.
Until then, bye-bye.
