“La mortalidad del cangrejo”

“La mortalidad del cangrejo”
April 10, 2011
By: Gina Roman

Since the year started I’ve re-discovered a new love, a new passion in my life;
When I started writing, it used to be such a drag to get myself motivated to get going. If I remember correctly, it was more towards the end of 2010 and even more so at the beginning of January that I accomplished my goal to write every week if not every day. In the middle of 2010 I made a promise to write 250 words every day, to not let a day go by without writing but since that goal is a bit hard to accomplish, I committed myself to be more loyal to one of my greatest loves in life So Sunday has become my day to sit down and disconnect myself from the universe to express myself in writing.
Before my lack of motivation only allowed me to write every once in a while but little but little that excuse of “there is nothing to write about,” got too old. Looking at things from a different angle, now I truly believe that there will always be something to say even if it’s not of any importante to anyone. All I want to do is share my thoughts, my dreams and goals, my motivation, my lack of motivation at times, my drive in life. I want to share with the entire world the fact that there are days when the simple fact of hopping out of bed can be a real hassle for everybody, how tough it can be to squeeze in working out especially when there are long days lying ahead of us. How despite the fact that are emotions interfere, we still have to keep going and so forth.
Writing has always been a part of my life since I learned how to write. Ever since I was a little girl I wanted to be a professional writer but now looking at it from a different perspective. I want to keep writing about anything that comes to my mind without caring so much about all those punctuation and grammar rules that can be tedious sometimes. As a Translator and Proofreader, it is not easy to overlook those things but I want to leave “perfectionism” behind for once.
As we speak about writing about anyting that comes to my mind, I remembered earlier this week when I ran into one of my previous students. She was approaching me and I waved but she seemed a bit distracted. As she got closer to me I said hello and all of a sudden she snapped out of it. She was indeed very distracted that she hadn’t realized I had said hello.
She told me this expression that I had already heard many tapatios use – I am uncertain as to whether this phrase is used all over Mexico or only in Guadalajara. She said, “I am sorry, I was very distracted thinking in “la mortalidad del cangrejo.” – The mortality of the crab meaning that my mind was wandering around, thinking about many things, bombarded with questions that I wasn’t completely there. My mind was trying to decipher the answers to many questions.
When I first heard someone use it I couldn’t figure it out but now it totally makes sense.
There are many phrases in Spanish just like in every language that when we stop and think about them, we are able to decipher the real meaning behind the words.
I've always been one to question every single thing about everything.
There are other phrases that I will share once I share the real meaning behind.
For example, there's this very interesting one that I've heard people on the radio use, "meterse en camisa de once varas."