داستان کوتاه

Energy Detox VIP – Mini Story

Hello, this is AJ and welcome to the mini story for this month’s lesson. Let’s get started.

This one is based on a true story.

​

Allen was fried. He was fried. He was totally burned out and stressed out.

​

Now, to be ‘fried’, that’s slang. To be ‘fried’ means to be exhausted, totally exhausted and it definitely has the idea of mental exhaustion as well as physical, especially mental.

You can say “Oh, man, I am just totally fried right now. I am really fried.” It means you’re exhausted. All your energy is used up.

Now, to be ‘burned out’, that next phrase, “Allen was fried. He was totally burned out”, to be ‘burned out’ means to be tired and to be without motivation for something. So burned out, it has an idea of no more motivation, no more desire to do something. So you can say “I am burned out at my job”, for example.

That means you have lost your ability to do the job with passion. You have lost your motivation for the job. You have lost your desire and your enjoyment for and of the job.

That’s to be burned out. So burned out has the feeling of no more motivation, no more desire, no more enjoyment. Those things are burned up, right? They’re gone.

And, finally, the final phrase “Allen was stressed out.” To be ‘stressed out’ just means to have a lot of stress. It means to have kind of a maximum level of stress. So, to be stressed out means to have a very high level of stress.

​

So Allen was fried. He was exhausted. He was burned out. All his motivation and enjoyment was gone and he was stressed out. He had a lot of stress.

And why was he fried, burned out and stressed out?

Well, because he lived in San Francisco.

He lived in San Francisco, which is a very noisy city.

Is San Francisco a very quiet and peaceful city?

No, it’s not. San Francisco is not a quiet and peaceful city.

What kind of city is it?

It’s a noisy city.

And how did Allen feel?

Well, he was fried, he was burned out and he was stressed out.

So did he have a lot of stress in his life?

Yes, he was stressed out. He had a high level of stress.

Was he exhausted?

Yes, he was. He was fried.

Was his motivation and enjoyment of life gone?

Yes, he was totally burned out.

And why was he fried, exhausted? Why was he burned out, without motivation? Why was he stressed out, had a lot of stress? Why?

Because he lived in San Francisco and San Francisco is a very noisy city.

See, every day sirens were blaring near his apartment. Every day drunks were yelling outside his apartment.

So what were the sirens doing?

The sirens were blaring [sound of sirens] like that.

​

So, of course, the siren is the noisemaker on a police car or an ambulance or a fire truck and ‘to blare’ means to make a loud noise. So we can talk about music blaring. So if music is blaring, it means it’s playing very, very loud. Rah! It’s really, really loud. So if a siren is blaring, it means the siren is playing very, very loud or loudly. So ‘to blare’ means to make a very, very loud sound, but we use it for music or sirens, things like that. We do not use it for speech or people.

​

So what was blaring?

Sirens. Sirens were blaring.

And where were they blaring constantly?

Outside of Allen’s apartment.

So were they blaring quietly?

No, no, no, blaring means to play loudly. So the sirens were not blaring quietly, it’s impossible. They were blaring very, very loudly. Blaring has the idea of very, very loud.

So was there music blaring outside of Allen’s apartment?

No, there wasn’t music blaring outside of his apartment.

So what was blaring?

Sirens.

Sirens from what were blaring?

Well, sirens from police cars, sirens from fire trucks and sirens from ambulances.

Constantly throughout the day, every day, sirens were blaring outside of Allen’s apartment.

When the sirens were blaring did Allen feel relaxed?

No, no, he was stressed out by the sounds of sirens blaring.

Because this happened constantly, all the time, every day, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, Allen became totally burned out by San Francisco life. He was totally fired because he could never sleep well.

Why couldn’t he sleep well?

Because sirens were constantly blaring outside of his apartment on the street next to his apartment. The sirens blaring frequently woke him up. That’s why he was fried, totally exhausted.

Well, Allen needed peace and quiet so he went to Delores Park to try to relax. He thought “I will go to the park. It will be beautiful and quiet and calm. I can escape these blaring sirens.”

And, indeed, did he escape the blaring sirens at Delores Park?

Yes, he did. He escaped the blaring sirens at Delores Park.

He was sitting on the grass enjoying a quiet time, but then a crazy man came walking through the park shouting “Give me some money for booze! Hey, you!

Give me some money for booze! Hey, man, come on. Give me some money for booze!”

What did the crazy man want?

Well, he wanted money in order to buy booze.

​

What’s booze? ‘Booze’ is kind of slang for alcohol. It’s not beer. It’s not wine. It’s kind of hard alcohol. We call that ‘booze’. It’s a slang word, ‘booze’. The crazy man wanted money so he could buy alcohol.

​

So what did he say, the crazy man?

He said “Give me some money for booze.”

Did he want beer?

No, he didn’t want to buy beer.

What kind of alcohol did he want to buy?

Well, he wanted to buy hard alcohol, something like vodka or whiskey. He wanted to buy booze.

Was he polite and quiet?

No, no, he wasn’t polite and quiet. He was shouting. He was walking through the park shouting constantly “Give me some money booze! Give me some money for booze!” and he wouldn’t leave. So the crazy man made lots and lots and lots of noise and bothered Allen a lot.

So did Allen find peace and quiet at Delores Park?

No, unfortunately, he did not.

So next he went to Golden Gate Park, the biggest park in San Francisco. He thought “I will find peace and quiet in Golden Gate Park.” So he took a taxi and he went out to Golden Gate Park. He was dreaming of trees and peace and quiet and lying on the grass looking up at the sky, but when he arrived there was an enormous music festival there. There were throngs of people, hordes of partiers.

Was there a small music festival at Golden Gate Park when Allen arrived?

No, there was not a small music festival there. There was an enormous music festival.

​

Of course, ‘enormous’ means huge; very, very, very, very big.

​

So there was an enormous what at Golden Gate Park when Allen arrived?

There was an enormous music festival.

And where was the enormous music festival?

At Golden Gate Park.

Was it a peaceful, classical, music festival?

No, it was not classical music. It was an enormous music festival. It was an enormous rock music festival with extremely loud music. In fact, the music was blaring all over the park. It was playing very, very loudly.

Were there just a few people there?

No, no, no, no, there were throngs of people at the park.

A ‘throng’ is a huge group. It has the idea of a very, very, very large unorganized group, a throng. So we will have a throng at a big music festival or a throng maybe at a big protest. It’s this idea of a large and kind of unorganized group.

​

So where were the throngs?

The throngs were at Gold Gate Park.

And why were there throngs of people at Golden Gate Park?

Well, there were throngs of people at Golden Gate Park because of the enormous music festival.

So how many people were there at Golden Gate Park?

Throngs of them, thousands and thousands of them, huge groups, unorganized, moving around the park. There were also hordes of partiers at Golden Gate Park for the music festival.

​

Now, a ‘horde’ is similar to a throng. Again, it’s an idea of a large group of people, but a horde has the idea of maybe a rowdy group. It’s a very large group that’s maybe loud and, again, certainly disorganized, a horde of people. So a very, very large group is a horde.

​

So there were hordes of what kind of people at Golden Gate Park?

There were hordes of partiers, people who were partying, drinking, dancing and running around making lots of noise.

So were there hordes of meditators at Golden Gate Park?

No, no, not hordes of meditators. People were not meditating at the park.

There were hordes of what at Golden Gate Park?

There were hordes of partiers, people who were partying, drinking, laughing, dancing, yelling woo-hoo!

So were there hordes of quiet people at Golden Gate Park?

No, there were not hordes of quiet people at Golden Gate Park. There were hordes of partiers.

And where were the hordes of partiers?

At Golden Gate Park.

And where were the throngs of people?

At Golden Gate Park.

Where was the enormous music festival?

At Golden Gate Park.

And where was poor Allen?

Unfortunately, he too was at Golden Gate Park wanting peace and quiet and, instead, music was blaring. There were hordes of partiers, thongs of people. Allen was at his wits’ end.

​

Now, to be at your ‘wits’ end’ means you’re at the end of your patience. You’re at the end of your patience. It means you can’t take anymore. You have reached your limit for something. Usually when we say “I’m at my wits’ end”, it means you have reached your limit for something unpleasant. It means you’ve tried to be patient, you’ve tried to endure it, but you’re at your limit. You can’t take anymore. It’s too much. You’re finished.

You can’t it anymore.

​

So Allen was at his wits’ end. He reached his limit for noise. He just was sick of it, totally sick of it. He reached his limit. He could not tolerate it anymore.

So where was Allen?

At his wits’ end. (This is an idiom.) He was at his wits’ end.

Why was at his wits’ end? Why did he reach his limit?

Well, because had endured so much noise in San Francisco and then, finally, he went to the park and there was a huge loud music festival.

​

It was the ‘last straw’. We say the ‘last straw’. It means it’s the last thing that you can endure; the final thing.

​

So Allen was at his wits’ end. He was sick of loud, blaring music. He was sick of loud blaring sirens. He was sick of the noise in San Francisco. He had no more patience for it.

So was he patient or was he at his wits’ end?

He was at his wits’ end.

Did he have more patience or was he finished with San Francisco?

He was finished with San Francisco. Allen was at his wits’ end. He couldn’t take it anymore. He reached his limit. He was at his wits’ end.

So finally he decided “I must leave San Francisco. I must find peace and quiet.” And so he searched through travel books and maps and one day he saw a gorgeous, beautiful, picture of Maui, Hawaii and he decided immediately “I’m moving to Maui!” And he did. He moved to Maui and every day on Maui, the Island of Maui in Hawaii, every day was peaceful and serene and beautiful and Allen finally found peace and calm and was very, very happy.

​

And that is the end of our mini story this month. I will see you again soon. Just listen to the story, answer the questions as best you can. Shout some short little answers. Enjoy it and I’ll see you again next time. Bye-bye.