The second vowel is an unstressed “i”. In most varieties of English, since it is unstressed, we pronounce it as a schwa, which sounds roughly like “uh”.

If you’d like to articulate that syllable, like you might do in French, then pronounce it like the “i” in “sit”. That’s completely optional.

You seem to be ready for either mindfulness meditation or Stoic philosophy. Neither one provides a quick fix, but the benefits accumulate over time.

I’m sorry that you’re going through this. I wish you peace.

There is an implicit binary choice here, so “whether” fits. Both work, although I, for one, prefer to use “whether” for binary choices and “if” when there are more options. This is similar to my preference for “between” only for two things and “among” for more than two.

The phrase “I’m wondering if… can…” needs a noun or pronoun between “if” and “can”. As soon as you try to remove that (by moving it out to “The monkey who…”), the phrase stops being grammatical. We’d understand you, but it would require significant effort to parse the sentence. That seems to be what makes this sound strange, no matter what we try to do with it.

I don’t know whether other languages can do this, but English can’t.

• Omnibus
• Darknet Diaries

Your last paragraph contains the clue. What message do you genuinely believe your brother will understand from you refusing to attend his wedding? Will it do any good? Does it seem likely to change anyone’s behavior?

If yes, then don’t go. If no, then put that thought aside and reconsider whether you actually want to go, then decide based on that.

Of the ones I tried to read, Atlas Shrugged, and it’s not even close.

A group of people who are tired of your unjust bullshit, who are not going to let you shrug it off or get away with it, and who are not going to stop confronting you with it.