FNC - Resolutions and good reads
Friday Night Chats time!
This is usually a paid post but I accidentally sent it out to everyone so welcome - this is what you get if you’re a paid subscriber.
It’s Friday! How are you? I’m so happy to have you here for Friday Night Chats. Let’s talk - it feels like it has been a very long week!
On the one hand I have had an amazing week, on the other hand (because I always have two hands) it’s been exhausting. So, I had to have an impromptu trip to Tāmaki Makaurau this week. Our bathroom is a construction site (literally) which was unexpected. We knew it was due to be fixed but didn’t know it would happen in the first week of January.
Still, can’t complain. Because at the end of it the bathroom will be a fully accessible disability bathroom. No more getting soaked every time I try to wash my boy!!
He couldn’t cope with tradies coming into the house and the noise of construction so I called my dad and asked if he could host us for the week. This is part of my ‘asking for help when I need it’ thing. So go me. It’s actually been so great here. I know the weather is so bad in Wellington, and here it’s been glorious. I’ve had a swim at the beach every day! (Very sorry to those not in sunny parts of the country).
So, it’s actually been quite relaxing. My husband stayed back with Pipi the pup. We have instigated Pipi jail which she loves as you can see:
Eddie has been at diabetes camp all week having the time of his life. He’s back now and so am I.
I’ve stuck mostly to my NY resolutions. I’m absolutely loving Josh Drummond’s NY resolution chat. In typical ADHD fashion I forgot what resolution I committed to. I said no more doom scrolling and that I’d read books instead. And I said I’d teach Pipi to spin around in circles when she hears Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan.
After immediately forgetting these I decided I’d only read books by women for a year. I have really committed to reading. And it’s been great! I have so far read I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman which was amazing. And Wing by Nikki Gemmell which uh…I did not love, but you might!
I am halfway through Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield which is interesting. And I’m halfway through An Isolated Incident by Emily Maguire which is bleak but good. Both are novels. I don’t usually read (finish) novels so I’m making a real attempt and I’m hoping I can keep it up.
I also updated my submissions post to include the terrible Social Security Amendment Bill - You can read my thoughts on that bill here.
Other things I’m reading:
I’ve always like Lainey Gossip and this is a good run-down on the Blake Lively harassment campaign and our relationship with gossip.
I am obsessed with Daylight Saving Time politics - Brazil eliminated daylight saving time. It’s having second thoughts.
Emilia Pérez Is Bad, Actually. Why Does Awards Season Love It?
LA is on fire. How will Australia cope when bushfires hit Sydney, Melbourne or another major city?
The chronicle of a fire foretold
I loved this article - ‘People feel they don’t owe anyone anything’: the rise in ‘flaking’ out of social plans - I am someone who loves to flake and hates when people flake lol.
What I’m watching:
Not much because I’m trying to read and it’s been sunny here! Now that I’m back in Wellington I’ll probably watch more TV with the bad weather.
But - I followed your recommendations from last week and saw Better Man and you were not wrong! It’s a great film. I just don’t understand how having a CGI monkey as Robbie Williams works but it really does.
I saw the Robbie Williams doc on Netflix and found him to be totally insufferable. A rich wanker with no redeeming qualities. But I felt so sad for monkey Robbie Williams. Having him played by a monkey made me stop thinking about Robbie Williams the asshole and just view him as a kid who had a lot of trauma.
.Also, I’m obsessed with the Take That outfits. I thought the assless chaps and g-strings were a joke and then I googled and THEY REALLY WORE THOSE OUTFITS!
It’s truly devastating that boy bands don’t dress like that anymore. Also it’s so weird that their photo shoots were so uhh….wet? Like they seem like videos that should be investigated by
if you know what I mean??
I also watched Jury Duty on Amazon Prime. It was good fluffy silly TV. Good for a summer watch if you’re bored. I came away thinking that I love James Marsden and then I saw he left his wife for a 20 year old when he’s like 50. So foul.
What I’m listening to:
My son obsessively watching 9-11: Lonestar. We don’t really limit screen time because it helps him regulate himself when he’s overwhelmed. And at the moment the urgent speeches of Rob Lowe as Captain Owen Strand is the soundtrack to our lives.
He just likes it on in the background while he researches dog breeds and the like. He started to list all of the roles Rob Lowe has been in and I thought - no, his next special interest cannot be ROB FRIGGEN LOWE. I looked up his wiki page and ugh sex tapes and sexual harassment! Also this lol
In 1989, as part of the opening ceremony for the (critically derided) telecast of the 61st Academy Awards produced by Allan Carr,[22] Lowe made his musical debut singing a reworked duet of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Proud Mary" alongside actress Eileen Bowman,[23] who was dressed as an unauthorised depiction of Snow White.[24]
What are you listening to? Watching? Reading?
Have you managed to have a break? I wanted to put out a newsletter on Wednesday but realised I just literally did not have enough time. I am going to make some attempts at work slash life balance this year. Any tips you can give me would be greatly appreciated! I’m not the only one who must be hoping to have a year where they’re not as overwhelmed.
Finally, you know I’m not religious anymore…but there’s various things in various religions I find comfort in. When I’m sad I do a prayer that’s kind of - “Dear God/Allah/Buddah/Mother Nature/The Universe…” when I’m distressed. It’s not often.
But I was thinking about someone I care about a lot and his family as they face a tough health issue. So I was doing my “I don’t know if I’m talking to anyone but if there’s anyone there please help…”. And then I had an alert pop up on my phone for a newsletter I don’t remember subscribing to and now can’t find.
It shared a proverb - “When you pray, move your feet”.
So - in that vein, check your moles, check your boobs, check your balls. Slip, Slop, Slap in the sun and tell the people you love that you love them. x
Prayer
Some days, although we cannot pray, a prayer
utters itself. So, a woman will lift
her head from the sieve of her hands and stare
at the minims sung by a tree, a sudden gift.
Some nights, although we are faithless, the truth
enters our hearts, that small familiar pain;
then a man will stand stock-still, hearing his youth
in the distant Latin chanting of a train.
Pray for us now. Grade 1 piano scales
console the lodger looking out across
a Midlands town. Then dusk, and someone calls
a child's name as though they named their loss.
Darkness outside. Inside, the radio's prayer -
Rockall. Malin. Dogger. Finisterre.
by Carol Ann Duffy
Still bored? The Very Best Cozy Games, From Someone Who’s Played Over 1,000 Hours of Them.
I enjoyed this Friday chat so much I suddenly became a paid subscriber. It’s so easy to join! Thanks for all the tireless work you have done informing us about the various stinking bills. It is much appreciated.
On the strength of the Caro-Ann Duffy poem, I've spontaneously formed a resolution. I resolved to read poetry this year! What an image: 'hearing his youth/ in the distant chanting Latin of a train'. Thank you, Em, and happy 2025 to you and whanau.