A mundane novella

Last Sunday I took part in Corner Diary at BATS, which was basically a group of us reading things we had written when we were younger and were, to varying degrees, ashamed of. I read from the diary I wrote when I was eight years old, and the diary I wrote when I was ten. I had the best time and I wasn't embarrassed by the younger me at all - I'm glad I was so precocious and self-absorbed and strange, it has given me the best comedy material possible. Anyway, a lot of my diary entries from when I was ten begin with 'Sorry I haven't written for so long' or 'I can't believe it's been three days/three weeks/three months since I last wrote'. Nothing changes.

That photo above was taken on my way to work one morning just over a week ago. We'd had a lot of rain and one of the walls that the footpath on Glenmore Street runs alongside had even more moss on it than usual; I didn't touch it but it looked much thicker and bouncier (I'm sure moss doesn't bounce, but whatever). And it had little succulent flowers growing out of it. I thought they were pretty cool.

In the last few weeks I have been doing the usual - eating, working, going to movies and shows, writing a Christmas show with Alex and Ed, and various other things. Have I written about the orchestra? I don't think so.

I went to the orchestra one Friday night in August. I asked for two tickets for my birthday because I hadn't been since I was much younger and I had pretty much forgotten what it was like. It was the NZSO and the concert was called Cathedral of Sound, with 'one of the most exciting and ground breaking conductors of our time' Simone Young conducting Mozart's Symphony No. 36 Linz and Bruckner's Symphony No. 5. This really means nothing to me, all I know is I really enjoyed it and I couldn't believe over two hours had passed when we walked out. Simone Young was very animated in her conducting, she pretty much conducted with her whole body so it was really interesting to watch. Which was lucky because we were right near the front so could only see the front part of the string section. The person I went with wore a bow tie. Which was pretty great.

Here are some pictures of food I have eaten in the past few weeks:

The main of the Wellington On A Plate set menu at Le Metropolitain, followed by dessert off the menu. Creme brulee for me and warm chocolate pudding with sour cherries for Kelly.

Tacos from QBT on the waterfront at lunchtime on Friday. A bit of a wait, but so worth it.

Scones with jam and cream (not pictured, obviously) at Martha's Pantry. Two days in a row. As well as the daffodils in that photo, there are blossoms and blooms and bulbs everywhere in the Botanic Garden at the moment. It looks and smells pretty amazing every morning when I walk through it.

Churros and chocolate sauce for dessert at El Matador last night. I drank the last of the sauce out of the cup when I'd finished the churros. So good. Kelly got pancakes filled with caramel, which looked quite crepe-ish and tasted yum.

As for movies and theatre, I went to West End Girls at Circa, which was as expected (the ending was particularly cringe-inducing). I went to Tiny Spectacle / Shitty Lyricism at BATS which was painfully hip. I went to Jerichow at the Film Society (anyone could go along for a donation), a somewhat bleak and sometimes ridiculous, but enjoyable enough German film. I went to One Day Moko at BATS which was beautiful and made me a bit emotional. I saw it in its first incarnation as a Toi Whakaari solo and since then Tim has developed it into an hour long show. He is very very clever and such a strong performer. It makes you think a bit differently about homelessness and people you see regularly on the street, but most importantly it just makes you think about those things and has some very funny moments. Rave over. I went to Moonrise Kingdom last night which was cute and funny and I loved the music (by composer Benjamin Britten).

That's enough.

Oh but I listened to the most beautiful and sad 'This American Life' podcast this week. 'Our Friend David', following the death of regular contributor David Rakoff, whose voice I love. David's life is explored through bits from stories he'd told on the show and it was just so funny and lovely. I love that show.