Antisocial hours

Hello hello,

This update coming at you from a very exhausted person! I haven’t been sleeping well, which is always a surprise when it happens to me – I’m usually an awesome sleeper, as I’m sure I’ve probably mentioned before (it’s got to be one of my top skills) but for the last few nights it’s been challenging. I’ve been spending hours and hours in the early morning wide awake, my mind churning and my body agitated with…something. Initially I kept trying to figure it out, convinced if I could just work out what was wrong I would be able to go back to sleep again, but my brain refused to cooperate.

I did get there eventually, and it hasn’t solved anything but knowing what’s going on is some comfort. In the weird grey foggy light that introduced Monday then hung around all day like some sort of weather-based reflection of my mood, and as I was no longer fixated on it (of course) I slowly worked out that this week, already shortened because of Matariki this Friday, is basically constant disruption from one end to the other, with Hayden away in the first half, then a Matariki breakfast and two school concerts in quick succession in the latter half, and in between only all the other stuff that fills our days – the work and the school and the netball and the tennis and the swimming and the cycling and the gym and the homework and the and the…

All of this is fun and good stuff, but we’re obviously due a break. Only a week and a half to go until the end of term! As I watched multiple children completely fall apart at netball Monday evening I realised we’re basically all the same, just clinging on until the winter holidays. Which brings me to the fun part of this post…recommendations! I’ve been reading/watching/eating/listening to so many good things recently as we edge our way closer to holiday time…

Read: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Oooh this was so good. The subtitle is Why You Can’t Pay Attention and the author argues, very convincingly, that this is a worldwide phenomenon exacerbated by all the usual suspects – social media, our phones, the internet in general – but (spoiler alert) overall something attributable to the overall way we live now and have done since the Industrial Revolution. He mostly argues for society-wide fixes rather than individualised responses, which as a former policy wonk spoke to me, but for anyone who feels like they need to do something now before we as a world reconsider and sort everything out there are some good individual measures suggested also. So far, I have managed to physically distance myself from my phone while I’m working exactly twice and I finished the book about 10 days ago, so it is a process I guess…anyway I’m now boring everyone I know talking incessantly about this book, so welcome to that club!

Watch: Mike Birbiglia stand-up on Netflix. He’s so funny! In a very thoughtful way. We watched The Old Man and the Pool, which I think is his most recent.

Eat: I made these lamb meatballs with roasted cauliflower last week and they were both fantastic, and went together really nicely. The other best thing we ate was Korean pancakes, which we had in Takapuna on Saturday in between a visit to the playground and a visit to the library. Amelie didn’t like hers (ahhh seven year olds) but I’ve made these ones at home before and she loves those, so if you’re not in Takapuna or you also have a seven year old, but now you want Korean pancakes, give those a go.

Listen: I’ve been listening to a lot of Noah Kahan in the last few weeks and it’s kind of perfect for these chilly days. It also makes me feel very connected to New England – every time I hear Stick Season I’m in Killington again – which is just really nice. Weird how places impress themselves upon you. Place, and home, has been on my mind a lot recently actually (question is, am I listening to so much Noah Kahan because of that, or am I thinking of that because of my listening habits?)