FNC - Countdown to (sort of) freedom

Emily Writes

17 Jul 2026 — 7 min read

Sunrise on Rēkohu

Welcome to Friday Night Chats! It's so nice to have you here. How was your week? We made it! Let's chat!

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In absolutely excellent news, the school holidays are almost over. And thank God for that. I love my kids, but I love it when they're at school. Hammy tried to do a school holiday programme, but he lasted only a few hours despite everyone there being wonderful.

So, I've been working and looking after the kids, and I am very tired. And thankfully, Josh is back from leave next week, too. So hopefully my life will be a little less stressful than it has been.

This is always the cycle for me - I think when they're at school: 'Oh I can't wait for the holidays, the kids are exhausted, and it's so hard organising them for school'. And then, as soon as it's the holidays and Ham has talked at me for 72 hours without taking a breath. I'm like OH MY GOD I NEED A BREAK FROM THIS BEAUTIFUL CHILD.

Working and parenting full-time is very hard. Obviously, I'm very privileged to work from home. So I can manage it, it's just difficult. But yay! It's almost over! Then we can go back to the difficulty of trying to work and keep my child in school. Fun!

Eddie had an amazing time on Rēkohu. I'm very glad he's back. I was slightly traumatised by him pulling out a pilot whale's vertebrae from his suitcase, but I guess that's 13-year-olds for you.

It has been a very busy week! Last night we had our big fundraiser for the Palestine Mutual Aid Fund.

It was suuuuch a lovely night!!!

The gang (minus Pip Adam who also performed)

It felt very timely after Pinky's piece - What on earth is going on in the Stop The Data Centres group? - to see Garbage Day published a piece yesterday titled: No one wants to see the evidence of their own AI usage

"...it is safe to say that AI tools are more popular than ever. Which means many of the people you’re seeing on your respective feeds complaining about AI slop or data centers are, likely, also using these services. Which fits pretty neatly into the prevailing attitude of post-pandemic America I wrote about on Monday. That profound anxiety about what other people are doing beyond closed doors. And the weird mix of projection and shame over seeing the evidence of our own hypocritical behavior."

Ooof.

What I'm reading:

I've not been reading much, and I really want to get back into reading. So, I think I may just tackle some of these. Short stories I can dip in and out of seems like a good idea while my brain is smooth.

And online I'm reading:

The pain, pleasure and paranoia of life in a throuple

How the Manosphere Infiltrated Love Island USA

This seems not good? The Explosive Diarrhea Outbreak Is About to Get Much Bigger

What I'm watching:

I have had to watch a lot of Deadpool because my son is super into it. And my god, Ryan Reynolds is such an insufferable dork. He's just a man I immediately dislike on sight you know? Like, he just irritates me.

I watched Obsession. It was scary. A good horror movie. Very gory.

On our list for this weekend is The Odyssey. Ham is a huge fan and has read the book and listened to the audiobook. I am kind of looking forward to it because it has a lot of hotties in it - Lupita Nyong'o, Elliot Page, Robert Pattinson...And Charlize Theron as Calypso????

But can you actually believe it is almost three hours long?! It is apparently two hours and 52 minutes.

I've managed to find something to watch with my teen. It's been an effort trying to find something he's into! It's a Youtube channel called Wild Creek about living in the NT.

Obviously, it's also about people being eaten by crocodiles. But, I will say it's beautifully shot and there's some beautiful stuff in there about harmony in nature. I mean, someone also gets eaten by a crocodile, so you know.

What I'm listening to:

I am still struggling through the audiobook for Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter. I took a break to listen to a short story A Fig For All Devils by C.S Fritz. It was winner of the IBPA Gold award for Best in Horror.

My ‘Letter to my Libido’ was on The Good Sex Project this week!

On my list of new podcasts to dive into is We Call Her Emma. It's a new pod from The Observer.

She was once Emma: a high-achieving, middle-class girl from west London. Then, in 2001, she married Bashar al-Assad, the new leader of Syria, and her life dramatically changed course. For many Syrians, the young president and his glamorous British-born wife – now called Asma – promised a new beginning. Instead, when the Arab Spring reached Syria in 2011, those promises gave way to one of the bloodiest conflicts of the 21st century. Did Asma know of the horrors around her? Did she try to stop them? Some Syrians accuse her of profiting from the war. Others insist she wanted to escape. So, who was the real Emma?

What are you reading? Watching? Listening to?

I hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend. It will be a quiet one for me. And I'm happy about that. My bestie is away, so I'm kind of at a loose end without her around. No doubt the kids will try to get me to take them to the Lego Star Wars exhibition again...

Anyway! Thank you for being here! It's so nice to have you here. I am very grateful for you! Arohanui, Emily