FNC - It's my party and I'll....

Emily Writes

12 Jun 2026 — 8 min read

Welcome to Friday Night Chats. Tonight I am at the launch for season 3 of The Good Sex Project! I'll be reading a 'letter to my libido' so watch out! I hope you've had a great week. Let's chat!

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I'm 41! I turned 41 yesterday. I had a great party last week. It's all coming up roses, I tell ya! Genuinely, I am much happier at 41 than I was at 31. Or even 21. And certainly more so than 11. So, what more could a gal ask for?

I really pushed the boat out for my birthday and I did not get home until 4.30am. I had a two-day hangover, and let me just say - I am no longer built for drinking. But it was very, very fun! And very rowdy. I think it can actually be slightly frightening to the uninitiated to see mums gone wild. I may have fallen into a bush. In my defence, the bush came out of nowhere.

Today, I dropped my little boy at school and the kids were all watching the soccer live and they were screaming and cheering. And when he came in they all went quiet because they know he is scared of loud noises. How beautiful is that?

I am so grateful for these kids and the amazing teachers and parents who have encouraged them to be so accepting and caring. We lose so much when we force disabled kids out of school.

My son is learning he can trust others to care about him. These kids are learning that everyone is different and that's OK. And small kindnesses matter so much. It was a lovely way to start my Friday.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the Te Whanganui a Tara protest against the gender bill. It's at midday in Civic Square. I hope I see you there!

Here's a bit of a poem I like at the moment - Crossroads by Joyce Sutphen

The second half of my life will be black
to the white rind of the old and fading moon.
The second half of my life will be water
over the cracked floor of these desert years.
I will land on my feet this time,
knowing at least two languages and who
my friends are. I will dress for the
occasion, and my hair shall be
whatever color I please.
Everyone will go on celebrating the old
birthday, counting the years as usual,
but I will count myself new from this
inception, this imprint of my own desire.

Read the rest here.

I also really, really love this poem - and I think you should read it.

What I'm watching:

I have one episode left of Tip Toe on TVNZ. It's so harrowing I have had to space it out. It's just really, really upsetting. Just devastating. The acting is so good. And it's important you know but...Farrr out it makes me feel so hopeless. It's bleak AF.

I literally had nightmares last night about it. It's really awful and I worry the people who need to see it won't see it. It made me want to cry and hug my friends and it made me super depressed.

Also David Morrissey is different to Morrissey and I just found out about this by googling it.

Ronnie has been sick, so we have watched Superman, which is very much a blatant Israel allegory. They have a Netanyahu funded by billionaires and everything. I do agree with my son that David Corenswet is a very good Superman and is 'quite handsome' lol.

We have been watching Agatha All Along, and why is their such extreme sexual chemistry between Aubrey Plaza and Kathryn Hahn? Don't get me wrong, I love that it's so gay, but it's a bit unexpected for a kids' show! Maybe it's not a kids' show. Honestly, I can't keep up with these Marvel and DC shows; I can never tell what age group they're for.

On my list is:

Alice + Steve (Disney+) because it has Jemaine Clement in it. He sat next to me at the movies and I told my kids when I got home and they were very excited that the crab from Moana sat next to me because that's what their generation knows him as. I think he's very sexy. Don't worry I wasn't weird at all. I didn't say 'Hi, you're Jemaine Clement' or anything. I just watched the movie like a normal person and then left like a normal person without saying anything even though I'm a BIG FAN.
Lurker (Netflix) Parasocial relationships scare me so I am going to scare myself by watching this horror movie about parasocial relationships.
Over Your Dead Body (Amazon Prime) because it has Jason Segal in it and I will watch anything with Jason Segal in it.

The wonderful Freya Daly Sadgrove published an incredible collection of poetry a while back called Head Girl. And now it's a TV show! So exciting! I can't wait to watch.

What I'm reading:

I read Bruiser from my favourite series Elite 8 by Emmy Sanders. It was great. I loved it. Now I'm reading Off Script by Ivy Vera Gray which is pretty good too. All of it is just great fluff, to be honest.

You can see why I need fluffy books if you see what I've been reading all week online.

Actually, I liked reading about this. I am excited about the surf park, and I'd love to live next to a surf park.

And this is great:

What I'm listening to:

I loved the third episode of What To Carry And What To Burn. It was about the wreck of the Grafton which I knew nothing about. And now I really want to visit the wreck! Which you can apparently do! I love how listening feels like a campfire story.

Season three of The Good Sex Project is out as I said before - You can listen to the first episode here!

In case you missed it, Here's what we published this week:

Oh, and by the way: Queer Bookclub with Emily Writes at Masterton District Library! It's free but register here!

What are your plans for the weekend? What are you reading? Watching? Listening to?

I hope whatever you're doing, you have the loveliest weekend that's joyful and relaxing in equal measure. You deserve it, and I think you're great.

Arohanui, Emily