FNC - '...saying thank you faster and faster'

Emily Writes

07 Aug 2026 — 8 min read

Welcome to Friday Night Chats! I'm so excited! My trip with my girls is tomorrow! It's going to be so fun. And my boy had a great week at school. He talked to one of the kids! I hope you had a great week too. Let's chat!

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As I said, I've had such a nice week. It started off a bit hard but then got so good, and it's just been really nice. My little one answered a question from a classmate AND sat in the classroom! I'm just blown away by how great he is doing after such a prolonged terrible time. I had some great gym workouts. And folks seemed to really like my horny post....What more could a gal ask for?

And it was so fun to write about something not depressing!

Tomorrow I'm going to see my friends in Ōtepoti Dunedin, and I'm so excited. I'm going with my besties Noods and Mel, and we're seeing our mates Steph and Alex who moved there from Te Whanganui a Tara and now have a house with a garden. Can you believe? An actual garden?!

I don't even have any grass at my house.

Anyway, I can't wait to leave my children. I love them dearly. Hopefully I won't be arrested for disorderly conduct.

Basically: Watch out Dunner stunners I'm coming!

I MC'd Julie Anne Genter's campaign launch on Sunday and it was lovely. It was such a beautiful day, and it was so special to be looking out at the coast while we talked about how important it is to protect our whenua, beaches, rivers, and each other.

I mean, the South Coast is literally full of sh*t right now. So it's quite imperative that we actually have someone who cares about water quality in this job.

My boy Eddie did a beautiful speech and I was very proud.

All of it made me think a lot about electorate seats and how people often don't think they are as important as the party vote. But one of the reasons why Julie Anne is so popular is she's there for the folks who are in the most dire need in our neighbourhood. People who are sleeping rough after being released from prison with no support - not even a bank account so they can't buy food. New refugees and migrants who need help navigating this new, intense and intimidating place. Families who are really struggling...

It made me think about how important it is that you have someone doing the job of local MP who actually cares. You need someone with real empathy. Someone like Chris Bishop makes the job of local MP look like it's all about going to the opening of an envelope, and that gets votes from some folks sure, but it's the real and hard and tragic work that actually matters. And only some politicians want to do that work. The others just want power and invites to events.

What I'm reading:

I've been reading a lot of poetry. I really enjoyed this poem:

Thanks by W. S. Merwin

Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
standing by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
taking our feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
thank you we are saying and waving
dark though it is

Other things I'm reading:

EVERYTHING IS GOING GREAT NEWS:

What I'm watching:

I mean, obviously, there's only one thing I am watching. And that's the Wicker trailer.

But I have a few other things on my list (The Most Homoerotic Scenes in Sword-and-Sandal Movies, Ranked).

Genuinely though, I'm excited about Colin From Accounts coming back. And there looks like there's some good local TV coming up:

Settling - TV3
Ms X - TV3

I have encouraged everyone to see Louis Theroux: The Settlers, but it isn't always easy to find. Now it's on Neon though!

I saw Ted Lasso is coming back, but I am not sure I even finished the last season. It is a show that had like the perfect first two seasons, so it should have ended there. I kind of feel the same about The Bear which I haven't returned to.

The Film Festival is inching closer. I'm excited to see this: I Want Your Sex Is a Queer, Punk Sex Comedy for Deeply Unsexy Times

Also! Why did no-one tell me that there is an extremely queer, EXTREMELY NSFW weirdly NZ-flavoured free online spicy fantasy comic starring two absolute babes in which everyone poinks everyone else? Well there is. I'm linking to an article about the comic so my newsletter doesn't end up on some kind of blacklist but I am so intrigued to start on this:

What I'm listening to:

Well, I'm listening to the Twilight audiobook because my youngest son is in a Twilight/romance space. I do not like Twilight, but I do enjoy seeing my kid gaze out the window dreaming of Edward Cullen lol.

I am loving Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I really recommend it. It's so beautiful. And it has made me cry a lot. But it's gorgeous.

What are you watching? Listening to? Reading?

I hope you have a great weekend. I hope you find sunshine and it's relaxing or busy or whatever you need. Life is kind of hard right now eh? So we have to find joy wherever we can. Lean into it and all that.

I hope you find some joy in the coming days.

Arohanui Emily x

(Also - The snow!!! How great?! The kids absolutely loved it!)