Category: on being 38

About last night

I forgot to say, if you live in Adelaide, and you haven’t been, you absolutely must go and see Tom Crean Antarctic Explorer. It’s got five stars in this review and in this one MB wrote “You will go to the end of the earth to find theatre this rewarding”. And I reckon that’s about right. Plus, it’s in the Bakehouse Theatre which I really like and which will be having less perfomances in coming times. This would be the point to insert a piece of informed political commentary about the South Australian arts sector and some recent funding decisions, but I’m nothing if not half-informed.

And last night, I got through the semi-finals and into the state grand final of the Raw stand up comedy competition.

When I registered, I had no idea how I would go. Being slightly older than most novice comics (you might not know, but I recently turned 38), I’m not really part of the scene, so I didn’t know who was around or what they were doing. But once I’d won my heat, my personal goal was to make the state finals. I wasn’t going to slash my wrists if I didn’t get through last night, but I would have been disappointed.

Now, much as I’d love to win the trip to Edinburgh (and I guess we’d make it work even if I did take an overseas trip by myself only a small part of which was work, and the mister has not) my realistic assessment of myself is that I am in the second tier of talent. And no, this isn’t just me doing self-preservation. This is me being realistic about where I am right now.I remember that I watched the national final on the tele last year, and even then I wasn’t saying to the mister ‘you know that’s something I’ve always wanted to do, I could do that, do you think I could do that, I should do that, do you think I should do that?’.

So, like I said to my dad and the mister last night ‘I’m happy’. They rolled their eyes and tried to get me to write that down which of course I didn’t. As if I’d commit to long- (or even medium-) term happiness.

Also, yes, the people who said either no or just a small one please to that nightcap were the smart ones.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to clean the car, because late yesterday I discovered that all of those spiderwebs in the mirrors and doors are actually the homes of redbacks.

The kinds of things I do when there is work to be done

Today, I had acupuncture. The number of slight physical and mental niggles seem to be accumulating, and so I am on a bit of a healthy mind, healthy body kick. Brought on, no doubt, by this endless fidgeting about turning 38. It’s all right. I don’t mind if you’re sick of me bleating on about it. I won’t take it personally.

It is the first time I have ever tried acupuncture. I remember my mother had acupuncture to try to help her in efforts to stop smoking. Having walked around today in the afterglow of the needle application and reflecting on my mother’s reactions as well as her general personality traits, I think she grew a little addicted to the euphoria of pressing that needle in her ear. I have to go outside and giggle she would say. If this were a private dinner party and I were surrounded by close friends or family I would now deliver most amusing anecdotes about my mother and her smoking. You would laugh and so would I. And later on I would repeat them to my father and he would laugh. And at some point, I would lie in bed and cry. This is becoming unecessarily revealing. Should unnecessarily have a double n?

I was slightly freaked out at the thought of the needles, but that was unfounded anxiety. And then, I got to lie quietly with an eye pillow over my eyes, a soft sheet over my skin and think meditative thoughts. It was quiet.

The practitioner was most excellent. I did not quite burst into tears when she was taking my history (which is what normally happens when I get behind a closed door and someone says ‘so…how are you’ even if, until that moment, I have been fine), but it would have worked out okay if I had.

It was an unusual experience, but one which I intend to repeat. Next week.

Oh, and last night I went to see Maeve Higgins.