Family Friendly

I got a really great email from Francisco today. It made me smile.

This was a very wholesome weekend. As both of our partners are abroad, I spent the majority of it with James. Friday we saw Heavenly Burlesque (arial circus act outdoors). This year I did it proper Vanessa style and a) showed up 15 minutes early b) told my friends to show up 15 minutes early and c) brought pillows to sit on. It was great, I got called up on stage due to my early arrival and, therefore, front row seating. I like that kind of thing. It was a neat show. I spent most of it marveling at their amazing bodies. The ladies were especially awesome. Of course Tania the amazing hula hoop girl was neat, as was the girl who could fit inside a tiny box, but my favorite was the pair of girls that performed a perfectly synced arial display. You can tell they've been working together for a while. One of them was super tiny and the other one was amazingly strong, although you couldn't tell just by looking at her that she could support multiple people in the air. After the show I accompanied Clodagh and her sis to Te Papa to make shadow puppets on the wall. Tents were out and glowing in the night for the International Arts Festival, and I was reminded of Burningman. We ran towards and away from the light to make big and small bodies. I enjoyed being small. Most of the other participants favored being big, especially the little kids. They crushed my puny body while I cowered on the ground. Heehee

Saturday James, Hovig and I went hiking to the Pinnacles, these rock formations that look very, well, penis-like. I'm sorry but they do, there are hundreds of tall cylindrical rock formations with wider caplike structures at the top. It was a gorgeous weekend, one that I'm sure ALL OF MY FRIENDS NOT CURRENTLY IN NEW ZEALAND will miss terribly. I fell asleep at 8pm, and then again at 10:30pm.

Sunday continued the wholesome, alcohol free bent the weekend was aquiring. I woke up early enough to beat the crowds at the farmer's market and then spent the rest of the day working on my African dance costume. We performed in this cheesy, family-friendly African festival that/last night, with tons of audience participation. It was awesome. At the end, the only actual African in the room went off on this crazy drum solo, in which it looked like he was actually speaking the drum sounds. He moved his face in a crazy way to mimic the various drum sounds and I was enthralled. Perhaps TOO enthralled, because afterwards, he came over and complimented my dancing and chatted me up. I had that glazed eye smiling face on I often have when meeting someone I consider a true artist, so he asked for my number and I awkwardly gave it to him. I always have this fantasy that perhaps someone will want to have a cup of coffee with me and talk about art, without actually wanting to date me, but I know that never happens. Sheesh, I'm 27, I've been through this many times. Oh well, time for some more awkward letdowns. Sorry African man. You are neat but my true love is in Thailand

I'm planning to go to the gym all week, and continue cleaning my already clean house. Life is fantastic. I look forward to hearing more about Thailand adventures, like how Joe ever thought it was a good idea to spend 20,000 baht on a fortune teller. WTF?!?