Soft Evidence, November

a wee chaotic catch up

November Details & Honourable Mentions

• Recipe for Wicked cocktails: On the opening night of Wicked: For Good, I complained to Paddy about our cinema being the ONLY Movie House not selling themed cocktails. I mean, even Maghera (a tiny rural non-place) had them! So Paddy, my own personal mixologist, made his own when we got home.

  Don’t worry, I won’t add another needless opinion to the online noise around the movie, but what I’ll say is what I’ve always said: Wicked is a love letter to female friendship—a celebration of the women who change the trajectory of our lives. And if I did want to add to the noise, I would say: Ari gave the performance of her life. (Plus, the movie's brilliance totally purged my mind of the actresses’ unhinged behaviour in promo interviews.)
  Oh, and this is how Paddy watched me the whole way through—until the final song, where he also wept like a baby. 10/10 husband. Here’s something I wrote after we saw Wicked: Part 1 last year.
  

• This month, I finally re-read Pride & Prejudice and re-watched the 1995 version, in honour of Jane Austen’s upcoming 250th birthday. Honestly, I forgot how funny it is. Surely it’s the OG romcom?
  I also enjoyed Yours Truly and Part of Your World both by Abby Jimenez (I’m on such an unashamed escapist Abby kick!), Holding Her Breath by Eimear Ryan (things got weird at the end but I loved how she writes about swimming—maybe boring for non-swimmers though?), and The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. None of these are new but as always, I am wholly at the mercy of Libraries NI. On that note, there was one other viral read and I absolutely hated it, so I’ll spare you!

• In case you’re invested in my impulsive hair saga, I have indeed had the exact same hair for over a decade, but last week I arrived at the salon armed with an album of Jennifer Lawrence and a request for a full fringe *gasp*. Thankfully, I have also had the exact same hairdresser, Tanya, for over a decade, and she is a queen who knows me. (Can we talk about the weirdly intimate relationships we have with our hairdressers?!) Immediately, Tanya was like, “Respectfully, with kindness, just no to the full fringe.” Instead, she gave me a low-maintenance ‘French Fringe’ which also works as bangs and I LOVE IT. Except, low maintenance is still too much maintenance for this gal who brushes her hair once a week, just to keep on top of the dreadlocks growing at her neck, so I will absolutely be letting the fringe grow out. It’s also super overstimulating. But still, so much fun! Like getting a new jumper you wear every day for 3 months.

• I’m still thinking about this piece by Megan Hogg at A Continual Feast.

• The Stick Man pyjamas that are breaking my heart and putting it back together all at once.

• Still obsessed with the cosy awkwardness of Film Club on BBC iPlayer. The protagonist Evie, a high-achieving twenty-something, has a mental health crisis and finds herself unable to leave her mum’s house for months, but she continues to have her weekly Film Club in the garage with her best friend, Noa. Half the dialogue is basically movie quotes and insufferable accents and chaotic impersonations, so it might not be for everyone but it feels like a coming-of-age story. Except more like coming-alive-again story. I also love how she manages to create worlds within the very restrictive space she exists in, both for herself and for other people. Owen Cooper from Adolescence has a cameo and his dynamic with Evie is probably my fave—what can I say? I’m a sucker for a misunderstood school avoider: if you know, you know. PLEASE let me know if you watch it so I have someone to finally talk to.

• And last but not least, I’m aware there are approximately one billion Advent resources out there and honestly, every time I return to this devotional of mine I expect to feel absolutely scundered. I expect the words to feel immature or trite or land in all the wrong places. I expect to eye roll at younger me—at her hope, at her faith, at her Jesus.
  While there is some writing I absolutely want to burn to the ground, actually, every single time I return to this devotional, I feel myself collapsing into the arms of Jesus, maybe for the first time in a long time. Awaiting the Rising Sun is the product of an Advent year in my life, a year of waiting on bloodied knees, and I’m so glad I wrote it. It’s for the doubter and the depressed. The one limping to the end of the year with personal pain in one hand, and the public chaos of the world in the other. It’s for those of us struggling to believe we are really held in the palm of the promise keeper’s hand.
  You can get the eBook here and the print book here. If you’re interested in something else, I’ll be reading Be A Heart: Mary’s Way of Advent: Prayers & Practices to Slow Down & Seek God by one of my favourite writers and humans, Laura Fanucci, and also dipping in and out of Bless the Advent we Actually Have by Kate Bowler because she just gets it.

  

  
  Okay, that’s enough from me.

  All my love and gutsy hope,

  Reb x