"Exploring An Aesthetic of Absence"

I've decided to take a little break from theatre and live art. It won't be a period of total abstinence - I've got a few performances and productions I want to see coming up in the next few weeks - but I'm not going to write about them unless they're particularly fitting for Londonist or it's a commission I particularly want to take on. My critical writing programme finished a week ago and I'm going to rest my pen and frequently over-stimulated mind for a short while.


I've previously offered a list of things you probably don't know about me. Here's another, because it's late on Sunday night and I'm in a musing, rambling mood and putting off going to bed.

1. Sometimes, I pour myself a large glass of red wine after work and find myself unable to finish it. So I add a little Diet Coke and pretend I'm a Madrileno, sipping this sweet and boozy combo in the heart of Spain, where I learned this trick. It tastes like Dr Pepper.

2. I don't pronounce the first half of my surname correctly. It should be a harder, more emphatic Ch- sound for an accurate Cantonese pronounciation but I've always preferred the softer Sh- sound which is a more Mandarin sound. I've always felt a bit uneasy about this but then I read this article and felt a bit better.

3. Every single item of underwear I own is black...

4. ... apart from a certain bra and pants set I wore under my wedding dress which is hot, hot pink with diamante details.

5. I can't do front crawl when I go swimming. I've tried and tried but clearly need proper teaching, or an oxygen tank and water wings to perfect my shoddy technique.

"In every picture you look either cross or scared or both."




Because the lovely and now quite large Planethalder requested it, here is a picture of me as a baby with abundant, slightly mad, very black hair. I've spent a lot of time wondering what my offspring with Mr H. Avenue will look like as he has fine, pale ginger hair, glorious freckles and skin that burns under streetlamps. I, on the other hand, come from strong peasant stock and was obviously built to toil for many years under the sun, in the fields, with indestructible black, black hair and skin that is not swarthy but certainly strong enough to withstand hours in the glare of the outdoors.

Of course, since my half-white French, half-Hong kong Chinese niece arrived, I can stop wondering and see for myself just how adorable and lovely a mixed race baby can be. She has the most charming pair of eyes I've ever seen - huge pools of black diamond shine, brimming with wonder as she grows up with rosy, snowy skin and very dark brown, characteristically mad hair.

I've neglected the writing I like to put here and was beginning to feel a little bad. But then I started counting to myself all the things that keep me from scribbling away here, keeping me from my fellow blogging friends and here's the list. I think it's forgiveable.

- I am now working in a new job with a company / product that I love (let's just say it's a big, liberal, broadsheet newspaper...)
- I'm still in administration but the responsibilities are greater and quite different as I'm in multimedia now and have to concentrate a lot more when I'm in the office - no sneaky blogging in my lunch hour and then realising I haven't actually finished when the office suddenly empties at 6pm
- apart from the dayjob, Londonist is coming along in leaps and bounds, with quite serious things to attend to, distracting me further from the Avenue
- I went to Barcelona and rocked it hard for four days solid, then took two weeks out afterwards to recover from the excesses of The Party That Would Not Stop
- I've been out and about a lot
- oh, I don't want to make excuses, I've just taken some time off writing and now I'm back, with pictures and improved upper body strength

More to come. Lots and lots more to come. It's good to be back.