Someone asked me if I was happy with the party - MY birthday party, during the party. My response was almost immediate.
Not right now, but I will look back in a week, six months, or five years later and be glad that I did it.
Saturday.
Hana had two violin practices because an ensemble performance is coming up in a week.
I started messaging friends, sent a post on Substack to all my paid subscribers about the exhibition / party1.
I had to comb through all my photos and pick 10-12 for my print guy in North Melbourne to enlarge to A2 / A1. To have the prints up on Friday, I need to sort out everything - editing, colour correction by Tuesday.
Monday, Hana had her first musical performance at the Palais Theatre until 9.30pm, so that evening was gone.
I went to a different printer to print 200 postcards and A1 posters for the event. Ordered the magnetic mounting stripes to go on the wall.
Tuesday morning, I caught up with Shaun and Myekal in the city for coffee. Why couldn’t I push it off? Maybe because I already blew them off a couple of weeks before. We met at Antara 128, but it was too shiny for our awkwardness, so we walked to Sensory Lab around the corner. Myekal took a portrait of me that I did not completely hate.
Some families will have kids at the party. I had to order sticker books and bubble sticks. Hopefully, that will keep them occupied.
Wednesday afternoon was a traditional birthday lunch with Hana’s godparents as our birthdays were very close to each other’s. Last year it was DiStassio Carlton, the year before Laurus, and the year before that lobster at Pacific House… this year I chose Benyue, the only one hat restaurant I was interested in.
I was advised to order the Patagonian toothfish and soy poussin. We added crab omelet, sang choi bao, peking duck pancakes, but the real power move was ordering the noodles off menu, because we needed noodles to celebrate birthdays.
Another violin rehearsal in the evening. I organised napkins, forks, and cups for 100 guests while she played perpetual motion with a bigger violin.
It was also Black Friday season - the only time Blurb offers 50% off all print albums. So on top of photos for the exhibition, I was also culling photos of the past year to print into a 2022 album.
The prints were ready Thursday, so I went to pick them up and uploaded the prints, linked them to the online shop. Hana and Chika had a special scout event with the State Emergency Services, so I dropped them off, quick dash to Officeworks to scout on last-minute things like tapes, red dots, kids’ toys, back to pick them up again. Very last-minute dinner at Saigon Pho along Lygon Street.
“Oh man I have nightmares about this person. She organised this special event right. And she wanted me to contribute a $10k equivalent of plates and crockware. I was like ‘ok, marketing expense’. On the night, on the posters and billboards - not a single mention of our brand. I didn’t even receive an invite. The next day I return to pick up my stock, the plates weren’t washed. I could see the oil floating on top of liquid on my plates. It’s freaking disgusting man. Masterchef judge or not I straight up told her I was very disappointed as it was stated in the email everything should be returned in the same condition as they were provided. All she could say was ‘oh really? I think I missed that part of the email.’ Fuck man, it’s basic courtesy.”
Friday afternoon I met with Mark the founder of Kurieto ceramics at CC Wok, which I will write about in the future. If I wasn’t so distracted with my show I would’ve remembered and taken more mental notes of the goss.
All I saw was curry puffs! CC Wok makes and sells curry puffs. I ordered thirty and another twenty sweet BBQ pork puffs to be picked up on Saturday. There, we should have enough food now.
Rushed to Bench again to put up the prints. Vina helped with setting them up and deciding the flow of the images. I thought it was going to be an hour or so, but by the time we’re kinda done, it’s dinner time. It was raining.
Saturday morning, I was back at Bench at 7am, to write descriptions for the print labels and the description online - what it meant to me. The story behind them.
The magnetic stripes were falling because the walls were uneven.
I saw Maki making the strawberry cake. I think they can sell these to customers in the future. Or at least accept private orders.
Hana had violin practice again at 11am, then 1.40pm.
We picked up the curry puffs, then cold soba noodles for lunch.
At 3pm I dashed to Bunnings to purchase stronger double-sided tapes for the mounts. Bench closes 4pm so that’s when we can start to set up the party. The prints weren’t up, I still have the posters to put up, two guests were already here. The little sticker dots ran out of sticker dots.
Somehow, between 5pm and 10pm, I had a party.
If you’re reading this thank you Satoshi, everyone from Little Cardigan (for the shokupan, treats, and strawberry cake), Frankie2 and Bench (for the space), Santiago (for the chocolate cake and namachoco), Elly and Han(for the oinari and yokan), Sas & Tas (drinks), Pei and John (bahn mi).
And those who came and had a good time.
I brought a camera but did not take any photos.
It really was a ‘you had to be there to experience it’ experience.
Everyone was there because of me, but I was not there. It’s like I just threw my funeral party. Quite a few who I did not expect to come, came, while some who promised, PROMISED to make it, never heard of anymore.
Sunday morning I dropped Hana off at Japanese school at 9am, and back to Bench to reprint the labels since I’d forgotten to include prices in the original ones. Some guests didn’t even know it was for sale. It seems like people have completely forgotten about QR codes.
The prints were also sagging, so I think four tags on the corners aren’t enough. We need six tags per print. Gotta order more.
Picked Hana up from Japanese school at noon, home for a quick lunch, off to her violin concert ensemble at Fitzroy North from 2.30pm - 5.30pm.
Dinner was ramen in Gogyo.
Our very first since 2022.
We were supposed to go camping this Sunday. The same Sunday I double-booked Sas and Tas for my Mie Bakso. So I rescheduled for Wednesday and started making noodles Monday and apparently, chicken meatballs aren’t that difficult to make if you have a Vitamix or multiprocessor. I hand-pounded a fresh batch of sambal.
Recipe to come. My brain said.
Recipe? To whom?
Oh, that’s right, you guys.
It’s been a week of intense real life3.
To sit down and stare at the screen and write just felt foreign.
So I cannot imagine how so many of you can live a real life, and then a virtual one. A social media one. A secret mistress one.
You know how they say introverts have a limited amount of socialising they can allocate a day while extroverts simply gain more energy from meetings? Add one to the sample number of that research.
Anyway, here’s a short video of me squeezing chicken meatballs.
Exactly two weeks ago, I finished bread delivery, and made my usual 425ml of filter coffee to share with everyone. Vina told everyone I’m trying to get photos on the wall before the Sunday market. And they think I should have a party.
“Party? No, I can’t afford it. I don’t have time,” I said.
“Come on Harvard, you only live once,” Satoshi said.
That was the moment the party planning started.
Perhaps I was moved by a recent YouTube clip of the musician Brian Eno.
Art is everything you don’t have to do.
I don’t have to push a show to celebrate my birthday. (Or was it vice versa?)
Not right now, but in six months, or five years later, I’ll be glad that I did it.
Which I later found not all of my sugar daddies received the invites? What?
Frankie was the one clearing plates and cleaning during the event. In case you don’t know, Frankie is the owner of all Bench cafes in Melbourne. That probably won the coffee loyalty of one of my guests. He also gifted me a bottle of 12-year Macallan whiskey, which was totally uncalled for and we shared one after clean up.
For many, it’s probably just life.
And Happy Birthday!
Exhausted just from reading about the flurry of your week's activity. Sounds like the party was a great success. As was my (first time) proper homemade ramen. Thanks for the inspiration!
Btw, how was the intonation on the bigger violin? Is she ready to move up? Perpetual motion hurts the ears when the intonation is off!