Week 41, 2026: Life of Z
Alarm-snoozing, parsley-chopping, video-calling, trampoline-halling, eggplant-stewing, eyebrow-barbell-debating, shampoo-shopping, lorrie-moore-reading, dessert-breakfasting, thc-munching, denim-is-my-favourite-colour-proclaiming, letterboxd-bragging, red-jacket-buying, double-friendsgiving. I loved the people and the energy and the food in my friends’ homes. You have a book by Richard Ayoade, that’s crazy. But I really meant cool. One by one, there was a sharing of thanks and I said I was grateful for my life in Toronto and the new red jacket I just bought. There was a dog running around and the doorbell kept ringing and I was chatting to a new face every hour. We were playing a game after dessert and I said they’re a ten but they don’t find you funny and everyone gasped. When talking about the novel Life of M, comedian James Donald Forbes McCann said Rachel Cusk can "make you laugh without making you experience joy", so I think I have to read it now. Kevin said he doesn’t like to watch stand-up because most of it doesn’t make him laugh and I said that’s never stopped me. The fun can be in trying to make sense of why this landed and that didn’t. The fun can be in listening to the construction of a joke, the narration of a story. The fun can be in whole-heartedly believing in what SNL comedy writer Jim Downey said about comedy: most of what makes us laugh is something that’s true, it’s just you’ve never heard it put that way before. From that lens, it’s not just comedy but a tale of truth and empathy. My dear friend made a zine where she drew me and described my laugh as big and loud. It's true, my joy is far from economical. Having a laugh pulled out of me fills me with aliveness. Maybe that’s what I’m most grateful for, to laugh and make laugh.