Greetings!

My Dear Princess, Loulou and Fellows,

This is about 50% of my job at the moment. Travelling around, giving presentations and trying to get people excited about video conferencing technology.

WAKE THE EFF UP.

Eff's sake. 

Yes, I know it doesn't SOUND exciting, but you'd be surprised how receptive people can be if you don't come in like a bunch of arses but instead just speak to people like normal human person people. 

It really helps that me and Fazzy actually do get along really well. I think we make a good double act and people seem to play along with our dynamic of "Fazlyn is the smart one. Symon is the other one."

This point is hammered home in our mini-play in which Fazzy gets to explain Microsoft Teams to me while I bluster and complain. Basically, my character is a cross between Bertie Wooster and Boris Johnson. There's a bit of Stan Laurel in there too.

I also threw a mihi in there today. This is a traditional Māori greeting and it goes something like this:

Tēnā koutou katoa (hello everybody)
Ko Symon tōku ingoa (my name is Symon)
Nō Aerana ōku tīpuna (my ancestors are from Ireland)
Kei te noho au ki Paraparaumu (I live in Paraparaumu)

To be honest, I'm not sure about my pronunciation. But I've been told that people just appreciate you having a go. And it gave me a very warm feeling when there was a bit of applause when I finished.

They were very nice. 

In fact, Shenée told me one of the ladies in this office had been talking about her mum, and how she used to get punished at school for speaking te reo. Apparently she was reduced to tears when she saw our posters. 

It's stories like that that make me love this project. 

I have to give credit to Shenée. She had a vision that she fought really hard for - and now it's really happening.  

So I don't mind playing a boorish buffoon so long as it gets people to come on the journey with us. In fact, it's a positive pleasure. 

S.