Tuesday, December 31, 2002

It's New Year's Eve and I'm hopefully going to be let out early from work to go and start the festivities. Yesterday I went home and had a sleep before having dinner at T² with Rich, Russ and Pete. $5 steaks there really are fantastic value. Then for coffee and then walked back with Pete. Bed relatively early. Garry woke with jetlag at around 3am, and that's when the open plan style warehouse apartment isn't such a good move. Although he was quiet I could hear him pottering about and smell the toast. I just managed to drift off about 20 minutes before the alarm, allowing for that completely groggy feeling to take hold this morning. Joy.

Been emailing Gary all morning with song lyrics and managed to get Pete to buy his and Max's Indulgence tickets so everyone's happy. Yay. I will try and get to the gym before tonight, but it closes early and to be honest I might be better going for a disco nap. Gonna head to Rich and Russ's and watch the 9pm fireworks on the Bridge before going to Tim's for pre-Indulgence drinks. I hope it will be fun... I think it will. Coming soon - 2002 in review and 2003 - goals and aspirations. In the meantime

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Monday, December 30, 2002

If you get here, read below for Part One before continuing with this update! Please. If you want to. Oh please yourself!

Part Two: I left you Monday morning heading into work. Both Monday and Tuesday were quiet days at work as most everyone was off already. Uneventful days, hardly worthy of a mention. I dragged myself to the gym Monday night as I'd missed my session with Liz. I actually can’t remember what I did Monday night at all. Maybe food with Adrian? Who can say. Christmas Eve I finished work and went for beers with Gary and Raph in the Colombian. Also present were David Bassett and Pete, and so a fun night was had. Home quite merry and after quick internet chats it was to bed with me.

Xmas day was a nice day. Up early to walk to Adrian’s by 8am. Darren (who Adrian met on Saturday night and who I had bizarrely been chatting to on the net for a couple of weeks previously) drove us up to Bondi and we did the Bronte walk. Headed back and then to the beach at Redleaf via Adrian and Fred’s place who’d kindly organised a picnic. Lots of people there – Pete and Paul, David and Jayson, Robbie in our group – Stephen and Kerry and square jawed Michael in the next group and then Scottish James and his bunch one group further along. It was nice. The sun came out intermittently and it was a very relaxing afternoon. Headed home about 4pm and was at a bit of a loose end when Stephen from Saturday night happened to head over unannounced on the off chance I was around… lovely! Rang UK people various later and hit the sack about 12.30am.

Boxing Day was a washout. Rain, rain, rain. I pottered in the morning and then braved the rain to walk to Una’s for brekky. Did a couple of bookshops and ran into square jawed Michael again. We had a coffee – he’s a really nice guy. We chat a quite intense chat about relationships and goals for the New Year and stuff. He’s gone north to Tropical Fruits, but on his return we’re going to a movie… Headed to Hum where I chanced upon Gary and so we had coffee. We walked down to Hum and then I left Gary to meet Max and I headed home, via Oxford Street. I was in the most foul mood and so I didn’t really want to stay in. At 7pm I went out for another walk and returned some almost 3 hours later having walked to Oxford Street again, then to Newtown and then back to the apartment. Took myself off to bed.

Worked Friday but it was a lazy day. Arranged to meet Pete for food and beers later, which we did and which was fun. In between there was another visit from Carlo, who was the guy that had popped in the previous Saturday. He was working round the corner again :o) After the Barracks I decided on a whim to hit the Imperial as there was a guy from the UK who’d messaged me on the net saying he’d be there. He was. He was also cute. Bit of a snogfest then home!

Saturday was a bit of a nothing day too. Tried shopping but got bored of it. Tried cleaning but couldn’t be bothered. Didn’t feel like the gym, so didn’t. Not sure what I did really. I know I picked Russ up from the airport around 6pm, but beyond that… I think I did coffee with Adrian, and also Gary again. Later… met up with Russ, Triple F Steve and Keith at the Colombian. It was too busy so we hit the Barracks. Pete the English guy from Friday night was there, as was his brother and another guy off the net who I’d chatted to but never actually met. Very cute. Lots of fun. Gary and Max were there too, and Gary was very, very drunk. Kind of like I imagined myself to have been at the Palace after the housewarming. On to the Phoenix which was fun. Adrian was there and also lots of sexy men. We danced. We had fun. I took a very nice man home…

Sunday slept until about 10am and finally got up. Met Russ and Keith for brekky then Adrian joined us and we went for a walk down to the wharf at Woolloomooloo. From there to meet Gary and Max for a quick beer before heading to Bronte and Gregg’s BBQ. It was fun. Other guests included Matt, Julie, Alan Bright (who I didn’t know knew Gregg and Matt) and Gary and Rocco. Nice people. Nice house. Nice food. Nice music. Fun. Shared a cab back with Alan, Gary and Max and was tempted into the Shift. Russ, Rich and Adrian soon followed and it was mad! Lots of people there that we knew. Lots of flirting. Kept us occupied until gone midnight and I had to go home. Finally. Mad weekend. I need some sleep!

Tuesday, December 24, 2002

This post is the first half of an update. I started this last week but didn't get to publish it. This covers up until about 2 days before Xmas. There'll be another post bringing us right up to date after this!

Part One: And quite a lot later I’m back. What is going on? I know I’ve said this before, but I’m determined to make more of Minkered… in 2003. Realistically though, probably not until the second quarter of the year as the first two months will be holiday and then Mardi Gras, and hopefully Danny’s here for Easter so we’re looking at May. Actually it’s coming in to winter time I guess then so maybe that’s a more realistic expectation. I’d like to do some proper web design study too, so maybe I can dovetail everything – now wouldn’t that be marvellous? My god – I think I’m a little early with my New Year’s Resolutions!

I last left you properly the night of Michael’s meal, which turned out to be rather pleasant. Drinks at the Colombian, followed by very nice Japanese at Hikaru – a restaurant on Oxford Street I’ve often looked in but never been in. The original plan was to kick on, but after 3 schooners and most of a bottle of wine my tiredness got the better of me and home I went.

Waste of a morning on Thursday as I attended the most mind-numbing meeting I’ve ever been to. Still, it was a morning out of the office and made me realise how dead it is out here in Mascot. Transfer to the city please. Thursday night was a date with Marc. American Marc. Marc ended up out with us lot at Bad Dog and sprung a surprise dinner invitation on me at Arq. He came to the house, we had beer, we went to dinner (Japanese again, same place!), we came back to my place, we talked and lost ourselves in the Mathmos projector image for ages. A really nice date. Except I don’t fancy him. My head’s still elsewhere I guess and so it’s going to be a while before I can really expect to move on. Evenings like that can only help though – proof that there are decent, fun, intelligent single men out there. Friday was work, gym, food, drop Rich off at the airport (the boys have left me for Christmas! Sob!!) and an early night. Yes, you heard me. Saturday was a bit of a waste of a day. Up early but didn’t do much. Met Gary and Max for lunch at the Courthouse and then was so uninspired I went home again. Ended up chatting to someone on the internet that I’ve been chatting to for a good year or so and as it turned out he was working close by… :o)

Went to the gym but as soon as I started my first exercise I came over all queer (matron). So I binned the gym and met Adrian for coffee instead. We decided we’d go out to the Phoenix late, so home and chill until about 11.30pm. The Phoenix was interesting. I’ve never ever picked up as quickly as I did that night! For those of you that don’t know, the Phoenix is a basement bar/club, and I managed to picked up 4 steps down from the front door. Good work. Very time efficient! Stephen is someone with whom I’ve flirted for about 3 months on and off, but haven’t seen around for ages. A timely re-introduction then. We stayed and danced with Adrian and soon lots of other people were there. Marc from Thursday’s date. Dave. Lots of others. It was a fun night. We finally left around 5am and headed back to the ranch… from where Stephen finally went home after brunch around 3pm. His partner lives in Norway – it would seem I’m on a run of meeting people whose other halves live in Northern Europe. Great.

Thence I headed to Bondi for James’s birthday drinks at his and Tony’s place. It was fun – a few beers and vodka shots. Chats to Pete, Rod and Tony, Tony, James and a few of his mates, the guys I met at the Sci-fi Exhibition… and then to the Colombian. Lots of chats with Andy P, John, Alan and Murray etc. Fun. Had the realisation that I'd actually snogged John the first time I'd met him to not realised subsequently that it was him. Oops. Stumbled home later than expected around 10.30pm. Was woken at 5.25am by Garry ringing from the Vauxhall and holding the phone up whilst Dame Edna was singing Top of the world. Fell back to sleep and was woken at 6.20am by Liz cancelling my personal training session. I was quite relieved!

Wednesday, December 18, 2002

Can I also just say that I've done nothing about Christmas. Not a thing! This from someone whose Christmas present commitments are on the other side of the world. Oops. Better get my skates on.
And then suddenly it was Wednesday of the week after. What’s going on? Time is just whizzing past. Last week can be summed up mostly in two words – work, gym. I was very good last week and went not only Monday, but Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Scary. I worked the whole week and was pretty busy – again a good thing as no real chance to focus on much else. Martin came over Tuesday night for dinner as he’s recently split up with his man so we had a good old natter about relationships and behaviour and so on. Interestingly for me it made me think about my time with Tim and how we were together. Funny how time away from something changes your perspective on stuff. I really do think I’m way more ready for a relationship than ever before – however it takes two to cliché…

Garry headed off to the UK on Wednesday night – lord only knows what sort of time he’s going to have! I think I might be able to guess though…

Had dinner with the boys one night too – can’t remember which. Certainly on Friday after the gym as Rich came down to our gym with Adrian and we ate afterwards. We also headed out for beers later that night – Beresford/Barracks which was fun. Relatively early to bed. Saturday didn’t turn out to be the day of doing stuff that I’d hoped as I woke in a foul mood. Kind of anxious about Bad Dog and the whole Dave thing. In the end I just got some washing done and then met Adrian for outfit shopping. We met the boys and then I met Adrian back at the gym. Got ready and we headed for Marrackville, smack on time. As it turned out there was a bit of a queue and our outfits seemed to meet with approval from the crowd. We were wearing red hipster trunks, black singlets, tinsel round the tops of our boots and flashing reindeer antlers. Obviously. We had some photos taken early on and then everyone arrived and the party kicked off in full effect. Lots of people we knew and great music as ever. Dave arrived after a little while and was just lovely – nice as ever and it was good to know (I think!) that last week’s chat isn’t going to stop us being mates. Still fancy the pants off him mind you. So, lots of dancing and before we knew it it was about closing time. A few of us headed off to Arq and there we remained until gone 9am. Couldn’t rest at home so listened to music and then met the lads for lunch. Finally did the Palace. Chatted to Dave briefly as he was working and spent some time with Des, who as it turns out is going to be in the UK the same time as us boys. That’s going to be some fun… Home and bed around 10pm.

Gym 7am Monday and then work. Round to Rich and Russ’s for dinner with Andy, John and Ken. Fun! Worked my nuts off yesterday and then rushed home via the supermarket as Tony was coming for dinner. We had a lovely night – it was good to talk to him and I’m glad we’re mates again properly. Bed soon after.

Today’s been a little less hectic at work and only spoilt by a fire drill just as I’d warmed my lunch up. Bugger. Out tonight for Michael’s (Adrian’s Michael) birthday meal. Now the temptation is to carry on after the meal as I’ve a meeting in town at 10am and can go straight there. However I’m representing the department to a cruise company so probably shouldn’t go in still minkered. But it is almost Christmas… Right, time to phone Dave. More later.

Tuesday, December 10, 2002

OK. Who's stealing the days (and nights)? Surely it can't be Monday evening already when I last posted on Wednesday? Apparently it can. I think there's a rip in the space-time continuum down here somewhere...

I did gym Wednesday and not much else. Did a bit of mixing - it's way cool. Watch this space for some music to come. Hopefully. Thursday and Friday were both busy at work. Thursday night I went into town looking for an excuse not to go to the gym. Ostensibly to Christmas shop I got there and couldn't be arsed, so bought a Swiss ball to use as my computer seat at home and met went round to see Russ and Adrian instead. Much more fun. And we had dinner and then I went back to Russ's for tea and sympathy. Actually I'd been a bit miserable but was in a better frame of mind as I left Russ's as it threatened to rain. Friday night I stayed in. No, really. In bed by 11pm.

Saturday I'd arranged to meet Sexy Dave for brekky. He called mid morning to postpone until 1.30pm so I did laundry and went for a walk down to Potts Point before heading to Zinc. We had an interesting brekky, basically starting off with me telling Dave that he's really got to me and I can't stop thinking about him. Your average Saturday really. Long story short. He already has someone he's going to give things a go with and thus wanted nothing more than some fun. I was up for a bit more. Problem. Anyway it's resolved and hopefully we can get on with being mates as a) he's lovely and b) I'd like that. Hope he does too. We share a lot of interests - least of all music - and it's nice to have someone like that to witter on about it with. Such a shame we had differing views on Christmas trees... I'm glad he's found someone special though as he's seemingly lovely and it gives us all hope that nice guys find nice guys...

Went for a walk and then met Martin for coffee before hitting the gym. Down to Bondi for the office Xmas party which was actually a lot more fun than I thought it would be. Kicked on to the Phoenix to meet the boys. Also more fun than I thought. Finally home around 5am! Yesterday was a bit of a waste of a day. Spent most of it playing online and with music stuff. Finally dragged myself to the Palace via Hungry Jacks and chatted to Strati for a while. To the Shift and had some fun with Gary Jones, Des and Kevin. Home. Bed.

Gym at 7am with Liz. Felt good! Work today was busy again which is great - keeping my mind occupied. Home and shower and ironed. So rock 'n' roll. Shopped and then home for soup and cheese on toast - yum. Just what I needed. Queer As Folk, brief chats to Scally on here and now bed. Nighty night!

Wednesday, December 04, 2002

Oh and Scally - the vodafone thing was real. I won a movie pass. Yay for me!
It’s Wednesday already. How did that happen? I’m going to skim over a few days in short-hand as not too much has happened. However, Sunday’s housewarming will be covered in a bit more detail. As much of it as I remember that is…

Friday. Worked. Gymmed. No one was up for much so I kind of decided I’d head out for a beer around 10.20pm. Walked up to Oxford St, but everywhere was so quiet I decided to bin the idea and head home. So I did. In bed by 12.30am.

Up relatively late considering I hadn’t drunk, but just in time to let the grocery delivery man in. Shopping off the net you know – it’s the only way. Pottered about and can’t really remember what I did – but I know eventually I ended up at the Milk bar for a late brunch with the boys and Adrian. The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blur – can’t have been too interesting. I know I did the gym later and then went over to the boys place for dinner risotto!) and that Pete Linde was there too. I know there was vodka, and I know I drank way too much of it. Stumbled to the Phoenix and wandered round once or twice before realising I was too drunk and should head home. I did.

Sunday woke with a bit of a sore head. Got brekky for me and Garry and we got the place ready for the party. We were ready by midday. People weren’t coming until 2pm! People did start and arrive and soon the party was in full swing. By about 6pm I was so trashed I have no recollection of anything much else that happened. Actually I remember being at the Palace being told by Dave the DJ to go home as I was drunk. Understatement. I remember nothing else until Monday morning and waking to the realisation that there was no way on god’s earth that I’d be making my gym appointment. Oops.

I did find out later though that apparently at one stage at the party I had my hands held behind my head, was being force fed Milky Bar and fruitcake and very evidently enjoying it. According to reports on the state of the front of my trousers. Oh dear. Also various reports from the Palace have me almost falling over but standing (kind of) by the cigarette machine making a nuisance of myself to Dave whilst he was trying to DJ. Sorry mate. Word on the street though was that the party rocked. Thanks to all who came (whoever you might have been) and thanks to the people that thanked us for a good time!

Monday evening was tidy up time. The place wasn’t too bad, but we were over it by the final mopping around 7.45pm. Garry went to bed and I got noodles, played on the PC and hit the sack around midnight.

Yesterday was quiet. Work’s been busy which has been great. Played e-mail tag with Gary all day and then met him at the Colombian for beers after a half-hearted gym session, where I’d bumped into Andrew and we both just took one look at each other, burst out laughing and wondered if we should hide our heads! Gary and I had a nice night – beers, food at the Courthouse and chats about all and sundry (mainly men, music and m.. m.. oh I don’t know.. miscreants!). Home a little merry. Internet. Bed.

Today’s also been very busy at work. Lots to do, but that’s good as less time to focus on the stuff spinning round in my head. Leaving soon. Gym. Quiet night. Maybe try and play with the new mixing software that Scally got me. And a good night’s sleep. Hopefully.

Friday, November 29, 2002

Marble-ous!
Friday. Managed some sleep - yay! Caught up with Rich after work having been down to claim my prize from SX, one of the gay rags over here. What prize you ask? Well, they have a section at the back of the mag called NFP - Not Fit to Print. Basically they print a pic of someone in a bit of a state to humiliate them, and then say that if you're brave enough to go into the office they'll give you a prize. I did mention the photo being taken back on the 13th... and it duly appeared. Anyhoo, I got 2 CDs and a CD single which wasn't too bad. Except of course one of the CDs didn't have the CD in - doh!

Rich and I wandered round Gowings planning what to wear for the Bad Dog party - I think we're almost there. Then we had coffee at Battuta and I ate. Wandered home in a foul mood still. Decided there was nothing to it but to go for a walk to Newtown, via Broadway. So I did. Had a quick beer in the Newtown and chatted to square jawed Michael and friends. Home and bed.

Not much to report today. Finalising housewarming party numbers and in a better mood. Not much planned before Sunday other than sleeping and gym. Let's see how we go...

Thursday, November 28, 2002

Thursday’s child has far to go. Allegedly. I’d settle for just as far as my bed and would happily collapse there. My last two nights’ sleep have been shot through with mosquitoes and dreams… and my overactive brain.

Did indeed do the gym on Tuesday night, though I ended up chatting to Andrew for about 20 minutes! Home and then over to Rich’s for an impromptu dinner which was lovely. Home and to bed at a reasonable time, but not to sleep, oh no. Apparently it was 31C at midnight that night, so not surprisingly a little hard to sleep. We had the balcony doors open in an effort to get some air in, but only really succeeded with the mosquitoes. Bugger. And Rich had given me a couple of herbal sleeping tablets to try and knock me out. So, after more fitful sleep I awoke yesterday morning feeling a little disorientated and thinking the pills had done their stuff. However, that wasn’t the case. My weird feeling was because, in a fantastic repeat of about 6 months ago, my left eye was almost closed due to my eyelid having swollen up. Great. Such a good look. Last time it took for ever and spread to both eyes (chalazions), leaving me with attractive purply puffy eyelids with a little hard lump in each. So, in an effort to head it off at the pass I decided to go to the Eye Hospital. Via the Post Office to pick up the ADSL kit for the PC. Via a little café for brekky. Anyway, the hospital gave me the same antibiotic cream as last time and some drops (even though I’m convinced it’s drops that might be interfering with my eyes’ natural production of something which is stopping the glands in my upper eyelid flowing freely). Anyway, having been prodded and poked and dyed I rang work and asked to take the rest of the day off and did so. Home and set up the ADSL on the PC and had a bit of a play for a while before going to Broadway for a bit of shopping. Home and out to dinner with Rich, Adrian and Charles. It was nice – it would have been better had David the Canadian not joined us – I’m sure he has some redeeming features but when someone uses one of your mates it’s hard to give then the benefit of the doubt. Anyhoo… $5 steaks later we adjourned to Battuta for coffee and planning of our Bad Dog Christmas party outfits. Hopefully there’ll be photos. The lovely Dave wandered past – looking very cute in his specs – and he tarried a while to say hello. Then it was home and a quick chat to Garry, play on the net then a chat to Tim Red Shoes before bed.

As previously mentioned, dreams and mosquitoes. One pleasant, one not. The dream was nice – Dave (see above) and I were snuggling on the small sofa and decided to move to the bigger one to get more comfortable. That’s it! Short, sweet, but nice. Second dream in three nights of him. Weird. Ended up sleeping with a towel over my head to thwart the mosquito’s attempts at ear dive-bombing. Into work at 8.30am and had one of those mornings when I didn’t actually get anything done until about 11am. Caught up for lunch with Jane which was nice and then here we are. Am listening to Alternative by the Pet Shop Boys: the most apposite lyrics/song titles for me and my overworked bonce. ‘It Must Be Obvious’, ‘We All Feel Better In The Dark ‘, ‘Losing My Mind ‘, ‘Music For Boys’, ‘Miserablism’, ‘Shameless’, ‘Too Many People’, ‘Decadence’, ‘If Love Were All’, ‘Some Speculation ‘. Enough already.

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Tuesday arvo and I’m taking a little break from special eventing and replanning all my flights at work. Thursday’s weird mood is back upon me. There a ridiculous amount of stuff going on in my head at the moment and it’s doing me in. Still I hope to do something about it soon and move on up or just move on. I realise that makes little sense to anyone other than a few people who know me well, but I just need to get something recorded without too much detail.. it’ll all come out in the wash. But I’m fine…

Friday night’s alright for drinking. It would seem. Got home and went to the gym I think! I’m sure I did as I like it on Fridays as it’s empty. Then home to change and the Oxford. Met the boys and then the boys arrived. Er time for new abbrevations. No need as Jon and Mark have gone back now and so Rich and Russ retain the full title of The Boys. We had planned tapas, but the restaurant had closed down and so we tried Plan B. Only problem was that we didn’t have a Plan B. We ended up in some not very nice tapas bar on Oxford Street with a shonky drag queen. Not good. Food was average at best. So pretty soon it was down to the Beresford and the Barracks. I’m sure there were lots of people I knew there that night, but my memories are gone. Probably took myself off home around 1am as I was still planning to run Saturday morning at that stage.

The pain 5 hours later took care of that little scheme. If it’s 6am it must be incredible cramp in my right calf. Like excruciating. It was all I could do to stop screaming out it was that painful. It left my calf very sore once it subsided and so I decided not to run. Up at Video Hits o’clock and kind of pottered until I could Potter no more and dragged myself out to brekky with Adrian. We went to Truck so he could ogle some man or other and then we wandered back down the strip. Hooked up with Jon and Mark at Café Comity before Russ joined us and as if by magic we were in the Stonevile. Again. Yikes. It was completely Star Wars bar scene and so we called it a day and Rich very kindly drove the boys to the airport. Thanks for a wonderful time boys. Only 9 more weeks until we do it again in Blighty.

I decided Dave probably wouldn’t ring me for coffee and so I called him. And so I went and got him and we wandered downtown. Dave needed a quick break from work, but we managed to spend an extremely enjoyable two hours downtown in the QVB and then a fantastic new Japanese bookstore (thanks for the tip Andy!). Dave is so lovely. Sigh. Walked him back to his office and then wasn’t sure what to do. Ended up going home and going for a run in the local park before going to the movies with Garry, Rich and Russ to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Fun. Go see. Definite feel good movie. Then we ended up in the Oxford, the Shift and, coz I was determined not to go out, the Pheonix. Bugger. Willpower of a very small thing. Anyway. It was OK. A few people out and about and I guess the thought of not being there and missing out made me stay until around 4am. Bad Davie.

Sunday morning was way to early and I had no desire to do very much of anything. Managed to sort out papers, mess around on the net and finally dragged Garry for brekky at the local café. That done, and a bit more vegging lead to me feeling like I should do something, so at 4.30pm I went to the gym and had a pretty good workout. From there it was down to the Palace (bumping into Rich and Russ on the way) where it was a bit dead. So, to the Shift for Gary’s (of Max and Gary’s) birthday drinks. It was fun, though too much vodka was consumed. I nipped out partway for Hungry Jacks and I was over the whole thing by around 11pm. There was a lovely guy called Neil there – I knew I’d met him before though wasn’t sure where. Luckily, he remembered me and we worked out it was through Martin. Spent most of the night chatting to him – he’s the only other person I’ve met who’s bought Sunscreem’s New Dark Times (only available on the net some three years ago). Quite how we got onto that, I’ve no idea, but…

Monday I woke a little hungover, which would have been bearable had it not been 5am. No more sleep for Davie but I was well on time for my 7am session with Liz. We did legs. Ouch. Work was work – but an incredibly hot day (36C) meant it seemed like it dragged. It did perk up in the afternoon slightly when I had the sudden feeling that Graham, the Brisbane Daddy, had mailed me. I went and checked and there it was – a note from him. How weird. Anyway he was all flirty and lovely and that put a smile on my face. Home quite late and play on the net. Garry’d bought Kylie so we kind of watched that, then I went for a walk, rang Dad, ate and then messed on the net until Queer as Folk. Chatted to Rob for the first time in a while and started to get excited about going back to the UK. Bed around 11.15pm.

Slept fitfully again. Decided there’s too much going on in my brain. I wish I could turn it off, but that so rarely happens. The rest of the time it’s analysing and analysing and analysing, then over-analysing before analysing some more. Joy. Up and in work for 8.15am so will be leaving on time tonight. Not sure what the night has planned. I should gym. Having lunch with Pete tomorrow then $5 steak with Rich and Adrian and Charles tomorrow night and not much else planned until the housewarming at the weekend… let’s see if things stay quiet. It’d be nice if they did…

Oh, and vodafone have just texted me to say I’ve won something in a competition, but the claims number is busy right now. I think it’s either CD vouchers or a movie pass. Cool!

Friday, November 22, 2002

Friday afternoon – half an hour until the weekend. As yesterday I’m hanging to get out of here for some reason. The prospect of nothing for 2 whole days is almost too much to cope with.

Didn’t make the gym last night. Got home to find Garry had rented Tales of the City on DVD and so that was it! Watched that for a couple of hours – it’s amazing how I never get tired of it. Interestingly enough, different bits of dialogue relate to different things going on in your life at different times and this time was no different. Hey ho. Showered and out to meet Jon and Mark at the Oxford. Good to catch up with them, though Mark was somewhat mesmerised by the Turkish Wrestling on the video screen! We ate at Wattle again (J and M’s treat – thanks guys!), where Adrian was also dining – how small is Sydney exactly? On to the Shift for a couple more beers. Chatted to the lovely Rod, resplendent in his volleyball gear and also square jawed Michael (who I snogged the same night I met the other Michael). Fun. Stumbled to a cab around midnight.

Meeting the boys again at the Oxford tonight and Rich and Russ also. Going for tapas and then will see what the night holds. Only things planned for the weekend are a run in the park tomorrow at 9am with Ians assorted and Allan, coffee with Dave if he calls (tentatively arranged) and helping Gary celebrate his 40th at the Shift on Sunday. Yay. It’s going to be nice to play things by ear.

Thursday, November 21, 2002

Thursday. Weirdday. Am all over the place today. Am not going to blog anything right now, as I want to see how long this feeling's going to go on for. Actually hoping for not too long. Cryptic I know, but...

Had a very civilised evening with Andy last night. He came over to give the apartment his seal of approval and then to the Wattle for dinner. Very nice. Can someone buy me the pictures on the wall there? They'd go lovely in the new place. Thanks. Across to the Grumpy Baker for coffee and then home. Chats to Scally on the net and then Garry when he got in. Bed.

Dinner with Jon and Mark tonight, so meeting at the Oxford at 8pm post gym. Treading water day at work. Really can't be arsed. Chatted to Adrian, mailed Russ and Rich, Gary, Pete, Murray etc. Spoke with Dave - Happy Birthday mate! Hanging to get out of here today. Not interested at all. Even though I got promoted again on Tuesday. Yay me. Suppose I should do some work really...

More news as it happens. So can't wait for this weekend... and doing nothing. At. All.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Oh yes, and pics of the Citizenship Ceremony now on Scally's website... bless him! He thought I'd be embarrassed, but I actually quite like them!
Just to fill you in on last week’s stuff in relative brevity:

Wednesday night David and I just had a quiet meal in Potts Point on Macleay Street. Weirdly when we met here two years ago, we were both staying just a stone’s throw from the Macleay Street Bistro where we ate. Also, when I came back here almost 18 months ago now the Bistro was the first place Tony took me to eat. Fond memories. Ahhhh. Obviously an evening down there isn’t complete without bumping into people and so tonight we said hello to Dave, Brett and Chris. After a very nice meal as David’s treat (thanks!) we headed slowly back home with nary a glance at the Oxford…

Thursday was a phone free day at work, meant to help me work more. Obviously that was the day I spent half an hour on the phone to Dave, then Adrian called, and also David was out buying my new PC for me and in regular phone contact. Oops! I left work to pick up the new computer and very lovely it is too. Thanks to David for all his help in getting that organised for me.

Thence to Newtown to meet Tony. We had food at the Peasants’ Feast which was great, then back to the Newtown Hotel. Always nice to catch up with Tony, and we had fun at the Newtown – some more than others Tony! :oÞ

Friday ended up being quieter which was probably just what the cliché ordered. Beresford for beers and then we didn’t even make it onto the Barracks. Ended up eating with David for one final meal at Café Comity quite late and then home, chats and final PC tweaks before stumbling bedwards around 1.45am.

We were up early on Sat am (5.30am!) as David left for the airport at 6.30am. I stayed up and then Adrian arrived and we had brekky before heading off the the airport – it was Brisbane time! Met all the gang at the airport and by 2.30pm local time we were there. We had coffee with Adrian's sister, then some food and suddenly it was time to get ready! Obviously we were almost the first there at around 9.30pm, but it soon started to fill. The venue was actually quite fun and the music pretty good - our friend Jason lightened his set a bit from Black and it seemed to go down very well. A much more mixed crowd than Sydney but still some familiar faces. Enough sexy men to dance and flirt with which was fun. Much chest rubbing :o)

Left at 5am and showered changed and hit the Wickham for recovery at 7am. Fun. Very up music meant we stayed until 3pm! Yikes. Finally slept from about 4.30-6.30pm Sunday and then again for an hour or so after some food. Then on to Family - and the Sunday night called Fluffy :o) A lot of fun. Handbaggy music, great venue, quite a young, mixed crowd (boo!) but fun. More fun for me as I picked up the only Daddy there. Very sexy man indeed. Thanks Graham for a great evening and some top notch kissing! So, more fun and not much more sleep. Finally headed back to the hotel around 10.30am Monday... think Adrian was starting to wonder if I was ever coming back! Actually, I wouldn't have minded staying with Graham...

Home and relaxed. Bought food from Broadway and had a quiet night. Work kind of passed me by yesterday and then last night Rich came over for a cuppa after work. Cooked pasta thereafter (that rhymes!). Had 8 hours sleep for the first time in recent memory.

Managed a productive lunchtime today – post office, chemist, opticians, bought Bad Dog tickets and managed lunch all in an hour. Go David. Tonight it’s dinner with Andy Palmer after the gym. If I ever get out of work that is. Jon and Mark are back from Cairns today too, so dinner with them tomorrow hopefully and then a couple of beers Friday and then sleep for a week or two!

Saturday, November 16, 2002

Brisbane Sleaze tonight... ohmigod.

Must. Stop. Partying.
Boo hoo. After two fab weeks of minkering, partying, fun, frolics and general shenanigans Scally has returned to the UK. Sniff. It's not fair. Thanks David for everything - it's been a great fortnight. Now get off your arse and get that emigration application lodged!

Wednesday, November 13, 2002

Aagh. Ugh. Tired. Monday night's quieter night didn't actually turn out that way, in a shock move. We decided to meet in the Oxford before eating, and suddenly that gang were all there, including Adrian Avenue... who in a shock move had hooked up with one of the guys Rich met over the Games week. Odd. But fun. Then it was back to the Oxford for more beers and then finally stumbling home in a drunken stupor.

You'd think we'd learn, but no. Left work yesterday at about 4.45pm as it was the day of my Citizenship Ceremony.Got up to Paddington Town Hall nice and early and oddly I was really nervous. Wasn't sure quite what to expect and also started to realise that it is quite a big deal to pledge your allegience to a country that you didn't grow up in. I've never been particularly patriotic but still. I think it would have been a bigger deal too if I'd had to actually give up the British citizenship rather than hold both concurrently. A few familiar faces started appearing at the Town Hall which was odd - and then as it transpired we kind of knew by proxy 3 other people being done that day! So, in the crowd with me were David Scally, Garry and Rich and Russ. Also present: Gregg and Matt, Des, Graham and Phil, Brain and Anthony, Ian... you get the idea. I registered and signed up to vote and then we all took our seats and the Mayor said a few words. Then it was Pledge time (and I don't mean going around with a duster!). I said mine without any reference to god - that was our choice. Then one by one (all 110 of us) we went and collected our certificates and then it was time for a quick burst of the National Anthem, Advance Australia Fair. And that was it! I'm an Aussie - officially! It's the weirdest feeling, but good. Russ and Rich had bought me some things to help me fit in - a hat with corks round, a flag (which was then tied to the hat in a Wonder Woman cape kind of way, some Aussie flag boxers (which I had to wear over my trousers), some thongs (flip flops to most of you), a jar of Vegemite, a stubbie (can of beer), some Aussie flag socks... etc. Garry did the decent thing and bought me a CD! Thanks guys...

And then the champagne started flowing and the finger food came out and we stayed and had a bit of a laugh. Finally though, well on the way, we adjourned to the Oxford. More beers. Photograph taken in aforementioned ensemble for the local gay press. Oops. That could ruin everything. Over to T² again for $5 and then more drinks. Ugh. Ooh. No wonder I've felt like someone's replaced my brain with cotton wool for most of the day. I left the boys to it around 11pm completely exhausted. Home. Bed. Sleep.

Tonight I'm wondering if I can face the gym. We'll see. If not, quiet night, nice food and some relaxation. Either way tomorrow will, for the first time in a while, not involve me feeling like crap!

Monday, November 11, 2002

Ah yes. I left you with a veiled reference to the UnderBear party… well what a surprise that turned out to be. The thought of your average Joe with the somewhat fuller figure parading around in undies doesn’t really to it for me I have to say. However, as Rich and I found out, it’s more than just Bears that go hunting for Bears… There were a few familiar faces from the normal Bears night at the Beresford on Fridays (Max and Gary, Michael (formerly known as Adrian’s) Colin ‘BlueyBluey68’ and boyf, Kevin Dishwasher Daddy), and a few welcome others that we’d not seen before – obviously word had got to the international travellers. So off we went and soon there was nothing but underwear on view – a bit weird, but fun nonetheless. And the more people drank, the more fun it became. Suffices to say I got up close and personal with a couple of people I’d had my eye on for a while… :o) The only down side to this was at 2am when it finished and suddenly 350 people wanted their clothes back and wanted them now! I for some reason detoured to the Shift and then again on the way home…

Lions, tigers and bears. Oh my!

So little sleep, so many parties. But then it’s not Gay Games Week every week. Just as well! Thursday was probably the most eagerly anticipated of the lot – Black: the Men Only party. And as it turned out, it was pretty good. We got there and I showed the UK boys around so that they could get their bearings and then we danced in the Hordern as Jason was playing. His set was OK – very Sydney music and certainly our UK friends weren’t overly impressed. After that it was Wayne G, and I have to say his set really didn’t do it for me. Too much of his ‘clever’ remixing until it got to the point where it was really too repetitive. We stayed until the end and then went to the Shift to recover – however we got stuck in the queue so took an hour to get in. Fortunately it was worth it! Great music, lots of fun and sexy people… but boy was it hot. I’ve never sweated so much in my life. Weirdest bit for me was at one point coming out in to the recovery area and seeing the last three people I’ve really fancied – Michael, Dave and Andy – all stood together talking. Headf*ck! We stumbled out of there around 11.30am and went and lay by Rich and Russ’s pool in the sun. Lovely. From there Adrian disappeared off with someone he’s picked up and me and the boys decided to go to the Colombian for a drink. Then on the way to grab some food we came across Rod (bless him), still dressed in harness and chaps, arse hanging out, trying to get a cab to stop for him. Not a good look for Oxford Street at 3pm in the afternoon… We took him back to the boys place and waited until Tony came and got him. Bless..!! Had food and finally went home. Slept from about 8.40pm until 10.10pm and then me and Scally went and had a beer on Oxford St. We’d planned a trip to Newtown, but in the end were too tired. Home and bed around 12.45pm.

Slept in Saturday until 9.40am and Video Hits. We sat around and chilled and then Scally and I did brekky at the Feedback Café (as the local is known). Nice. Up to Oxford Street and as if by magic we were in the Stonewall having collected Jon and Mark. As were Rich and Russ, Adrian and Michael and David the Canadian. We stayed in there for 4 beers and and a laugh, culminating in drunken digicam pics up people’s trouser legs. Ahem. As you do.

Home and I decided it would be a great idea to have some food and then go to the gym! Weird. Actually I felt OK afterwards and was ready for the Farewell party around 10pm. We went via Rich and Russ’s to collect everyone and soon we were back at Fox Studios with it all going off. Lots of people there and fun – all the areas were open. It was a bitty party though. I ended waiting for Garry for over an hour, which isn’t a lot of fun let me tell you. Finally decided I couldn’t wait any longer and joined the boys in the RHI – where Garry arrived about 15 minutes later! The music was great until just after Tina Arena sang and the DJ changed. Well done Alex Taylor, yah boo sucks to Paul Goodyear. Not a good set. Well not for my anyway. We ended up playing ‘chase the song we like’ so went round and round and round…

I also lost a contact lens which didn’t help. We called in a day (well Scally and I did) at 6.30am and hit home, showered and picked up Mark before being almost the first people in the Shift. Russell joined us and off we went again. Again the music was better and we lasted until 11.30am. Home. Snoozed between 1-4pm and then Scally headed to meet mates and Garry got up and we listened to music and chilled. Down to the Palace collecting Max and Gary on the way (as the Beresford was empty). A couple there as it was also quiet and no sign of Dave DJing. To the Shift. Packed. Fun. Lots of flirting with Max and Gary and lots of vodka. Finally left there at around 10.30pm. Home. Bed. Sleeeeeeeeeeep!

Into work this morning where I’ve hardly been the life and soul of the party. Been too busy being that all last week! Looking forward to a quieter week, though already got things happening tomorrow night (Citizenship Ceremony – how odd is that?) and dinner with Tony and Scally on Thursday. Tonight we’re getting together for $5 steaks at T² as no-one can be arsed to cook! More news as it happens through the week…

Thursday, November 07, 2002

OK, so how did the last week get away from me? I'll tell you how - Gay Games shenanigans, that's what! But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Thursday night last I met up with Tess and took her to eat on Stanley Street. It was lovely to see her again, and as always it's great to catch up with people from the UK, and in the case with Tess, with someone I've known for almost half my life. We met Rich a little later on for coffee and the street was very busy with tourists ready for the start of the games. We put Tess in a cab and hit the bars. Or tried to. It was so busy, everywhere was queueing and we finally got into the Barracks. Not as much fun as the Oxford, so we switched. Had a couple more drinks then called it a night.

Friday was a busy day at work - that's about all I can remember. I forced myself to go to the gym and much beyond that I can't remember. Ah yes... a few people came to ours for beers - Jon and Mark, Mat and Pank, American John and Steve (who I'd never met). Adrian and Rich and Russ were meant to come too, but they bottled out. Garry was home too, and before long we piled down to the Beresford to see who was about. The answer was - everyone! It was very busy, and soon we were spilling out onto the laneway. Lots of people there and lots of fun. On to the Barracks and more drinking was had by all. I finally stumbled home probably around 2am.

To bed, and all was well until Scally arrived at 8am. Actually things were still good, but I was at that point dealing with a headache. Scally has blogged what happened next, so go read it. See the entry for 5th November. Right, remind me to blog the UnderBear™ party details as Scally wasn't around for that last night... but right now I'm almost ready for home and the Black (Men Only) Party tonight. Ay caramba.

Thursday, October 31, 2002

Quickly:
Tuesday did more carpet cleaning via town to buy an aerial extension (why you need to know that...). Forced myself to gym and then home to pizza. Doh! (That's pizza, doh! not pizza dough.)
Yesterday worked hard through the day then into town to try and buy a gym ball to be my new computer chair chez Brumby. However I don't quite know which size I want. Hit HMV to buy music and walked home with Rich. Dragged him to see the new place and then to dinner with Adrian and Michael. $5 steak. Yum. Then to the Oxford. A few familiar faces (Andrew, Max and Gary, Rod, Howie...) and lots of unfamiliar ones. The Games crowd were out in earnest - the Finnish swimmers, the Berlin Rowers, some English swimmers, some Canadian something or other... how awful for us :o) I dragged myself home at 11.30pm.
Up early to be ready for Jon and Mark arriving. They did and we had coffee at local café before work. How civilised. They bought me Out and About and the new Soft Cell album. How stoked am I? Been listening to them all day at work. Currently still here now at 5.40pm but heading home. Should I gym? I should, but...
Meeting Tess from Uni for dinner and then a few drinks no doubt. Let the games begin!

Tuesday, October 29, 2002

Oh there is a god. Probably. Today, feeling a little under the weather I needed a bit of cheering up. One of the more dull parts of the job here is rejecting bookings that have been made after we've told agents that the flight is full in a particular booking class. One popped up on my queue here earlier this morning. Imagine my joy when I worked out who I could reject. Those of you who know me well will know the amount of pleasure I took from rejecting the booking of one Mariah Carey. Bliss!

Monday, October 28, 2002

Monday arvo and I’m sitting listening to Sunscreem and trying to make it look like I’m busy. Too much fun and not enough sleep over the weekend and I’m rather lacklustre today it has to be said. So, Friday was the last update… and more than a few things have happened since then – mostly good. In fact all pretty damn good!

Friday I met Garry in Edgecliff and we signed the lease on the new place without any drama. I went home and had some food and started to pack. Managed to fit in some surreptitious flirting with sexy Dave and sexy Andy whilst packing which helped to pass the time. By the time Adrian called I’d pretty much done my room and so met Adrian down at the new place – he loves it as much as we do! Decided to ditch the gym in favour of getting ahead in the packing game – in part driven by the desire for a cheeky beer later at the Beresford if I got my act together. And forsooth that’s what happened. Bears was fun – we thought all the tourists would be in town early for the Gay Games, but it seemed more full of Sydney people looking for the tourists! We popped into the Barracks too, and finally around 1.30am I’d had enough. Bed. One more sleep at Noise Central.

Woke at 8.30am and we started on finishing the packing. By about 11am we were done, and we’d already had brekky and taken some stuff down to the new place. The removalists arrived at 12.30pm and we we’re at the new place and unloaded by about 3pm. Hit the local café for some lunch and then fell on the task of getting the new place shipshape. By 7.30pm all was in its rightful place. Two very minor hitches – the new phone line didn’t get connected and the microwave doesn’t fit anywhere in the kitchen. Mind you, if they’re our only two concerns I’d say the move went pretty well. Got ready and hit Rich and Russ’s before heading upstairs at the Stonewall for a party. Wasn’t the best ever and we adjourned to the Oxford for a change of scene. Dave happened to be there (with Brett – grrrr!) which was a nice surprise and so the flirting from the afternoon continued. We decided to go to the Shift though, and so it came to be. The Shift was OK but not really enough people to form critical mass. Thus, after a while, Russ made the suggestion of Arq. Well why not? And so off we toddled. Fortunately Dave had gone to Arq so we kind of hooked up. Fun, fun, fun. He’s such a sexy man (yes Dave, that means you) and seems to be a nice bloke too. The clocks changed on Sunday morning and so with the time adjusted it was 9.30am when Dave took a slight turn for the worst and I took him home. We had more vodka and he played me some of his favourite music of the moment. We then watched a fantastic episode of Buffy on DVD (Hush – the one where everyone’s voices are stolen and almost the entire episode is devoid of dialogue) before crashing out at around 2pm. Dave was DJing at the Palace at 5.30pm and boy was the alarm clock a bit of a rude awakening! Escorted Dave to the above establishment and ended up staying for a beer. Or 2. Or in fact 5. Hit the wall about 9pm and headed home to tea, crisps and chocolate whilst watching the end of Galaxy Quest. I’d completely forgotten that we were meant to be cleaning the old apartment on Sunday so Garry had done it by himself. Oops. Sorry mate. I think my mind was elsewhere (focussed somewhere on sexy Dave!). Bed and my first sleep in the new, noise free, fabulous apartment.

Oh joy of joys! I’d forgotten just how nice it can be to have uninterrupted sleep! Having said that, I had the weirdest dream about working in some office and not doing stuff and being found out by my boss. Odd. Thing is the offices were like nothing I’ve ever worked in, and no-one I’ve ever worked with was there either, so I’m not sure what that was all about. I woke just before sunrise to see the reflection of the trees out of the window in the mirrors on the built-ins. That also lead to the realisation that the balcony (and therefore my room too) gets lovely sunshine in the mornings… already looking forward to leisurely weekend brekkies in the light and warmth…

Still, not surprising given the weekend’s activities, I was somewhat bleary eyed as I hit the gym at 7am. Into work and then back to the old apartment at lunch to go through the checklist before we get our security bond back. The guy from the old real estate company wasn’t happy with the cleanliness of the cooker and the carpets so I have to go back tonight and give them another go. How much do I want to do that? I’d rather drink my own urine frankly. Mind you, unfortunately we don’t really have any choice. Hey ho. So, just going to finish up at work and then head off. The rest of the night will be spent chilling chez Brumby (that’s the new apartment street name hence…) and enjoying the lack of noise…

Friday, October 25, 2002

Friday almost afternoon and nearly time for me to head off for my half day. Off to sign the lease on the new apartment and then home to pack. And gym. Maybe.

Tuesday ended up being a work late, gym, dinner, bed day. Probably needed it. Wednesday was more of the same at work, though the evening was much more relaxed. Quick drink with Russ, Rich and Adrian and then on to meet Dave for our date at Govindas. Govindas is a fab veggie restaurant with a cool small movie theatre above it. Best let them explain. It’s a great place for a second or third date, as the seating makes it very cozy! We saw Monsoon Wedding which, if you haven’t seen it, I heartily recommend. Back to Dave’s.. obviously I just wanted to make sure he got home safely, being the courteous Brit that I am…

Ahem.

Last night Garry, Rich, Russ and I cut loose. Fun. Cast members from Secret Life of Us a go-go - both on stage and in the audience. Home. Bed. And here we are.

Right – last 15 mins of work and then away. Probably no more until safely ensconced in the new apartment… Wish me luck!

Tuesday, October 22, 2002

Blogger's definitely playing up. I've got posted things not appearing in the edit screen, but they're there on the site. Weird. So who knows if this will even post. Busy day. Work was full on, not helped by an airport visit and the weekly forward bookings meeting. I organised the new phone details for the new apartment and ordered an ADSL connection for the PC. Yay. Home to chat to Gaz before hitting the gym. Gaz has done a lot of pre-packing work bless him. Thanks! Did first day of new program and felt a bit lost.. but it'll come good. Chats with Andrew on the way home then food. Quick steaky-noodle thing. Quickly on here, chats to Andy P. And although it's only 10.30pm I'm off to bed. Lots to do before the move!
Hmm.. it would seem that my blog has disappeared. Not happy about that. Hope it's not permanent... let's see if I can force it back!

Monday, October 21, 2002

Monday night. 9.45pm. Er, we've got a new apartment! Yippee!!! We move on Saturday! Yippee!!! Ohmigod too much to do...

Well we've seemingly managed the fastest real estate rental deal in modern history. We faxed in our application this morning; Garry went to see it at 2pm; Laura from the agent's called at 4.45pm to say she was on the case and by 5.30pm it was ours! How did we manage that? Anyway, we're not complaining. The place is lovely... kind of like my place in the UK in that one of the bedrooms is a galleried area over the living area, but that's not an issue for us. Downstairs is all stainless steel kitchens and dishwashers and laundry and floorboards and up(the industrial stylee metal)stairs is cool bathrooms and built in wardrobes and glass bricks. And did I mention the floor to ceiling 24' high end wall? Must have slipped my mind. Garry and I are so excited. It's going to be nice to get away from the hubbub of Oxford Street. It's been great, but we're both ready for something will a little more panache and flair...

So, removalists to organise, utilities to stop and start, that kind of thing. Still, it'll keep me out of mischief. Or will it?
Monday arvo. This thing's been playing silly bloggers with me all weekend. I was going to update on Saturday night, but for some reason it wasn't showing the big update I did last week as being live and so I didn't. And then yesterday we had some runtime errors. Trust me? I did try! So, almost a week hence. I left you with dates in hand and a quiet weekend on the cards. Well?

Wednesday night. Gym after work and then rang Andrew to confirm dinner. We were having a beer in the Oxford by 8pm and dinner at a very nice cheap Vietnamese by about 9pm. Interesting evening ? we've a lot in common and it was nice to talk music and just stuff with someone fun and animated. We even worked out (we think, though this is yet to be confirmed 100% by the other party) that Andrew may have slept with Stevie P (my bestest friend in London!). Weird. Watch this space. Back to the Oxford for one last drink and then Andrew nipped off in a cab around 11pm after a brief snog. Nice! Home. Internet. Sleep.

Had a little sleep in (though not been sleeping well generally) as it was the first of two consecutive dentist days. Nice. Off I trotted and found out I'd transposed the two appointments, which meant the first appointment was the hour long two filling one. I'd been casually expecting the pleasant Kiwi hygienist who says 'Yeah' much too often. However Wayne got to it, and a reasonably pleasant hour passed. I can say that as someone who has fillings with no anaesthetic. No sir. Just let them drill away. As it were.
So good was his work that I was able to have a coffee on the way home. No soreness, no aching, no numb, dribbly mouth. Yippee. Into work and I'm sure it was fascinating. Actually it was? I did an analysis of all the November flights that have been stuffed up by the myriad schedule changes that have been foisted upon the Cairns marketplace by the Schedules guys. So I've requested ad-hoc flights and upgrades a go-go. Let's hope they can free me up a 767 or two. Home and gym. 4th time that week. Going great guns. Dave had cancelled the date due to his work commitments (rescheduled for dinner and movie at Govinda's next Wednesday instead), so I caught up with Russ at T2. In theory $5 steaks with mash. In practice $10 steaks with chips (and mash extra) as the deal is only Mon-Wed. Doh! Rich joined us and a few people stopped to chat (check shirted Daddy from last week's Green Park; Sam, a lovely girl that the boys know from nights out on the town). And then, as if by magic, we'd been talked into going to Arq for a Mardi Gras fundraiser. How did that happen? Anyway, it was fun, but really shouldn't have done it as it was a school night. Stumbled home around 4am. Ouch. Coma.

Woke at 8am. Rough as a badger's arse. On the day's agenda - negotiate my way out of our year long apartment lease 3 months early; dental hygienist visit; work. One of those things had to give, and the one that went was - work. Felt bad, but just couldn't have hacked it. Strolled to see Conrad about the lease and he was as nice as pie. Told us we could move out and just give them a week's notice. And then he said he hoped the dentist went OK. Now he cares!! Weird. Anyway off to the dentist it was and came away with my pearly whites a-sparkling. Decided to have brekky at Go-Go's, bumping into Gary Jones's ex Richard at the lights... and he was heading there too so we had brekky together. Back to the ranch and vegged out. Played on the net a while. Dave was online and we started chatting. And flirting. And more flirting. And then he was going to the gym. And my place is kind of on the way back to the office for him. And? :o) *Lovely*

Wasn't sure whether I should go out or not Friday night, but Adrian was very persuasive and so I met him round at Rich and Russ's around 10pm after something nice to eat. Down the Beresford we went, and then on to the Barracks. Lots of people out actually and a fun night had. Not too late though. Home and bed around 1am I think...

Awake about 9am Saturday morning. Garry disappeared off to pick up the car (he was going to Canberra for the weekend) and then arrived back and left again. I got milk and the paper and had breakfast whilst scanning the Apartments for Rent small ads. Managed to find about 5 I thought might be suitable and worked out a running order and itinerary. Off I toddled! Numbers 1,2,3 and 5 were vile. Number 4 was the one Garry and I had our eye on from the website and it is very nice. I spoke to Garry after I left and we decided we should apply even though he's not seen it. Watch this space. Michael called to see if I wanted to do coffee in the midst of all of this, but didn't seem too despondent when he found out I was busy...

Home. Dozed a while and then dragged my sorry butt down the gym. Was feeling in a weird mood... hadn't heard from Jason about meeting up this weekend, felt a bit unsettled by the whole apartment thing and just wasn't feeling 100%. Anyway. Online I popped. Started chatting to the lovely Andy Palmer (who said he wasn't coming out for a beer). Doh. Jason texted me, telling me to meet him at Stonewall at 10pm. StoneVile? Why? Jason, what were you thinking?? Anyway, my mood lifted a little and so I decided to cut my hair off in celebration. Still chatting to Andy who suddenly said that he was reading my blog and was flattered he'd got a mention. He was quite enjoying it (apparently) and we got into discussion about Michael and his behaviour as Andy's friends with a guy called Tim who was seeing Michael before I was. Suddenly another message from Andy popped onto the screen. 'You know Jason Harding'. Er? I explained to Andy that it was in fact Jason I was meeting at the pub… and whaddya know? They used to see each other when Jason lived in Melbourne! How small a world? Not even six inches of separation? Anyway, the upshot of all of this was that Andy decided to venture out after all so we said we'd have a beer at the Barracks. I went off to meet Jason and it was great to see him. Looking very muscly. Good to catch up on what all the guys back in the UK have been up to. Jase was heading off to Arq and so around half past midnight I hit the Barracks. Andy was already there so we had a couple of beers and carried on the evening’s conversations. We decided to leave and Andy very kindly asked if I’d like to go home with him. Let me think about that for a second… er, yes! So very soon we were in sunny Marrickville. Andy’s got a great place and he put on some good chill out music and off we went. Actually we were still minkering and at one point I was knocked in directions I didn’t even know existed! Thank you Andy. And so to bed…

Up Sunday morning. Eventually. You know the score. Fun. Oh, and Andy… not sure of the derivation of ‘le petit mort’ – it doesn’t seem to be from one single source, and the other French word is sauterelle. Just thought I’d finish that off for completeness… We showered and stuff and headed out to brekky at the Chocolate Dog in Newtown. Had lovely food with a very nice man. It’s nice to meet someone sexy and yet down to earth too… hopefully I’ll get chance to get to know Andy some more. After brekky Andy kindly dropped me back here where I just chilled a while. Eventually though it was time for the Green Park and the Palace. The Green Park was weird – not overly busy but with people I didn’t know. I had one drink and retreated to the Palace… where almost everyone I know was! It was fun. From there to the Shift for a couple more beers, then takeaway Indian food before collapsing into a small coma.

Slept badly but managed to get to the gym for 7am for part two of the new program. Into work a bit late and decided we’d focus on putting in an application for apartment number 4 from Saturday. So we did. Garry’s gone to see it this afternoon so fingers crossed… Right back to work.. more in a bit.


Wednesday, October 16, 2002

Doh. Just to let you know, I edited a previously started post and so the big post underneath is dated 9 October, when in fact it should be the 16 October. Forgive me.

Wednesday, October 09, 2002

Hmm. The Wednesday after the long weekend that was and I’ve not blogged a jot. Actually that’s not true… I blogged a brief intro to the next entry about a week ago but have just been too busy to get round to it. Naughty Davie. OK – where were we? Friday before the long weekend. Not sure I can remember that far back at my age…

Friday night ended up out for beers with Garry, Ant and Michael (his Michael - it seems that everyone has one these days except me) at the Oxford, the Beresford and then the Barracks. Not a late night - perhaps just as well. Up Saturday for Video Hits - that after a nice long sleep. What did I do through the day? Not much. Went and got my haircut and hated it, which really pissed me off. Why do hairdressers never listen? I’d intended to get something military to match the Sleaze outfit but it was not to be. I came home and went over to Rich and Russ’s with Adrian and had coffee. Lazy day really. Home and cut my hair myself, and then Garry finished me off. Food and then over to R’n’R’s again for pre-Sleaze drinks. Fun! Then about 15 or so of use headed down to the party. Was it good? It was OK… I’ve had better parties. The music was ok when we arrived and for the first couple of hours. After that though it was dire – both in the Hordern and the Dome. Me and Rich and Russ spent most of the evening together, walking between places trying to find some good music. Nothing major to report – the usual suspects were there. Michael was floating around but didn’t see him much. Had a brief snog with the lovely Andy Palmer – yum. Oh, and the lovely Daniel too. Anyway, by about 6.20am we were over it and so off we went. I nipped home and grabbed stuff and went back to R’n’R’s to shower. Adrian met us there and we hit the Barracks at about 8.20am. Again it was OK. Music was much better but it was just thin on the ground. Where did everyone go? Who knows? The Shift was empty apparently. Maybe everyone was just saving themselves for the Gay Games parties coming up. Anyway, more flirting with Andy P but it became obvious he’s not really interested, though he was very trashed. Anyway, hoping to get to know him better as he’s a nice bloke. Also the funniest thing was that this bloke came up to me and said I had a fantastic body. Yeah right. Look at the size of him! Maybe he wanted me to say something along the lines of ‘Oh, but yours is so much better!’. I don’t know. All I do know I was so flabbergasted that I just said thanks and walked off! We finally stumbled out of there around 1.40pm and went to R’n’R’s for tea. In the end we decided we should all sleep before Queer Nation…

And so I went home and showered and hit the Green Park! Anthony and Michael were there and then Daniel. We flirted a bit and he decided to try and join us at QN… I toddled off to R’n’R’s and with Adrian we got a cab down to Home. Still like the venue. Music was OK. I was just too knackered, having not slept since Fri night. I lasted about 2 hours, then took myself to the top floor to the small dancefloor and danced up against a wall in case I fell over. The music was fun up there – particularly in the retro half hour when we got Dee-Lite, Salt and Pepa and Bob Sinclar. Fab. Eventually joined the others to leave around 6.30am. They partied on at the Shift; I fell into a small coma.

Up around 1pm maybe? Oh I dunno. Coffee with the crowd in the afternoon and the beers with Garry and Michael (Adrian’s) later. Bed.

Last week through the week was a bit of a non-event. Work’s been really busy which was great. Kept me from lapsing back into holiday mode. Had dinner at R’n’R’s with Triple F Steve on Tuesday and then gymmed Wed/Thu/Fri. Friday night was also dinner at R’n’R’s – Adrian and Michael, David and Jayson, Steve and Anthony and John. Fun. 7 of those (including me!) have booked to fly to Brisbane mid-November for Brisbane Sleaze. Great – not done a party up there so should be fun. Also Virgin Blue were doing return flights for $138 (under 50 of your English pounds) so that settled it. Also Jayson’s DJ-ing so it’ll be a blast. Drinks afterwards at the Beresford and Barracks were also a bit of a giraffe, though Michael was getting a bit flirty. Bless him.

Saturday. Woke relatively early at 8.30am and by 9am was breakfasting with R’n’R, Adrian and Tim. Fun. Watched the world go by and then did a bit of tidying and stuff and then we decided to go to Bondi and do the walk to Bronte – for the first time since I lived there I think! Lovely day too. Back and briefly to Adrian’s to wish him and Fred luck for the house sale… though as it turned out it didn’t sell. Never mind. Then to the movies to see Goldmember – very funny. A bit too much toilet humour in parts, but some genuine laugh out loud bits and great cameos. Intended to gym, but after that it was too late. Home. Garry and I decided to go to Newtown for a change, and so we had a beer or two in the Oxford (with Mat and Pank) and off we toddled. Upon walking in the Newtown there was a guy who’s been checking me out at the gym… and Garry walked straight up to him and said hi! As it turned out I’d actually met him once too, through Gary (Max and Gary). Andrew was with some mates also going to the Imperial and so we kind of all melded into one group. Fun. Imperial was great – different people, nice mix, trashy music. Perfect. Lots of flirting with Andrew and mates. We lasted until coming back to Oxford St around 3.30am and hitting the Oxford. I left Garry there and hit the Phoenix. Very quiet… however I did manage to amuse myself somehow until 8am…

Adrian rang at midday wanting brekky. Ugh. I dragged myself up (no, I don’t mean.. oh, you know!) and hit the Milk Bar. On to R’n’R’s and hung out a while but decided I should have a bit of a sleep before the Green Park. Busy. Full of sexy men. Lots of fun. On to the Palace. Also fun. Michael was there. Oh really. Dave from Bad Dog was DJ-ing so we had a bit of a snog… and then as if by magic Andrew appeared. Of course it turned out that R’n’R know him. Oh really. Russ and Rich went home and we hit the Shift with Triple F Steve for one. In bed by around 11pm.

Managed to get up for my 7am appointment with Liz. Not sure how. Started to develop a new gym program – a body part a day. Means I have to go minimum 4 times a week – ideally 5. That’s going to test my mettle. Excited though, as people are starting to notice the change in my body shape. Yay. Work again busy this week. Nice dinner Monday night and slob. Dinner at R’n’R’s last night after gym again. Bumped into Andrew again there… we’re having dinner tonight! Meant to be having dinner with Dave tomorrow too… we’ll see.

So, finally I’m up to date again. Yippee. Quiet times until the Games. Haven’t heard from Jason H – hoping he’s still going to be in town this weekend. More news as it happens. Oh, and trying to break the lease on the apartment to move out – am fed up of having the prospect of a leaky roof every time it rains, and I think we can get somewhere with a dishwasher and laundry and balcony and so on, so why not? Watch this space and keep fingers crossed.

Friday, October 04, 2002

Yay. 2 hours until the long weekend. Can hardly wait. Also, can hardly keep my eyes open. ‘Oh really? ‘ I hear you ask. Really. It all started after dinner…

Home after work with every intention of going to the gym. However there was a lovely homeless man asleep in our doorway. If I’d have opened the door he’d have fallen flat on his back and I didn’t fancy tackling the ire of a freshly wakened itinerant. So I bolted for coffee instead, and by the time I’d done that with R’n’R and looked in HUM for some CDs he’d gone. Adrian very kindly took us to Rockerfellers for food, which was great and then we hit the Oxford for a beer and joined Mat and Garry. Rod and Tony were there, and also a very cute Arab-looking guy… and most of you reading this know of my penchant for the old Islamabaddy-Daddy… One by one people left, including the sexy man. I decided to have one last drink in the Shift before bed as it was still only about 10.15pm. Got my drink, scanned the room as you do… and who should be there but Islamabaddy-Daddy!. Yeeesssss. So, copped a bit of eye contact over a vodka or two until he came over and said hi. They were on the way to the Barracks and he wanted to know if it would be busy. I said that I thought not but wasn't sure as it was a long weekend etc. Turns out he's American, an artist, and over here on a work related
tour. Just here over the weekend. So he said OK, if it's crap I'll be back. Oh. Really. As he left, Pete (Garry's ex) arrived, so we had another vodka or two and a chat and then as if by magic Islamabaddy-Yankee-Doodle-Daddy appeared. I chatted to Pete a bit more and then said "Bugger this I'm off to talk to him' and did so. His name's Steve. So we chatted a bit more - he asked me if Pete was my boyf, I said no, he said 'Would you like to come to my hotel room?'.

The sprinter's blocks are probably still on the floor at the Oxford.

Very nice. So I got home around 1am. Tired now. Fun though. Ooh mummy. We had Lisa Simpson walking up and down Oxford Street tooting on the saxophone almost all the way through the night. I'm so tired. Also I have another small stye on my eye this morning - the same eye that started the whole thing last time. I've put some of the antibiotic cream on from the last thing and am crossing my fingers. That's just what I need - an eye infection for Sleaze weekend :o( Mind you, compared to Russ's arm it's
nothing really so I shouldn't complain!

Today's dragged a bit but only 30 minutes to go. Going to Cabaret tonight with Michael and some girlfriends of his. Should be interesting. Am looking forward to the show at least, and I think we're eating after. Then sleep. No, really. Gotta save myself for tomorrow.

One final thing - Garry and I have often joked, when singing One Day In Your Life and I'm Outta Love, that it would be great to appear in drag on Stars in Their Eyes and proclaim 'Tonight Matthew I'm going to be... Manastacia'. Well last night Garry came up with one better... Tranny-stacia! Trantastic.

Thursday, October 03, 2002

OK, following on from the last post but one.. grrr. I left you with me and Garry in Newtown shopping for clothes. Garry actually bought a cheap wig which looks very bizarre let me tell you! We pottered around some more though finally headed home after another beer in the Bank. I decided to hit the gym, then had a lazy dinner watching the Bill. Russ had taken his brand new bike out for a test ride in the early evening and as it was dusk he failed to see the chain across the cycle path. Ouch. One broken arm later... get well soon matey. I was still in mischevious mood, so after showering and all that, and a brief trip to R'n'R's I hit the Oxford around 11pm. Chatted to Tall Darren for a while and then was on the way to the Shift when I met up with Pank and crowd. We decided (wrongly as it turned out) to go straight to the Pheonix and so there we were, us and the tumbleweed. It actually didn't get that busy all night, but finally around 1.30am it at least reached critical mass. The music was pretty good and I managed to work the room. If you know what I mean. I made a move around 6am, but was spotted heading back to my place around 8am by Rich, who'd just dropped Russ off at the hospital again.

Rich called as I was showering pre-bed, so I decided to eschew sleep and we did tea at Battuta. Russ joined us and the we had more tea at theirs before going out for brekky proper at the MilkBar. I finally decided I should sleep at least a little and did so before getting ready and hitting Tony's at Bondi. Pete joined us there for a beer and then we hit Bad Dog at Waverley Bowling Club. Weird. We had a few beers as it was still mid-afternoon and chatted to mates assorted - Patrick and George, Deano and the Michael formerly known as mine, David Bassett and Gary... and then at around 5pm Rich's smiley face popped up in the crowd. They'd been up earlier and managed to get a last minute ticket on the door. Marvellous. And so the minkering commenced. Boy did it. The music was fantastic - the highlight for me being the two tracks off Felix da Housecat that they played. One of the best nights in a while - had snogs with sexy men and just had a ball. Too soon it ended at 10pm but the crowd had to continue on, so we hit the Pheonix. More fun. I'd kind of hooked up with Dave the DJ at the Palace by that point and he joined Rich and I as we popped up to Arq 'just to see'. Mistake really, and so Rich left and Dave and I went back to the Pheonix for one last beer before retiring to my place around 2.30am. But not until they'd played Love Action :o)

Monday morning was a bit of a rude awakening and I think my total of sleep Fri-Sat-Sun was something like 9-0-4. Erk. Into work for a very quiet day - sweats and almost falling alseep at the PC were the order of the afternoon - not a good look! Somehow managed to get through it though, and the evening was very quiet – telly and nice food. Tuesday did the gym after work and Wednesday too. Coffee Tuesday night with R’n’R. Went for a walk Wednesday night – about as rock ‘n’ roll as I could get! Dinner tonight with Adrian and R’n’R. Maybe slip in a quiet beer afterwards…
Bugger. There was so much more of that last post, and I think I must have published instead of posting and publishing. Bugger, bugger, bugger. I mean so much more. Sulking now. Bugger.
Thursday arvo. Struth! Sorry, just getting into the Australian way - now that I'm an Aussie citizen! It's kind of official - I've had my letter telling me it's all been approved, but I'm still awaiting the date for the ceremony where I have to pledge my allegiance to all things antipodean. Weird. More news on that nearer the time. That news arrived Friday afternoon, which in a fantastic segue was where I left you...

So. Home and to the gym as you do. Or at least as I've been doing of late. Home and food and then joined Garry and Ant at the Oxford before shuffling down to the Barracks as you do. Several beers later I stopped briefly in the Barracks before falling homewards around 1am. Slept in until 10.30am Saturday - the longest in a while. Garry woke and we had tea before we worked out that for some reason Video Hits wasn't on - disaster! Also Mother Hubbard had been visiting, so we ended up at Gogo's for a bacon and egg sarnie. Yum. Ended up hitting Newtown with Garry and had a quick beer with Ant and (his) Michael on arrival. Shopped around a bit looking for some 70s clothes for Garry for a work do.

Tuesday, October 01, 2002

OK, let's see if that's got my comments fixed... yippee!!
Lots to report. When I'm at home. Currently in a training session which is a bit dull. I'm 37½ today. Happy half birthday to me. And I need to fix my comments, I know. Laters...

Friday, September 27, 2002

Friday arvo and I'm in the most mischevious mood... lordy. Lock up your daddies. Currently trying to make myself look busy until 5pm, hence the little blog entry. Since Wednesday afternoon I've kind of been in the same frame of mind - rampant hedonism! Did the gym and met David as arranged. Beer. Dinner and wine. More beer. Met up with Rich who'd landed himself an impromptu promotion that day, so we did the Oxford, Stonewall, Shift run. Stumbled home and into bed and fell into a very drunken stupor. Yesterday was not big or clever. Well actually the hangover was quite big, and was only fixed with Panadol, turkish toast with Vegemite and intravenous lattés. Binned the gym last night in favour of messing around on the PC, then went out for a walk as the night was completely and I was going balmy. Russ arrived back from Melbourne late with today off up his sleeve, so suddenly we were in the Oxford again. And then the Shift. And then for some reason Arq. Odd. Just downstairs open - drag shows a go-go. It was actually quite a laugh and before I knew it I was stumbling home around 3.30am. Oops.

Not sure the dentist would have appreciated the vodka breath this morning but hey, you get that. Into work feeling pretty good considering and here I remain - but with the most incredible urge to just go mental this weekend. Am looking forward to Bad Dog on Sunday - David Bassett's going too so it'll be quite a laugh. Actually looking forward to going out with Michael too - maybe I'm more ready to move on than I thought. Let's hope so. However, that's not until Sunday - there's tonight and tomorrow to get through first. And yes, it's weird that the party is on a Sunday 3-10pm. Though I can pretend I'm at the Vauxhall :o) Actually the Bad Dog parties are pretty good, though the music is somewhat eclectic. The highlight of the last one was the first track played after the DJ changeover - A Forest by The Cure. Hadn't heard that out in a club for yonks. In preparation I've been playing (on high rotation) Excursions by Felix Da Housecat - am currently obsessed with it. It's exactly the kind of music we'll hear Sunday - normally a bit harder than I'd go for, and not much singing opportunity, but boy has it got under my skin.

The minkering starts very soon... ;o)
It made me smile... Seen today on the train to work. A small sticker with small writing on it, stuck onto a train map. Up close it simply stated:

Please ignore this sticker


Wednesday, September 25, 2002

Just picked up my final time for the 10K Bridge Run the other week - 46 minutes and 13 seconds. Very happy with that. Also came in the top 1000 out of over 6000+ people. Yay. Now I just have to find another race to sign up for...
Ay caramba!

I can honestly say we had a ball this weekend. Lots of fun indeed. It was great to get out of Sydney, if only for a weekend. It's the first time I've actually left the city since I arrived. Long overdue. Friday night I had a few beers with Garry - Beresford and Barracks and finally hit the sack around 1am, and seemed to just close my eyes for a nanosecond before the alarm went off at 5am! To Adrian's at 6am and cab to airport. Burger King brekky - yum. Fun flight down, what with camp old stewards and fun hostesses and them picking us out a mile off! Hit the Laird at about 9.30am and got Rich and Russ up and about. Brekky for a second time (this one at a more reasonable hour) with R&R, Tim and Ross and then just pottered, shopped, ate, had coffee etc. Perfect. The intention was to nap in the arvo but... you know how it is. Before we knew it we were in the bar having a beer or three! Got ready and hit Mat's place for pre-party beers (he was staying in a serviced apartment near the Cage). Little Tony & English Richard joined us there too and then we hit the party smack on 11pm as it opened. I really enjoyed the music - quite trancy so I was transported to the end of the Vauxhall :o) Managed to find a nice chunky Welsh man to snog so that was fun. We had a real laugh too all weekend - very carthartic. Oddly the Welsh man reminded me slightly of Michael - not intentionally - more in the way he danced and a slight look about the face. Fun. We left there just before 7am and headed to the recovery at 44. Oddly I had actually been there before when it was a trendy bar to drink in after work 3 years ago, so that was a bit surreal. We survived that until around11am when Adrian and I finally called it a day. Back to the Laird to sleep for 3 hours then up for a drink in the beer garden as there was a bear bbq on! The gang was all there again and we eventually got food before meeting up again in the bar later. Down to the Peel we went. Weird. The most bizarre mix of music. Eclectic doesn't do it justice. Stuff from years ago and odd/dance commercial stuff. We're talking Plastic Bertrand to New Order, EZ Posse to the Bangles, via Tight Fit/The Lion Sleeps Tonight and Katrina and the Waves! Having said that we had quite a laugh.

Finally home around 3am and sleep. Adrian and I had brekky with Tim and Ross on Monday and then arrived back in Sydney around 3.30pm. As still in party mode I managed to persuade someone off the internet to come over to my place... naughty but nice. Turned out he'd also been at Beyond and 44 and was keen to hook up too! :o)

Was a bit vague Tuesday. Managed to get through the day. Talked myself into going to Bad Dog after all on Sunday, for a few drinks and a dance. I've got to go somewhere where Michael is and deal with it, and better to get it over and done with there than at Sleaze. And I think I'll be OK. Michael very kindly detoured last night to pick me up a ticket in Newtown after I failed to get one after work in Oxford Street. I also failed to do the gym last night, but instead had dinner over at Rich's as Russ was still in Melbourne. Nice pasta and chats then home to speak to Michael. May even join him and Deano and Ian for pre-Bad Dog drinks. Brave or stupid? You decide. Tony's going too, so there's someone in support if things go horribly wrong!

Today's been a glorious day. Weather shot over 30C this arvo - shame I'm stuck in an office. Mind you I did sit out at lunch with my chicken, avocado and artichoke sandwich on turkish bread with apple and peach juice and just revel in the warmth. Oh, I still owe you the full peach juice story don't I? Soon...

Gym tonight and then dinner with David Bassett which will be fun - haven't caught up with him in eons. And Thursday tomorrow - don' t you just love short weeks??

Friday, September 20, 2002

Oh, and of course now the weekend is almost upon us, and I'm gagging for the most fantastic weekend, I've broken out in spots on my nose. Great. Don't you just love that?
I'm back to blogging once a day at the moment at least - and although it's mainly diary type stuff it's getting slowly back on track. Two things today, after the brief update on what's been going on:

Didn't get out of work early after all yesterday, which delayed me buying Adrian's extra pressie (the CD single of Pet Shop Boys and Peter Rauhofer's Break for Love). This in turn delayed me getting back and so I didn't go to the gym and felt guilty. Anyway, went over to R&R's and had wine and Adrian and (his) Michael turned up and he was suitable surprised for his birthday. Marvellous. Went and got takeaway curry and had that back at R&R's and then was going to go out but flagged. Home, watched the end of the Abyss and then fell into bed. Up and at 'em today. Sooooo ready for the weekend. About 75 more mins here then home, gym, haircut and a few quiet beers ready for tomorrow's 7.30am flight. Yippee!

OK, the other things. One's a kind of Michael thing. I'm still having real problems moving on from him, and it's hard to work out why. I guess when it was good it was pretty good - fun, relaxed, he is very sexy, etc. What concerns me is that I hung around knowing that he was (potentially) bad news and waited for him to fulfil that potential, which he did in spades. And having been shat upon from a great height, all I wanted to do was stick around and help him. What's that all about? As the time's moved on since I've been having good days and bad days. Intellectually I realise that it's not up to me to help him, and that he can only help himself etc.but emotionally I just want to sit him down and tell him so many things. Maybe it's just unanswered questions that I have about the time we spent together. I dunno. I will move on, given time, but it's so hard. I think I miss the possibilities more than Michael himself. It was all there - the almost perfect partner on paper... maybe it's not that difficult to see why I'm ruing so much. I just want him to do the same - but as he didn't really think about anyone but himself during those 10 weeks it's unlikely he'll start and do that now. Maybe one day he'll realise what might have been... though by then I'll be so far moved on and hopefully happy.

In other news... the second thing. I'm also slightly concerned that I'm trying to define myself in part through other people. Difficult one this one. I know I've done it before to a certain extent - met someone, lost myself in that person - or more truthfully lost myself in trying to be what I think that person wants me to be. Rather than be myself and letting the other person work with that, I try and second guess what/who they want me to be and then try and be that. Dangerous. I've done it to a lesser extent with friends over the years too, but I guess that's because I don't always have a great sense of self. It may come as a surprise to those people who see me out and about as it probably appears different to that, but appearances can so often be deceptive. I need to define who I am through my own actions - doing what I want to do because that's who I am, not doing stuff to please others, to appear different. I was brought up in an environment where no-one did stuff. No real passions. In fact my life was devoid of passion in pretty much any form or shape. Brief flirtations with it ended up in the throes of boredom, as my attention span as a very bright child meant nothing could keep me amused for long. Today's 'this is the best thing ever!' led to tomorrow's 'I don't want to do that anymore...'. The challenge had gone. The Pet Shop Boys have a song called 'Too Many People' which pretty much sums up how I feel sometimes. In essence it's about trying to be all things to all people rather than just being yourself. Maybe it's an insecurity thing - what if I am myself and people don't like it? Sometimes I'm feeling strong enough to say 'screw 'em', other times I'm a small child wondering if people will still want to play with me.

God, I'm rambling. This wasn't even what I started writing about! This second bit was meant to be about getting asthma as a child, hospital in Yugoslavia, peaches in jars and coffee with bread in it. I'll save that for after this weekend. Suffices to say I've no real answers yet. Work in progress. Watch this space.

Thursday, September 19, 2002

Thursday luncheon time. I guess I must have lists today, as I'm not listless like yesterday. Came into work a little earlier today, so out of here by 4.45pm - yippee! Gym on the cards then surprising Adrian for his birthday tomorrow with a ticket to Sleaze and a CD. Yay. Gonna gym and then hit R&R's and then we're making our final arrangements for the weekend in Melbourne. I'm actually getting really excited now. Have no real idea of what the Beyond Party will be like in Melbourne, but suffices to say it's away from Sydney (and Michael) and the chance to go wild. Ohboyohboyohboy.

Left work at a reasonable time last night and bought tickets to Sleaze (for me and Adrian, see above), some food, contact lenses and tickets to Black, the men only party during the Gay Games, for me and Scally. It's party-tastic! Had food and vegged a while before starting to watch The Abyss on DVD. Anyone know where I can pick up an Ed Harris lookeelikee? Ended up too tired to finish the movie, so the end is in store for later tonight. It's not like I've not seen it before, but it's one of those movies (like Total Recall, Terminator 1&2, Alien(s) ² ³ whatever) that you can watch again and again and still feel good at the end of it. Well I can. Trashy but hey, I can be intellectual if the need arises too. Alternatively I might just go out for a beer - you never know!
Ouch!

Wednesday, September 18, 2002

Wednesday afternoon just before lunch. Strange mood today. Listless. May go for walk to clear my head. Slight Michael fog. Wish I could get him out of my head more quickly than I am doing. Hey ho. My bedroom roof leaked again last night. Great. Waiting for the real estate guy to call me back. Went to the gym last night and then Rich and Russ had me over for dinner, bless 'em. More gym tonight and no real other plans save gym all week actually. Got a few things to buy and sort ready for the weekend away. Right. That was possibly the dullest entry on record. More later if I feel a little more inspired.

Tuesday, September 17, 2002

It's Tuesday already. How did that happen? Good weekend, though I'm a bit stiff and sore at the moment... to find out why and where (and it's not what you think!) read on...

Friday night was good. Decided not to do the gym as I had the 10K race on Sunday. Instead went home and prepared dinner and left it cooking whilst I went and met Tony for a swift couple of drinks. We were joined briefly by Richard and Pete and eventually Rich came and we hit our place for dinner and the Matrix on DVD. I had every intention of going out for a couple more beers but after some red wine decided against it. Early-ish bed!

Up early Saturday morning and hit Fox Studios via GoGos for coffee. Picked up all my race pack and headed back home. Couldn't decide what to do and so went and bought new trainers which I'd been coveting for a week or so. Ended up having a slobby day - more coffee with Adrian and (his) Michael, Rich and Russ etc. and then was at a loose end come Saturday night. I was hanging to go out, knowing that I couldn't coz of the race. Ended up having pasta and watching Pleasantville on DVD - highly recommended. In bed before 11pm.

Woke around 5.25am and forced some brekky down and headed to North Sydney. Met up with Tony and Pete and before long we were waiting at the start of the 10K Bridge Run from North Sydney to Fox Studios over the Harbour Bridge. Fanastic day - not too warm at 7.30am. I was aiming for a time of between 50 and 55 minutes based on my time for the 14K City to Surf back in August. I was hoping I might break 50 mins. In the end I came in at around 46 minutes (official time still to come!) so very happy about that. Walked home with Pete and then Garry and I did brekky at Una's as I was starving. Pottered about a bit and finally met Tony and Pete for celebatory meal at Tropicana before heading down to the Green Park for the usual Sunday session. Fun night. Got very drunk in the end. We did the Palace and back to the GP and were joined at various time by the usual suspects. Finally bed around 10.30pm having resisted the urge to kick on with Rich and Russ.

Very sore legs yesterday and blistered ankle (though not from the race!). Night off from the gym and instead rang and chatted to Dad and then for ages to Karen. Lovely to speak to sis again.. it's been a while! Less sore today. Going to brave the gym tonight as only 4 more sleeps until Melbourne. Have a feeling there'll be stories to tell come Monday afternoon...

Friday, September 13, 2002

Friday lunchtime at work. Still madly busy, so here's a very quick update.

Wednesday night caught up with Michael for dinner, having worked myself into a lather by 8pm when he didn't call to confirm. I rang him and he'd forgotten! Great. Anyway we did catch up and it was OK, though a little forced. I think I'd benefit from not seeing him for a while and I think that'll happen as he's in Melbourne this weekend and then I am next weekend, so a chance to take stock.

Yesterday work went mad as previously described and so I didn't get home until almost 7pm. It wouldn't have done me any good to get home earlier anyway, having left my keys my jeans pocket on the floor of my bedroom - doh! Forced myself to the gym and then came home and ate and played on the net until bed. Rich is coming over to dinner tonight as Russ has to work until 10pm and that's about the extent of the weekend plans to date. What else was I going to blog the other morning? Ah yes... a couple of throw away things.

When I log into my PC at work, it comes up with the message 'Reading tree information'. I half expect it to come back and say that I'm out of mine.

Electronic music - good for the brain when it's in over-analytical mode. Well it works for me - the more white noise the better. Sometimes. To that end I bought the Bomfunk MC's album In Stereo. It's perfect for letting your ears be assaulted. I was always a fan of Freestyler - I used to groove around the offices at Chrysalis doing very strange dances to it, much to the amusement of Amanda in particular I seem to remember. Anyway, suffices to say it's great - if you break it down it's kind of awful, but at the same time it works. Anyway - it'll be staying on my discman a while...

Thursday, September 12, 2002

Doh. Had lots of things to blog from work today and then the day went and got busy and that was that. Time for bed now - well in a minute. Just catching up with old flatmate Nick in Bangkok - finally! It's nice to chat again, even if it is only online. I'm plotting a long weekend there after my flight concessions kick in mid November :o)

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Wednesday afternoon at work. About to go for a walk up to Mascot - the nearest town from work. It's not ideally placed for much round here to be honest, and I kind of wish I worked in the city so I could catch up with mates for lunch. Never mind.

Slept very badly again last night. Not sure what's going on - maybe just me settling down after all that's been going on. Up for Liz the personal trainer and at the gym by 7am this morning and am a little achy it has to be said! Decided to bin Mascot and so must munching on a tuna sarnie. Beautiful day outside again. Trying to work out ways of doing something that's a good use of time at lunchtime. There's no real gym or stuff. Hmm - any suggestions anyone?

Tuesday, September 10, 2002

OK, so I started this once and then managed to turn my keyboard Chinese or something and ended up deleting everything! Not recommended. In short, as it's late and I need some sleep:

Felt better Friday after dinner at R 'n' R's. To Beresford and then Barracks and then home at 2am. Sleep.
Up 10am Saturday to watch Video Hits and have brekky. Decided to finally take a nice walk down to Broadway to do some shopping as it was warm and sunny and that's about 25 minutes walk. Big mistake. Having time alone suddenly brought all the Michael stuff on again and so I ended up buying nothing and coming back here. Met Adrian and (his) Michael and Rich and Russ for coffee and felt much better. Home, changed, dinner and then watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on DVD bought after coffee in a moment of need. Fantastic. Set me up for the night! To R 'n' R's and then down to the Shift for the Ruby Party. It was very busy and the music quite trance-y and before long all thoughts of Michael were gone as I danced the night away surrounded by lots of sexy men. Actually the crowd was a good mix and we had a good time. Finally, around about 7am it all ended and off we went back to R 'n' R's to shower and change before going to Allan and Ian's. Naturally we'd turned down an orgy invitation by this time. No, really. With a big strapping hairy American couple. (Don't ask me why we said no!)

We arrived at the party around 9am with a bottle of gin and the desire to carry on minkering. Oh, and boy did we. We just listened to music and chatted and recovered. People came and went, Michael phoned which was something, and finally we decided to make a move and hit the Palace and then the Green Park. Rich went home, me and Russ had a beer in each but I was very tired at this point having not slept. And it being 8.30pm! Spoke to Michael for a little while. Home. Finally. Decided to call Michael, but he was falling asleep and I was tired and emotional, so not the best of moves. Asleep by 9.45am.

And awake through the night, mind racing. Got up about 3.30am and played on the net. Finally into work as normal, very tired. Somehow got through Monday not feeling too bad. Home. Forced myself to go to the gym. Home, food, called Michael to apologise for giving him a hard time the night before. The usual stuff really! Net. Bed. 1am. Awake by 4am. Tired today.

Into work and had a review sprung on me. I'm glad I did!! It would appear that Qantas is very happy with me so far. I started on a Level 6 job with the potential to progress up to Level 9 in a rough given timescale of around 18 months - roughly 6 months at each level. However I've been re-graded staight to a Level 8 after 3½ months. Go Davie! Very happy with that and the extra money it'll give me. Spent the rest of the day very happy indeed. Remarkable. Home and to the gym to run (7½K in preparation for Sunday's 10K Fun Run). Back here and then to R 'n' R's for dinner and chats and tea and chocolate. Marvellous. Home. And time for bed.