Thursday, December 30, 2004

It's almost that time again. New Year beckons and there's been nary a posting for three weeks. Well that's the Christmas time of year I guess - though I'd like to say I've been out gallivanting but I haven't. Actually I'm glad I've not been out gallivanting so strike that. I've been spending time with Craig mainly and fitting in work, some limited exercise, limited socialising, various house shenanigans and that's about it. It's been fantastic. Except for the work and the house stress, obviously.

So it's 2005 in about 36 hours. I'm currently in work, but have the day off tomorrow to fly to Byron Bay as we organised to be up there last year having had such a good time. However, many things have changed and to be honest I'd rather not be travelling up there. Half the people that were meant to be going have dropped out and Craig's staying in Sydney. If it wasn't for Stevie P, who changed his plans to be up in Byron at the same time, I'd gladly stay in Sydney and lock myself and Craig away until it was all over :o) But I digress...

So. Work is still busy and ultimately unsatisfying. Once things with various houses progress, it's time to do some serious re-evaluation. Houses. Well. Still waiting to complete on the UK property. Aussie property is dependent on the UK money so no further progress. Hoping that might start in mid January if we're lucky. Was sharing a rental place with Pete and Bobby, but due to various mis-haps we finally broke the lease and as of Tuesday just gone I'm living with Craig. Wow. Big step but it feels incredibly right. He's such a great bloke and we're having so much fun. Long may it continue...

That kind of brings things up to date. I've been feeling really tired and generally run down and so am hoping that will improve once the New Year hits and I get back into proper eating and a decent exercise routine. So there you go. Happy New Year to one and all. See you back in 2005.

Thursday, December 09, 2004

Hello again everyone! Not sure why it's taken me so long to blog again, but it has. And this is going to have to be short as I'm at work but wanting to leave.

Short and sweet. Things are OK. Not great, but OK. Some bits are great - Craig; the fact we finally got the house plans approved; the weather. Other things are not so great - UK flat - taking forever to complete; apartment here - trying to break the lease; the job - dull; gym - not been going.

Overall though it could be a lot worse. Stevie P is on his way here for a visit and it'll soon be Christmas. Though of course it doesn't feel like Christmas because it's been too hot!

Recent highlight - weekend away with Craig to Newcastle. Surprisingly nice place - relaxing, funky and beachy. Noice! Watch this space for more...

Friday, November 19, 2004

Yay for weekend's away for the short working weeks that follow them! Last Thursday I left work relatively early and then managed to visit the Young Street house to pick up mail; go to Oxford Street to pick up various stuff for the weekend away and finally into town to get some other things. Home and food, pack, Craig's. Sleep.
Friday was a long but nice day. Up early for our 6am flight to Brisbane. The mate who did the booking for us suprised us with a limo pick up instead of the coach transfer which was great - meaning that we were on South Stradbroke Island in time for a second breakfast! The whole weekend was great. We ate, slept, sunned our buns, cycled a lot (it's the way to travel round the island), worked out and worked in :o) Finally we arrived home tired but happy late on Monday night.
This week has been busy with work and just readjusting to the real world. Caught up with Craig on Wednesday and then tonight it's drinks after gym after work. I'm leaving in about 10mins. Woohoo. Not sure what the weekend holds. Watch this space.

Thursday, November 11, 2004

Very quick update. Overdue again I know but...

Two Fridays ago I had quick drinks with work people then bolted to Craig's for a much better time of things. The weekend was quiet, we did the Sculpture by the Sea exhibition and had a groovy old time. That was preceeded by brekky at Bronte and a catch up with Gary and Peter. Can't remember what the rest of the weekend held, but it probably revolved around Craig's and chilling out. Noice.
Early November is a blur of work, a bit of gym and catching up with Craig whenever possible. Pete and Bobby headed up to Brisbane and I embarked on some sorting and tidying last weekend. Hung out with Craig some more too. The lowlight was being mugged. Nothing serious in terms of physical injury of anything, just loss of cash, cards and phone. Hey ho. The police were great though.
This week's been work, gym, sorting through paper work and getting ready for a long weekend up at Stradbroke Island off the coast of Brisbane. Mine and Craig's first trip away!! Am excited. More next week when I'm back... hopefully tanned and rested.

Thursday, October 28, 2004

A Thursday post I hear you cry? Unusual I know, but then I thought to myself 'Why not?'

Last Friday was indeed Steamboy, with a snatched dinner first. Steamboy was fun, although a bit of a head trip with Japanese animation of Victorian Manchester and London. Go figure. Home to bed as me and Craig were both a bit knackered from the week. Brekky at Craig's Saturday morning then Craig dropped me off in Newtown as he went off to look at potential new houses. I stumbled across Pete and Johnno for the first time in ages, which was good. Thence to Oxford St to have brunch with Shane. I ended up buying myself a couple of t-shirts too, and a cuddly doggy for Craig :o) Woof! Back home and tea with Dave at the apartment in the sunshine.
Finally over to Craig's before out for beers and dinner in Newtown with Corinne et al again. Noice. Ended up at Kuleto's to meet up with Sally and Gus, who I used to work with at Borders many moons ago. Great to catch up with them. Home to bed by around 1.30am.
Sunday was a bit of a sleep in followed by another run around Canada Bay before brekky in Glebe. The weather was a touch inclement and so in the end we went back to Craig's and dozed whilst Craig managed to rustle up a fantastic roast complete with veggies for dinner. Yum. We were then treated to a spectacular storm and so plans to venture far were scuppered. We settled on beer and pool at one of Craig's locals, which was a lot of fun (and surprisingly good music!). From there as the rain stopped we had beers with Bobby at the Newtown. Home. Bed.
Onto the working week. Dull, duller, Dulles, dullest. (Note clever airline pun - except that I don't look after Washington. Oh well.) Actually work's been OK, though it's not really going to set the world alight. Monday night was a tidying night at Potts Point. Tuesday night was a headache and so tea, toast and early bed. Last night I was dreaming... I was locked in a prison cell. No, sorry. Last night was home and a quick beer with Bobby at the Bourbon. Craig joined us and then we ate at Tropicana (drinks were about $2 each, which were more expensive than I'd been led to believe by George Michael). Home, tea, bed. Noice.
Not sure what the plans are for tonight and the weekend, but it won't be much. Low key weekends at home are the new going out!

Friday, October 22, 2004

Not a great deal to report on the doing stuff front. Finished last week off work having done nothing at all - was hoping to get stuff done, but the infection really took it out of me. Friday was quiet drinks with Craig and friends and dinner. We didn't kick on as I was a bit tired. Saturday was something. Can't actually remember what? Oh I know. Met Bobby for coffee in Newtown and Aaron joined us by chance. Met Paul and Gary for lunch which was great. Then over to Potts for a bit. Met up again with Craig later and we opted for a night in with a DVD and snuggled. The DVD was good, but a bit full on - chronicals of a man with a terminal disease. Noice. Sunday was a run round Canada Bay followed by breakfast in Balmain. I can't remember what else we did! Lunch inNewtown at Taste, but what else we did after that is anyone's guess. Maybe pool and a beer at the Zanzibar? Sounds about right. This week's been work and more work. Craig stayed at mine Monday night; I stayed there Tuesday as my room sprang a leak in the heavy rain we've had; Wednesday I had beers with Pete and then last night I met Craig at the Newtown and we had beers and dinner, bumping briefly into Aaron.
Tonight is Steamboy - most expensive anime movie ever and dinner. Looking forward to more relaxing times...

Thursday, October 14, 2004

OK, OK. Long time overdue. Again. I know. However I was chastised by MSN messenger today so I have to put fingers to keyboard and get some stuff down for posterity.
I left you aeons ago. Staying at Tamarama seems almost like it was in a past life! I digress. Craig and I had a great weekend I seem to remember. Can't remember the whole thing, but it involved DVDs, breakfasts and lots of snuggling. Yay.
The following week I've no idea. I'm currently at home so can't even check the work diary to help. Let's assume whatever I did was fantastic then. The next weekend was Sleaze. Again Craig came over to Tamarama on the Friday night, and then we did our own stuff pre- party. It was the first party that Craig and I had been to together so we decided we'd do our own thing and not arrange to meet any friends at any time anywhere! Strange, but the right decision as we knew we'd bump into people all over the place anyway. And so it came to pass...
The party was OK, but the music was lacklustre. By 5.30am we'd grown tired of chasing anything remotely danceable and walked back into town. A beer at the Oxford followed by Manacle when it opened. Better music and more fun. Stayed there til noon then retired for sleep and snuggles. Finally awaking at 11.30pm we grabbed food and had a couple of drinks at the Colombian before piking from another Sunday night party. We actually had more fun snuggling and felt great as we hit the beach on Monday morning. Yay for us! The following week I'm sure was fun too. Work of course, but a short week. We like that. There were various house things in there too, as we had plans turned down. We rejigged, re-drew and re-presented. Fingers crossed again.
So last weekend. Gary and Peter took me to Dragonfly for sushi as a thanks for looking after Tamarama. Great. Thence to the Oxford and home with Craig. Then to Newtown in the morning - brekky and the afternoon in the park. The night held martinis at a local bar and dinner at a local restaurant. Great night. Sunday we got up and ran to the Opera House and back before brekky. Chilled at home, coffee with Dave and then movie, beers and pool. Cool.
This week was work on Monday, then I've fallen foul of an eye infection. Been off work since and been signed off til Monday. Lots of snoozing and DVD watching in a darkened room. Heading to Craig's now to meet him after work.
All is good :o)

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

Well I guess eight days since the last post is an improvement on the time before that… (except now it's actually Friday as I saved this as a draft and didn't post it - doh!!)
Last week did indeed go quickly, though I must admit to feeling bewildered by the move over to my new routes. It’s so weird to feel so impotent (insert appropriate joke here). Hopefully I’ll get up to speed soon, but the person I’ve taken over from didn’t really get a proper handover when she took over and so the whole thing is limping along quite badly. Obviously when I say limp… and we’re back to impotency again. Yikes. I got into work every day last week before 8am and went to the gym on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Good for me! And finally my short week was over. Friday I got up and got organised and headed over to Aaron’s. We hit the airport around 9am ready for our Melbourne adventure. Soon we had joined Rich and Russ and were having fabulous italian lunch sat in the sunshine with bottles of wine. How much more civilised is that than work? We then pottered about and before long we were drinking in the Laird. The gang all finally arrived and I for one was a little tipsy. Tired and drunk I called it a day before midnight and went home to sleep. Good to see all the gang again – particularly the Brisbane boys. Saturday we were actually all up and about reasonably early and so yesterday’s gang of four plus Tim and Ross did brekky.
From there we all went our separate ways ostensibly to shop – I hit the markets but couldn’t find a single pair of black boots I liked. About 3 hours and several locations later I finally got a pair of Doc Martens and met Aaron for some t-shirt browsing. Finally it was back to the ranch and I did the whole shave, shower, wet shave my head thing – well why not? Various people arrived at our rooms for pre-party beers and soon we were on our merry way. And to the party! We got to the party not too long after kick off and suddenly we were in full swing. The party crowd was fun – sexy, friendly, peppered with familiar faces and new, appealing ones! The music however, left a lot to be desired. It was as though someone had prepared the Trance-master 3000 and left it churning out ethereal dance tunes by rote. Oh well. The smaller room didn’t really get going music wise either, which was a real shame. Come 5am Aaron and I had had enough and so we adjourned back to our place for vodka, some real music and a bit of a chill out before showering and changing and heading down to recovery – for which we had high hopes. And boy were those hopes realised! The recovery had those vital elements the party lacked – still ostensibly the same crowd, but with much, much funkier music. The venue was great too – small funky bar with dance area and cool loungey bits. So much fun was the recovery, that come midday we really didn’t want to stop. Fortunately for us, we didn’t have to…
Chance would be that some of our extended group know the organisers of the Beyond parties, and this was the 4th anniversary one. Consequently they were having a post-recovery recovery at a funky apartment in Melbourne industrial-ville by invitation only. You guessed it – we got invites! Thanks need to go out to Tim and Andrew the organisers; the lovely Wayne for putting a good word in for us and for Susan the hostess for being so gracious with her hospitality. Aaron and me had met Susan at one of Wayne’s chill outs previously, and it was great to see her again. And verily we partied on and on… until about 7.30pm when we thought we should at least stop and eat. It proved our downfall – one we stopped there was no winding ourselves back up (which had been the plan) and so to bed we went…
Monday – more brekkies en masse. We had every intention of hitting the supposedly great Impressionists exhibition, but we were out-queued for the third day running. Oh well. Eventually it was time to head home to Sydney. So nice to get out of town for a bit though, and catching up with the gang was fantastic. Melbourne well and truly painted red!
The good times weren’t over however – I had managed to get Craig’s holiday dates wrong and so when he called a day early on that Monday morning I’d been most pleasantly surprised. Thus straight off the (delayed – grrr!) flight home, and then over to see Craig. Great to see him again – all bronzed and gorgeous after his hols. We did some much needed catching up…
Tuesday and back to reality. Work was really, really dull. I so didn’t want to be there – in fact all I felt like doing was curling up with Craig and shutting the world outside. Fortunately he was up for that so Tuesday night was more snuggles, this time at my place. Bliss.
Wednesday – work and then home. Food and telly. Bed.
Yesterday was a weird one – I got trained up to essentially be a replacement steward in the event of industrial action. Get me! So, after my 12 hour day I can now in theory prepare and serve chicken or beef (with a hot towel) in any cabin of a 747. Cool! And all I wanted to do after that was snuggle with Craig again. Lovely man that he is was happy to invite me over, and even made me dinner. How gorgeous is he exactly?
And so to now. Friday 4.15pm. About to leave work and head out to Peter and Gary’s in Tamarama. Craig is going to meet me there hopefully in time to watch the sun set. Then it’s a weekend by the seaside for us. Fantastic. At this point next week is a dim blur and not worthy of contemplation. Too many lovely things happening between now and then… :o)

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

Well so much for the promise to improve. I have been doing other stuff honest! Actually quite a bit has been going down (as it were…)
Two weeks and a day ago I left you. Still in August no less. Crikey. The start of that week was pretty non-descript… work, podiatrist on the Tuesday, tried to do the gym on the Wednesday but Peter the trainer was so late we cancelled and I just did a run. That evening though was great. I headed over to Newtown and met Craig for a beer before we had dinner and home to his for a last night of snuggling before he headed off on holiday on the Friday. I’ve no idea what else I did that week. Think I was meant to catch up with Aaron, but didn’t. Probably lurked around Potts Point in the new surroundings. Got a nice message from Craig before he headed off on Friday and managed to speak to him. Not looking forward to not seeing him for 17 nights. And counting. :o(
Tried to keep myself busy that weekend. Managed to hook the PC up to the new ADSL connection in spite of the company’s help desk being a no-help desk. They won’t thwart me with their ‘we don’t support your modem’ shenanigans! So I’m back on-line at high speed all the time. Yay for music downloading! It really gives me no excuse for not updating Minkered…
Pete and Bobby had got up early to go to day Manacle, and so that afternoon they were up for continuing. We went for drinks to Jason’s in Bondi and had a couple of beers there. Thence to Bobby’s friend Martin’s party to continue. Fun. Then to the Newtown to finish things off. I piked around 11pm and took myself sensibly home to bed. Only to have to let Bobby in at 4am…
Sunday was Bobby’s birthday, but he had to work. Pete and I did brekky at Truck and then kept ourselves amused somehow – can’t remember how! Eventually it was time to head out for birthday beers – and we got to the Colombian at around 9.30pm – just in time to meet the gang. And verily we hit Arq. And there we stayed. Til after my self-imposed curfew. I did head home with Bobby so I could go to work… but then decided to head back out again. Naughty. Day Manacle was great though – Rado played a good set and we had fun. Colombian for more beer. Green Park for more beer and pool. Food. Home. Bed at 6.30pm. Sleep.
Tuesday was the worst day… Wednesday we made lo-o-o-ove. Sorry. Thought I was George Michael for a second there! Actually the whole week was a bit of a busy blur. In work early every day, ready for the move to International. Wednesday I did the gym, where Peter did a ‘fifties’ session with me. That’s where you do fifty reps of each exercise. Ouch! The rest of the time was resting, reading, internet-ing. Oh, and I hit Peter and Gary’s again on Thursday for food handover and the confirmation of looking after George, their Staffordshire terrier for that coming weekend.
Friday was very, very busy. Early into work. Did the handover to Bev and relaxed. Ended up managing to leave around 4.30pm. Woohoo! No more Domestic flights for me! Headed out to Bondi Junction and picked up George from Peter’s vet’s practice. To their place in Tamarama where I planted myself for a weekend of dog sitting. By the beach admittedly, so hardly too much of a trial – except that George is very high maintenance. Think 4 year old boy who has the ability to take your arm off if you rub him up the wrong way…
However, Friday night passed uneventfully with takeaway chicken and chips; League of Gentlemen Series 2 on DVD and a relatively early night. George managed to sleep on the bed and banished me to a tiny quarter so I didn't sleep particularly well! Saturday was brekky; taking George for a play in the park and then off to do some chores. Ended up back at Tamarama later and did not much else again. Pasta for dinner ready for my 10K race and more League of Gentlemen (the rest of Series 2 and the Christmas special). Early bed again and I managed to get George to only take up half the bed. Woohoo!
Up at 5.30am. Brekky and headed off to North Sydney via Potts Point to drop the car off. Come 7.30am and we were off - running in one of the most scenic runs around for the third year running. Wasn't sure what to expect time wise as I've not been training, but ended up with a respectable 49mins - about a minute slower than last year. Happy with that! Back to have brekky at Tamarama and then eventually Pete and Bobby came over for tea. They left and I hit Bronte to catch up with Rich, Russ and Aaron. First time I've seen R'n'R in about a month! I then took George off to one of Peter's veterinary nurses and my dog-sitting weekend was over. Back to Potts Point for dinner and sort out and an early night. Yay!!
This week - started in International. Weird. I've got all the systems knowledge I need to do the job, but no market knowledge. Consider the next few months as I immerse myself if all things India; Qantas flights from Australia to Singapore and Australian Airlines flights from Darwin and Cairns to and from Singapore. Phew! I'm exhausted just contemplating it. Not really doing much else. Gym last night which was good, and I'm going to go again today. Got an unexpected message from Craig on Monday night which made me feel all warm and fuzzy. Assuming he was at Darwin airport en route to his beach in Thailand. Can't wait to see him in 6 days.
It's a short week this and next for me as I take a long weekend and head to Melbourne. We're partying on Saturday but to be honest I'm not that interested. Looking forward to catching up with a lot of people I've not seen for ages - Adrian and Shane and Graham and David are flying down from Brisbane, and I'll hopefully also see Mark S and Steve A. I'm determined to see more of Melbourne than the inside of bars and clubs. Check back next week to see how I managed!!

Monday, August 30, 2004

Long time no post. I will improve, I will I will!
There’s not too much to report actually, and for once I’m going to keep this relatively undetailed. Not the weekend just gone but the one before went pretty much as described. Slept at Potts Point Thursday night; half day Friday complete with foot x-ray (not broken) and moving the rest of the stuff to the new place. Dinner (late!) with Craig and some of his mates. To his for sleep. Noice.
Saturday was brekky for me and cleaning at Pete and Johnno’s. Thence to PP for cleaning and then back to meet Craig before heading back to Pete and Johnno’s for their party. A bit quiet and with a couple of drunk, stupid people which meant it wasn’t the best. Lots of people kicked on. I headed happily back to Craig’s shortly after midnight. Sunday was brekky and then over to Potts Point. Caught up with Pete and then spent some time in the Botanic Gardens as it was lovely. Finally Craig went home and me and Pete did too. Out for beers which suddenly became Arq. So not a good move. Home by 3am – yay for willpower! Back out at 3.15am! Boo for no willpower!! Finally home around 7.30am, shower and back out for work. Vile. Slow week and things with Craig a bit strange. Monday afternoon got my lower braces fitted on my teeth. Coz I’d had no sleep I kept snoozing whilst they were working on my braces – not sure how many people that happens to! Home, sore :o(Tuesday: work, home, nothing. Wednesday: work, gym, nothing. Thursday: work, Hellboy – which I really enjoyed. Yay! Friday: work, out with workmates. Surprisingly distracting. Saturday: up and over to Tamarama to find out how Pete and Gary’s place works as I’m house-sitting there for 4 weeks from mid-Sep. Went round Toni Collete’s house, as it’s up for sale. Nice! Back towards home and coffee with Dave in Potts Point before heading over Newtown way, though Craig came and got me from Central. Went with him to his work and then back to his. Chats. All sorted out. We had a great rest of the afternoon; fun drinks and dinner with Patrick and then home. Snuggles. More snuggles yesterday morning. Craig made brekky in bed and we just snuggled and read and it was fantastic. Lovely and comfortable. Finally up to King Street for coffee and a mooch. Back to his for more snuggles and reading etc. I headed back to PP around 5.30pm. Chats with Pete and Bobby. Pete had found homes for the remaining homeless stuff in the flat so it looks great. They went out for dinner. I had risotto and Buffy and a brief chat to Craig before bed. Noice.
This week: work. I’ve got two weeks to sort stuff out before I move to international – need to get my finger out! Hence doing this at the end of the day instead of real work :o)

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Lo and verily, forsooth etc. Thursday afternoon and I’m not really ready to start anything new at work so I thought I’d post on here and get things up to date.
Friday last. Indeed to the new apartment where I helped Pete and Bobby unload their stuff and then whilst Pete took the ute back Bobby and me had a couple of celebratory beers. The apartment is great – similar to Brumby Street, but with a much funkier balcony thing happening. I then left and headed over to Craig’s, where we just talked and snuggled. Well not just that…
Saturday morning, and the long leisurely lie-in that we’d promised ourselves. Fan-tastic. Then Craig suggested a run – and so we did. 8K around Canada Bay with Patrick – and best of all my legs didn’t hurt one bit! Yay! Thence to brekky and then I left Craig to his own devices (he probably would). Can’t remember what else I did Saturday afternoon! It must have been rivetting though… I’ve a vague recollection of being on a train and speaking to Steve and Rich on the phone, but otherwise… nah. Dunno. Later… I met up with Gary and Peter in the Newtown. Aaron bailed out, but various other people joined us -–mainly Peter's old drinking pals. The Newtown wasn’t at its sparkling best however, and so we adjourned somewhat stupidly to Manacle at approaching midnight. It wasn’t any better though and so I returned home after one beer and fell into bed.
Sunday was up at a reasonable time, and originally Aaron was going to help me move some stuff to the new place. However he wasn’t feeling too good and in ensuing chats to Craig he volunteered to be my truck driver for the day. So we did that. And then adjourned back to Marrickville for a snuggle. We then decided to have dinner via a quick beer at the Newtown. Good job too, as Aaron was completely and utterly slaughtered. And then got worse. It became apparent that he’d been given a Valium which he’d taken because he was so drunk, not realising that it would knock him for six. And then some. The upshot of all of this was that we walked Aaron home, abandoning dinner, and I actually stayed with Aaron for the whole night, just to make sure he was OK – he seemed that bad! Not the best of nights for anyone.
Monday – home, shower, work. Felt rough as I’d hardly slept. Took a half day and went home and pottered and relaxed before an orthodontist appointment at 5.30pm. To the new place to try and sort my bed out, but realised one of my nuts was missing. Missus. Back to Marrickville to eat and sleep.
Tuesday – in work at 7.30am! Left at 4pm and did orthodontist again (as I’d broken a separator) and then the podiatrist (I’ve got to have my foot x-rayed on Friday). To Potts Point again where we sorted out the telly – my tube has gone funny :o( Pete cooked a lovely meal and then I went home to Marrickville in the pouring rain.
Wednesday – was yesterday. Into work early again and then left to get my nuts sorted. Did that then went to the gym. From there home to get changed and chatted to Aaron on the way. Up to meet Craig – and bless him he’d bought me a fantastic bunch of yellow tulips. It’s been so long since anyone bought me flowers… We had food across the road from the Dendy and then adjourned to Marrickville for the final sleep. We snuggled in bed and just enjoyed each other’s company. Oh, and I phoned Nick – it looks as though him and Nicola are going to buy the UK flat! Yay!! Fingers crossed everyone…
Up this morning and into work around 9am, having snuggled with Craig for as long as possible :o) Work’s been dull and I’m on a half day tomorrow so I’ve got no enthusiasm this week – just want to get the moving out of the way and then I can get myself back into a proper routine. Leaving soon, Marrickville then over to sleep at Potts Point for the first time, after I give my bed a decent screwing. The rest of the stuff will go tomorrow afternoon post x-ray, with Aaron hopefully helping me out, bless him. Then it’s drinks with Craig and some of his mates and then crash out I guess. More weekend snuggles. We like :o)

Friday, August 13, 2004

It’s Friday the 13th. Somehow that seems apt for a blog…
Well, it’s safe to say that there’s been a few things happening. Last Wednesday I did indeed hit the gym, but felt pretty washed out and useless. Peter was late too and didn’t in the end charge me for the 35 minutes or so that we did. Left there and then met up with Craig outside the Dendy. We had a nice dinner over the road in a café with a long italian sounding name (yet weirdly we both had sausages and mash!) and then we decided it was best to have an ice-cream, then a coffee, then go back to his to chill. Noice.
Thursday I really don’t remember as being anything special. Work and then to the Newtown with Aaron – we may have even eaten first (I think we did – sushi). Friday was another day of work and then the good news was that I got a new job! Still at Qantas, and still doing the same thing, but a transfer across to International. I think I’m going to be looking after all flights to India and some Singapore terminators (no, not Arnie!). It’s good in that I’ve kind of plateaued within Domestic so it’s a chance to use my brain again. Mind you, it does mean I’ll have to work… I celebrated the only way possible. I stayed in with a nice dinner and went to bed early.
Saturday I slept on after Bobby texted to say he’d arrived back in the country. Without Pete, who was stuck in Dubai. D’oh! I finally rang Bobs just as him and Mark were going to Day Manacle. No way I was going to do beer at 9.30am on Saturday! I pottered until I met them finally at 1pm when, in a shock move, we did indeed have beer. Newtown then Colombian. Then home. In the end I didn’t do much else except eat and watch trashy telly as I was slightly merry. In bed early-ish.
Sunday started with brekky with Rich and Aaron up at the Chocolate Dog. Pete was home so we chatted but didn’t manage to catch up. After brekky we pottered around Newtown then I hit the Metro with Aaron as Rich went home. Eventually to Craig’s around 4pm. We went for a walk in Glebe Park to watch the sun go down and then had a lovely dinner at the Badde Manners Café (sweet potato fritters… yum!). Thence to the movies to see Connie and Carla, which was surprisingly fun and a good old fashioned romp. Home to snuggle. Noice. Sunday would have been the City to Surf 14K race had I been fit, but I wasn’t. I mused on that a while. For about a nanosecond!
This week has passed relatively quickly and uneventfully. Monday worked and then met up with Pete and Bobby and Mark for beers. Good to have everyone back again! Tuesday worked and then after dinner I read and finished The Men from the Boys – a book that Craig lent me. It was good – I enjoyed the story (which was described as Tales of the City set in Boston) and could identify with a lot of the main characters problems and issues. Worth a read.
Wednesday worked and then hit the gym – the good news being that I managed a 4K run with only minor shin pain. Hopefully this means I’m going to be able to run again. I’ll take things slowly though… I was meant to catch up with Craig but he was lying low with a migraine and so I slobbed at home instead. Yesterday was work and then Pete called to say we’d got a new apartment to live in at Potts Point! All so very sudden… It’s good though as it means I’m not living out of a suitcase for 6 weeks or so. I’ll move in next weekend – Pete and Bobs moved in today. Woohoo! Last night I joined Craig and Patrick at the Newtown and we in turn were joined by Aaron and another Craig. Dinner, back to the Newtown for one last beer then home to a nice long chat and sleep.
Today is work. I’m really bored this afternoon but can’t bring myself to start anything new. I’m going to head to the new apartment after work then possibly meet up with Craig again so we can have a long leisurely lie-in tomorrow morning – with no pressure to get out of bed for work. We’ll see. Yay for weekends!

Wednesday, August 04, 2004

So that’s another 10 days between posts. I spent do much time between posts I should think about becoming a goalie. Seamen anyone?
I digress. The weekend in the mountains was lovely. Mostly. :o) Actually it was great. We arrived down on Friday night after a bit of an adventure getting there (ie we couldn’t find the right road out of Sydney and ended up going round in circles a while…). Once there, after a detour for Thai at Katoombah, we got to the house. Rod and Tony were already there, with the fire lit, so all was well. It was even better after copious amounts of red wine and lots of talking and solving the world’s problems. Weirdly of the six of us there we had this birthday/couple thing going on – there was Rod and Tony (couple; consecutive birthdays 9 and 10 April), Rich and Russ (couple (sometimes); consecutive birthdays 15 and 16 May) and then me and Aaron (couple (formerly); consecutive birthdays 1 and 2 April). Bizarre or what?
The house was perfect for staging a sit com or other comedic event. The main lounge room had three doors off (all of which interconnected) and a serving hatch. We soon made the rule that you weren’t allowed to come back into the room through the door you’d left through. Well we had to make our own entertainment – it’s the countryside!
Saturday we upped and showered and picked up Dave from the train station. From there to fantastic brekky and look round the shops in Blackheath. It wasn’t quite as cold as we’d thought but still quite cold for Australia. We finally headed back to the house with more drink and sat around a bit. Then the braver of us decided on a walk, seeing as the countryside was beckoning. Later R&R did a food run and Tony and Rod cooked risotto and then we had Christmas pudding! Noice. Well they do a Christmas in July thing in the mountains and that was our nod to that. More drinks, chats, heated debates (me and Aaron in the kitchen!) and finally bed. Sunday was much the same. Up and cleaned the house, brekky in Blackheath again, went and saw the Three Sisters and then slowly made our way back to civilisation.
Things went a bit strange after that! Later… I called Craig to wish him happy birthday and he happened to be in the pub with his friend Patrick just near where I was eating dinner. We caught up and had a great time. The upshot of this was that we all ended up hitting the Shift to meet Steve and Aaron and a rare old time was head. It was very, very drunken though. Craig and Patrick left and it seemed only logical at that point to carry on partying so up to Arq it was. Oh dear. I just shouldn’t have. Suddenly I was home and showering and heading straight to work. Not a good move. Most of the week was slobby as a consequence. Just work and not much else. Craig was being elusive and I was wondering if I’d somehow done something wrong. I was also full of cold from the mountains and not up for much of anything. I did the Newtown briefly on Thursday but it was vile. I took Friday off work to attend to various appointments – the biggest of which was finally getting the house plans into council. Fingers crossed for both that and for selling the UK place (anyone want a lovely warehouse apartment in Peckham?)
Friday night is a bit of a blur – oh I know, me and Aaron went to see I, Robot – which I thoroughly enjoyed. Beers in the Newtown were short and dull.
Saturday I pottered a bit and did laundry and that kind of stuff. Later I met Craig and over a couple of drinks sorted out the little niggly things from the last weekend and all was well. Which is good, as he’s lovely. Sunday we got up quite early and Craig drove us to Bronte for brekky, followed by the walk to Bondi and back. Back to his for a bit (ahem) and then wandered round Newtown till late afternoon. I headed home and then to the Shift via Rich and Russ’s briefly. Everyone had been at Toybox and there was a push for the recovery at the Shift upstairs. I had no interest and after a couple of beers downstairs went home. Wasn’t in the mood after the lovely day I’d had with Craig.
Monday was a funny public holiday for banks and Qantas employees. No, really. I slept very late (11 hours altogether) and then headed out for brunch. Met up with Gary K for coffee later in the afternoon and then finally home. I Buffy-ed as it was all I could face. Yesterday was work and then the podiatrists. We will get my feet working! Thence I had sushi in Newtown and headed to Broadway to watch Spiderman 2. However I got my session times wrong and missed him by 20 mins. That meant I went to see Stepford Wives instead. My advice? Avoid. Or read the book. Or get the original movie out instead. Bland and pointless. Home. In bed by 9.45pm. What’s that about? Today was work and that’s it. Meeting up with Craig again tonight after the gym – my first time back in the best part of two weeks. Oh the pain. Tomorrow. I’ll have I mean. Til then…

Friday, July 23, 2004

Only Tuesday and time for another post. What's that about?? Surely some mistake...
 
I left you Thursday night as I was heading off to pick up post from the house. That I indeed did, but I don't remember doing much else in terms of beer at the Newtown, as alluded to as a possibility. Think I was a good boy... as I had an 8am with the chiropractor on the Friday morning. One final click and whirr and I'm as good as new. Apparently. Friday was just normal work and stayed late-ish as I was in late. Friday night was another staying in night - what's going on? I did stay in however, after phone calls to the UK to check on Dad - seemingly OK for the moment, more tests to come. Later I got into a very interesting exchange with the lovely Craig - mentioned in dispatches from Sunday last - culminating in me being further intrigued by him and looking forward to catching up. Flirting is good. Discuss.

OK, Friday and I didn't post this Tuesday, so I will now. Now, where was I? Ah yes, flirting...

Saturday I slept late-ish til gone 10am. Up for brekky and Video Hits and some general stuff and then decided to head up to Newtown. On the spur of the moment what the hell I texted Craig and asked if he wanted to catch up for coffee. In the ensuing radio silence I managed to walk up to Newtown, walk up and down the high street, got bored and walked down to Broadway hoping there'd be a 3.30pm Harry Potter. There was! Woohoo. Of course literally seconds after I'd booked my ticket Craig returned my message to say yes, in 20 minutes at a coffee shop back on King Street. Doh and double doh! Bloody typical. So I declined and Harry-d, which was great fun. Walked back and left a further message for Craig...
Home and dinner with Pete, Paul and M.. Johnno. They were staying in having a DVD night, but I had other ideas. As everyone was away I decided to head to the pub, possibly to meet some new people, but just to be slightly anonymous - something that's hard to do in Sydney. As it turned out I ended up arranging to meet Adam and Joe - two guys I'd talked to a couple of weeks back. So, the beers flowed and soon we were down the Imperial - how did that happen? Then I noticed Patrick was there - I met Patrick last week with Craig. And lo and behold there was Craig. There was talking and drinking. There was snogging and drinking. There was drinking. For some reason we decided shots of shorts would be fun - and so a schnapps, black sambuca and Bailey's later I was in a cab with Craig heading to his place.
Sunday morning hit with a hangover. A bad one. Panadol didn't help and eventually when we dragged ourselves out of bed for brekky it still wasn't pleasant. Breakfast was though. I finally got home at 3pm having had a luverly time. Vegged for the rest of the afternoon and night - Pete had made soup and I watched Underworld on DVD. Perfect.
Monday I finally felt almost normal again. Work was work and the gym was the gym. Managed a 20 minute run and even though the legs hurt a bit it wasn't as bad as before.
Tuesday was work and then meeting Craig at the movies for Shrek 2. Good film - lots of fun. Had another nice time with Craig - we did coffee after and then went our respective ways. So that was like a proper date then.
Wednesday was more work and then the gym. Good work out with the trainer and then I got halfway home before realising I'd left my house keys in my gym locker door. Grrr. Hate that. Finally home and straight out again for dinner with Aaron. Thai. Nice. Couple of beers in the Newtown and home.
Yesterday was work and then to the gym for a longer test run. My legs failed :o( I managed about 12 minutes before the pain in my shins became fairly acute. I struggled on to see if I could run through it, but then came to the conclusion that I never used to have pain like that and so something wasn't right. Still. Grrr again. Anyway. Home, quick shave and out. Met Craig for food and then to the Newtown for a couple of beers. Aaron was there with Fred and we endured the Newtown's talent quest until about 9.30pm before calling it a night. Well before calling it a night at Craig's. :o)
The alarm wasn't so welcome at 6.20am this morning however. Nor was the strange dream about my mum. Not alarming per se, just a bit odd. Hey ho. Nothing new there for me though really. But interrupted sleep probably keeps one in that no man's land between awake and deep sleep. More chance for weirdy dreams then. Into work and here we are. Leaving work at 4.45pm and heading home to pack. It's the weekend in the mountains! Yay!! It'll be cold and we're staying in a nice house with a log fire. Lots of red wine and nice food. Me, Rich, Russ, Aaron, Rod, Tony and Dave joining us tomorrow. Can't wait. Nice to be away from Sydney. Only downside is missing Craig's birthday on Sunday, but I guess I can give him something late... :o)

Thursday, July 15, 2004

OK. It's the middle of winter and I've just been outside to get a coffee (the day is dragging somewhat and I needed a break from computer to benefit fingers and eyes). 3pm and around 16/17C. Sunny and warm. With a quality of light you just don't get in the UK. OK, the wind has a slight chill, but today would pass for a 'lovely day' for about three-quarters of the year back in the UK. I knew I moved here for a reason... :o)
Thursday afternoon again. Obviously posting time. Last Thursday was indeed quiet. Home, food, telly, internet, reading in bed. I was a bit sore from the chiropractic adjustment, but at least it felt like something was happening! Friday was work and ended up staying a bit later than planned. Met Marc at the Newtown at 8pm and we managed to get ourselves a table for dinner at the Peasant’s Feast – a nice restaurant that I’d been to twice and Marc wanted to try. Nice food, nice wine, nice company. On leaving we walked back and had that ‘what happens next’ moment. Marc was keen for us to go our separate ways and do it again soon. I was OK with that. So we did the goodnight kiss thing and…
Leaving his place at 7.30am the next morning was good in some ways and bad in others! I could have done without the gym at 9am, but you get that. Gym was in fact great, and I was ready for my brekky at the Chocolate Dog apr̬s. The afternoon turned into a whirlwind of laundry Рlong overdue. Later I joined Bobby and Martin at the Newtown for a swift trio of beers and then we talked ourselves out of kicking on and I retired gracefully chez moi.
Sunday was a weird old day. Starting disappointingly with Rich cancelling brekky I decided to go anyway and made sure Aaron was still attending. More Chocolate Dog-ness. Rich did eventually turn up, having been out late the night before/no sleep/shenanigans. I wandered round Newtown in readiness for the next meal appointment – lunch with Paul and Gary, with Pete and Johnno in attendance. It was great, once P+J finally arrived. The talk did centre a bit too much upon going out to dance parties, but as that’s how we know Paul and Gary it’s not that surprising. Plus I’m meant to be putting them in touch with some UK friends so they know where to go out and about for their upcoming trip to London. From there to Wayne’s 50th birthday drinks with Aaron. Which was great fun, for the most part. Rado was DJ-ing and there was beer. However, after all the morning’s talk from people saying they were over going out, never again etc. the talk turned again to who was going to go out further and go clubbing and get trashy and…
And so I left. Fairly abruptly, which isn’t really me at all. But for that one day I’d had enough talk of that and craved a normal conversation. Heading home the cab drove past the Newtown and it was busy, so I diverted in there for a beer. And I’m glad I did. Got talking to the lovely Craig – the other guy I met the same night I met Marc for the first time. Craig was there with a mate of his and we had more beer and some normal, fun conversation. Woohoo! And a bit of flirting too, which is always nice…
Headed home a little tipsy around 9pm, and was in bed by 10pm. Nice end to a slightly frustrating day.
Monday was work and then home via the architect’s. We’re almost ready to submit to council. Finally. Watch this space. Oh, and Bobby went to the UK – which is good and bad. Good in that I get to quieten down as he’s been, of late, my main parther in crime. Bad because of late he’s been my partner in crime and so I’ve no one to play with. That’s not entirely true, but early August seems a long way off! Still, that will bring both him and Pete back which will be great. Tuesday was work and then chiropractor where I was re-straightened and told I could run again! Woohoo! Have one more appointment in the morning so will run after a workout on Saturday for the first time in almost 4 weeks. I think my fast time in the City to Surf is a goner, but hopefully I’ll be back running pain free. Actually after the chiro I met Gary at the Colombian for a beer. We had a fun chat, pizza and I got a cab at 9pm-ish. Interestingly I was complaining that my life was too going out focussed, whilst Gary was rueing that he doesn’t get out enough. Grass, greener anyone?
Yesterday was work and then gym. I’ve been the boss this week and so it’s actually been quite busy. Supermarket on the way home. Nice food. Calls to Dad and Dave Puls (finally!). Bed with the Wicked Witch… which brings me to today. Work. Going home via the house to pick up post and maybe have a beer at the Newtown later? Maybe not. Tomorrow chiropractor first thing then work. Got to phone Dad to find out his recent scan results – fingers crossed all is OK, and hopefully get chance to speak to sister Sue too. Rest of the weekend? Nothing. Bliss. Gym and run Saturday morning, nothing else planned. Not a thing. Not one. Yay!
Oh, and one last thing. Pete and Johnno have sold the house so I’m going to be moving. Gary and Peter have offered me their place in Tamarama to house-sit early Sep to early Oct, by which time I’ll get a house-share with Pete and Bobby. We’re meant to move out last weekend in August. Currently that leaves me homeless for 10 days. Any suggestions??

Thursday, July 08, 2004

Quickly as I'm way overdue on the posting front...

Melbourne was fantastic! I did indeed post 9 days ago as it was my anniversary, but I didn't fill you in on the weekends shenanigans. From here to the airport Friday; caught up with Russ; hit the Qantas Club; vodka; flight; kind lift from Ben (someone we met at New Year); The Laird. Drinking and catching up with mates ensued. Lovely to see Steve and Alan again. Stumbled to the pub/hotel to sleep around 4am. Ugh.
Saturday was brekky with some of the bears; trip to St Kilda for a walk by the ocean and coffee. Stumbled into a bar and stumbled upon Jason Smith and a gaggle of travel agents. Beers. Home. Snooze. Laird. Beers. Catching up with more old and new friends. The Peel. Dancing. Snogging. Etc. I disappeared for a wee while to walk someone to their motorbike... no, really. 7am back to the hotel for vodka with Bobby. Then Alan. Then coffee with Alan. Then suddenly we were back at the Beer Bust at the Peel. Beer. More beer. Dancing. More beer. Suddenly it was 3.15am. Slept for 55 minutes before getting a cab with Rich and Russ back to the airport. Won't be doing that red-eye-nightmare-straight-into-work flight again. Oh no. Work was awful! I almost fell asleep at my desk in the afternoon...
Got home that night, ate and slept I think. Not much else. Tuesday was more of the same without the falling asleep and with an added sports massage in the evening which was bloody fantastic.
Wednesday and Thursday I was in training which meant a welcome respite from work. Wednesday night I had dinner with Bobby I think and then Thursday... who can say? Dunno. Or more likely gym Wednesday and dinner with Bobby Thursday. Some combination - you choose!
Friday work, gym, quietness. Dinner and trashy telly I think. Saturday morning I was at the gym at 9am and by 10.30am I was in town having had brekky and trying to find friends to play with as it was the most beautiful day. However everyone was trashed and so I wasn't really very pleased. Ended up back in Newtown and bought new work trousers. How excitement. Back to the ranch where the boys (plus Bobby) were still a mess so I ended up at the park in my shorts reading my book and listening to music in the sunshine. Gorgeous day in the middle of winter! Ate and then walked up to Newtown with Bobby and made sure he went to bed. I walked into the pub and spent a nice evening with Adam and Joe - two guys who started talking to me as the recognised me from Gaydar... Ended up at the Imperial and home a little drunken at 3am.
Sunday - up for brekky with Bobby and Rich and Russ at the Chocolate Dog (my fave!). It was glorious again and so Bobby and I took the bus to Coogee and walked the walk to Bondi. Coffee on the beach in both places! Then back to Foodgame for a chicken pesto burger. Yum. Home and change and then back to the Shift around 9pm for Bobby's celebration-sponsorship-confirmation drinks. It was meant to be a quiet night. However... it was one of those nights..! Got more than usual attention from sexy men. You get that sometimes. Rarely. But it happens... the upshot being I ended up at Arq against my better judgement. With a 3am curfew. That became 7am. When I left to go to the dentist. No, really. Then I went back to day Manacle instead of work. Naughty, but nice. Fun. Lots of nice people. Lots of nice new people. Yay. By Manacle it was just Aaron and I, with Rado DJ-ing. Then to the Colombian with a couple of new mates in tow. Then the Newtown. And more people joined us and then the Town Hall to try and eat... and...
Finally in bed by 10am! Great fun. Welcome to 4 years in Australia Bobs :o)
Tuesday was work and the podiatrist. The night-time was a long overdue date with tall dutch Marc, whom I first met in April as Pete left for the UK. We'd been trying to catch up for ages and finally that was the night. I had a great time. He seems like a nice bloke and he's cute too. We're doing it again tomorrow night with added dinner. Noice.
More work and gym and then last night to dinner at Bobby's as he's heading back to the UK to get stuff/meet Pete etc. on Monday. Bottle of wine. Jamie joined us. Fun.
Today was work; chiropractor and that's it. First night at home in a while. Long overdue. I intend to slob big time. More news from the front line tomorrow!!

Just realised I started this post with 'just quickly'... actually that was fairly detailed! Home time now... woohoo!

Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Today is an anniversary day for Davie – 3 years today since I landed back upon these shores after my extended stint back in the UK. Lordy. There have been a few changes in that time. I’ve been through four jobs with three companies, five houses, five flatmates and two proper boyfriends. There were a few more improper ones, obviously :o) I’ve run two half marathons, two City to Surf races and two 10K Bridge runs. Been to Melbourne twice, Brisbane, Byron Bay and back to the UK just the once (and believe me that’s going to change in the next three years – I’m determined to have more long weekends away!). I’ve become and Aussie citizen and got an Aussie passport and exercised my new found ability to vote (though fortunately not been called up for active army service yet). I’ve had visits from Stevie P; Karen and Melissa; Sarah; Darryl; Paul, Alan and Dr Darren; Scally, Jonathan and Mark; David and Brett, Paul and Dino, Rob and Adrian and Mark, and most recent of all, Nick. Where are the rest of you? I’ve currently got braces on my teeth and inserts in my shoes to help my feet. The rest of me seems to be holding up OK… I’ve bought half a house here and am trying to sell an apartment there. Best of all though, are the number of fantastic mates I’ve made in that time here. I wasn’t going to single out people, but I guess I have to mention this core group without whom the last three years wouldn’t have been half as much fun – Rich and Russ, Pete, Adrian, Gary, Pete and Johnno, Aaron and Bobby. Thanks guys. Am looking forward to whatever the next three years and more may have in store…

Friday, June 25, 2004

Doh. Another Friday creeps around and I wonder what I’ve been up to. In the words of Japan, I second that emotion. No, er visions of China. Er no. Here comes the quiet life again. Well it beats the rain I suppose. *stops waffling*
Well Friday night was indeed legs at the gym. Thence home. I’ve a feeling I went out, but I can’t quite remember. Actually no, probably not as I was due at the gym Saturday at 10am. Which I did. I kind of piked the run afterwards though, as my legs were aching. Home and food I think, then up to meet Bobby and into Oxford Street to have coffee and a catch up with Wayne the dentist. Went to Foodgame. Noice! Then we hit the Colombian for a swift vodka and cranberry in memory of Pete but it was vile so we headed back to Newtown instead. Think eventually we hit the Newtown again after I’d had a nice dinner with Pete, Johnno and Paul. The Newtown wasn’t up to much though, it has to be said. Tony popped down for a beer and it was nice to see him. Home and to bed not long after midnight.
Sunday. Up not too late. Brekky with Rich and Russ at the Chocolate Dog. Noice. Home and rest a bit before doing a hilly run in the park. Obviously I needed to relax after that and so ended up round at one of the guy’s places from last weekend. Just to be polite, naturally. Finished being polite around 7pm and headed home so I could wish Dad happy Father’s Day. Then went for a quick beer at the Newtown with Bobby which was so hideous we drank our beer and left. Straight outside to a cab to take us to the Shift. Which wasn’t that much better… except for Mad Mark being there. Mark’s a guy that we see out at some of the parties – Indulgence, Bad Dog etc. Sporadically. Sexy, hairy, cute – but completely barking. Or at least out of control on party times. Anyway one thing led to another…
Mark very kindly dropped me home at 7.30am Monday. Ugh. Not much sleep after beer and… well, let’s just say I wasn’t at my brightest. Good job I had a full day of learning to be a back up trainer that day. Monday night was quiet. Tuesday work and then tried to run at the gym. My legs really ached – almost like shin splints. Danger! So I stopped. And went home pissed off. Wednesday was work and gym with Peter and then dinner with Bobby who wasn’t at his best due to a work cock up and his visa. He wasn’t best pleased, but I think by the end of the night he felt a bit better, and me (and Alan on the phone from NZ) convinved him to still do Melbourne (more shortly). Yesterday work and then shopping in town and Oxford St. I bought socks and a CD and some DVDs. Yay. Home via the Happy Chef for fantastic wonton soup. And so here we are again. Friday. Today is slightly different though as I’m flying off to Melbourne for the weekend. There’s a bit of a bear event happening, and it’s a good chance to catch up with a few people too. Beers and social events with what I’m sure will be a selection of sexy men. Can’t wait. Can’t wait to get out of Sydney either… it’s been too long. Roll on the 8pm flight!

Friday, June 18, 2004

And lo, it came to pass. Did Gary’s thing on Wednesday night which was fun. He liked the bag of english sweets – what memories!! I’d forgotten about Frazzles. And I now know where to go if I get a sudden urge for a jar of Piccalilli! The ceremony was long as the were doing over 300 people, but I kept myself amused chatting to Marcus, Phil and Graham. And checking out the other gay men being done. If you know what I mean. Then it was a glass of chardonnay and a meat pie with the Lord Mayor. How aussie! Then home and internet play before bed.
Yesterday was work; gym at lunchtime (chest and triceps); run in the evening. About 7K maybe, round the park with hills. Home, shower, supermarket, dinner for Bobby. He came down to use my PC to send some stuff to Pete and we had a natter and drank tea :o)
Today work, not much else. Heading off to the gym now to do legs. Then in the morning at 10am I’m doing back and biceps. Then I’ve got to do another run (6K – flat) straight after that and then on Sunday I’ve got to find some hills. I’m on an 8 week countdown to the City to Surf and trying to stick to my training program. It’s the only way I’m going to knock 7 minutes off last year’s time – and that works out that I have to run each kilometre 30 seconds faster than last time it’s quite a hike. If you get my drift!!
The rest of the weekend has no plans. There may be coffee and the odd beer. Other than that… as they say in Yorkshire… nowt.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

On the eighth day machine just got upset… a problem man had not foreseen as yet. Ah, dear old Hazel O’Connor. I did hear rumours of some new material recently. I think. Or maybe it was all a dream…
Anyway, my machine will be upset if I don’t blog again soon, so here we go – eight days on.
Tuesday night, Wednesday night and Thursday nights were all spent in, watching Angels in America as previously alluded to. There was some gymming and limited shopping involved over those three days too, but little else. The show was good – great performances from Merryl, Al and Emma. Catch it if you haven’t. Friday night was work and gym again. Thence briefly home before catching a cab with Bobby and Aaron to the Oxford for some town beers for the first time in ages. Mind you, realised pretty soon that I hadn’t been missing much by staying away from Oxford Street. Various people came and went, the beers came and went, we went to different bars, came to in different bars and ended up quite drunk in Manacle with the usual suspects. Home. Sleep.
Up early on Saturday to have some brekky before heading off the the gym. Good workout on chest and triceps, which was encouraging. Yay. Home and then someone I’d been chatting to online decided we should do more than chat. Well if I have to… :o) Home and veg out a bit. Everyone else was heading off to Big Queer Nation but I’m having a (relatively) healthy month and so managed to say no. Instead Bobs and I did beers again, though town was empty. And not much fun all in all. Fun with Bobby, but we missed a couple more people to bounce off. As it were. I hit home around 1.30am. Slept badly and was awake fairly early Sunday morn. Another chap off the internet that I’d been chatting to recently thought we should do more than chat too, and so I toddled off to meet up with him. Nice guy and fun was had. That took me to mid afternoon, when it was time to head to Gary and Peter’s new place in Tamarama. We took George for a walk on the beach at sunset, which was quite striking. Pink and purple skies darkening over the valley where Tamarama nestles near the beach. Noice. Home for wine, stew, chats and Cher. No really. And another guest Neil is someone I’ve seen around for ages so nice to finally meet him. Cab back to the Newtown, but it was deserted so I went home to sleep.
Slept badly again :o( Somehow convinced myself I’d done something to my phone which made me wake up every 15 minutes – so guess what? I did. For a lot of the night. Weird. Monday was a holiday here and I was originally gymming again, but I felt almost fluey when I woke coz of the interrupted sleep. Decided vegging on the sofa with brekky and the Fifth Element was the best way forward. Yay! By 2pm I was feeling myself again (!) and so I headed into Newtown for a walk in the gorgeous winter sun. The weather lately has been fantastic… in the low 20s but clear and sunny. Fantastic! Had food and then went home and then came back out again for quiet beers with Bobby. Bumped into Jason Clarke for the first time in ages which was nice. Relatively early night. Yay. Got home to find out that Dad hasn’t been well – Melissa alerted me to it by MSN messenger bless her. Phoned Dad and spoke to him but missed Karen so didn’t get the full version. We’ll see. It’s at times like this I feel so very, very far away from the UK…
Slept badly again, again. :o( Continued with yesterday’s dream and the 15 minute thing, but somehow rationalised it all again in my head so it could keep happening every 15 minutes. I had graphs and everything. Apparently. Grrr. Into work. Dull. Finished late and then hit the gym. Was meant to run too, but it was just too late. Home, food, tidy up (house inspection for the house sale sprung on the boys late yesterday!). Bed.
Up early-ish this morning. Still didn’t sleep great again, but I think the 15 minute thing has had it’s.. er.. 15 minutes. :o) Work. Dull. Heading off in a tick for Gary’s citizenship ceremony at Town Hall. We’re being austra-cised one by one! I’m going to try and visit a place that sells english sweeties and get him some stuff as a pressie. Hope I’ll get there before it shuts!
No real plans for the week. Gym a lot. Sleep if I can. Running. That’s all for the moment!

Tuesday, June 08, 2004

It’s a Tuesday update! A rare thing. How excitement! Friday last I went from work to the gym and then from the gym home, after a run and a bit of a leg workout. As previously described, Aaron was recovering at Rich and Russ’s and so I was free to do whatever I wanted for the night! That turned out to be have a lovely dinner (pork and veggie stir-fry on a bed of sweet potato mash) and then go to bed. I decided I was just too tired to go out. Saturday was a relatively early morning at 9am, though I’d not slept well due to marauding house guests. Brekky and then gym again. First Saturday session with Peter. By the time I got home it was about 1pm and after lunch I decided to head into town to shop. The fates were against me however, and all the trains were replaced by buses. That all seemed too much so I walked to Broadway. However part of the way there I realised I probably woudn’t buy anything and so got miserable. I got there, did the briefest of looks round, then turned on my heels and walked all the way back home. Grumpy so I slept a while and then got ready for dinner at Dave’s in Potts Point. Rich and Russ came and got me and we hit Dave’s after a bit of a parking fiasco. Dinner was lovely. Mark was there and two other mates of David’s from Perth – Darren and Ricky. After lots of wine and food Rich and Russ kindly dropped me off at the Shift for Jason’s birthday drinks. I was tired still though and so lasted only 2 beers before getting myself into a taxi and heading home. Bed.
Sunday was another relative get up early and I trotted off townwards cleverly using a different train station to miss the replacement bus service. Sneaky! I’d planned on having my favourite brekky at the Chocolate Dog, but on arrival Aaron was there with a new shag and some of his mates and I decided I didn’t really want to go through all those introductions and small talk etc. I walked on instead. :o( So, having missed my favourite brekky (sweet potato pancakes with bacon and sweet chilli sauce, if you’re really interested) I sulked all the way into town. I had a relatively successful trip, though failed to buy work clothes. I’ll leave that til next week’s long weekend now. I did manage to get most stuff for my gym supplements and some gym socks. Woohoo! Back to Newtown where I dragged Bobby out for coffee and cake. And a whinge. I felt better after that. We then retired to Bobby and Aaron’s place, where I finally managed to chat to Pete in the UK for the first time in ages. It was great to speak to him and I realise how much I missed having him here as a mate. Well it seems like he’s coming back – and so he wants back into the house. The good news on that is that it would free up some cash for me. I’m going to have a think…
Thence to the Newtown to meet Robert for drinks. It’s also been ages since he and I caught up, and it was good to see him too. A couple of beers followed by thai and wine. I then decided that since I was now in such a good frame of mind (violent mood swings anyone?) I’d head out for more beers. Bobby and Mark were at the Shift so… as if by magic!! Ta-da! More beers there and then suddenly things took a turn for the slightly irresponsible. Arq. Doh. I should have known. I kind of did really, but didn’t care! And suddenly it was 6.30am and I was heading off to some hotel room with two very nice boys from Perth. As you do. As I did. Headed back to Newtown at 4.30pm Monday after a lovely time and afternoon fruit salad and coffee. :o)
In that situation there’s only really one thing left to do. It’s pointless even trying to be virtuous and so I dragged Bobby back to the pub (he’d already been!). Beers, pizza and fun til about9pm when it really was time to call it a day. Home. Brief internet and then to bed with Wicked by Gregory McGuire. It’s a more modern take on the Wizard of Oz, as told from the wicked witch of the west’s perspective. A few pages of that and then sleep. Work today and bed and nothing. Angels in America is screening over 3 nights on the ABC, and it’s the first thing in ages I’ve fancied watching. Go square-eyes Davie!

Friday, June 04, 2004

The less I blog, the less I seem to remember what I've been doing! Last Thursday I was possibly going for a drink at the Newtown after work.

Let's just say I've no idea if I did or not. Actually I think I did. I think I met Bobby and his mate Brent. We had beers, pizza and then I think I finally retired almost gracefully. Friday was more work, gym and then decided I really couldn't be arsed to do anything at all. Was in bed by 10.30pm. Up Saturday with the lark. And ready for some larking about. In boats as it turned out. Went over to David's for the start of the date. We took his dogs to the park (Janet and Leroy) and then it was back to his to get better acquainted over a bottle of wine. All this by midday! Then we took a trip down to his boat as some friends wanted to borrow some things with a nautical theme. We took the chance to get a bit nautical ourselves. Or should that be naughty-cal? Anyway... back to Newtown for some lunch and we went our separate ways. He seems like a nice guy - fun and sexy. Let's see what happens. Home to chill and then Pete and Johnno arrived home from the gym with Paul. We all had dinner (lovely rack-off lamb!) and drinks and then as if by magic we were playing pool at the Newtown. Not sure what was in the air (or the vodka perhaps?) but I played like a man possessed! Practically every shot went in, whether a normal shot or a more flashy trick shot, but boy did we have fun. Finally as more mates appeared we just chatted until as if by magic we were at the Phoenix! Til 5.30am Oops. And then Pete and me couldn't let it lie and ended up at Arq...
Finally home around 8.30am. Slept from about 11.30am til around 3pm. Up, sorted and then down to the Green Park with Aaron for Tony's birthday drinks. From there onto Missy Elliot. My first proper rap concert at the age of 39. Get me! Sadly it wasn't great - a real missed opportunity. The Sydney Morning Herald reviewed it pretty accurately, so have a read of what they had to say. Still it was something different. I got home very tired about 11.30pm. Sleeeeeep.
This week's been dull. All work and no play makes a very good description of what's been going on actually. Except for beating myself up about all my procrastination. I've set myself the end of the month to get all my life admin in order as it'll be three years since I arrived back on 29 June. I stayed in Monday and Tuesday. Gym Wednesday. Dinner over at Tim and Ross's last night as it was Ross's birthday on Monday. Noice. Heading to the gym shortly and again in the morning. Was meant to be spending the night at Aaron's to make sure he was OK after the small operation he had yesterday, but apparently he's recuperating at Rich and Russ's. Don't I feel wanted. Actually, no I don't. :o(
It's also Johnno's birthday today, so there's a chance we might well end up playing pool at the Newtown again, now I'm not playing nursemaid. Otherwise tomorrow holds work clothes shopping, sock shopping and then dinner at Dave's tomorrow night with beers after at the Shift for Jason's birthday. How come everyone's having birthdays all of a sudden?
More from the front line as it happens...

Friday, May 28, 2004

Things to make you go hmmm... #2

Later in the pub last night with Bobby (his mate Brent had gone home at this point). For some reason the topic of conversation turned to... me. Again. Bobby then said that I'm often blind to guys taking an interest in me because I'm too busy having fun with my mates and/or making sure they're OK i.e. having a good time/not too drunk or minkered or whatever/getting drinks/generally being mother. This I can understand a bit more - for me going out was always first and foremost about catching up with mates, and if a nice man happened to come along then so much the better. Am I alone in this? I can recall recent instances when I've passed up the chance to disappear off with sexy men because I've felt my mates wanted me to be with them...
No wonder I'm not getting any shags 2 :o(

Things to make you go hmmm... #1

In the pub last night with Bobby and his mate Brent. For some reason the topic of conversation turned to... me. They both were saying how nice, sexy, handsome etc I was (we'd had a few by this time) - when they both suddenly agreed that I was too masculine. They thought I was too butch which comes across as being stern and possibly unapproachable. They advised me to smile more. Someone else at work today corroborated their findings. Anyone care to add anything else? I don't particularly aim to walk into a bar and be stand-offish. True I currently have braces on my upper teeth meaning I'm probably not smiling as much as I would (believe me - they're quiet the confidence drainer) but do people really think that? Given a lot people reading this (if there is anyone left still reading that is) have known me for a longer time than most of the people here - is that the case? Help! No wonder I'm not getting any shags :o(

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Just quickly as I'm about to fly out the door..

So, did I get up to shenanigans again? Yes sirree!
Wednesday – think it was just a slobby time at home. Can’t remember much else.
Thursday – gym after work and then straight to Gary and Peter’s. Went for a nice dinner at a little place near Moore Park Gardens (or, as there are so many gay men living there – Mary Tyler Moore Park Gardens!). Wine and home. Sleeeeeeeep.
Friday – work and then home, then to MPG to drop off stuff and then to Rich’s birthday meal. It was at the Nepalese kitchen and very nice! Little too much wine, but fun. Quick drink at the Dugout Bar then home. Sleeeeeep.
Saturday Рwoke at MPG. Grabbed coffee from the little caf̩ there, then went on my travels to IKEA to buy my Bad Dog outfit Рmore later. Onto Strangers with Candy for brekky which was good. Slobbed about a bit, then eventually went back to Marrickville to get my running gear. Back to MPG, big bowl of pasta ready for the half marathon, Independence Day on the telly and an early night.
Sunday - started very early at 5.30am. Got up, got ready, forced some brekky down me and headed off for the journey down to Hickson Road and the start of the half marathon. Luckily I bumped into Allan from work at Wynyard so we headed down together. Met up with Kelly and Ian, Buzz and Gordon and Jo and got ourselves ready for the off. Ian's Mum and Dad kindly looked after our gear which saved some hassle. And then it was 7.30am and we were ready for the off. What a difference a year makes! Last year it was torrential rain, cold and windy. This year it was glorious. Sunny and almost perfect running conditions. And away we went! I actually enjoyed the race more than any of the training runs I've done all year (though there weren't that many!). The good news was I came in just under my last year's time - 1'50"01 versus 1'50"49. Still considering my lack of preparation or real desire to run I'm happy with that. One more big stride and I'd have come in under 1"50"! Oh well. We congregated at the end to compare times, aching limbs and bleeding nipples. Well fortunately not me. A little underarm chafing, but you get that. And then home on the train with Allan, happy and abuzz. To MPG, grabbed my gear and had a quick coffee with Rich and Russ. Thence to Marrickville to get myself ready for Bad Dog. The theme this time round was Science Experiment - quite a good one to dress up to. I'd decided the way forward was to buy a children's toy 6' snake from IKEA and then cut it in half. The head part was de-stuffed and put on my arm like a glove puppet. The tail end was stuck down my trousers so it hung out like a tail. I was ready :o)
Aaron arrived and Johnno and Pete kindly drove us there around 4pm. Bobby and Mark were already in evidence and slowly everyone arrived. What a fantastic party! They just keep getting better and I'm not sure how. Most of the people we know were there, which made for a great time, as did having run half a marathon that morning! Fun. Met a nice kiwi guy called David and spent a little time with him - and then they finished the party with Thomas Dolby's She Blinded me with Science. Perfect. Home and change and to the Shift for a while. Then the Phoenix. Then Arq. Til 8.30am. With Bobby and Mark. Just hilarious. Fantastic night. Thence back to MPG for vodka and music and finally crashed out at 1.30pm Monday. But only for a little while until we were back at the Newtown for beers at 7pm! Bed at 10.30pm. What a weekend!!
Tuesday - work. A bit vague. Home. Food. Sleep.
Wednesday - work. Gym - a whole hour on chest! So, why doesn't it hurt today?? Home via Aaron's to pick up my case. Food. Sleep.
Today, Thursday. Work. Have worked really hard today for some reason. Heading home to tidy and a possible beer at the Newtown later.
I'm excited about a date on Saturday day. Nice man with dogs and ute. Ay caramba!! Fingers crossed everyone!


Wednesday, May 19, 2004

I'm a-posting and it's not Friday. What's that about?

I did run for 17K last Friday, then went home and resisted the urge to go out. How good am I? Saturday ended up being a slobby morning and then out shopping with Pete and Johnno, looking for birthday presents and eating sushi. Noice. Not much in the afternoon and then Aaron and I shared a cab to the Green Park to meet Dave before Russ's 40th birthday party. However Michael and Costa were at the pub, and Gary and Peter joined us so it was quite a social! Got the Russ's at the East Village and before you could say 'shirts off and lycra shorts' I'd been roped into doing a show. Tim and Ross had organised for Mu-Mu to jump out of a big cardboard cake, but before that we had to carry her through the room, set the sparklers off and run around with letter that spelt RUSS 40 to make other words (USSR 04; SOUR 4S). You had to be there really. Anyway. The party was lots of fun - almost everyone we know in Sydney was there, and Russ seemed to enjoy it. Rich had organised for half his family to arrive from Perth unbeknownst to Russ, so that was great! Got very drunk as I realised later I had no dinner. Doh. To the Phoenix briefly but it was dead due to it being Inquisition that night (even though we knew few people going). Home in a cab with Aaron - we dropped him at Rich and Russ's to continue drinking. I couldn't have managed another drop and so hit the sack.
Sunday. Woke, had tea and toast. Decided that was about it for the day. Except... went looking for more Bad Dog outfits and failed. Then Aaron arrived and we hit Graham's 40th birthday party at Waverley. In our finest white gear - it being a white party and all. Another fun night, though sadly not that many people turned up. However I did get chance to speak to the lovely Ro and did so for what seemed like a long time. He's a very sexy man...
On to the Shift to meet Bobby - after a lift home with a friend of Rado's (thanks!). Drunken flirty chatting with Paul (Dr Pete's mate) and then I don't remember much else.
Monday - hangover and work. Early night.
Tuesday - no hangover and work. Early night. Resisted the pub with P+J - how good am I again!
Today - dentist this morning. My teeth are apparently moving with the braces, but slowly. Oh well. Had my wire replaced and I can certainly tell this afternoon. Work. Meant to be gymming but think I might not. Haven't slept well and could do with sleep again.
Tomorrow. Work. Gym. Dinner at Gary and Peter's as I'm house-sitting for them all weekend. Yay for houses to one's self. Not sure what else is on the horizon other than the half marathon on Sunday. Oh, and Bad Dog with Monday off. Lock up your daddies!

Friday, May 14, 2004

And verily it's Friday again and I'm a-posting. A quieter week, which I think is a good thing. I'll make it short and sweet as I'm about to head off for a 16K run - or as near as damn it at least.
The tall dutchman cancelled drinks whilst I was having a nap, and that was good. I ended up in Newtown High Street anyway for food then hit the pub. Vile. Came home. Bed. Saturday was another lazy day of doing very little I think. Eventually I headed round to Dave's in Potts Point for dinner. Us two, Mark and Brendan. Noice. Thence to Manacle for a beer then the Shift trying to find Pete and Johnno. They were at the Phoenix, it finally transpired. Nice Mark was there but only chatted briefly before he left. Home with the boys at 3am. Sunday was another day of Dave in a foul mood. I didn't do much as it was cold and rainy. Finally got my act together and headed out. SMS confirmation of mates in Manacle so that was that! Aaron, Rich and Russ, Steve Mac, Wayne and Andrew and another Johnno. Thence to the Shift, back to Manacle, back to the Shift to meet Bobby. And Mark Allen. Too many beers resulted in curry and taxi home. Vile.
Monday. Work. Not much else.
Tuesday - 14½K run after work. Dinner at Aaron and Bobby's. Noice :o)
Wednesday - work, gym at lunch. Tired. Shopped. Ate. Telly. Bed.
Thursday - work, dinner, haircut, shave, shower, Newtown. And what a surprisingly social affair that turned out to be! Aaron was there with Fred as Pete, Johnno and I arrived. Former Qantas Jason was there, as were a couple of other acquaintances. Then sexy Ben arrived. Then Russ, Steve Mac and Keith arrived. Lots of pool, beer, chats. Ben is very nice, it seems. He took my number...
Today. Work - surprisingly diligent. About to head off for a long run then rest over the weekend. Next weekend's the race...
Oh, and when I say rest over the weekend, it's Russ's 40th birthday tomorrow and then Graham's on Sunday. No rest for the wicked!

Friday, May 07, 2004

A week ago I posted. It's now May already. Tired today - more later on that.

Last weekend. What transpired? You know, I can't really remember. I yoga-ed Friday night with Al and it was much better than last time. Thence home and I can't remember if I stayed in or went out. I've a suspicion the former, but I can't quite remember. Saturday was a day of cleaning and sorting and stuff. Much needed. Did I do much else? Can't remember. Probably hit the Newtown with Pete and Johnno that night. Or maybe that was Friday and we bumped into Dave the plumber after Aaron had joined us. Anyway. Sunday was more of the same, with me going for a run in the park and hating every minute of it. And hating hating it. And getting into a foul mood and walking to town to meet Bobby at the Shift. The rest of the night is a bit of a blur. Well in fact a lot of a blur. Mark A joined us at the Shift. As did Piggy. Then it was Arq, where I confess to having an almost complete blank. First time in a long time that that's happened. So, I awoke Monday morning around 6.30am in god knows where with god knows whom... and decided I wouldn't go to work. Or go home actually. Ended up in an internet cafe in Kings Cross on Gaydar, resulting in a swift taxi ride to Zetland. As you do. Thence to Kensington - but Peter's not Ken's. (For those of you non-Sydney types, go google - I can't be arsed to explain!!)
Then into town where I amused myself until heading back to meet up with Bobby, resulting in beers with him and Aaron at the Newtown. And a non-verbal encounter with a guy I quite like, but I decided I shouldn't try and speak bearing in mind almost no sleep and 5 beers by that point. Steak and mash. Sleep. Jaysus.
Tuesday. Work, early night - via Bruno's book launch. I hope the book sells better than the launch attentance. Nice to see Andy and Ben though. And Bruno.
Wednesday. Work, then 11½K run at the gym. Home, food, quick beer with Bobby. Newtown (OK but karaoke night), Imperial empty but played pool.
Thursday. Work, home, dinner with Pete and Johnno, Newtown for pool. Over it so did coffee then snuck back as nice guy from Monday had been there, and then John and Allan were playing pool too. Nice guy came and talked to me and is really nice. Ben. Not the one from Tuesday. Noice. He'll hopefully be at Bad Dog...
Today. Up at 6am. Gym at 7am. Work. Bored. Home soon. Very soon in fact.
Have a beer date with a 6'3" dutchman called Marc. Alluded to on the April 19th post. We'll see what comes of that. In all truth I'd rather go to sleep I'm so tired.
No other plans for the weekend other than a big long run at some point. Aiming for 16K or so. I can't wait for this bloody half marathon to be over. Never again!!

Friday, April 30, 2004

Read the post below this one first!

Well I could also tell you what the track listing was for the third CD too, seeing as I've finished them both at the same time. This one has been much longer in production, as it's an 80's mix and therefore not too concerned with being out whilst the tracks are still fresh. Mixing 80's music is tricky - particularly when opting for the non-dancey stuff. Tracks have very short intros and generally fade very very quickly. Hence no really long mixes whilst the tracks mash together - more short, sharp changeovers. Fun to do, and I'm very happy with the end result.

Intro - Wonder Woman theme
Duran Duran - View to a kill
Fine Young Cannibals - She drives me crazy
Jacksons ft. Mick Jagger - State of shock
Wham! - Young guns go for it
Human League - Keep feeling fascination
Madonna - Vogue
Pet Shop Boys - West End girls
Swing Out Sister - Breakout
Queen - Radio Gaga
Animotion - Obsession
Wham! - Everything she wants
Cameo - Word up
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean
Janet Jackson - When I think of you
Outro - Knight Rider theme

Fantastic! Again, as soon as I work out how, the mix'll be up here to listen to.
Madison Avenue saved my life!

An unlikely concept I know. But in a roundabout way it's the truth. They saved me from mixer's block - if there should be such a recognised condition. Trying (in vain) to complete my fourth mix CD I'd reached the pulling out of hair stage. Several times. And not just my hair either. And so it was, in a state of almost blind panic, that I began looking through my catalogue of tracks, hoping for inspiration. I was having trouble getting anything to mix out of the Boogie Pimps, and I'd got a few tracks lined up ready to complete the CD, but nothing was working. Yet suddenly I had a Madison Avenue epiphany. Everything else fell into place from there, and the mix itself is up there with the best ones. Let's hope I don't get stuck on the next CD, or you may be subject to a Vengaboys* bridge or find yourself getting down to Aqua*.

Full track listing as follows - now all I have to work out is how to get the whole thing onto here so you guys out there can have a listen and see how I've done! Oh, and I can't be bothered to list all the exact mixes of the track as they're all at home and I'm at work and...

Air - Don't be light
Playgroup - Make it happen
Scissor Sisters - Filthy/Gorgeous
Sylvester - Do you wanna funk
Dutch ft. Crystal Waters - My time
Hakan Lidbo ft. 2KHz - Bad Girls
Avenue D - Do I look like a slut?
No Doubt - Platinum blonde life
Kylie Minogue - Come into my world
Garbage - Cherry lips
Goldfrapp - Twist
Boogie Pimps - Somebody to love
Madison Avenue - Don't call me baby
Junior Jack ft. Robert Smith - Da Hype
Britney Spears - Toxic
Ferry Corsten - Rock your body rock


*Not that I actually own tracks by these people, obviously.

Thursday, April 29, 2004

Thursday. Again. Tired today. Another week goes by... and in fact we're almost a third of the way through the year already. Time. Fun. Etc.

A week ago tonight I met up with Gary and Marcus and we did Max's citizenship thing. Good to hear it all again, bearing in mind it's almost 18 months now since I became an ocker Aussie. Interestingly, although the ceremonies were pretty much the same, there was a much more political slant to the speeches around this one. It may be as it's only just past recent elections, or just that it's more out in the suburbs. Either way, a bit weird.
Friday was work and then in a fit of something, Al and I did indeed hit yoga. Bikram yoga - in a heated room - was what we decided to do. And boy was it heated! I don't think I've ever sweated quite as much in my life. It was good though, and I'm planning on going again tomorrow and Sunday. I would have gone on Sunday last, but decided to save my energy for ToyBox - more of which in a minute. So all stretched and sweated I returned home to veg out. And that was what I did. Saturday was a leisurely morning with brekky etc, followed by a 10K-ish run (not exactly sure but I ran for the best part of an hour) and then another hour at the gym. Home and headed out for coffee with lovely Mark, having shaved my head again. As you do. The evening ended up at the Newtown with Pete and Johnno, playing pool. Aaron and Bobby arrived later, but I decided not to go down to the Imperial with them...
One 'six-degrees' moment over coffee with Mark - I turned down a dinner invite for Saturday night as I didn't want to have a late night or get drunk... and it turned out in the conversation that Mark was going to the same dinner party! Weird.
Sunday. Toybox. We headed down around 1pm. Already going off! I spent the first hour or two in the small room trying to settle in and find some good music. The main room was very trancey, and in fact stayed that way for the entire party. Hey ho. Lots of people there, though we suffered a bit by not being the whole going out gang. We lacked that central place/group to come back to and it made the whole thing a bit disjointed. Aaron and I spent more time apart at this party, which I think was a good thing for both of us. It was still fun though, and before we knew it it was 8pm and it was all over. Had a few dances with sexy Paul and a good chat to him. He's a sweetie! In fact there were a lot of very sexy men there. As usual. Where are they the rest of the time??
Anyway, down to the Shift. Johnno decided that we didn't need to leave early in case there was a queue. Wrong! We ended up waiting for 2 hours to get in. But once in more of the same. Music didn't work for me all night though. Hey ho. Anyway, ended up back at Dentist Wayne and his partner Julian's place for a bit of a chill. Very nice time there, and good to hang with a few different people. Finally home around 4.30pm Monday afternoon... Chat to the boys and a bit of food. Tried to sleep to no avail... and ended up only getting 3 hours all night. I wonder why??
Tuesday was a shocker. Realised I'd arranged for the house to be surveyed and so had to trot over there first thing. Took way longer than expected and I was meant to be boss at work. As it turned out we had boss on training, someone sick, someone on compassionate leave and we're one down at the moment anyway. Leaving one poor girl to cope with everything until I got there just before 12pm! Oops. Tuesday night was slobbing. Yesterday was work and gym, though I was very tired. Today is work and sleep I hope. I know Aaron wants to have a bit of a talk so I may end up catching up with him. Otherwise quiet is the way forward.
The weekend holds exercise again - yoga Fri, run/gym Sat, yoga Sun. Hoping to catch up with Mark again, and the only other thing on the cards is Kill Bill Vol 2. Yay. More news as it happens... if I don't fall asleep that is!

Thursday, April 22, 2004

Oh my god. Two blog postings in the same week? What's that about? Actually I'm a bit bored at work and so I thought I'd give it a whirl for a few minutes. It's either this or coffee. Or both probably.

Monday night was indeed a beer or 4 with Gary. His Peter joined us and we grabbed some pizza and wine after that. Got a cab home rather than the train and so it wasn't too late a night. Until I stayed up messing around on the computer til god knows when! Tuesday lunch ran for 40mins with Allan at work - over 7K, so that's getting better at least. In a shock move I hit the gym on Tuesday night before heading home, to the shops, and creating a warm lamb salady thing. Chats to the boys. Bed. Yesterday was gym after work with Peter the trainer. A good session. Home and dinner with the boys. Chats. Tried some more mixing. I've reached a block point at the moment with the Bad Dog style CD. I've got about 50mins done, but I really want it to be longer but can't seem to work in the songs I wanted to. Hmmm. Might have to be back to the drawing board. Or mixing desk. Tuesday/Wednesday I was filling in for my boss, so that was good in terms of career stuff I suppose! Been for a run at lunch today, though not as succesfully as Tuesday. Mind you, considering I was full of cold and flu stuff only 3 weeks ago and I've not done any exercise for ages, I can't really complain about how the exercise rehabilitation is going. Woohoo!

Another Brit is being Austra-cised tonight - congratulations to Max who becomes the latest Pom now able to vote and be conscripted should there be a war. Er...

Not much else to report. Considering trialling Yoga over the next week or so as an extra exercise. Hoping to catch up with lovely Mark in the next couple of days for coffee and a chat. I'm definitely hoping he joins my rank of friends. All lovely, lovely people. Oh. Seemingly everyone's having cake. Good old Marie Antoinette. It must be someone's birthday or something. I'm going to be good and avoid it. Go me!

Monday, April 19, 2004

OK. It’s exactly two weeks since the last blog entry and I’ve no idea what’s been going on. Well maybe a bit. One weekend of shenanigans, one of pottering. Here’s to some more of the latter…

It seems like so long ago that I’d forgotten that Nick was still here at that point! Oh dear…I think my marbles have finally gone. That Monday night we had dinner with Pete, Bobby and Aaron and then a couple of beers at the Newtown. Tuesday night was a quieter affair – dinner with Pete and Johnno at home I think. Finally on Wednesday us four were joined by Rich, Russ and Aaron and we hit the Warren View (local-ish pub to our place) for a final meal for Nick. Noice. It was great having Nick around. I’m glad him and Pete hit it off so well – I think they’ll have a blast at the Tavern and all other UK hostelries when they’re both finally there together.

And lo it was Easter. Thursday night was just beers I think. Newtown? Barnacle? Somewhere. Can’t remember where! Actually I’ve no recollection of what I did for most of the weekend. Oh dear. Think I hung out with Pete and Johnno on Good Friday as most stuff was closed. DVDs a go-go. Think I forced myself to the gym at some point over the weekend – think it was Saturday morning. Who knows? I remember the weekend being a mix of social and pottering. Not sure what or where any more. Ah, actually I do. Post gym we went harness shopping. Oh yes. I’m now the proud owner of my first proper leather gear. God only knows where that will all lead! Well it lead to me wet shaving my head on Sunday, which is a first. I’ve threatened to do it a number of times, and finally decided that if it were good enough for Pete (who did his Friday) then it was good enough for me. Sunday night we went to Tim and Ross’s for pre-Indulgence drinks which was fun. Biggest let down for me was that hardly anyone noticed I’d shaved my head! Coz I wear my hair short and it’s so dark, it actually didn’t look too much different. I’ll do it again though (probably for ToyBox on Sunday actually!). So down to Indulgence. What a fantastic party! It was almost like having a private party for all of our mates, with a sprinkling of new, sexy faces to keep things interesting! And the music was a revelation – almost more Bad Dog than Bad Dog. It kept us going until 6am when a few of us hit Arq. I’d been propositioned by my dentist at this point – which probably isn’t as surprising as it should be. The hardcore group stayed at Arq until they’d played ‘Toxic’ – that being me, Pete, Aaron, Adrian and Shane. We decided to kick on to the Colombian for more beer at this point. Ended up being fun there too. Highlights: Pete’s lesbian stand up comedian teacher mate; the 6’3 Dutchman; sexy Craig and the man with his underwear under his armpits. No, really. Hilarious. Eventually Pete and Johnno joined us after everyone had gone save me and Pete. Noodles, coffee and finally home. Bed for me at 11.15pm. Sheesh.

Last week was much quieter. The short week was much needed. All I can remember is dinner with Pete, Bobby and Aaron on Tuesday night (tacos!), gym Wednesday, a lunchtime run Thursday, gym Friday. Pete and I finally discussed the house stuff Friday and that was great to get that out of the way. I slobbed Friday night, slept late Saturday and pottered and cleaned. Pete snuck off without saying a proper goodbye but I know what that's like. Enjoy the UK mate. I hope you find whatever it is you're looking for.

Saturday night went with Pete and Johnno to the Newtown where we played pool all night. Fun. Also met Mark – a guy from Gaydar I’d been chatting to for almost a year. He’s a lovely guy and hopefully will get chance to get to know him better. Sexy too. All a bit drunk when I stumbled home around midnight. Sunday more sleep, more pottering. Coffee in Surry Hills with the boys and Darryl. Home. Ran round the park for 45 minutes. Fantastic views in Sydney Park of the city of an evening. The boys fed me and we all messed around on the PC. Bed. Eventually. Though little sleep for me until about 4am. Tired today consequently.

Heading off in a bit to meet Gary for a beer. Gymming most of the rest of the week. Max (Gary’s ex) has invited me to his citizenship ceremony on Thursday so that’ll be good. Then another long weekend. This time it's ToyBox on Sunday. The last one was fun and am looking forward to this for a number of reasons. Sexy Paul. Sexy Ro. It being the last designated party weekend for a long time. Bring on the staying in!

Monday, April 05, 2004

And suddenly it's almost a fortnight since the last entry which was 10 days after the one before that. Doh. Must try harder. All of that time has been dominated by feeling fluey, starting just after the last blog entry and pretty much lasting up until this weekend just gone. I'm on yet another course of antibiotics but this one seems to be finally sorting me out. I did indeed take that last day off, previously alluded to in the last post, and had a relaxing day involving food and a bit of shopping, DVDs and an early night. Thursday and Friday I worked but was feeling progressively worse. I seem to remember early nights and not much else. The boys arrived back on Saturday from the States and we were all very quiet and well behaved. Until Bad Dog on the Sunday that is...! It was great as ever. I can't work out how they manage to keep them so good - maybe it's the music, maybe it's the venue, maybe it's the fact that they're only every couple of months, maybe it's the people. Or maybe a combination of all of those - but either way it works. We got there at 3.30pm and had a few beers outside before heading in to the more dance orientated second half of the night around 6pm. For me the highlights musically were a very long mix of Kelis's Milkshake and Herbie Hancock's Rockit - fantastic. Also they played a great remix of No Doubt's cover of Talk Talk's It's my life and a great mix of Toxic by Britney. Excellent. Originally the intention was to go home after it finished, but I was feeling no pain by that stage and so decided to carry on. We hit the Mars Lounge which was dull, the Phoenix which was empty and the Shift before deciding the best move would be to hit Arq and be done with it. It was definitely better there and I decided to hang on in long after everyone else had gone. Oops. I kind of needed some time out and about with no one around. In the end I headed home around 7.30am! I bumped into Pete on the station platform which was a bit of a hoot. I got home and was feeling a bit listless but wide awake and so I took myself off for a bit of relaxation. Ahem. That's all you need to know! I got home later in the afternoon and then just had a quiet night with the boys - watching Tomb Raider 2 on DVD.

Tuesday was work and feeling ill again. I was sent home around 3.30pm which was a bit of a result. Later the boys kindly drove me to the airport to collect old flatmate Nick, who's here for a holiday until 8 April. It's been great to see Nick again after almost 3 years and good we've kind of picked up friendship-wise where we left off. Yay! We had a brief dinner and then came home and I caught up with Nick until about 11.30pm. Wednesday was work again and this time I only made it until just after lunch. That gave me a bit of time to relax before we went to dinner with Adrian and Shane. It's been ages since I've caught up properly with them and long overdue. After that we had a couple of drinks in the Colombian before retiring back home. Thursday morning was my birthday! And a doctor's appointment. He signed me off until this week and gave me some more horse tablet sized antibiotics. Nick and I then headed off to Bondi and walked to Coogee, via milkshakes in Bronte. Had a lovely birthday lunch overlooking the beach at Coogee and then walked back again via coffees in Tamarama. Back to civilisation and the up to meet Aaron for dinner in Newtown followed by drinks at the Newtown pub. Pete joined us later and it was gone midnight by the time we got home. Nice day :o)

Friday I slept until gone 10am and the woke Nick up. We had brekky at home and then went into town for some shopping action. Initially we were looking for things for Nick, but it was me that bought stuff - shoes, shorts, t-shirt and new electronic toothbrush (after the last one went all 'Terminator' on me and turned itself on one night without me touching it!). We'd arranged to hook up with a couple of people on Friday night too, as it was Aaron's birthday. We ended up at the Oxford with Pete and Johnno, Pete and Bobby, Aaron and Costa and Michael. Suddenly it all went a bit mad and we were upstairs at the Shift having much more of a night than anticipated. So much so that we decided to stay when Pete and Johnno made their move at 5pm. The drag shows were surprisingly good and there was even a bit of flirting action with a very sexy sculptor called Jason. I'm very much hoping to run into him again... We finally made a move around 6am and went for coffee in Potts Point before Pete decided we should do a day trip to Bundeena National Park. So we hit home, showered, changed and packed some provisions before meeting back at Central. We trained, ferried and hiked - forcing brekky down somewhere in between until we finally got to the most fantastic secluded beach around midday. What a fantastic afternoon. We swam, lazed and drank and managed to run into someone Pete knew even that far away from home! We hiked, ferried and trained back and arrived home just after 6.30pm. What a day! We'd still not slept at that stage, but we decided to kick on regardless. Sleep is for girls and the fat lady hadn't even been warming up and it was birthday drinks celebration time at Pete and Johnno's. The gang finally all turned up - Pete and Bobby, Rich and Russ, Pete and Gary, Aaron, Tim and Ross (with visiting friend Maria in tow). It was great having everyone together and nice for Nick to meet them and vice versa. Of course we had to carry on and suddenly we were at the Phoenix. Well Aaron, Pete, Bobby, Nick and me at any rate. Adrian and Shane were there too. It was very quiet and so Pete and Bobby did a reccy of the Shift and back over there we went. Fun, fun, fun. We went a bit mad and suddenly we were minker la-la. Hilarious! Again we couldn't let it lie and finally ended up at Arq again. Like you do. Or like we do! It wasn't that great, but after about half an hour they closed upstairs and we shifted downstairs. Suddenly the music was great and we were off again! Aaron left and so eventually did Adrian and Shane. The remaining four of us finally went back to Rich and Russ's and polished off more vodka and coke than is probably good for us. Lots of funny singing and dancing and messing around. We changed Britney lyrics for Toxic to 'Don't you know that my dog's sick'. Kept us amused for ages! Pete finally crashed just as Johnno texted us to say they were at the Colombian. That kept us going and we had a couple of beers there before heading back to Newtown and picking up a takeaway. Home, eat, sleep. What a fantastic birthday weekend. And best of all I was feeling so much better by Saturday. Yay!

Today is back to the real world. Work - dull. Think this week might drag due to lack of sleep, but at least it's a short week leading up to Easter. Tonight is cheap and cheerful eats in Newtown with Pete and Bobby. That's about as far ahead as I can plan right now! More soon...