Time waits for no man apparently. Or time waits for nomads, if you're a little dyslexic. Actually if you're a wandering tribesman stuck in a dessert somewhere, herding goats or some such activity, maybe it does seem like you have more time. As for me, stuck in the biggest city down under, it seems like time has been spirited away into some strange vortex, probably not unlike the one at the end of The Adventure Game.

Now you see if I had time like I did in the olden days, the above paragraph would be peppered with tangential links to obscure kids' tv shows and goat care and vortices. Vortexes. Whatever. (Actually, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary site, both forms are correct). Now though, I struggle to even write up the bare vestiges of what's been going on Minkered... stylee. And it's frustrating as I know I can write and entertain given that little more time.

Any road up. I digress. 21 Jan and no mention really of Christmas, New Year or subsequent anythings. Things should start to return to normal as of now. I'm fully moved over to Pete and Johnno's house in Marrickville. The apartment in Brumby Street is no more. The house I've bought with Pete is under discussion and in fact tonight some progress should be made as to what happens now. The move took longer than anticipated, even with lots of help from Aaron and Dr Pete (ok, Pete and Johnno Pete will be henceforth referred to as Dr Pete, and house Pete as Pete. Unless I say Pete and Johnno in which case you can assume I mean Dr Pete (unless I stipulate otherwise)). All other Pete's will be given a qualifying adjective or surname (or initial) as required. Moving and cleaning was last weekend. Aaron helped a lot bless him. I get chance to repay him the first weekend in Feb, when we move him out of his place into an as yet undetermined abode. High points? Driving Pete and Johnno's truck. I think we might have to cruise around in that some more! Low points? The time it took, and the seemingly endless pile of sorting out I still have to do. I'm in the (lovely) room at Marrickville, but so far it's just me, the internet hooked up PC (yay!), the Olympic sized bed (mine's in storage in the garage),a chest of drawers (empty) and the bar fridge (also empty). All the rest of my wordly good and chattels are in the boys' other spare room and the garage. Waiting to be sorted out. I'll get there eventually...

Short week at work this week. Going to the Big Day Out on Friday and then Saturday will be mostly house-hunting for Aaron. Sunday is Rich and Russ's house-warming and then Monday is a public holiday, so maybe the beach. My long awaited relaunch at the gym, postponed and postponed and now long overdue since mid December, will happen next week. Sometime. Though I am walking to work from Marrickville so that's 35 minutes of brisk walking twice a day. I do however need to get my feet looked at - I'm not sure exactly what's wrong, but something ain't right and hasn't been since the City to Surf in August. Hey ho.

I've still to go through the fantastically relaxing time that was Christmas; the uproarious raucousness of NY and the subsequent fantastic pool party; a review of 2003 (how many times have I promised a yearly review in January??); hopes and aspirations for 2004; house updates etc. etc. etc.

Watch this space. I also feel a colour change coming on too - mustard and ochre are so last season. Actually I haven't changed the colour scheme for about 18 months so it's long overdue. And the corporate picture? I'm over that. Sadly I haven't got any pics on the PC at the moment with the mohawk that graced my bonce for most of the 2 weeks up the coast. Me, Rich, Cassius and Dr Pete were all mohican-ed up for the NYE party. Pics to follow. Honest guv.

Right, time to do a last bit of work before heading off. Today's been fantastically hot and now we're in for an afternoon storm. Just heard the first thunder clap. Think I might be getting wet...

When I said I'd update a bit more soon, obviously I didn't mean right now, as I'm just about to head home for a couple of days of frantic packing and moving. Things to do etc. Moving to Pete and Johnno's until the house shenanigans is sorted out. Marrickville here I come! There really will be a full update once I'm settled there - I'd have done more from work this week, but work somehow got in the way. Don't you hate that?

Well it's already 6 days old but Happy New year to everyone! I'm finally back from holidays and in work and wondering how I can give up work and holiday full time. These last 2 weeks have just been the most fantastic time - relaxing, minkering, getting on really well with Aaron, cementing friendships with the gang - brilliant. However today is back to real life and I'm not sure I like it. I'll update a bit more soon, but I'm suffering the effects of a full day's minkering yesterday and not at 100%. Quiet night with laundry, takeaway and snuggling with Aaron. Noice.

Merry Christmas everyone! I know it's been a while since I last posted, but I'm away up the coast and so not been online until now. There'll be a full update later, but suffices to say we're incredibly relaxed. Aaron and I are up in Lennox with Pete and Johnno and it's been the most fantastic Christmas. Later today we head to Ocean Shores for part two of the adventure... 10 of us in a house until after New Year. Be very afraid. Big thanks to P+J (and Sue, Pete's sister for Xmas lunch - fantastic!) for the most wonderful time and for being great hosts. More soon.

Monday afternoon and by rights I should be working. However, I’ve done quite a bit today and so I feel like I should get this up to date instead and work tomorrow as it’s already almost 5.30pm and it’s not really worth starting my monthly report (which is the only thing outstanding on my to do list). Thursday night ended up being noice – home, veg out a bit, food (well, muffins with vegemite – that counts!) and then out with Pete and Johnno for a quick coffee in the humid night air. We talked about the house and how much it would cost for renovations to make it liveable as a one bedroom place, so at least I have a better idea of how much dosh I need to get together. Friday was another normal day. No gym though. Home and shower and change and then out to meet Pete to talk houses. Had beers at the Colombian and basically got things sorted. I need to get those plans submitted to council this week! Go Davie, go. Home to meet Aaron via Hungry Jacks and that was most of the evening. We were both a bit tired as it had been hot and stormy the night before and it was the end of another long week. I had to make some phone calls about various things to the UK – Dad, Frank the financial advisor, Fenella the accountant (no, really), The Woolwich re my endowment policy, Nick in Bangkok re the apartment sale. And shock horror I did it all. And found out stuff I needed to know re filing tax claims etc. That done I joined Aaron in bed and we slept longtime :o)

Saturday morning not too early we got up and had brekky. Then after dawdling a bit we hit town to try and find some shorts for me. But failed. I really have no clue where’s good to shop for clothes in Sydney! I suppose I’d better start finding out seeing as I intend to remain living here… We had some nosh at the food court and then finally headed home. I got a haircut and then got ready to head to start the musical excesses of the weekend. First up, Duran Duran and Robbie Williams in concert. We got to the stadium around 6.20pm - in plenty of time to meet up with Rich, Russ, Rod and Terry before Simon, John, Nick etc. hit the stage. And although they were looking a little ragged (Five and the Ragged Edges?) they were great. All the classics were there and we were belting out those old familiar lyrics along with them. Apparently there’s a new album and another tour next year – I’ll be there. Robbie was also good – I’m not as big a fan of his as I was a Durannie, but he was nevertheless the consummate entertainer. We left there happy at almost 11pm and walked home. I then hung around for Aaron before we hit Bad Dog and partied on (dude). Again it was a fun party, though noticeably quieter than the last one. There was an extra few dollars on the ticket price for a live band, which may have frightened a few people off, and of course Robbie too. Anyways we were soon in full swing. The music was great and it was only the live band that stopped the flow around 3am. Sadly the live experiment wasn’t a huge success. The Presets were OK, but I think the break caused a few people to reassess their evenings and too many people left. When the music got back into full swing the crowd was much more sparse and there was only just enough people to make a party quorum. Still we danced on undeterred until around 5.20am when we nipped home; rejigged and were back out again to the Phoenix to meet up with Pete and Tony (Johnno having decided not to kick on). However the Phoenix was also quiet and so we hit Arq. Which was surprisingly good! So good that we didn’t leave there until 11am. Pete was also there having some fun and it was nice to see him out and about having fun like we used to.

On arriving home we decided not to sleep. We showered and then hit Aaron’s before deciding vodka was the way forward. We hit the Bank Hotel and also had some food, which ended up being a bit of a mistake as then we felt sleepy. We got provisions and headed back to mine with the intention of watching DVDs, but after about 15 minutes we had to retire to bed. We slept until P+J phoned to ask us to have fish and chips on the beach at Bondi. What a great offer! So we did – along with Cassius, who’ll also be up the coast with us. We ate and drank champagne as the sun set. Marvellous. Home to bed.

Today has been work. A bit tired to say the least, but not too foul. Pete’s headed off round the world tonight so I’m going to try and get as much house stuff organised whilst he’s away. Only 4 more working days and then I’m off until 6 January. Have you any idea how excited I am? I’ve not had a beach holiday since September 1999… bring it on! Also, it’s going be to great fun spending the first week with Aaron, Pete and Johnno, and then the second week with Rich and Russ etc. in the original house we booked. We’ve got our NYE party tickets for Tropical Fruits and seemingly half of Sydney is going to be up there. I’ll post a full itinerary soon! Meantime – it’s time for this one to head for the hills.

OK. I started an update last Friday – the 5th – but seem to have failed to finish it. Let’s put that to rights shall we? This reads on from the last entry at the end of November. Who made it halfway through December already?

Friday afternoon, over a week since the last blog entry. And I'd been doing so well too... oh well. Here goes nothing. Thursday night I ended up doing nothing as I was really tired. Pete was to-ing and fro-ing with Rich and Russ to the new apartment and so I went grocery shopping and came back and ate and then it was too late and... blah. Friday was work and a half-hearted gym workout. Friday night was drinks at Peter the vet's for Gary's birthday and then out to Saigon Bay for thai food. Fun. To Bears briefly at the Oxford but it wasn't too much fun. Pete was drunk and had a bit of a go at me for not meeting up the previous evening - turned out to be a bit of a misunderstaning but... bah. Grr. Home with Aaron and sleep. Saturday we slept in a bit and then had healthy breakfast - Weetbix, banana, yoghurt and then toast and coffee. Woohoo. Healthy is good. And then we probably did some other stuff. Not sure what! Hold on Davie.. think. Ah yes, nipped to see Rich and Russ in their new place with all the furniture in (looks great!) and then it was on to Murray's birthday drinks about 4pm. Lots of people there and it turned out to be quite a lot of fun. So much so that I can’t remember what we did later. Doh! Sunday was more healthy breakfasts and then a picnic down in the Botanic Gardens with Pete, Johnno and Michael. Dave joined us a bit later. It was nice to do something a bit different! This however lead to more drinks at the Colombian and hanging around to see what the official opening of Taylor Square held. Not much to be honest. But the furore of the whole thing ended up with us at Arq. Not a good idea with work the next day…

Monday and December dawns. I remember feeling fairly ordinary at work and not going to the gym – beyond that? Your guess is as good as mine. Ditto Tuesday. Wednesday I had the gym trainer and came over all queer (insert joke here). That night me and Aaron headed over to Pete and Johnno’s for pizza and Terminator 3 on DVD. Cool! After feeling strange the day before I skipped gym on Thursday too. That night I met up with Pete at the Colombian to talk houses. Well it was the opposite of ‘It’s all good’. Bit of a disaster really. For various reasons Pete has decided he doesn’t want to renovate the house any more. Great. The conversation talked around it for a while before finally ending with that. In trying to sort out a time to talk more I got a bit frustrated and left. Not the happiest of bunnies, that’s for sure. However, at this point there’s not a great deal I can do… If it’s Friday morning it must be time to see the dental hygienist. And so I did. And then basically got told that one of my wisdom teeth has to come out early next year. So I decided to bite the bullet (as it were) and find out about getting braces on my teeth. Watch this space. I may be up for a cameo in a James Bond movie yet. Friday night stayed in with Aaron and watched Lord of the Rings: Two Towers on DVD. Well the first half anyway. Bed. Saturday met Gary and his Peter for breakfast to talk sensibly about the house options. That done I got my hair cut and abluted and tidied and so on. Went into town to try and Xmas shop but was having none of it when I got down there. Headed back to the apartment and vegged. Aaron came over and cooked. We watched the remained or LOTR and fell to bed. Sunday was nice brekky then went our separate ways to sort things out. Next was brekky #2 with Pete and Johnno at a café near the new house. Then we hit Wayne and Andrew’s for their renovation drinks and then on to Bar Cleveland for Allan’s birthday bash. This with Rich and Russ by this point. Then it kind of became a free for all and suddenly we were drunk; we’d had dinner at a lebanese place with little Daryl; we’d been to the Colombian to carry on the shenanigans and suddenly we were at Arq. Again. How did that happen two Sundays in a row? Home at 4.30am and Aaron was up at 6.30am for work. Great. I dozed another 2 hours then fell in to work myself. Not big or clever. Except for the fact that one of our major systems had thrown a fit over the weekend and had broken. Woohoo! Less to do. Monday night was home and something trashy on telly – Pitch Black. Tuesday was home to meet real estate agent to talk house prices then shopping then home. Something else trashy on telly. No gym either day :o( Yesterday I did work out with the trainer and had much more energy than last week, so that was something. Ended up over at Rich and Russ’s with Aaron for dinner – impromptu BBQ. Noice. Too much wine though and then a bit of a chat with Aaron as he dropped me home. Commitment time. Or not. I’ve got so much going on in my head re the house I’ve no energy to spend on thinking about anything else right now. I’m happy for things to continue as they are at the moment… it’s fun and Aaron’s lovely. Let’s take things slowly…
Anyway, I slept badly and ended up in work not particularly early, so no gym today. Working out what to do with the evening. I need to speak to Pete some more, and catch up with Pete and Johnno – all house related, and I’m trying to work out if I can buy Pete out, which will involve selling my house in the UK and getting all my assets over here. It’s all a bit grown up really and requires effort and no procrastination – neither of which are my forte. We’ll see…

It’s 4.15pm Thursday. Time for a cuppa. Tonight will involve ringing of UK type people and sorting out Xmas pressies. Beyond that… who can say?

Time for a very quick minker. A quinker, indeed. So far, week has been as hoped - nothing Monday night. No gym Tuesday as on a very interesting course to do with Qantas' management of future incidents. Basically I've volunteered to help out if (god forbid) there were to be a Qantas crash, or another incident like Bali where Qantas helped out. I'm on the team that organises the team of Qantas volunteers. Still with me? Good. Interesting stuff. Hopefully all we'll actually get to do is some trial runs...
Tuesday night was a very quick drink with Gary for his birthday and then Aaron joined me at the Colombian before we'd had enough and went and vegged out. Yesterday was more of the same, though we did get the home phone reconnected so I can email, blog and chat with overseas mates again. Woohoo! Peter the gym trainer (yes, another Peter) made me do shoulders and legs, and advised me that I might have trouble walking today (leave it...!). Well earlier was OK, but I can now feel everything tightening up (leave that alone too!). Not sure what tonight will bring - hoping to catch up with Pete (house Pete). Right, almost 6pm - time to leave work. Yay!!

Monday afternoon - and a quick update before I head off home. Had a pretty good weekend though of course I'm a bit tired now. Will I ever learn? (And just in case anyone actually thinks about replying to that last question, it was rhetorical. Thanks.)
Thursday evening was as described - think I had eggs, toast and tea. Marvellous. Out to meet Robert at Newtown and we had a chinwag and a couple of beers before Aaron arrived. After food for Aaron we retired back to Brumby St and had 'the chat'. Aaron had said it was all good, and all he really wanted to say was that he wants us to make a real go of things. He was holding back a bit as he's only fairly recently out of a relationship and he was planning a bit of single life, but the best laid plans... So I guess it's official. Yay! :o)
Friday was work and gym and home. Aaron came over and we headed out to Dave's birthday drinks in Woolloomooloo. It was miserable weather - all cold and rainy (and in fact was over all weekend and still is!). Drinks were low key and we were a bit tired so we ended up home and in bed before midnight. I must buy Dave a birthday present...
Saturday was a slight sleep in and then I went to the house to meet Pete. No further discussions of what's happening as we just cleaned the place ready for Pete to move in there short term this weekend. Hopefully after that he can stay at my place whilst Kerry's away for Christmas and hopefully after that we should have plans approved and work can start. Watch this space... I don't think we've heard the last of this yet. It was good to see Pete in a good mood though. We were done by late lunch and so went and ate before I headed down into town to fix my watch which broke on Thursday night. That done I bought a new phone which is something I've been meaning to do for ages, so that's fun and funky. I've not shopped for anything really for ages so that was actually good to do to. Next project - clothes...
Back home and after food it was time for Allan and Brendan's 40th birthday bash. They'd hired a big ship - the HMAS Vampire down in Darling Harbour. Great venue, but a couple of slight hitches. Firstly and the biggest problem - the wind and rain. It was such a shame - it still ended up being a great night but would have been better had we not had to huddle round each other keeping warm. Secondly, the rugby world cup final. Actually that wasn't a big issue though we could hear all the cheering from the bars dotted around the harbour, and it made travel a little more interesting. From the party it was time to hit the Colombian to meet Aaron, with the intention of going to the Imperial for a change. However suddenly we were in the Phoenix with Russ and a few of the usual gang and the rest is history - Arq; meeting up with Pete and Johnno; stumbling home at 9am. Doh. Fun though.
We had tea and decided not to sleep so just kept ourselves amused a while :o) Then we did actually kip for about an hour before getting ready and hitting Michae and Costa's place for lunch. We managed to eat too, remarkably! It was nice to catch up with them and their mad mates... hopefully we'll do it more. Then Aaron was heading off to watch some live bands but I couldn't cut it. Too in need of a veg out. So I did, with some documentary about Michael Jackson followed by The Grinch. Good for doing nothing to. Aaron popped back over and bed at 10.30pm. Slept like babies.
Today's just been work. No gym - too tired and it's still rainy and miserable. Grrr. A quiet week this week. Please. Very quick drink tomorrow with Gary as it's his birthday and then a few of us are having a meal on Friday for further celebration. Saturday is a birthday/house-warming thing for Murray in the afternoon. I'm hoping the rest of the nights this week remain free!

Thursday arvo and about an hour until home time. Been naughty and ditched the gym in favour of going home early for a change. Haven't been out for lunch even (chilli chicken rolls are delivered in on a Thursday) so will be well gone by 5pm. Not too much to report since last post... or actually there is. Ended up at a local art exhibition last night after work with Tony - nice to catch up with him and Adam that runs the shop, and a couple of free glasses of wine to boot. Thence to somewhere else for dinner with Tony - and I don't even know the name of the place! My risotto was nice though. Meantime I took a call from Pete who's not in the best of frames of mind re the house. I've a suspicion that he might want to put it back on the market - and if he does I can't afford to buy him out and so that's that. We'll see. He wants to move in short term so we're doing some cleaning this weekend. Chance to chat I think - hopefully he'll come round. It'll be a real wasted opportunity if we end up getting rid of it. Home to a slightly weird chat with Aaron on the phone. He wants to 'talk' tonight, though assures me it's all good. We'll see later I suppose. So that kind of took the wind out of my sails last night. Hey skanky ho.
Into work early as mentioned, and at our weekly meeting it was announced that my promotion had finally been made official. So I'm now a Senior Flight Analyst... which means bugger all really. I get a bit more pay but lose my rostered days off (essentially a flex day a month) so that's a bit of a bummer. Whatever. I guess I don't have to do a great deal more work-wise except mentor new starters (which I've already done) and do some systems development and so on (which I'm already doing) so business as usual then.
Tonight will be cheap food at home, then drinks with Robert in Newtown for a catch up before he heads to Blighty for a couple of weeks. After that I'll find out just what Aaron's got to say...

Wednesday arvo and I'm buggered. Missus. Just back from an hour with the psycho trainer at the gym. Today's torture? Cardio. So after a total of 57 minutes of treadmill; rowing and crosstrainer, with running up and down 4 flights of stairs 5 times as a little 'break' twixt treadmill and rowing you might not be so surprised I'm so bushed. An hour and a half to kill before hometime... whatever can I do? Actually I've been very productive today - I did all my normal work and then updated my special eventing so I'm completely caught up with everything. Well that's at least one aspect of my life that's under control then. Stayed in last night waiting for the architect to call for me to go and collect the final version of the plans for council before Rich buggered off on holiday for 2 weeks. Slightly dismayed then when, by 9pm, I rang to find he's left them for me to pick up at his work instead. Which is miles away and very inconvenient if you haven't got a car. And he's not done a couple of things I think we might need for submission and so I don't even know if we'll get this in before December. Bugger x3. So I ate and watched trashy telly and rang Aaron. Then I rang my Dad - I mentioned almost as a throwaway at the end of the last post that it was four years yesterday since Mum died. Dad seemed OK. A family friend was taking him up to the crematorium where there's a memorial to Mum and then they were going out for lunch afterwards. That'll be perfect for Dad. It still feels weird sometimes that's Mum's not around - but probably more so for me given the frequency that I dream about her. We weren't ever particularly close - as a family we've always been closer amongst siblings than the parent-child bond, but I do seem to dream about Mum with frightening regularity. Nothing bad particularly, she's just there. Mind you, my dreams are generally rooted in the past than in either the now or the future. Oftentimes there are people from school - most of whom I've not seen nor even heard about since 1983. Sometimes people from Uni - and I left there some 15 years ago. Weird. I'm sure some psychoanalysts would have a field day about something I've repressed from my childhood years but I'm buggered if I can remember anything. And no, it most definitely wasn't that!!

Weekend hung out for, done, dusted and more than ready for the next one! Friday ended up being a quiet one in with Aaron at my place. I cooked pasta and veggies and we had wine and vegged out in front of X-Men which was on telly. Yay.
Saturday was a leisurely morning followed by a stroll up to meet Rich and Russ at the Milk Bar for something to eat. It was a glorious day and so as if by magic we ended up at the beach. R'n'R, Pete and Johnno and me and Aaron. La Perouse - fun. First beach day in ages, and I'd forgotten how nice it is. Though it's still spring and the water was freezing! Headed back with Pete and Johnno and did coffee and cake at the Grumpy Baker. Noice. We then all ran round like mad things and suddenly we were having pizza in Newtown at Wedgetail. Rich and Russ didn't join us in the end though... and then we went to see Kill Bill Vol.1. Well... lots of people had told me it was great so I was quite looking forward to it. And it delivered. I really enjoyed it. Sure it's violent, but to the point where it's like Itchy and Scratchy on the Simpsons. You become immured from it. It actually takes on a cartoon like quality (and not just the section of the movie that actually becomes a cartoon). Uma is great - she really does (literally!) kick ass. Am ready for the next instalment already, but we have to wait until February. Grrr. From there it was briefly to the Colombian and then down to the Phoenix. Have to say it was disappointing. Fun to head down with Pete, Johnno and Aaron, but it didn't really do it for any of us. The crowd was a bit strange and the music was dire. No good. P+J headed up to Arq but we decided to stay a little longer as some of Aaron's mates were there. We ended up back at Warren's, chilling instead. Home by 6am...
and up at noon-ish. Tea and music and dozing. Met P+J at the Chocolate Dog in Newtown as I had the biggest hankering for sweet potato pancakes with bacon and sweet chilli sauce. Noice. Then it suddenly became the middle of winter again - cold and almost rainy - so Aaron and I retired back to Brumby St and watched Donnie Darko on DVD. Cool film. We were going to then chill, but Pete called and I ended up down the Shift with him for a beer. A few others there - Mark, Stephen initially and later Pete and Johnno and Tony. Fun but a bit later than necessary given the weekend's other activities. Bed after 11pm.
Monday - work. No gym as tired. Decided we'd go to the Here and Now concert at the Entertainment Centre. Consisiting of a 'not to be missed' 80s line up I'd been debating for ages whether to go and just thought 'sod it'! It was fun! We met Gary and Peter for a beer and Hungry Jack's before and missed the two Aussie bands - 1927 and Mondo Rock. We were nicely in place however for Go West and Belinda Carlisle and they did pretty good renditions of their classics. Next up Paul Young. Oh dear. He tried hard but bless him his voice is shot. Completely. We had beer instead and got ready for the two headline acts. First up - Kim Wilde. She was great. She looked good and looked like she was having a blast! Fun performance that really got the crowd dancing and singing. The 10 minute break before the Human League really split the whole gig into two parts and the last set was very much a Human League mini-gig whereas the rest had been a kind of 'best of' reminisce. The Human League were great though less sing-a-long than Kim. However for those afficionados amongst us it was great. We got Hard Times/Love Action; Open your heart; The Lebanon; Human; Mirror Man; (Keep feeling) Fascination; Tell me when and Don't you want me. Fantastic. They hinted they might tour separately next year in Oz. Bring it on! Beer with Gary afterwards and then home. Late. Tired now.
Tuesday. Work. No gym again as I couldn't get out of bed today. Aaron left at 6.45am and I slept on until gone 8am. Hoping for a quiet rest of week. Have to phone Dad later - it's four years today that my Mum died.

Hanging out for the weekend...

Robert's book launch last Thursday was interesting. Nice to see Murray as always, and of course Robert himself. Probably the only place I'll ever hear a lesbian reading out loud a book passage about gay men and fisting. But you get that... Aaron accompanied me and we ran a bit late meeting Gary and Pete L for drinks at the Colombian. Food and home. Friday was work and a half day. The afternoon was spent at council and the with Johnno for coffee and chats, bless him. Hit the supermarket and then Aaron came over and we watched a made for telly movie version of one of my favourite books as a child - A Wrinkle in Time. It wasn't half bad actually and weird that so much of it is still indelibly imprinted on my brain after some 30 or so years...
Saturday morning was lazy and then brekky with Rich and Russ. I then did coffee with Dave in Potts Point and Dr Pete and Johnno joined us there. Aaron came over too and he and I then went to some mates of his for a birthday drinks bash. Michael and Costas seem very nice, and weirdly they live in the Tewkesbury Apartments - where I first lived when I moved to Sydney in August 1998. Strange to be there again. Well the drink was flowing and soon we were a little tipsy. With every intention of hitting the Phoenix later, Aaron and I went and had Vietnamese, then hit my place to chill. Which involved playing lots of trashy music and then, without really realising it, crashing out. Probably for the best. Sunday morning was brekky with Aaron in Darlinghurst and then we hit town for shopping. Ended up at the Tilbury to meet Dr Pete and Johnno, which was odd. Not really our sort of place, but always nice to see the boys. Finally home, Aaron ate and then bed. I was feeling full of cold, which crept up on me after crashing out. A bit bizarre, but quite full on. Haven't been that sniffly for ages.
Monday - work. Catch up with Pete at the Trinity to hear his news. Tuesday work and then over to Gary's for pasta and Finding Nemo on his new plasma screen TV. Noice. Wednesday work, gym, Aaron. Dinner - chinese in Newtown. Snuggle. Sleep. Yesterday work - awful day at work. Lots of messy bits. Not happy. Met Pete to talk housey housey and then Aaron came and sped me to Newtown. We met Dr Pete and Johnno and went for more Vietnamese. Lots of fun.
today - Friday. Work. Not done a great deal. Nixed the gym. Ready for home. Soon. Not sure what the weekend holds. Definite catch up with Rich the architect and Pete at some point. Maybe Phoenix with Dr P+J. Brekky with R'n'R again? Who can say?

Having a great time getting to know Aaron. He's cute, fun, sexy... you get the picture. We seem to get on well, can laugh at stuff and talk about all sorts of rubbish. I'd forgotten how nice that can all be when it's more than just with a mate. More please :o)

Thursday again. Another week passes. Dave fails to remember what's been going on. Again. Probably. I can't remember what happened last Thursday night. I know I should, but I can't. Maybe I had an early night. Maybe I didn't. Aha! Let me check tonight's telly guide and see if that rings any bells for last week. Bear with me a second...OK. I was somewhere out coz I know I missed Kath and Kim. But can I remember where? Can I bollocks. One last hope - lemme check sent emails last Friday. It's a long shot but it just might work. Yay! OK, Out with Pete for a couple of beers as he needed distraction. Aaron joined us as we hit the dodgy pizza place and we pigged out. Then home to bed. With a mosquito. Not the nicest of threesomes let me tell you...
Friday was work and gym and home. Out with Aaron and Pete and Johnno for pizza on Crown St and then for beers. Colombian and then Oxford. Then home and not too late to bed. Dozed in with Aaron Saturday morning before hitting the local cafe for bacon and egg roll. Yum. Aaron tootled off, I got my hair cut and then hooked up with Pete. We kind of mooched, waiting for Rich the architect to call and go through plans. He finally called to say it would be much later, so we kind of just meandered. Pete's not been in the best of humours and eventually his mood rubbed off on me and I had this feeling of impending doom. We ended up in Newtown shopping for clothes (he bought, I didn't in the end) and then suddenly there was a million things to do in about 4 minutes. Aaron kindly drove me over to Rich and Russ's to pick something up to take to Pete and Johnno's. From there to Aaron's; then mine; then out to the Bent magazine anniversary party thing where Aaron's ex was playing. The performance was actually pretty good, though the singers let the songs down a bit. Still fun though. From there it was off to Bad Dog - arranging to meet all and sundry there. And so we did :o) It was fun, as ever, though I felt the music to be a bit disappointing this time round. Didn't stop us having a blast though - Johnno and Pete seemed to enjoy it and we spent most of the time with them, Tony and Dave. J+P adjourned to Arq around 5am but we decided not to go - it's just wrong after a Bad Dog... from attitude free, fun, alternative music to shiny, smooth men with their heads up their arses? I don't think so! We adjourned to Aaron's and then to Fred's, with Dave and Michael. We then had to go and pick up the house plans at 9.30am having had no sleep and still in party mode. Fun! I think. Back to Fred's where we watched Spirited Away on DVD. Lovely. Finally to Aaron's around 2.30pm and sleep. Up around 6pm for updates all round then ordered turkish pizza, chatted and were asleep again by 10pm. Marvellous!
So as you can imgine, work wasn't the best on Monday morning. But I survived. Left a bit early to meet Johnno and his Pete at the house so they could repair next door's damage. Pete came to look at the plans that night and was kind of non-committal which is slightly concerning. We need to sort that out! I had a very early night that night.
Tuesday was work over at NGI all day, which wasn't too bad. Gym in the middle of it. It was also Melbourne Cup day (Grand National equivalent) but I couldn't be bothered to bet. Had to meet Johnno at the house again and then adjourned to the supermarket. Aaron came over and we had a lamb roast and watched telly. Noice. Yesterday was psycho trainer at lunch and then home and a lazy time. Cooked and watched telly and was in bed and asleep around 9.20pm. Rock 'n' roll! Slept through until gone 7am this morning.
Today's been work; gym and I'm about to try and do some phoning to work out if we can get our house plans submitted and sped through council. Wish me luck. Heading off to a book launch later and then a couple of beers with Gary. Half day tomorrow. Woohoo!

So I left you last Friday with a somewhat cryptic reference to my lunchtime activities and the promise of a nice evening in store with Robert. All will be revealed…
Dinner with Robert was indeed lovely. We had Thai in Newtown and chatted about life, love, etc. We left with the promise to continue to get to know one another by email (which is ongoing) and Robert’s kindly invited me to his book launch next week. Saturday was meant to be house stuff, but in the end I just met up with Pete for brekky and we got back on an even keel after me messing him around last week. We had a brief visit from Johnno and Pete at the house and took them for coffee (actually they paid, bless ‘em) before heading over to Pete Lindhe’s house auction. Sadly all didn’t go to plan and it got passed in (which means it didn’t reach its reserve price for those readers from overseas). We commiserated with Phil and Graham (note correct new spelling) and a glass of wine before adjourning to the Colombian to have a bit more of a catch up over vodka and cranberry. I nipped home for a bit of a rest before heading out to Govindas to meet up with Dave and watch Pirates of the Caribbean – Curse of the Black Pearl and Contender for the Longest Film Title of the Year. It was bizarrely almost a year to the day since Dave and I had been on a date there (see October 2002 archives if you’re that interested) and nice that we’ve progressed into being such good friends. The movie was actually really quite a rollicking spectacle and if you happen to have read that Johnny Depp has based his character on Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones it becomes even more enjoyable. Dave headed off home and I checked the phone for developments. Aaron was headed to the Phoenix post Prince and Pete was keen to head out. Sounds like the perfect combination. So verily there we all were, having a rare old time. The music wasn’t the best, and neither was Pete’s mood and so we hit the Shift to try and get a bit more accessible music. That failed and so to Arq. That was a bit better and there were some other people there that we knew. Knowing Pete would be OK Aaron and I made our excuses…
Again we had a really good time together, and as if by magic it was Sunday early evening – how did that happen? I guess it’s testament to how well we’re getting on. We headed over to Newtown to get some food and I finally headed towards home around 7.30pm. Something else happened then… what the hell was it? Ah yes. Everyone else had spent the day at Toy Box, a dance party through the day. In fact the boys had called offering me a ticket that morning, but I’d chosen to stay in bed with Aaron (der - tricky choice that one…!) So I headed to the Shift and soon the gang was all there. In fact loads of people turned up, including Johnno and Pete. Fun, fun, fun. Into the early hours. In fact so early were the hours that me and Pete decided not to sleep and head to Arq and then go straight to work. And so it came to pass…
Work on Monday was not good. No gym as I could hardly keep awake, and in fact I almost fell asleep at my desk in the afternoon a couple of times. Not a good look. Home and fell alseep on the sofa, woke up long enough to eat half an avocado and watch Queer Eye and then coma time.
Tuesday – work, no gym. Aaron came over Tuesday night for a cup of tea. And left Wednesday morning :o) He’s a sweetie, and really is as cute as I remembered him. I think we might be spending quite a bit more time together…
Psycho trainer yesterday nearly killed me. Evil. Home to veg until I got an impromptu call from Johnno and Pete offering dinner. Yay! And so I did. Johnno came to pick me up, and in doing so let the cat out of the bag as to what had happened Friday lunchtime last week! Doh. Be sure your sins will find you out. I felt a bit bad but it seems all is well. Aaron’s aware too, so as we’ve all being saying, no one’s been hurt on we all get on with being mates. Big time. I’m excited about what’s been happening lately. I’ve said for a while it seemed like I’ve been on the verge of something great. It feels like it might be finally here…

Well it would seem that of late that Friday arvo is update Minkered... time. Well I guess that's probably coz I now have no internet link at home for the moment and it's doing my head in!! I left you this time last week - what has happened since? Well actually quite a lot...

Friday night - stayed in I think. Oh, I know - Pete and I tried to thrash out one final iteration of plans to give to the architect. However we hit a bit of a stalemate at 10pm and so Pete went home and I went to bed. Had originally planned to meet Johnno (builder) and his partner Pete for beers but I was too stuffed (as they so quaintly put it here).
Saturday - met Pete at the house post early brekky and haircut for me. We then actually hit Newtown and talked through our ideas with Rich and got everything resolved. Now all he has to do is draw them... Walked back and did some work on the house before calling it a day. I ended up at Gary's for dinner with his Pete (everyone's got one you know, they're the latest thing) and Phil and Graeme. Although I knew of P and G I'd never really met them in a social setting before, and they turned out to be lots of fun, and the meal was lovely. Phil reminds me of Jonathon - they have the exact same voice. Weird. We ended up watching the Best of Graham Norton on DVD which was actually much, much funnier than I expected. I was then mean to be meeting the builders again for a beer, but took a call from Rich of Rich and Russ... and suddenly I was heading to their place to get a lift to Sin Bin. A small dance party at a seafood restaurant (I kid you not) called the Grotto Capri. I'd heard lots about the freaky venue and so I couldn't say no - plus half the Bad Dog crowd were going to be there. And so it came to pass. There we all were, getting into it when I noticed Aaron - a cute guy I'd met briefly a couple of times before. On scanning the crowd for his boyf, he was noticeable by his absence and suddenly Aaron and I were chatting. And he's split up from his partner. And.. well you can guess the rest. The party was lots of fun - nice people, great music and lots of flirting and snogging. Fantastic. One weird thing was the fact that the Grotto Capri is kind of set in faux caves - stalactites and the like... and I just kept waiting for Muppets and the whole kind of Fraggle Rock thing to happen. It didn't but...
Aaron drove us home at 6am, and we spent the next 7 hours getting to know one another a little better... and it was great - relaxed, comfortable, sexy. Noice, as Kath and Kim would say. Finally guilt got the better of me as I was meant to have been at the house working from around 9.30am. Oops. Pete had gone however as he was over it. Oops again. Sorry mate. I then regrouped and had coffee with Dave before realising we'd all been invited to a house warming party and so off we went. Fun. One of the guys who was in the show at Sleaze was one of the house mates and sure enough we ended up knowing enough people to make it a bit of a laugh. Adjourned to the Colombian with Tony for a couple more beers, hit the Shift to see if Pete were there (he wasn't) then home to bed. Great weekend!!
Monday - gave myself the day off gym as I was tired (wonder why?). Work then home and then managed to hit the supermarket and come home and cook something noice whilst watching trashy telly. Also worked out with Kerry that I'll stay a little longer in Brumby Street until I know a bit more definitely when Pete and I can move into our new place.
Tuesday - work; gym with psycho trainer; home and out to Newtown for dinner with Aaron. Lovely. Both him and dinner. I realised early on that he was really nervous about the date which was really sweet. Bless him. Spent a bit more time getting to know each other before Aaron kindly drove me home...
Wed - work; no gym as I renewed my driving licence; home. More cooking and trashy telly - Jamie Oliver; the Simpsons; Kylie Kwong (who I have to say is leaving me cold) and then Queer Eye meets Oprah. Has my life come to this? This week it has, yes.
Thursday - work; no gym as a trip into the city in the arvo to visit our groups department. Dragged on a bit long so supermarket and home as I was to entertain Aaron at my place. Had a great dinner and again spent some time getting to know one another. So far so good - he's seeming lovely, sexy and fun - which is a great start. The scary connection came out last night too - we got on to birthdays (which weirdly hadn't come up until then). It finally transpired that we're both Aries... and then that his birthday is the day after mine! For those of you that know the sort of bond I have with Stevie P (same day as me) and Richie Bean (who shares Aaron's birthday on 2nd April) you'll realise that this will either be spectacular or could well end in tears!! Actually I think Aaron and I are destined for some fun... he finally left in the early hours so I could sleep.
Today - well there's a thing. Work. No gym because... because well I'll tell you on the next update. No really. Meantime it's now just gone 6pm and I'm off home. Out for coffee with the lovely Robert a bit later and then that's it. Hopefully catch up with Pete and some house stuff as rightly so Pete's been a bit pissed off that I let him down again last weekend. I've apologised, but I've plenty more grovelling to go before I'm off the hook. However it was so nice snuggled up with Aaron I just couldn't force my lazy arse out of bed...
May well hook up with him over the weekend. Just to make sure he's still cute... :o)

Aaaaaaaaaaaagh. Too much going on. Again. But that's good, no? Er, no. Stop!

OK. Last Friday ended up being day from hell and I think I had an early night as I was over the whole day - I realise I'd forgotten my gym kit so couldn't work out. Hate that. Didn't catch up with Carlo either. :o(
Saturday Pete and I worked on the redesign of the house after a trip to IKEA. I then went out for a beer with Rich and then the Phoenix where I chatted to the lovely Robert until we hit the Shift until I was so drunk I just had to go home. Probably best at 6am.
Sunday I was a waste of space until mid afternoon. In bed with Buffy til then. House post then, but did nothing.
This week has been mostly work. And gym. And flirting by SMS with the lovely builder. And realising that I didn't pay the bill for the phone. Or the internet. Doh. I met up with Rich the architect last night to get final go on the plans and so tonight Pete and I do one final iteration before handing them back to be drawn. Oh, and the gas got connected at the new house today, you'll be pleased to know.
That's it. Dull but I'm on the way home. It's Friday night!

Why oh why isn't it later in the day? It's not even 11am and I'm over today. Wednesday night I hit Rich and Russ's oh so briefly to wish Adrian a belated happy birthday. Then it was off to the Green Park with Pete as he'd had a bit of a run in with Crusty. Managed to cheer him up by the time we had food on Oxford Street. Home. Yesterday was just work, no gym (we had a leaving lunch) and home. Kath and Kim on the telly. Food. Bed. Today is dull, but I do have my maniac of a new trainer at 1.30pm. I'm counting on not being able to move easily afterwards! May catch up with Carlo later, not sure. Going to have the quietest of weekends... We've put a halt on the house stuff until we get what we have done so far checked out by a certifier. Just to be on the safe side. I have so much life admin to do it's not funny. Me, procrastinate? I'll tell you tomorrow...

Well well well. What shenanigans this weekend gone. Some of the most fantastic fun you ever did see. And then some more. I left you some days ago. In fact it’s now a week ago. Ay caramba.

We did the Sleaze rehearsal last week and I just seem to remember it went on longer than we’d planned. I think we ended up at Arthur’s Pizza which was good and then home to bed. Thursday was work and gym and who knows what in the evening. I’m assuming at some point I did stay in! The gym session on Thursday was with a different trainer and I know it almost killed me! Friday was more gym and more work but I was just really counting down the time to the weekend. Finally it was time to go (skanky ho) and no doubt I did something riveting that evening. I think me and Pete had pizza actually. After house discussions and the like. Saturday dawned and we hit the house in time for Rich the plan man to come over and show us what he’d done so far. So we discussed and cogitated and in the end it was time for me to hit final rehearsal. Which went on longer than planned so I hit Oxford Street to buy Shift recovery tickets and get my haircut. I was successful on one front at least… the hair had to wait! Food at Foodgame and then home to have a brief kip before the weekend’s frivolities commenced. Got to Rich and Russ’s around 9.30pm and we had drink and haircuts and dress ups and finally we were ready to go.
Sleaze: well – what a fantastic party! We got there and did the tour – it was actually fairly busy for so early which was an encouraging sign. Found a meeting place and went and gave Johnno and Pete (builder and partner) the tour. We then ended up back at the RHI and danced there until after the first show, which was pretty spectacular it has to be said. Thence to Studio 11 for our show. We hung around for about half an hour all up and then on we went. It was a kind of ritualistic light S&M show with two leather masters, some slaves and some guards (of which I was one). It all went off pretty much according to plan, and the venue was packed! Fantastic fun. And of course once it was over we could focus on the matter in hand, which was enjoying the actual party. And the longer it went on the more fantastic it got. I spent most of the time in the RHI dancing with Pete, Rich and Russ and the lovely Johnno and Pete. Great music, great shows, great company. All too soon it was 8am and the final show was over – how did that happen? We meandered slowly back to Rich and Russ’s where it was showers all round and a general regroup.
DayShift: down to the Shift which sadly wasn’t the best organised thing. We ended up waiting downstairs for three quarters of an hour as upstairs had been oversold. Once in though, it was great. Pete took a turn for the worst around 12.30pm so I took him home before returning. Russ left, then Rich and finally I stumbled out of there around 4pm. Back to R’n’R’s for a very brief kip then we got up and forced some food down before getting ready for Indulgence. Pete and I ran down to the Shift around 10.30pm, bought tickets and then came back to get ready again before finally heading down there just after midnight.
Indulgence: does the word revelation mean anything to you, dear reader? Previous Indulgence parties have been fun but nothing spectacular – generally a sexy crowd but with music that’s a bit too hard to get your head around. Well maybe someone had been listening to the crowd, but whatever the reason, the music was fantastic. Just the heavy side of accessible it hit all the right buttons and the place went off. The crowd was great – lots of our friends there. Finally saw a little of Dave having hardly seen him all weekend! Oh, and verily another six hours passed most pleasurably. Most, most pleasurably. Had the odd snog as a bit of a bonus and then we headed back again to Rich and Russ’s for the last regroup before the final onslaught…
Arq: and yet more fun ensued. The music was great and the crowd a laugh. I overdid things a little and had to be propped up by Rich for a wee while, but all’s well that ends well! Thanks mate – I love you lots! We did venture back to the apartment when upstairs at Arq closed, but not for that long and soon we were back downstairs dancing like maniacs. We finally called it a weekend around 4pm. What a fantastic time. Thanks go out to Pete, Rich and Russ and Johnno and Pete. Looking forward to getting to know those two boys a bit more. Or maybe a lot more…

Home. Chocolate. Sleep. Beans on toast. More sleep. Work yesterday dragged. Over to Rich and Russ’s for dinner which was great. Bed. Work today. Gym. And now I’ve had enough. Ready for home time. Which will be soon I guess. I’m having flirty text message banter with Johnno the builder and I’d forgotten how much fun that can be :o)

More news as it happens, but all in all – one of the best weekends I can remember!!

Happy half-birthday to me
Happy half-birthday to me
Happy half-birthday dear Davieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Happy half-birthday to me.

Yes, I'm 38½ today. That's old.

Update on the week so far. Monday night - house stuff. Tuesday - house stuff and then the Sleaze show rehearsal. Today has been work and gym another Sleaze show rehearsal. Anyone see a pattern?