I bring you the ubiquitous navel gazing exercise known as 100 Things:
- If you are given a very common name like Andrew, you will either spend most of your life with a variety of nicknames, or most of your life with some sort of qualifier attached to your name. So "No, short Andrew", "No, Mikey's ex-boyfriend Andrew" or something similar becomes very common.
- 'The Other Andrew' is a spin on this, and started life as a name to distinguish me from another Andrew who was also a frequent commenter on Max's site.
- My family and a small handful of old friends call me Andy. I don't mind it, but I'm not keen when strangers call me that. Somehow it seems too intimate.
- I'm very short. 5'4" (or about 165cm).
- I cry easily.
- These two things are not related.
- I was born in 1964, which makes me 38 for the next couple of years, at least.
- My family came to Australia from England when I was 1 year old, and I grew up in Adelaide but moved to Sydney in my 20's.
- I don't smoke. (I hear it stunts your growth.)
- I love to laugh, and to make other people laugh.
- I have a tendency to say almost anything, often quite outrageous things, if I think it will get a laugh.
- I am the world's lightest sleeper. Ever.
- On account of this, I have periodic bouts of insomnia and have slept with earplugs every night for over twenty years.
- My hotel room was once robbed, while I was asleep in the room. The earplugs were partly to blame, but I had drunk my own body weight in alcohol, so that might have been a factor. In hindsight, I was glad I stayed asleep.
- I'm an orphan.
- Both my parents died from cancer.
- In a strange twist of fate I once worked for a Familial Cancer Registry, dealing with the members of families with known genetic mutations which pre-dispose them to certain types of cancer.
- It ended up being a little too close to home, even though my family does not fit the profile.
- I have two sisters who I get along well with but I rarely see as they live half way across the country.
- My oldest sister suffered a debilitating stroke a few years back and her life has never been the same since.
- I played the French Horn in High School. I was so tiny I couldn't hold it properly.
- Whenever I tell my friends this they fall about laughing.
- I've survived two major car accidents. I'm not planning on having a third.
- I don't drive, and never have.
- Last year I broke my clavicle in a head-on car accident. It was extremely painful, especially as it went undiagnosed for a couple of weeks and I had started having physiotherapy. My shoulders are no longer symmetrical.
- I was a teenage Star Trek nerd. Conventions, costumes, the whole nine yards. Biggest nerd coup, a book personally autographed by Gene Roddenberry himself. In your face, bitches.
- I have a strong creative drive and love to make things.
- I trained as a milliner.
- I once won a hat competition with a horse race themed Melbourne Cup hat... made for a drag queen. There was Astroturf, plastic horses and a hot-glue gun involved.
- I adore stationery and hardware stores. So. Many. Precious. Things.
- Amongst other crafts, I'm an excellent embroiderer. Yes, I know how nelly that sounds.
- I secretly wish I was Martha Stewart, but without the prison thing.
- I love you, even though you never call.
- I can't abide the taste of liquorice or anything aniseed. Blech!
- Aside from that, I'm pretty much omnivorous, but that changed recently when I became a vegetarian.
- I hate the smell of popcorn, especially the buttered sort that people eat at the movies. I've been known to change seats if the smell is too strong.
- I love animals, especially dogs. I used to date a guy who bred and showed dogs competitively, and when we split I missed the dogs more than him.
- Everything in the dog show 'mockumentary' film "Best In Show" is pretty much true.
- Bar one notable example (see Dog Show Man above) I'm still friends with all my ex boyfriends. They are legion.
- Dog Show Man turned out to be just a tad psychotic. If I'd known that he saw a psychiatrist twice a week, I might have been more cautious.
- I've been single for about three years now, and I don't mind it at all.
- It would be nice to be in another relationship, but I figure it'll happen one day.
- Most people hate playing cards with me. Not because I'm good, but because every single time I'm all like "So how do we play this one again?"...
- I don't play cards very often.
- I'm a practicing Buddhist, in the Tibetan lineage called Mahayana.
- I'm a Godless Parent to the daughter of two of my closest friends. In addition to approaching a Christian friend to be a God Parent, they approached a Pagan friend and myself to be provide balance and alternatives.
- I was extremely touched.
- I can't sing, even though I used to be a choral singer before my voice broke.
- I have a large group of loving friends, both straight and gay.
- I'm a bit of a tv junkie, and let little come between me and an episode of The Amazing Race.
- I use too many commas, and ellipses...
- I love dark chocolate. Dark & bitter.
- I'm a good cook.
- I love coffee. Straight up and dirty, black and no sugar.
- I'm not so keen on tea, it gives me indigestion.
- I learnt to tap dance in my early 30's, but haven't really done it since.
- I studied classical ballet for 4 years, but gave it up when I was 12 and all the girls were towering over me.
- I still have passably good turn-out and extension.
- For my 40th birthday a friend gave me a day at flying trapeze school. Best. Gift. Ever.
- I love to read, but like everyone else in the blogsphere, what I really want to do is write.
- But of course I don't, and when I do I'm not very good at it. Of course you know that already if you read this blog.
- I try not to, but I tend to use emoticons.
- :-)
- From 9 to 5 I have to spend my time at work. My job is very boring, I'm an office clerk.
- I will respect you immensely if you get that reference.
- I love what you've done with your hair.
- I don't have a particular 'type' but I frequently find Indian and Anglo-Indian men attractive. Apparently this makes me a Curry Queen, who knew?
- I dislike buying new shoes, as I have flat and wide feet. Consequently it takes me forever to break in new shoes.
- Like jeans, they're best when they're just about to fall apart.
- When I find a pair of shoes that fit well, I wear them endlessly.
- The height thing and the feet thing indicate that I am at least one quarter hobbit.
- There's a bit of munchkin in there too, I suspect.
- I love nice soap. L'Occitane's lemon verbena almost makes me swoon.
- I love the word 'swoon'.
- I grew a goatee even before they were fashionable. I've kept it ever since, on account of I'm convinced I have a weak chin.
- I have hazel eyes like my mother, which look more brown or more green on different days.
- I wish I had inherited my father's blue eyes.
- I am determined to visit Barcelona and Venice some day.
- I love architecture, and when I was at school I toyed with the idea of becoming an architect.
- The maths put me off.
- I wish it hadn't.
- I sometimes doodle buildings during meetings.
- I would love to see a Gaudi building first hand.
- In my opinion two of the most underrated virtues are kindness and restraint.
- I'm not that great at restraint.
- Having said that, I did give up meat and alcohol recently and my degree of willpower has surprised even me.
- Most embarrassing moment would probably be when my very old fashioned father walked in on me as a teenager undertaking a little self pleasuring, shall we call it?
- It was a close call to figure out which of us was the more mortified.
- Thank goodness he never looked on top of my wardrobe. That thing was positively groaning under the weight of well thumbed porn.
- I told my school friends I was gay when I was 15, and they all reacted really well.
- At 18 I was working as a telephone counsellor, talking to guys who were coming out and were often more than twice my age. It was tough but I'm glad I did it.
- I really dislike fidgeting, especially seeing people bite their nails. I have no idea why, but it really bugs me. Why can't you just sit still?
- I'm a big fan of fresh air, when I'm home I'll always have the doors and windows open (unless it is really cold).
- I have a large sticker above my work station which is purple and says Drama Queen. It was given to me by a co-worker.
- The rest of my workstation walls are a postcard art gallery. William Morris, Buddha pictures and Japanese prints feature heavily. One of my favourites is a picture of a gun pointing to an X, with an arrow saying 'You Are Here'.
- My parents had really thick English accents, and I have a bit of a weird English/Aussie hybrid accent thing going.
- I use the word 'actually' waaaaay too much.
- I always read the instructions... and not afterwards but before I try and operate it/put it together.
- I suspect that I'm not a very good blogger. When I go back and read my posts they sometimes seem a little too low key and don't really sound that much like me I think.
- ...but then again, I'm my own worst critic.
24 comments:
OK, I just stumbled into your blog and this, my second post, is as inappropriate as the first but I gotta say that after reading your 100 things I can't emphasize enough how much I want you. Like right now. Please exercise the power to delete at your discretion.
Schoolgirl crush aside, you are too harsh a self-critic. You should write. You made me laugh out loud. You moved me. It was like an episode of Party of Five, but smarter and without the after-shame of being so blatantly manipulated.
100 Things
1. My chosen internet handle Bodhi comes from a Buddhist (both Pali and Sanskrit) word that literally means awakening. Aside from just liking the sound of the word, it’s a fitting description I think for my life journey thus far, which has if anything been a gradual awakening to recovery, self and spirit.
2. My real name is Michael, and I don’t mind at all when people call me either Mick, Mike or Mikey. My mother, on the other hand, hates it.
3. I was born in Wentworthville, Sydney on 19th August 1965. While still a small baby, my parents moved us back to the Mid North Coast of NSW where they were originally from. I grew up there till the age of 22.
4. My parents are Catholic, and I was raised in that faith with all that entails. This included a private Catholic school education.
5. I never really believed in either Catholicism or Christianity, although some aspects of it did appeal. I might have been raised a Catholic, but to this day I know in my heart that I never really was one.
6. In 1987 I moved to Sydney and have lived here ever since.
7. I absolutely LOVE this city.
8. My parents still live on the Mid North Coast. They retired to a brand new beautiful 5-bedroom home with a large meticulously landscaped garden and a pool. Why exactly they need 5 bedrooms is a question they have never apparently asked themselves.
9. I have only one other sibling, a sister, Julie, who is two years younger than me. She lives in Brisbane and has two children.
10. A typical Aussie, I am of both Irish and English descent if you go back far enough. My mother’s family can be traced back in this country at least 120 years, my fathers over 160 years. So we have been here awhile.
11. A congenital cataract in my right eye means that I have been blind since birth in that eye.
12. The above has never bothered me, though it does mean that I suck at sports that require co-ordination and would be an accident waiting to happen with my limited depth perception and reduced scope if I was to ever drive.
13. The last point is why I have never held a drivers license.
14. I have an extremely addictive nature.
15. I had an alcohol problem that raged across my life for a decade, from around the age of 17 to just short of 27. For six of those years drugs were also involved, but alcohol was my drug of choice.
16. I had a suicide attempt at the age of 21 when I washed down some pills with a heap of scotch. It failed, but got me a few weeks in hospital including some time in intensive care.
17. By the age of 21 I was drinking and drugging around the clock and had lost everything. Alone and living in a dingy caravan, I was now more often than not sleeping on the streets. By the age of 26 I was married with child, and yet I was drinking myself to the point of unconsciousness almost every night on my living room floor.
18. From concrete to carpet, that’s my story. For most it’s the other way around, but never let it be said I do what’s expected.
19. I came to my first meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous back in May 1992, a few months later I finally got sober in July 1992. One day at a time, I have been completely sober and clean ever since.
20. I actually quit both cigarettes (I used to smoke three packs a day at my worst) and the drugs a few years earlier when my daughter was born in 1990. Sheer stubborn willpower and a strong desire to do so, but I did it. It got much easier with time.
21. I love coffee, and by that I mean that I really LOVE coffee. Caffeine overload people, it was not pretty. I was drinking way too much, so I quit coffee too back in Feb 2001.
22. My ex-wife and I first met in 1984, when I was 19 and she was 17. We started going out in 1986, and were married in 1988. After 14 years together we divorced back in 2000.
23. Being gay does not help ones marriage. But I will never regret the years I spent with her. The woman is a saint. She was my saviour in many more ways than one, and gave me a beautiful daughter.
24. I do regret lying to her about my sexuality.
25. It was an amicable split, and we remain friends.
26. Although difficult at first for both of us, it was ultimately for the best.
27. Unbeknown to the other, my sister and I both divorced within a week of each other.
28. In November 2001 I got my first tattoo, again my sister unbeknown to me also got her first tattoo within a week of mine.
29. I love my sister dearly. And although there have been a few times when we may have exchanged some cross words, I have never had an argument or fight with her in my entire life. I have no understanding of siblings who do.
30. I now have five tattoos’, all of which have been done by Steel Lotus Body Art Studio in Darlinghurst here in Sydney.
31. Three are tribal designs and incorporate a Buddha, Lotus and Dragon. The two other two are Kanji (Japanese) calligraphy. All were chosen because they have significance in my life.
32. I have one on each outer lower leg, on one each upper arm, and a large one on my back.
33. I did not find the experience of getting them done either painful or in any way unpleasant. In fact, I enjoyed the experience, it was almost spiritual.
34. I think I have a high pain threshold, but my friends just think I am a sicko. My tattooist calls me the “Zen Master of Pain”.
35. My tattoos are $2,500 worth of ink and art people. A good investment.
36. By the mid 1990’s a spiritual awakening in recovery led me to the Eastern Traditions. First to Taoism, and then later Buddhism. The later resonated so strongly with me, I knew I had finally found my spiritual home.
37. In October 1998 I took provisional refuge, and fully committed myself to the Buddhist path. I have been a Buddhist ever since.
38. In June 2000 I found my chosen spiritual community in the FWBO (Friends of the Western Buddhist Order). I later took more formal refuges and precepts in a simple but beautiful ceremony at my local centre.
39. The Friends of the Western Buddhist Order is a large international movement committed to conveying the core teachings common across all the traditional schools of Buddhism in ways appropriate to the modern world.
40. In September 2002 I asked for ordination within the Western Buddhist Order, and was accepted. This in an ongoing process that continues to unfold.
41. When I am ordained, I will go through a “spiritual death”, dropping my old name and taking a new Pali one. Bodhi sounds good, but unfortunately I have no choice in my new name. I am sure I will love it anyways.
42. It was actually whilst on one of the yearly retreats that make up the ordination process, in January 2003, that I decided to come out as a gay man. Yes people, I came out whilst on a Buddhist retreat! I was 37.
43. As I later come out to family and friends, all without exception (except for my parents) were wonderfully supportive. My spiritual community continues to embrace me with open arms, it has never been an issue.
44. My parents were the last people that I told when I came out to them last year. They did not take it as well as I hoped, although I knew it would never be easy for them. I have had extremely little contact since. A few very brief calls on the phone. At the time of writing, I have not physically seen them for over 14 months. By far the longest period I have ever gone without seeing them.
45. I don’t regret my decision in telling them. I understand this is a process that they now need to go through. I have hopes they will come around in time.
46. I have never been more happy or at peace with myself since coming out as gay. It was a long and painful process, but one in which I learnt a lot.
47. My daughter marched with me in the 2004 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade with PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays). It was an amazing experience and I am glad I did it, but having done it now I have no great desire to march again.
48. Although it was an amazing and awesome experience marching up Oxford Street with hundreds of thousands of cheering people, that pales into insignificance with the feeling of having my daughter march in support by my side.
49. I now live in the inner-city suburb of Annandale with a really sweet and slightly older gay couple. It’s a 4 bedroom, 2 story place in a really nice area.
50. Think Queer Eye for the Straight guy but after the makeover, and you basically got an idea what our place looks like.
50. During my 18 years in Sydney, I have lived both on the Northside (Hornsby 1 year, and Epping and Eastwood area 14 years) and the Inner West (Burwood and now Annandale for 3 years).
51. I absolutely loved Lego, the building block toy, as a child, and had a huge collection. My family and old friends find it amusing that I was to later work for them at their Australian head office here in Sydney from 1989 to 1997. I loved that job.
52. I now work in Insurance for a very large multi-national Financial Services company at their head office in North Sydney as a Corporate Insurance Underwriter. I have been here for 6 years, and have had 5 promotions.
53. I would never have dreamed I would be capable of a job like this when I first came into recovery.
54. My work building has awesome 180 degree views of Sydney harbour including the Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and CBD as backdrop. I never tire of the view.
55. Prior to working here, I worked a number of Sales and Service related roles across a number of industries for around 10 years. I am very good at sales, my ex wife tells me that I could sell ice to Eskimos.
56. Just like my father, once I am asleep I sleep very soundly. Virtually nothing will wake me, bar the sound of my alarm clock. No point in asking me if I heard that storm last night, or the crash of vehicles, or alarms, or the end of the world, I slept right through it.
57. Despite the fact I sleep well, I easily survive on not that much sleep. I usually get up quite early and regularly go to bed quite late. 5 or 6 hours seems more than enough for me with no ill effects.
58. I have been meditating now for over 10 years, and have had a daily practise for the last 4 years.
59. For the last two years I have been running a meditation group for people in recovery from addiction at my local Buddhist Centre.
60. After 10 years of recovery being active in AA and with regular meetings, since July 2002 I have attended AA meetings only occasionally (5 in the past year). I attend now because I like too, not because I need to.
61. I have a number of Buddhist and Recovery related websites that keeps me engaged with others in recovery. And aside from my meditation group mentioned above, I also help run a site called www.buddhistrecovery.com with a fellow Buddhist in recovery at my Buddhist Centre.
62. I have an awesome circle of really great friends. Many are either Buddhists or are also in recovery, but certainly not all. Most are straight, although in recent years the number of gay friends is certainly increasing.
63. I have been friends with Rodney for over 25 years, and Annthea for over 20 years. One of by best friends is recovery is a Catholic Nun aged in her 70’s whom I have known for 13 years.
64. I have been vegetarian since April 2002.
65. I find both board games and cards incredibly boring.
66. I don’t, nor have I ever, been interested in any way shape or form with sport of any kind. Weather playing it or watching it, it does not interest me.
67. I do however enjoy walking and swimming, and have no problems with people wanting to maintain fitness.
68. I have been camping in the true sense of the word only once in my life. By true sense of the world, I mean taking absolutely everything to the middle of absolutely nowhere with no amenities. I absolutely hated it, never again. My idea of roughing it has since been upgraded to at least a 3.5 star hotel.
69. I love to sing, and whilst I certainly would never land a recording contract I can hold a tune and have teen told I have a pleasant singing voice. I love to sing in the shower, but I will sing just about anywhere given half a chance.
70. I also love to chant Buddhist mantras. Especially by myself whilst on retreat or all alone at my Buddhist Centre. There is something about the silence of a shrine room that just calls out for mindful sound.
71. For a period of about 6 years I shaved my head. It was a good look I thought especially with the whole Buddhist thing.
72. At the moment whilst still fairly short I am going through a blonde phase and having it regularly dyed. Think Eminem, and you got a good idea. All gay boys should go blonde at least once, although it my case this is the second time. But then I have never done anything by halves.
73. I love to shop. Absolutely love it. Even if I don’t buy anything, which believe it or not does sometimes happen. I shop, therefore I am.
74. My favourite places to shop in Sydney are the Queen Victoria Building, Galleries Victoria, World Square, Pitt Street Mall, and Bondi Westfield Junction. King Street in Newtown also must rate a mention.
75. I love markets too. Paddington, Paddy’s and The Rocks are my faves.
76. I do not cook, never have and never will. That’s what chef’s, cooks, partners, café’s, restaurants and takeaways are for.
77. I am a bit of a couch potato at times and do love TV and DVD’s. I now have my surround sound entertainment system including DVD and large TV in my room as my flatmates have a home cinema system in the living room. How much am I loving this? A LOT.
78. I love dressing up in a suit and a tie. Nothing better than a fruit in a suit.
79. People who fucking swear piss me off.
80. I have a business card, let’s exchange. My people can call your people.
81. I love to dance.
82. Diet Coke Lime is shaping up to be my next addiction. Just when you put one damn fire out, another seems to start up.
83. I wear contact lenses. I used to wear glasses (my last three were Valentino, Hugo Boss and before that Armani), and although I liked them I like to think I look younger without them.
84. In the words of my daughter, I am a “label bitch”.
85. All my grandparents lived well into their late 80’s and even 90’s. Better get used to me people, I am aiming to be around for a while.
86. I have ridden a horse, camel and a cow.
87. My taste in music is extremely wide and varied, depending on my mood. Though the main genre’s I like would be indie, rock, alternative, punk and pop.
88. I do love many of the clichéd gay music. Kylie, Madonna, George Michael, Eurasure, Pet Shop Boys, et all not to mention the boy bands like Backstreet Boys, East 17, New Kids On the Block, and NSync. A cliché I know, but I can’t help myself.
89. The only musical genre that I hate with a passion is Country and Western music. It should be outlawed by the Geneva Convention as inhumane.
90. I absolutely love jewellery, especially diamonds. I have 21 of them. I would love to wear more if I could, but there is a fine line in crossing over from tasteful bling to trashy pimp that I am not yet prepared to cross.
91. I really like the colour black, as can be readily seen if you ever see my wardrobe. It’s not unusual for me to wear all black. My next favourite colour is blue, also backed up by my wardrobe.
92. I have never travelled outside of Australia, although I certainly plan to do so in the future.
93. I have been told that I have a great sense of humour.
94. I have had only two boyfriends of note since coming out. I am still good friends and in regular contact with both of them.
95. I am currently single. Brad Pitt, if your reading this, call me.
96. I love all things Vampire, it seems. I was a big Buffy and Angel fan, and I really enjoy pretty much all Vampire Movies made in the last twenty years or so. From Lost Boys, all the way to the latest Blade Trinity.
97. I think dragons are cool.
98. I am completely over all reality shows on TV, and refuse to watch any of them. Reality shows, its time to leave …
99. I have a picture of The Kid (daughter), Rabbit (best mate) and myself on a day trip to the Zoo on my desk at work. Rabbit had never been to the Zoo before, The Kid and I promised to take him if he was a good boy.
100. I also have a small gold Buddha in front of my computer at work.
Bodhi :-)
Sydney, Australia
hi TOA(tm)!
7: sweetie, I always thought you were younger...
33: do you? do you *really*?
64: Echo Beach
65: are you? are you *really*?
78: yes, yes you must. although Seville is prettier than Barcelona.
79: me too!
80: it was the 7-odd years for me.
83: they rock baby.
84: I'm with you there
85: ...and there...
100: it's just that we can't hear the accent :)
miss speedboat
#15 I'm an orphan.
#16 Both my parents died from cancer.
Me too, Andrew. I've just started saying the first one out loud. It's a feeling that's hard to describe.
#52 I love dark chocolate. Dark & bitter.
Oh yes, Oh yes, my pretty. Milk chocolate is for pansy-asses.
#58 Fabulous natural turn-out (my college instructor's words, not mine) and extension. Well, I don't want to make you swoon, but I'm tall with a 32" leg. (yet still female, Michael * grrrr* ) I took tap at Pineapple in Covent Garden. I always dreamed of one day dancing with the dreamy Gregory Hines. But sadly, not to be.
#64 Echo Beach, far away in time. Now dance! Jerk those arms, stiffen that neck, this is the 80's!
#74 I love the words "bliss" and "sublime" and "lascivious". Swoon's good too, though.
#93 The fresh air thing. Compadre mio! I even rug up in the winter, just so I can have that feeling of the outdoors in.
#96 My dad was an Aussie with an acquired RP English accent (natural mimic, like me) and Mum was an East-end Cockney girl. I have a mix of bit of both but not particularly Canadian rather whatever I decide to be that day Having lived in both places, I get confused sometimes, myself.
Granada with the Alhambra is a must see - the moorish architecture with the El Jefe gardens and the Sierra Madres in the background. Yum. (I forgot which number your Spanish thing was)
I'll stop. Interesting though, doncha think? :D
loulou
Okay. Not Jefe Gardens. Generalife Gardens.
Done for the Big Cheese, either way.
Here's a fab site of pictures. http://www.solarnet.org/Travel/ESP/jour079a.htm
Just as a little taster, Andrew. You have to add this to your itinerary. Have to. I speak because I know. Very tactile and fragrant. Oooh, the exotic fragrance of the moors. OOohhh.
loulou
Loulou (or can I call you 'Luscious'?), we are almost the same person!? I knew you would get #64, even though I like didn't know you then when I wrote this... funny old thing, fate.
I don't suppose you've got a blog of your own sister grrrl? You've got the wicked smartz, I'd read it and probably end up craving your attention because you'd end up more famous than me. :-)
No blog, Andrew. Thank you for the compliment though, sir. And famous ain't all it's cracked up to be, let me tell 'ya.
I'm basically bubbly but then need to recharge and have nothing much to say really, so it might get tedious waiting for me to come back from lala land.
Hey. How about, "that's what I like about you. You know how to dance." Smiling yet? Oh yeah. Oh yeah.
And here's a reason to get your tap shoes back on. I was schvitzing and fed up whilst re-arranging a basement bedroom in an innocuous, bland style(for potential buyers)and put on an old cd, "The Glory of Gershwin". And luckily my tap shoes were at hand. 1st Peter Gabriel sings "Summertime", haunting (I digress). 2nd, and this is the one, Sting sings "Nice Work If You Can Get It". Baby, I was channeling Gene Kelly or something. Maybe even the Nicholas Brothers. Arms and legs everywhere! So fabulous and schvitzing in a good way afterwards! If you're into spontaneous bursts of tap, this is the song to grab you.
loulou
or luscious (I'm biteable, like a juicy ole peach).
Hah! Brilliant!
I learnt to tap from this adorable old queen who taught a class at the Sydney Dance Co. down at Wooloomooloo. Very 'old school' tap style, "Swing those arms girls!", rather than the Tap Dogs modern style. There were a couple of sept/otctogenarian girls who were ex Tivoli showgirls in the back row every week. Leotards, leg warmers and those little chiffon over-skirts. I wanted them all to be my Nana.
Sydney Dance Company. Oh, that brings to mind Paul Mercurio with that swoop of hair. That glittery bolero jacket and the sli-iiiiide across the dance floor. Oh yeah.
"The Pan-Pacific Grand Prix Ballroom Dancing Latin Competition"
I've got the dvd and can cozily settle down to a watch of all the gang. It just has so many great moments - hilarious and surreal as well as touching and straight-to-the -heart. I'd love to work with Baz. He's like a succulent. He stores ideas and rehearses and writes for years (very behind-the-scenes) and then BAM out with another colour-drenched film, musically saturated, over-wraught extravaganza. Big ole pink flowers everywhere...
loulou
"A life lived in fear is a life half lived." gulp
#36 - Really? I know one other person with this very particular aversion. I actually had to go and check your photo to make sure you weren't him. Even though he isn't an Andrew. Or a Buddhist.
Seriously cramps his style though - he hardly ever goes to the movies.
ECHO BEACH?????
I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!
This answers many questions about you, Andrew. I enjoyed reading that a lot.
Never be ashamed of being a star trek fan, I've made SO many friends that way! :)
Very interesting "100 Things"
I know someone who 'advertises' himself as 45 y.o. when the incrowd knows he's 20 years older [Shhh!] If you feel like 38 that's fine with me, as long as you don't stretch it to far.
I do love everything in lemon verbena from L'Occitane. Should I call my self Mr. Citrus without being a sourpuss?
And architecture the old school, I'm not that fascinated by modern glass boxes.
BTW I'm 6'6" [2 meters]
The only thing that would make this post PERFECT is a picture of you in the bath with your knitting. ;-)
Hi,
I'm H. and I work in a company interested in blog advertising. I found your blog engaging and I'm contacting you to ask if you are interested in blog post sponsorship.
If you are interested, kindly mail back at k5ino@bigstring.com, indicating your blog for reference, and I'll send you back pricing details, guidelines and processes. Looking forward to doing business with you.
Sincerely,
H.
Hello, I just had to write -- my friend and I have been cutting and pasting stuff from your blog all day and sending it back and forth. Your blog is great! It's totally like he or I could have written it ourselves (he's a gay man, I'm a straight woman, close in age to you).
Here are some responses I have to your "100 things" list:
12. No, *I* am the world's lightest sleeper!
19. I also have two sisters, but only one of them lives across the country (Canada).
30. I freaked out when I read this! My two favourite kinds of stores are stationery and hardware stores!!!!
38. Best in Show is one of my favourite movies.
44. I don't understand card game rules, either.
46. Godless parent -- love it!
55. I prefer coffee to tea, too.
61. I disagree!
62. Ditto! :)
64. What self-respecting Canadian who grew up in the 80s wouldn't get that reference?
76. Me too, but I don't wish I had blue eyes.
78. Barcelona and Venice are two of the most beautiful cities I've seen.
80. Me too (especially in the plural -- shudder!)
83. Barcelona!
84. I don't believe in restraint. Well, not that kind, anyway.
92. Sorry, I tend to fidget.
93. Yes! I'm always fighting with my partner about this. Open the damn window!!
99. You're wrong.
100. Aren't we all?
Thanks for the day's entertainment; I look forward to reading more. Oh, and p.s. I'm a knitter, too (took it up recently).
Thanks anonymous! I'm glad you and your friend enjoyed it, and I loved reading your answers! Thanks for taking the time to participate.
Andrew
Love your site. Is there any way we could please be mentioned and get a link to our site http://www.DealByEthan.com from your website? Whatever the case, perhaps we could do some kind of joint venture? Eric - marketing@dealbyethan.com
Of course your parents looked on top of your wardrobe - well im sure your mum did anyway.
luv ur 100 things - sal, also a 44 yr old who emigrated to Perth from the UK when 3yrs old and moved to syd 10 yrs ago. I say 'darnce' not 'dance' - bet u do too.
Speaking of "swoon": did you like the film? Hey, how do I write you privately, Andrew?
love the way you present yourself, it's creative =) i have same characteristic with you (number5), it's really uncontrollable! anyway, nice to meet you~
Echo Beach, far away in time, Echo Beach, far away in time.
Respect please!
I know it is a while ago since you did that, but as yours is the only blog that I have seen with one of those I had to read it. Who knows if you will ever read this.
Love your blog!
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