Flickr Sydney Photobloggers Meetup

I decided to get myself along to the Christmas meetup for the Flickr Sydney Photobloggers Group on Sunday. What a fantastic day! It was a large and very friendly group, 16 of us in total.

We started the day with a walk through the beautiful Queen Victoria Building. I work just around the corner from the QVB, and walk through it every morning on the way into the office, so it's familiar territory for me. The QVB is currently home to a 4 story tall Christmas Tree (brought to you by Swarovski Crystal) that is covered in thousands of crystal ornaments.


QVB
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


QVB Christmas Tree
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


After the walk through the QVB we went down to Chinatown for a lovely yum cha lunch; ate, drank and went around the table giving snippets of information about ourselves. After lunch we encountered a human rights rally protesting the Chinese Communist regime, which turned out to be a perfect photo op. The protestors and people putting on cultural displays were more than happy to pose for a bunch of enthusiastic shutterbugs.


Fans
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


Free Tibet
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


Ready For Action
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I didn't get any photos of the group, but Meredith took this lovely group shot and she snaffled a passing guy to take this (slightly out of focus!)one of us all. Yankinoz snapped this pic of Gadgetgirl, myself and James.

There are lots of great photos from the day on the Sydney Photobloggers Group page, and why not also go give some love to these fine folks who made the day so fun:
James M
Alex Craig
The Department
Traceytakesphotos
Yankinoz
Gadgetgirl
Figuromo
Crater
Merejames
Matthew L Stevens (no photos yet)
Goldie
Red Eric
tALSit de CoD
*Hime*
Amatr Sam

I Didn't Make Him For You!

The Rocky Horror Picture Show seems to have conspired to leap back into my consciousness over the past few weeks. I was in a DVD store recently and noticed that they had the 25th Anniversay DVD on sale which, although I already have it on video, I decided to buy because I don't really watch videos that much any more and the DVD had extra features on it. I didn't get around to watching it until a few nights ago.

Watching Rocky Horror is quite a nostalgic experience for me. When I was in my late teens (which places this firmly at the start of the '80s) I used to go to Rocky every other Friday night at the lovely big old Chelsea cinema in Adelaide, and after a while started performing in one of the crews that acted out the movie as part of the audience participation. I would have gone every Friday, but I worked on Saturday mornings at this time and couldn't really cope with dragging my ass to work on only a few hours of sleep every week. All up I saw it more than 60 times.

My love for Rocky was deep and abiding. Back then the audience participation was the highlight of the show. In the early days only about a third of the audience knew the cues and the lines, and we would call them out in unison to the delight of the rest of the audience. The lines were clever, affectionate and risque but not crass. More people understood about the throwing of rice and other forms of audience participation, but we would give the 'virgins' their cues and pass around rice, newspapers, toast and playing cards so they could become part of the show. We celebrated the film's birthdays with parties, and would celebrate the birthdays or other milestones of the 'regulars'.

It was a great time. I was already out of the closet at that time, and it was so cool to be in a room with a bunch of like minded freaks who wanted to live by the motto "Don't dream it, be it". Sadly, like anything that becomes too popular, its success eventually killed it for me. The crowds got bigger, with more people who came to gawk rather than participate. The audience got rowdier and much less clever, with people not understanding the timing, or the nature of the lines that were designed as affectionate digs at the film, and designed to enhance the fun. It got so you couldn't hear the film at all, and the mood changed to something more aggressive and less fun.

It still runs here in Sydney, and I haven't seen it for a bunch of years, but last time I did see it I was still disappointed. I don't love the film itself any less, and watching the DVD made many of the old lines pop straight back into my head, which was nice. I might even drag out all my old collectibles (like my complete set of bubble gum cards and original movie posters) one day and have another look at them.

Inside, a part of me is still a seventeen year old in my sister's cast-off platform shoes, a garter belt (which my mother bought for me) and surgical gown, striding up the aisle with a water pistol telling Janet to "Buy an umbrella you cheap bitch!".

Wish List

Minty Fresh?

Assume the following:

1. You are of the male persuasion
   
2. Like me (and apparently him too) you are a somewhat frequent pee-er
   
3. Consequently, you have just headed into the men's room for one of many trips to the urinal today

Ok? Everyone have that firmly in the forebrain?

So, assume that you are standing at the urinal. In the act of ensuring aim, you look down and see, sitting in the bottom of the urinal, the following item - a sprig of mint. In the sudden rush of thoughts that run through your brain, would they include:

• Air freshner?
  
• Garnish?
  
• Where in this building are they serving Mojitos?

5 Wednesday Snippets

• Even when I am not trying to be, I am such a fag. Today I went and bought a diary for next year; nice, matte black, soft cover, day to a page. So I'm back at the office and start writing in it, when I notice the diary has a style name stamped on the cover, in nice big friendly letters. I'm now the proud owner of a diary called Vanessa.
  
• I think I pee more than any other human being. Sure I drink lots of water, and I started the day with two diuretic coffees, but seriously. I wouldn't be surprised if my workmates think I'm cruising the men's room.
  
• Given the new batch of hot European students at the intensive language school on my floor, maybe that isn't such a bad idea... (No, I kid! Really. For a start, half of them don't wash their hands.)
  
• It's neither Autumn here, nor do we celebrate Thanksgiving* (and even if we did it has passed already I know, but it takes US magazines a few months to get here). Despite these facts I went ahead and bought the Thanksgiving issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine anyway. This just reinforces the first point, right?
  
• I cannot function on 6 hours of broken sleep. It may not look like it, but I've actually been napping with my eyes mostly open since about 3 o'clock this afternoon.

* OK, I know I went to a Thanksgiving dinner this year but that was given by an American friend and the rest of us are really there for the free food.

Hot

Striking
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Jeezalou but it's hot here in Sydney today. The forecast was for 33C (about 92F I think), with a storm this afternoon. It's like being in the tropics out there today, only without the palm trees. It feels like it has already passed the 33C forecast, and it's headed towards something much hotter.

Oh, and a big shout out to my friends in the wintery Northern Hemisphere! Holla!

In honour of overheated tropical days here is a pic of a big old flower that is blooming near my house. It currently stands about 5 foot high. I'm not sure, but I think it might be a triffid.

[Updated: OK, according to a reliable commentor (Bodhi) and the little weather-bot thingy on my sidebar, at just before 2 pm this afternoon it was 39C or 102F. Woohoo. Sorry, can't talk, busy melting.]

Not Nagging, Reminding

Bloggers in the Sydney area, don't forget that tonight is the monthly Sydney Weblog Meetup!

Tuesday 6th of December
Coopers Arms Hotel
221 King Street, Newtown.
6-6.30pm start, Trivia starts at 7pm.

C'mon, you know you want to.

Resuming Normal Programming

I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger. I heart Blogger. I hate Blogger...

As much as there are times when I want to take Blogger out for a beer, nuzzle its manly neck and make more seriously inappropriate sexual advances to it, today not so much. I couldn't access a single Blogspot blog for what was probably only about 4 hours, but felt like eons. Were it not for my conversational skills, and a few other non-Blogspot blogs, I would have come very close to getting some work done.

That's a risk I'm not prepared to take.

On Biting The Bullet

I decided yesterday that I needed to stop being such a big old egocentric baby and actually get off my butt and do something about seeing my family in Ballarat (in Victoria, about an hour or so out of Melbourne) for Christmas. Tickets were booked and I'm off to see them for 4 days. If you've read this blog for a while you might already know that both my parents died while I was in my twenties, about five years apart and both from cancer, and that since then it has been my two sisters and me.

Don't get me wrong, I have great relationships with my two sisters. Although I need to qualify that to some degree. My oldest sister (I'm the youngest of the three) had a massive stroke about 4 years ago, and although she started off quite well, her progress stalled and has actually backslid since then. This sister and I are the most alike, and the closest of the three of us, even though all three of us have always gotten along well. When I was a late teen and in my early twenties we would hang out together quite a bit, go nightclubbing and stuff.

Initially it looked like most of her personality had survived the stroke, despite the physical incapacity she now has. The time of her immediate recovery from the stroke was very strange though. She had a brain bleed type of stroke, brought on by an AVM (a malformation where two arteries in the brain meet), and when people have this type of stroke and blood in the fluid that surrounds the brain it affects them in quite startling ways. My sister had no idea who I was at first, and yet we could sit there and endlessly run through all our favourite snarky lines from movies like "A Touch Of Class" and from "Absolutely Fabulous".

Since then she is more back to normal mentally, despite being very physically incapacitated and wheelchair bound, except that she has a much shorter temper, is more negative and can be quite demanding. Part of this is physiological and I guess some of it is frustration, diappointment and anger at her situation. Unfortunately my other sister, who helps her out in the evenings to supplement the daytime carers my sister has, cops the brunt of much of this.

So. The egocentric part of this is that my initial reaction is to want to sweep this mentally under the carpet and stay here with my friends and have a Christmas that is about fun, laughs and good times. Christmas with my sisters will still be fun much of the time, but I tend to get used as 'piggy in the middle' to some degree. Both sisters will bitch to me about how bad the other is when they get me alone, and it puts me in the horrible situation of seeing both of their points of view, while not wanting to agree with either of them. The other aspect of this is that it pains me terribly to see the way my older sister has given up, and now spends most of her days watching cable and chainsmoking.

It's hard to write this because I feel bad about being so resistant to going. My other sister puts in so much effort and has restructured her life, and her family's to a degree, to accomodate the needs of my sister. By comparison I lead a carefree life in Sydney, with few responsibilities. So I've decided to go, and to put my own needs aside and go with an open mind and an open heart. I'll try and use the teachings of the Buddha to cope with my own negativity, and to see it as the valuable lesson that it is. I'll try and be supportive without becoming too involved in all the snarking, and try and help the situation if I can even if only for the short time I'm there.

The situation may well not be as bad as I fear, after all much of my resistance comes from the stories I have told myself about what might happen. But then, isn't that the same for all fears?

Australia's Favourite Films

This is going to be a very Aussie-centric post folks, apologies to anyone who's reading this and has no idea what I'm talking about. You might find the list of Australia's favourite films interesting, otherwise maybe it's time to go put the kettle on...

My expectations for the Movie Show's special episode My Favourite Film which screened on the ABC last night had been pretty low. I find these sort of 'most favourite' type shows are often just a puff piece of poorly strung together clips and some inane banter. When I saw that ABC tv was asking people to go to their website and vote for their most favourite films I was a little dubious how the end result was going to turn out.

I was pleasantly surprised. The list of films turned out to be very interesting, especially the top 10. Not just the blockbusters and old favourites, but some very interesting films like "Donnie Darko" and some real surprises like "The Princess Bride". It's probably too narrow a demographic and too small a sample size to be a true indicator of Australia's favourite films, but it's still an interesting list.

The show itself was great. Interesting discussions about the films that make up the top 10, with well thought out and varied opinions, and some very funny comments about the films. The film recaps were for the most part very funny, and I especially enjoyed the kids tv characters "The Hooley Dooleys" recapping "Pulp Fiction" and nearly fell off my chair when they had a water ballet troop re-enact a two minute version of "Lord Of The Rings". All in all a very entertaining 90 minutes.

Here's the top 100 as voted, with the films I've seen and enjoyed in bold. Films I don't like are in italics, the rest I either haven't seen or am apathetic about.
1-10
1. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Amelie
3. Blade Runner
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. Donnie Darko
6. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Princess Bride
9. Gone With The Wind
10. Fight Club

11-20
11. The Sound of Music
12. To Kill A Mockingbird
13. 2001: A Space Odyssey
14. Casablanca
15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
16. American Beauty
17. Doctor Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
18. Monty Python's Life of Brian
19. Lawrence Of Arabia
20. Apocalypse Now

21-30
21. Cinema Paradiso
22. Doctor Zhivago
23. The Matrix
24. The Castle
25. Singin' in the Rain
26. A Clockwork Orange
27. The Blues Brothers
28. Withnail and I
29. Life is Beautiful
30. The Godfather

31-40
31. Moulin Rouge
32. Some Like it Hot
33. Lost in Translation
34. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
35. Local Hero
36. The Third Man
37. Brazil
38. Serenity (Can I get a HELL YEAH!)
39. Breakfast at Tiffany's
40. A Room with a View

41-50
41. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
42. Dead Poets Society
43. Harold and Maude
44. The Big Lebowski
45. The Wizard of Oz
46. Out Of Africa
47. Picnic at Hanging Rock
48. The Usual Suspects
49. Cabaret
50. Forrest Gump

51-60
51. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
52. The Piano
53. Pirates of the Carribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl
54. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
55. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
56. The City of Lost Children
57. The African Queen
58. Love Actually
59. Strictly Ballroom
60. Wings of Desire

61-70
61. Raiders of the Lost Ark
62. Babette's Feast
63. The Fifth Element
64. Spirited Away
65. Alien
66. It's a Wonderful Life
67. Napoleon Dynamite
68. Rear Window
69. Romeo And Juliet
70. Dirty Dancing

71-80
71. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
72. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
73. Trainspotting
74. Muriel's Wedding
75. When Harry Met Sally
76. The Great Escape
77. Ferris Bueller's Day Off
78. Gallipoli
79. Lantana
80. Garden State

81-90
81. Sin City
82. Chariots of Fire
83. The English Patient
84. This is Spinal Tap
85. Chocolat
86. Fargo
87. Look Both Ways
88. Goodfellas
89. Aliens
90. Grease

91-100. 91. All About Eve
92. Citizen Kane
93. Stand By Me
94. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
95. Mulholland Drive
96. Back to the Future
97. High Fidelity
98. The Thin Red Line
99. Being John Malkovich
100. Dead Man

What is surprising, is just how many of these I haven't seen. I must fix that.

Sunday In The Park

Prayer Flags 1
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Yesterday was the end of year picnic celebration for the Buddhist centre I attend. It was a beautiful warm day, 30C and just a few high whispy white clouds in the sky. We had a lovely spot in amongst shade trees at the park at the bottom of Glebe Point Rd, Glebe (part of the Blackwattle Bay/Jubilee Park band of parks). Once the rugs were down, the prayer flags were up, and the food was out it all looked very festive.

I had been feeling crap with a sore throat on Saturday, but by Sunday morning it had pretty much gone. I got up early and made Delia Smith's absolutely no-fail Coconut & Lime Cake to take to the picnic and headed on out.


Prayer Flags 2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Higlights of the day were a fab lunch, some small kids underfoot, lots of dogs for the patting of, watching our Tibetan teacher Geshe-la hitch up his robes and play soccer (great kicker!), and meeting old friends and some new people. A lovely way to spend an afternoon.

...and you? How was your weekend?

[Updated: Oooh, I didn't realise it when I posted this but you can download the recipe for Delia's fantastic Coconut & Lime Cake from her website. It's from her fantastic "Summer Collection" cookbook. This cake is moist and crumbly, and has a satisfying limey tang to cut the sweetness. I've made this a bunch of times and it always gets "oohs!" and "aahs!".]

Agapanthus

Agapanthus 1
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Recently the city council in Chippendale has filled a number of roadside beds with large drifts of my favorite blue agapanthus flowers.

Another Roadside Attraction

Agapanthus 2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

A beautiful roadside Agapanthus bloom in busy, bustly Chippendale.

TGIF

I wasn't very chatty yesterday, but I want you to know that I did you all a favour. If I had gotten started it would have turned into one of those onesided ranting conversations about me, me, ME! that has you shuffling your feet, looking at the cracks in the pavement, thinking to yourself "Jeez, if he gets any more worked up the spittle's gonna start flying".

I woke up with a scratchy sore throat yesterday, which in retrospect was the highpoint. Work was hatefull, right up until about 8pm when I finally shut the computer down and said "Enough of this vile servitude!" Worst of all, bad hair day and a bit of a skin break-out. I can deal with so much more when I at least feel pretty.

Blah de blah...

Anyhoo, even though I don't believe in God, today I am proclaiming loud and clear Thank God it's Friday! Still hella busy today, but tomorrow's the weekend y'all.

Sydney Blogger Meet-Up

Live in Sydney? Tired of being chained to the computer? Feel like having some face to face interaction, for a change?

First Tuesday of the month is almost upon us, which means it's time for the Sydney blogstars to get together for the monthly meet-up.

Tuesday 6th of December
Coopers Arms Hotel
221 King Street, Newtown.
6-6.30pm start, Trivia starts at 7pm.

Checkout the blogger meet-up blog (just how meta is that?) at Sydney Blog Meetup for more info and updates. My write-up and photos from the last meet-up are here.

It's fun. You will laugh. There's alcohol.

Saint Goose And The Wailing Trees

Weird Mural #1
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

More of the mural-y goodness on the construction hoarding outside St Andrew's Cathedral. Prior to this there was a bunch of regular old fashioned quotes from the Bible or something, nowhere near as entertaining as this bizarre collection of oddness.

Clue me in Christians. Which book of the Bible has the wailing trees, the Holy Goose, a bush version of Cookie Monster and the giant singing sperms?

Is This The Spirit Of Christmas?...

Weird Mural #2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

...with creepy wailing Christmas Trees and giant singing sperm?

Detail of the recently created (and somewhat demented) mural on the construction hoarding outside St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.

Tales From Exotic Places

I've said it before, and know doubt I'll say it again, but I love blogs from exotic places. Travel blogs, even better.

It had been a while since I last checked out The Department, a wonderfull Sydney photo blog that I only think to check every now and then. (I've fixed that by adding her to my sidebar links.) Kate's recent posts include pictures from her travels in Cairo, and she linked to the blog of her friend and host Jenny Bowker, author of Postcards From Cairo. Jenny is a teacher, quilter and textile artist who makes stunningly beautiful modern quilts. From reading Jenny's blog I noticed that her son Sam was visiting her in Cairo, and in fact is blogging his 6 months of travels around the Eastern Mediterranean in Sam's Grand Tour. I've only just started to read Jenny and Sam's blogs, but already I'm enchanted.

Don't you just love how this Internets thing sometimes leads you in unexpected but wonderfull directions?

Burning At Both Ends

A few of my favourite guys have been blogging up a storm about literary matters of late. Max is digging visions of dystopias and Mikey is reading harrowing tales of addiction and recovery, and thinking that what Venice really needs is gay hookers and a drag queen.

This reminded me that I meant to drop a comment about a weird literary coincidence I just had. Having just finished Gregory Maguire's sequel to "Wicked" "Son Of A Witch", I picked up a book that I bought a while back but hadn't got around to reading, Jeff VanderMeer's "Veniss Underground". Now, this may not seem like much, but both book's have a character in them called 'Candle'. One of the important characters in "Son Of Witch" is a young female 'maunt' called Candle, and in Veniss Undergound one of the main characters has a short but important encounter with an incidental character, also called Candle.

I mean, it's not like its a common name, surely...

Amitabha Buddha and Bodhi

Amitabha Buddha and Bodhi
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

My friend Bodhi has a closer look at one of his favourite Buddhas, the beautiful Heian Era (11-12th century) Japanese Amitabha Buddha statue at the Art Gallery of NSW. It's made of carved nutmeg wood, with black lacquer and traces of red lacquer and gilding.

Sunday was a bit grey and rainy in Sydney, so it turned out to be the prefect day to go to the Art Gallery. Oh, except it seemed half of Sydney had the same idea. It was packed. The Pissarro exhibition was huge, and likewise packed full of people. Bodhi and I both love the Asian Galleries, so after Pissarro we went and hung out there for a while, visiting our favourites. Like the statue above.

No Stoppin' Ross

There's No Stopping Ross
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Another little piece of Newtown eccentricity.

Use Your Head

In a similar vein to Stuff On My Cat, I bring you:

• giving thanks
  
• incredible
  
• tacquito
  
• pumpkin head
  
• finishing school

Here's a summary. This pooch is called Maddie, and I think I'm a little bit in love with her. You just know that she's got an awesomely sweet nature from looking at these photos, right? Plus, Australian Cattle Dogs are wicked smart and make great companions.

Image:415 also has a photoblog Taniworld: Image 415 that is rich with other Maddie goodness.

A Lone Herbivore Amidst The Carnage

I get a lot of flack for being camera shy, so in the spirit of exposing myself and baring my soul (or something) here's a pic taken by Coz of me being lone herbivore among the carnivores. That's me in the middle in the black shirt, the one with Grain Fed stamped on my forehead.

This pic forms part of the Coz's second installment of Turkey Day photos.

$90 Worth Of Good News

It was check-up time at the Doctor this morning. I heart my doctor very much, but he falls on the expensive side of the fence, hence the title of this post. (Oh ok, I get $59 of that back from Medicare, so it isn't all that bad. I should stop whinging, right?)

Anyhoo. I had been given three months to get my weight down by about 5Kgs, and to get my blood pressure and cholesterol levels down to regular human proportions. So, I failed on the weight score. I've been exercising a lot more, and feel great, but the bitch scales do vex me so. The very good news is that my blood pressure diastolic reading (which was 105, eek!) is down to a more reasonable 83. Still up of course, but much less scary than before. Progress is being made.

I have to have blood tests done tomorrow morning, because today I was a complete doofus and forgot to fast, which hopefully will show an improvement in my cholesterol level as well. In the New Year I might need to have a CT scan of the arteries to see if I'm heading down the same road as my father did (heart disease, angina, strokes, blah de blah) but if my blood pressure is any sort of indication then so far the news seems promising. At least, that's what I'm fixating on. :-)

More Turkey Day Goodness

Coz has posted a bunch of pics from Thanksgiving (aka Turkey Day) over at For Battle!

Yes, I cunningly managed to not be in any of these pics. :-)

(Actually I think you can just see my nose and the edge of my glasses peeping out behind Meaghan's head in the picture entitled 'The hordes descend'.)

When They Say Perry Is 'Gay Perry'...

...they mean Perry is Gay.

Yesterday Bodhi and I went to see the movie Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. I don't think I have laughed aloud so much in a film for ages.

Val Kilmer was wonderful as private detective 'Gay Perry', ascerbic and dry without being unlikeable. A scene where he tries to convince a thug who is holding him at gunpoint that said thug is a closet case that just needs to deal with his issues of attraction to men, was hysterical. I also found Robert Downey Jr's hapless character thoroughly likeable, and the interplay between him and Perry very enjoyable. The cast of main characters is fairly small, but all actors turn in excellent performances.

The film plays with the cliches of detective stories, and with the cliches of crime movies in particular, in ways that are funny and often unexpected. I love films that play around with the medium, and having Robert Downey Jr narrate the film and even comment on how the movie is going just added to the enjoyment for me. Clever writing, where the zingers come thick and fast, and good solid performances = a good movie experience.

I give this one a big thumbs up.

[There are a bunch of other opinions of the film over the Rotten Tomatoes review site.]

Updated: Drat, I knew I had read a good review of this film somewhere in the blogsphere. It was yaniboy's excellent review. Sorry for the oversight yaniboy, let's just put it down to having a 'senior's moment'.

Thanksgiving #3

Thanksgiving #3
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Isobel gets primal.

I'm not sure what beast this bone is from, my vote goes to pterodactyl.

Thanksgiving #2

Thanksgiving #2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

One of the precious centrepieces created for Coz & Rob by Meg. Surprisingly, not actually a ball of dryer lint.

Camp, non?

Thanksgiving #1

Thanksgiving #1
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Sean sports the perfect Thanksgiving t-shirt.

[Click the pic for a larger version]

This pic is from Thanksgiving dinner at my friends Coz & Rob's house last night. It was a nice mild night, although it rained towards the end of the evening, and around 20 or so of us sat down to enjoy a delicious Turkey Day feast. Complete with food fight, natch.

I left earlier than normal this year. After a long day of being on meditation retreat I was pretty tired. Thanks to my arch nemesis City Rail there were no trains running to Coz & Rob's neighbourhood, so when a lift home was offered I jumped at the chance. I'd plonked down $30 for a cab ride, and didn't really feel like doing the same to get home. Call me cheap. Even though I left earlier than normal, I had a great night.

Am I On File?

Am I On File?
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Who knew that there even was such a place? Well apparently there is, right here in my gayer than gay neighbourhood.

Ineffective

Is my middle name today.

I haven't gotten a lot of work done, I haven't even found much on The Internets that's all that exciting (stupid 'no porn at work' policy), and even my choice of lunch wasn't all that appetizing. It hasn't been a bad day. I'm not grumpy or anything, in fact I'm feeling fine. I certainly look alright, I'm working the new chisel toed shoes, got my favourite Esprit shirt (white with little blue flowers - makes me feel Laura Ingalls pretty) and some beloved jeans on. Good Hair Day too.

I just don't seem to be able to actually finish anything today.

I did spend a while discovering The Rants & Raves of Terry Johnston aka Mr Otaku, so the day hasn't been a complete waste.

Ah well, the day is drawing to a close work wise anyway... and if I slink out fast enough maybe my boss won't realise that I haven't finished the work I was supposed to. Gah, this whole 'office' thing is positively feudal.

Anyhoo, moving on. My sister is in town from interstate today, on a work related trip, so as soon as work is over I'm meeting up with her for some drinks and dinner. Should be fun. Tomorrow I'm on a meditation retreat all day, and then in the late afternoon I'm mental shifting to the other end of the spectrum and celebrating a slightly belated Down Under version of Thanksgiving with these reprobates (plus a few dozen extras). No, Australians don't have Thanksgiving, but one of the hosts is a genuine Seppo* and invites twenty or so free-loading friends each year. Friends who for once are happy to shut up about US cultural imperialism.

Sunday I'm off to the Art Gallery of NSW with my friend Bodhi to see the Pissarro Exhibition. I quite like the Impressionists, and Pissarro was an early leader of the movement. Should be good.

Have a great weekend, and Happy Thanksgiving to all my Seppo friends.

* Seppo, Aussie rhyming slang for American. "Septic tank" = yank.

Clean Up Day

I fixed a couple of broken links on my sidebar, and added a few new blogs to the Queer Crew section. Oh, and I also added a little feature at the bottom which shows what other websites visitors are checking out at the moment.

So, you know, you might want to close that porn site down before you scooch on over here. (Actually, or not, could be interesting!)

Let's Face The Music...

...and dance.

I challenge you to just watch one of these videos. I think I'm addicted. Is there a 12 step for Daily Dancer? (Baddum dum, tish! Try the veal!)

Ho Ho, Hoe

Michael Guy of Temporary Trouble Spots has posted what is perhaps the best anti-Christmas rant ever. Complete with burning bush.

Check out the rest of Michael's blog while you are there, hi-larious!

Not So Much "Photo Friday" As "Visual Cliche Thursday"

A Visual Cliche But...
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Some say it's noise, I say it's pretty.

Misty Water Coloured Meme-ery

Time to rip off someone else's meme kids! Won't that be fun?! This time I'm copying the Lemming Whom We Love with his ABC's Of Me post. [He sourced the idea from Sheri.]

My version of The ABCs Of Me:

• A is for Alcohol and Abstinence. (See how much fun this is already?) I gave up drinking around this time last year, partly for medical reasons but mostly because I took a vow against intoxicants in a Buddhist ceremony.
  
• B is for Beliefs. Mine are Buddhist, and I like listening to other people's beliefs... unless they involve space aliens and volcanoes, then not so much.
  
• C is for Childhood. Mine was more happy than not, even though I never really built all that close a relationship with my father (he was quite distant) and in my teenage years I had some brief moments of angst about being gay.
  
• D is for Dick. I'm quite a fan really, and not just of my own.
  
• E is for Expressions. I have a tendency to invent or copy certain expressions, and use them tirelessly until they outstay their welcome. Current favourite "It's bollocks, innit?" [Said with thick English accent].
  
• F is for Friendships. They are important to me, and I like them to last.
  
• G is for The Gay Thing. It's not all that I am, but it's a huge part of my psyche and not really possible for me to hide or down play, even if I wanted to.
  
• H is for Humour. Thankfully I have a sense of one. It's so versatile, it can be defence, weapon, aphrodisiac, turn off... If you are funny we are halfway to being friends already.
  
• I is for Intelligence, and also for Imagination. I'm not the biggest brainiac in the world by any stretch, but I can hold my own when it comes to conceptual and creative thinking. I find intelligence and imagination very sexy.
  
• J is for Jerk. I have been one of these at various times in my life, mostly on account of feeling insecure in relationships when I was younger. I think we've all been down that road at some point.
  
• K is for... is for... um, Klimt? One of my favourite artists. (Ok, you think of something that starts with 'K', smartypants.)
  
• L is for Lethargy. I sometimes suffer from this due to a history of problematic sleep 'issues'.
  
• M is for Michael, a name which crops up in my life all the time. 5 ex-boyfriends and 6 friends called Michael, I mean, surely that's statistically higher than average?
  
• N is for Nelly. When I was younger I used to be quite judgemental of effeminate guys. As I've grown older I've come to the realisation that it actually takes courage to be a sissy, and that it's just another form of self expression. Plus, I don't feel the need to prop up my self esteem or to make myself feel superior by putting others down.
  
• O is for Observation. I love to sit back and observe what's going on, especially to sit in a public place and 'people watch'. On the downside there have been days in my life when I have felt so detached that it's like I'm an observer, rather than a participant. Thankfully that doesn't really happen any more.
  
• P is for Perfectionist. This is a streak I have that especially comes out when I am making something. This should probably be for Patience as well. I have been known to spend huge amounts of time working on some sort of art or craft piece, the more meticulous and painstaking the better, until I think it's 'perfect'.
  
• Q is for Questioning. I would say that this is a fundamental part of my personality.
  
• R is for Relationships. I had a number of them, and I'd say probably 4 significant ones in my life, but it's been somewhere around 2-3 years since my last one. It would be nice if another came along, but I'm not so concerned about needing to be in a relationship anymore. If it happens, it happens, and that would be nice.
  
• S is for Sex. Personally, I enjoy it very much. I'm now on the search for quality, rather than quantity.
  
• T is for Tibet. Somewhere I have always felt a strong interest in, perhaps ever since seeing 'Lost Horizon' as a child. I feel very strongly about the human rights abuses and cultural dismantling of Tibet at the hands of the Chinese invaders.
  
• U is for Understanding. This sounds like I am blowing my own horn here, but I like to think that I am a very understanding person. Even if I disagree with you, I have enough intelligence and empathy to understand your point of view.
  
• V is for Voracious. [see also 'S'] If I'm in the mood, look out.
  
• W is for Wanker. At times I have been so keen to be thought funny/attractive/whatever that I have made myself appear to be a complete one of these.
  
• X is for... is for... Xtreme. I really dislike 'Xtreme' used as an adjective for anything which is so obviously not 'extreme' (regardless of the spelling). Like when 'Xtreme Animals!' turns out to be a documentary about termite mounds.
  
• Y is for You. It's you that makes it all worthwhile. It always has been.
  
• Z is for Lama Zopa Rinpoche, spiritual leader of the Buddhist tradition I follow (The FPMT: The Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition).
  

A Post Without Theme, Or Structure

In the spirit of Deconstructivist Blogging, I give you some random snippets:

• It crossed my mind that what my house needs is a spiral staircase. I love spiral staircases, they just seem so exotic. Of course this means I'd also have to add a second floor, to my rental.
  
• I flicked through a Pro Audio catalogue last night and the only items that drew my attention were an $8 cowbell and the Astro Raggi II disco light.
  
• New high thread-count sheets make the world of difference.
  
• We have a new research assistant in the office; he's 21, pretty and built like a rugby player. Just looking at him makes me feel dirty.
  

Next Time I'm Having A Bad Day At Work

I'll remind myself, things could always get worse.


Suited character, World Square, Sydney. 22nd November, 2005.

I could be spending my days standing on a street corner, dressed as a blue chicken.

Disposition: Still Sunny (Mostly)

Work is kicking my ass and being a thorough bitch today, so apologies on the paucity of posting.

We gave our auditors a mountain of work to go through about three months ago, and now that the deadline is this Friday they have obviously just started to look at it. Consequently I'm getting hourly 'query' emails, which are being followed up with hourly 'have you looked at it, we need it ASAP' emails. I'd like to send back hourly 'you know what? fuck you' emails, but as I am currently of a sunnier disposition, and filled with Buddhist compassion, loving kindness etc I have refrained.

So, think of the fine and dandy, bright and sunny, disposition as a little tarnished today. Just a little. Assholes.

10K

Sometime this week, in the next couple of days probably, I'm going to pass the 10,000 hits mark. Holy crap!

If you happen to visit and get the exact 10,000 hits on the counter on my left hand sidebar, why not sent me an email or leave me a comment and let me know who you are, m'kay? Share.

Thanks everyone for dropping by! Sit a spell, have a canape won't you? Something to drink?

Addled

A little while back I posted about Jonathan Adler's new book "My Prescription For Anti-Depressive Living". One of my favourite design sites Apartment Therapy (see sidebar link under 'Design-O-Rama') has posted audio of an interview with Jonathan Adler.

You know what makes the Apartment Therapy article intro more funner? Replace the word button with corn. Hi-larious.

Happy

I don't know if it is coming through in my posting here, but I'm feeling really good at the moment. Healthy. Happy. Content. Optimistic.

Sure, I have the odd bad day here and there, but they're only that, odd. I was thinking about this as I walked into work today. The past month or so I've really noticed a change. I'm never a very down person, but my outlook has become so much sunnier of late. I'm sleeping better. I have more energy. I'm doing more exercise. Libido is through the roof. Enthusiasm is up.

I'm not sure what the cause is. Sure, impending Summer helps. All the vitamins and herbs I'm taking are probably helping too. I wonder some days if maybe I had a bit of a period of depression, which has now lifted. If that's what it was, it was pretty mild. Small 'd' rather than big 'D' maybe. That may not be it, but given my problems with sleep, lack of motivation and lack of energy some months back, it's a possibility.

I had a great weekend. Got myself a haircut, and overcoming my trepidation of looking like 'mutton done up as lamb', decided to get a cut that was a little more stylish and edgy. End result is still short and neat, but flirts with concepts of 'mohawk' and 'mullet' ever so slightly. I went to the bars with some friends, and got a little 'action' (which was thankfully chemical free). Had some chilling out time at home. Bought crisp new high thread count sheets, that are so good they make my toes curl. I went to a wake for a very sweet old dog, that was filled with laughs, the sharing of hot chips and some tidbits of very good news (which I'd love to share, but it's not my good news to tell).

Happy.

[Updated: How could I forget to mention the tv special of Kylie's "Showgirl" concert last night? Filmed live in London, it was a boppy, feel good, homo-erotic walk down memory lane of Kylie through the years. Oh, and bless her but nobody casts hotter male dancers, and makes the most of their 'assets' than our dear sweet Kylie. I know this makes me a cliche, but so be it!]

Frangipani

Frangipani
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I pass this potted Frangipani on the front porch of a terrace house in Chippendale almost every morning on my walk to work. One of my favourite flowers.

Not a bad way to start the day!

Who's The Boss?

Metal Boss
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

This metal boss is one of a series on a really high retaining wall in Newtown. I think that they probably connect to tie rods, designed to help stabilise the wall. I like the fact that thought and design that has been put into something so utilitarian. I also like the way the metal has aged and rusted over the decades.

Word Association: If You Say "Crystal", I Think "Carrington"

Warning: Adult content ahead!

So, last night I went out with a bunch of gay guys for dinner, which included my old friend Brendan, who I just reconnected with recently, and a bunch of guys I hadn't met before. (Brendan started up this thing where a bunch of his friends get together ever Thursday for a couple of drinks and a cheap and cheerfull dinner, and they have made it a sort of informal 'club'.)

On the way home afterwards I was getting seriously cruised on the street by a really nice looking dude. Tall, pectastic. A short period of 'negotiating' ensued that involved establishing that a) his place was out of the question, and b) me deciding that as nice as he looked, my place was out of the question because there was an intangible 'something' about this guy that was slightly off-putting.

Anyhoo, long story short. We decided to pop into an adult bookstore where they have a porno lounge that is clean, and is kindly supplied with cubicles for the having of the sex. (Don't judge me yet, it gets even better!) As I said, this guy had a slightly weird vibe. He started asking me a lot of questions, and seemed sort of amped up. Questions like "Where do you live?", "How old are you?", "Do you only like guys?" etc. While this was happening, and there was some shucking of clothes going on, I had noticed that he was clutching a cigarette lighter.

So, he whips out a tiny baggie of powder, scoops a bit on the end of a car key and pulls out a small glass pipe. He dumps the powder in the pipe, and starts to heat the bowl from underneath. The whole while I'm thinking "You've got to be kidding." It's 11pm on a week night and this guy is about to get high on whatever that shit is.

So I asked him, and as I suspected the answer was "Crystal Meth". I don't even drink, or do any sort of drugs, so I had no problem resisting the urge to participate. Fast forward 5 minutes and he is on some sort of buzz, a sexual high which is apparently one of the affects of Crystal. I'm thinking a)"How did you get yourself into this? and b) How do you get yourself out of it?" Closely followed by the thoughts c)"Well, how, um, metropolitan!, and then d) "I wonder if I have the courage to blog this?"

Fast forward another 5 minutes and I'm staring at him while he's riding his buzz, remarking to myself just how nice his pecs are, and how disappointing the poor flaccid willy he's shaking at me is. So, I patted him on the shoulder, reclaimed my clothes and left. I don't think he was all that surprised.

Um, Just 1 Boo! For Today Then...

Uggghnn, gack! Bleeeech!

I just had my first dose of the herbal mixture my naturopath prescibed to help my ongoing sinus/nose/throat 'issues'.

Judging by taste alone, I'd say two of the prime ingredients are arse & bitumen.

5 Yays! (And No Boos!) For A Sunny Friday Morning

1. Bright red geraniums!
   
2. A handsome man wearing just running shorts, with 2 pierced nipples and an artifical leg, mending his bicycle.
   
3. Fat Dachsunds! (3 sightings.)
   
4. A very brown woman in a very orange sari.
   
5. Endlessly, tunelessly, singing the Moloko song Sing It Back

Hrumph

I'm up to the eyeballs in work today, and I just found out that my boss and another work mate have conspired to delegate to me the writing of a reference for a staff member who has recently just left (the 20 year old, very handsome, half-Italian uni student who worked for us as a casual - I can't tell you how much he's missed). My boss says it because she's too lazy I'm a 'better writer' than she is. Fine.

Of course I've got no idea what to write, other than "Anthony is smoking hot, and should seriously consider modelling, although he is disappointingly straight". Anthony needs to come and get it later this afternoon, so it has to be done now, now.

Did I mention I also have a heap of other work to do? :-(

Dozzie Wog

When I got home last night I read my home email and found out that Lou's (aka World Peace and a Speadboat) sweet old doggie Diosma had died in her sleep, at the ripe old age of 18. Doz was already an elderly matron by the time I made friends with her, already quite deaf and blind, and with breath that can best be described as 'challenging', but any social event at Speedy's house was always further brightened by some pats with Doz (not to mention trying not to let her other dog Hebe get her tongue in your mouth...). She was a sweet old doggie indeed.

Speedy has posted some lovely pics and drawings of Doz over at the group blog For Battle!, which capture her charm well. RIP Dozzie wog!

The Colour Purple

Purple Flowers
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I like purple. Purple is good. Purple flowers are pretty.

The End.

5 Things That Made Me Smile On The Way To Work This Morning

1. Passing my favourite bear.
   
2. Watching a young daddy and his son pat a small, friendly dog outside a cafe. I'm not sure who was more delighted, the boy or the dog. There was much squealing and tail wagging.
   
3. As I was walking through Chippendale I saw two quite handsome, very 'alternative' and slightly punky looking guys walk out of a terrace house. What I didn't expect was the heartfelt hug and long lingering kiss they shared as I walked past them on the footpath. I turned back to look, and the shorter of the two guys was resting his head on the other's shoulder. Ah, parting is indeed such sweet sorrow.
   
4. Flowers everywhere.
   
5. Walking behind a short, stocky guy who had amazing calves. I considered following him for a while, but then thought better of it. That's restraint people, take note, it's an infrequent visitor at Chez OA.

Little Bear Lost

Little Bear Lost
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

OK, because few things can cheer me up like bear pics (read into that what you will), here's a picture of a little guy I pass each time I walk to work. I'm guessing he was found on the street and someone put him on the fence so that his owner would find him, but he looks to have been there for a while.

Maybe he's a little sad, but I like to think that he's enjoying the view.

Strange Day

I woke up this morning with a really stiff and sore neck and upper back, and a pounding headache, which is really just a continuation of a headache I had yesterday. Then I dribbled toothpaste on my freshly ironed shirt. My train was delayed. I popped over and read Mark's rant against Buddhism, which didn't offend me or upset me, but which I did find quite shocking in how his ideas differ from my direct personal experience.

So, my point (I do have one) is that it isn't even 11am yet and I feel like I've had a bad day's worth of experience already. Urgh. Unless things take a turn for the better, I'll probably not post anything for the rest of the day. Maybe a pretty picture to balance out this post?...

Festival Flags #2

Festival Flags #2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

The weather turned quite hot in the late afternoon, and Bodhi and I retreated to the cooler (but also packed) Newtown Hotel. I ran into a couple of guys I knew. A guy from my course at the Buddhist centre, and an old friend of mine who I've known for something like 25+ years, but who I had sort of drifted away from in the past few years.

We reconnected just like we'd seen each other yesterday, and interestingly he has recently started to read about Buddhism and was interested to the point where he recently had the mantra Om Mani Padme Hum tattooed on his arm. He's been through a rough patch in the past couple of years, which I didn't know about, and we had a good long chat and lots of laughs. I'm meeting him and a bunch of his friends for dinner on Thursday night. Even though I wasn't drinking, and the guys I was with were getting progressively sloshed, it was nice to hang out and great to see my old friend Brendan in particular. I'm looking forward to seeing him again on Thursday night, and to getting out and socialising with a group of gay guys that I haven't met before.

Festival Flags #1

Festival Flags #1
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Yesterday was the annual Newtown Festival, which this year was badged as 'Lovefest'. Don't ask me, I don't know why.

It was jam packed with people this year, and I'm not sure how much love was in the air, but it was a pretty congenial crowd. By late afternoon the dance beats were pumping, lots of people had lots to drink, there were dogs and children under foot, and the market stalls and information stands were in full swing.

Little Queen St

Little Queen St
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I would move here in a flash, if I could. It's almost like having your name up in lights.

Little Queen St, Newtown. Just another reason I love my neighbourhood.

Rising Tides

So it's late Spring here, but the weather is more like Summer already. Unseasonally warm. It's bringing everyone out in their Summer gear; shorts, tank tops and muscle tee's are everywhere.

So I've been exercising a bit more, sleeping better, having more energy. Also, things are going well, and despite minor wobbles and any impression I might have recently given, I'm in a generally very happy place at the moment.

Some of you may have guessed already where this is heading... yup, let's just say I'm as 'toey' as all get out. Hormones are raging. (To all my friends and acquaintences who now read this blog, I apologise for giving you a mental image that may not want.)

Tonight it looks like a night out with my ex is on the cards. Gay bar. Gay guys. Raging hormones. Do I need to draw anyone a map? Wish me luck.

-----

[Updated: It was a fun night, but suffice to say not what I expected. I was with my ex and two very nice friends of his from work, one straight (but not narrow) guy and a woman who is predominantly gay, but likes to take a walk on the straight side every now and then. Oh, and she towers over me (but who doesn't?) and she's a jelly wrestler. I'm not making this up.

Anyway, by the time we met they had downed a number of alcoholic beverages at a work function, and were on a bit of a mission to down plenty more. By the time we headed to our last destination of the night The Imperial Hotel, one of our number was extremely drunk, so much so that we got thrown out of The Imperial! Oh, the shame. Too drunk at The Imperial, I didn't know there was such a thing?

Long story short, I hung around for a while after they all poured themselves into taxis, still sober of course and not ready for the night to be over at 12.30am, and yes I did partly achieve my objective but with only a demi-satifying quickie. Still, he was a nice guy, it was fun, and there are worse ways to end an evening!]

Congregation

Congregation
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I took this picture one recent sunny morning in my neighbourhood, and it kind of amused me at the time. That these birds would all just be sitting there in a group like that.

Then a couple of days later I walked by this way again, and they were there again. In fact I think their numbers had increased.

I'm sorta too afraid to go this way again, just in case they go all 'Tippi Hedren' on my ass.

Together Alone

When I posted yesterday about buying new shoes I mentioned that we were going to "Sounds Of The Cinema" by the Australian Chamber Orchestra last night. It was a black tie fundraiser for the ACO, primarily for their work in conducting workshops in high schools in less advantaged areas. My bosses picked up the tab for the event at just under $200 a head, including buying us a $50 raffle ticket each (Wingedman: the prizes were all Tiffany), which was very generous. Oh, and we didn't win any of the prizes, but that's OK.

So it was a lovely night. There were silent and public auctions, it was all very glamourous, it was a warm night and the venue was right on the water with a close view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, we all looked fine and there were handsome tuxedo-ed men everywhere...

But. You could sense there was a 'but' coming couldn't you?

I felt something that I hadn't felt for a while and which Michael alluded to recently, the feeling of being alone in a crowd. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed myself. I did enjoy myself. But it was all blah-blah and wife, blah-blah and boyfriend, blah-blah and husband. My 'date' for the evening was one the uni students who does a bit of occasional work for us, she's very sweet and half my age, and although there were jokes about us being 'dates', people insisting we have our pictures taken together etc, everyone knows I'm a big 'mo and so it was all good fun.

Except, I would have liked to have had a date of my own. I would liked to have had a handsome dude in a tux sat next to me. I would have liked to have been introducing my guy to all my workmates and partners, in the same way I was being introduced to them.

I haven't dated anyone for a while. Partly through choice. Partly through having had my social network swing more towards the straight side of the fence in the past couple of years. Partly through having lost a couple of my old bar hopping mates, and therefore not really going out and having the opportunity to meet new guys. Partly through apathy. Partly through dented confidence.

If I was dating someone I would have brought them along, but I have to acknowledge that it would have been complicated. People at work know that I'm gay, but a few of them are very conservative and I'm not sure that actually seeing me with a male date would have really washed with them. None of their partners would probably know, and for me having never met them, I would be uncertain how they would act. They wouldn't really 'know me', and know that the 'gay thing' is just a part of who I am. A big part, sure. There wouldn't have been any trouble, any sort of a scene, but I would have been on alert for signs of discomfort in them, in me, in my date.

If you are straight and you are reading this you might think I'm just over-analysing, some of you gay guys and girls might think I am too. Maybe. If you have ever been the only single in a crowd of couples, or been the only childless person amongst a bunch of friends with kids, then maybe you can relate a little. It can be tough to be the only homo in a crowd though, no matter how nice everyone is. It can be tough enough being the only single in a crowd of couples, let alone being the only gay person. I'm generally a pretty happy guy, and don't really suffer from loneliness as such, but last night I came pretty close to feeling lonely.

I'm pretty proactive about changing things in my life that don't work, and I'm quite emotionally self sufficient. So, maybe a new resolution for the upcoming Summer is called for. Dating.

Eeek! :-)

Anti-Depressive Living

Mikey The Lovely Ex just sent me an email with a link to this book. (I'm not sure at this point if it was a Christmas hint, a question if I'd like it for Christmas, or just an FYI.)

When we lived together Mikey bought a couple of pieces of Adler, from memory I'm sure one of them was this piece, and I'm pretty sure he also has this bowl. I'm quite a fan of Jonathan Adler, I think his signature style is fun and I love the Mid-Century retro styling of much of his work. I also think it's great that he and his partner Michael Doonan have been together for quite a while, and that they are both so very public about their relationship. Although I guess as an interior designer/potter and window dresser/Barneys design director/interior designer, well it's sort of a given, right?

Three Dragonflies

Three Dragonflies
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Neon sign outside the Yoshi Jones boutique on King St, Newtown. I really like the Japanese Ka-Mon style of this sign.

Does This Make Me A Noodle Blogger?*

Yesterday I went out and bought 2 new pairs of shoes.

Now, this probably sounds like really scraping the bottom of a very large barrel as topics for a blog entry go, but bear with me. I can't remember if I covered all these points before, maybe I touched on them in my 100 Things list, but you must understand:

• I am a very short man with very wide, flat, hard to fit feet. (see 'Hobbit') Unlike other bloggers, who apparently have pretty feet.
  
• I dislike shopping for shoes, mostly because of the point above.
  
• I buy way too few pairs of shoes (see above).
  
• Consequently, when I find a pair that fits and/or are prepared to consider risking their structural integrity to stretch sufficiently, I will wear them almost every day until they fall apart.

So, prompted by the fact that I'm off to the see "Sounds Of The Cinema" by the Australian Chamber Orchestra tonight with my workmates, and my last pair of black 'dress' shoes just got retired (ie 'fell apart'), I decided to go shopping. One pair of nice chisel toed black shoes and an impulse buy of a funky pair of tan & brown trainers.

It's like I was on a mission. I did a quick recon of the shelves, selected, barked out my size, tried, purchased and was out of there in record time. Ok, 'barked' is an exaggeration, read 'asked politely' instead, but it was like "[deep breath] Ok, I'm doing this. Let's roll!"

* Noodle Bloggers is a term I read somewhere once, to describe the sort of blogs where people list the minute details of their day. Such as, "Today I had noodles for lunch".

Sad News

A few days ago I posted about the handsome new guy who showed up in our office for an interview, and was subsequently hired. Well, negotiations with his agency and issues to do with his lack of residency status broke down, and so he's gone. Gone!

Bye handsome Mark, we hardly knew you but you sure made a big impression!

We told him that if/when he manages to get his residency situation sorted, we will re-employ him. So that my friends gives me a small glimmer of hope that he'll be back. I've been joking around about how cute he is etc, but really I just feel bad for him that it was such a mess. He fit straight in here and looked like he was going to work out well and this job looked like it might help him stay in the country. Plus my employers offer very good pay and conditions (not least of which is the occasional free chocolate bar), so it was a good situation for him after only arriving in the country 5 months ago.

Oh well, hopefully we'll see him again.

Amazing New Blog

I'm blown away my a new blog I discovered after following a link from Jevyeddy's blog. It's called Coming Out At 48 and (as the name implies) chronicles the experience of a guy called Chris and his journey of coming out of the closet at the age of 48, of leaving his wife and grown children, and of taking the huge step that changed everything in his life.

Chris's writing is highly articulate and moving. Even if the experience of coming out of the closet is something you will never have to do because you are straight, have already done, or have yet to do if you are gay, I recommend you check it out and see if you find his blog interesting, because the quality of his writing just blows me away. He's only been blogging since August and I have yet to read all his entries, but I found myself getting quite emotional and caught up in his story from just reading through his initial August entries.

Documenting Change

On my walks to and from work each day I like to vary my route, mix it up a bit to keep me from getting bored with the walk. On my walk to work yesterday I passed through a small sidestreet and passed by the building where a week ago I took a photo of this piece of grafitti. Except, now the building is three quarters demolished. The bottom of the wall with the bit of grafitti I liked is still there, but no doubt will be gone by tonight, or in the next day or so.

I've really started to love taking photos. When my ex gave me a digital camera as a Christmas present a couple of years ago, I took party photos and pictures of people and events, but it's only in the past year (or year and a half maybe) that I started to photograph things that caught my eye. Taking photos for the sake of capturing something interesting, beautiful, colourful, funny or transient.

It struck me that I'm documenting my life and times too. This blog, and these photos will record a time and place in my life. I like to take photos of my neighbourhood, the streets I walk through each day, and I love looking at the way other people cover the same territory. We are all freezing this place at this point in time, and by blogging about and photo sharing through the interweb we are creating a collective document about this time and place. Already I can look back through this blog, and my photos of a year or more ago and see the changes in me, in my surroundings and in the world.

A Picture For The Family Album

If you are offended by talk of people doing 'the having of the sex' then look away now... ::drums fingers:: go on!

I had the most bizarre and unexpected experience this weekend. I was reading the interweb when I accidentally chanced upon one of those websites that documents romantic dalliances of the naked kind between consenting (18+ only of course) gentlemen.

Sure it took me 16 click-throughs to get there, but they were all accidental.

Anyhoo, there was a section specialising in 'amateurs', which I guess means people who still have their training wheels on. So I'm accidentally clicking through, and there in full glory is a picture of one of my ex boyfriends from a bunch of years ago. Someone I dated for two years. On the interweb! Being all dirty, dirty and naughty and stuff! Before you say "it might not have been him", trust me it definately was. His face was very clear, very wet but very clear, and there is no doubt it was him.

Shocking! I wonder if I still have his number?...

If It's Monday, It's Recappin' Time

I hope everyone had a nice weekend. It's Monday morning down here in Oz, which for some of you guys makes us so tomorrow, you know?

Monday morning means weekend recap time, although in the grand scheme of things this was a pretty quiet weekend:

• I decided that I was on such a roll with my walking 2 hours a day to and from work stizz, that I did plenty of walking this weekend to keep the momentum going. I always have my camera with me, so walking means picture taking. I uploaded a few to my Flickr page already, with more to come.
  
• I went to see an advance screening of Rize, a documentary film about 'clown dancing' and 'krumping'. What an amazing film! I was really dragged into the experience of these of kids, an experience which is soooo many worlds away from my own. The dancing itself was amazing, but I was more caught up in the charisma of the kids involved and their determination to find an outlet that's more positive than the traditional gang culture, but one that still satisfied their need for community.
  
• Housework, housework, housework. Boring, boring, boring.
  
• I went into the Buddhist centre and did a few hours of data entry, unpacked a shipment of new books that arrived for the bookshop (just like Christmas!) and wrote a few new orders for the bookshop (just like shopping!).

So, not a huge amount of social contact this weekend, but it was very relaxing and recharged the batteries a bit.

More Bougainvillea Goodness

Bougainvillea
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

When I was out walking yesterday I saw this bright fuscia Bougainvillea growing on the front fence of this terrace house, and was struck by the contrast of it with the creamy yellow colour of the house.

Bougainvillea On Stucco

Bougainvillea On Stucco
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

A bit more Flickr-y goodness to brighten your day.

I love the hot, bright colours of bougainvillea. This pic comes from the front of a house a few streets over from mine. Bougainvillea seems to love the climate around Sydney, and they brighten up the streets of my neighbourhood fantastically, with their variety of colours.

Comedy Gold

One hand, poor doggie, but on the other hand high-larious!

Keep Me In Your Prayers

:::shhh:::

Ok ::shhh:: I have to whisper this ok, so nobody hears. A real cutie pie just showed up in our office for an appointment with my boss; natty suit, expensive (read 'homo') haircut, well scrubbed complexion that speaks of quality skincare... really quite handsome.

OK :::shhhh::: here's the thing, if you have any religion at all, or if you don't just like cross your fingers or make a wish on Paris Hilton's firstborn, or whatever, but I want you to pray that he's here for a job interview. This office needs another 'mo, especially a cute one.

:::shhh::: Ok, thanks. Bye.

[UPDATED: Oh, my people! THE POWER OF PRAYER! His name is Mark, he's English, definately a 'mo, he starts on Monday. Thank you Jeebus, Xenu, Britney, Kylie...]

Colour Me 'Emotionally Neutral'!

Today has been a bit bleh so far, busy with re-doing a bunch of work that was done over a year ago (not by me) and then lost, feeling a bit tired, a bit dull etc. I remembered that Yaniboy posted a couple of days ago about biorhythms, so I thought that for a bit of fun maybe I'd go and have a look at my biorhythm.

Result: 'Physical' at the lowest point, at the bottom of the cycle. 'Intellectual' on the downward trend and almost at the lowest point. 'Emotional' smack bang on the 'zero line' or neutral. Now, I should add that like these folks I'm not a believer. Open minded, but not convinced that there is any science behind it.

Still, whether it's the power of suggestion or pure coincidence, the scores do kind of fit. Anyone care to try for yourself?

Perks That Perk

My boss just went out to run a few errands and came back with chocolate bars for the entire office. My poison? A giant King Size one of these. More addictive than crack, I swear. Um hello, diet?

Cha-Cha-Cha-Cha-Changes

It looks like I might have a replacement flatmate by the start of the year. My old flatmate moved out a few months back, about the time that a raise in my salary meant that keeping the house to myself in the short-term was feasible. Expensive, but feasible.

My last flatmate I found through a share registry type place, and although he was OK, he misrepresented himself a bit. My future flatmate is not only a friend, but someone who actually is easy going and who I trust. He also reads this blog, we actually met and became friends through this blog. It'll reduce my rent and bills to a level that will allow me to save enough money to go and do a month of study at a monastery in Nepal late next year, and also helps him out as he needs to leave where he is currently as the owners are selling.

Sounds like a win/win situation.

[Updated: I decided to excise the comments I made about my ex flatmate in this post, we no longer speak and it isn't really fair for me to vent about him and not allow him the courtesy of defending himself.]

Elizabeth's Bookshop Sign

Elizabeth's Bookshop Sign
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Words of wisdom outside Elizabeth's Bookshop in Newtown.

(Note the dog pee. Everyone's a critic...)

; )

Next year, if this 'Halloween thing' really takes off here in Oz, I am totally carving this.

[Link via kottke.]

Better Living Through Technology

I got out of work a couple of hours early yesterday, after the 'horse race that stops the nation' had run it's course. So, I had some time to kill and decided on a little retail therapy.

Spare time + empty stores = someone stop me before I spend my entire paycheque!

A couple of hours later, and a couple of hundred dollars later, I headed home with (as Michael says) something that "frantically pulses in my mouth for two minutes" plus a little something to trim 'the goat' with. (An extra sweetener, after taking the 'allways negotiable pricing' sales pitch to heart, I asked about a better deal for cash at Bing Lee and they lopped a substantial $27 off the $149 asking price for the Braun Sonic Complete 'oral hygiene system'. Cool.)

Hygiene and grooming, or as I like to think of it, an investment in me.

Sydney Weblogger Meet-Up

Last night I went to my first Sydney blogger meet-up. Since I found out about the monthly get togethers a few months back I hadn't been able to make any of them because of conflicting plans. I'm not sure exactly when these meet-ups started, but from my understanding they have been going for quite a while. The venue was recently changed from an 'Irish' pub called Kelly's to the Coopers Arms Hotel on King St, Newtown, to take advantage of the Tuesday night trivia night at the Coopers Arms.

We did well in the trivia, coming second from a field of about 10 teams and winning a $30 bar tab. We only lost by a couple of points (sorry about the 'carnation' answer guys). Not surprisingly a team of bloggers does very well on pop culture and any obscure nerdy questions. So we didn't actually win but we can hold our heads high in the knowledge the team who did win only won because they had been given a bonus 5 points by the trivia master, because he liked their name the best.


The crowd starts to build. Sydney blogger meet-up. 1st November, 2005.

I had a really great night. Caught up with some friends who I've known for a long time, before any of us even had blogs, and met a bunch of really nice new people.


The entire gang. Sydney blogger meet-up. 1st November, 2005.

In attendance were:
Back row (from left to right) Morgan, Mark, Glen, Vi & Spleenie (with hat), me (with what looks like an oddly pink face), Rob (handsome face hidden somewhat) and Harry. Front row, James, Coz and Amanda.

Interesting factoids; I've known James for years through mutual friends and I've known Coz, her sister Amanda, her husband Rob, and Harry for years as well. I only found out that Amanda had a blog, and that Coz, Rob & Harry have a group blog, earlier this year. Small world, huh.

[Updated: If you are interested in coming along to future Sydney blogger meet-ups, then check out Glen, Mark & Amanda's Sydney Blog Meetup for postings about future events. It looks like future meet-ups will be on the first Tuesday of each month, but check in advance for details.]

[YET FURTHER UPDATED: Ooooh, check out Mark's post about the meet-up. Dude totally harshes me about my 'carnation' mistake! Hmmm, 'darn queers', huh? Alrighty then. Winged monkeys to the ready! Fly, my pretties!]

Freak Like Me

Freak Like Me
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

A little inspired Newtown grafitti for you. I count myself in this number by the way, fresh air and open spaces are wonderful but give me the crush of humanity to get me veins thrumming.

Boos And Yays

Australia grinds to a halt for a horse race later today folks, and so in preparation I ground to a halt work-wise at about 9.00 am. To do anything less would be un-Australian. Mental processes are likewise sluggish, so I'll take the path of least resistance and give you a Yays! and Boos! list for today:

• Passing a beautiful young man in a gorgeous navy suit on the street this morning (yay!) and spotting that he had tan shoes on (boo!).
  
• Walking to work (yay!) and half way it started raining (boo!).
  
• Running into a friend during said walk to work and discovering that while on holidays in Thailand her boyfriend (who is my old flatmate) proposed and they are now engaged (yay!).
  
• Finally understanding that I am like the last single person in my social network (boo!) - ok that's an exaggeration but sometimes it feels like it.
  
• Good coffee (YAY! - never a boo! let's face it).
  
• Tonight is a Sydney blogger meet-up, which I can actually go to for a change (yay!). Coopers Arms Hotel at 221 King St, Newtown from about 6-6.30 onwards.

I think the Yays! have it.

From The 'World's Worst Kept Secrets' File.

Star Trek's George "Mr Sulu" Takei comes out.

World says, "Well, duh."

[Link via kottke.]

All Hallows

Last night was my first ever Halloween party and it was a blast! Web-Goddess and The Snook very kindly invited me to a Halloween bash at their house, along with a bunch of their friends that included other Sydney bloggers. Kris and Rodd went with a very cool Iron Chef theme for their costumes, Kris as the Hiroyuki 'The Delacroix of French Cuisine' Sakai and Rodd as Chairman Kaga (complete with yelow capsicum, for the biting of). Kris turned out to be just as nice and funny as I expected from reading her blog.

I had a really great time, ate some very cool 'creeptastic' food Kris had gone to all the trouble of making, discovered the US *cough*delicacy*cough* Marshmellow Peeps (err, a bit yuck), and enjoyed the music and conversation. Some of the other Interweb cool kids that were there included Gadgetgirl & Yank In Oz and Helen of Spycore (complete with Blythe dolls).

Good times. Thanks for invite Kris & Rodd!

Dem Bones, Dem Bones, Dem Dry Bones...

As I mentioned yesterday, I scored an invite to EstogenFest 2005 Adrienne's baby shower and everyone was asked to make and bring a quilt square in 'warm blues' as a surprise for the mum to be. I hadn't ever done any quilting before (but of course, so wanted to), and it was fun. Getting all those parallelogram points to line up exactly tapped into that deep, dark, Martha-esque part of my psyche that has VIRGO stamped all over it.


My finished patch. 29th October, 2005.

I originally just bought the two mottled blues, and it looked kind of 'meh'. Then I found the fabric with the tiny orange bones on it (Halloweenish no?) and fell in love.


The collection starts to grow. October 29th, 2005.

It was a really fun project, and as you'd expect the end results varied wildly - in a good way. I think the final quilt will be wonderful, all that fun, care and time spent by friends to make something. (Miss 'World Peace & A Speedboat' and her mum made the really cute dog and elephant patches. Which I coveted secretly.)

It was a fun afternoon, presents for the baby were exchanged, opinions on how the quilt should be arranged were offered, there were cucumber sandwiches and Pimm's Cup. Good times.

Just When You Thought I Couldn't Get Any Gayer...

...I just got back from the fabric store, where I bought quilting fabric, because I'm the only guy going to a Baby Shower tomorrow afternoon and we are all asked to take along a quilt square to be assembled into a quilt for the mother-to-be.

I mean, really.

My Town Newtown

I frequently mention my 'hood of Newtown in my posts, and the pictures I post on this blog are often of things I've seen around the streets of this little enclave. Newtown is a cool blend of the down at heel and the high heeled. The second biggest gay community in Sydney, a big universtity crowd, old folks who have lived here forever and now lots of 'two income & one child' young families. Once off the main streets, Newtown is mostly a warren of narrow streets and back lanes with either two storey terrace houses or narrow fronted single storey 'workers' cottages' (like mine).

I just joined the Newtown photo pool on Flickr, so if you're interested in a more detailed and varied look at this little place I call 'home' why not check it out.

Does This Constitute A Blog Entry?

So far I have held off posting anything today, because, well, frankly there isn't much to post about. (Does posting about not having anything to post about create some sort of existentialist conundrum? Or just make me a 16 year old LiveJournal user?)

So, here is a brief recap of today with my subjective Interest Factor scores:

• Woke at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep. (C-)
  
• Read the internets and cruised for online porn until 6.30am (A+, remember this is my point of view)
  
• Walked to work, weather already hot at 7.30am (B)
  
• Spent a greater % of time over at Pipedreams making thinly veiled/not veiled at all penis and bum comment referrences, than actually working (A)
  
• Still haven't reconciled loan account, should have finished days ago (D-)
  
• Boring lunch, 2 minor (and not blog worthy) budget DVD purchases (C+)
  
• Most fave bloggers from the Northern Hemisphere now fast asleep, curse fate as blog commenting grinds to a halt (D)
  
• Desultory work attempts (F)
  
• Compose lame blog entry instead, consider hating myself then decide can't be bothered (C)

Metal Sculpture

Metal Sculpture
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I took this picture of an anodised metal sculpture at World Square on my way into work yesterday. The metal is a purplish colour that changes through magenta and bronze depending on the light.

[This is also an experiment in picture posting from my Flickr page, as I was curious to see how it would turn out. Verdict: I'm not wild about the size of the picture or the black border, both things I can probably change - although, so help me, if I touch it I will break it. Clicking the pic takes you to the picture's Flickr page and a larger version, which is somewhat cool.]