Poolside Portulaccas

Portulaccas
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Something a little colourful to go with today's happy mood.

Portulaccas that were growing wild like weeds beside the swimming pool of my friends Ian & Steve. I love the way you seem to get different coloured blooms on the same plant, although I'm not sure if it's just a bunch of plants growing tightly together. Whichever it is, I love the colours.

If You're Happy And You Know It, Clap Your Hands!

It's Friday in my neck o' the woods and it feels like the weekend is here already. I only write about my moods when they are particularly high, or less often when they are particularly low, but the other 90% of the time I cruise along at a comfortable altitude. This is going to be one of those good mood posts.

I've been trying really hard this week to be disciplined about losing weight, eating better and getting more exercise. Losing weight the old fashioned way. It's kind of weird because I can be hugely lazy about this sort of thing, but when I flick the switch in my head to 'ON' and put in place some structure, then I respond really well to the discipline. Actually I respond very well to discipline. Anyone?

Anyhoo, I'm not sure what the exact number is, because me old bathroom scales are far from accurate, but I've dropped a noticeable amount of weight this week. I've only ever dieted once before and it looks like the pattern is the same this time around. A big loss in the first week (last time it was 3.4Kg or around 7 pounds) and then it settles down to the more realistic number of just under a Kg a week. This morning I put on a new polo shirt for work and my regular jeans, and there is a noticeable difference. So, yay me!

If that wasn't mood enhancing enough, my social life has really blossomed this week. Call it the last hurrah of Summer if you will. I was futzing around the house last night, just about to jump in the shower to go out and meet up with my friend Brendan and the A List Gays, when I thought I heard someone at the front door. I wasn't sure, but then there was a quiet rattling of the screen door again.

I went to the door and standing there was a guy had met back in December called Christopher. Christopher lives one street over from me, and I met him when we shared a cab ride home from the airport just after Christmas. Prior to that I had seen him around the neighbourhood and we had done a bit of casual cruising of each other on the street. We chatted, phone numbers were exchanged, it was very pleasant. He's off to hospital for an operation for an undisclosed ailment, but afterwards there might be a date in the offing. He has nice eyes and an easy laugh. I like that.

Afterwards I met up with Brendan and the A List Gays and had a really great evening. Any reticence I felt about these guys being 'party boys' and 'out of my league' just shows where my insecurities lie, because in truth they are a warm and friendly bunch of guys. We had drinks, dinner, and then went to The Imperial to see the 10pm drag show (and as it turned out the 11pm one as well, and almost stayed for the midnight one...). I hadn't seen a weeknight drag show at The Impy and it was hysterical, and much filthier than the weekend show.

By the end of the evening we had made arrangements for meeting up on late Sunday afternoon again and even for a camping trip later in the year. Oh, and I've continued to hit it off very well with one of the guys, so who knows? There may be a date in the offing sometime as well. I'm kind of in the mood to date in the old fashioned sense. Take things slow, get to know each other and see if a potential for a relationship is there. Not jump straight into the sack, or rush to RELATIONSHIP without passing GO (or collecting $200).

I think this is all connected. Even though I've just started to lose weight I already feel better, look a little better and am more confident. I'm not very overweight by any stretch, I'm technically about 7.5Kg (15-20 pounds I think)overweight for my size, but because of my size (small) any extra weight is very noticeable and sits on my belly and chest as Chunk. My attitude towards myself has changed and that confidence just has to have a knock on affect, surely? Confidence is attractive.

Caption This Photo

I'm hella busy and feeling a bit uninspired today, so taking a leaf from Freakgirl's book, let's try a game of Caption This Photo shall we?

Pamela Anderson Scares Me

Why?

Two reasons. Chesticles.

Lunchtime Stroll

I took those itchy feet of mine for a lunchtime walk today. Just through the city streets, down to World Square and back, with a detour into JB HiFi to grab a copy of the Serenity DVD. It's so lovely out today, the sun is shining and it's a mild 25C (around 80F). Business suit cuties are stripped down to the shirtsleeves and the road workers have for the most part taken off their shirts. Life's good.

I took my camera along for the stroll, snapped some of the Year of The Dog themed decorations that are lining the streets, and that get more in evidence as you get closer to Chinatown. I've raved about Sydney a number of times on this blog, but the city is looking fine today. The old dame's been tarted up a bit with planter boxes and colourful banners, the sky is a huge bowl of blue and there's just enough breeze to make it all pleasant.

Happy.

Click It!

My friend, frequent commentor, and now flatmate Bodhi sent me this link yesterday and it's pretty darn funny. Go ahead and get clicking.

You're welcome.

Attaining Serenity

Mine! Mine! All Mine!

Released today, so you just know I just had to go and get it. Yes, I'm a nerd.

What Would Nicole Ritchie Do?

I swear, I don't know how these tiny Hollywood bag ladies do it. I'm dieting and it's hard yo. Not least of which because I know there is an open packet of Mint Slices in the office refridgerator.

When the room is quiet enough, they actually do have a siren call that's just audible. Bitches.

For Michael Guy

Pink hibiscus
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Returning the favour.

I figure, it's the least I can do. Especially since he's too far away for me to try and french kiss him.

Unsettled

I've got ichy feet today. A feeling like there's something else I should be doing, something fun, something out there. Anywhere. Certainly not at my desk, and especially not processing these invoices and cheques.

I want to walk in the park, go to the Art Gallery, look up at the spreading limbs of the huge Morton Bay Fig trees and watch the birds. Maybe go down to the water, down to the Quay to watch the buskers, or maybe to lean out over the water and see how many jellyfish I can count.

What would you rather be doing right now?

Backlit Hibiscus

Backlit Hibiscus
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

More botanical porn. I loved the light shining through this bright pink hibiscus that was growing righ beside the footpath in Newtown, turning it translucent.

Purple Hibiscus

Purple Hibiscus 2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Gorgeous maroon and purple hibiscus blooming by the footpath in one of the back streets of Newtown. Summer might be getting close to drawing towards a close, but not just yet!

A Weekend of Fabulousness

It's Monday morning in my neck of the woods, so it's time to cast a critical eye over the weekend. This week it was a busy weekend that tipped the scales on the side of fabulousness. What a great weekend I had!

Friday night I kicked off the weekend with a frenzied bout of bathroom cleaning and then some "alone time" on The Interwebsuperhighway with the new Kate Bush cd "Aerial" playing in my headphones. What, not your idea of a good Friday night? Well, it was the end of a long and tiring work week for me, and a night that combined the satisfaction of the righteous (bathroom cleaning) and the satisfaction of new Kate Bush songs to listen to and "me time" with The Interweb, well that was just what I needed.

Last week I took a long hard look at myself and decided The Chunk was getting out of control, so on Saturday morning I went and rejoined Fat Fighters, which was a painless and somewhat encouraging experience. (Don't worry, this isn't about to become My Weight-Loss Diary.) Afterwards I went to a meeting to help start organising the April relocation to new larger premisis of the Buddhist centre I attend.

In the afternoon I went to a lovely Engagement Party for two friends, Miss Krin and my old flatmate David (aka Fitz). An overcast afternoon turned into a mild night, and it was lovely to be out in the garden chatting with people I hadn't seen for a while, with good friends and with an ever increasing number of kids underfoot. Along the way I discovered that yet another friend has just started up a blog that I wasn't aware of. The afternoon turned into late evening and I headed home sometime after midnight.

Sunday morning I went over to my friends Spyder & Gordy's house for breakfast, to further catch up with friends that were in town from Melbourne and Canberra for the engagement party. A lazy morning of sitting outside, eating non-Fat Fighters approved beakfast goodies, patting the naughty Whippets and laughing up a storm with my favourite group of smartarses was a great start to the day. Afterwards I headed into the Buddhist centre to teach someone how to use the database, step one towards handing off the responsibility for doing the data entry, w00t! In the afternoon I took a few pics as I walked through the backstreets of Newtown on my way to King St, and then after passing The Dendy cinema in Newtown I decided to see the movie Mrs Henderson Presents, which was lots of fun. The film let out around 5pm, and I had floated the idea of afternoon drinkies at The Newtown Hotel with my old friend Brendan, so I swung by there to see if he was there and he was! I hung out for a couple of hours with him and the A List Gays on what turned out to be a busy late afternoon at The Newtown, and met a couple of nice new guys. One of whom I took quite a shine to, and if the warmth of his goodbye was anything to go by (a smooch that combined arm stroking and a big hug) then that shine might be reciprocated. :-)

Sunday night was the somewhat usual laundry, making dinner, watching Carnivale on tv etc, the end of a busy and fun weekend.

How was yours?

Contacts

Originally uploaded by vic..

In Flickr you can bookmark people as "contacts", so that their photo collections are easy to find again, and so that you can see their most recent photos. That way its easy to tell when they have updated.

I realised that I have three types of contacts; 1) people I have a connection with either as pre-existing friends, people whose blogs I read or people I have met through Flickr meet-ups, 2) people who have listed me as a contact and I in turn have made them a contact and 3) hot guys who post pictures of themsleves.

Anyone care to take a stab at which category Vic falls into?

Does That Include Emotional Baggage?

Who knew that there was such a thing as a store that specialised in selling people's unclaimed baggage? Apparently they buy the bags from the airlines after the statutory period for claim has expired, sort the contents, and sell them at vastly reduced prices like a regular second hand store.

If you thought the airlines were better these days at making sure that people and their baggage stayed together, well the store is huge and takes up a whole city block. That's a lot of bags. It begs the question though, if you lost a bag that had a diamond & platinum ring in it, a huge emerald or a live rattlesnake (all real items that the 'unpackers' found), then wouldn't you try harder to claim your bag?

I wonder if they have to check any sort of stolen goods register? Not that I think the snake might be stolen...

NostalgiaFest 2006

So, by now you all know about my DVD addiction, right? I may be getting pretty close to requiring an intervention. I would consider getting myself barred from JB HiFi the way some problem gamblers get themselves barred from casinos and clubs, except I think that would really be expecting too much 'service' from the slackerbots that 'work' at JB HiFi in Galeries Victoria.

(To the young woman that 'served' me the other day - calling me "mate" while you give me my change does not go anywhere near close to negating the complete lack of eye contact and the waves of disinterest/contempt coming off you. Just so you know. Also, I feel bad for the poor woman who has to constantly announce "DVD Staff to the counter" over the PA because the slackerbots are all hanging out in the storeroom discussing the merits of Kraftwerk's early catalogue.)

Um, but I digress.

I've been on a bit of a British comedy nostalgia kick this week. The seed of this was sowed in an unlikely way. At breakfast a couple of weekends ago Owen's phone rang and his ringtone was the theme music from the '70s British comedy Man About The House. For those of the American pursuasion who might be reading this, "Man About The House" was the original that your Three's Company was based on. Likewise, the popular spin-off George & Mildred was the inspiration for the US version The Ropers, although the second spin off from "Man About The House" Robin's Nest was never made into a US version. I bought Season 1 of "Man About The House" and Season 1 of "George & Mildred" the other day, and have been cackling ever since.

I had forgotten just how funny "Man About The House" actually was, even though I had really fond memories from watching it as a kid, and how racy it was in the context of its time. Chrissy in particular gets some great zinger one liners, and the clothes and decor are comedy material all on their own. Yootha Joyce (Mildred) is soooo camply fabulous, in a '70s sherry-soaked and smelling of ciggies way, and I secretly covet her wardrobe of high waisted sans-a-belt slacks. Not a natural fibre in sight. Ah the '70s!

Do yourself a favour and check them out sometime, they've stood the test of time surprisingly well.

Prickly

Cactus
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I love the way this cactus was wearing this beautiful big bloom at a jaunty angle, like a cocktail hat.

There's No Smoke Without Fire

I seem to be surrounded by a sudden flurry of friends and work colleagues that are giving up smoking. A move which I applaud wholeheartedly. I've seen a bunch of people who have tried to quit, some with success, and I've seen how hard it is.

I don't usually hassle people about their smoking, but I'm quite strongly anti-smoking. My late Dad was a chronic chain smoker all this life, and even a quadruple heart bypass, an aneurism and a collection of small strokes wasn't enough incentive for him to quit. He'd been smoking since he was about 13, so I guess it was like oxygen to him after all those years. Before the awareness of passive smoking I can remember being trapped in a smoke filled car wherever we went, and having ciggie smoke be a normal thing around the house. I can't really remember my Dad without a lit cigarette in his hand. It's no surprise that my sister and I have both had a history of chest problems, given the smoke we were exposed to as children. My oldest sister was raised by my non-smoking grandparents when she was small, as my mother was in hospital for a bunch of years with polio, scarlet fever and tuberculosis. So I guess she missed out on the effects of passive smoke when she was little and at her most vulnerable.

My Mum was a vehement anti-smoker, which made for a source of tension in the house. She always resented the cost of Dad's smokes, and before I was born we had some lean income years in England and she would sometimes have to cut her own food budget to be able to afford his smokes. A concept which just beggars belief. It's cruel irony that the cancer which finished her off was lung cancer, although given that it was a secondary cancer from her breast cancer primary it might not have been directly related to passive smoking. Both my sisters smoke, something which even as adults they tried to keep a secret from Mum as they knew how strongly she felt about it.

I don't have an addictive personality, jokes about my DVD 'habit' aside, so I have never formed an addiction to anything. I used to enjoy drinking socially on weekends, but one day just stopped. I tried smoking to be cool when I was about 13, probably smoking about 10 cigarettes in total, and hated it. I resisted drugs of any sorts in my 20s, had a few mild experiments in my 30s but could count them in total on both hands. So I understand the physical aspects of addiction, and I think I have a fair idea about the mental aspects, but the mind set isn't something I can directly relate to. I struggle to comprehend how someone can do something that is that physically bad for them, and especially persevering through the early stages of smoking when it is pretty gross. I guess most smokers start young, when the peer pressure (or whatever motivation for it) is strong enough to overcome the discomfort.

So, those who decide to give it up, I salute you! Any smokers (or ex smokers) care to weigh in on this?

Are You Up For A Challenge?

Mikey (the lovely ex) just sent me an email to clue me in on the Survivor 12 Gaydar Challenge over at The Malcontent. You know there is usually at least one 'mo on the show (even if they aren't about to admit it openly *cough*Brian*cough*), so let's see if you can pick who's the one. Or two? Or three?...

Oh, and don't go basing your decision on anything as shallow and stereotyping as who looks like they'd be good at the challenges, because remember that our favourite little red headed Mormon homosexualist from last season rocked at the challenges. Instead I concur with The Malcontent, let Gayface be your guide.

Tears Before Bedtime

After a really bad night of tossing and turning on Monday night, and only getting a few hours sleep, I woke Tuesday morning with a fever and a sore ear. Yup, I think I either picked up an ear infection from my friends' pool or it's another episode in my ongoing sinus/ear/throat scenario. A visit to the doc this morning and a scrip for antibiotics should do the trick.

Consequently, yesterday I ignored the interweb in favour of lying on the couch feeling small 'd' depressed, looking scruffy and unshaved, eating comfort food and getting teary at an episode of Everwood* (and just about anything else on tv actually). Yes, yesterday I was that person.

*In my defence, poor Marcia Cross's character has HIV, and there was shunning by the townspeople, and actually it looks like her brother's medical practice might have to close, and that nice Mr Treat Williams broke up with her because his kids (especially his kinda cute son) were scared... It was quite moving, actually. Oh, and "Everwood" (which I had never heard of before yesterday) was created by Greg Berlanti, who wrote and directed one of my favourite gay films "The Broken Hearts Club"!