Firsts

Dani tagged me for a meme, and it's been a while since I dipped my toe in the meme pool, so here goes:

First town you ever lived in: Morecambe, UK, until we emigrated when I was 1.

First album owned: Abba, "Arrival" I think.

First pub gig seen: I don't remember actually seeing a pub gig as such until after I had seen a few major concerts. My first concert was Adam & The Ants! I'm ancient!

First Celebrity Crush: Gah, I have no idea! Um, maybe the cutie pie singer from Haircut 100, or the lead singer of ABC. Actually, probably either Tony Hadley (lead singer) or Steve Norman (saxaphone) from Spandau Ballet. Again, I'm ancient! How embarrassing...

First Film you remember seeing: "My Fair Lady" I think it was. It made me gay. That must have been it!

First time you drank alcohol: My parents always gave us little sips, but probably the first time I did something more than have a sip would be raiding the liquor cabinet after school in order to get my school friend Ian drunk enough to let me touch it. (He didn't take much encouagement, or alcohol. But the alcohol gave him a valid excuse I guess,)

First paying job: Shop assistant at Myers department store, Small Electrical department (irons, toasters and such).

First Kiss: Possibly Ian (see above), no doubt promptly followed by wrestling and half hearted cries of "get off me!".

I don't like tagging, but anyone care to play? Just answer the same questions.

It's Big. It's a Merino.

I'm back, from the wilds of Canberra! We had a lovely trip, if anything it was too short.

If I told you that we went to a wedding where during the reception the groom stabbed the bride in the hand, would that make it sound like they were white trash? Like the wedding was in a trailer park? (Actually it was a lovely wedding, at a lovely home, and the bride and groom are anything but white trash, but in terms of blog material you almost couldn't make this up if you tried.)

At the end of the evening the bride and groom were opening their gifts, when there was an accident involving a kitchen knife, the recalcitrant tape on one of the gifts, some alcohol and a slip of the hand. Fortunately there was a nurse in attendance as a guest, but the evening ended with the wedding party heading off to the Emergency Room for the bride to have some stitches, as we headed back to our hotel. Apparently they returned an hour or so later and finished opening the gifts, so it wasn't too bad.

We stopped at Goulburn on the way through to Canberra to visit the great Aussie icon, The Big Merino. During the '70s and '80s Australian country towns were obsessed with building Big Things to attract passing tourists. The Big Pineapple, the Big Banana, the Big Prawn... the list is almost endless.


It's Big. It's a Merino.
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


As always, I took a lot of photos. Canberra is quite a bit cooler than Sydney at this time of year, and has a lot of European and American trees, so has a much more spectacular Autumn than we are used to. The colours were absolutely stunning, and so Morgan and I couldn't help but stop and take lots of photos. I'm still in the process of putting pics up on Flickr, but if you have a look at my photostream you'll see some of the Goulburn and Canberra pics that I have put up already.


Canberra Colours
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Autumn Golds
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Before heading home on Sunday we visited the National Gallery of Australia and spent a few hours touring a wonderful exhibition of Islamic art from South East Asia, wandering through parts of the general collection, and exploring the sculpture garden. Then we met up with a lovely friend of Morgan's, and fellow blogger, Zoe for a late lunch of yummy Turkish food.

It was a very relaxing weekend, the perfect antidote to a busy and stressful week. The wedding was beautiful, even with the reception bloodbath, and it was really nice to see friends I hadn't seen for a while and catch up with what has been happening in their lives. Morgan and I are just enjoying spending time together more and more, and so spending the weekend together was a joy.

Morgan has also posted a blog entry about the weekend.

Sleepless In Sydney Town

It's early morning here, dawn was just a little while ago. I've been up for over an hour, and awake for a little while longer than that. I've been sitting in Morgan's lovely apartment admiring the view as the sun rose, listening to the crows calling, watching the light change and looking at pics on Flickr on his laptop. A bit frustrated with myself for lack of sleep, but feeling quite content anyway.

Morgan is fast asleep in the other room, and I'll go in and wake him up with a cuddle soon as we need to pack and set off for the three hour drive to Canberra today, for Robyn & Jeremy's wedding. I'm looking forward to showing him off to my friends, introducing him to the people I care about. Come and look, come and see this precious treasure I found, how rare and beautiful it is.



Have a great weekend everyone!

Sphinx

Sphinx
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Another pic from the visit to the Art Gallery of NSW last weekend. This pair of Sphinx (Sphinxes?) act as guardians at the entrance to the park opposite the gallery. It took quite a while to get this pic because people kept wandering into the frame, but I got it eventually. It also took quite a bit of effort to get my point and shoot camera to focus how I wanted, and while it could be a bit better and sharper I like it anyway.

[Best viewed large, click to go to Flickr.]

Back On Deck

Okely Dokely, now that that little bug has finally worked its way out of my system I'm back, primed and ready to party. (In the way that 41 year old men party that is, somewhat slowly, with ocassional rest breaks, and a complaint to turn that damn music down.)

I don't have much from the past few days that's news worthy to report, which is never a good way to intro a blog entry, let's face it. What's that I hear?... running footsteps and doors slamming? Anyhoo, whatever.

What the past couple of days have been is frantically busy at work. Everything else is just ticketty boo, jim dandy, peachy even. Morgan is a joy, a treasure and an absolute sweetheart of a person. I'm very lucky. He's even a quiet sleeper. Yeah baby! Despite eating out a lot and being a fair bit less careful about what I eat, I haven't stacked on much (if any) weight. I thought I might have, but my belt indicates otherwise. I might even have had a small loss from my appetitie not being what it usually is (voracious) while I was sick.

The little quiet patch while I was sick aside, life is throwing plenty of fun stuff my way at present. I was about to buy a new camera, when one of the wonderful Sydney Photobloggers offered to sell me his, the exact same model, which is less than a year old, in great condition and he's only getting rid of it because he's upgrading to something more spectacular. He's throwing in a heap of accessories too and charging me a lot less than I can buy it for new. Score. Some of my friends are having babies and others are getting married.

In fact, this weekend Morgan, myself and Mikey (the lovely ex) are doing a three hour road trip to Canberra for the wedding. It'll be great to see all the gang in one spot, and a nice opportunity for Morgan to meet a bunch of them in one go. The present is bought, spectacularly wrapped (a vision in bright orange and shot silk ribbon - as the saleslady in David Jones card & wrap department said "Lovely! This will stand out amidst the sea of white and silver wedding wrapping!" You betcha.) and the new outfit has been purchased. All systems are go. We're off in the morning. Road trip!

City View

City View 2
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

I took this picture from the upstairs ante room between the Asian Galleries and the Cafe at the Art Gallery of NSW. It's a spectacular view of the eastern inner city suburbs of Sydney, and I love the rhythm of the floor to ceiling windows reflected in the polished parquet floor.

Harry Seidler's "Horizon" building looms large on the...well, horizon.

[Best viewed large, click to go to Flickr.]

Resting

Yesterday was a very important public holiday for Australians; ANZAC Day, a day for remembering fallen war heroes, honouring returned service personnel and eating yummy ANZAC biscuits. The viral bug I've been struggling with since Saturday was still kicking my butt, so Morgan and I had a very quiet day and only ventured out of the house to pay a visit to my friend Judy. Judy's husband John is a Vietnam veteran, and was marching in the parade and then drinking with his buddies, so Morgan and I had a lovely lunch with Judy, and then hung out with her (and her beautiful 22 year old cat Rover) for the afternoon. Morgan was starting to feel unwell (hopefully not with the same horrible bug I've had) and my energy started to lag, so we headed back to Morgan's in the late afternoon to just chill out on the sofa with cups of tea and a laptop each. So modern! We both needed a good night's rest, so I headed home for an early night.

It sounds like an uneventful day, and I guess in some respects it was, but it was pleasant and it's always lovely to hang out with Judy. Morgan hasn't met all that many of the greater extended clan of friends that form a bit of a family for me here, so it was nice to introduce him to Judy and to see that they got on well and both liked each other. No surprises there. We're going to Canberra together this weekend for the wedding of two friends, and that will be a great opportunity for Morgan to meet a bunch of them in one go. It won't be as daunting as it sounds, they're all lovely people.

I'm still not feeling 100%, actually 80% is what I'm aspiring to, and have a huge volume of work to get through so this will probably be it for blog posts today. Unless of course I feel the need to curse James Blunt again. That might yet happen.

See you tomorrow, chikadees.

Dante Got It Wrong

The 5th Circle of Hell is not the muddy waters of the River Styx, outside the city of Dis. It is in fact:

1. Running a fever
   
2. Making an ill advised trip down into a crowded Victoria's Basement, discount homewares purveyors to the masses, at lunchtime... during a sale... in search of a wedding present
   
3. James Blunt's whinetastic "Goodbye My Lover" playing on the PA

Dante did however rightly describe it as the dominion of the Wrathfull and The Sullen. He was on the money there.

It's Because I Am A Massive Nerd...

...that this news has my jumping out of my skin.

[Link via Freakgirl.]

Poorly

Monday morning is weekend recap time, and in a life largely spent lurching from self enduced crisis to self enduced crisis, I like having this small degree of structure.

Friday night I stayed over at Morgan's apartment and cooked dinner for the two of us. Morgan and I had both had short but hellishly busy weeks, so we just hung out and watched a DVD (The outrageously fun 2001 UK mini-series Metrosexuality. There's more info in this Wikipedia entry.) and then had an early night.

Saturday morning was Haircut Day, so I headed off into Newtown for my haircut while Morgan finished off some work from home. Afterwards Morgan joined me in Newtown for a wander around, a bit of window shopping and a coffee at Campos.


PDA
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


I snapped this pic of a cute couple having a Public Display of Affection in Campos. One of the things I love about Newtown, and much of the inner West of Sydney, is that we of the homosexualist pursuasion are largely able to be ourselves without anyone batting an eyelid. Morgan and I hold hands almost everywhere we go, and even though you need to exercise a little discretion at times to avoid danger (sad but true) the vast majority of Sydneysiders in the inner city just take it in their stride.

Later on Saturday afternoon I started feeling a bit achey and developed a bit of a headache, and it turned out I was starting to come down with a bug. One which made its presence felt in grand fashion with a massive wave of nausea and lightheadedness while sitting down to dinner at a restaurant with Morgan and a friend. (No, it wasn't after the bill arrived.) Consequently I spent much of Sunday on the couch at Morgan's, feeling achey, hot and nauseous. Nurse Morgan tended my fevered brow with gentle ministrations, so even being sick has some advantages.

Late afternoon we were both feeling a little stir crazy, so we headed into the city to take a walk around the Art Gallery. I enjoyed it, even though I was still feeling a bit unwell and very achey. Afterwards I headed home for an early night.

Truth is I'm still sick, so I'm not really firing on all cylinders today. It sounds like at least two of my workmates have had to deal with a similar issue over the weekend with almost identical symptoms. Given that it is a Public Holiday here tomorrow for ANZAC Day it would have been a bit suspect if we had called in sick today. Were it any normal week I certainly would have.

So, OK not the most rivetting of weekend recaps. As reportage goes, maybe it could use some work. Sex up some aspects and emphasise the drama of others. Add in a car chase.

All this rambling? It's the fever talking.

Congratulations Speedy!

My friend Louise (who comments here as Worldpeace_and_aspeedboat) and her partner Gordon are the proud parents of a baby boy, born Tuesday the 18th at 6.35am. 3.41 Kg (7lb 8oz in old money), mother and baby both doing well.

Congratulations!

In Need Of Some Therapy

Apartment Therapy that is.

Their second annual Smallest, Coolest Apartment Contest makes me want to have a groovier, more stylish pad. Like Rob's place, or maybe Lucy's "Love Shack" even.

Oh, but bigger.

Orangey

Showy
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Because pretty is always the perfect antidote to crabby, here's a pretty flower I snapped on the walk from Coogee beach to Clovelly last weekend. I feel better already.

Wrong Side Of The Bed

Who knew that two back-to-back four day weeks could be so exhausting? A short week last week and a short week this week on account of Easter has meant that two weeks worth of very busy work, busier than normal, has been crammed into 8 days. A public holiday next Tuesday for ANZAC Day makes it a third week in a row. I'm not complaining about having days off (trust me when I say I will never complain about that!) but it has made the time I am at work busier and more stressful than normal. Yesterday I spent over an hour on a bank help desk trying to make 528 client payments go through, payments that absolutely had to go through, and it was so stressfull I thought my head was going to explode, Scanners style.

Urgh. I suspect I got out of the wrong side of the bed this morning. (Or someone else's bed to be more accurate.) I'm a bit tired, a bit crabby, and counting down to the weekend already. Less of a Glass Half Full Day than a What Is The Damn Glass Doing On My Desk? I Didn't Ask For This Glass! Day.

On the good news front, tomorrow is Saturday! Not just any Saturday, but Haircut Day. Like my compadre I heart Haircut Day. I have one instruction Make It Pretty.

Indian Summer

You would never know that it's currently Autumn down here in Sydney, my little corner of the Southern Hemisphere. OK, the days are shorter, but aside from that we seem to be having a glorious Indian summer.


Baths
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


The stores are full of the heavy coats, knits and somber colours of Winter, while people stroll past in shorts and singlet tops. Sales are starting already. The nights are getting much cooler, but the days are beautiful. The sea is still quite warm, and the beaches are full.


Warning
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


In the notorious way that it sometimes happens in Spring and Autumn here, next week this all might change and it'll be wet and cold. I kind of like that changeable nature of these two seasons. It's sort of a lucky dip on a grand scale.


Slippery When Wet
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


These photos were all taken last weekend, late afternoon as the warmth of the day slid casually towards a pleasantly cool evening. Morgan and I spent the day and evening with my friend Stephen who was visiting from Bisbane, and in the afternoon we did the stroll from Coogee beach to Clovelly. I took quite a few photos, as did Morgan. It was a great way to spend an afternoon, and the pathways were full of people making the best of it. In the evening Morgan cooked dinner for the three of us, and we hung out and watched a DVD, and enjoyed each other's company.

As much as I love the colours of Autumn, I hope this Indian summer stays around for a while yet.

Connecting

I've been thinking a lot recently about how we connect with each other, and how as humans most of us need to feel that connection with others. The big connections, the people we love and the people we call family or friends. The little connections, the ones we make when we thank someone for shifting along to give us room to sit on the train. The important connections in between, the acquaintences, workmates, friends and people we chat with over the internet, that enrich our lives. The flipside of this I guess is the sad story I posted yesterday about the woman who sat dead and unmissed in her apartment for two years. Her life must have been lacking in important connections with others, for nobody to seek out what happened to her.

I remember the early days of the internet, back when it was The Internet, the Information Super Highway even, when doomsayers predicted that we would become a race of shut-ins living vicariously through chat rooms and machines, not truly connecting with others. My experience has been the opposite. Blogging and reading other people's blogs, as well as posting pictures and looking at other people's pictures, makes me feel connected to more people than ever before. Sure I couldn't ring any of these people up to cry on their shoulder at 3am, or ask for a loan of $50, but when I chat with people through blog comments or read their entries I feel that I am learning about them, connecting with them. It makes me think of the penfriends I had as a teenager, I cared about them and I felt they cared about me, even if we never met.

Not everyone wants, or is able, to take the next step and meet face-to-face but all the people I have met face-to-face through the internet (through blogging or Flickr) have for the most part been regular folks. The internet also allows people to portray themselves as someone else if they want, maybe who they would like to be, but I think this maybe happens less than the doomsayers predict. It's hard to maintain for a start, and I think most people can start to spot a fake after a while.

A pleasant bonus of connecting with people online has been the 'real life' friends I have made, the ones I can go out with, laugh with and have common ground with. I never expected to find a more serious connection through the internet, but it was the internet that initially brought Morgan and I into circumstances where we could meet, and that has turned out to be a very big connection indeed. Love.

Ummm, What?

Typos
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

Hey kids, let's play the What's Wrong With This Picture? Game!

[Best viewed large, click the pic to go to Flickr.]

Sad Story

It boggles the mind to think that a 40 year old woman could be sitting in her apartment dead for two years without anyone noticing. She was found sitting in an armchair in her living room, with the tv going and the heater still on. Mail going back as far as two years was piling up in her hallway, presumably posted in through a slot in her door.

Aside from the practicalities of how it was that her electricity etc was still running, and that whoever received her rent hadn't investigated after being unpaid for two years, did nobody care enough about this woman to try and track down what happened to her? In a big city people often keep to themselves and don't get to know their neighbours, that I understand, but it's so sad to think that a youngish woman of 40 would be without friends or family that would be concerned for her welfare.

Roll Up, Roll Up

The blogging of the mega 4 day Easter weekend continues. Let's see, I've covered Thursday night, and prior to that I already covered Friday afternoon and evening, so that brings me to Saturday...

Hot on the heels of the social get together for the Sydney Photobloggers on Thursday night, the group had also planned an outing to the Sydney Royal Easter Show on Saturday afternoon for a group photo shoot.


Rainbow
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


It was a gorgeous day, warm but not too hot and with a huge big blue sky. After meeting at the train station, we wandered around the show for about 4 or 5 hours in total.


Vucko1000 Wins
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


The show is a wealth of photographic opportunity, especially the bright colours and frenetic activity of the sideshows and rides.


Arial
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


We had a look at the dogs, the mostly naff crafts, the prize fruitcake winners and the woodchopping contests - all the mainstays of a day at the show.


Meta
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


Of course we all shot hundreds of shots; of the show, the punters, the food, each other, each other photographing each other... and in one instance it almost go so meta that the universe nearly imploded. Good times.

My full show set is here and Morgan's is here. As of writing there are still photos from the day being uploaded, but if you are interested in seeing the rest of the photos from the day, look for this tag.

Geekin' Out

It's Tuesday morning in my part of the world, and I'm back at my desk after a fabulous 4 day weekend. 4 day weekends are wonderful, and I vote for more of them. Someone please do something about that, m'kay? Anyhoo, normal transmission now resumes. Of course, I have a ton of fantastic stuff to blog about. Because I have to start somewhere, here's an update on the Sydney Photoblogger meet I went on last Thursday night.

Last Thursday night Morgan and I went along to the 15th midweek meet for the Sydney Photobloggers group on Flickr. If you've read this blog for a while you'll have seen that I've mentioned these guys quite a few times, and posted pics from some of the meets I've been on.


Tracey Has Giant Hands
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.

From what I can see of other groups on Flickr, the Sydney Photobloggers is one of the more social ones. Sure everyone loves posting to the group photostream, and chatting in the forums, but there is a strong emphasis on getting together for social food and drinks, and for group photo shoots. I even met my new boyfriend Morgan through the group, after we chatted a bit online and then met in person at a group outing. He has a wonderful set of photos on Flickr himself.


A Restaurant Called "Super Bowl"
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


Last Thursday the emphasis was on socialising, with the added bonus of a public holiday the next day! About 10 of 12 of us got together for dinner in Chinatown, a short stroll through the quarter, and then beers at a pub. There were so many cameras out, so many of us in a pack, and so much snapping going on that some of the pedestrians were looking around for who was the famous person we were all chasing. The food, the restaurant, stray pedestrians, each other, all was fair game for the lens.


Lemoney
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


This is a nice group of people. We all come from different backgrounds and points of view, but aside from having photography as a common interest everyone also seems to be fairly laid back and funny. Morgan and I are both very comfortable about being relaxed and affection with each other in public, and as a consequence there were a lot of photos of the two of us taken during the evening. As Gadgetgirl captioned this photo of us we were the "most photographed couple of the night". I really love the photo Figuromo took of us holding hands at the pub.


Mwah!
Originally uploaded by Other Andrew.


We left reasonably late, but a few of the more intrepid members kicked on until the pub closed, and then just moved on to a later closing one. I have it on good authority that there was at least one severe hangover the next morning.

All my photos from the meet are here, and everyone else's are here.