365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 59 : Nice Slow Snail's Pace

Today was a lovely chilled day.

We slept in almost till noon - yes scandalous I know! - had a lazy lunchy-brunchy thingy of croissants and rolls, did some shopping at Broadway and then had a quiet night at home after picking up the last of the Fair Day stuff at Bill and Ian's. After a dinner of Crust pizza, we went to bed early to get up for our early start the next day....

A day without deadlines or demands or parameters.....

BLISS.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 58 (Saturday 27 February 2010) : Happy Mardi Gras!!

Man time flies!

Here we are again celebrating the gay and lesbian Mardi Gras Parade once again. We were down numbers this year with Peter being in South America, and Jason staying up in BrizVegas, but that didn't stop the fun! We still had Warren, Ian, John and Brian along for the ride with my gorgeous guy and myself, and we were later joined by the fabulous Tina Fanning who arrived in a burst of yellow and sheer fabulousness.

We started early with a late lunch at 2.30pm at Lumiere Cafe, Bourke Street - I had a beetroot based salad, which was a worry since I was wearing grey camouflage shorts so I ate very carefully! - before walking down to our almost usual spot on Flinders Street. This time, instead of being across from the church, we stood just down from it and instead of dying in the sun, enjoyed the lovely shade of the trees and buildings during the 4 1/2 hour wait from 4pm for the parade to start.

It may sound like a long time to wait, and it is really, but time passes quickly with lots of fun conversation amongst ourselves, and with our volunteer who in this case was a lovely woman called Claire who was working the section we were on, along with her girlfriend. She was English and had a fun personality and a ready wit, joking about the rules and regs she was required to follow like hugging the barricade (see pic below), which was a funny way of saying she needed to stay close to it for some sort of security reason. We also had vodka and orange juice to drink, courtesy of John, lollies to eat, and before the parade proper began, we got to see the traditional Dykes on Bikes and Blokes on Bikes too, who were their usual thunderous best!

The parade proper was not as full-on as in previous years, stopping about 1/2 hour earlier than the usual finish time of 11pm, and it was not as coherently or as well put together as previously. There were highlights - the Lifesavers, Zombie Labour and Rainbow Parents, which featured our friends John and Essie and Stephen with the twins, and we did enjoy all the usual bonhomie and joyful vibe of the event - but ti was missing some of its usual spark, as evidenced by the fact that I stopped cheering at points which never happens. I am usually hoarse the next morning but I wasn't this time.

The major bummer was that my camera battery died for some reason and so I almost missed out on shots of the second half of the parade. Thankfully we had befriended three guys standing just near us, one of whom had a great camera that made it to the end of the parade before it too died a death, and who is sending me his Flickr link to get his photos so crisis averted!

The big highlight of the night though had to be the arrival of Tina Fanning (aka my dear friend, Justin) in blazing yellow. She took a good 20 minutes to reach our position so popular was she with people watching the parade who wanted to photograph her for immortality, and that was only because I went across the road to fetch her and usher her as quickly as her public would allow! I ended up being her handbag and drink holder as we moved very slowly through the throngs of humanity on Oxford Street.

With the parade done, we left the craziness of Oxford Street and made our way back to Newtown where we had a very late dinner at Mickey's on King Street - with an overzealous maitre d' who tried to upsell on everything from alcoholic drinks to bread for entrees in a very unsubtle way! - before heading home and collapsing from exhaustion.

A slighly lacklustre parade aside, we still had a ball soaking up the excitement of the night, and being reminded that being gay is a wonderful gift, that we are part of a strong, vibrant and creative community that has every right to be valued as highly as any other part of society, and that we need to stand strong and tall and fight for that value to be recognised by all people.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 57 : Hey Jinnah!

After a hectic week, I stayed over at my gorgeous guy's place in Dulwich Hill and we decided to head to Jinnah's a Pakistani restaurant in the area with great food and service, but rather questionable decorating tastes! Their decor can best be described as chaotic tacky chic with lights strung across the wall and roof with abandon, Christmas decorations (yes in a Muslim restaurant!) hanging from the ceiling, articles on everything and anything Pakistan stuck to the walls with all the nous of an epileptic penguin.

But I love it for that very tackiness, and idiosyncrasy. It stands apart from all the other sterile restaurants out there with a sheer sense of self that attracts you. Coupled with good food and service, it's a winning formula...for us anyway!

Tonight it looked like they were set up for a wedding with white silk  and gold bows everywhere, but given the all pervading shabby chic ethos of the place, this could well be their new permanent look! The odd weird thing tonight, which tarnished our previously unblemished view of the restaurant was that unseemly hurry to get us out of the place tonight (we were the last ones there but it was only 10pm, hardly late by Newtown standards but I daresay positively early hours of the morning in Dulwich Hill's quieter locale - they started by switching off the decorative lights, then the air con, then the lights everywhere but our table before pointedly asking us if we wanted anything else. It was offputting and hilarious all at once, and had the desired effect - we left soon after laughing all the way home at a 'Get The Customer Out NOW' technique with all the subtlety of a blitzkrieging army rampaging across a country.

We still had a lovely night.... as if I wouldn't with my darling man by my side?

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 56 (Thursday 25 February 2010) : Clean as Chernobyl

I am not a neat freak.

I can handle the fact that not everything will be tidy all the time and that a certain amount of chaos in your physical environment is the price paid for a life lived fully and to the hilt.

But sometimes it all gets too much and I need to clean up, organise, find the carpet (there it is!) and get some semblance of order back into my life. Tonight was just such a night and I cleaned up all the newspapers next to my bed, put away all the laundry lining my walk in wardrobe, and  sat back and admired how today it all was....

,,,, and then slowly but surely the chaos crept back in but for just a moment, there was order, and it was very good...

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 55 : My Those Sequins Make Your Eyes Sparkle

I caught up with very close friend, Warren, today who has just moved into Erskineville, right in the heart of Gayland, from his old home in Nappy valley, Kellyville. (The photos above are of Warren's new apartment adorned with the usual chaotic detritus of moving - I helped him lift his dining room table into place.)

It's lovely having him so close, and while it's unlikely we'll ever live out of each other's pockets given the amount of things we both have cramming our diaries each week, his close proximity now means things like dinner at a local pub like the Botany View, where we went tonight, are much easier to organise. We spent about two hours sitting in the Botany View's restaurant upstairs, which has well-priced, delicious food, talking about life, the universe and everything after a nice languid chatty walk through Erskineville's backstreets. It was much better than rushing into the City, eating dinner quickly so we can both get home in a reasonable time frame.

Now dinner is a short walk away, and a short, slightly tipsy walk home, and it made for a much more relaxing shooting the breeze night. Here's to more of them!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 54 (Tuesday 23 February 2010) : Dawn of a Busy Day

Today, like every Tuesday, was manic, crazy, and hair-pullingly maddening. Same old same old stress-inducing madness....

But before the day went the way of every second working day of the week, I wokr up to a delightful dawn ligth peeking in the window of my bedroom. This isn't the best photo of it, but for a moment, I just lay in bed, stirred myself from sleep, and soaked up the solitude of the start of the day...

A magic moment.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 53 : Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I am walking around in a haze today after a fun full-on day yesterday, and frankly, aside from talking to my lovely guy on the phone tonight (he has just started walking 4 days a week in Bathurst), and catching up with my great friend, Jason on the phone for an hour, tonight is all about hitting that pillow and hitting it hard!

Yes, I am fantasising about sleep!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 52 (Sunday 21 February 2010) : It's a Fair Day For All

For a Sunday that started very early (6.30 a.m.) after a going to bed very late (the mobiles weren't finished till 1.30 a.m.), today was a lot of fun!

Granted it was propelled by sugary lollies, soft drink, adrenaline and my extrovertive zing, rather than lots of rest and relaxation in the lead up, but whatever the power source, I had a ball. We met at Bill and Ian's in Glebe at 8.30 a.m., after picking up our good friend Stephen, unpacked cars, re-packed other cars, and my gorgeous guy (Pierrot the Clown), Bill (Toy Soldier), Ian 2 (Pinocchio) & I (Knob the Builder) went to Fair Day to start setting up the tent while the other guys got themselves into costume. It took us about an hour but we got a prime site overlooking the slope to the stage, put up the tents with minimal fuss, threw up the mobiles, letter blocks and my gorgeous guy's beautifully sewn red, blue and yellow frieze, and then headed back to Bill and Ian's (this Ian was Jacky in the Box - the undoubted star of the day!)  to get into costume while a number of the other guys including Stephen (Court Jester), Garry (Clown) and Peter ( G I Joe) went and finished setting up the table, putting out the food, drinks etc.

It took till 11.50 to get back to Fair Day but once we all arrived, we settled in for a yummy lunch of quiches, chops, sausages, sausage rolls, fruit, lollies all washed down with my gorgeous guy's punch and lots of water. Much like last year we were photographed, and filmed by Foxtel, just about everywhere we were, whether in the tent or walking around the park, and I am hoping that unlike last year, we will make it into Sydney Star Observer, SX etc and enjoyed our 15 minutes of gay fame! We were also stopped by lots of people, including some gorgeous kids who loved me as what they thought was Bob the Builder (and for their purposes I was) and like last year, it turned into a lovely exercise of meeting people.

We also had plenty of friends drop by - Ian (another one entirely!), Justin, Hernan, Shay - and we journeyed the short distance up the hill to see Luke and David/Paul at their Big Blue tarp under the tree picnic, which they host every year. While Ian and Justin looked on, my gorgeous guy and I had a caricature done of us as a souvenir of the day which turned out brilliantly! We ate, we drank, we did vodka jelly shots, and we enjoyed being part of a wonderful group of friends, and the wider community of gays and lesbians.

Yes I was exhausted at the end of it, and accepted my darling man's offer of staying over at his place after we'd spent some time debriefing and socialising at Bill and Ian's, but it was absolutely, positively worth it, and I dare say that exhaustion aside, we will likely do it all over again next year.

But for now...... SLEEP!

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 51 (Saturday 20 February 2010) :

We sort of slept in today, but 9 a.m. isn't really a sleep in if you ask me (and given I can't hear you shouting through your computer screen, it's unlikely you will ask me!), and after a quick breakfast of toast while we finished off the giant letter blocks for the Fair Day tent tomorrow, I headed to Marrickville Metro to get my haircut, grab all the Fair Day groceries (lots of fruit and lollies - the yin and yang of food!), pick up some jugs to put the punch in, and get some eyeliner and mascara at K-Mart (a first! My gorgeous guy needed it for his Pierrot the Clown outfit make up that he's wearing at Fair Day). I then high tailed it across to Surry Hills to join my gorgeous guy and our great friend Stephen, while they sorted out what Stephen would wear (a court jester's outfit won the day) and I bought red sequined braces and a porn start moustache for my Knob The Builder costume.

That done, we screamed home, and spent the day frantically sewing (my gorgeous guy had lots to do in that regard) and painting and glue gunning (the glue that exits is 300 degrees celsius - trust me that's hot as my thumb discovered on one never-to-be-repeated occasion!) and running a car full of stuff to Bill and Ian's in Glebe (also stopping to pick up a tool belt from Warren and some stuff at my place, like the all important camera charger so I could make out like a tourist the next day) and working on  the mobiles between 10.30 p.m. and 1 a.m. the next morning, while at some satge stopping briefly to eat some chicken and salad. There were one or two occasions when my good humour dropped so tired was I, and I wondered if this was all worth it, but for the most part, I enjoyed being with my very appreciative, immensely creatively talented guy while he created the masterpieces that would aadorn our Toyland-themed fair day tent.

I just hope next Saturday is a tad quieter.....

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 50 : Porn in the Toilet? I Don't Think So

Today was a very busy day - a divisional at work that ran all morning finishing up with lunch, a frantic afternoon getting an entire week's diary changed because my boss suddenly had to go to Melbourne Monday, and a busy night cutting up sytrofoam, painting things etc for Fair Day at my gorgeous guy's place with a stop for pizza and a little ABC TV.

But in the midst of all this craziness, what made my day was walking into the toilets in the auditorium and seeing a business magazine thrown down next to the toilet itself, much like you'd see a Playboy or something in a mechanics' workshop. It was such an hilarious white collar version of a blue collar cliche that I had to (quietly) snap a pic (lest the other toilet users think I was photographing gods knows what!).

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 49 : I am Getting Younger - My Cells Are Only 50!

......... and thirsty and salt-saturated... yippee.....


Yes I had another test today, this time on my Cellular Age, and while I have 8 kg more muscle than is usual (a very good thing apparently), I also have 8 kg more fat (not a good thing, and hardly a surprise), all around my waist, too much salt and not enough water.... wow, my body is a temple o' crap right now isn't it? What it's done , at least, is spur me to getting back into my walking and swimming properly, and often, and to cut down all the bad stuff that's crept into my diet. It won't be pretty but losing the weight must be done.... hmm, but there's always liposuction isn't there? Hmm....

***************************

It was another very late night on a school day (behold the VCR clock, above). I don't mind on one level - my gorgeous guy and I got lots done on the decorations for the Fair Day tent, and though we were right royally rooted by the end of the night (and not in the good way), it was lovely to have spent that time with him again. He is so clever and creative, and really has an eye for a great visual idea married with beautiful execution, and I love the fact that I get to support him in his creative endeavours. It makes us a great team, and the time spent is special.


But it is exhausting, and as I type this the next morning before getting on the train to work, I am realising that 6 hours sleep consistently across the week isn't enough. I really want to sleep now..... please....

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 48 : My Lungs Are Pensioners!

Yep the internal organs that I most value, after my heart of course, are 67!

How do I know this? Well its Health and Benefits Expo Week where I work, and as part of the razzamatazz, they are offering all sorts of tests for cellular age (tomorrow's fun test where I fully expect to be pronounced as, um, dead!), cholesterol etc. Today's test, which measured lung capacity and use, and was supposed to be a walk in the park for a healthy young-ish guy like me who eats right, exercises etc, turned out instead to reveal that my pathways are constricted from possibly asthma or something like that. Thing is, I need to get this checked out by a doctor to find out what I need to do to reverse it. I am trying not to freak out but unusually for me, I am finding it hard to shake off the sense that something is wrong.

But I will. I always bounce back.... and as I pointed to my gorgeous guy Steve (who said the assessment must be wrong because I am "gorgeous" - he's so sweet), in the case of my lungs at least, he's now a toy boi! So there's an upside there for him....

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 47 : It's Not That Cold!

After the mad humidity of yesterday, and a less than pleasurable trip home on another "Sauna Train" - thank NSW State Government for all the crappy trains you still use! - today was delightfully cool and lovely, and I actually managed to walk around, dry and unsullied by gross sweat.

But in a sign that I inhabit a different world to everyone else, I walked into St Peters station today behind a guy in a heavy jacket. A jacket! I mean, its cooler but we're not talking snow drifts and polar bears in the streets here. Just not drop-dead-in-your-tracks humid is all. Interesting....


(and no, I was not looking anywhere but the jacket despite the photo angle!)

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 46 : On the Way to Fair Day

Yes its fair Day time again and my beloved and I have started sewing and cutting and painting and making everything pretty and fabulous for the event this Sunday. The theme is Toyland and so all the colours tend to be primary - red, blue and yellow (my gorgeous guy is working on a yellow segment on what will become a frieze running around the tents - see above middle photo) - or just plain bright! It will all looked fun and colourful on the day and while it is a lot of work getting there, Steve and I get on so well, and enjoy each other's company so much, that I really love spending this time with him.

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 45 (Sunday 14 February 2010) : Love is in the Air (and Doesn't Smell Like Toxic Smog!)

I love Valentine's Day.

Yes I am well aware it's a commercial construct, created by card and flower companies to boost sales between Christmas/New Year and Easter (although Easter began January 2 if the stocks of hot cross buns and easter eggs in my local supermarket are anything to go by!), and I usually won't partake in that kind of crass commercialism, but, and yes it's since  I fell in love with the most beautiful man on earth, I view it as a day that you can use as a focal point to mark and express your love. You should definitely be expressing your commitment to your partner every day of your life, and letting them now always how precious and important they are, but not every day lends itself to the kind of extravagent displays that Valentine's Day allows for.

So yes it's OTT (Over The Top) but I love it, and this year my gorgeous guy and I celebrated by lazing in bed all morning and exchanging presents, snuggling and talking, on what was a very rainy day (perfect for that sort of indulgent behaviour!) then heading out to a lovely cafe, Sideways in Dulwich Hill, and having a langorous lunch outside eating all day breakfast, talking while the rain fell (we were snug and dry under a massive umbrella; we sat outside in lieu of the picnic we had planned before the rain started falling) and staring dreamily into each other's eyes. Just wonderful.

We followed that up with some shopping, a nap, and dinner at my place watching the penultimate Dr Who episode starring David Tennant (which was, sadly, rather ordinary) before a little last minute cuddling before my gorgeous guy left for home.

How glad I am that I am so deeply and profoundly in love with a handsome, intelligent, sweet, creative guy who's just as in love with me, and that every moment with him is a joy! 

365 Pink Feather Boas All in a Row - Day 44 (Saturday 13 February 2010) : Soggy Celluloid - Take 4

I went to the Outdoor Cinema for the fourth and last time tonight to see "A Single Man" (which FYI is a VERY short, emotionally charged and heart breaking movie that makes you want to hug your partner incredibly close and never let them go) after a day spent shopping and getting ready for Fair Day with my gorgeous guy (who was in a delightfully huggable mood).....

.. and it rained...

....very heavily.....

AGAIN. LOL

Ah well..... the company of my gorgeous guy and great friend, Warren, one last ride in the Toyota hybrid cars (this time a Camry - see Warren posing, above, with some of the yummy drivers in the background), some fish and chips, cheesecake, Lindor Balls (finally got photos in the Lindo Lounge in the groovy 60s  red and white pod seats!), wine and a poncho, and reserved seating in the St George Customer white seats area made up for the lap ponds (big enough for a goldfish to swim around in!) in my poncho, soggy hands, and the feeling of sadness that came from a movie that celebrated deep love while it reminded you in searing detail of the great anguish that blight a life with the least amount of notice.

Tahnkfully, I got to go back to my boyfriend's place, get warm and dry and hold him tight, and be reassured that any blighting, if it occurs at all, is in the future and not be worried in the present, no matter how soggy it may be....