'twas 6 days before Christmas and Andrew, as is his supremely well-organised way, was sitting back and thought "Hmm perhaps I should have started the Christmas blog a week or so back at least....but hey this is the modern age where I can post something online instantly and everyone has instant access to it so maybe I should have that other bag of chocolate sultanas and then perhaps think about maybe writing the blog and..." - at this point even the synapses in Andrew's brain were screaming out for relief from this ridiculously long, badly-punctuated stream of consciousness....

All that to say, dear friends, family members, and cyber stalkers (you know who you are and frankly I will give you 1 year, and no longer, to stop your completely understandable obsession with me), that once again Christmas has raced up behind me, mugged me of my time and sense of well being that I am totally in control of everything, and is insisting, yes insisting, that I throw good dietary practice to the wind, and consume all manner of chocolate, white Christmas and lollies....how very dare it......but as a Christmas junkie, I shouldn't complain...it's my favourite time of the year and while my tree may still not be up yet, I want to wish every last one of you a very Merry Christmas and the sort of 2008 that will knock your socks off, get the neighbours talking about you behind your back, and make for one killer chapter in your autobiography!

As usual, I am heading to see my wonderful family for 5 days up in sunny Alstonville, mere minutes from Byron Bay, and we shall partake in our usual fast of any worldly goods, unhealthy foods or drink......hahaha....is that a flying turnip in a pink tutu I see before me? Seriously, it will be lovely to see the whole family and chill out for a few days before heading back to the craziness of Sydney and an NYE party at my apartment, with it's views of the City and a hopefully a full complement of friends...

Whatever you do this holidays, have a truly wonderful time!!

Social Whirl O' Fun



Crippled as I am by a debilitating shyness that makes me cling to walls at parties so tightly I merge with the gyprock, I started the year thinking I really needed to make new friends....actually no, I didn't (and I am about as shy as the USA's commitment to combating climate change), but while I value my friends dearly, who doesn't want to meet new and interesting people and expand their social network ?! Well, apart from the Unabomber and hermits, that is....



The massive expansion in my social network started innocently enough this year with the usual January excursions to Symphony and Jazz in the Domain, where I get to sit in searing hot sun for 2-3 hours before the sun mercifully dips beneath the ridge of buildings on Macquaurie Street....typically it's just my best friend Warren, and dear friends Toby, Peter and Ian...ah yes but this was anything but a typical year.....melodramatic enough for you? Just like a Channel 7 promo it will only disappoint I am sorry to say.... Toby had invited some wonderful friends of his Luke and David and Aldo, and through talking to them (putting my painful inability to articulate or emote properly to one side - lol), I ended up attending Fair Day a week or so later, which is the big gay Mardi Gras pre-parade day at one of the inner city parks....it's full of stalls featuring all manner of gay sporting, art etc clubs, and services, and is a really fun, though hot, day....at Fair Day I met some more really great guys who invited me to a gay bush dance over at Marrickville, where I met some more guys (sensing a pattern here? LOL), one of whom I even dated for a while, which lead to me meeting my now ex-boyfriend....



This all took place in the lead up to that wonderful celebration of colour, fun and community, the Mardi Gras Parade, which was full on and went for 2.5 hours this year, after which I found myself hosting a dinner for 40 gay men ( and a few female friends) at a Thai restaurant near Taylor Square....I had to reflect on just how far I have come since I came out in July 2004, and it was exciting and thrilling all at once..... finally comfortable in my own skin after years of hating myself for being gay, surrounded by a bunch of wonderful friends, and at the heart of what is a spiritually uplifting community event.....I did, however, put the reflection aside long enough to dance my feet off at a trance party at ARQ after the dinner, and got home sometime after 5 a.m., which my Morning Person body wasn't thrilled about, but put up with it for the warm inner glow that accompanied the exhaustion....



The social ripples continued long after February with the establishing of a movie club on Tuesday nights starting in March, any number of parties, and even some further dalliances on the fraught world of online dating....while the dating may lead nowhere, it often results, if handled properly, in some new enduring friendships....or restraining orders...but either way, it is never dull...lol... Through my new network of friends, I continue to meet a whole host of fascinating men, with varied careers, personalities and lives, but most of whom have proven to be great people to know......it's been a great year and I am looking forward to 2008, and the hopeful arrival of Mr. Right.....

EVENT-FULL DAYS ... AND GASTRO NIGHTS

Battling my shy and retiring nature, which usually means hiding hermit-like in a small dark room in a very large mansion - can you believe that the owner has an issue with me doing this? Imagine! - I got out and about quite a lot this year, and these events were the highlights:

(1) Sydney Festival

January is an insanely full-on month in Sydney, making Christmas look like a lazy stroll on a Summer afternoon in a very small backwater village in France where nothing much happens, and the cows are chewing grass, and the air is shimmery and hazy, and no one moves, and everyone is....OK you get the idea..... and naturally, driven by an extrovert imperative that enough is never enough (don't be ridiculous!!), I organised outings to Jazz and Symphony in the Domain, three visits to the Open Air cinema, all the while hosting my wonderful Sean from Canada, with whom my friends Peter and Warren spent a lovely night on NYE sitting on the harbour, eating too much and watching fireworks.

Photos below:

1. Andrew enjoys the vino @ Jazz in the Domain

2. Sean gets all Aussie with his stubbie of beer @ NYE, Mrs Macquarie's Point

3. Andrew & Sean in the luxurious blue plastic seating at OpenAirCinema

(2) 75th Anniversary Harbour Bridge Walk - March 18, 2007

They don't close down Sydney's iconic bridge to traffic all that often, much less let you walk across it, and so I organised a group of 10 friends to walk the bridge for posterity's sake, followed by a great lunch in The Rocks afterwards.

Photos:

1. Warren, Andrew, Toby, Ian and Tuan at the starting point

2. Ellen, Warren, Andrew, Sue, Tracy, Tuan, Ian & Luke pose with the Bridge

(3) South Korea, Hong Kong and Vietnam with the family - June 2007

I honestly don't think I have been on a full family vacation in something like 20 + years, which is astonishing when you consider I am just 21, but for the first time in a long time, all my immediate family gathered together at the one airport departure gate in Brisbane, and took off for the sky blue yonder. On our three week odyssey, we went to Seoul, South Korea (to see my sister Rachel's birth country - modern friendly city with lovely people, lots of history and great food), Hong Kong (lots to see and do and shop!! So we did....lol), and Vietnam (to see my brother Steve's birth country), starting at Hanoi, working our way down through HaLong Bay, Hue, Hoi An (oh the tailored clothes we had made, and cooking classes we went to!) we before, and finishing up in Saigon (with a brief trip to the Mekong Delta). The only sour note, on what was a wonderful time of family togetherness? My brother Stephen, sister Rachel, Mum and I got a fabulous bout of flu/gastro (not from the food but the plane trip we think) which in my case lasted three weeks, resulted in much weight loss, and cut the trip short by three days. But what's a trip without something going a little off kilter? All in all, we had fun!!

Photos:

1. Andrew sitting on the junk boat with HaLong Bay in the background

2. My sisters Helen, & Rachel, brother-in-law Michael, brother Stephen, Mum & Dad at the orphanage in Korea which was Rachel's first home.

OH THE PURPLE AND ORANGE HILLS OF FEDEX

It is often said that there is nothing better than waking up each morning with a sickening feeling of impending death and catastrophic doom in your stomach, showering, dressing and driving to work to face another day of trying to cram 14 hours work into 8 finite ones, to make you feel like you are truly alive. Admittedly the people saying this are sitting in various mental clinics, doped so high on drugs they are circling several solar systems simultaneously, but you can't argue with the fact that they are saying this. Drooling on their straight jackets, yes, but saying it nonetheless. While I wanted very much to stand in solidarity with my lithium-enhanced brethren, I finally decided one morning in August that enough was enough, and that there was such a thing as being too alive. Not that I minded the constant panicked surges of adrenaline as I realised once again I had more work than I could possibly do in one day, a situation that had been my lot in life for about two years, but no one at Fedex was listening, and I had frankly had enough....and besides I couldn't find a straight jacket in a colour I liked so I had no real interest in playing checkers with Mad Martha in B wing of the psych ward.....

So in the space of a week, and after my ex-boyfriend had brought a job at Optus to my attention, I had applied for, being interviewed for, and offered a job at Optus as an Executive Assistant to two of the Directors of the Wholesale division. Phew!! Head spinning like that charming gal in The Exorcist (but without the horrible messy projectile vomit), I gave notice to my manager, who possessing all the humanity of a toxic waste dump in the Summer sunshine, didn't even attempt to sway me from my decision (though lots of other people at Fedex did, which did my ego a world of good). Frankly I didn't care at the time, and simply wanted out....4 weeks later I got my wish and after drinks at the Marlborough Hotel in Newtown, I ventured off to a week off and then a whole new 11-Years-in-the-Making chapter of my work life....

I started the new job on 24 September, and after almost throwing up in the bathroom at home (which is exactly the vibe I was aiming for at the start of this new chapter in my life...NOT), I caught the train to North Ryde, and prepared to immerse myself in a world where I no longer knew anything, anyone, or even where they kept the stationery (can you imagine the horror? LOL).... but from the word go everyone was warm and friendly, I had the tremendous support of the other EAs there who were so selfless and giving with their time, and while the learning curve was so steep at times that I regretted not placing non-slip coating on the soles of my leather shoes, it was exhilarating to be doing something new.... Optus has been an amazingly positive move for me, and I have loved getting to know everyone (you get noticed very quickly when you are the only male EA in the whole division...lol), learning a whole slew of new skills, matering new roles, and generally feeling appreciated and valued for the first time in quite a while....oh yeah, and I get to read on the bus, something which proved a little difficult driving to work, as that lady I rear-ended while mid way through a particularly emotionally searing passage of "War and Peace" will attest....

Ya Gotta Move It, Move it!

After years of threatening to move, and flee The Shire - thus leaving years of Hobbit jokes mercifully behind me - I finally took the plunge, prompted in large part to the 2 hour each way commute to my new job at Optus, way over in North Ryde. I may love my iPod, and adore reading on public transport but tha, my friends, was a commuting time too long, and so when the offer of a place in Erskineville (near Newtown) sharing with my friend Greg's boyfriend, I leapt it....OK well I welcomed it gladly, leaping having obvious OHS issues, and looking far too eager and desperate....

After weeks of packing and chucking away of surplus items (goodbye IKEA wardrobes and chest of drawers...I loved thee not), the glorious move itself started on Thursday morning the 8 Novemeber (had the day off) in pouring rain, much to my unending delight (I mean who doesn't like rain on moving day - it represents cleansing and newness, and is appropriate to the act of moving, which is....oh screw it....it was awful! LOL), but got two loads done in my car of boxes etc, with some help from my new housemate, and then a short break before doing 2 more loads.... Then my friend, Brett turned up with the promised large van and I realised that once again I had been gloriously over-optimistic about what I could and couldn't achieve in one night (me? Get out! Shut up! Get back in!)...meaning that at 6.30 at night, I was looking at about 4 loads of furniture with each trip taking about 1.5 hours....aagh.....anyway we did one load then poor Brett came down with a horrible bout of food poisoning, poor guy....I felt so bad for him, and frankly moving all my stuff paled into comparison next to that....

Which is not to say I didn't panic just a teensy weensy bit, but thankfully my new housemate, Aidan and my friend, Greg came out, loaded Greg's car with small furniture and we headed back to Erskineville from Miranda...to...yes.... more cleansing #$@!*& pouring rain..... we'd initially decided to unload outside the building but with the rain continuing to pelt on down in what was I believe was a concerted attempt by the weather to recreate Noah's flood (even weather patterns can have delusions of grandeur it seems), I went to move my car to the underground car park, only to have my car key snap in half....at about this point, I began to seriously look for the hidden cameras convinced I was being pranked in some way, but with nary a film crew in sight, I had to conclude that I was just the victim of karmic crap, moving-style....thankfully, I knew where the spare was, no mean feat on moving day, and the last of my goods and chattels were moved into the apartment...

By this point, it was about 11pm, and I was soaked, exhausted, having got up at 5.30 a.m. that morning, and I finally into bed that night at 12.30 a.m. with the added delight of work the next day!...yes be still my beating heart, what earthly delights await thee!! LOL ... at least I laughed about it all in a manic "I am a mad scientist and I am about to take over the world kind of way", which really instilled a sense of confidence in Aidan that he had a sane rational man as his new living companion.....

Thankfully I found a mover the next day whilst at work to move my furniture on the Saturday, and after cleaning at my old place for 4-5 hours on Friday night (what fun! At least the Domestos gave me a buzz, something their marketing department seems averse to mentioning on the packaging...odd...hmmm), Saturday proceeded smoothly with helpful friendly movers, and an efficient carpet cleaning man. So how did I celebrate the end of my moving nightmare (soon to be major motion picture featuring all manner of metaphorical zombies, ghouls and vampiric folk) ? I napped!! Admittedly the sitution called for a statue to be unveiled, or a band to parade along Mitchell Road where I live, but in my own sweet down to earth way (read: freaking exhausted!), I settled for a nap, Thai food, and realising I was finally in my favourite neighbourhood in Sydney....

If your friend is already dead, and being eaten by vultures, I think it's okay to feed some bits of your friend to one of the vultures, to teach him to do some tricks. But only if you're serious about adopting the vulture.

My future plans are grand and expansive indeed - roll on 2008! LOL

Bundles of Kittens Tied Up With String (a few of my favourite pop kulcha things)

You have to love the ever-changing, always colourful, and never dull world of modern pop culture! If something doesn't please you, anoth dazzling creation full of fun, frothy goodness will be along in just a few nano-seconds to send your senses reeling from sensory overload. But why wait that long I say?! Hit the net, change channels or grab a book off the shelf (man I am old-fashioned!), but whatever you do, don't pay too much attention for too long....naturally while I did indulge in some vacuous slack-jawed milli-second attention spanning - thank you any number of b-grade sitcoms and dramas, usually shown in primetime TV while the good stuff like "Six Feet Under" is pushed to nether regions of early morning TV - I also ignored all that fleeting loyalty that staying loyal to certain TV programmes, reading books that had sat on my shelf for years, and going back day after day to the same sites in a display of consistency and faithfulness to make an Amish person green with envy....well one with a TV and Broadband connection anyway....

TV

2006

For something that should be wonderfully relaxing, as all those pretty fast-moving pixels and the images they form destroy your ability to function independently and slowly turn you into a drooling couch potato (yes I do paint an attractive picture don't I?! ), TV viewing can get pretty stressful. Well if you're going to do it properly anyhow! Naturally I take it very seriously and took to taping and watching shows with gusto, a job severely complicated by the TV channels insistence on programming anything good on Monday and Tuesday nights, at pretty much the same time! For someone who's in bed by 9.30-10.00 (see Sweat, iPod and Tears" above), this can be a real doozy of challenge and requires some wisdom borne of Solomon as I decide which of my TV children shall live, and which....dramatic and totally bombastic drum roll please.....shall.....DIE......

Those that made it onto the viewing, or taping schedule, were "LOST" (a show with more conspiratorial elements than the CIA's Christmas party), "ER" (11 years and counting!), "Grey's Anatomy" (thank you Dr McDreamy! see photo above), "Doctor Who" (the new series contained some seriously clever, highly emotive viewing), "Survivor" (in the beautiful Cook Islands- pity the people's personalities weren't as lovely), and the shows that allow me to exercise my inner plaid-wearing, thick black glasses-wearing inner geek - "Stargate SG1" and "Battlestar Galactica" ( a truly brilliant show that explores what it is to be human in a profoundly impactful way)..... now we're in the Summer viewing season , I am discovering the quirky delights of "Weeds" (about an upper middle-class suburban mum forced to sell marijuana to make ends meet, and exposing the cracks in our modern consumerist culture), "Men In Trees" (Anna Heche as a relationship counsellor stuck in an Alaskan town with quirky odd characters), and I am re-discovering the comedic delights of "That 70s Show" ... but thankfully the viewing schedule is a little lighter and the stress greatly reduced...yes I could watch less TV but where is the fun in that? Oh yeah, I remember reading.....

2007

Interestingly this was the year that I completely lost track of what I was watching and when...lest you fear I was struck down with some sort of TV guide illiteracy (the worst kind!), it had more to do with an increasingly busy social life, and the fact that I forgot to label my videos meaning that after 5 weeks of unwatched "Heroes" episodes for instance, I had no idea which episode was on which tape. Yes, truly brilliant organisational skills at work here! Thankfully the TV programme makers are now bringing TV shows on in those new fangled DVD box sets and so I am now just waiting for those to come out in lieu of watching lots of shows on TV itself....of course I did my best to keep up with the incisive social commentary of "Desperate Housewives"/"Brothers and Sisters", and sci-fi brilliance of "Heroes"/ "Dr Who", and the scary goings-on in the mysterious world of "Supernatural", and largely succeeded, but I am currently working through boxsets of "Stargate Atlantis", "Entourage", "Weeds" and "Gilmore Girls" which gives you some indication of just how far out of the TV rat race I slipped...

BOOKS/MAGAZINES/NEWSPAPERS/JUNK MAIL

2006

OK I only read the junk mail when I got truly desperate - although all those real estate agents wants to sell the apartemnt I rent were becoming ever more persuasive as the year wore on....I am sure my landlord wouldn't have minded - but I did keep buying the "Sydney Morning Herald" every morning including Saturdays (love reading the paper on a slow Saturday afternoon with possibly a nap to follow...bliss), and reading "TIME", "Empire" and "DNA" magazines, just to keep my brain ticking over....books didn't do so well this year although currently 4 novels are piled next to my bed.....not being read mind you but they look just lovely all stacked there with the inspiring hope they may be read gowing around them....

2007

I got books reads this year! Books that had long occupied the dusty bookshelves of my apartment were being taken off them (woh dude, like that's a totally rad concept!!) and the pages turned (I know - you can do that! Get out!) and....well...read....yes scientists around the world were stunned and amazed too.... this was largely due to starting the new job at Optus that entailed a train and a bus ride, which meant I actually had the time to read.....managed to get through a sci-fi space opera trilogy, a beautiful book called "The Lovely Bones" (Alice Sebold). and I am currently reading "Timbuktu" about a dying schizophrenic homeless man (who's also a talented writer) who sets off to find a home for his dog with his old English teacher in Baltimore, before it's too late and the dog is alone...a really touching read and highly recommended...

MUSIC

2006

This was the year of HUM. No, not a forgetting of words at key points in songs, but the funky, trendy CD store in Newtown (my new favourite part of the world) which has all this cutting edge music that defies the medocrity and blandness and which it is hard to ignore, though lately I am trying very hard to for the sake of financial solvency......standouts this year were the politically aware Nerina Pallot and her stunning album, "Fires", Charlotte Gainsburg's beauty, Regina Spektor, Peter Bjorn and John (yay the Swedes!), Pink's sassy new CD, Mew and the newie from my Canadian darling, Chantal Kreviazuk.....she is a delight and channels emotions with a dazzling intensity....what a voice....

2007

So much music, so little room on the iPod.....this was the year that HUM roared into it's own, elbowed all the other music aside and staked a claim to the heart and soul of my portable listening device.... I tried to say "Just Say No" to more music - well it's supposed work with drugs isn't it? - but I failed miserably and found myself saying "Yes" over and over, in the music-listening equivalent of the trampy girl at school who can't refuse the football team after practice.... ah well, my musically promiscuous ways yielded some gems including "Drastic Fantastic" by the folk/poptastic K T Tunstall, the idiosyncratic but superbly melodic pop of Roisin Murphy's sophomore effort, the indelibly sweet but rocking sound of The Frames, Grand National's "A Drink and a Quick Decision" and the distinctive twang of Kosheen, to name but a very few.....and the standout? Annie Lennox's "Songs of Mass Destruction" which found her in fine emotionally-emotive form, still singing about love and loss, and yet the occasional bright ray of hope too..... and oh yes, I finally tracked down the limited edition Christmas box set of Sufjan Stevens .....what a happy boy am I, and full of quirky poppy Christmas spirit too....

MOVIES

2006

Much as I love the occasional Hollywood blockbuster, with its confused overblown narrative, over the top action sequences and completely lack of intellectual engagement (perfect for a braindead Friday night!), I grew increasingly fond of Indie (short for independent movies) this year and saw some very cool flicks such as "Chumscrubber" ( a convoluted high school-set drama with wonderful film noir sensibilities), "Three Burials..." (a drama set in Texas & Mexico), "Water" ( a beautiful movie set during the struggle for Indian independence that examined the meaning of faith and humanity), "Junebug" (a touching movie about the nature of family and really belonging), and "Colour Me Kubrick" (about a man who impersonated Stanley Kubrick to con people)...I did see my share of Hollywood stuff too and loved the sequelised silliness of "Pirates 2" and the amazing intricacies of "The Prestige" ....I also had the great joy of seeing "The Wizard of Oz" on the big screen a the Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra playing the score....absolutely blew me away and it was a highlight of the year......

2007

The movie year started a tad inauspiciously with the rather average comedy "Night At the Museum" on New Year's Day, but hey, who really cares about high standards of anything the day after you've been up all night? You do? Really? Well good on you....I, on the other hand, was happy to let my brain rot just a little bit more....but things improved as the year wore on, and I saw some brilliant movies such as "The Last King of Scotland" (about Idi Amin and a Scottish doctor who fell into his orbit), "Bobby" (an ensemble piece about the assassination of Robert F kennedy in 1968), "The Lives of Others" (one man's journey from Stasi-like efficiency to humanity in the dying days of East Germany), "Priceless" & "Hunting & Gathering" (two more entries in the Audrey Tautou, of 'Amelie', canon of offbeat French romnatic comedies), and "Sicko", the latest controversial but thought-provoking doco from Michael Moore....and this was the year that I accidentally started a Tuesday night movie club with the afore-mentioned "Last King of Scotland" on Tuesday 6 March, which has now grown into a regular event with up to 20 guys attending on any given night...we may pay the cheapest prices possible for our movies but we savour them no less than anyone else.....it's been a great way to meet new friends as well, and has become a very important part of my week.....