March 2007 |
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This month started off with the Mardi Gras weekend. As expected, it was a huge affair. A few statistics for our float - Kylie 2007: 4 months planning  Building the "Wall of sound". Yep, I nearly managed to knock myself out during the bump-in. We were building the float out in the full sun on a hot day and of course, I was running around like a maniac as per usual. It wasn't until I started becoming dizzy that I realised that something was wrong. At least I was still sweating, so I spent a bit of time sitting in the shade, trying to cool down. I managed to start working again, but not even at half the speed I normally would. I was having trouble concentrating, finding it difficult to focus and work out how to wire up all the gear. Luckily Greig was there and managed to pick up some of my slack. It wasn't until we got to the shade of the parade marshalling area that I started to feel a bit better. Oh, and Greig sprained his ankle, jumping off one of the trucks. This was the largest float that Greig and I have ever produced for the Mardi Gras Parade. In fact, I believe it's the largest float ever entered into the Mardi Gras Parade. The resonse from the crowd was huge. According to all the news media, we were the most popular float in the parade. I guess you can't go wrong with the combination of gay boys and Kylie.  Just a few of the hot Kylie 2007 boys and girls. Greig and I were pretty happy over 10 years ago when we were the first to decide that pissy little sound systems just don't cut it. We upped the ante and put in the first float with a full sound system and lighting. This year, I feel we upped the ante again. Two trucks, each carrying our "wall of sound" PA. We were well happy. Because we were working on the float we didn't go to the actual Mardi Gras Party. That's one of the problems with organising a float. Maybe next year. Instead, we saved what was left of our energy for the Homesexual party on the Sunday night. Homesexual was fun, full of lots of very trashed boys who had obviously been partying continuously since the previous night. Even the music had it's moments. Unfortunately, I wasn't quite up to the task after the parade so I ended up bailing at about 5am and heading home. I suspect that it will take quite a while before I recover from the parade. This month is a special month. Jimi is heading off to live in Europe. Since meeting him six years ago, Jimi and I have been incredibly close so this is going to be a huge change. I guess it's not so bad for me - I'm only losing one friend. He's losing all of his. Greig and I took Jimi out to the beautiful Catalinas restaurant as a kind of "last supper" before he went. We dragged Will along as well so there was someone to be bitchy towards him. :-) Catalinas, looking over the harbour, is one of Greig's favourite restaurants for when he wants to have an over-the-top, top notch, boozy dinner. The following evening Jimi held his last BBQ at his home with all of his friends dropping in to make sure he really was leaving. At the end of the month, I drove Jimi to the airport where we met up with his family to see him off. Luckily, he got called for his flight at the last minute, so there wasn't too much opportunity for a teary farewell. A quick goodbye is a good goodbye. He's not gone forever though. He insists that he will be back for Christmas and we also have Skype. Greig managed to get himself a work junket to Kuala Lumpur for a few days, so I took the opportunity to catch up with Sam for a bit of fun. What I didn't realise at the time was that he and another friend of his were plotting against me, planning to do all sorts of evil things to me when they got me alone. Fuck it was fun. :-) (Photo's here.) Other events of note were Ma's Mardi Gras recovery party, where he invites all the people involved with the float to his house for drinks. It's normally a fun affair, but the float normally only involves about 100 people. This time, with so many people involved, the party was huge. Even though it was a week after the event, I was still not quite up to strength and made my excuses pretty early in the night. Phillip and Peter also held a very nice dinner party for us. It was one of those relaxed affairs where we sat around, eating lovely food, drinking lovely wine and caught up on events. | ||||