February 2008

Now, the only reason that Ma bothers to go to all the trouble of organising incredibly large and complicated Mardi Gras floats is to meet cute guys. (If you are one of the cute guys reading this, then the real reason that Ma bothers to go to all the trouble of organising incredibly large and complicated Mardi Gras floats is due to his huge community spirit.)

This year, Greig and I have managed to pretty much avoid any work. Well, any hard work, anyway. This, of course, had lead to us being branded as "Mardi Gras Grinches" by Ma - a title, I'm not all that uncomfortable with. That didn't stop me from sticking my head in at a couple of the rehearsals to check out just how "community spirited" the buys dancing in the float are. Yes, there was quite a bit of community spirit. Some of the boys were particularly community spirited.

But the parade isn't until next month. Move on.

The Mardi Gras events have started though. The day of Fair Day was probably the best weather that the event has had for years. As a result, it was also the best turnout the event has had for years.

Interestingly, there were volunteers collecting donations at the entrance to Fair Day spruiking "Make a donation to keep Fair Day free". Now, I might be a bit thick, but if I made a donation, wouldn't Fair Day no longer be free, defeating the purpose of the donation?

Thousands of gay boys, lesbians and maybes at fair Day.

I chose not to make a donation, not out of stinginess, but out of fear that if I fed this obvious paradox, the universe would invert on itself and disappear up it's own fundamental black hole.

The day itself was fun. Greig and I bumped into quite a few people we knew and even more people we didn't. It was very crowded. We did the responsible thing and bought lots of raffle tickets from various community organisations and naturally, won nothing.

Other Mardi Gras events included Greig and I going to see Margaret Cho at the Sydney Theatre along with Sam and Bailey. We learned much about vaginas. Much that we didn't want to know.

The following night was the annual Underwear Party, this year at fARQ. Greig and I went along with Will and another friend of his. Yes, I know. I'm as surprised as anyone to learn that Will has other friends.

The Underwear Party was huge fun. We met Bailey at the party along with a nice American couple that he had picked up provided exceptional service to while working a couple of shifts at Bang Clothing on Oxford Street. I spent most of the night on the dance floor with them. In fact, I completely forgot that this event wasn't just another Dance party. If I had have bothered wandering upstairs, here was a whole different party going on.

Lady Bay at high time. Gay boys and super-liners.

As part of my now annual tradition, I dedicated a bit of time before Mardi Gras to soak up the atmosphere with all the international tourists in town. One of the days was spent soaking up the atmosphere at Lady Bay Beach. It turned out to be a stunning day as naked and semi-naked guys cavorted on the beach as super-liners made their way silently down Sydney Harbour. Very worth the trip.

Despite all the beautiful weather that we have had this month, this year saw an unusual event here in Sydney. Once in twenty year thunderstorms. And they were centred directly over The Shed.

I was actually out at the shops at the time on nearby Norton Street. All I could do during the downpour was watch those plastic traffic barriers float down the street as I huddled underneath an awning. Lightning was striking all around me. Huge claps of thunder arrived a couple of seconds later. I also noticed that while the wind seemed to be constantly on the move, it spent a disturbing amount of time coming from the north.

Why is a northerly wind disturbing? Because whenever we get rain coming in from the north at The Shed, the gutter on that side of the building overflows. On the inside. That would have been made all the more interesting because Pete was probably just finishing up a photo-shoot that we'll allowed him to use the shed for. I hope he didn't freak out.

Anyway, once the rain settled to a dull roar, I bolted home to find Greig replacing the buckets from under the leak. We actually got of very lightly. There was very little water inside.