For some time now I’ve been talking about wanting to have an exhibition of my photography but in my usual fashion, I’ve been talking more than I’ve been doing. That was until today. A friend who knew about the talk wanted to know when. I said 12 months. He wanted a more definitive time. So, I have until 1st March 2011 to have an opening of my work, to coincide with Mardi Gras. Talk stops now.
Now… how the hell do I make this work?
Last night was the Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras parade and we had so much fun! The parade had over 6,000 participants and zillions of sequins and dodgy fashion choices that are perfect for mardi gras. Our routine was a really high energy routine that left us all exhausted half way in.
I was just browsing a couple of the local news sites online and one of the galleries had this photo of me and local blogger boy Shannon next to me! Our routine was a disco inspired number that the crowd seemed to love. Apparently the judges thought we were pretty good too. In our first year, 2007, we won sexiest float, last year we won best choreography, and last night we took out the grand prize of best float! That is despite, with a third of the parade to go, our generator blowing up so we had no music or lights. We did prove that we can all count to 8 over and over again after that to try and keep the routine going, some of us just didn’t do it at the same time! So much fun!
February 14th has rolled around once more and 2010 is no different to the years before it in the sense that there isn’t anyone “special” to celebrate it with. As commercially driven as it is, and as much as I don’t think I should be told when to be romantic, it would be nice to hold someone’s hand and give someone a kiss on this day.
How does today feel different from other years? I’m in a more positive frame of mind. I certainly am not claiming to have my life totally sorted at all. I don’t know quite what I want to be when I grow up yet and financially I don’t seem to be making the progress I’d like, but life is good. I’m starting to like myself a bit more and enjoy all the fantastic parts of my life like my good friends, making new friends, aerial silks classes, photography and my wonderful family.
To my new Adelaide friends, happy first anniversary. You are a very special couple and I look forward to getting to know you better. To every reader in a relationship, treasure it and enjoy it, there are many who envy you. To all the single readers, those that want to be and those like me wishing there were someone next to you on the path, enjoy your day, treat yourself and look at the love hearts everywhere with a smile. That’s my plan.
Last night while I was out celebrating a friend’s birthday, a flash flood was sweeping through my suburb. I knew we were having some pretty wild weather last night but to come out this morning and see the cars in my street turned sideways and flooded was a bit of a surprise.
My car is a tiny little 20 year old thing that really needs to be replaced. The events of last night may just force my hand in doing that. Apparently the rain and volume of water we had last night was a “once in a decade” kinda thing. Oops.
Last night my flatmate turned to me and asked “Do you have trouble breathing?” It was a bit of a random question but once explained made sense. A friend of his has just had his tonsils out and after years of mild breathing difficulty is feeling like he is getting way more oxygen than ever before.
When we discussed it more, after giving it a bit of thought, I’ve always had rubbish sinuses and even though I do plenty of exercise I get puffed more easily than I should. My flatmate seems to think it might be related and could even explain why I hate doing cardio so much, if I’m struggling to get breath. I can’t sleep on my back because I snore a lot if I do and have even been known to stop breathing briefly.
So, my question is to any medical professionals that read the blog. Could my tonsils really be contributing to my hatred of cardio and difficulty breathing and is it worth a trip to my GP?
Three days, 400 gay people, several drag queens, lots of booze, some very dodgy fashion decisions and buckets of laughs and that’s my trip on the Navigaytion cruise from Adelaide.
I have to admit, I had a really good time on the cruise despite all my reservations about going. Some of them were founded. The guys that I went with and I are all tempted to go to a straight bar and talk about tits for a while as we are feeling a little gayed-out at the moment. There are certain elements of the gay “community” that I would have happily set adrift in a life raft after a couple of hours. First up would be the A-Gays that think their shit doesn’t stink and don’t smile or make conversation with anyone.
There were many interesting apparel choices made for the various themed parties over the three days. The first was the underwear and swimwear party. The age demographic on the boat ranged from 19 or so right up to about 70. I’m not a fan of a g-string on a man in general but your average 70 year old arse is not flattered in the slightest by having a piece of fabric wedged in it and a note to the man with the tartan beret on, before leaving the room please make sure your g-string is actually containing both testicles.
The parties on board were great fun, everyone getting on well, making new friends and getting into the spirit. Making new friends, at least for an hour or so was a recurring theme of the few days. There’s no tally been announced on this smaller cruise but the last Navigaytion cruise of 1400 people went through over 10,000 condoms.
I haven’t slept much after working at the parties, making new friends, hanging out with people I knew and watching the passing parade, so I’m not going to be awake much longer tonight and back to work tomorrow.
Part of my determination to get more confidence and not be so easily intimidated was to commit to working on the Navigaytion Gay Cruise from Adelaide with a few of the other guys from the Lifesavers Mardi Gras float. Today is the day. I’m about to head to the airport to fly down to Adelaide and the cruise leaves this afternoon for 3 nights.
Blogging will resume on Monday afternoon/night. I’m actually looking forward to it now. There will be about 600 guests on board and our job is to keep an eye on people and make sure they are ok at the parties. I know I’ve posted these photos before but I really like the easy nakedness and fun spirit of them. The cruise won’t have any nudity like this but I’m sure there’ll be some naughtiness and a lot of fun.
A couple of weeks ago I was approached through this blog to see if I wanted to try a 3 day cleansing detox program. So, if all goes to plan, starting tomorrow I won’t eat anything for 3 days, but will be drinking 6 different fruit and vegetable packed juices, full to the brim and beyond with nutrients to make me look and feel healthier.
The woman who I was dealing with promised me my skin would look fantastic, my body would flush out all the toxins and I’d probably even lose some body fat.
The prospect of 3 days without any food is quite daunting. My work colleagues are convinced I have worms because I eat 2 or 3 meals while I’m at work, not counting breakfast or dinner, plus a couple of snacks. The possibly more scary aspect is no caffeine is allowed for 3 days. I’m a big coffee and coca-cola drinker. Caffeine and I have had the closest thing to a long-term relationship that I’ve ever experienced. We argue every now and then when I think we’ve seen too much of each other, but then we soon kiss and make up. I haven’t fully prepared my work colleagues as to what I’m like without food or caffeine. Fingers crossed.
This photo is the “before”.
On saturday I was assisting a friend of mine who is a professional photographer on a shoot in a stunning house in Surry Hills, Sydney. Before the model turned up he was using me to test the lighting etc. So as a result I have a few new photos. What have I learnt from this? That I’m my own worst critic and I should never shave my head again.
I shaved it for another photoshoot by the guy that shot the black and white shots of me and he is working on a series and wants all the guys to have cropped hair.
So back to Saturday’s photos. I actually think my body looks better when I’m goofing around in the background being a dickhead (shot on the left) than it does when I’m TRYING to look good, see example on the right. Oh well. I’ll just try and bloody relax in photos from now on then.
Sometimes I seriously think my own headspace needs some redecorating or a bloody good feng-shui alignment. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling on the verge of another meltdown like the one I had a couple of months ago about being single etc. A couple of days ago someone said something to me that has brought more attention in my own mind to something that is best ignored.
There is someone I’ve been getting to know for a little while now and we get on really well but there is no way anything will ever cross the line from friends into romance. For starters we just aren’t a good match. I’m not going to go into why, but apart from wanting a similar kind of relationship it would not work at all. With my overly developed desire for a relationship in overdrive I was twisting the good vibes of the new friendship and looking at them from a perspective of potential romance which is not a good idea. Through a good conversation with a mutual friend of ours, she’s put me back on the right track and got me thinking the right way again and the view is much better.
Neurotic and over analysing things much?
I’ve had a couple of comments and emails over the past 6 months saying things to suggest I’ve used other names. Brenton is the only name I’ve ever used, not Gareth or Trent I think were the ones people mentioned. If someone calling themselves anything other than Brenton claims to be from Aussielicious or claims to be me, they are lying. Just letting you know.
On the very smart suggestion of a reader yesterday, I have created an Aussielicious Facebook page so you can all follow the Project365 challenge which will be updated on there. Thanks for the suggestion! I haven’t worked out how best to utilise the facebook page as yet, it’s only 10 am, only one coffee in and I’m sitting here naked wondering what to do with my day. I need to hit the gym and the supermarket, but they will require me to get dressed too.
Some of you will be looking at that title and saying “we already get Brenton 365 days per year” but I’ve undertaken a challenge from a photographer friend of mine called project365. The idea is to take a photo every day of the year, all 365 of them, and post them to an album on facebook or wherever you like.
I’m posting all my photos on facebook but will do the occasional update on here and eventually put them all together in a slideshow or something. The one on the left was yesterday’s innaugural shot. The one on the right was just because I was enjoying the freedom of folding my washing naked while my flatmate is away.
2009. What a year. Perfectly healthy celebrities were getting nervous after too many (and not the right ones) dropped like flies this year. It reminded me of 1997 after losing Mother Theresa, Princess Diana, and a swag of other celebrities. Maybe we just got over crowded, but surely the likes of Lindsay or Paris were more likely candidates?
I haven’t had a bad year, not a great year either, but not bad. Unfortunately lots of people around me have had a really bad year, serious illnesses, mental illnesses, losing family members, financial crisis’, losing jobs, and a host of other bad bits and pieces.
So what are the goals for 2010? For me, I’m coining the phrase “mining the clouds”. We’ve all heard the saying “Every cloud has a silver lining” and sometimes I know it’s damned hard to find it but 2010 is all about mining every little bit of silver out of any dark cloud that comes your way.
If someone you know gets sick, use it as a great excuse to get closer and be the friend that you could have been all along. If you have an argument with someone, take their viewpoint and look at yourself maybe a little more honestly. If the financial crisis is still biting, use it as a way to weed out all the clutter from your life and appreciate the simple things more.
To all my lovely readers, those that comment and those that don’t, those that agree with me and those that don’t, I wish you all a wonderful 2010. May it bring health, wealth, happiness and love to all of you.
Last night was one of those unexpected surprise nights that is all good. Tonight the year ends and hopefully continues the way last night did. I was on facebook and randomly chatted to a guy that I have never slept with but always found attractive, despite being 15 years his senior. I honestly didn’t think I was ever going to see him again due to a career change for him, some of his personal issues etc but was pleasantly surprised when dinner was mentioned and we organised for him to come over for dinner and catch up.
A nice meal, two bottles of wine, a good chat on the roof terrace and before we know it we are kissing and then he spent the night and some great sex was had. He had admitted that he’s a bit rubbish at keeping in touch and I thought there might be some awkwardness between us stemming from a conversation some months ago, but it was all good and I said, unless there’s been a big falling out then I don’t let good people just disappear from my life. Sex with him will probably never happen again and I’m fine with that, I wasn’t expecting it last night, but he’s a really nice guy, and I won’t let him lose touch.
It’s also rare for me to relax and let spontaneous sex like that just happen without getting all nervous. I hope it’s a turning point for a new attitude.
