This morning I’m supposed to be shooting a friend and his boyfriend who are right into leather, but it’s supposed to be an outdoor shoot and the weather is foggy and rainy so I am dubious it’s going to happen. Then I’m supposed to be going in to the office to do another shoot for a catalogue for work that is already behind schedule, but that shoot too is supposed to be outside. Tonight I was supposed to be babysitting my niece and nephew while my sister and her husband went to the movies, but they are now sick.
So my day is potentially looking very free and I may have some discount movie tickets. What shall I do? Well I will be finally doing my “before” photo and hitting the gym if all goes to plan.
Today I’m heading down to my parents place for the weekend and it’s going to be an odd day. First up for lunch is my grandfather’s 90th birthday. The other grandfather just hit 94 so I figure I’m going to be fat, bald and insane for a very long time looking at the family history. My cousins who I have zero in common with will be there, and when I say zero, I doubt that there’s even a genetic link sometimes. Thankfully at times like this my immediate family all click really well and look out for each other when we get stuck.
Then tonight I have my 20 year school reunion. It’s going to be strange seeing some people, great to see others and a good laugh to see some. All those guys that gave me shit about being a homo at school before I even knew I was are mostly married and relatively happy but from what I’ve seen on facebook there are some that just look like life has beaten them down. I wonder if any of them are more enlightened these days.
… for all our differences I LOVE my family. We just had dinner together and laughed a lot, ate a lot and enjoyed it a lot.
There will be a few days of nothing happening here on Aussielicious I’m afraid. It’s our family’s traditional Easter escape with family friends. It’s Thursday morning here and I’m heading off straight from work today and won’t be back til Monday night. I hope you can all cope with the silence. Browse the links on the right hand side to entertain yourselves.
My father had an angiogram on Tuesday and it was all looking ok. He has one blocked artery but the rest seem to be fine. They didn’t put a stent in and there was no mention of surgery. Unfortunately that has changed a little. He failed a stress test yesterday so they may still need to put a stent in or do bypass surgery which is scaring me. So it’s not looking like Dad will be at Easter with us at this stage and maybe not mum either. Thanks to everyone who sent really nice messages of support for my Dad. I really appreciate it.
Last night, one of those phone calls came through that you just don’t want. My mother called to tell me my father was in hospital after what was apparently a very minor heart attack. He’s in really good spirits and is happy to know why he’s been short of breath etc lately.
A friend I went to school with rang me a couple of hours ago. She’s a nurse and has been looking after my dad. According to her, my dad is in a bit of denial. It’s quite a serious coronary event and he’s got more testing to be done.
I’m a little scared. My dad is only in his early 60’s but he and mum aren’t the most disciplined with their diet which is probably where I get it from, and they polish off a bottle of white wine with dinner every night. At least Dad does do a fair bit of bike riding when he’s feeling well. I’m not ready to lose him. He and I have a relationship that is possibly fairly common with fathers and gay sons. We are quite different people but with some overlapping interests and I think quite a bit of mutual respect. It’s my dad that sparked my interest in photography. Some of my earliest memories are of my father swimming out way beyond the surf break at the beach when I was about 7, taking me or my sister with him. The surf could be quite big, but I’ve never felt so safe.
This weekend has proven to be a strange weekend of ups and downs. Friday night we had a small gathering for a skinnydip at the beach, but I think the skinny dipping days this summer are limited. I was out and about all of yesterday and designing the cover for the Mardi Gras float DVD after doing a photoshoot for it. A new friend and I went to see The Single Man last night which was beautiful and wonderful but very sad.
Then later last night some ongoing tension around the house that has been building over the last few months came to a head and a stressful and upsetting conversation with my flatmate was had. We’ve had a further discussion this afternoon which has resolved things a bit thank goodness because the idea of moving again was not appealing, nor was the idea of leaving this apartment.
Today was spent with my family which is always fun but it was full of mixed emotions. My grandfather has finally gone into care since Christmas at the ripe old age of 93. He’s bitched and moaned about being locked up with “old people”. Until recently I would have agreed with him. He played a round of golf on his 90th and lived on the third floor of an apartment building and walked up the stairs. Sadly his health is in rapid decline and in some ways I almost want him to go. We aren’t particularly close but I found myself getting choked up a couple of times.
Fingers crossed all this stuff will balance itself out soon and I’ll feel like I’m getting somewhere.
Over the past couple of months I’ve come across several guys online who were raised in nudist families, some of them with brothers brought up by a single dad, others with both parents. All of these people had one thing in common. They were all brought up without any shame about their body, nudity, erections or sex in general.
Are nudists more open minded or do they just have a different set of hangups? I think people brought up in a nudists environment are probably less likely to have body image issues or at least just deal with them better. Perusing any nudist website, like Hangoutnude, you’ll see that the vast majority of bodies are a long way from the commercial ideal of perfection. Surely that goes a long way to giving a healthier perception of what is healthy?
My parents weren’t prudish but apart from the odd walk between bathroom and bedroom, I never saw them nude and while I wasn’t taught that there is anything wrong with nudity, it’s not really something my parents would actively encourage. If I had kids I’d bring them up to be comfortable with being nude, but to respect other people’s boundaries.
A guy I’ve been chatting to was married to a man for some time and while they were together, the other man’s son came and stayed with them regularly from the age of 11 to 16, when their relationship ended. They would all happily spend most of the time at home nude and given the time period covered the son’s puberty he was apparently often hard but was taught that it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Such a healthy way to live.
It’s that time of year once again and I’m not far from packing my things and heading over to my sister’s house for Christmas. It’s the first time we haven’t had Christmas at my parent’s place since I was about six and only the second time ever. My nephew is nearly 7 and my niece is a bit over 4 so they are a great age to be sharing Christmas with.
Sadly my grandfather was taken to hospital last night but we think my mother will be able to pick him up tomorrow (Christmas Day here). He’s 93 and looks after himself, living with my (loser) uncle. He’s getting to the stage where he’s bored with living and my mother is actually convinced he’s trying to die. Fingers crossed he won’t accomplish that on Christmas or anytime soon.
I wish all of you my very best for the Holiday Season. I hope you all spend Christmas with loved ones, family or friends, and remind everyone just how much you appreciate them.
This week has been go go go at work and I have to admit, I resent having to stay late on a friday evening like I did tonight. Sometimes these things need to be done. However when I walked out of the building I discovered I had a flat tyre. Out comes the spare, also pretty darned flat. Ouch. I did a bad thing. I drove on the nearly flat spare to the petrol station and pumped it up. Oops. Cars really aren’t my thing apparently.
Tomorrow morning, if the rain doesn’t get in the way, I’m posing for another photographer before meeting my family to go camping on the island. Fingers crossed it’s going to be fun.
I love my family and Christmas is a great couple of days catching up, relaxing and laughing but I’m so glad to be out of there. Between my niece and nephew who refuse to hear anything they are told at the moment and my grandfather and great-aunt who CAN’T hear anything they are told and all four of them just talking at people assuming they are being listened to, I’m exhausted.
Santa was kind to me and got me some pretty good stuff. I hope everyone has had a great Xmas!
Family holidays like the one I’ve just walked back in from aren’t what you’d call relaxing. There’s just too many people, especially young children, to be relaxing but they are good for the heart and soul. I’ve grown up with these two other families and even though most of the “kids” have very little in common these days we all still get on famously, mostly because of the 30+ year history.
There’s lots of joking around, drinking (alcohol is good for making kids seem less noisy), laughing, chatting, catching up and just hanging out. People think it’s strange that I still go away with my family at the age of 34 but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And no, there wasn’t any nudity or dolphins like the pics. Sorry.
