There was a moment of pure joy last night, as I found myself singing along to Miley Cyrus’s “Flowers” alongside my dear friend Michaela and a crowd of two hundred enthusiastic participants at a collective singing event.
We were gathered at the “Great Club” in Marrickville, formerly a Greek restaurant, now transformed into a hub for community gatherings. The occasion? An evening with The “Wellcome Choir,” promising a transformative journey through music and voice.
This wasn’t Michaela’s first rodeo; she’s attended a couple of these events before, where scores of people come together in harmony. Perhaps you’ve heard of Pub Choir, renowned for filling iconic venues like The Enmore Theatre.
The “Great Club” was packed to the brim, though not without its quirks—namely, the absence of food. We learned from the bartender that they usually have food trucks on standby, but luck wasn’t on our side. Our dinner consisted of sharing a packet of chicken chips, but luckily, a nearby Chinese restaurant saved the day for our post-event meal, leaving me with delicious leftovers for today.
The event spanned 90 to 120 minutes, beginning with the group divided into three vocal sections: tops, bottoms, and those of us in the middle holding the melody. Being one of the few men in attendance, my voice naturally gravitated towards the lower register. Admittedly, I’m not exactly a singing virtuoso, but in that moment, it didn’t matter; the evening was about collective experience rather than individual skill.
We rehearsed the song line by line until we had it down pat, then took a well-deserved break before returning to perform the song three times, including a live stream on Facebook. The woman leading the choir, Bec Jenson was fantastic. As well as having a good voice, she seemed to love playing with the crowd, making for an enjoyable evening.
It was an unforgettable event, filled with camaraderie and shared passion for music.
As for the song itself, “Flowers,” it held a special place in my heart. During my lengthy stay in the hospital last year, its lyrics brought me solace and joy. Despite its theme of heartbreak, the essence of self-love and empowerment resonated deeply.
I can buy myself flowers Write my name in the sand Talk to myself for hours Say things you don’t understand I can take myself dancing And I can hold my own hand Yeah, I can love me better than you can
Flowrs by Miley Cyrus
And there it was, the line that struck a chord with me the most: “I can take myself dancing…”
Michaela and I went to a function tonight with great city views.
“It’s in the East Village at the Manhattan Bar”, I told her in the cab on the way, noting the oblique reference to “Sydney as Australia’s answer to New York”.
Actually I really hate that stuff. “New York-style loft”. “New York-style bar”. WTF does that mean, other than “expensive and slightly pretentious?”.
Thankfully it doesn’t mean that at the East Village Pub in East Sydney which has a nice vibe to it, friendly staff, and a great rooftop area with pretty spectacular views.
We were at a “meeja” function, which was interesting enough. And while one of the people who spoke did so off-the-cuff and with passion, another spoke less eloquently, reading three pages of a prepared speech.
I accept that some people are gifted speech makers and others are not. But I’ve been to a lot of functions and these kind of events lately, where someone making a speech has managed to bore the pants off everyone because “they’ve filled the space”.
And by that I mean, they’ve written a speech that goes for 1000 words, because “it looks right on paper”.
Sydney Views
It’s kinda like the “Microsoft Outlook” syndrome that drives me spare. I remember a time when a meeting went for whatever length the agenda demanded. Now it seems meetings going for 1 or 2 hours (because it’s blocked out that way in electronic calendars), and the agenda is thus made to fit the time, not the other way around. And in some circles, that obviously means morning or afternoon tea is served as well.
I guess this blog is a bit “Microsoft Outlook” too. I say something every day, even if I’ve got nothing to say :)
I don’t mean to sound like a “grumpy old man”, but it just seems to me the modern way of doing business has had both good and bad things associated with it. On the good side, everything is seemingly more efficient and information should be processed more quickly. On the bad side, it seems, the “template approach” means meetings, speeches, and such go on for longer than they should.
But anyway, we had a nice evening and chatted to some lovely people.
And of course, we were cool and groovy and “very New York”.
It’s Saturday night and I’ve just watched “Laverne & Shirley” and have enjoyed a plate of antipasto. Yes, that’s what my Saturday night has come to now that “The Bill” is no longer screening on ABC-TV. My Saturday nights used to have meaning. I’d watch “The Bill”, “Parkinson” and then “Six Feet Under”. I didn’t have to worry about making plans, organising social events etc. But now, clearly I do…
It’s been a reasonably social week though, having gone out with Sue on Wednesday night and then having had a beer or three with Adrian and Shanthini last night.
On Wednesday night, Sue and I went to Sydney Art 05, formerly known as the Affordable Art Show. The reason for the name change was the perception that it was a bit downmarket. Oddly enough, I thought the quality and variety of the work in this year’s show was not as good as previously. One of the highlights, however, was seeing a work that’s owned by the art group to which I belong (see photograph), Hawkesbury One had appreciated significantly in price. Another highlight was running into a former colleague, Nino, with whom I had a good chat about life, the universe and public relations.
Last night I caught up with Shanthini and Adrian at the annual work staff reunion. They both seemed well and, in particular, I noticed that Adrian had lost a few kilograms. Congratulations. I’ve been to a couple of these reunions before and they’re mostly good fun. There was one occasion where most of those attending were from a long, long time ago and so I didn’t know them. This time, however, I caught up with quite a few people I know. Maybe it’s because I’ve been working for the same organisation since November 1989?
Work has been good over the last week. I spent Wednesday welcoming some new staff members which was a little exhausting, but mostly really enjoyable.
When not at work, and not out socialising, I’ve been at home, watching tv, listening to the radio, cooking, reading and surfing the net. Speaking of which, this week, I also downloaded Google’s answer to Messenger, Google Talk which also offers a Skype-like component, meaning you can use voice. At this stage, however, I don’t know anyone else who has downloaded it, so I guess I’m just talking to myself. Please, someone download it so I can see how it works!
What’s in store for the next week or so? Tomorrow, Kate and I are going to visit a few galleries, including Roslyn Oxley, host of the new Tracey Moffatt exhibition. And then next weekend I have an ABBA Convention to attend.
My main plan for the day was a four-hour tour which started at about lunchtime. Anticipating I was gonna be bloody hungry by the end of it, I snacked on a Czech sausage from a road-side stall just before-hand.
The sausage was pretty tasty, and for about $2 Australian, I got a 600ml bottle of coke thrown in. In what I’m sure looked like a scene from “Carry On Prague”, I gulped it down. Whatever way you try, though, you just don’t look pretty eating one I’ve decided.
Before the tour started I also had a chance to speak to Paul from “Paul’s Tours – The Real Tour Of Prague”. Paul himself is an English expat who has lived here for ten years. When I asked him, “Why are you here? Was it love?”, he replied it was the love of beer first of all, and then the love of a woman. Ahhh….
Our tour guide was a local bloke, Mikael (sp?) who has been doing only half a dozen tours every summer for the last five years. “At first Paul asked my sister, because she was prettier”, he said. I laughed, thinking of how much he looked like one of the actors in my own extensive collection of cinematic works from the Czech Republic.
The tour is long by comparison with most city tours I’ve been on. Four hours. But that includes a 45 minute stop at a more genuinely local pub than most tourists would otherwise visit. And, although the rain and cold weather were annoying for most of the tour group – mostly young Australians actually who had it as part of their package – I never once wondered when it was going to end.
There’s a heavy emphasis on architecture and history which I personally loved, though I suspect a couple of the younger backpackers may have lost interest from time to time. “Did you hear that?”, I heard one bloke say to his friend. When he replied no, his mate said “Ah, it doesn’t matter anyway”.
There are, however, a few pop culture references, as you’re taken by the John Lennon Wall (started as an anti-commuist protest in the wake of his death) and, you’re also shown a stairwell where they shot the opening sequence of a Mission Impossible movie.
Prague Town ClockCharles Bridge, Prague
But mostly it covers several hundred years of Czech history, with a particular emphasis on Czech independance. There’s a few things you wouldn’t have known, for example, if you hadn’t been told. There are bullet holes all over the National Museum from the 1968 revolution. There is also a hidden memorial to two students from that time who died tragically very young.
Our tour leader, Mikal (sp?) was excellent. Very knowledgeable. Very funny. And very charming. And I’d recommend the tour to anyone visiting Prague.
That tour took up most of the day actually. Aside from that, I’ve had a lovely breakfast at the hostel, and now I’m back here for a quick beer and a blog.
Those staying at the hostel are quite a bit younger than I’ve been used to elsewhere. Most seem to be doing “the big trip” with ten countries in ten days. There’s a bunch of Irish lager louts for example, who seem to spend most of the day at the bar discussing sport and such. They’ve been joined this afternoon by an Australian bloke . I’ve overheard the phrase “Foookin English” more than once.
Part of Lennon Wall
It’s been fascinating being around these young folk, a timely reminder of what I was like when I was younger. Last night, for example, I listened in to the somewhat naïve conversation of an American bloke with a Czech in which the American bloke explained about “how true revolution can be achieved”. I just know that twenty years ago I would have been that stupid American.
1968 Memorial, Prague
And then today, I overheard an Australian bloke chatting to some Scottish girls about life and culture. When one of the girls mentioned calleys (sp?) the traditional Scottish dance party, he replied “We don’t really have anything like that. I mean, we’ve got The Nutbush” which I thought was one of the most genuinely funny lines I’ve ever heard in my life.
With my transport ticket, I’ve found the city easy to get around, and the locals are friendly. The only negative thing was the toilets at Museum Station. Ewwww. And I had to pay! Still it was the equivalent to about one-third of a cent Australian, so I shouldn’t complain. Oh yeah, and they still have smoking in restaurants and bars. That’s pretty gross too. But otherwise, I’m lovin’ Prague.
Two weeks ago, when I was in Lismore we had a minor-moderate flood. There’s a chance Lismore will flood again over the next few days at a moderate-major level. In anticipation, my niece, Karran went to the nearby Rocky Creek Dam and sent me some photographs to illustrate the depth of the storage at the moment. These are photographs only for the water-storage enthusiast :) For the non-enthusiast, they’ll give you an idea of how full the storages are in Northern NSW right now, what the weather’s like, and how green everything is. It’s quite beautiful, isn’t it?
Rocky Creek Dam is located within the Whian Whian State Forest approximately 20km north of Lismore. Water stored in the dam is used to supply drinking water to the Northern Rivers area stretching from Woodburn in the south, north to Ocean Shores and west to Lismore. This supply is supplemented by Emigrant Creek Dam, the Wilsons River Source and several bore sites
“I’m running late. The bus was late, but I’ll be there shortly”, I told a friend by text message.
I haven’t really participated much in this year’s Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, so we had planned to catch up for a beer and a bit of “Mardi Gras” spirit at Sydney’s legendary Imperial Hotel. “I think Sunday afternoon is the best option. And as the Imperial is about to turn straight, maybe we should meet there for their Sunday afternoon retro session” a friend told me in am email. “Turning straight? Just like all my exboyfriends”, I joked in reply.
But as I arrived at Erskineville, Graeme said, “It’s closed”. Instantly that brought back memories of that day in November 2007 when we had planned to meet at The Newtown Hotel, only to discover the bar had closed suddenly. Thankfully, that wasn’t repeated at The Imperial, just a later opening time than advertised.
What a relief. Because we had a lovely afternoon of chatting, listening to music, and enjoying the comic ramblings of the resident drag queen, Felicity.
In this modern world of online relationships, Grindr, and the like I hope there’s still room for “gay bars”. I think it’s fantastic that (in the inner city at least) it’s all okay for gays and straights to socialise in the same bars. I think it’s fantastic that male or female couples can, by and large, show affection to each other without retribution. Obviously that’s not the case in many locations, but most definitely in the inner-city part of Sydney in which I live. But still there are times when it’s nice to be with “my people” and to share a sense of community.
That’s also how I feel about Mardi Gras. Even though I didn’t participate much this year, I think it’s really important that it continues to exist. Even if we achieve full equality in my lifetime (and that’s possible), I still think it’s good to have these moments of individual community celebration. Even if there’s equality, it shouldn’t mean mean everyone’s the same.
It’s been a funny year. It’s been a mixed year. It’s been a year of ups and downs. Mostly it’s been a pretty good year, though there have been times. Yes, there have been times…
I started the year catching a flight back from Lismore to Sydney. I’d been in Lismore for about ten days visiting the family. The night before I’d gone to Tropical Fruits New Year’s Eve Party. It was okay, I guess, though not really “my scene”. A little too much doof-doof music and party-drugs for my liking. The first thing I said to a friend on arriving back in Sydney, was “I won’t be doing Tropical Fruits again”.
Tropical Fruits NYE at Lismore Showground
No, this year on NYE, I will find myself back in Perth, which is where I lived in 2004. I’ve travelled a fair bit this year, actually, including a couple of visits to Brisbane (February, October and November), and a couple of trips to Lismore (April and December), and a trip to Crookwell (in October) for a wedding
The biggest trip, of course, was my trip to Stockholm in July/August. As with much of my travel planning it was a spur of the moment decision based on a cheap air-fare. I remember coming home on a Friday night and clicking on one of those “cheap airfare emails” you get, and discovering a flight with Air China return for $1474. $1474 return to Stockholm in the middle of summer was a bargain too good to resist. And so even though I had no real plans to travel to Sweden this year, I booked my flight as soon as my travel leave was approved.
Stockholm Pride on Expressen
It was a memorable trip in lots of ways, though mostly because of my accommodation. When I travelled in 2008, I was a “backpacker”. When I travelled in 2010, I was staying in hotels. This time around, I found an apartment that was well-priced, clean, and not too far from the centre of Stockholm. The combination of these three things meant that I could relax without the need to change accommodation on a regular basis. Even though I was only there for three weeks, it was great to have a “home base” to wash clothes, go to the supermarket and so on, thus taking away some of the usual travel anxieties. On top of that, my friend Graeme was also in Stockholm which added to the “home feel” of things.
Alcazar performs at Stockholm Pride
In the back of my mind, 2012 has always been the year in which I went to live in Sweden for a while. Maybe six months? Maybe a year? I’m reasonably sure that’s a goal I can’t/don’t want to realise for 2012. The reason why is purely financial, in that I’m in a reasonably good “earning cycle” right now, and would like to keep on earning money for the time-being, rather than spending it. On another level, I’m still not happy enough with my Swedish language skills and figure an extra six months of study is definitely needed. In my mind, I’ve pretty much firmed up that I would like to live there for six months, arriving in March and leaving in September or October, as that’s the time of year which seems to suit my temperament best, I think.
Graeme at Stockholm Pride
In some ways the trip to Sweden this year was more “life-changing” than I anticipated it would be. I met a guy in Stockholm who helped remind me I’m still attractive, despite getting older. “Don’t worry, he likes the old ones”, his friend told me. What has proceeded is a period of my life where I have been pursued by a couple of potential suitors. There’s been no one amongst them who I’ve felt similarly attracted to, which is a bit of a shame. But nonetheless, I think it’s been nice to have a reminder that I’m not exactly over the hill.
Although I’d like to think it’s because I’m an interesting, fascinating individual perhaps it’s because I’ve lost a fair bit of weight this year? Having weighed as much as 105kg (overweight on a 175cm heigh frame) I managed to get back down to a healthier, though still overweight 85kg by May. And then by June I was down to 82kg. By late August, I realised the key to my own personal weight loss has been giving up (pretty much) soft-drink. “You must have drunk a lot of soft-drink?” people have said when I’ve offered that reason. The answer is partly true, along with bad eating habits, too much alcohol and a lack of exercise. Who would have thought the combination of those few things could lead to obesity? :):)
In the back of my mind, I think the weight loss may have also been because it’s been a couple of years of thinking about my own mortality and that of others. Gloria died eighteen months ago, and this year, a close friend has had ongoing health problems. Thinking ahead, at the age of forty-five, I went to a financial advisor for a mid-life top up discussion, and soon afterwards decided it was time to make a will.
It’s also been as year of transitions. Work-wise, for example, it’s been an amazing and satisfying year. I started the year with a new job, and then with a request to take on some additional duties (with extra pay), and I’ve found both challenges really interesting and rewarding. I think my new job(s) really play to my skills and experience too. There’s some things I’m quite good at, and other things I’m not so good at, and it now seems like I have job which is 85% of the former and 15% of the latter.
Also this year, we wound up the art collector’s group called “Hawkesbury One” that I’ve been involved in for the last decade. In June, we had an exhibition of our collection at the Newcastle Regional Gallery. Towards the end of August, the group wound up officially, as per our original agreement. It was sad in many ways, but as with all things, there’s a time to move on.
Hawkesbury One
Transition years are like that, aren’t they? You gain enthusiasm for some things and lose entusiasm for others. In the last few months of the year I’ve found it difficult to keep up my studies in Swedish. A whole bunch of work commitments got in the way of attending class for quite some time, and then without the motivating factor of attending class, I haven’t been practising as much as I could or should. I’ll be returning to class in January which I’m looking forward to very much.
In the last few months of the year, I also lost a bit of enthusiasm, for maintaining this blog. For the last three or four years I’ve been writing something every day. However in the last few months I’ve sometimes struggled to write something even weekly. Mostly I’ve been either too tired on arriving home from work, or feeling I don’t really have anything interesting to say. I will endeavour to keep writing, as it’s something which gives me a great deal of pleasure.
I also put this lack of enthusiasm down to a couple of bouts of depression this year. It’s something I’ve lived with most of my life, and mostly I keep things in check, and I never really talk about it. But from time to time, I don’t feel so good about myself, and as my personal self-esteem plummets, I tend to lose a bit of interest in many things. Things seem to be back on track at the moment, which is good.
In a few months time it will be exactly ten years since I started this blog. My first blog entry, on April 27, 2002 was as follows…
It’s late Saturday night. I still haven’t packed, I still haven’t organised the house, but I have set up an Online Diary, so I can record all of my thoughts and feelings while living in the Northern Territory. I hope this period will be a significant one in my life. A real turning point. The last few months I’ve felt a little directionless. I hope this will give me the strength to make a new life.
The entry was reference to the fact I’d been “dumped” in the weeks prior to Christmas, which apparently is quite common.
Thankfully I don’t feel that way anymore. Well, not always :)
Best of all this year? The family is starting to talk about stuff.
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So, off to the Hung Cheung (corner Marrickville and Petersham Rds) afterwards? Still going strong despite the “Current Affair” food safety “exposé” in 2016.
Premises of Great Club were previously the Greek Macedonian Club Alexander the Great.
So, off to the Hung Cheung (corner Marrickville and Petersham Rds) afterwards? Still going strong despite the “Current Affair” food safety “exposé” in 2016.
Premises of Great Club were previously the Greek Macedonian Club Alexander the Great.
Yes that’s the Chinese restaurant. Whoops ACA. I had left overs tonight and I’m still alive.