Yesterday was Brent’s last day at his old job and ended with the obligatory farewell drinks, which was nice enough. I did find myself once or twice shiver at the realisation that what we have been talking about all this time seems to be becoming real. Amid the speeches and the farewell gifts I found myself thinking, Shit! I’m moving to Newcastle.

Added to that were the questions from the various AIDS Inc. luminaries. I lost count of the number of people who felt compelled to ask me, “Are you moving to Newcastle too?” as if they expected I’d be staying here and seeing Brent on weekends and bank holidays. After a few of these inquiries I took to telling everyone we were splitting up; that I’d told Brent to choose between me and the Hunter Branch of ACON and he chose ACON. Disturbingly, one or two accepted this explanation…

And then there were the earnest inquiries along the lines of: “So what do you think about this? How do you feel about moving to Newcastle?” etc. It was a bit difficult not to feel a tinge of paranoia..

Anyway it’s happening, that much is clear. We’re off to Newcastle to look for a place to live this afternoon. I’ll take the camera and will report back in due course.

Photo © Conrad Hechter (click to enlarge)

This 1996 photograph of me and (ex-boyf) Paul de K relaxing in the back yard of the original House of Love is in 2Blue, this year’s special issue of Blue magazine, available this week at your friendly local newsagent for just $39.95.

The price may sound a little steep for a soft porn mag, but I reckon it’s worth that just for this one pic. As an additional bonus you get several hundred wispy-looking muscle boys with big nipples and no body hair, numerous penises in various states of tumescence, and the occasional “Phwoa! Get a load of the grapefruits on that one!”, but this image stands out as the only photo in the entire inch-thick glossy mag which includes a shovel (or any other item of agricultural equipment for that matter) which is a pity for the horticultural apparatus fetishists out there but probably a relief for the rest of us.

[ABC News 2003-05-21]

There have been howls of protest from New Zealand politicians after the Speaker of the House banned the use of the word “bugger”. The Speaker, Jonathon Hunt, says the word is just not appropriate.

The debate started when an Opposition Member of Parliament used the phrase “sweet bugger all”. The Speaker immediately intervened and ruled the word bugger was unacceptable. Some MPs complained the Speaker was out of touch, but Mr Hunt would not budge.

“I just think that doesn’t add one jot to the appreciation of the English language and I intend to maintain standards,” he said.

Mr Hunt also admits he does not like the expression “diddly squat”, though he will not be ruling it to be unparliamentary.

For the last couple of weeks I’ve been referring to “big things” happening in our life which I couldn’t talk about until now.

Brent and I are moving to Newcastle in a few weeks’ time. Brent’s been offered a job up there and we’re both really excited at the prospect. We’re looking forward to having more space, new friends and a simpler life.

Newcastle is a former industrial centre of about 130,000 people a few hours north of Sydney. It has some of the best beaches in the country, is close to one of the most important winegrowing regions, and everyone I speak to says they are envious of us.

After twenty years in Sydney, I’m looking forward to the change. There will be challenges, too: we’ll be away from the bright lights of gay Sydney and, most importantly, from our friends.

My speech from last night’s Leather Pride Week panel is online. There wasn’t much of a turnout for the event, which kind of supported what I had to say, unfortunately.

Still it was an enjoyable experience in its way and one of the only times I’ve bothered to leather up in recent history (and it was a bit of a squeeze).

Bob Moore gave a good off-the-cuff account which largely agreed with me and Michael Primrose spoke with great elegance and just the right level of sarcasm. I don’t think Liz D. quite got it, but the small audience were receptive to what we had to say and engaged with the question a bit afterwards.

B and I were going to head out for a drink afterwards but decided to come home and hit the sack early rather than hang around the strip for the time it would take before a crowd formed anywhere. It’s not like there’s much to go out for at this time of year and we’re probably wise to hold our fire for Inquisition next weekend.

I’ve just rebuilt the qWords database. There are now just shy of 1100 names and associated words in there. More coming when I have time.

Raining in Sydney, pouring with rain. The budget last night was much as expected, small carrots, big sticks. I can look forward to a tax cut of $4 a week if the budget passes, which won’t go very far toward the $40 or $50 a week extra it will cost me if the Medicare changes also go through.

Looked very much like a pre-election budget to me, which suggests that we might be headed for a showdown over Medicare. On one level, that would be good as a double dissolution election would mean more small parties, especially Greens, in the Senate. But we had the race election, now do we have to have the Medicare election? Howard would certainly win, and finally he would complete his life’s mission: destroy Medicare. He is a small man in so many ways.

Governor-General Hollywood has “stood down” following a “frank” discussion with the Short Man. It’s a half-solution, Howard’s grubby fingerprints are all over it. We are mugs if we let this issue die. But then, we’ve been mugs on so many issues before this one.

Still, at least we’re not a screwed up as this person.

The buggery.org e-greeting selection is online now. Remember, an electronic greeting card is the ideal way to show someone you care, but not much.

(click to enlarge)

Billy Deane, he ain’t. Our Governor-General is in serious doo-doo (again) after being accused of raping a woman who later took her own life. My take on the Hollingworth scandal. New in The Lash.

I am 35 years old; I have been out of the (gay) closet since I was 23 since then, I have been having “safe” sex with all of my tricks, except steady boyfriends who I knew where HIV negative, but, sometime 2 years ago I gave up on safe sex. I WAS SICK OF IT. I was ready I had become envious of people who were positive, or simply dying or dead. I was tired of thinking about HIV EVERY FUCKING time I had sex. I was sick and tired of thinking of my dead friends being buried in front of me as their mothers weep on top of their caskets; of the fucking AIDS Quilt; of movies like And the Band Play On, Long Time Companion, and of bitter Larry Kramer, flamer Liberace, or talented Herb Ritts; or Madonnas crusade, or Elizabeth Taylors I dont know where or who I am, but I still care campaign…

This long, intense rant to a US HIV forum is kind of disturbing but thought-provoking nonetheless.

Kabi, hard at work on his sling

A productive day yesterday in the buggery.org junior leathercraft workshop. Kabi’s new sling is taking shape and I’ve made most of the necessary corrections to the one I made a year ago. Unfortunately our sling room/office/spare bedroom is so full of camping gear right now it’ll be a while before we can use the finished product, but it’s a good feeling to have made something with my bare hands even so. Hopefully the lucky individual on whom this device is eventually tested will appreciate the historical significance of his role.

I’m up early this morning because I have to go to church, which is not something I do very often. St James church in the city is installing a new peal of bells, one of which is supposed to commemorate people lost to AIDS, so I’m off to take some pics and generally observe the chanting and hallowing and so forth for PL. It looks like it could be an OK day so Brent might join me after for a walk through town with the boys.

Big things are happening in our life, but there’s not much I can announce until later. Stay tuned…

“We helped ourselves to the buffet and then sat down to begin eating our dinner. I was just about to tell Asher how I’d eaten there before and how delicious the vegetable curry was, but I never got a chance. All of a sudden, there was a terrible commotion and five NYPD in bulletproof vests stormed down the stairs. They had their guns drawn and were pointing them indiscriminately at the restaurant staff and at us. “Go to the back, go to the back of the restaurant,” they yelled…”

This report of a Police/immigration raid on an Indian restaurant in New York provides a chilling picture of life in Amerika post 9/11. (via bloggy.com.)

I am 10686 times more likely to get cardiovascular disease in the next 10 years than Mad Cow disease.

The Mad Cow Calculator told me so.

“If you replaced hamburger with broccoli, your cholesterol would drop by 3.94 mg/dl. Over the next 10 years this would reduce your cardiovascular risk 511.7 times more than it would reduce your risk of Mad Cow disease.”

Woohoo!