Tropical Fruit

My good friend Martin, recently moved to Australia's Northern Territory has started off a new blog TROPICAL FRUIT. Worth a look by clicking above, here, or on the link which continues to be updated in my blog links on the right. I do love his writing.

London Preppy - is he back?

One of my favourite blogs has been London Preppy - linked from superchilled for some time now. He has  lived and died and lived and died a few times, but it seems the messiah returns to the same channel, different time, same quirkiness (or is that bizarreness?) but certainly well written (& at times photographed or videoed)  and entertaining escapes from the every day. Catch him while he's still up and about. Click here, or from his blog link in the right column ->. 

Many apologies for a decided lack of input here of late. Things are on track for more classic superchilled in the near future. 

Can you get enough?

I've had a great break, and being away from web-publishing /posting for a while it has allowed me think about exposure & personal revelation on the web and indeed in everyday life.

 

During the break I read an article in the Sydney Morning Herald entitled Too Much Information (see the full article here), and it resonated strongly with me. It basically explores the concept of keeping things personal in an increasingly public world.

What do we think we can reasonably expect to know about other people, and they about us?

The gossip magazines know our appetite for celebrity news, their continued existence demonstrates that clearly. But these days it isn't just about celebrities. Reality TV shows take us into the hearts and minds of their literal guy-next-door stars, blogs tell-all about their authors as well as whatever information they divulge about others. It's not just what they're wearing or where they're holidaying, it's who they're having sex with and how they're doing it, what they're obsessing over, what's happening in their relationships & families, why they're having counselling; there really is no limit to the detail. Blogs and Facebook pages become forums on their owners' private lives, whether they like it or not, though usually triggered by self published information. The more we see it around us, the more we expect people to be forthcoming with all the details of their intimate lives. 

Personal information has become not a saleable commodity, but an expected part of routine social intercourse. Penile dimensions and sexual preferences often prioritised ahead of personality, occupation or, god forbid, political persuasion. Conversations that don't enter into the sordid are seen as bland, boring, conservative and oh-so-last-century. I was sitting chatting with The Frenchman and close female friend of ours in a public space last week when a woman sitting within earshot interrupted us to ask if we were a threesome. We were speechless. 

The future is looking to get even more invasive. Today's primary school kids email and text each other day and night discussing their latest crushes and all manner of topics, just a decade ago you'd rarely have seen a letter and even more rarely a phone call from these kids who are now texting 24/7.  How much information about their school mates will they know by the time they get to high school? 

I see relationships being shredded live on the net with all and sundry getting in on the action with intimate details let loose. People get hurt, and the world looks on and wants more. What's the juice? What's the Goss? Who's doing what to whom? It's okay, you can tell me, [I'll only divulge it if it feels right at the time.]

Have you ever been told that because you haven't shared your entire sexual history with someone, you're not really a friend?

When will we get enough? Will we ever be satiated with the information we draw in?

And do we really need it?

It seems what happens in Vegas doesn't always stay in Vegas any more. The ability to compartmentalise various aspects of our lives is seen now as a bad thing, transparency is king. But laying our lives bare for analysis and criticism is not always productive and frequently boundaries are blurred and out of context we are misinterpreted. Do you want to have your manhunt or gaydar profile blended with your Facebook profile? Being able to share things deeply personal with a trusted few is something that enriches those relationships. Share them with the world and do people really appreciate it?

Are we happy to divulge our personal lives to everyone? Personally I'm increasingly not. There are elements that I'm happy to share where I feel my experiences may benefit others. There are bloggers who are extremely candid with their posts about their lives which can put them in the firing line from all and sundry. Certainly there are times when this can truly be beneficial, especially in the gay world where dealing with HIV, family and coming out can be significantly aided by following others' personal experiences. But where is the boundary between personal development and voyeuristic infotainment? 

I like a little mystery, uncertainty, the element of surprise. It's what makes the world an interesting place and people more intriguing. Having to make a little effort to explore all the hidden places in people's lives is a lot more interesting than having them served up on a platter. It is after all the journey that is half the fun, and I want 100% not just half of it.

Shuffle

Random thoughts and events in this superchilled life...

I posted a few weeks ago about dozens of strange Chinese women calling me. Today I got another call. This time they hung up on me.

Our house didn't sell at auction. Well the auction itself didn't happen. Of course a whole financial system melt down right in the middle of our marketing campaign had nothing to do with it. But it's still on the market - and we're still optimistic. 

I had a quiet night at the hospital last night - got to bed at 1am - earlier than most weeks - and despite it all couldn't get to sleep until after 3am... If only they had a lap pool at the hospital. Hmmm perhaps I should speak to the CEO. 

My affinity for water now includes those high pressure water jets at car wash places where you do-it-yourself. I don't think it's an obsessive compulsive cleaning thing, but I don't mind a bit of shine either. 

Dinner this evening was a retirement dinner for a dear secretary at the public hospital. At said dinner one of the nurses decided that my hair needed to be cut, as she played with it forming pony-tails of sorts in front of everyone present. I guess it is getting a bit long now, and I'm kind of flattered that she was playing with my hair - but I'm not good at following orders. So expect no shaven head here any time soon.

At same dinner while the Frenchman was absent, it was pleasant to have all of the people there ask after him. 

London Preppy's activating the ejector-seat on his blog last week made me rethink my own blogging again. I've had so much happening in my world, much of which I've not posted about - not yet anyway - that it's been hard to make time to write here, let alone get everything else done. But I'm not ready to stop, there are more words in these fingers yet. 

While I was washing my car at the hydrophilic car wash station, the music on late night radio was courtesy of a Dance music DJ and I realised how long it is since I've been out dancing the night away. I was dancing around in the remoteness of the late night, water jet in hand, and it was a lot of fun. I think I'm going to have to gather a few revellers together to make an event of it very soon. 

And finally, we have an international blogger visiting us Saturday - and I'm very much looking forward to it. O Canada!

Interview Panel: Saturday August 30th

reminder: last days to vote for your favourite Olympic Bod Photo - see earlier posts below...

Superchilled asks a selection of people, who also blog, questions about life the universe and everything. 

Today's question:

What is your best ever holiday memory?

The Green Light at the end of the Dock

Martin: There are so many - what normally makes for a good memory is anything involving my sister who lives abroad and I hardly ever see. One must be flying low over the Okavango Delta and seeing the spectacular patterns in the swamps. The other is speeding down the Okavango river in a low boat as the sun sets. Another is running giggling like little children through the mist surrounding Victoria Falls, and more recently pretending to do gymnastics with my sister in a Gay bar in London and skipping all the way to the pantomime to her step-children’s disgust and embarrassment. Anything that involves laughing so hard my stomach hurts and getting strange stares from the locals…

Just Beautiful Men

Eric : Visiting Geneva as a child was probably the most lasting experience I still remember to this day. It was just so different and exciting compared to what I was used to at the time (I think I must have been around 7 or 8 at the time). Traveling when you're young sometimes leads to a type of simplistic euphoria that just can't be matched as easily as an adult :-)

Geoff & Terry

Geoff:  Independently: Kenya to Australia via Ethiopia, Eritrea, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Germany whilst trying to figure out what I was going to do with the rest of my life. Memories of travelling on the roof of a truck through frontier country of southern Ethiopia. Surreal scenery and environs with a sense of being somewhere on the edge of nowhere. Trekking in the mountains of Ethiopia. Brain melting heat and boredom on the coast of the Red Sea waiting for a ferry. Hanging out in cafes in Berlin and running through autumn leaves in Potsdam with my walkman blasting “You Are My World” by Jimmy Sommerville.

With Terry: All of them (ahhhh).

Terry: There are a lot of great memories, but two stick out at this time:

-When I was living in Japan I had a 10 day break in the spring and went to Sabah (via Brunei) on the island of Borneo. I spent one week, snorkelling, swimming, climbing Mount Kinabalu, and trekking through the forests in Sepilok (orang-utan sanctuary). On my way back to Japan I met my just-about-to-be married Canadian friend in Hong Kong and treated him to a three day stag party.

-Sitting in the open doorway of the train that goes from Colombo to the hill country in central Sri Lanka. It was amazing to go from the heat and humidity of the coast to the lush, cool tea plantations at 2000m...both on a three week holiday with Geoff in 1998 and while I was living there in 2007.

London Preppy

LP: I have no memories, there is no past, I don't have a future.

the naked drag queen

Bruce: One of my best holiday memories is sitting around a big campfire in the Okavango swamps with my amazing family telling stories and then listening to the lion in the area talk to one another and make the earth vibrate under our tents.

Along the Way...

Lynnette: Toss up between:

Day spent in a village near Manali in India, teaching kids how to take photographs with my extra camera, and just chilling with them and eating yummy food and drinking killer chai

Private salsa and son lessons at the home of the guy standing in front of us waiting for pizzas at an outdoor street stall in Havana, Cuba (despite top notch teachers I still am inept :( )

The adrenalin rush of being on top of an active volcano in Guatemala, seeing the lava turning beneath my feet, and having a storm charge in with lightening hitting all around us just as we reached the summet...

...there are too many amazing memories to choose....

What's your best holiday memory??

Interview Panel: Saturday August 15th

Superchilled asks a selection of people, who also blog, questions about life the universe and everything.

Today's scenario: 

The police are knocking at your door - you can see them but they can't see you? What do you do? 

The Green Light at the end of the Dock

Martin: Well first I would need to get dressed, then I would open the door and assist them with their investigation – because it wasn’t me. I promise.

Just Beautiful Men

Eric : (I find this concept of this question hilarious) Anyway two scenarios immediately come to mind:

1.If I'm not knowledgeable of guilt or any crime I've committed, I'd probably go and answer the door without a second thought.
2.If I am knowledgeable of some sort of guilt on my part, I'd probably... find the biggest cover I can find, and enter into my deep basement closet to cower in fear :-(... all the while feeling totally pathetic of course...

Geoff & Terry

Geoff: Put on something sexy and answer the door.

Terry: I would answer the door, after all what could I possibly be guilty of?

London Preppy

LP: Answer the door, quote the following lyrics from 99 Problems by Jay-Z: "And I know my rights so you gon' need a warrant for that"

the naked drag queen

Bruce: If the police are knocking on my door and I can see them but they can't see me I'd probably open the door and find out what they want. I don't have a guilty conscious about anything I can think of and my curiousity as to what they could want would get the better of me. Cops have been tremendously helpful on three seperate occassions in my life. No I am not a Pollyanna.

What would you do?

Superchilled from birth to 12 months…

Superchilled: Born March 15th 2007 to a dad who really didn’t know what he had created. But as with many dads, he kinda liked the whole procreative process. And so superchilled was born, an unplanned but loved baby. As with many initially unplanned babies it turned out gay, but gay is just one aspect of him. Life is too big to narrow the focus too too much.

Superchilled got to know some other newborn blogs, and some who were already toddlers or older still and learned some good and bad habits through contact with these. Through a process of trial and error superchilled got up onto his feet, encouraged by support from people he never knew existed in all parts of the globe from Colombia to South Africa, The Netherlands to Canada and beyond… Of course he has tripped up and fallen on occasions, and not everyone in the playground has been nice. But for the most part his first year has been fantastic.

Biggest lessons he has learnt in the first 12 months:
Expect the unexpected. Not everything you post will be read the way it was intended.
Blogs are not the way to discuss personal issues with friends.
You have to be yourself, not try to be someone you’re not, and your blog needs to reflect that.
While it’s nice to post regularly – it’s not essential – a good post later is better than a boring post sooner.

Plans for toddlerhood?
When you get up on your feet you want to explore new territory all the time. See what there is out there, and how much of it you can experience. Superchilled is heading wherever he can… predicting his future path is futile.

Thanks:

To those who comment and email. Without you there would be no blog

To The Frenchman who has endured my time away from him being creative & writing these 392+ posts.

To Aussielicious who first made me aware of the power of blogs and blogging.

To those who link to superchilled. Without you no-one would be reading this now.

To everyone who reads and gets something out of it. You're why superchilled exists.

Much Ado about Wild Wednesday

Monty has posted his response to the Wild Wednesday self portrait challenge from a few weeks back and I'm impressed!
Click Here for his full post.

Thanks for taking part Monty!

Design a Wild Wednesday

I'm really getting into this 2008 thing. Today we had some pretty ordinary weather (174mm (6.85 inches) of rain in 24 hours) which was perfect - because I've been wanting to get a lot of things done - and find it incredibly difficult when the sun is shining and the water calling out to me. Needless to say, I still went swimming, but I spent more time indoors today attending to various work things including website & publication updates... won't bore you with that. But I just kept on going with it all and have had a very productive day... Nice to be focussed and make things happen.

It's Wild Wednesday - These started back in April last year in this post where I was musing on relationships and communication difficulties. It was designed to be a one off, but feedback I got encouraged me continue them in various ways and forms ever since. Usually there ends up being some kind of challenge to make life a little more interesting, break from the normal routine, experience new things and hopefully have a little fun on the way.

I think posting challenges just here on superchilled is limiting the potential. I think it's time to let it loose and let other bloggers design their own Wild Wednesdays. Create a challenge for your readers, surprise them, help them to think differently or see an alternate view on things. When you do - please post a comment here with the link to your wild wednesday. If you've taken up a Wild Wednesday challenge in the past - please also let me know. Have a favourite blogger who you think would be up to the challenge? Contact them and see if they'll step up.

Will you take the plunge?

London Preppy in Oz?

London Preppy is selling himself, or at least an old photo of he and his boyfriend, and Superdrewby wants to bring him to Australia - 'for promotional purposes' - and for FREE. (Read: to deface our public spaces in the name of commercialism - see artist impression above).

We've had enough things sent to Sydney Harbour from the UK that they didn't want any more, it's time to end it all, one queen already is too much!

The photo deserves a good home - a shrine built to honor the deep committment of two men to muscle definition, and a serve of love along the way, (I might be able to find a spot) but don't let it be Our Opera House, Our Harbour Bridge, or Our Kylie (?) . Go to London Preppy's blog and suggest better places for him to stick it.

A thursday Find

I stumbled upon this blog post at Ihavetoadmitit which is worth a read - cruising 101 - I think most of us have had this kind of experience at some point... I laughed and laughed and laughed I did.

Monday

Monday morning, I wake up to alarm 2. It's not looking good. I feel so completely lacking in energy I want to ignore the alarm - but sensibly it's placed away from bed so I have to get up to turn it off, and it's not nearly as pleasant as alarm 1 which is the Kylie cd which has now stopped. (I snooze to Kylie every morning - I've tried a host of different cd's but she's consistently the best wake up music for me so far... not that she actually makes me get out of the bed) . The damn beeping one wins and I'm on autopilot to the shower. Shaving next stop, a bowl of cereal and fruit eaten in front of my pc with the latest news and blog updates. London Preppy has usually posted by now and I laugh myself awake, look at the time and rush to finish the cereal I'm eating because invariably I'm running late. The garage door closes remotely and I'm testing the supercharger my German engineering has installed to delight and propel me. I wonder as to whether I should accelerate so heavily as an environmentally responsible citizen, then I look at the time and my mind moves on, to the tempo of Bob Sinclair's Love Generation. My staff smile and welcome me in, they will have told my patients that I'll be there about now, and the day is underway. I have a mix of people to see, from the superhunk blonde 25 year old with muscles that need no more defining to the middle aged woman with a work injury that she doesn't seem to want to get better, to the kids pointing at the jelly bean container that I have mixed feelings about in the glassed in cabinet.

I escape into my seriously shortened lunchtime, after spending 50 minutes removing an implanted rod from a woman's arm that is not nearly as easy at they say in the promotional material, into a scorching day. Despite my sense of reason I go running in the heat and saturate my t-shirt with a sixpack-seeking sweat, then dive into the pool with 2 minutes of my lunch time left (lunch is still back at the surgery). Work continues evenly yet intensely for the afternoon. There was one patient where think I lost count at 6 yawns - but my post prandial somnolence thankfully doesn't last too long. They were in another world anyway - so I get away with it. And for the first time in weeks I finish on time.

The supermarket is filled with my patients, one of whom is the 25 year old I'd seen earlier in the day, this time with his girlfriend - it was quite funny given the personal nature of the consultation to cross paths at almost every aisle and then again at the checkout. But I'm not complaining.

Home with the wind in my hair - a balmy evening - & collapse onto the couch with Norah Jones playing - The Frenchman spontaneously vomits on hearing her, so with him still on his way home, I'm safe - and I know I can sleep to her. A candle is lit for atmosphere, but completely wasted given I'm snoozing. The Frenchman arrives home and we prepare a dinner of roasted fish and salad and discuss the day with a volley of text messages interspersed to various third parties following up things from the weekend, and a selection of news programs dissecting the current election campaign. We were given some home baked choc chip cookies today and a third of them survive the night.

I read Single in the City and wonder why I didn't add him to my list of blogs before, then watch a man showering on Aussielicious but wonder why, and ponder what to post today - something different and innovative - because I like to be different an innovative, but I end up with a web log of my day, which is I guess what this is supposed to be in the first place. And then it's finished and I go to bed.

I have played, I don't know how many, Norah Jones songs on my ipod today because I slept through most of them.

New Poll

What are your favourite posts from Superchilled?
The poll is now open.
You can select more than one answer, so go ahead and click away.
I'm curious as to what people actually read - and like to read (or look at) here on the blog.

Look out for a completely updated look to Superchilled, coming very soon.

World Class Stupid

I've stumbled across this exceptionally well written blog by RomanHans: World Class Stupid. It's worth a look for some very entertaining reading. Don't expect any photos, but the visual imagery is still breathtaking.

Antisocial?

I was catching up with friends today, a hot chocolate in the afternoon sun by Sydney harbour. Stunning it was. Unusually for The Frenchman and I, we were early, so we had the chance to just absorb the rays, watch the sun glistening around the harbour and order from the overpriced menu. We hadn't seen our friends since before our European holiday and were keen to catch up.

They arrived later than planned a little embarrassed - but we didn't care - and asked about our trip. I asked if they had seen our travel blog (linked above) with all the details, to which they responded a little embarrassed, 'some of it... '. I joked that they should have done their research prior to catching up! And defensively one of our friends objected that the net is impairing communication, and personal interaction... kids are growing up with inadequate interpersonal communication... (I probably glazed over about here)... and that we were there at that moment to in fact divulge those details...

Maybe I hit a nerve, but I regarded the travel blog as a personalised series of postcards, that could perhaps stimulate more conversation - and felt a little affronted at the remarks made. While I challenged his assertions, I didn't really pursue it with much gusto. We could in fact discuss out holiday in more detail, and I wasn't in the mood to discuss the pros and cons of electronic communication as he and I have distinctly different points of view and are similarly stubborn with them. As it turned out, we were diverted to other topics reasonably quickly - and the holiday fell by the wayside.

I still much prefer one on one communication live and in the same location - but I find the net a particularly good way of learning things about people and the human condition that I might not otherwise know. Living out here in the sticks - I often don't get to see friends on a daily basis so the net helps me keep in touch. Blogging of course is great for that as those of us who write and interact in them will know. Am I becoming a less social person? I don't think so. But stubborn as I am - maybe I'm wrong?

BSB @ Elsewhere

Me, Brenton & Christiaan @ almost BSB*.

A Saturday escape to the big smoke saw The Frenchman (missing from the photos because of his penchant for mystery) and I catching up with family and friends including the regular BSB crew transplanted to a whole new cafe (some other bloggers were frightened of getting wet). I don't think we really care where we meet up anyway - it's just too much fun regardless of where it is. I just pity the people around who have to deal with our animated conversation, and relentless paparazzi. But it will be the last BSB event for a few weeks now as The Frenchman and I are off to the warmer northern hemisphere later this week.

It has been a week of unexpected pleasures and moving and shaking. Just how I like it. Life should not be about the status quo and moving on the path of least resistance.

Look into my eyes, not around my eyes... it's the 2 million visit man. Brenton looks like he's got his eyes set on the stars... what next can we expect from the ever-popular Aussielicious, the blog of the public nudity challenge?

I'm not really a musicals fan - but Theatre this evening with Christopher & Keith our regular theatre buddies was a delight. Laughed a whole lot I did to the one liners from "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" playing now at the Sydney Theatre. We continued to stress Keith to the max with dessert (4 Belgian Chocolate Tarts) ordered with just enough time to get to the theatre - worth every second!

The Frenchman and I do have a habit of driving the time-conscious people in our lives to the brink of despair. Many apologies - we do love you - even if we do it later than others.

* for the uninitiated - BSB is the Bourke Street Bakery - the centre of many a discussion on a weekend afternoon, with consumption of many a fine coffee / hot chocolate and various tarts.

Sunday afternoon @ BSB

A Sunday gathering? A collision of worlds? A religious event? Hot chocolate / coffee with pastries and milks crates? All of the above?

Who of these three will be the next celebrity?

Were we at bloggerheads?

It's all open to speculation, but we did postulate a few more theories, watch a few buffed & semi naked runners go by twice (decidedly conspicuous in the coolness of the afternoon) and generally conversed the afternoon away. Again no chocolate tarts left today - but that won't stop us coming back.

Thanks men.

Same time next week?

World domination?

In my quest for world domination - it's a slow process - I'm making some headway. I've been headlined in this blog which is kind of a directory of sorts... BestGayBlogs... It's kinda weird opening someone else's site and finding yourself as the main picture (unless of course you're a model or 'celebrity') I did a double take - but no it wasn't my profile I'd clicked on.. Anyway - some of you may have found your way here through there, and if so welcome. Pictured above are some classic Abercrombie men; embodying some of the themes for my blog (cute men, water / swimming, photography). I try to throw in a little intelligent discussion as well, from time to time, to keep you on your toes.

when blogs meet

Me, Craig, Norten

Overnight, Craig (of The Patient Man blog fame) came down to stay. Now we met and became good friends way before blogging became a verb but curiously decided to start blogs independently of each other, simultaneously. So we're both building empires together and you'll see a very cool video, that he discovered and I helped post, on his blog right now. After an awesome roast salmon meal (he is a very good guest and cooks for us!!) we strolled down to the beach and took a few photos some of which you're looking at. This also introduces you to Norten, the labrador ('the white wolf' in Craig's blog).