Stanwell Park Ocean Swim

There's a box of clocks sitting ticking on the corner of my desk. Los Angeles says 11:55 Tokyo 11:00  New York 12.50  Sydney 11.58  and London 12:00. They're all wrong, but they go on ticking. 

This morning at 8.30 a series of alarms go off on clocks that do tell the right time. The sun is shining against a partially closed blind, underneath it the light bounces off the ocean and into our faces. It's the Stanwell Park Ocean Swim today and we do our pre-race preparations in the morning of a stunning day. There is a gentle breeze as we watch the surf life savers in their inflatable dinghies zooming along the glistening ocean placing the marker buoys along the course that passes us. We head out the door and down to the beach where we're given fluoro pink swim caps, I'm asked how long it is until I'm in the next age category ( I answer VERY) and the general atmosphere is jovial. There are many distractions along the way in the form of stunning fellow competitors, so waiting for a bus to Coalcliff for the swim start is not so traumatic. Not so traumatic at all. 

I meet a few unexpected people at the race start - and a few regulars & friends. The water is beautiful and when I do a warm up swim I feel fantastic. Can't wait to get in for the race. The race itself is harder than I expect and it's a bigger mental battle than usual to get my body going as fast as I want it to. The end result isn't so bad though and I roll onto the beach the other end with sand all over me, a lot closer to the lead than I expected. The sun is still shining and The Frenchman heads up the beach smiling. He's been pleasantly distracted by a competitor racing against him. A group of us who have collected at the end laugh, a lot. We then head back to ours for a tour of our new home and brunch. 

If time could stand still, as it does in the corner of my desk, right now would be perfect. 

Swimming with the sharks...

It was a perfect start to Sunday morning. Sunny, warm and at the beach with friends. Cronulla had delivered gorgeous people and an ocean race to swim off into.

Half way around the course I swam into rough water and wind developing from the wind of a very low helicopter. I didn't recall having them that close before in any of the swims but figured it was a film crew getting in close for a better view. I was wrong.

There was a hammerhead shark literally metres away from swimmers, perhaps me? I don't know but I still swam fast - so fast it hurt, so I know I did my best and thankfully they managed to scare the shark away from shark island... and the swimmers and The Frenchman & me.

You can see the footage (updated Ed.) here at channel 7's site (http://au.yahoo.com/) for a limited time. I can't find a way to paste it directly in here, but if anyone figures out how I can, please let me know.

Anyone coming to swim with us at my home swim next week? Come on, it seems this is now an extreme sport. Will you brave the elements?

Wireless and Connected

I'm still wireless, but this time wirelessly connected. The net is back. We've ditched the land line and a new phase of life has begun. I am at a desk in our new place which is much more ergonomically sound but still in the middle of all the action. The ocean is reflecting moonlight, The Frenchman and Norten (the labrador) are both in a restful slumber in the living room suggesting life hasn't changed all that much, at least not yet.

There have been relentless reports of people being munched on by sharks here of late, so to test the theory we ventured down the road to our new local beach this evening around 7pm (near shark feeding time) and dived in to spot some sharp teeth close up, alas it was not to be, just sensationally clear water, great waves and sand sand everywhere. We did a few test race starts and finishes in preparation for our swim Sunday morning at the, wait for it, Shark Island Ocean Swim race in Cronulla. It was great, no, sensational. Lets see if we can eat up the competition tomorrow.

Wireless at home

It's been an incredibly busy few weeks. We've been painting, cleaning, packing, moving and arranging all the things you do when you change address. Being keen to keep the Internet connection running smoothly I arranged the connection weeks in advance. Despite this it seems we won't be connected for what could be some months. Even that is speculative. They haven't managed to connect a land line either. So I'm VERY unimpressed. Right now I'm using the Frenchman's iPhone to post this. Despite the Internet hiatus the new location is sensational and it feels like we're on holiday all the time. Posting here will be somewhat patchy until connection is restored. So please bare with me.

Apart from the Internet, I'm looking forward to the new fridge arriving too as we're using a powered esky at the moment which is somewhat limiting but enhances the holiday feel.

It's surprising how rapidly we're feeling at home here but we are yet to get into a routine. The keys and wallets have no place to call home yet and remembering where everything is stored can be a challenge.

That's all for now but watch this space for new developments.

Sunday's PSB Music Video

I found this Pet Shop Boys video at absoluteric's Restoring Love, and find it kinda catchy. Look out for the gay guys too, no not the PSB's themselves. 

PSB's Love Etc. 3min 30sec

Swimday Friday

The day started with a few too many early work calls, but the stress of it all dissolved when I reached the beach. Pristine ocean, glassy even, with crystal clear water reflecting the summer. Today the triathletes were in preparation for a race in Queensland so the wetsuits they were training in for Hobart were replaced with speedos and finally I was in with a chance to keep up with them. The water was warm, though they were used to the wetsuits and found it cool, and while I kept pretty close - they were still faster than me, but not all of them. There's still hope - I can make it to the front of the pack, maybe... It might take some work, but it's fun trying.

Some Day Soon

I don't post a lot of women here at Superchilled, it's true. But today is an exception, obviously. Readers from Australia will know of Natalie Bassingthwaighte through a number of media sources. More recently she has released a series of singles and just last week her new album 1000 Stars. I got to meet her at a friend's party on Saturday night and I have to say she's very sexy. She happens to be from my home town as well, which is better still, but what I like even more is her music, and while I've just downloaded the album from itunes, I'm already a fan. The single Some Day Soon (cover image above) is a great feel good track and I'm enjoying turning it up loud. Definitely worth checking out. 

Swatch This

The thing with moving is, you're not just packing to leave, you're also preparing to arrive somewhere else, and that gives you a whole lot more work to do. This weekend has been filled with activities incorporating the old, the new and various events in between, like work and birthday parties (another post on that later this week) and swimming of course. Today's focus was the new place, not too far away from where we are now, but a lot closer to the water (which is always good, sparing tsunamis). 

In keeping with the aquatic theme the colours above have been shortlisted for living spaces in the new abode. I love the names they make up for paints, not just Stone, but Stone Pillar, and not just Blue but Blue Ridge. Of course these are relatively tame examples of paint names and they at least have some semblance of the actual colour. We have been varnishing and resurfacing and measuring and fitting (or de-fitting) things, discovering doors and gates that don't close quite how they're supposed to and wearing masks and gloves to protect from toxic chemicals and wearing paints that didn't quite make it to their destination. The place is already starting to sparkle, but when the new colours arrive and the new appliances & pieces of our current furniture & art, that's when it will start to feel like home.

I'm Boxing

We're talking cardboard boxes, I'm afraid. I have a stack of them in the garage ready to be inflated and filled with everything from books to bowls, candles to canvases, it all has to go out the door onto a truck and into somewhere new. I'm going to miss living here. It has been home for more than 9 years, 9 very good years. The garden has grown around us, the colours and fittings have changed and so have we. It's a very different place to the one we stepped into all those years ago, personalised, refreshed, and now it's time for someone else to enjoy it. I'm sad yet happy all at once. The times spent with friends and family, the laughs and the tears, all a part of the fabric of our history here. That will never go, but our presence here will. The future is so incredibly bright, and busy, and I'm looking forward to it and scared by it all at once. But if you don't jump you don't know if you can fly.

Cover Up

Back in the mid 80's there was the perfect show for a young gay boy, and this TV show was called Cover Up. Its star Jon-Erik Hexum was of course the focus, and while there were loads of female models, I don't recall anyone else much in the show. He played an undercover agent disguised as a model while on assignment with the (female) photographer. I think I cried for weeks when I learned he died after a tragic accident on set, and with just one series completed. Ah, only the good die young! Whenever I hear the theme (Bonnie Tyler's Holding out for a Hero - it takes me back.)

For those of you old enough to remember it, here follows the opening credits. You'll have to edit out the 80's hair, but it still brings back fond memories...

1 min 12 sec

Does anyone have similarly memorable TV series?

North Bondi Ocean Classic

It was a picture postcard Sunday at Bondi Beach. We woke to a day they predicted to be extremely hot, with fires roaring in the far south and more sizzling heat to come, but it was a stunning day here on the coast. We headed to Bondi where we expected hoards of people and parking nightmares, but the traffic was absent and the crowds cute. The sun warm, a cool breeze and an ocean the azure of a deserted sand island.

The race began and we dived into a waveless surf. My goggles instantly fogged up, the water hellishly cold!! Just the day before it was beautiful, not warm but refreshing, today an icy 16C. I thrashed to keep warm but it was not my best race start. By half way I wasn't so cold any more and the fog had cleared revealing the ripples in the sand below, but my toes started to feel numb. I kept to my race plan and powered to the finish, but I think I lost it at the start, still a reasonable time and good fun, we'll be back next year. A well run race, always, and the eye candy certainly makes it easy to hang around for the race results.

Lunch after a race is of course a great feast and a new (to us) cafe created the perfect meal to share with friends. I could have stayed there there all day. 

Now I need to up my training a little to get a bit more competitive in the water for the upcoming races. But at the same time I have a million other things going on. Where is that 36 hr day?

The Matt Mitcham Files

For all the Matt Mitcham-ophiles out there - The Advocate has a feature on him in their latest edition (technically the March edition I believe). There are more photos and videos too. You can experience the whole multimedia feature here.

Keeping warm in the Icy North

So you've been waking up with snow up to your belly button...
You're obviously not on this half of the planet, so today we're helping you with some tips on surviving the truly superchilled days. 

• Firstly, set the oven to your preferred heat and pop in your clothes for the next day. Be sure to avoid synthetics if you want to look good. When you get dressed in the morning you'll be ready to face the world like a Viking. (If you've been reading the blog you might have spotted a trend here)

• Find a tanker of high strength alcohol, set it to freeze in blocks on your front yard, or large balcony. Make an igloo out of it all (the exercise will keep you warm) and stand there admiring your work. Then set in on fire. There's nothing quite like fire and ice. Make sure you have a very large glass inside to catch the melting drops & when the spectacle has ended find the glass and warm yourself from the inside. Better still, ensure you have 2 glasses and warm up with company.

• If you don't have a sauna or hot tub, find someone or somewhere who does. It needs to be close to the great outdoors so once you've taken as much heat as you can, you can run outside and roll in the snow. Naked of course - there is no other way. I know of a spot in Sweden where there is a sauna on a frozen lake, you take a dip in the water through a hole made in the ice, then rush back to the sauna and do it all over again. Addictive.

• Exercise, sure you might need skins, jackets, thermonuclear underwear, but get out there and move, and have a lot of fun. Cross country skiing is my personal favourite in the white stuff.

• Create an instant party. Phone up a collection of your friends, ask them to bring along something hot, if it's a hot guy then all the better, hot chillies, roasts, heaters, firewood, hot movies... whatever it takes and have a Superchilled HOT PARTY. If you get snowed in,  keep on partying. 

• Still not warm? Click on this link, or one like it and get yourself out of there. Of course you need to find an airport, train, bus or ocean-liner that's accessible and heading south. Go as far as you can. Australia is pretty cheap to travel right now where you can double your money given our current exchange rates. Oh and with Mardi Gras happening over the next month (or for Mardi Gras in Rio - it's February 21-24) there are lots of hot reasons to getaway from the chill.

Things to do on Superhot days

• Prepare your clothes in advance, fold them neatly and place them into your freezer the night before to ensure a superchilled start to your day.

• Find yourself a convertible, seal all the doors and pop in a hose, fill it with water and jump in, you'll be the envy of everyone in your traffic jam on the way to the beach, and who knows who might want to come home with you.

• Find a beach, we recommend Rio, replete with umbrellas, sun protection, eye candy and an abundance of cold clear water to swim in. The important thing to take with you is superchilled water, no not to drink, to start water fights with and a stash of water balloons to do a good job of it. What is a hot summer without a proper water fight after all? When you've used up all your water, ensure your beach waiter is ready on hand for a refreshing drink. (This is where Rio is a world leader.)

• Get fans, lots of fans, and ask them to come to your place with grapes, cold beers / water / your preferred cold beverage and ensure you are kept comfortable and cool. If you're not as popular as you thought, try the traditional plug in fan, so long as you don't live in Victoria where power supply might be a problem...

• Here at superchilled we care for the environment, so air-conditioning is a no go zone, if you do succumb to the lure of the remote - know it WAS you who just killed the electricity grid.

• If you know any elite athletes you'll know where they store their ice baths, go be very friendly with them and chill with them for a bit. You know you want to.

• If it's all too much and these tips haven't kept you cool long enough, turn the thermostat up a notch and get thoroughly overheated. Sweat it out with someone you love, and take a cold shower together afterwards. Press repeat.

ouch

FootVolley - Rio Style

In the past I have played a lot of beach volleyball and loved it. Over the New Year in Rio though, I noticed the newer version of FootVolley taking over the beaches. It's basically the same as volleyball, only you can't use your hands or arms.  I guess with the popularity of football/soccer in Brazil it's not a surprise that this is taking off. The guys playing it have to be quite fit and in general they look incredibly toned and athletic, which makes watching a game not very difficult at all as you'll see in these photos. (sigh) I have enough trouble being able to use my arms, but these guys make it look easy, I imagine it would be as easy as playing tennis without a racket.

It was mostly men playing, but obviously not always.

They all seemed to be having a lot of fun, but I guess, they were on the Beach in Rio, it's hard not to. 

Click on images for larger versions.

Run Superchilled, Run.

I have blisters on my feet. Walking is somewhat difficult especially if it's at all uphill as my calf muscles are rather tight. But I'm feeling great. Today I did my first race involving more than a little bit of running, 7.2km in total after a 900m swim. 

Not known to be a runner I have managed to surprise everyone (myself included) and managed a formidable race time. My dad cried as I ran over the finishing line, expecting me to be somewhere in the middle of the pack I expect, The Frenchman was at the coffee shop having a machiato as he thought I'd be quite a bit longer getting to the finish line. I'm not sure what my final position was yet - waiting for the online posting of that, but it seems there might be some heightened expectations for my next race...

The Race Continues...

Long time readers of superchilled will recall the Race Around the World... Where your challenge is to identify the location of the photo shown, or to create an interesting story to go with it. Today we have a new pitstop and it is a segueway into my next post. I need specifics, it isn't too hard.  Whoever gets the most accurate and most creative answers wins, and I might even send them a larger version of the photo (you know you want a close up of the men). For a medium size image - click on the photo. First and best win. 

The race is on.

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.

Happy New Year from Rio

The New Year really did start off with a bang, in lots of ways. Wandering along the Copacabana beach promenade through a sea of people, stalls selling all manner of foods along the way, boiling oil on makeshift tables, cheese, prawns and various meats sizzling on grills, or waiting raw to be thrown on and garnished along the way. Other stalls selling flashing 2009 glasses or toxic cocktails, a sniff of one enough to send you into a spin. The background music live and energetically keeping people moving to the beat, smiles on their faces. There were kids of all ages runnign about playing, families, and groups of friends all side by side or mixed up together. Guys dancing together, then running into the surf and waving their speedos in the air, their butts (and more) as well. A collection of Englishmen in white (the prequisite dress code for New Year in Rio) and looking like they´d just navigated a yacht in, wandered towards us and planted themselves before us, all enjoying the abundant cute men on the beach as much as we were, themselves not so hard on the eye either. The midnight countdown ensued and the beach suddenly bathed in the light of endless fireworks, not completely coordinated but not really caring, lighting too the 8 or 9 ocean liners anchored off the beach to take part in the spectacle. The men out of their speedos hit the water again and noone remembers when the fireworks ended, but it was all good fun, a little champagne thrown in along the way. Some energetic kisses thrown in too welcoming in the new year, with new faces in new places.

It´s certainly the best New Year´s Eve I´ve ever celebrated. If the year that follows continues in this vein, then I´m in for one hell of a fantastic year.

Happy New Year everyone.