My Friends.

I’m blaming Oprah, but today I am absolutely full of love. She’s definitely made me all sentimental and mushy. I think it was seeing Oprah with Gail and Maria that pushed me over the edge.

I was sitting on the plane yesterday and just thinking about the last 10 days. It’s been a little crazy and it’s left me rather tired and emotional. But what I could not stop thinking about was my crazy, fun, amazing friends that I’d caught up with and how goddamn lucky I am. They are from all walks of life, some I’ve known for decades while others only a few months, and in this tale we cover three cities.

This tale begins last weekend in BrisVegas…

Now this may be the oddest name to ever appear on this blog. I call her Work Smarter Not Harder cause WSNH first gave me this advice in ’99. It is genius, and the best advice I’ve ever had in my life. Now WSNH is not only a communications genius but also hysterically funny! She ‘hates the gays’ but always manages to surround herself with them, and after last weekend she is royalty at The Beat. I think for 99% of our friendship we’ve lived in different cities, which makes it so much more special and fun when we do get to play together. I love WSNH cause not only is she a bogan like me but also an absolute dream to have as a friend. It's like we were separated at birth. And a bonus, she introduced me too…

You know sometimes when you meet someone and everything just clicks. This happened to me last year when I met Sleemol. It was like we’d been besties for years and over the past few months we’ve proven we are no one-hit wonder. I adore him! Same warped sense of humour, same love of social media, same love of being fabulously gay. Sleemol is actually too smart for his own good. He will one day be changing the world in some way and I’m so tagging along for the ride. Brisbane is nothing without Sleemol. He also loves some Young Talent Time dancing at Brisbane’s finest gay establishments.

Man Pit played host to North Shore Princess on Tuesday, Sammy invited her over. NSP and I have one of those beautiful friendships where it doesn’t matter if it is days or years since we’ve seen each other, we pick it right back up where we left off. There is something incredibly genuine about our friendship, hard for me to describe. I think it comes from being by each others sides when life for both of us was changing dramaticly. NSP held my hand as I came bounding out of the closet and she even leant me her clothes.

Now Miss Cal is my Plus One, in life and on Wednesday. We have highs and lows like any old, married couple and we can both be stubborn mules when we want to be. She has been my best friend since we moved into a Uni dorm together in ’93. I can tell Miss Cal anything, she knows me as well as anyone, and the reverse. We have a warts-&-all friendship that will see us together in a retirement home for glamorous PR types attended by gorgeous houseboys. On Wednesday we played with Jennifer Hudson, Miss Cal rubbed my back when she was standing behind me cause she knew I would be in tears.

Where the hell did Mrs Woog come from??? Until a few months ago I hadn’t seen her since ’95. Then out of the blue – WHAMMO – Mrs Woog is everywhere in my life. And I couldn’t be happier! She is my friend, my guidance counsellor, my mentor, my drinking buddy, she can fill any role asked of her. She is both the most normal person in the world and also the most outrageous. She is who she is, take it or leave it. Like the thousands of people who adoringly read her blog I’ll take it any day of the week. This week it was both Wednesday and Saturday – both involving vodka!

I don’t even know where to start with Miss Melbourne and Lady Marmalade. They are both so stylish, sassy, hilarious and successful that they are almost impossible to describe. And so, so Melbourne! They know that city like the back of their hand, well at least all the restaurants and bars. Dining with them, like I did on Friday night, is always pure joy, if not a little scary – they have exacting standards. What I love and respect most about Miss M and Lady M is that they have carved out the most amazing lives for themselves, are so independent and together, all while laughing at the world and wearing gorgeous jewellery.

Don’t even get me started on my workmates. They are creative geniuses and some of the most intelligent, funny people you will ever meet. I’m very lucky to work alongside them. Work is not work when you work with workmates like mine. Fact.

Ok, now I’m gonna take my sentimentality to a whole new level. My first real love and serious relationship was with The Sculptor. This was like 10 years ago. He is a very special man. We have both changed a lot since we were together, especially The Sculptor. He’s changed and grown in so many ways, and fuck it’s impressive. He’s turned his love and talent in art into a career and I have so much respect for that. He was just starting out when we were together. On Friday night we were two single men cruising Melbourne’s gay bars together. The Sculptor showed me his world and I loved it! Who said you can never be friends with your ex?

I just need to squeeze in here a little something about the most ridiculously loving couple I know – SimieBoy and Milney01. While I didn’t get to catch up with them in Melbourne, a phone call completely inspired me. Whatever they do in life they will be successfull because they are so motivated, so clever, have such a brilliant attitude to life and they have each other. Grab the bull by the horns boys, and I’d love to come along for the ride (and I don’t mean on a podium!).

JoThornely. She is a statement. She does not require a full sentence. The irony is her true brilliance lies in the creation of sentences. She is one of the funniest, cleverest writers you will ever read. Off the page, she is a work-buddy who has become so much more this past year. We have, certainly more through good luck than good management, merged many of our friendships. Now it’s just plain confusing. The best part is that through each other, and our online activities, our circle of friends has grown and we all came together for her 40^th last night. If only she wasn’t a gay man trapped in a woman’s body, instead just a gay man. Wingman.

Now this is not a role-call of my friends, just a little mental recap of the past 10 days. What I take from all of this is that I am so incredibly lucky to have so many amazing people in my life. I love all my friends dearly. I know I can be the most selfish man in the world and no one is more easily distracted, so my friends put up with a lot. I remember writing when I first started this blog that one of my motivations was to document the crazy antics of my gang and show how much I love them. This was a chance to do that.

I love my friends. Even more than Oprah loves Gail.