And the Mardi Gras Spirit Continues :o)

It's amazing how something small can totally make your day, isn't it?!

Back in March I had one of the most amazing and memorable nights of my life - Mardi Gras 2007.... here's the full run down.

Anywho, while we were dancing along to... umm, the freemasons I think... Kendall started chatting to a couple of really lovely guys, Chris and Paul, who ended up telling us their inspirational story of love. I actually mentioned them in the afformentioned post!

I'm a little vague on the details (mainly cause I was incredibly maggot at the time!) but from what I can remember, the guys met over the net, one from London and one from Belgium. Paul had a family and kids... but after he met Chris, they fell in love and Paul made a massive decision to up and leave everything he knew to follow his heart.

He moved countries, cultures, left behind his old life... even had to learn a new language. Kendall and I were bemused. "Why would you wanna do that?" was the general theme of what we were saying back to them.

Paul answered simply "Sometimes, you've just gotta do what you've gotta do for love"

So after a bit more of a dance with the guys, Kendall and i got a pic with them (on their camera) and then we went off on our merry ways... thinking we'd prob never hear from each other again.

But this morning, I was lucky enough to open my inbox and find this:

-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Lammens

Sent: Sunday, 27 May 2007 18:47
To: Tim Millgate
Subject: promised Belgian pic taken on Mardi Gras ;-)

as promised loooong time ago here it is
u probably thought it would never come ;-)

lots of greetz from Belgium

Paul and Chris

Antwerp

you give me a sign when received, that would please me

That's Paul, Kendall, Me and Chris.

So Paul and Chris, thanks so much for your email!! It was an aboslute pleasure to meet you both. Kendall and I are both sooooo touched that you remembered to send us that pic after all this time. It's totally made our day!

Tim x

*PS appologies for the creative licence that's been taken in the retelling of this story! It was aaaaaaages ago remember?! hehe

Hilarious!

Thanks to Coopes for this one.

I wonder if it comes in different sizes depending on whether you have a 4G or 20G iPOD?

hahaha

Inspiration

A Present for Moaney and Grenny

Feel free to leave your own caption in the comments section!

Aitken's Legs

It's been this way for years. Aitken's legs take centre stage and it's all everyone looks at.

When you least expect it.... they strike:

PS - Penny and Josh got married. IT WAS SO AWESOME!

Do you think we looked pretty?

Please note my wet, red eyes... I was teary all day! And the next too!

Media Slut....

Man, It's hard being a Quasi Celebrity.

I didn't need Ready Steady Cook. I didn't need a starring role on Sunrise. Man... I didn't even need to meet Mr Bean on Bondi Beach. All I needed was a pair of speedo's, a spray tan, some red sunnies and a shit load of poofs and dykes all marching together to Bonnie Tyler!

I've highlighted people you'd know in red in the 2 newspaper pics:

Click to see them clearer!

Sydney Star Observer, I'm on the right, up the back:

Then there's me from the Channel 7 archives:

And the next night at homesexual; from homesexual.com.au

Give me a few more appearances and Edwina won't be able to stop staring at me next time we meet... apparently there's something "magnetic" about a celeb according to her. I tend to agree!

Happy Mardi Gras!

Now if for some reason you didn't know that on Sat 3rd March that I took part in the annual Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, you most would have been in a coma for the last 2 months. Or perhaps you don't just don't listen to me!

It was a perfect Autumn Day here in Sydney and the day had been a busy, but good one - brunch with the Uni kids at Lounge Bar and then I dropped my bestie Kendall off to a party in Bondi.

So with seconds to spare, Karla picked me up from my place and we were off to the marshalling area. After a lot of standing around and waiting, we were moved into our position, given our costumes and left to our own devices to get changed. I cleverly found myself a corner of a pokie room in a nearby pub and got nude! I don't think this pub quite knew what hit it as there were sooo many poofs and dykes in all states of undress using their toilets and mincing around!

So after being in the marshalling area for a few hours, you get bored and you get tired. We went for a walk to check out the other floats and saw some amazing sites - ALLLL different types of people, friends (Amy Coopes and her wife Rach, my mate Andrew, Anthony Venn Brown), drag queens, the most eccentric of people (like the grandmother in a wheelchair holding a cucmber and a massive dildo!) and the most normal of people too.

Everyone had one thing in common - we were all smiling. And excited!

So eventually we got into our positions and did a full dress rehersal. The reaction we got from the people watching from the streets was incredible! And at around about 8pm - we were off. We started off at Pitt St, then moved up past Hyde Park, through Oxford Street and then up past Taylor Square.

I can't describe how exciting the atmosphere was. It was incredible! I felt like a celebrity, doing my routine and then running around screaming at the crowd "HAPPY MARDI GRAS!" while they cheered us on and took photos. I saw heaps of friends on the side of the streets including Joel (Anthea's mate) Belly and Clare (see Belly's awesome Mardi Gras post here), Irish Dave from Ankali, Marc I used to work with at the Imperial, Adam I used to work with at Nova, Farren and Paul and Brett... and of course Kendall, but I'm saving that story for later.

So as you can imaine, after marching to choreographed music for an hour and a half, we were all drenched in sweat, tired, dehydrated... BUT REALLY FUCKIN PUMPED UP! It was seriously one of the most amazing experiences I've ever done.

After marching, it was off to the after party (after sitting down and resting for about an hour!)

The party was incredible. Great Music, Great People, Great Venue, Great Entertainment... great munted-ness!

Highlights include
* Seeing Boy George Do a DJ set
* Consuming a vodka slushy and a full glass of Champers just before going to see the Young Divas!
* Running into Tim Dwyer and Henny who I used to work with at NOVA. It was soo great to catch up with them and I hope we get to do it again soon!
*The Characters we met on the night - like the old drag queens selling lollipops for the luncheon club, a girl named Precious who was dressed not as Wonder Woman, but rather "Wonderful Woman", a couple we befriended on the dancefloor who fell in love over the internet and reduced Kendall and I to tears with their story of Love, the police woman who filled us in on what she thought of the Mardi Gras Crowd and also her little son, the man Spence was going to pick up who couldn't believe how I knew the words to every song! The list goes on.
* The Venues - THE RETRO ROOM ROCKED! I loved it! The decorations everywhere were incredible! The Outdoor DJ changed my life too.
* Everyone was happy. It was like Christmas with random people coming up to you saying "Happy Mardi Gras" or giving you a hug. The whole vibe of the place was beautiful - there was a lot of love going around!

But hands down, the best part of the whole night was getting to hang out with my friends all night... Mark and the guys, Spencer and in particular Kendall. I swear, you couldn't have knocked me off cloud nine that night and having my besty there with me for pretty much the whole time was fuckin ace. It started when I was marching and I spotted her fighting the crowds trying to get to the front to see me... I stopped dancing, ran over to her and gave her a massive hug. I screamed at her "I fuckin love you Kendall! This is amazing!" and she said to me "I'm so proud of you!" And every time I think of that moment, I get a lump in my throat and tears well up in my eyes. I'm very lucky to have my twinnies in my life... very lucky indeed.

So yeah, that's my Mardi Gras experience. It was the most incredible night of my life. It made me so proud to be a gay man living in 2007 and made me so grateful for the friends and family that I have supporting me through life.

Here's to next year! I CAN'T WAIT!!!

It's Coming! It's Coming!

I promise to do a post about Mardi Gras ASAP (it's been renamed "The Most-incredible-night--on-record Party")... but first, I have exciting news to share.

KPaff is Famous! Mr Bean has been in Australia promoting his new film and our very own Karla was selected to be one of the faces of Australia's Surf Lifesavers... thus ending up all across the internet and the papers!

Check out below... we're so proud!

I'm Holding Out For A Hero!

So guys, I'm in!

I'm gonna be marching with Karla in the Mardi Gras this year and if I haven't mentioned it recently:

I'M REALLY FUCKIN EXCITED!!!

It's going to be so fun, so camp, so liberating and it fills me with such a sense of pride and excitement to be marching in the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras for the first time... especially alongside my great pal, Kpaff.

Check out how camp the Surf Lifesaver Flags in this pic! LOVE IT!

I'll be sure to take a THOUSAND pics and will let you all know how it goes. Wish me luck! I'll only be wearing speedo's, joggers and a spray tan, so I'll need all the luck I can get!!!

Love Tim x

PS check out progress at : www.lifesaver2007.blogspot.com

Worlds Best Week

It ran from 31/12/2006 - 06/01/2007.

Within these days, I had beach, I had sun, I had besties and I had a wedding:

Friend of the twins, and now one of my A Team Members, Sarah Allen got married to Trev Gallagher in a beautiful reception and even more kick ass party afterwards.

Check out some of the sick times here

And look how pretty me and the twins look! Everyone, 1,2,3.... ahhhhhh