It's good weekend number 6...

In one of my earlier blogs, Campbell left a message saying something to the effect of 'I hope your good weekends exceed the number of wives of Henry VIII' - well, it's now good weekend number 6 (in a row) so I've now equalled Henry's spouses! Thankfully, my weekends haven't turned out as tragically as many of his wives did! In fact, they've all been pretty damn sensational!

Friday 27 July 2007 was a significant day for me as I acheived a significant milestone with my employer and so to celebrate, the Bank threw a cocktail party for me and 30 or so of my nearest and dearest work colleagues in our reception rooms! It was a great night, the alcohol flowed very freely (as it generally does when one's employer is footing the bill), the canapes were delicious and represented most types of dead animal (sorry to all the vego's out there) - pheasant, quail, venison, veal, chicken, prawns, you get my drift. Yummmmo! There was a couple of (thankfully) brief speeches and a presentation to me of some lovely flowers and my present - a new DSLR camera which we had gone shopping for that afternoon. The Bank coughed up $1,000 for whatever I wanted and as the camera cost nearly double that, I coughed up with the rest. So I'm thoroughly chuffed that I've now got a fabulous camera to take overseas with me.

Needless to say, all the stuff stayed at work while we partied on...we went to the Argyle in the Rocks and I must say, it's a great bar! Haven't been there before and I was impressed. Lots of hot guys there too...unfortunately, they were with their girlfriends! Bugger! Anyway, the party kinda broke up around 11.30pm or so - most had significant others to go home to - and I was a bit at a loose end. I was tempted to go home, as I was very tired but one of my friends had texted me earlier in the evening remarking on the number of hot guys he saw at the Flinders. This had got me thinking about heading OUT on the scene rather than going home. And so, as the party was winding up I thought 'Fuck it, I'm going to do it'! I wasn't particularly drunk, I had been drinking fairly steadily over the course of the evening, enough just to keep the buzz happening, and I was over the fear that I have of going alone to a gay bar. If any have read my first ever post on this blog when I went into a gay bar in Berlin, you'll understand what I mean. For crying out loud, I'm 36 years old, surely I can walk into a bar, get a drink and see what happens. And so, I did. I went to the Stonewall, as I've been there twice before and felt reasonably comfortable there. Walked in, got my beer, and stood back and watched. Within a couple of minutes, a young'ish guy (late 20's I suppose) approached me and started chatting, and then suggested going back to his place. He was lovely, but I declined. He wandered off and then a couple, probably late 30's both of them, good looking, came up to me and started chatting. It came out that they also live on the North Shore and we had a lovely chat. They left, and another guy who looked around my age, nicely trimmed beard, started chatting to me. I was blown away by this stage that I had not had to stand there by myself for more than a couple of minutes at any given time. And this was all over the course of me drinking one beer! So, it was a great confidence booster for me - I was pretty damn chuffed with myself just for having done it, having gone to a gay bar in Sydney alone without the support of friends - and here I actually seemed to be reasonably successful in attracting guys without having to really do anything but stand there! So I had a great night!

Last night, I went on date number 2 with C3. We met at Bar 333 on George St and he'd purchased a bottle of champers for us to drink, which of course we did. I had booked tickets to see the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra as they had performing with them a sensational countertenor, Frenchman Philippe Jaroussky. I had heard him on ABC ClassicFM the previous week and they had mentioned that he was performing in Sydney for this week only. On our first date last Saturday, C3 mentioned his love of opera and so I thought this would be the perfect way to spend out second date. It was. Philippe has the voice of an angel, gives you goosebumps, and the Baroque period of music has always been my favourite so it was just AWESOME! C3 loved it too and so the night was off to a great start!

Afterwards, we needed some dinner and so I suggested coming home and ordering some home delivery - my mind was more on snuggling with this hot guy than sitting in some restaurant making conversation. He readily accepted my offer and so we did. I just find it so much more relaxing snuggling on the couch and talking; I think I'm much more open and willing to discuss more personal subjects. We ordered Thai from my favourite restaurant and it was delivered pronto and was delicious! Opened a bottle of Chardy from Silo's, a great vineyard just south of Berry, and the rest of the evening just flew by. C3 is a great snuggler, both on the couch and in bed and I must say, I'm a HUGE fan of snuggling. HUGE!

We had brunch at about 12:30 today and I took him home. Who knows how this will progress - I certainly like him, he definitely likes me, the conversation flows easily and naturally, he's emotionally generous. I think we're both in the same space in terms of expectations - we're both happy to let things happen without projecting forward too much. Whatever the case, it was a wonderful evening spent in the company of a great guy - one of the best dates I've had.

And now, I'm about to get ready and wander in to meet my fellow Sydney bloggers at the Tilbury, so it should be a good evening.

Hope you've all had great weekends too!