Kylie's visit in Adventures in paradise

I’ve been trying to write an entry for a little while but little things just haven’t worked out, like I’d go outside and couldn’t see the screen from the brightness and couldn’t find the setting to change it (which irritated me greatly but a reset worked) or it’d be too windy, or I’ve been too tired to write, and then I couldn’t get Imgur to work with the pictures (even this entry has been a nightmare), but I’ve since gone back to the old format and I seem to be able to share them again at least, on the second attempt ergh. When they asked why I said because the new format was shit! Like it was working but then the link just stopped working, much like a lot in my life at the moment. And now that the old format has pissed me off too, there’s no option to go back to the new format and hope they’ve fixed it.
Anyway, here goes. The first preview didn’t show any pictures but this one seems to.

It was nice having Kylie visit for a few days. I don’t really think of her as an OD (Open Diary) friend anymore as I’ve known her for so long, and she even kindly let me be apart of her wedding, which was the last time I saw her! It was her first proper trip to Brisbane and as it was only two days, I tried to pack a lot in and dragged her all over the city lol. That worked well with her sore hip and my sore knee haha. Just love getting older. I hadn’t planned a lot but there was still a lot I wanted her to see, and thankfully it wasn’t raining or anything, although Kylie may have preferred that haha.
Anyway, I showed her all the main city and Southbank bits I guess, and we went for a big walk. I was afraid I may have Covid due to Kylie telling me she hadn’t worn a mask on the plane, because I’m parnoid and overthink everything, so I wasn’t too happy about that, but then I thought we have to just live with this fucking thing to gain some sense of normality (her especially so, given her city’s lockdown was insane and dragged on forever!), and it wasn’t helped by the fact my state’s premier just lifted our traffic light system the day prior from green back to amber, due to a fourth wave happening at the moment where people are dropping like flies again. So that’s been fun at work, hearing people coughing their lungs up, barely anyone wearing masks and STILL only having one working-lift in the building where I live, so people pack in there like sardines. Covid seems ripe for the picking at the moment. So far, so good, as far as I’m aware.
Anyway, she did well with the humidity, although complained as I knew any Melbourian would as there’s no such thing as humidity down there :P She also wasn’t used to the sun being up at 5:30am, but that’s normal to me, and she looked up that it’s because Brisbane is further east than Melbourne is. These are the cool things I like about travelling - like when I went to Tassie, the sun didn’t go down until almost 11pm lol. And some people still think the world is flat? If it was fucking flat, the sun would be like a light switch between light and dark, right?

First thing was to shout Kylie dinner, and where else but a place that kinda specialises in cheese, since it was nearby and she loves cheese.

She had mushroom, I had a diavola which was like a salami-y thing. I was so thankful I didn’t have to wait well over an hour for my food like I did last time I went there, so we were off to a good start.

Some pics from our long walk the following day. I was so glad to have taken work off, as it’s normally my 10-hour shift on Fridays.

This is Streets Beach, my city’s manmade beach.

Our first selfie, of quite a few. I think most of them are over on her diary though, as she’s more up to date with her entries doing the whole NoJoMo thing, which I couldn’t be bothered with anymore haha.

On the way back we stopped in at my friend Rhys’ work to say hi and check out the new video sunglasses that I’m a bit interested in. I was surprised he not only had them in stock, but there are a few different styles. I like the idea of doing the occasional video entry with them here. Of course it wouldn’t demonstate properly for him on his Ipad when we were there, so I guess there’s still a few tech issues. I like that the sunglasses light up when they are recording, so they aren’t quite spy cameras like the old dodgy one I had back in the day was. All these privacy laws and such going on lately, I’m surprised it’s on the market. I said I’ll wait until it goes to special.

That afternoon, we went for a swim in the pool at my complex. Or rather, Kylie went for a swim as the water was fucking freezing and I wanted to still be able to feel my balls thanks, so I only went up to my knees lol.

That evening, I dragged Kylie to Eat Street, although we caught the ferry there. She really liked Brisbane’s ferries. There was a lovely sunset behind us.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/vvyeWQshdQo

Eat Street

Then of course (and the whole reason for her trip) we had the Sophie Ellis-Bextor concert at the Powerhouse, which was easy enough to get to via the same ferry.
She put on such a good show, albeit it being only 50 minutes! Kylie was right when she said the whole crowd would be around 85% gay men lol. And of course the three guys I hooked up with after the Madonna night a few weeks back were there as well. One of them said to me, “Long time no see!” and I gave both B and him a kiss. Haha! Strangely enough he was the one who only wanted to watch. But it was lovely to see them there. I’d waved to Luke a little earlier at the bar. I saw a few other guys I’ve recognised over the years but never said a word to (and vice versa) as I guess Sophie has been around for 20 years or so now, so it made sense the concert would be gay men in their 30’s (I’m just holding on, for now).

I had a guy taller than ME in front of me, so my Sophie pics didn’t turn out that great, but oh well. I loved her shoes, although Kylie couldn’t see them that well. We had a bit of a challenge in a general admission standing concert, as she’s quite short and I’m quite tall, so she needed to be near the front to see, and I hate getting in people’s way, although that sure didn’t stop the guy in front of me, like geez he was a giant if I was looking at his shoulders lol. Too bad if anyone was behind the both of us.

I had to nick this photo from Kylie’s entry haha

I know this isn’t her song, but it turned out slightly better audio quality than “Murder On The Dancefloor” did haha. My phone didn’t like the acoustics, and is probably just shit, or Snapchat is shit, I dunno.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ytTpYfNlFc8
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/-5LQuE0oU8g

The next day, we climbed the Story Bridge (something I’d never done before). There were something like 1200 stairs, plus scaffolding. It wasn’t easy, but thankfully it wasn’t a boiling hot day and there was a breeze at the top.

We went to the pub under the bridge afterward to catch up with Kylie’s old school-friend, Julia. She ended up being lovely and I had nothing to be anxious about, and I was distracted by a friendly cute Asian waiter the entire time we were there lol. Of course I was haha. It’s been a while okay! :P
Julia kindly gave us a lift back to my place, where we just chilled for the rest of the day. We were both stuffed I think lol. I was surprised when Kylie said she’d be okay with walking back, considering how much walking I’d made her to in humidity she wasn’t used to, PLUS a bridge climb haha. I think I was thankful for the lift too.

And this was back at the train station seeing Kylie off. I was feeling pretty dead by this point and knew I’d sleep well haha. My knee was also being a bitch that day, but it’s been okay since.

I had work the next day, which was busy but relatively okay, and again, I was too tired to write after it and struggled to stay awake until the evening. My store manager said he is leaving so now there’s the stress of a new manager starting as well. I just hope I don’t have to deal with another nightmare one. The one who was doing his holiday relief will be doing it until after Christmas, and she’s the one who wanted to change my roster, so that’s interesting that might be back on the table. I’ve always got a lot of Christmas planning to do in regards of car-hire (the joys of not owning a car and my parents living in the middle of nowhere) and trip planning etc. My siblings have their own families and are always doing shit so I have to await word from mum to see who’s doing what. As usual, my little brother will be visiting before Christmas and leaving before I even get there. He lives about a three-day drive away. That’s how big my state is. I need to wait and see if my leave gets approved first before I can really make any New Years plans, but there’s just a lot happening, plus the potential lease renewal situation in January, so yay, not stressful at all lol.

Last updated November 14, 2022