Exhausted!!

Wednesday’s Happy Hour at In Situ is now a must-go! There were 11 girls that headed out with the intention to “have a drink or two” and $226 later, we here heading to our next bar! At In Situ, you can order Happy Hour Punch Bowls, which are HUGE bowls filled with your favorite cocktail! We had so much fun just gossiping with the girls. After Happy Hour, we headed to Shark Bar for $3.50 champagne and then, of course, we made our way to The Steyne for Karaoke. About 2am, we left the bar and headed down to the beach!! Yay! Late night drunken swims in the ocean probably aren’t the smartest idea, but it sounded fun at the time... and it was definitely something that was on my To-Do list here. I am very lucky that I don’t have class until 12:30 on Thursday mornings because Wednesdays are just too fun!

Thursday night I stayed in and got some things done before Mardi Gras weekend. Sean talked me into buying a ticket to see Kathy Griffin’s stand up on Friday night in the city. It took a lot of convincing, but it was well worth the money! We took the ferry into the city and barely caught a taxi in time to make it to the theatre. Before the show started, I was discussing with Sean his taste in men, so he was looking around scoping out some boys... This one guy caught his eye... and he asked me if I recognized him... Sorta did, sorta didn’t. Then it clicked... It was Lance Bass, former N*SYNC member. He was in town for Mardi Gras- Gay Pride Parade and is apparently good friends with Kathy Griffin. He was sitting across the aisle from me and was probably in arms’ reach. The show was HILARIOUS! So glad I went... Kathy Griffin was one of the Grand Marshals for the Parade Saturday. Oh yeah, she was taping her reality TV show, Life on the D-List, during her stand up, and that will be aired during the 4th season. Hopefully I can see that when it is on.

Saturday morning started out early. We grabbed breakfast before catching the ferry. At the restaurant, I sucked at life. I spilt an elderly woman’s cappuccino all over her breakfast, then I proceeded to insult the waitor about his service. Ouch. Not a good start. Then we lose track of time and we have to run to the Wharf to catch the ferry. The ferry’s horn blows, which means it’s ready to leave. Everyone gets through the gates with their prepay tickets, except the machine proceeds to jam when I put my ticket through. I start FREAKING OUT about it leaving me. My ticket was still worth like $30, so I didn’t want to leave without it. The young guy in the ticket booth is uncontrollably laughing at me. I was pounding on the ticket reader and I was so scared the boat was going to take off without me, and my friends that waited. The guy radioed the boat and they waited to pull away for us. It was definately a highlight of the morning.

Once we arrived in Sydney, we spent the morning making our way through the city and the parks on the way to Oxford Street. Oxford Street (Darlinghurst) is the area of Sydney that is predominantly gay. Everything is aimed at the gay community. Thai Me Up is a thai restaurant. Lick-Her Shop is a liquor store. Burgalicous, where the “o” in the logo was a lip print. Daly Male was a mail/shipping place. It was crazy! Drag queens walking the streets. A man in JUST a purple g-string. A 4-year old with a rainbow Mohawk matching his lesbian mothers hair-do. Craziness everywhere. Anything goes on Oxford Street. We had all day to check out the area. At about 2pm, we blocked off our spot on the curb. The parade wasn’t starting until 7:45pm, but the curbs were full by 3pm. Wall to wall people. We sang and danced and drank the day away to pass the time. About 6 o’clock, the “foreplay” started... this was a couple groups/floats/bands would pass every now and then in preparation for the big parade.

It got dark. It got crazy! Crowds of people EVERYWHERE! The parade started and it was mayhem for the next 3 ½ hours!! Beautiful gay men in barely any clothes. “Dykes on Bikes” were intense lesbians on motorcycles. Drag queens galore. Rainbows on everything! I can’t even explain the atmosphere in words. I took SO many pictures that my camera died. My throat is so sore from yelling and I won’t have a voice for days!

After the parade, we went to Side Bar. Apparently it’s a gay bar, but with it being Mardi Gras, there were a lot of straight people too. That wasn’t as fun as we hoped... I think we were all drained and exhausted. A day of glitter can do that to you... We grabbed a cab back to Manly about 2:30am.

It’s almost 10:30pm and I have yet to recover from last night. It was an experience of a lifetime and such a blast!! Can’t believe I would have to come back to Sydney to do that again next year. :(

No class tomorrow. So nice. Hopefully I can upload some pictures tomorrow for you guys. I get all my internet credit reset tomorrow! Thank God! I have been going crazy!

Hope everyone is doing well. I miss and love you all!
Love&Miss.
Erica Jo
xoxo