WTF?

Having realized in the last couple of days that the lead blanket of depression has recently been enveloping me again, I am now a bit disturbed that I didn’t notice my worsening mood until Thursday, by which time I was almost rendered incapable of functioning. But on a lighter note I am happy as Larry just now which is kind of weird since I am writing this on a Sunday morning – not a point in the week that I would normally feel at my best.Thanks to the initiative of a Sydney friend, Shaun, I yesterday met up with his ex-flatmate Robbie who has now returned to his hometown of Adelaide. This is unremarkable except that, through what was an utterly extraordinary coincidence, Robbie and I had unknowingly already sort of met, then spoken and rescued each other from a septuagenarian drag queen (true) at Mars only the night before. Actually, Robbie undeniably embodies much of the qualities of Adelaide gay boys in general by having a fun-loving and unpretentious attitude, that cute don’t-pronounce-the-L’s Adelaide accent, and cool hair.Last night he generously introduced me to another of Adelaide’s queer venues, the Queen’s Arms Hotel. Here they cover up the fact that the drag performers’ dance moves are out of synch with each other by only having one in the spotlight, and therefore visible, at a time. Clever. During the show, two ladies (real ones) helped themselves to the other chairs at our table. They proved friendly, with the somewhat larger of the two volunteering not only her phone number but also the information that she works at the Haigh’s Chocolate factory and that one of the perks is that employees are allowed to eat the chocolates. Robbie and I decided that perhaps she ought to lay off the chocolates a bit. I think that was when we left and, perhaps against our better judgment, headed to Mars.Unlike at Queen’s the Mars Bar performers’ mistakes are on show very clearly. Still, this is forgivable since they were last night performing for free in order to raise money for their 2005 Mardi Gras campaign. There’s nothing like starting early I guess. Bear in mind that the 2004 parade would have barely finished what I understand was a rather damp procession this year, the participants’ washed off make-up probably still smeared across Oxford Street. (The news about the wet weather in Sydney actually made it to Adelaide somehow and was confirmed via a 1 minute 57 second voicemail that Nickmac left for me this morning, about half of which was actually intelligible.)The Mars Bar is not only responsible for wasting a few hours of my life last night but probably also for taking a few years off it as well. After the third round of the resident DJ’s trademark Kylie megamix I decided it was time to cut my losses and leave. I was seen and hastily embraced by Daniel (from last week) at this point. I think he was about to propose to me when I told him I was going home before the ugly lights came on at five o’clock, the rather unsubtle incandescent signal that another of the Mars Bar’s four day weeks had come to an end. I have been there on other occasions for this most distressing occurrence and can say that I have never seen a faster mass exodus of people from a building since the power went off in Macquarie Shopping Centre last December and every wood duck in its concrete confines bolted manically for the nearest exit, thinking there had been a terrorist attack. Hilarious. On the domestic front I have accessorised my unit with a Tivoli Audio Kloss Model Two stereo. I am basically happy with it except that, being an audio product designed in a place with no sense for this and many other things for that matter (America), it has a nasty boom in the bass response between about 100 and 200 Hertz before losing the plot at lower frequencies. So it makes, say, Kamahl’s voice too thunderous but then doesn’t play any sound that’s deeper such as the bass lines on Kylie’s Body Language album that I foolishly bought last week. Nothing a subwoofer won’t cover up though and this boomy mid-bass does make the thing sound bigger than it is, at least if you listen to Kamahl, not Kylie. And it looks very cool, in a retro sort of way. I didn’t get the optional and very wheezy Kloss Model Sub and instead will find a better one, preferably one that actually works properly.For the moment, if I want to hear deep bass I’ll just have to go back to Mars. How tragic.