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My Dad, Alan passed away at the beginning of the year. The last time I spoke to him was as he was going in to hospital the day before my birthday in January. He was having a third and final in a series of operations to remove cancer. This one was for his liver, the previous two were for bowel and lung.

The first operation went really well, and the second OK, but the third proved to be too much for him. While they successfully removed the cancer, Alan never woke up from the operation. I flew to Brisbane and saw him in hospital and corny as it sounds I could feel him there. I know he knew I had been.

Fortunately for both of us, he and I had resolved the last of our differences about 18 months previously at just about the time I met Steve.

While I have been out to my mother since I was 18, I had never come out to my Dad (my parents being divorced). I finally resolved to do so and when he visited Sydney at Easter in 1994 we had "the talk". While I had worked my way through most of the scenarios his response of "yeah I know" kind of stupidly caught me off guard.

Like for some reason I expected him to have missed it.

So we talked about it and a lot of other things - like why I was angry at him and what I thought of my parent behavior during the divorce/my childhood. To my surprise he apologized first (correct response) and then we got down to talking about it.

My Dad was great about all of the stuff we talked about and over the next few months, after he went back to Brisbane, we sorted a few things out and got our relationship back onto a much better footing. By the time he passed away, Alan was a friend whose calm advice and dry delightful sense of humor I still miss today.

Rex and Lucy, my cats, about 4 weeks after their arrival. Chocolate Burmese with wonderful temperaments. Most people love Burmese - even if they don't much like cats. They are more like little dogs (that can climb trees) thus Rex's name (here boy).

(L-R) Jason, Paul, Steve and I fooling around at Red leaf pool in Sydney

Elise does New York.

One of Sydney's most fabulous looking women, a personal trainer of enormous talent and just a down right nice person. Elise and I become close after the Mardi Gras show of '94.

Elise committed suicide in 1997 after being dragged down the relentless pressure of running with Sydney's a-crowd. If you don't wear the right clothes, eat at the right restaurants, have the right holidays and cocktail with the right people - you just cant keep up - and all that costs money.

Her death was another timely lesson for me to look closely at what I was valuing at the time. A lesson I would have much rather have learnt another way. Elise was a gentle soul who really cared for her friends and I miss her - she deserved much better.

Again at Red Leaf pool, this time early one morning after dancing all night. Red Leaf, one of my all time favorite places in Sydney, is a cove in the harbor with a boardwalk around it and fencing to keep undesirables (ie sharks) out. There is some sandy beach, grass, a cafe and always, always someone there to talk to (or about). A lot of fun in summer and a fabulous view of some of the most expensive homes in Sydney.

Two out of three of my kittens - Steve and Lucy.

With no door on the bedroom (just stairs) and Steve being un prepared to discipline the cats to train them it was impossible not to have them in bed with us most of the time. I say most of the time as there were moments that they go the hint and realized we wanted some privacy. Not with out a few sharp moments with claws though.