Mardi Gras is over. Summer is over. Daylight saving is coming to an end. Maybe you’ve gone back to uni.

The week after Mardi Gras is always the hardest for me, facing reality again after the holiday season, and doing it all with a hangover. These are my tips for recovering from Mardi Gras, and dealing with post-party depression.

Savour every last piece of glitter

Some people hate glitter in their bed. I love it. I love waking up, six months after Mardi Gras, to find an errant piece of glitter on my boob. Don’t waste your energy trying to get rid of it, because no matter how hard you try, it’ll still be around. Embrace it! Let the party live on!

Comfort food

You’ve probably spent months shredding for Mardi Gras. But now as we head into winter, no-one will see your body, so eat all the food you want! Food makes everything better.

Cuddles

Cuddles are absolutely necessary. Find a loved one, or some mates, and have a cuddle pile on. Take the week off work, if you can, and just cuddle all day. Don’t have mates or a loved one? Try Grindr, Tinder, whatever. Change your bio to “down to cuddle” and find a beautiful stranger to curl up to.

Instagram

Relive the party with a daily selfie. Hopefully you didn’t bombard everyone with every selfie you took on Saturday night. Now you can post them all, and don’t forget to add #tbt.

Sunglasses

It’s been, what, almost a week since the parade, but I assume you’re still hungover. If you must go to work, wear your sunglasses all day, so no-one will know.

The beach

Don’t go to work, fool! This week is like the week heteros have between Christmas and New Year, and they get that off. What do they do with their time? They go to the beach! They have BBQs! They do fun, weird, straight people things! We can do that, too. Summer might be over, but with global warming, you won’t even notice. Get out with some comfort food and someone to cuddle, and embrace the salt and sun (but not the sand – your room is already covered with glitter, we don’t need to add to that).

Brainstorm costume ideas for next year (or next week)

You shouldn’t have to save all your amazing costumes for Mardi Gras. If you’ve got a costume idea, why not bust it out this weekend? Every day should be as fabulous as parade day.

Don’t stop caring about LGBT issues

GAYNZ is all packed up, someone in the NRL said something homophobic, the Liberal Party still generally sucks. For two weeks of the year, these guys pretend like they care, and then go back to not giving a shit. Don’t be like those guys. The parade’s over, the panels are over, the films have all gone back to being boring hetero rom-coms, but that doesn’t mean you have to. Tangerine is on Netflix. Queer publications are still pumping out LGBT issue think pieces. There’s still space in your life to care, I promise. Even if your profile picture isn’t a rainbow anymore.

And don’t stop the party.

More than ever, Sydney’s nightlife needs our help. If we want to keep queer parties afloat, we need to turn up more than once a year. There are still plenty of things happening, and this is still our city.

Mardi Gras season is my favourite time of the year. But I don’t stop being queer when it ends. Allies shouldn’t stop being allies. The more we care, the more we go to queer films, art galleries, theatre productions and parties – all year round – the more in demand these things become. We shouldn’t have to have just two weeks of the year. Let’s make every day a gay day.

This Week:

There aren’t so many one-off parties happening this week, but there are still all the regular events that deserve support.

Last week was the first instalment of Yellow Wednesdays at Secret Garden Bar. It’s on again this Wednesday March 9 and every week, run by a rotating crew of artists. Also on Wednesday are your other regulars, Birdcage at Slyfox, and bingo at the Imperial Hotel.

Thursdays are ladies’ night at the Imperial Hotel, with Sveta and cheap beer. There’s also karaoke at Tokyo Sing Song with the legendary Aaron Manhattan, and don’t forget comedy at The Shift with Brenda Trolloppe. Also this Thursday March 10 is the Deconstructing Masculinity discussion at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

This Saturday March 12, Mr. Ties[below] is back at Arq. Known for his Homopatik parties in Berlin, Mr. Ties is a bloody awesome DJ. He’s playing next weekend, too.

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