Most of the day was spent doing holiday shopping. Philip and I ran into Corey while inspecting the spherical candles and square bayberry wreaths at Pottery Barn (yes, we're fags). And we finally settled on a plastic, crystalline tree-topper that looks like it could be one of Varla's "Susie Snowflake" earrings... on steroids. It ended up being almost too heavy for the tree to hold it up.

Corey, Claudia, Philip and I had a nice dinner at Louisiana Pizza Kitchen. (Corey treated again, the sweetheart.) It's fun to bond with another couple. Jeff and Donna were supposed to join us, but they were behind with their shopping. I'm glad to be done with my gift-buying... but I guess that's because I'm broke... because I can be ridiculously generous when I have loose change jingling in my pocket.

We've had a very eventful December, as far as musical performances go. We've seen Varla's HOLIDAY HAM show twice... we just saw CHARO'S CUCHI-CUCHI XMAS last night... and tonight we went to see THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with radio-talk-show-host David Tyree and his boyfriend Charlie. Philip and David have both seen it before... but this was Charlie and my first time. I'm very familiar with the music, of course. It was kewl to finally see all the songs come to life. I especially enjoyed the little opuses within the musical ("Hannibal" and "Il Muto"). I know that my ex (Chris S.) loves "Masquerade" so I totally thought of him during that whole number. I actually mentioned a pivotal bit of advice Chris gave to me to Corey earlier at dinner... I'll have to remember to email Chris tomorrow to tell him I finally saw PHANTOM.

After the play I was hungry again. So Philip and I dressed down at then went to Chili's on the westbank. Our hot waitress (who looked like the beautiful Venus Williams... with a Cleopatra wig on) named Kiki took good care of us. The name Kiki made me think of a Varla story to tell Philip... When Varla and I were doing one of our KLSU radio shows (thanks JennyJam!) one of the station employees called in and asked if Varla named her wigs. Varla answered, "yes, I name all my wigs. Today I'm wearing a short blond one called Kiki. Kiki! Kiki! Kiki! I bet you have something that you call Kiki..." And all of the radio-station employees exploded with laughter... because they knew that this young lady actually gave the nickname "Kiki" to her vagina. Varla had no knowledge of this... it was just pure, serendipitous synergy.

And right at that moment my cell phone started to ring. No one ever calls me that late (it was well after midnight). It was none other than Jeff (the guy who plays Varla) asking me if I was in Paris with him for New Years 2000. Indeed I was there... and Paul G. has the video footage to prove it. That was one of those odd moments when we just happened to be at the same place at the same time. We didn't plan our trips together. I mentioned to Jeff that I would be in Paris when 1999 turned into 2000 (which everyone calls the Millenium, but I don't because that actually happens when 2000 turns to 2001) and Jeff said that he and Mark would be passing through Paris at the same time (I think they might've been in London for a show right before that)... so Paul G. helped Jeff and Mark get a room in the same hotel we were staying at. Ahhh... Paris. I hope we can go back... and stay at a better hotel... because those pillows were like sacks of concrete at the three-star place we were crammed into.