Weekend Update: Fast Friends, Lazy Day & Home (at The Mans) for the Holidays

The fastest friends are the ones you make where it's like you share the same brain. You're immediately on the same page as them when it comes to everything from what movie you want to go see to what candy you want to share with the popcorn when you get there.

Last night Seth Apper and I took in Eagle Eye ...with Reese's Pieces and Coke Icees. We did Numbers after for dinner and took in a drink at Here Lounge's "Destination" before deciding to call it an early night.

I'm glad I'm closer to Seth these days, both in proximity and friendship. We have come to find recently that we have so much in common, it's at times a little spooky. Waking up at the same time, calling each other at the same time, having the same thoughts on where we want to go and what we want to do when we get there and how long we want to stay! I like friends like that. You don't have to wonder what they're thinking because you're already thinking it! ;-)

I had an incredibly relaxing day here at The Mans too. I've barely gotten out of bed at all today. I've just been reading magazines, books, eating in bed, watching TV. Andy and Tristan are out of town for five days shooting a movie in New York and then visiting Tristan's family in Connecticut, so it was the perfect Sunday to really just veg out. I used to have at least one day a week where I did absolutely nothing and shut out the rest of the world. That hasn't happened since I moved in because I always want to play with my friends here! I had forgotten how amazing these days feel and how important it is for me to take them. I've never lived with friends before so I'm always tempted to just seize every moment and live it up for the day and take a trip to Crunky Town! That's my new term, by the way: What I call drinking excessively and getting crazy with friends.

But the amazing thing about living in a place this big is that you can have days in Crunky Town with your friends and then other days completely to yourself. If I were living in a small apartment with friends, a day to myself shutting off the rest of the world would be nearly impossible without dealing with other people and having to hear them. If I were living in a small apartment alone, I'd never have the roomies to stay in and go crazy with! So living in a place this big with friends but having my own private space really offers me the best of both worlds. I am so glad I no longer have to worry about being too loud because of thin apartment walls, not being able to play music after 10:00 at night, not having enough space for bringing my friends over, not having any place for Sadie to run around outside off leash without getting her to a park, etc. It really is an incredible gift to be able to be here.

Speaking of which, I made the decision this week that I am not going to leave town for the holidays. The expenses to see my dad in Indiana for Thanksgiving and my mom in Florida for Christmas would be too much and I can't feel comfortable seeing one without seeing the other. Besides that, I think it's important acclamating to my new home to really make it "mine" this holiday season. To decorate it to the nines with all my stuff, invite my friends over for holiday parties, make turkey dinner and Christmas cookies in the big kitchen here, all that good stuff.

I've spent only a couple Thanksgivings and Christmases in L.A. during the decade I've lived here and they have been A LOT of fun to spend with friends, although nothing is really like going home for the holidays. I will miss seeing my family for the season, but something tells me it is important that I be here this year. It feels right in my heart. I want to help make my friend's holidays special too -- many of them are without family, disowned from their families because they are gay or are not able to make it home because of finances.

Also, to stay in town means I can host holiday versions of each of my weekly events. To throw parties at these venues and make hundreds of people's holidays shine brighter by having a place to go and have fun is an opportunity I might not have next year. It just seems right on every level that I be here. After all, if I were meant to be elsewhere, I'd be headed elsewhere.

I need to get out a press release this week on my Fall/Winter schedule of shows. All of my Here Lounge nights are done for the moment and we're moving onto every Tuesday at Eleven Lounge, every Wednesday at Numbers, every Thursday at Apple Lounge and soon every other Sunday at Eleven as well.

The thing I'm most looking forward to is that I can go back to singing at The Other Side piano bar on Friday nights. Sometimes I would go on Mondays too to rehearse. I have missed it and am anxious to get back to it -- especially over the holiday season. I love doing the Christmas shows and singing those songs. I'm also thinking, since I will be in town this season, about taking the Christmas monologue that won me The Orange County Theater Award a few years ago and presenting it solo in Bobbie Chance's acting showcase from Thanksgiving through New Year's. I will have to move some scheduling around and it will keep me very busy, but it might be worth it to do all three for the season: hosting, singing and acting.

Anyway, these are the thoughts.

I hope to make it to bed early so I can wake up early for the gym. I saw some photos of me from this weekend and Lord do I need to start making that a priority again!