Groan. Full of black-eyed peas, cabbage, and mustard greens. In case you are unfamiliar with this custom, people in the American South (and also in New Orleans) eat these foods on January 1 to ensure a successful year. The peas bring luck and the greens bring money. I made the entire meal, with plenty of bacon, ham hocks, and butter. Yum.

Spent most of last night watching a DVD of "Strangers With Candy" my friend Tonne sent me for Christmas. It was my first foray back into entertainment after hating everything for several weeks. Goddamn, that show is fucked up. Makes stupid, washed-up "South Park" look like a Rankin & Bass production. I liked it.

I don't remember the last time I spent New Year's Eve with Chris, but I usually have him all to myself on New Year's Day. We spent most of today taking a slow stroll around the 3-mile loop in Audubon Park, where the birds are beginning to nest again. I saw mallards, wood ducks, Canada geese, a juvenile green heron, great egrets, snowy egrets, cattle egrets, tricolor herons, a brown pelican, and hundreds upon hundreds of white ibis swooping over the lagoon at sunset.