I surprised Gina tonight with a trip to see Cirque du Soleil’s “Kooza,” which just opened in Portland. She didn’t figure it out until she saw the tent, so that’s nice: I kept throwing her off with false answers to her questions: Her: “Is this an event where I’ll have to introduce myself?” Me: “Oh, yes, everyone will.”

To cut to the chase, this was my favorite Cirque experience; I’ve seen several of their shows over the years, starting with a private performance for Apple folks in the San Francisco Civic Auditorium, sometime in the late ’80s. This time, the music was great, and the athletic performances were stellar — especially the new “Wheel of Death,” which, even with our under-the-end view, was pretty amazing.

The clowns were great, too, and Cirque’s sense of humor is always my favorite part of the show. Funny story: y’know how they pick people from the audience, and you wonder whether those people are “plants”? I now have firsthand experience that they’re not: tonight they picked me. In the five or so minutes I was up there, I got dragged around the stage, had my leg humped by one clown, the other picked a fight with me, and the ringmaster tased all three of us. (If you get picked for this, do nothing when he tases you the first couple of times. He’ll point at the other two, twitching on the stage, then tase you again - then you fall to the floor too, twitching like the others. Twitch some more when he tases your crotch.)

All in all, an incredible evening. Go see the show — it’s a lot of fun, even without me in it. Who knows — perhaps you’ll be!