GUEST POST: Deaf, blind, and incapacitated by tryptophan
This holiday weekend came and went faster than one of my paychecks at a Bloomingdale's store (but not the new one; it's shiny but it kinda sucks).
The Thanksgiving dinner we hosted went off without a hitch. Our friends, three unknowing guinea pigs at our first hosted holiday meal, tucked into citrus-rosemary turkey (thank you, Michael Chiarello) and lemon-butter broccoli rabe (merci, Food & Wine) before retiring turkey-coma-style to the spot in front of the fireplace for after-dinner drinks and Trivial Pursuit. Clean up only took 3 hours. Ugh.
The following day we overheard a girl seated behind us at the 5:20 showing of The Fountain say "That movie suuuuucked" as the credits rolled. This is the same girl who just two hours before was so enraptured by the paper-bag puppets in the Fandango ad that she sung its theme song, loud and proud like some sort of Century Theaters Kelly Clarkston. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
I say "we overheard", but in all seriousness my husband is all ears, whereas I have been deaf in my left ear for most of my life. From what I've been told (in my right ear, of course) I miss half the fun of getting caught in a crowd, of being seated too close to other people at a restaurant. Now that I have a near constant companion who relishes pointing out the absurd things people say in public, I now realize that I probably missed a lot of really funny/strange/downright-alarming eavesdropping opportunities when I lived in New York City for nine years. But that's okay; I was there for the art degree and the pizza.
I have been shopping for new eyeglasses, so I now present: Shopping in San Francisco for Eyeglasses...
Site for Sore Eyes - Lafont glasses are artsy and have exactly the look I'm after, except I look like Steps of Rome eurotrash when I put any of their very square-and-German frames.
Burlingame Optical - my Yelp review says it all
City Optix - $700 for those Judith Leiber specs I crave (retail: $560)? Clearly the salespeople here are smoking crack. Except that junkies are oftentimes more polite.
San Francisco Optics - I walked in and was immediately accosted by a salesman who had me try on 30 different frames... all of which had the make/model names covered with tape and no price tags anywhere. Some people may love when salespeople get really chummy and start acting like the gay male shopping friends they've never had, but I don't. Sorry.
Optical Underground - They don't boogie with my vision insurance, but the prices are so good that they don't have to. I scooped up a pair of Oliver Peoples frames in case I can't find anything better later. I don't love them, but they'll do in a pinch.
Frustrated by what I call the "spectacles project" I finally contacted the photographer who used to own Girls With Glasses (dot-com) and asked for his help. You see, dear reader, I did a please-don't-tell-mom photoshoot for GWG some years ago. I was Miss February-- the shortest month of the year, but a title of which I am proud nonetheless. (Did you know that most of those girls don't even have myopia? It's a downright scandal, people!) With any luck, said photographer will be sending me the red glasses I wore for the part of the shoot when I wore little else (also featured in the "artsy portrait" at the beginning of this month's guest blog). That is, if he can find them.
I hope this post finds you enjoying leftovers and doing a little online holiday shopping for yourself. You deserve it, damn it!
The Thanksgiving dinner we hosted went off without a hitch. Our friends, three unknowing guinea pigs at our first hosted holiday meal, tucked into citrus-rosemary turkey (thank you, Michael Chiarello) and lemon-butter broccoli rabe (merci, Food & Wine) before retiring turkey-coma-style to the spot in front of the fireplace for after-dinner drinks and Trivial Pursuit. Clean up only took 3 hours. Ugh.
The following day we overheard a girl seated behind us at the 5:20 showing of The Fountain say "That movie suuuuucked" as the credits rolled. This is the same girl who just two hours before was so enraptured by the paper-bag puppets in the Fandango ad that she sung its theme song, loud and proud like some sort of Century Theaters Kelly Clarkston. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
I say "we overheard", but in all seriousness my husband is all ears, whereas I have been deaf in my left ear for most of my life. From what I've been told (in my right ear, of course) I miss half the fun of getting caught in a crowd, of being seated too close to other people at a restaurant. Now that I have a near constant companion who relishes pointing out the absurd things people say in public, I now realize that I probably missed a lot of really funny/strange/downright-alarming eavesdropping opportunities when I lived in New York City for nine years. But that's okay; I was there for the art degree and the pizza.
I have been shopping for new eyeglasses, so I now present: Shopping in San Francisco for Eyeglasses...
Site for Sore Eyes - Lafont glasses are artsy and have exactly the look I'm after, except I look like Steps of Rome eurotrash when I put any of their very square-and-German frames.
Burlingame Optical - my Yelp review says it all
City Optix - $700 for those Judith Leiber specs I crave (retail: $560)? Clearly the salespeople here are smoking crack. Except that junkies are oftentimes more polite.
San Francisco Optics - I walked in and was immediately accosted by a salesman who had me try on 30 different frames... all of which had the make/model names covered with tape and no price tags anywhere. Some people may love when salespeople get really chummy and start acting like the gay male shopping friends they've never had, but I don't. Sorry.
Optical Underground - They don't boogie with my vision insurance, but the prices are so good that they don't have to. I scooped up a pair of Oliver Peoples frames in case I can't find anything better later. I don't love them, but they'll do in a pinch.
Frustrated by what I call the "spectacles project" I finally contacted the photographer who used to own Girls With Glasses (dot-com) and asked for his help. You see, dear reader, I did a please-don't-tell-mom photoshoot for GWG some years ago. I was Miss February-- the shortest month of the year, but a title of which I am proud nonetheless. (Did you know that most of those girls don't even have myopia? It's a downright scandal, people!) With any luck, said photographer will be sending me the red glasses I wore for the part of the shoot when I wore little else (also featured in the "artsy portrait" at the beginning of this month's guest blog). That is, if he can find them.
I hope this post finds you enjoying leftovers and doing a little online holiday shopping for yourself. You deserve it, damn it!
Anonymous called it a day @ 11:30 PM
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