Overheard in New York.

I posit:

At least half the people who send in "overheard" conversations to Overheard in New York were actually participants in those conversations.

A namesake!

I was idly surfing eBay when it occurred to me to search for auctions that included my name, Calista. Predictably, about 90% of them turned out to be Calista Flockhart-related, and another 7% had to do with a Guess brand bag the model of which is apparently also called Calista.

But all the digging through Flockhart and Fashion was worth it, because look what I found!



Near as I can tell, it's some sort of antiquated voice-mail routing device. And the reserve is $400!!!

I so want it.

Good morning!

Last night, Perry and I went out to celebrate 6 (6!) years of time lapsed since we first indicated mutual romantic interest to each other. It was a good meal -- we went to Blossom, a wonderful vegan restaurant in Chelsea that has become one of our favorite spots for fancy dinners.

This morning, having more or less recovered from the wine that accompanied our dinner, I will shortly heave my ass out of POANG (a nifty pseudo-rocking chair we got at Ikea a few years ago) and go make some breakfast. Today's menu includes: hot chocolate, clementines, and toast.

It's a good way to start year 7, don't you think?

...Huzzah!?

I recently sold some stuff on eBay and found myself with a credit on my Paypal account. So I was browsing eBay this evening, wondering what I might purchase with said credit, when I remembered that I've been meaning to buy a pair of brightly colored Dr Martens for many years now.

I did a search and the first item that came up was a beautiful pair of bright red boots the bidding for which was going to end in 11 minutes. The boots had one bid so far, and were currently priced at $35. I waited until there were 5 minutes left on the auction, and then placed my bid.

Four minutes and fifty-nine seconds later, I emerged victorious from an unxpectedly bloody and exhilirating bidding war between myself, the first bidder, and two random strangers who came out of the woodwork at the absolute last minute.

But they're mine, now, precious. Yesss, they are.

(And for $20-40 less than retail, INCLUDING shipping!)

Yearly Top 10 list

My friend Jonathan collects and compiles people's top 10s for every year. I just submitted my (very overdue) tops for 2006.

So, here 2 random awesome things about 2006.

1) Eisley.

Their 2005 release "Room Noises" is like the soundtrack to my SOUL. The band is a family: a bunch of (very young) siblings and a cousin or two and maybe someone's friend (?). Their songs, sung in a reedy, sweet soprano by one (or two?) of the sisters, speak strongly to the little girl in my heart who likes to paste plastic rhinestones onto her cell phone and then pretend it's a magical amulet that will grant her passage to a war-torn, sorcerous world where giant, melancholy squid roam the land. Check out especially "Trolley Wood" and "Brightly Wound" on this album for surreal, magical-realist, pop-tinged pleasure.

I awoke the dawn
Saw horses growing out the lawn
I glimpsed a bat with butterfly wings
Oh what marvelous things

2) Ugly Betty

There is no television show on earth (except maybe Sesame Street) with a more gracious, generous, forgiving, optimistic view of the world. And the wonder of it is, "Ugly Betty" manages this grace and optimism without ever once losing its irony or humor. There is no treacle, here, no preciousness. It's just solid awesome. All that, *and* enthusiastic participation in the great and bizarre plot-twisting traditions of soaps and telenovelas!

It's the pink and purple hair, isn't it?

On the train this morning, a homeless guy got on and started yelling about how IT SAYS IN THE BIBLE THAT IF TWO PEOPLE OF THE SAME GENDER LIE TOGETHER THEY MUST BE EXECUTED! IN FRONT OF WITNESSES! WITH ROCKS!

And then he stuck his hand out--at *me*--and said, "Can you help me out?"

Awesome Names

When I started 1st grade there was a girl in my class named Sheila. I immediately (and successfully) set out to become her best friend, because although I had never heard that name before, it sounded so much like She-Ra that I just knew I had to get in on that action.

***

Many, many years later I met someone named Angharad. At that point in my life I like to think I had moved beyond setting out to become someone's friend solely because I liked her name, so I'm pretty sure that when we became good friends it had more to do with the usual set of reasons people become friends than her many totally kick-ass fantasy-novel namesakes:

* Harry/Harimad-Sol/Angharad from Robin McKinley's "The Blue Sword"
* Angharad from Anne McCaffery's "Rowan" series
* Angharad, mother of Princess Eilonwy in Lloyd Alexander's "The Book of Three" series.

...but honestly, those namesakes didn't hurt.