His office people attempted to convince me that contacts were what I needed. There's a racket, yeah? They've got you for the contacts, then solution, and all of the other paraphernalia that goes with them. Far more expensive, to my way of thinking, then just a simple pair of specs. But I played along, and we tried several different brands of contacts, several different strengths...higher magnifications (or whatever the hell the +1 or +1.50 means) lower prescriptions, this strength in this eye, that strength in another. Finally, after playing this game for about three weeks, I finally said enough. Just give me a damn pair of glasses.
They did, but they weren't the right glasses. Urgh!
I complained about the glasses, especially at the end of long days, because by then, they were totally useless. Cute, yes, they were adorable. But as far as helping me see? Um, not so much. On the advice of a co-worker, I went to see another eye doctor, one who spent more than ten minutes with me. The prognosis? I need progressive lenses. Which is a very polite way of saying, "Sweetie, you need bifocals." Thanks. So much.
The silly thing is that the first time I went to the eye doctor's as an adult, at 25 years old, they told me to get bifocals, and I, the smart-ass know-it-all, said, "You've got to be kidding me. Bifocals? I am 25 years old!!! No way."
Last year, when I was unemployed, I spent a lot of time on the computer, job hunting, screwing around online, gabbing to friends in fandom, re-writing my resume, drafting innumerable cover letters, writing my book, blogging, and generally trying to figure out to do with my life. It was then that I noticed my vision deteriorating, but as I was unemployed, there wasn't much I could do about it. I bought drugstore glasses, getting stronger and stronger ones, and tried to make do.
The progressive lenses showed up on Friday last week, and I've spent the weekend trying to figure them out. I am reminded strongly of when my dad first got glasses, and he would peer through the bottom of them, trying to read the newspaper. The tops of my new glasses are for distance. So I can read street signs, and recognize people I know at 20 feet away. The middle section is supposedly for the computer, and the very bottom for reading books, magazines, the teeny-tiny ingredient lists on things in the supermarket. So yes, not just bifocals, but TRI-focals.
They make me tad more clumsy then I already am, which is bad, because y'all: I don't need help being clumsy. I manage that just fine on my own, really. There's a slight curve in my peripheral vision that makes it look like you can see the curvature of the earth. Freaky.
The tech at the eye doctor's recommended that I use extreme caution on stairs until I get used to them. Fab, because I don't fall down enough staircases already, right? I'm glad that she forewarned me, though, because taking a header down my own stairs at home is something I've managed to AVOID doing thus far, and I'd like to keep it that way.
I like 'em, though. I'll get used to this whole tilt-your-head-to-see-up-close game soon enough. (I hope!)
I was thinking about my school days, and I was enough of an outcast and social misfit through junior high (too smart by half) that I can only imagine what adding glasses to that would have done. Now, I look geeky, studious, whatever you want to call it, and that's OK with me. I like looking smart.
Now, where did that staircase go?
No comments:
Post a Comment