Wasteful Society

Day 52: I have often said to people who inquire as to why I don't sell my needlearts or write a book or hold classes that I do not have a capitalist bone in my body. In fact, I deplore the greed which has brought us to the sorry pass we currently find ourselves in, and I despise "planned obsolescence" as a ploy to get people to spend more money. Case in point: it used to be that when the plastic covers on the ear-pieces of a pair of glasses cracked, you could go down to your local optician and within minutes, they'd have shrink-fitted new ones, easy as replacing a missing screw. On occasion when I went back to the place I'd purchased the glasses, they even did so without charge. Now, when I find myself wanting to re-use these frames, I have contacted over half a dozen places including the manufacturer in the hopes of having them repaired. "Nope, sorry. We don't do that." "We don't carry that model any more." I suppose I could wrap adhesive tape around the split so that it wouldn't bloody my ear. I mean, at my age, what does it matter how I look? But that's not the point. This should be an easy fix. Instead, I am going to have to select and buy new frames, a victim of our money-hungry, throw-it-away-and-get-a-new-one system.

Seeing Double

Day 136: Roughly twenty-five years ago, the optometrist I'd been using for most of my adult life was forced to retire due to health concerns. For the next several years, I bounced from one doctor to another until I finally found one who was satisfactory. Now bear in mind that my vision is quite poor and had been steadily declining over the years. I was used to having to get stronger and stronger corrections as often as my insurance and budget would allow. There came a point when the possibility of bringing my sight to 20/20 appeared impossible, and I thought nothing of the fact that I was seeing a faint secondary image in offset when I looked at road signs or billboards. What I did not realize was that the new optometrist had dropped prism correction from my prescription without telling me. I might have gone on with double vision for the rest of my life if my insurance company hadn't dropped that doctor from their network. Earlier this month, I saw yet another new doctor. When he asked me if I had any particular concerns, I mentioned the double vision, expecting him to tell me I had cataracts. Instead, he asked, "Have you ever had prism correction in your lenses?" When I told him I thought it was there, he said, "No, not in these. Let's try something." He went on to explain that prism would pull the two images together, eliminating the secondary smear. When my new glasses arrived last week, I noticed an immediate improvement in the clarity of road signs, but the real surprise came when I drove home from Seattle in the dark on Monday. I was no longer being blinded by headlight beams shattered into a thousand points of light! I can see clearly for the first time in at least ten years.

Spectacled Onion

Day 37: I had decided several days ago that I would go to see the Sunday matinee of "Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them," and indeed that was my plan when I went to bed last night. I even left a note on my desk so I'd be sure not to forget. However, when I woke up this morning, I realized I hadn't let my supervisor know to pick me up on his way to work tomorrow so I could attend the Park's Tuesday turkey-feed. Then I remembered that I had to go to the post office to mail a package as well, but couldn't do so on a Sunday. Wait...is it Sunday or Monday today? It has to be Sunday because I'm going to the movie. Yesterday was Saturday. Today is Sunday. No, wait...

After several minutes of deliberation, I gave up and flipped open my cell phone. For several more minutes, I experienced a sensation not unlike having just come through a substantial, rolling earthquake, i.e., disorientation, nausea, dizziness. Saturday? SATURDAY? And then a brief moment of denial: "The phone is wrong" and illogically, "Must not have changed over from Daylight Time."

Nothing makes sense any more. Abstraction: A Spectacled Onion. The logic of the absurd.

Fashionably Geek Revised

Day 172: Surprisingly, a couple of people got caught briefly by my April Fools prank photo yesterday, including one who said that she was having a hard time figuring out what to say until she got to the punchline. Anyone who knows me should have spotted one deviation right off: instead of my customary buffalo-check flannel shirt, I was wearing a blouse. However, today I am pleased to present the REAL new glasses, truly fashionably geek according to my optician. I think they are better suited to the shape of my face than any others I've owned. The temples are lightly textured, but the front is plain. The change in correction has substantially improved my ability to read road signs, too.

Fashionably Geek

Day 171: It's been a little over five years since I had new glasses, and I decided I wanted to move away from rimless to something which looked a little more studious. My optician told me I was in luck. It seems that "geek" is now quite fashionable. She laid out a dozen pair of frames for me to try on, and I quickly narrowed it down to two choices. It's difficult to tell what you look like in a mirror when your vision is as poor as mine, but I finally selected these. I think I may have to do something different with my hair, though...maybe a buzz cut?

*****

And if you buy this self-portrait, you're an April Fool! The truth of the matter is that my new glasses haven't arrived yet. I spent the day out in my kayak.