Friday, April 04, 2008

All That and a Hat?

A couple of weeks ago, I went in to get my driver's license renewed. In the vision test, they asked me to read the letters. I saw two clear boxes of letters so I read them. "Keep going," the woman prompted. "Oh, you mean those blurs are supposed to be letters? OK..." I could see fine out of my left eye but my vision was not good out of my right. I hadn't noticed before.

Since then, I've been walking around closing one eye all the time. Sure enough, my vision is constantly blurry out of my right eye. I've even noticed that I can usually see better if I close my right eye. Apparently the blurry input from one eye degrades the overall quality of the brains ability to interpret what it sees.

After a bit of confusion about vision plans and benefits, etc, I finally made an appointment to see a doctor. Sure enough, I have astigmatism in both eyes. Where before I had 20x17 vision in both eyes, I now have 20x20 in my left and 20x50 in my right. And oh, by the way, the driving vision test is 20x40 but your really only have to pass in one eye.

I spend a while doing 1 or 2, 2. 3 or 4, 3, ad naseum and finally the doc leaves the room for a minute and holds up some kind of simulated glasses. "You don't need to wear them but they might help if you are going to be doing concentrated vision..." "Listen. I remember what it was like to have crystal clear vision. I don't like walking around feeling the world blur out. All I have to do is wear these glasses on my head and I can see again?! You're going to have to fight me to get them off, not convince me to put them on."

So, I'm soon to have glasses. The really sad part is that I've always liked the way I look with a decent pair of glasses on. As far as accessories go, good glasses are right up there with a nice hat. I'm excited to be able to see again but I'm also excited to wear a nice pair of stylish glasses. It's almost like I win twice.

And hats, if you ever see a leather fedora like Brad Pitt wears in Snatch, I want one. Please tell me where I can get it.

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