Blind and Crying in the Mall
For well over a year now I've been wearing glasses that have a number of cracks in the lenses, including one particularly annoying one directly in the line of sight of my left eye. I'd put off getting new lenses mostly because I didn't want to shell out the hundred bucks or so that it'd cost to replace them. But while in Arizona with Ladan over the New Year weekend, I realized that I should use any eye care health insurance benefits I had before the year ended. We went to the mall and I got an eye exam - my right eye had deteriorated a significant amount, while the left just a little - but then they told me that they'd have to order my lenses and it would take up to a week to receive them. Thus I'd have to wait until I returned to California to get the lenses - which meant that I'd lose the use of the benefits for 2006, since I wouldn't be back there until January 2. Damn!
This past Saturday I went to the mall and to my surprise they had my lenses in stock. I wanted to keep my current frames, so they took my glasses and told me to come back in two hours. Not having expected them to be able to do it the same day, I hadn't brought anything to read with me to pass the time. Nor was I able to drive home, or anywhere else for that matter, since I now couldn't see very well.
I had no choice but to just walk around the mall. As soon as I left the store and entered the rest of the mall, I was hit with the realization of just how terrible my eyes had become - I felt nearly blind! Faces and signs were fuzzy until I was within about five feet of them. Finally I located a mall directory and looked for a book store, assuming that in a mall this size, there had to be a Borders or Barnes & Noble, some place that I could sit and pass the time reading - nope, just a Borders Express, d'oh!
As I hadn't eaten anything all day, I decided to go to the food court. Another challenge: how am I going to read the menus? I stumbled around, trying to find something I could read. I settled on Sarku Japan, mostly because I was familiar with their menu and knew that Chicken Teriyaki was an option. I got my food, sat and ate it as lots of shapes buzzed around me, then finished and found that I still had an hour to kill.
Again walking around the mall, my eyes started to irritate me; I kept blinking and then noticed that they were watering, and little "tears" even started dripping out! What the hell? Did my feelings get hurt or something? Am I menopausal? What am I crying about?! As I walked and wiped my eyes clear, I figured it out: I've gotten so accustomed to walking with my eyes shielded by glasses that when I don't have them, the wind hitting my eyes makes them water! It's completely ridiculous, but true; I noticed that I could very clearly feel the air ramming into my eyes, and it was uncomfortable.
OK, so I can't see where I'm going, and now I can't even walk. I'm about as close to being helpless as I've been since my senior year of high school when I fractured both my elbows playing basketball. And it's not a good feeling.
Resigned to defeat, I chose a comfortable chair next to the glasses store and just waited it out. Few things annoy me more than having to kill time, especially when I could be reading instead. After about 45 minutes of this torture, I returned to the store and they went to fetch my glasses.
To add insult to injury, I'm still not sure that these new lenses are entirely correct; I've got weird halos around bright objects, especially at night. Seems like I'll need to make another trip back to the mall this week.
This time though, I'll be sure to bring a book.
This past Saturday I went to the mall and to my surprise they had my lenses in stock. I wanted to keep my current frames, so they took my glasses and told me to come back in two hours. Not having expected them to be able to do it the same day, I hadn't brought anything to read with me to pass the time. Nor was I able to drive home, or anywhere else for that matter, since I now couldn't see very well.
I had no choice but to just walk around the mall. As soon as I left the store and entered the rest of the mall, I was hit with the realization of just how terrible my eyes had become - I felt nearly blind! Faces and signs were fuzzy until I was within about five feet of them. Finally I located a mall directory and looked for a book store, assuming that in a mall this size, there had to be a Borders or Barnes & Noble, some place that I could sit and pass the time reading - nope, just a Borders Express, d'oh!
As I hadn't eaten anything all day, I decided to go to the food court. Another challenge: how am I going to read the menus? I stumbled around, trying to find something I could read. I settled on Sarku Japan, mostly because I was familiar with their menu and knew that Chicken Teriyaki was an option. I got my food, sat and ate it as lots of shapes buzzed around me, then finished and found that I still had an hour to kill.
Again walking around the mall, my eyes started to irritate me; I kept blinking and then noticed that they were watering, and little "tears" even started dripping out! What the hell? Did my feelings get hurt or something? Am I menopausal? What am I crying about?! As I walked and wiped my eyes clear, I figured it out: I've gotten so accustomed to walking with my eyes shielded by glasses that when I don't have them, the wind hitting my eyes makes them water! It's completely ridiculous, but true; I noticed that I could very clearly feel the air ramming into my eyes, and it was uncomfortable.
OK, so I can't see where I'm going, and now I can't even walk. I'm about as close to being helpless as I've been since my senior year of high school when I fractured both my elbows playing basketball. And it's not a good feeling.
Resigned to defeat, I chose a comfortable chair next to the glasses store and just waited it out. Few things annoy me more than having to kill time, especially when I could be reading instead. After about 45 minutes of this torture, I returned to the store and they went to fetch my glasses.
To add insult to injury, I'm still not sure that these new lenses are entirely correct; I've got weird halos around bright objects, especially at night. Seems like I'll need to make another trip back to the mall this week.
This time though, I'll be sure to bring a book.
posted by GregP at 1:40 PM
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