Well, dear readers, the eyes have it. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, the eyes have it and the reason for that is simple: I, BK, had an eye exam and got new glasses for the first time in a decade. Amusingly, I found my old glasses from a decade ago and they’re completely useless now and in a rather large way. I went to a nearby Lenscrafters for the first time in my eyeball history. I’d made an appointment for the exam online for ten-twenty. I got there about thirty minutes early so I could look for frames. I’d already printed out and filled out the form they need.
I guess I wasn’t too surprised at the cost of the designer brands, although I thought the POINT of Lenscrafters was that they had inexpensive prices. I found a couple of lightweight frames I liked but each of them was around three hundred bucks, not counting the lenses. The exam itself was going to cost a little over one hundred bucks and I just was not that interested in spending a lot of money on glasses I won’t wear all that much.
As I continued looking, they actually came and got me and took me in for the exam fifteen minutes early. One gal did all the preliminary stuff, including taking my blood pressure. The pumping part is done automatically now, but I could not believe how painfully tight it was – so much so that my arm is still a little sore from it. She informed me that my blood pressure was a little higher than normal. I thought of course it is after being squeezed like that. Once she completed her stuff, I was taken in to see the doctor, who was a very nice young lady. She did all the usual stuff, photographed my eyeballs so she could look at them on a screen and tell me what she was seeing – that was a first, eyeball-wise. But before discussing that, we did all the reading the letters stuff. And here is the fascinating thing I learned. Ten years ago, my right eye was almost 20/20 and my left eye was pretty blurry. So, that prescription was for that. Ten years on, my left eye is almost 20/20 and my right eye is slightly blurry (not as blurry as my left eye used to be). Isn’t that interesting? So, the prescription is pretty mild.
We looked at my eyeballs on the screen and she was pretty pleased with how everything looks. No oncoming cataracts, no broken vessels, only a tiny freckle she wants to keep an eye on. At seventy-one, that was pretty good, I think. When she was done, I went back and the first gal, knowing I wasn’t thrilled with the prices, took me to a special section – pretty small selection there – of frames that were all ninety-nine bucks WITH lenses. That was much better, so I found two that were very similar to what I’d liked in the more expensive section, so I chose the one that looked best and that was that. At some point, I may go back and get reading glasses, as seeing small type is proving daunting these days. So, that was my eye adventure and just three hours later I went back and picked up the glasses.
During that three hours, I do believe I ate some lunch – a chili, cheese, and onion hot dog and side Caesar salad – very good. I stopped at the bank to try and do the thing I need to do but couldn’t do it – will have to come back on Friday or Saturday morning to do it, once I have my renewed driver’s license. Then I picked up some packages, then came home.
Once home, I answered e-mails, had a telephonic conversation, did some work on the computer, and listened to the symphonic music of Andrzej Panufnik. Gesundheit. It’s fascinating music. I did some work on the old lyric with the new tune. I’m still messing with the lyric a bit. Having looked at the back of this typed sheet, on which I scribbled in pen lyrics for a potential opening number for that multi-composer thing I contributed to, Yearbook, would date this lyric around 1988. I’m convinced I never wrote a tune for it. I didn’t end up watching anything, although I did sit on my couch like so much fish and relaxed a bit. I also had a lovely telephonic conversation with Elizabeth Sherman.
At some point, I made a couple of tortillas with Taco Bell cheese inside – my version of a quesadilla, I guess. I always have some Taco Bell packets of sauce, and I used those, and it was quite tasty. So, a very reasonable calorie day, certainly under 1200. Then I just listened to music and relaxed.
Today, I’ll continue choosing songs for the August Kritzerland show, I’ll eat, study for the DMV written test (I did quite a bit of that yesterday, too), hopefully pick up some packages, then I can relax and watch something at some point.
The rest of the week is meetings and meals, the DMV visit on Friday, seeing some one-act plays at a Saturday matinee, and then Sunday can possibly be a me day.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, choose songs, eat, study, hopefully pick up packages, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: How many of you dear readers wear glasses or contacts? Which is it? When did you first get glasses, and have your eyes gotten worse over the years, stayed the same, or improved? I think one of the reasons my eyes have not gotten worse and have, in fact, improved in certain ways, is due to the fact that I don’t wear them much. I could never do contacts. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, knowing that as far as yesterday is concerned, the eyes have it.