New Glasses

[livingdeb]

I got an eye exam and a new prescription about six months ago but never got glasses.

See, I keep thinking that glasses should cost $30 at the Discount Optical Mart. However, last time I got glasses, they were actually $60 there, and I didn't like any of them, so I ended up getting some at Walmart for $70 or $80.

Now I can't even find Discount Optical Mart (they went out of business or closed, and I don't have a current phone book, but that's a whole different topic). So I went to Walmart and I didn't like any of their affordable glasses. Meanwhile Robin got some wonderful lightweight glasses with Zeiss lenses and almost no frames at all. I liked them except that they cost $268. Are one pair of these worth ten pairs--okay, five pairs--of cheap-o glasses? I don't think so. Especially if I lose them or sit on them right away. Although they do have those hinges that can open too far and still be okay.

(And the cheapo glasses look do look hideously ugly on me. I just want some wire frames that fit on a small head. Is that asking too much? Yes, it is.)

Robin just read that something is going on with Zeiss to make him think that their lenses may not be available at Walmart indefinitely, so he went to get a second pair. Meanwhile, I've lost my old glasses. I feel sure they are around the house somewhere because I had them hanging from the top of my shirt, and then they were gone. So I assume I was leaning over and they fell off my shirt. Onto something soft and silent.

So Robin said that since it's my birthday he would subsidize my purchase of these glasses. So now I am getting super-duper fancy awesome glasses.

To help me not regret this purchase, feel free to share your strategies for wearing and storing glasses, especially if you do not wear them all day, but only sometimes.

I am nearsighted now, so I really only need them for watching movies, reading signs while I'm driving, looking at far away nature--basically anything you'd like binoculars for if you could only see clearly twenty feet away. I'd probably wear them all the time except when I'm at the computer or reading if wearing glasses didn't give me a headache. Oh, my dainty nose bridge doesn't like anything weighing down on it, like it's the princess and my glasses are the pea. Even though my vision isn't very bad so I have very light glasses. Stupid nose. So in reality, I wear them for driving, watching movies, and sometimes walking around. And if I already have a headache (which is my symptom of choice whenever anything's going wrong) and I'm trying to watch a movie, I will try to hold the glasses off my nose with one finger or something.

Maybe these fancy new super-lightweight glasses won't give me a headache.

So, I don't like to keep my glasses in my purse because with a glasses case they're too big and without one they're too vulnerable. Also, I like them to be more handy. Like if I'm reading while waiting for a bus, and I see a bus coming, I might want to put on my glasses to see which number is on the bus.

So I like to keep my glasses in my jacket pocket which works well except when I'm not wearing a jacket because it's hot or I'm wearing a sweater or sweatshirt instead. In that situation, I hook my glasses over the top of my shirt. And this works well except for when I bend over. Stupid gravity. Maybe I should squat more instead. Oh, and glasses in the shirt don't make for the most comfortable hugs, either.

For a while I had one of those neck chains that looks like jewelry that you hang your glasses on, but links on the chain kept opening up. I like the idea of it, but I had trouble getting used to it--do you connect it to the glasses near where the ear goes and leave them hanging open, or do you move them up to where the lenses are and leave them hanging closed? Does one way make you look more like a librarian, and if so, what does the other way make you look more like? And this method also comes with the hug discomfort problem.

I haven't sat on my glasses in years (or left them on someone's driveway!?), and I don't have a problem with my glasses just falling off my face unless I have lost a whole earpiece and I go to look over my shoulder when backing my car out of the driveway. And when I set them down at home, it's always in one of four places, so there are a finite number of places to look (piano at entry, shelf in bedroom, shelf on headboard, or shelf in bathroom).

Comments

[fraeuleinchen.livejournal.com]

Glasses are indeed expensive. I'm so glad you're getting the fancy schmancy ones. The way I figure it (and those who don't know me personally should know that except for in the shower, I wear my glasses at all times when I am upright and awake), these things become part of your face, and though appearance isn't everything, the eyes *are* the window to the soul, and it's important for others to be able to see your face undistorted by huge ugly frames. Heck, non-verbal communication accounts for - last I heard - eighty percent of our communcation, and much of that is verbal. I also am a fan of the non-glare/non-reflective coating on lenses, even though it's insanely expensive. About five years ago, I dated a guy who worked for Essilor, the French lens manufacturer, so my second to last pair of lenses, complete with the spiffy coating, was free! They actually had an official program for this; every year, each employee could get a certain number of pairs of prescription lenses for free.