Tuesday, November 4, 2008

New Glasses

A bit of incidental news in my life is that I have new eyeglasses. After about 10 years of using the drugstore variety of magnifier reading glasses, I finally decided to go to an eye doctor and get fitted with a proper set of prescription lenses. When I first started to need reading glasses, the magnifiers worked fine. I didn't have to wear them all the time, just to read a menu or a book. But over time I found I was not only having trouble with near vision, but far vision as well.

The event that nudged me into getting real glasses was trying to drive in Australia. It was difficult enough trying to drive on the opposite side of the road from the opposite side of the car, and reading a speedometer marked in kilometers. But I got really frustrated because the couple of times I got lost, I couldn't read the lettering on street signs, and I couldn't read the map sitting on the front seat either.

So a couple of weeks ago I made an appointment with an eye doctor and got a medical checkup of my eyes, which came out fine, and got a prescription for tri-focals that allow me to see while driving, see the computer screen, or read a pill bottle. I picked up the glasses Monday night, and I'm amazed at how well I can see now. It's going to take a little getting used to because I need to look through the right section of the lens for the right distance. And I need to learn to look at things by moving my head instead of my eyes. I'm hoping it becomes natural after a while. It's a little tricky right now.

'See' ya later.

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