Tag Archives: Eyeglasses

I Shall Overcome

Friday finally. At least I think it’s Friday. Wait, I am pretty sure that it’s a Friday. It was a busy enough day without a visit to the bibliothèque or the cigar shop. A lot of running around today. A trip to the supermarket, to the cleaners, to CVS, and to the optician. Yes I finally got my new eyeglasses. If you’re on Facebook or Google +, then you’ve seen them and you’ve loved them. At least 11 people liked them enough and I’m sure if Facebook had a ‘love’ button it would be worn out with love for this former stripper.

So here I am once again on a Friday evening, the rebroadcast of the Daily Show is on which was preceded by the Colbert Report. I caught the latter and now watching the former. Or do I have that backwards. I don’t know- it’s Friday. Let me breathe, let me put balm on where the tassels used to be.

Back to the eyeglasses- I like them and after a couple of weeks of not seeing very well through scratched lenses, it took some getting used to. And having progressive lenses to match my political outlook, it also takes some time for full appreciation.

Things are a bit curvy at the bottom of the lenses which makes a simple walk down the street feeling like the edges were done by Salvador Dali playing with a fish eye lens. The clocks do seem to be melting a bit more than usual. I always forget persistence. And they are transition lenses which get darker in the sunlight, though when I am wearing them I can never tell and find myself trying to catch my reflection in store windows or passing cars. And the glasses are not branded, though they do have Ernest Hemingway’s name on the inside.

Which means if Ernest Hemingway ever turns up and asks for his glasses back, all he would have to say is that his name is on them and I wouldn’t be able to deny that. Then he would punch me in the mouth before taking the eyeglasses away.

I’ve been wearing eyeglasses since the 5th grade. Everyone in my family wears eyeglasses and despite being told I was adopted most of my life, I guess nurture usurped nature and through a strange osmosis my eyes needed corrective lenses as well. I was seen squinting a few times at the blackboard in class and was able to use that excuse for lousy grades, ‘I couldn’t read the black board’.

With the proper lenses I was able to see better and my grades stayed the same, fair to middling and always room for improvement if I just applied myself. I was only supposed to wear them when reading but wound up wearing them all the time which did not make my eyes any better. My eyes gradually got worse and every year or so new glasses would be in order.

But you won’t find me wearing Dolce & Gabanna or Burberry or Tom Ford eyeglasses, not unless they were paying me to wear their products, paying me to advertise them. Since that is unlikely to happen, their eyeglasses won’t be adorning my face anytime soon.
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Happiness

I Don’t Need No Doctor

Last night was a wee bit intense. Juan came by after going head to head and toe to toe with both his mother and his father. He was fairly livid when he came by and I did my best to chill him out. Ninety minutes of Weeds and a half hour with a London call girl did the trick or at least that is what I had hoped.

He also used the computer and I was silently amazed at how fast he can type. Then again he was basically raised with a computer keyboard underneath his fingers. His words per minute skills must be close to triple digits. Impressive. I did have to kick his ass out so that I could get ready to go to sleep. He understood, he’s good like that.

Also chatted for a bit with Song in Sydney. He got his visa and should be back in the states next month. It would be good to see him and Ray again. Been a while. Last time they were in town I fell ill.

Slept really well, good old air conditioner humming along as I slept. I didn’t want to get out of bed, but of course that is what I had to do. I was out the door before 7:00 again and got on a soon to be crowded bus.

I sat in my usual spot and read An Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett, author of The History Boys among others. He’s a favorite author lately. This is about the Queen taking up reading which she never had time for before. That description doesn’t do it justice, but it’s not much more complicated than that. It’s an entertaining novella and after starting it yesterday I am almost finished with it. I’m so lucky to have the library just down the street.

Oh what an idiot day I’ve had. Work was busy, Tom Chin out of the office and John could you do this, John can you do that all day long. Not that I minded, not at all. It makes the day go faster and makes me feel somewhat needed. Vivek, the managing director and Greg Stevens the president of the company were getting a letter together to send out and I had to rewrite it an proof it a few times.

Unlike this blog where I sometimes post without fully checking for errors, I sometimes go back and make the necessary corrections after it’s been published. Today with Greg and Vivek I looked like a buffoon. They’d make edits, I’d work them into what I was writing and occasionally I’d omit something that they would point out after I printed out the letter.

I did my best and tomorrow is the day they go out so I’ll be bringing a fine toothed comb to the office.

But the thing that was the most idiotic was truly my fault. I’ve had some problems with the eyeglasses I got in November of last year. I had them fixed, then there was a problem with the lenses. So I brought them back after Evan, the nice guy who may or may not have a ‘thing’ for me was going to have a new pair made.

The lenses came in last week and he told me to bring in the frames. I said that I didn’t have the frames, that I left them with him. He looked and looked but they weren’t there in the shop. I wound up getting a whole new pair of glasses which I got today.

They look great, better than the old pair. As I was dealing with Greg and Vivek, I was cleaning up my desk getting ready to go home. I open a drawer and find an eyeglass case. I open it and what do I find, but the eyeglasses I said I left with Evan.

Oh I laughed through my horror, my idiocy. I guess I have to do the right thing and bring back the old pair that was missing and tell him it was all my fault.

I’m an idiot.

Tonight, I’m going to McSwells again. What is this? The eighties? I’m meeting with my friend Lois to discuss music since I am DJ’ing at her wedding party at the Rainbow Lodge in Walton NY on August 2. Then I’m meeting my brother Frank to see the Individuals reunion.

Oh but tomorrow, going back to Evan, humble and apologetic. Years ago, I would have had the ‘get over’ attitude, nowadays, I just want to do what is right.

And that means eating humble pie.