“I can read distant street names but I have a hard time telling who I’m kissing.”
– Me trying to explain my farsightedness to Akemi.
Apparently, I need reading glasses. I say “apparently” because I’ve been doing just fine without them although my optometrist feels there’s room for improvement. I’m trying to hold off on making them a permanent part of my routine which has disappointed Akemi who believes I risk worsening my condition (and also finds my quite dashing in the specs). She seems to have accepted the fact that I refuse to use them for my late-night reading, but that doesn’t stop her from slipping them into my laptop case or into my carry-on whenever I travel. While I appreciate her concern – and persistence – I think I’m making the right call here. I’ll never forget my writing partner telling me, years ago, that once you start wearing reading glasses, you’re reliant on them for life. Sort of like antibiotics or smartphones or NFL Redzone.
Am I crazy?
Hey, check this out –
Preliminary sketch of a Galactic Authority officer’s uniform c/o Dark Matter Costume Designer Noreen Landry.
Sadly, yes you are crazy… the only reason you get reliant on them is because… hot damn, isn’t it great to SEE CLEARLY? But Akemi also wrong, studies show sitting close to tv, not using glasses etc may make your eyes feel tired but don’t damage them. Stop being vain, wear the glasses. See better, turn Akemi on.. win win 🙂
You sexy thing! Wear the glasses! 😉 I got reading glasses as a kid and wear them all the time now. Ironically, to read fine print I have to take them off or read over the top of them. #oldfogey That probably doesn’t make you want to wear them, does it?
As a lifetime wearer and hater of glasses, as you know I completely agree with you. I’m prescribed reading glasses as well, and I get along quite fine without them, thankyouverymuch. I had a brief and expensive flirtation with progressive lenses, which turned out to be a royal PITA. Now, I just wear smaller frames glasses that I can somewhat easily look below when I’m reading. Works great!
So no, not crazy. At all. Sorry Akemi!
The uniform looks great! Very… authoritative.
I think you’re making the right call. Your eye muscles will work as hard as they can to make up the difference, but, once you give in to the glasses they won’t anymore. I wouldn’t do it if I were missing out on anything though, just not wanting to be more reliant than I need to be on the world not ending.
The uniform is dead on ST:DS9.
The Japanese haven’t done much to the business suit or military uniform for a long time – 70 years? What happens over the next 200 years that would push a change? The need for space laundry? Fabric shortage? Fabric abundance? 3D printing? Opulent military class? DS9 fan cult? What changes or doesn’t should drive the costume.
One thing’s for sure, if the business suit dies at all, ties will be extinct. I never was comfortable with my male collages wearing something that was such sure death around moving machinery. I guess that’s the point of ties – to prove you don’t work around moving machinery because that’s so lower class? Huh, maybe they are more timeless than I thought at the beginning of this paragraph.
You’re crazy and who have you been kissing???
Akemi is right, as usual.
I’ve been wearing glasses since I was three, so you’ll be getting no sympathy from me. Besides, like @Ponytail said “Akemi is right, as usual.” 😀
The uniform looks good!
I’ve worn corrective vision lenses since I was 9 so I never connected bad vision with age. 3 years ago, I had cataract surgery in both eyes and had multifocal lenses inserted instead of the normal ones. For the first time since I was 9, I don’t need glasses or contact lenses. Freedom! !
I’ve been fighting a losing battle with reading glasses for almost 15 years. This is only anecdotal, but I swear the more I used the glasses the more I relied on them. For a while, my optometrist had me suckered into progressive lenses and I have to agree with gforce, those things are EEEEVIL. I have days, and occasionally just hours, where my eyes are fine reading without the aid of glasses, but as time marches on I find the time spent behind the specs increases.
Rage, rage against the dying of the sight.
About eyeglasses: I’ve been extremely nearsighted for 50(!) years. I wear bifocals now to correct both far & near vision. I can tell when I need an exam:
–the strain makes the muscles around my eyes twitch;
–I hold reading material close in order to read UNDER the glasses frame, not through lenses. This position causes neck and shoulder strain.
The take-away for you is probably to try the glasses, holding your reading material up & away so you’re using the lens, so you can determine if it makes a difference in posture as well as vision.
But I sympathize with Akemi. My husband also prefers to read without his bifocal glasses.
Welcome to middle age, Joe.
@Thogar & gforce: Sorry you had m problems with progressive lenses. I went straight to progressives when my near vision worsened. The only problem I have is with nighttime street lights, but that is apparently due to incipient cataracts.
I really should brush up on my braille…
BTW, I finally bought new glasses last month – [for my getting around the house ‘scrip] – ’cause the 25 year-old pair I had broke on me… $400. later…!! -And I went with “cheaper” frames! :-[
But, hey, they do look fab on me!
oh, and FYI for you “blind” thrifty/garage-salers like moi, always keep an eye out for used Frames! You can get lucky and find something for a few bucks and save Hundreds! — Several years ago, I picked up THE perfect-fit [I’ve narrow-set eyes, so choices are limited] pair of “reading”-glasses, GOOD titanium, and ONLY for a DOLLAR. Just had to get the proper lens in…
Also, what @DP said… Bang on ST!! — Not to mention, that style is a pain to move your arms in, especially if it’s going to be for “military” use!! – [fluid shoulder/rotator-cuff movement is essential!] – Honestly, that shoulder part looks like those fancy hanger covers you put over your suits! – Actually, the more I look at it, the more I start to get this ’50s Gas-Jockey vibe…
The uniform reminds me of star trek tng costumes. I read and saw on screen the actors tugging and pulling the top down. I would say get rid of the waist band and have just a straight fit. Or have them wear a belt in order to clinch in the waist and put stuff on it like a cop would wear.
On the glasses, I guess it all depends on how you use them and what type of glasses you have.
I used to have 20/10 vision in my 20’s, which slowly became 20/15 in my 30’s and early 40’s, but I found in my mid 40’s that I was having trouble working on circuit boards. I could still read fine, but some of the components I work with are as small as 0.4 x 0.2mm, and I was having trouble soldering to them. Later in my 40’s I started having trouble reading too. My distance vision is fine (and still 20/15 oddly enough), it’s only within three feet that I start to lose focus.
So for me, progressive lenses have been great. The blend I have has very little correction on the top, blending into a reading correction on the bottom. This allows me to read or work close on a circuit board that is in front of me on my desk, but still look up and read a schematic on my computer monitor across my desk. They have also been great for driving and flying; the gauges are nice and clear glancing down, but my forward vision is un-impaired for distance viewing.
I did have a second (larger lens) pair of progressive glasses made, but I found that for some reason the blending is not as natural for me and I end up moving my head around a lot to put things in the right focus. I only wear those as backups, as I get tired of the constant “tilt to focus” issue.
Progressive lenses can lead to some misunderstandings though, as I now have the habit that when someone leans in close to me, I’ll tilt my head back to keep the image of them clear, making them think I’m rearing away from them or looking down my nose at them. But most people think engineers are strange anyway, so it’s not like I’m creating any more social stigma than I already had.
I’m not necessarily recommending any of the progessive lenses for your condition, but they have worked well for me.
On the uniform, I’m getting a Star Trek The Next Generation vibe (Wesley Crusher?) Maybe the Federation is really the Galatic Authority? All civilizations decay eventually, so why not… 😀
Oh and props to Tom Gardiner for the Dylan Thomas reference!
Contact lenses or corrective eye surgery are the alternatives if you don’t choose the humble glasses 👀
My friend Claire, was just like you. For years she went without eye correction… Her outside world must have been sooo lonely. Because we knew of her ‘condition’, there was no point in waving cheerfully at her from across the road – she’d either totally ignore you or when you got back to the office, over hear her talking about that angry person gesticulating at her for no reason. The friendly smile as you passed her in the corridor was a total waste of time too. Those who didn’t know her thought she was just rude.
So eventually she decided to have laser eye surgery …… What a difference its made!!! She can’t believe all the things she must have missed! She is always talking to people outside now. Amazing!
So, Joe, the choice is yours
Choose the lonely path you will be heading down OR choose the path of VISION, a very happy Akemi and loads of new friends (that you already had but didn’t know you had!).
Altho it may put you off some of those dubious things you eat ….. 😶
Hi Joe
Go without them until your arms aren’t long enough any more. 🙂
Elminster
Oh you lot who have been able to go without glasses for more than 5 years! I was 7 when Mom saw me fitted so I didn’t HAVE to sit up front in class to see the board. [Yes I tended to be that annoying, relieving kid who had answers.] By the time I was in college I had not just myopia but astigmatism also. Hard contact lenses would have been a difficult fit. I heard from a friend my refusing to “get rid of the glasses” was a good thing — she wore her hard contacts so that they sank into her eye. When on. the outer surface of the contact was smooth with the adjacent eye surface. When taken away, the contact left a ridge. [Uh, not my idea of good eye health.] I also have long known the additional protection the larger physical barrier to eye trauma
Joe, you don’t need glasses, you need longer arms.
Wear the glasses, it really does make it easier on the eyes. I often skip my long vision glasses, one eye sees well enough, and the other is such a lost cause I just let it wander off, out of focus, or close it. I’m always “winking” at startled strangers.
Ode to a panacea.
Albeit there isn’t one.
So I think I shall just remind you
to make sure you are getting enough sleep, walking for exercise, consuming foods with vitamins A & E, And let this ridiculous little rhyme be done.
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/vitamin-E.php
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-vitamin-A.php
P.S: I was prescribed my first pair of glasses when I was 14. I am in my 50’s now. I have been wearing them on and off for years. “Mostly off.”
My vision improves when I ensure I am getting enough Vitamin A & E in the foods I consume, getting exercise and proper sleep (though obviously with much longer work days of late, having a harder time with the sleep part).
I realize you may dislike cantaloupe and perhaps? are not so big on carrots, but there are other foods like bell peppers and you like pistachio, so there is no reason not to consume foods on a regular basis that aide the eyes.
Several years ago I tried progressive lenses as I’m both nearsighted and farsighted, sigh. Eventually, after a few bruised knees from falling “up” stairs, I became accustomed to the lenses and get along quite nicely. As others here have said, I prefer to see clearly as much as possible, so I wear the glasses.
I can’t say that you will develop reliance on them, but if it’s important to you to see clearly, wear the glasses Joe.
And I agree with JeffW and DP on getting some serious ST:TNG and ST:DS9 vibes from that uniform sketch. The color blocking looks very reminiscent of several Starfleet iterations. Why epaulets and a Nehru collar?
Just my opinion…
2cats
YOUR eyes, YOUr chouce! 🙂
And the jacket for the uniform looks interesting, guessing it would be teamed up with charcoal-coloured pants to keep the long, imposing line of the costume’s (and character’s assumably) authoritative presence?
Whatever you decide to do glasses wise, make sure you have enough proper lighting when reading, can make a world of difference in seeing clearer and not.
Not sure I see the STDS9 look on the uniform, maybe I need to re-watch an episode, but not seeing it right this second, nice job Noreen, cant wait to see the finished project on everything.
I agree with you on the glasses. I think eyes might get lazy if they have to stop working as hard to focus. I’ve noticed that I need a bit of correction when reading now, but the weird thing is that it comes and goes. First thing in the morning, my close vision is MUCH worse than it is later in the day. So I might put the glasses on to do the crossword while I’m drinking my morning coffee, but later on, when I’m studying (and reading much smaller print), I don’t need them at all. I don’t get what’s going on there. But I only wear the readers when there’s no way I can see without them.
DP is absolutely right: the uniform is very ST:DS9.
Huh… I must have forgotten to hit reply… It’s your decision, however I don’t understand your reluctance to wear glasses. I think you’d look awesome with thin rectangular ones… If it stops you squinting and getting headaches, great… I probably have the same issue as you… I have better than 20/20 long distance vision but I have a stigmatism which blurs things a little when reading. My new glasses are awesome!!!! i just have to find them lol.
Cheers, Chev
P.s. How many people are you kissing? lol
I think “that once you start wearing reading glasses, you’re reliant on them for life” has more to do with discovering the joy of seeing correctly. I put off wearing glasses till my early 20’s. Once I did it was amazing how clear all the street signs suddenly became. I eventual switched to contact which was even better. If it’s an option there is also Lasik surgery, then you could avoid the whole need for glasses.
Try eye exercises to keep your eyes strong, I got Lazy Eye Tetris; it gives me a whopping headache so I’m guessing it works?!
My current fave pair are Cossima’s from Orphan Black; this would look nice on your Joe. Your face screams cat glasses:
http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/orphan-black/blog/2015/05/nature-vs-nurture-or-why-does-cosima-wear-glasses
I would vote to wear them. Check this article out that explains why people think it makes their eyes worse: http://www.drbishop.com/view/article_95.3conx