googly eye?

I went to the eye doctor yesterday for the first time in 6 or 7 years. I've had glasses since I was 16 but never wear them. The lenses don't even fit in the frames anymore. I've known since I was a teenager that I have astigmatism and figured that as a 25 year old adult, I'd better get a check up. At work I have to pull my computer monitor an embarrassingly close distance to my face so I figured I was in store for an updated prescription and maybe even (gasp!) contacts.

At the doctor I did the normal tests - the puff of air in the eye (which always makes me think of Rachel on Friends), followed the doctor's pen move around in circles, and read the eye chart from across the room. I found that I had a really hard time distinguishing any letters with my left eye when my right eye was covered. Everything looked like teensy little grey blurry blobs.


She wrote some things on her clipboard and said,

"You have astigmatism. It's worse in your left eye and making it a

mild

LAZY eye.

have you ever been told that?"

"umm. nope... "

She left the room and I sat there shocked wondering about my newly announced lazy eye. Is this something people can see and NO ONE has EVER told me?!! Do people not know which eye to look at when they talk to me?? That is SO awkward! She said when I followed the pen my eye was floaty! I never knew I had a set of googly eyes.

When I got home I made Laina stare at me. She said she couldn't see it. But I feel like I have a set of

gOoGLy eyes.

sensory underload

In any big city, we have sensory overload. Thousands of sights to be seen, things to be heard, food to taste, things to feel, and smells to be smelled (although usually an unpleasant trash and pee combo). We have the gift of senses.. did we forget that?

A few weeks ago I heard on the news that NYPD vehicles have been outfitted with a device called the Rumbler. Ever since I heard this story I've been a little obsessed. This is a device that is used in tandem with the LOUD and forceful audible siren. The Rumbler emits vibrations that can be felt, so drivers with their stereos on and pedestrians with headphones on can be alerted to the approach of emergency vehicles. Are bright flashing RED and blue lights and ear splitting sirens not enough to catch our attention anymore? Soon we're going to have to be tasered.

iPods and car stereos aren't the only things to be blamed. Texting, Twittering, Facebooking while walking are all the things that are endangering us. We don't pay attention to what we're doing or where we're going. We've seen the headlines: "Texting Teen Falls Down Manhole," London introduced a "safe texting street" !!lined with padded lampposts!! Are we going to have to text-proof our world now? Ridiculous.

But, I too am guilty which is why I am writing this post. On Wednesday after work I had some time to kill before meeting a friend. I decided to walk around a little bit--look for my future husband... hey, you NEVER know!

Anyway.. I'm walking along and glance at my iPod to ensure Lady Gaga is on repeat when BAMMmM! One of my biggest fears takes place! Did I miss seductive eye contact with a handsome 6'4" stud? .no. .worse.

Carelessly in my Lady Gaga iPod dilemma, I failed to see

THIS

headed straight at me!

I had to JUMP over the cane to avoid tripping both of us! My lack of awareness and appreciation for my eye sight got me thinking about how much I take it for granted. It's sad to think about people who are living with the challenges of not having all working senses in comparison to those of us who would rather have iPods in our ears and BlackBerries in front of our faces.

I say, put the phone in the pocket, pull the headphones out of your ears and take a look and listen around. We're lucky we can see, hear, touch, taste, and smell our world.



even if it does sometimes smell like pee.

I've lost my magic sight

While perusing Facebook I found this in the archives. Initial reaction was laughter at my awkward 7th grade brother. Memories flashed back of the Sun-In bottle that lived in our bathroom cabinet from 1997-2000. Apparently he had put it to good use back in his junior high days.

My second reaction is "OMG that's a magic eye poster!" And this is when I begin blurring my eyes trying to see what it is behind him. No luck. I used to be really good at seeing these things when I was a kid. So I did a Google image search for Magic Eyes and I think I lost my magic vision skills! I can't see them anymore. I have been sitting here at my computer for at least 40 minutes Google searching different pictures of magic eyes to remaster my skill. Maybe I only imagined I could see them before..? I can almost get it and then everything looks like pretzels for a second then I lose my focus.

I remember when I was little and I would play with the paint program on the computer and would use the spraypaint feature to try and make my own magic eye poster but they would never become 3D either.

45 minutes being cross eyed at the computer screen can not be good for me. Am I the only one who has lost the talent??