deep thought for a Monday morning

I talked to my friend G. on the phone over the weekend - it's been awhile since we chatted, so we did some catching up.

The conversation turned to politics, the recent March for Women's Lives, and one thing G. said stuck in my mind: she's not been following politics lately because she has too much else on her plate. Like a lot of my friends and acquaintances, she's underemployed, constantly trying to make ends meet, going without insurance, etc. It's not that she's apathetic, it's that she's so filled with anxiety over immediate problems that she simply can't concentrate on the world at large.

I wonder how many other people are going through the same thing - so busy chasing the rent check that they're too tired or preoccupied to be outraged by the Iraq prisoner scandal or any of the other national messes.

the eyes (don't) have it

After seeing that my eyesight was still bad on vacation and little computer use, I finally decided to go back to the eye doctor and my appointment was today. They did the whole deal - pressure, dilation, fitting, measuring, etc.

Turns out I've been doing my vision several disservices: wearing daily lenses instead of disposables was an economic move I made in an effort to not have to buy new lenses every year; turns out that in order to have clean "breathable" lenses I'm going to have to replace them every year anyway, and disposables are actually cheaper and wetter (part of my blurry vision has been dry eyes). Also, I wear my contacts every day, all day, and the doctor gave me a stern talking-to about wearing my glasses more often :P

My prescriptions for both have changed; they had disposables at my new prescription for me in stock (the difference between old and new is remarkable) and I'm having my old glasses fitted with new lenses at their lab, complete with UV/Anti-glare filter so hopefully I will wear them more often. D. has promised to tell me what a cute geek girl I make so I won't feel bad about spending more time as a "four-eyes" ;)

So, all better, but I wish I'd done this sooner. I always preach that one shouldn't take chances with their vision, and here I was skimping on new, clean lenses in the hopes of saving a buck, when disposables are not only healthier but turn out to be cheaper :P