Specs!
I collected my new glasses today! This is the reason for the slightly disturbing self-portrait. This pair is my favourite; chunky and purple with green highlights. It doesn’t get much better than this, folks! My second pair are very similar, only brown with silver stripes through it. The world’s a little bit sharper, a little bit bigger and a little bit more fun!
It’s crazy how a tiny change can leave you feeling off-balance and a whole heap less confident. I placed my new spectacles upon my nose, dropped the old ones in my bag, and swung that onto my shoulder as I stood up. Cue uncoordinated foot shuffle, bag rearrangement and mini headswim. The new prescription makes the floor a bit further away and the ceilings a lot lower, and I was wearing high heels for the first time in ages, just to crown everything! After I took a second to gauge my bearings, I set off down the road. It was weird. I had to watch where my feet were going and try not to look drunk, but I kept getting distracted by things that I hadn’t noticed. I think enhancing a sense (in this case, my eyesight) tends not only to give your brain more information, it tricks it into paying more attention to things that generally go unnoticed. I wasn’t just seeing the texture of the clouds properly again, I was noticing the shape of the numerals written on the price tags in shop windows. I was seeing the colours and shapes and surfaces. And the strange part is, while I was paying so much attention to everything around me, I couldn’t focus on the people. I didn’t want to meet their eye and find a higher level of detail there, as well. Maybe I was worried that if I started looking I wouldn’t be able to stop!
That reminds me of my late primary/ early high school years! I used to get grouched at for staring at people, even though I never purposefully did it. I’d worry that I never noticed myself staring *at* someone before they told me to stop. Now, though, I don’t think I was. I’d stare off into space when I was thinking about something, and my poor, shortsighted eyes didn’t even register that the space I was staring at was preoccupied by a person, unless they were standing less than 40cm away! One childhood mystery solved! Go ahead and blow my theory out of the water, just don’t tell me I still stare at people too much.
Anyway, being slightly beyond normal was an interesting experience. My self-confidence plummeted, as I desperately hoped I didn’t look as off-balance as I felt, and my mind worked overtime to take in all the extra information. Right now I’m nodding off to sleep as I type, so I’ll finish this off here. See y’all tomorrow!
September 3rd, 2009 at 9:18 am
That photo is absolutely gorgeous Anna! It made me smile! Your comment about looking into people’s eyes, rather not looking I guess reminded me of a particular day in College when I was talking to Andrew on the flight deck (hey Andrew if you are reading this! *waves*). He was talking directly to me and looking into my eyes and I quite simply not do it back! He probably thought I was a bit special, to put it nicely. I find it un-comfortable looking into people’s eyes, I don’t know what it is for me… it makes me feel rude, like I am looking into something private of theirs? The closer I feel to someone the harder I find to do it. I am not sure why but there you go.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:29 pm
One of the things we’ve heard quite a bit at uni is that when we go into other cultures, we shouldn’t expect the same responses as we get in general western society. People who don’t meet your eye when you’re speaking can do it out of respect, but we often see that as disrespectful. (just sayin’)
I find I’m like you a lot of the time. In a one-to-one serious conversation I’d rather look somewhere else. I don’t mind glancing up, but full-on staring is just a tad creepy (thank you, mr. J.). Maybe it’s my weird social development coming out, or maybe our generation is becoming less good at face-to-face conversations.
November 30th, 2009 at 11:08 pm
great photo Anna! Love the specs