Glasses

I am now 50 years old. Dang. My eyes are not working as well. I have always had glasses but now I need to start using reading and regular glasses for clearly seeing things at a distance. The last few glasses I’ve had were ‘progressive’ lenses. The idea here is that the top portion is for your far distance prescription and then they transition gradually to a reading prescription. In general, they work but I find they make too many compromises.

I have tried two manufacturers of these lenses, and both were the same. Reasonably sharp down the middle but a mess of sharpness on the peripherals. In the end, I really do not like them. I am going back to single focal length glasses. Maybe in the future, if I find that solution is not working anymore, I will try bifocals. Even though they look like old people’s glasses, I do not care. Clear vision is more important to me.

Also, had to go to the doctor for some reason and as soon as he noticed I was 50, he seemed a little cheery about handing me a form with all sorts of tests. “Oh, they will be taking samples from all sorts of places.” Ugh. Currently fasting for 12 hours because one of the tests requires it. Only water until tomorrow at 1 pm. Swell.

6 thoughts on “Glasses”

  1. All this time I thought you shut down comments on your blog but it was my “Shut Up” comment section blocker that I installed to deal with people openly discussing spoilers in other sites’ comment sections. I had forgotten to turn the comment blocker off for your site. 🤦‍♂️

    I had to get new glasses recently due to changes in my vision. I’m trying progressive lenses for first time. The new glasses seem to have been tuned for computer work and clarity at the “Harmon distance” (supposedly optimal reading distance), which is fine, except it looks like I’ll need different glasses for doing close-in work. I think the days of not needing more than a single pair of glasses are officially over. Growing old sucks…😋

    I know what you mean about sharpness at the peripherals. I have to get used to pointing my nose at what I wish to look at. This is most obvious when I’m in front of my triple monitor set-up. I have to turn my head a little more to face the side monitors directly if I want maximum clarity.

    1. You are the first comment. Just noticed that I have set the comments to be approved before they are displayed… Not sure how I set that. I still have a love hate relation with WordPress.

      I also have a VR headset that I’d like to use. The progressives didn’t do it any wonders. Mind you, I might not be suited for VR. Motion sickness comes on quickly.

      I do miss the progressives in a way. At a restaurant I’m often taking my glasses off to read the menu. I’m pretty sure that’s making me look old as well. So, no real way to avoid it.

      1. VR was something I have to avoid because my resistance to simulation sickness has dropped off over the years. If I stop playing first person perspective games for about two weeks, motion sickness can be more easily triggered the next time I play. Then I have to play first person games consistently for a few days to build up that resistance to sim sickness again.

        So if I don’t get a regular hit of first person video games, I suffer withdrawal effects. I feel like some sort of addict. It’s nuts and takes a little bit of the fun.

        My new glasses are for computer work / distance use so I often have to look over my glasses or remove them for certain kinds of close-up work or reading too.

        It’s an annoyance but I’m thankful that’s all I have to put up with. I was worried the optometrist would discover a degenerative eye condition. But my eyes are pretty healthy all things considered.

        1. I feel I have a different sort of game addiction. Steam sale game collecting. 🙂 I don’t know if I have ever bought anything that wasn’t on sale but if it goes below $10 I’m game. I have a lot of games on the back log you could say. Sort of like your unfinished model collection… Or did you resolve that. 🙂

          1. Hard to pass up <$10 a game. Sometimes I'll bite when some triple-A titles go to 50% or 60% discount. But I'm cutting back because my game backlog is too large while the completion rate is too low. I usually don't try for 100% (achievements etc). That's far too time consuming for me. But I have too many titles where I haven't even completed the primary campaign or story.

            Speaking of low completion rate, my unfinished model collection is still growing. The thing with model kits is that one doesn't know if a particular subject will get subsequent releases. Typically once a kit goes out of production, that's it. The aftermarket prices for discontinued kits tends to be quite ridiculous too. In practical terms, there's that one window of opportunity to buy a kit at the release price.

            But like with video games, I'm planning to cut back on kit purchases until my kit completion rate improves. In the past, I've balked at the idea of selling completed kits (get too attached to them after putting in the work) but I'm considering it if I can do a decent job on the build. The goal isn't to profit (unrealistic) but to occasionally clear space and offset some of the cost of a new kit purchase.

          2. Some of those achievements are insane. I’m not that OCD about that sort of thing.

            Cleaning out some of the old stuff is tough at first but it actually feels so much better once you do it. I had a serious DVD/BluRay/Manga/Comic collection and I downsized all of it to a tight subset of really good titles only. I’m glad I did as it unclutters your life. I’m not Mary Kondo on it all but significantly improved my invisible stress of keeping all of it around and in good nick. Still trying to get rid of some items but some titles are not in demand so harder to move. But once I do I’ll be able to clean up the living room shelving and setup to be a bit better. I’ll be able to use the fireplace that we have.

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