February 24, 2000
Vision
Good, good day so far today. I had a much needed break in my routine. I had an appointment for an eye exam in Ann Arbor, so I got up early (well, early for me) and drove into town. While I was waiting for my glasses to be made (there's the final result, to the right), I got to roam around my old stomping grounds a bit. I haven't really been back there since I moved. I didn't realize how much I missed it. I used to spend a lot of time roaming around Ann Arbor on my own, finding places I liked to go alone, things I liked to do. I didn't realize how I haven't done that in my new town yet. Mostly because I just don't live in a swinging sort of place anymore.
So, in the hour or so that I had, I went to Borders and then to Starbucks. I know. Two hideously trendy places. But I've been away from trendy for sooooo long. It was nice to visit. At Borders, I bought two books to add to my collection of books waiting to be read: Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen, and As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl by John Colapinto. This in addition to Neil Stephenson's Snow Crash, which I'm still reading, and several Shadowrun books that Dawn loaned me a while back. I don't read enough. I keep thinking that if I keep buying books, I'll get off the computer and start reading more. Hasn't happened yet.
Lately I've been doing all my book and music shopping online, mostly from amazon.com. I'd also forgotten how nice it is to walk through a bookstore and browse, flipping through this book or that one. Sitting down with an armload of books and reading bits and pieces to see if it really catches your interest before you buy it. I'm more adventurous when I buy in a bookstore, because I can really look through whatever catches my eye. It feels less risky to be adventurous, if that makes sense.
There's a feel to Ann Arbor that's not like anyplace I've been. I feel like I belong there in a way that I don't anywhere else. I felt like an Ann Arborite again today. It's a good feeling. How does it feel, you might wonder? When I feel like an Ann Arborite, I feel intelligent, confident. I feel intellectual, independent. Aware of trends and picking the ones I like, without caring that it's trendy. It's hard for me to explain. I feel like... well... the only way to describe it is that I feel like I belong. Not just to the town, but to the whole world. Connected. I feel connected. I didn't realize how strong that feeling was until I'd been away from it for a while.
In other news... my eyes feel very odd right now. Itchy and a little burny. It's either from the new glasses or the eye exam itself. The exam was a little weird. I'm used to the glaucoma test where they shoot a puff of air into your eye. Well, apparently, they don't do that anymore. Instead, I had drops put in my eyes that numbed the eyes and eyelids. Numb eyes are a very strange feeling. Then they touched my eye with something the doctor called a prism. I didn't feel it, of course, but it was a very strange thing. And once the numbness wore off, my eyes felt a little scratched. Oh... and just in case you were wondering why I needed new glasses so badly...
Glasses, three years old
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Glasses, brand new |
