Outta Sight

While it may seem that my life is an open book on this blog, there are a few matters that I don’t discuss. Some things that happen in my life simply aren’t interesting, some things are other people’s business and a few matters I keep to myself -- knowing that the four of you out there would be disappointed in me if I shared it with you. I don’t mind embarrassing myself, but there’s no sense incriminating myself, ya know?

For the past year or so, every now and then...especially in the morning when I first wake up, I see spots. Well, they’re kinda like floaters. They look like close-ups of viruses, kinda chunky glowey transparent masses that eventually disappear. I’ve also had problems at night judging distances with car lights – but I figured that’s just due to getting older.

Things took a strange turn Sunday when I felt like I really needed to wear my sunglasses to drive. The light outside seemed especially bright. No big deal, I thought, I know lots of folks who have to wear sunglasses during the day.

And then things got weird Tuesday morning. Not only did I wake up to some floaters, but everything looked different. The LED displays on my alarm clock, my coffee maker, my answering machine had changed color. What used to be red looked orange. What was green was yellow green. Driving to work, I noticed that looking at white cars, especially when illuminated by sunshine lost their sense of shape. They just became white glowing masses. And stop lights are no longer red. They’re orangey and kinda glowey, too. Same kinda thing last night when I was out for my bike ride. Lights look weird and I cannot perceive depth in darker, low lit areas.

The thing that flipped me out the most was looking at the white house next door to our office. The white aluminum siding on the side of the house no longer has any sense of depth. I couldn’t see the faint shadow that used to be there when the sunlight hit the siding. It was just all white. The same goes for my computer screens. Sitting here, I’m having trouble seeing the bottom of the screen. The back of my head hurts, my eyes start getting watery and I have to turn away from time to time to rub my eyes. There’s also flashes when I look at the screen too long.

So...I’m off to see the eye doctor, but no one is available until next week. In the meantime, I have convinced myself that I have Rapid Onset Glaucoma or some terrible brain disorder. Everything I know about life, I learned from television, so I’m doing my best to not go all Alison or Mary.

Added to that, this story:

Poor Vision May Speed Mental Decline

isn’t helping my mood.

I am the first one to admit that I cry wolf at the first sight of fur. But now that the fur is kinda gloopey looking, I’m kicking myself, wondering if I shouldn’t have hollered sooner.

I'm gonna do some preventative things though. I don't think I should be driving at night. Biking home last night was kinda hard. I'm gonna limit my time on here - because if it's just simple eye strain, staring at this damn screen is not helping matters. I guess i could have forgone the pictures for this post -- but c'mon...do you really expect me not to have pictures?

Maybe my body is just telling me to take a break the only way it knows how. I've been in hyperdrive for a while now and maybe what is best for me is just to sit and stare into space, or close my eyes and rest.