For the life of me, I can't tell you the last time I was able to see clearly. Not in the mental clarity sense (though that would certainly be nice), but literally seeing the world clearly. For years, I've been using an old pair of prescription eye glasses. I had a newer pair, but when you share a home with a sibling that takes her frustrations and problems out on your personal belongings, well... let's just say I'm glad I had an outdated spare.
It served me well for years, like a good soldier. All sorts of accidental shit happened to it. They were dropped from various stair cases, gnawed on by pets, slipped into bowls of cereal, hugged by family members, and so on. As you can imagine, this bastard's been through wars.
Almost a year ago, while cleaning the lenses, one of it's limbs fell off, so to speak. Normally, it would've been a quick fix, but the frames weren't the screw-on type. I just had to choose the one that was soldered together, but hindsight... Like everyone knows, it's 20/20 with a complimentary kick to the balls.
Naturally, I didn't want to show anyone my fried, fractured and fucked glasses... not in public. It's permanently smudged. Hell, the lenses look just like the bullet-proof glass you would see at your convenience store---minus the graffiti. It's simply no good.
Lately, I've been going around town by color alone, often mistaken for a tourist (a drunk tourist, depending on how far I had to look down the street). You wouldn't believe the number of emails and phone calls I got with angry friends and acquaintances. Apparently, I couldn't see them waving from the distance. They could have been dancing Gangnam Style on Broad Street and I would have been none the wiser. The city looked like a LeRoy Neiman painting, which was cool for 5 minutes. After that, I wanted to randomly mug anyone who wore glasses, hoping to find a pair that matched my prescription. I remember looking for a place down Chinatown and, I swear, people thought I was making fun of them.
The silver lining was that I looked more pissed than usual, which is ideal when catching Philadelphia public transportation. You'd be surprised at the number of folk who kept their distance. There's less beggars and all that "do you want to subscribe to this" yadda-yadda bullshit. "Donations?! I can't even see you, man!"
I'm happy to report that I found a good eye care place that's reasonable. I'll be able to pick up some new glasses on Tuesday. Two, to be precise. I know this isn't a worthy blog post, but... fuck it. It's news in my book. Besides, I missed out on several Dr. Sketchy events because the overwhelming fear of not being able to see the fucking model. Not having any real money is a terrible way to live. Add that on with not being able to afford glasses or contacts, you're me circa 2012.
On Tuesday, I'll be a proper human... or at the very least, I'll see like a proper human.
-KG