My Struggle to See Again

Last Thursday, a friend from work invited me to a Sharks game. I haven't been to a hockey game since I was maybe 13 years old, and the ticket was free so I figured why not. We were g0ing to take the CalTrain to SJ, since it takes only half an hour on the express train. Driving takes your entire life. Just as I got out of the car, I decided to bring my glasses with me. He made it sound like our seats were pretty far up, and I didn't want to be sitting there for a couple of hours and not be able to see what was going on.

Turns out, I didn't really need them, which is a good thing, since somewhere between my car and the arena, I dropped my glasses. Great. I can see ok without my glasses, which is why I almost never wear them. The DMV disagrees, unfortunately. I have one good eye and one bad eye, so it doesn't actually affect my ability to see things like cars and people, but it is kind of distracting. So I figure I'll just go get some glasses and whatever, and I'll be done with it.

Turns out glasses cost a lot of money if you don't happen to have a vision plan, which I currently do not. I don't know if I covered this in a previous post, but last year my HR department fucked me, and I have to wait until the New Year before I get to use my fucking insurance. I had my vision checked out for $60 at a place that's close to my work. It's a brand new, but the place is kind of ridiculous. They had their grand opening, but they barely have a staff, and they're still missing a bunch of their equipment. There's just the optometrist and a receptionist. After I got my prescription, I waited a couple of days to see if my glasses would turn up. I wasn't anxious to spend anything on glasses before my insurance kicks in.

I gave up today and went into the shop. I figured that I'd go with contacts, since they don't have to fucking send away for them and make me wait for 7-10 days. The lady sits me down and gives me a contact, and gives me a real brief explanation on how to put them in, and then she disappears into a room to help another customer. So I try to stick this thing into my eye. As expected, this isn't a particularly easy task. I'm not fond of sticking shit in my own eye, and as soon as the thing touches anything my eye shuts. I'm trying to keep my lids spread with my fingers, but there isn't a whole lot to grip onto. The fact that my eyes are tearing the whole time doesn't make it any easier. Eventually, I drop the contact onto the floor, ending the experiment. The thing's contaminated by now, so I can't keep attempting to put it in my eye. I sit there for another five minutes or so while I run through the possibilities of what to do next. I run out of ideas and walk out.

Thinking Lens Crafters (glasses in about an hour!), I head over to the mall. Nothing enhances a bad mood like hanging out at the mall. I go to three glasses shops in the mall, and none of them even approach an hour turn around time. Can I please pay $300 fucking dollars so I can wait 5 days for a pair of glasses? Pearle Vision was my favorite. They were going to charge about $300 for the lenses alone, and about $250 for the frames alone, but they would give me a deal if I got lenses AND frames. 40% off. Or I could get buy one get one free. So no matter what you're purchasing, you either get 40% off or 50% off. I wonder if anyone thinks they're getting a deal. I'm probably just going to have to wait until next year to get a pair of glasses. The whole experience filled me with a dangerous blend of both murderous rage and crippling depression. I just want to be able to fucking see, why should it be so difficult?