(no subject)
I have a question. Those of you who have seen Being Human: does the first season end depressingly? Does it get unnecessarily dark and angsty? Because we watched the first two episodes last night, and we found it very intriguing and well-written, but with signs of decending into an angst-fest. For reference, we like Supernatural, but Torchwood: Children of Earth made us want to hurl bricks through the TV.
(Regardless of anything else, we were unanimous that George is adorable.)
The ongoing saga of my glasses...
Way back in the spring, I decided I need a new pair of glasses. While I loved what I had, the frames were showing their age and the lenses were getting visibly scratched. So when May rolled around and my usual store was holding a 50% off sale, I went in for an appointment. My mom helped me find some great frames, and I ordered the lenses.
But I didn't realize when I ordered the cheaper lenses this time, that I'd become dependent on the wider range of vision afforded by the fancy-schmancy material used in my last pair. After a week of being plagued by headaches, I brought the lenses in and requested the better ones, offering to pay the difference. So that was my fault.
The new ones came in a week later. After I got them in the frames, I wandered around for a bit and suddenly realized that there was a patch of distortion running vertically across the right lens. Of all the lenses I've had I'd never seen that before. So I brought them back to the store and showed the saleswoman, who after some squinting, apologized that I had a "wave" in the lense, which really should have been caught, and they would replace it for free. So that was a quality control issue.
A few weeks ago, I noticed some odd abrasions on the (new) right lens, which looked like dirt at first, but which would not come off. Last week, I took them in again and showed the salesperson, who said that something must have scratched through the antiglare coating and allowed air or oil underneath. I had never heard of such a thing. It seemed especially odd since a) this is my fourth pair to have antiglare coating, and b) the left lens was fine, and I usually clean both lenses at once with the same cloth (t-shirt, towel, silk bathrobe...). But for a $30 copay, they were willing to replace the lens. (Well, $30 for one or both, so I said "why not?" and ordered both.)
So I went in today to get the new lenses. I dropped off my glasses and went to wander the mall (wearing my old ones). But when I went to pick up them up, all finished, the technician came out looking very, very sheepish. She'd set the pressure test too high by accident and cracked a lens. Guess which one?
They have reordered the lens. It should be in next week. But honestly, I have been wearing glasses since I was six years old and I have never had this much trouble with a single pair of lenses!
So it's been about a month since I finished the Weekly Thinky Thoughts. Which was awesome, even with the ones that didn't go well. It was perfectly tailored for me: I've always been good at essays, but haven't finished anything longer, and I could do any topic I liked. But I harbor the desire to be published. (Well, who doesn't?) You need a book for that. I mean, I suppose there's magazines. But a book is a good next step.
But if I want to do a book, I'm going to need a schedule. With or without my new meds, I know and love schedules. They've kept me sane for so long. A topic to start, and a schedule, and long enough time chewing away at both - even if I don't get a book, I should get something interesting...
I get what Tolkien meant when he wrote that The Lord of the Rings was the chance for "a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them." I think most people feel that way about something they really love doing. If you like to bike, how great is it to plan out a long, multi-day trip? How much would an architect like to take a crack and designing a whole neighborhood. Short pieces have their own beauty and their own discipline, but I think everyone wants to have a go at something that lets them build more depth, to really get into a thing and explore what it is. And I should like to see what happens if I go on long enough to create a book, to explore sides and undersides and flipsides of something I really care about.
I'll need to bring my brain around to the place where that can get going.
(Regardless of anything else, we were unanimous that George is adorable.)
The ongoing saga of my glasses...
Way back in the spring, I decided I need a new pair of glasses. While I loved what I had, the frames were showing their age and the lenses were getting visibly scratched. So when May rolled around and my usual store was holding a 50% off sale, I went in for an appointment. My mom helped me find some great frames, and I ordered the lenses.
But I didn't realize when I ordered the cheaper lenses this time, that I'd become dependent on the wider range of vision afforded by the fancy-schmancy material used in my last pair. After a week of being plagued by headaches, I brought the lenses in and requested the better ones, offering to pay the difference. So that was my fault.
The new ones came in a week later. After I got them in the frames, I wandered around for a bit and suddenly realized that there was a patch of distortion running vertically across the right lens. Of all the lenses I've had I'd never seen that before. So I brought them back to the store and showed the saleswoman, who after some squinting, apologized that I had a "wave" in the lense, which really should have been caught, and they would replace it for free. So that was a quality control issue.
A few weeks ago, I noticed some odd abrasions on the (new) right lens, which looked like dirt at first, but which would not come off. Last week, I took them in again and showed the salesperson, who said that something must have scratched through the antiglare coating and allowed air or oil underneath. I had never heard of such a thing. It seemed especially odd since a) this is my fourth pair to have antiglare coating, and b) the left lens was fine, and I usually clean both lenses at once with the same cloth (t-shirt, towel, silk bathrobe...). But for a $30 copay, they were willing to replace the lens. (Well, $30 for one or both, so I said "why not?" and ordered both.)
So I went in today to get the new lenses. I dropped off my glasses and went to wander the mall (wearing my old ones). But when I went to pick up them up, all finished, the technician came out looking very, very sheepish. She'd set the pressure test too high by accident and cracked a lens. Guess which one?
They have reordered the lens. It should be in next week. But honestly, I have been wearing glasses since I was six years old and I have never had this much trouble with a single pair of lenses!
So it's been about a month since I finished the Weekly Thinky Thoughts. Which was awesome, even with the ones that didn't go well. It was perfectly tailored for me: I've always been good at essays, but haven't finished anything longer, and I could do any topic I liked. But I harbor the desire to be published. (Well, who doesn't?) You need a book for that. I mean, I suppose there's magazines. But a book is a good next step.
But if I want to do a book, I'm going to need a schedule. With or without my new meds, I know and love schedules. They've kept me sane for so long. A topic to start, and a schedule, and long enough time chewing away at both - even if I don't get a book, I should get something interesting...
I get what Tolkien meant when he wrote that The Lord of the Rings was the chance for "a tale-teller to try his hand at a really long story that would hold the attention of readers, amuse them, delight them, and at times maybe excite them or deeply move them." I think most people feel that way about something they really love doing. If you like to bike, how great is it to plan out a long, multi-day trip? How much would an architect like to take a crack and designing a whole neighborhood. Short pieces have their own beauty and their own discipline, but I think everyone wants to have a go at something that lets them build more depth, to really get into a thing and explore what it is. And I should like to see what happens if I go on long enough to create a book, to explore sides and undersides and flipsides of something I really care about.
I'll need to bring my brain around to the place where that can get going.