It's brutal out there, already

We've just concluded a brutal journey through a pre-Black Friday Eve shopping mall and then elbowed of our way through merely one aisle of the grocery store, a veritable hive of human frenzy that was even worse than Consumerism Central.

Thankfully I clearly saw only fragments of it all at the beginning, since our first stop was to pick up my new glasses, which the sales clerk bothered not to inform me would provide a vivid view of the world from approximately 3 percent of both lenses (something the optometry people call no-line "progressive" bifocals; I call it blindness). I also acquired prescription sunglasses, however, which did actually clarify things, although wearing them indoors, at night, converted my public appearance to that of a Sam Giancana.

Well, off to catch some evening news, with shades.

Comments

[shsavage]

I totally sympthize with you, PM. I absolutely could not wear no-line bifocals. I have to use two pairs of normal bifocals, one for reading/distance, and the other for reading/computer work.

[JTL]

I felt the same way initially, but your eyes train themselves where to look after a week or two. They don't work for some people, but I'm fine with them now. I suggest sticking with it for a little while.

Never thought this would be the topic of my first post here.

[Janicket]

Another vote for progressives -- once you learn how to use them, you should be fine.* I tried normal bifocals after starting with progressives, and the abrupt change was disequilibriating, so much so that I could not wear them.

Also, if they don't get any better after JTL's suggested break-in period, I would suggest having an optometrist check whether they've been made correctly for you. Sometimes their prescription is off, or the person who fit them didn't get the proper positioning of the fields of vision (did said person have you put on the glasses and stare straight ahead while s/he marked a dot on each lens?), and this will require redoing the offending lens(es).

*On preview, it strikes me how apropos this line is to President Obama.