Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "After having spent years in striving to be accurate, we must spend as many more in discovering when and how to be inaccurate." - Sanuel Butler

Reading: Jane Langton, Murder At Monticello

Listening to: The Capitol Steps, Stand By Your Dan

Decluttering accomplishments: a little bit of household paperwork but I am way behind

14 March 2002 - Much Depends On Socks

I realize there is probably nothing more boring than people writing about their health, but I feel like I dodged a couple of bullets this week. In a rare adult moment a month or so ago, I made a couple of long overdue appointments. Eye exams hold a particular terror for me, though I can't say just what it is that scares me about them. Probably it has to do with my long-standing fear that I will suddenly go blind. When I was a child, I would lie in bed for what felt like hours every night, opening each eye in turn to make sure I could still see out of it. I suspect this was related to having read something about Helen Keller and Annie Sullivan at too impressionable an age. But, whatever the reason, it meant that I was not a well-rested child. My fantasies about various scraping branches and odd shaped shadows didn't help either, but that's another story.

The upshot is that, even though I know full well I should get my eyes examined every year, I put it off for ages. I couldn't even remember the last time and, when I was asked, guessed at three years, but it was probably more like five. I know I've had my current eyeglasses since at least 1997, because I'm wearing them in my passport photo. Anyway, I was panicky over nothing as my prescription hadn't changed. And the optometrist said that my eyes are "extremely healthy." (Obviously, being blind as a bat without my glasses doesn't count as unhealthy to him!) I did get a copy of my prescription as I want new glasses for other reasons - like the fact that my current ones have their antireflective coatings wearing off. I also need to get someone to go glasses shopping with me since I can't see well enough to tell what I look like with any given frames. The digital camera may be a help here.

Incidentally and apropos of nothing, every optometrist I have ever been to has been extremely good looking. This one was no exception and I rarely find Asian men attractive. Do they kick all the ugly people out of optometry school? Or is it something that they put in the eyedrops they use to dilate your eyes? No, that can't be it - I saw him before the drops.

My eye exam was Monday afternoon and Wednesday was a long overdue dental appointment. I'm actually less phobic about dentistry than about other medical things, but that's not saying much. It had been on the order of two years since I'd been in, so I was sure that things would be bad. I don't really worry about my teeth, but I come from a long line of people with bad gums. Amazingly, the gum measurements were fine, except for one long-standing trouble spot, and even that had actually improved from the last time I was in.

I wanted to mention the one useful thing I've learned at work recently. Our meetings in Boulder last week were advertised as being "business casual" in dress. One of my colleagues came in on Monday wearing jeans and a sweater. When I commented that she looked very casual, she replied, "no, this is business casual. I'm wearing socks." I always have wondered about the difference and now I know.

I was also amused today by reading the ingredients in my lunch. I buy the sort of soups that you add boiling water to. Typically, I get "health food" varieties, of whatever brand is on sale. I'm not fussy, as long as they're reasonably low fat and not too salty. So I was eating Dr. McDougall's Tamale Pie and had to laugh when the ingredient list included polenta, masa harina, tortilla chips (with corn as their first ingredient) and dried vegetables, which included corn. No wonder I tell such corny jokes.