Not really sure what to write about today.

Oh right, this is supposed to be a diary at least part of the time.

I will tell you what happened to me today, then. Brace yourself, because you will barely be able to contain your excitement : I went to see the optometrist!

I had not been to see one for at least five years, maybe more, which is very naughty of me. Just as a person with glasses, I should go every other year.

But as a diabetic, I should be going at least once a year, preferably twice. Diabetes can do very nasty things to your eyes, and they can sneak up on you, so I should not have left it so long.

As it was, I only went because my eyes have been getting really, really tired lately and I was worried that this meant that my eyes were growing weaker with age and I needed a stronger prescription.

So I set my browser to stun find me an optometrist who was close to me and was not Pacific Eye Doctors.

Pacific Eye Doctors are the people who sold me my current glasses and the last people to do a comprehensive eye exam on me, and I had a very bad experience there. The two ladies in charge were very patronizing and condescending to me once, specifically after they found out I was on social assistance.

The female optometrist really talked down to me like I was some kind of delicate idiot. Her associate, the one who did the selling of the glasses and frames bit, did not know her product at all, and when she found out I was on social assistance, she heaved a big sigh and said “I guess we probably have something for you in the back… ” then disconsolately went into the back and came back and dropped a plastic container with a bunch of frames in it in front of me and said “I guess these are the ones you can have” like I was asking her for a handout and she was very reluctantly giving me one.

Women are merciless to losers.

So I swore I would never ever ever set foot in that goddamned place again. This time, I let my virtual fingers do the walking and found a place not too far from here called The Eye Station (what a boring name!) and made an appointment with them for 10:30 am, this morning.

I chose this week and this day because my therapist is away this week. Normally I have an appointment with my shrink every Thursday at 9 am, but this week, he’s off. So it made sense to make the appointment near the usual time. Just swap one kind of medical appointment for another.

Joe drove me to the place, and the first thing that happened was I got some very bad news. Apparently, the province only pays for half of the examination fee now (thanks, Liberals!) and so I had to shell out $40 for the appointment.

I was so proud and happy that I still had $33 left from last month when I cashed this month’s check, and that wiped it out right then and there. Fuck.

Hell, I am down 7 bucks. It really feels like the Universe is conspiring to make sure I never, ever get ahead in life.

Oh well, my birthday (the big 4 0) is next month on the 19th, so I will get some money then.

Anyhow, financial disaster aside, everything went fairly smoothly. There was the usual Three Degrees of waiting for any doctor :

1) Waiting in the waiting room
2) Waiting in the examination room
and 3) Actually seeing the doctor.

But I am fairly used to that, although for the life of me, I never can remember to bring along something to read. That would make the time go faster.

The optometrist was quite pleasant and smoothly efficient, which I appreciated. If I had to choose between aloof and efficient and friendly but sloppy, I will take aloof and efficient every time.

After all, this is my optometrist, not my therapist. I am not looking to make friends with him. I want to know if diabetes is destroying my eyes!

I’m always friendly, mind you, and polite. Anyhow.

So, no diabetes eye rot, or as it’s properly known, diabetic retinopathy.

Feel free to read the Wiki article. I will not. I read the first paragraph and it was freaking me out. My dormant hypochondria does not need that kind of fuel.

All I need to know is : I don’t have it. Yay!

And no other stuff either. The optometrist told me that my eyes seems fine but that if I wanted to cut down on the eye strain, he could prescribe some anti-fatigue lenses for me.

That sounds like awesomeness to me. I will probably have my new glasses by this time next week. With new frames and everything. The new frames will even be “easy clip” compatible, meaning I can get those magnetic clip-on sunglasses glasses if I want.

What I really want is some sort of anti-glare filter. I don’t have trouble in the summer with overall brightness but glare off shiny things can really fuck me up. For some reason, my eyes just don’t recover from being dazzled by glare as fast as is the norm.

So if I could get some polarized anti-glare clip-ons, that would be kickass.

Oh, and speaking of glare, of course the optometrist had to give me the “instant stoner” pupil dilating eye drops. They burned like a bitch for about ten seconds afterwards, too. Ouch.

After that, though, like every other time I have done the EYES WIDE OPEN business, nothing looked very different at all…. until I stepped outside into the sunlight.

Then things were VERY VERY BRIGHT. It was a good thing I had Joe to drive me home. Negotiating the bus system when the only safe places for your eyes are down on the ground or up in the sky would be neither easy nor fun.

Thus endeth my optical adventures.

But remember kids, tomorrow is… SCIENCE!