I turn 38 next month. I started wearing glasses when I was 11, after my teacher noticed me leaning forward and squinting to see words written on the blackboard, even though I sat in the front row. For all of those years, with slight changes for fashion, I’ve worn essentially the same style of glasses- simple, rounded frames, with a decent amount of lens below and outside the eyes for peripheral vision. The last time I replaced them, the optometrist called me old fashioned. This, I assumed, was her attempt at customer service.
This week, however, I replaced my scratched, wobbly and ailing visual aids, and discovered that the style I have worn for 27 years is no longer available. They don’t make ’em no more. Now that’s old fashioned. I had to strike out into new ocular territory. Suddenly, half an hour was added to my shopping trip. I had to actually look at what was on the shelves.
If I can quote Randy ‘Macho man’ Savage, and I think I can: Oooooh, trep-iDATIOUS is the word.
Anyway, down below is a picture of the pair that Lyn and the optometrist decided suits me best: half-frame sort of trapezoidy lensed in a couple of shades of dark grey. A new pair of glasses changes the look of your face- it covers different areas, highlights others. People tend to see the glasses rather than the general layout of the face behind them. A new style of glasses does the same, only more so. I knew I was overweight (I mean, duh), but to me, this pair shows up just how fat my face is. There’s less to hide behind, more left open. A new style of glasses, and it’s changed the nature of my face, and that’s an odd feeling. Erin is convinced that my eyebrows are darker, for example. But they’re a permanent fixture now: lighter than my old pair, stronger, and much clearer. That alone is an improvement
Now all I need to do is lose 50 kilos from my head……

Now you see why Michael T Weiss is so upset…
I can identify. It seems like every time I’ve bought new glasses since I was fifteen, the style I’ve owned has been relegated to the no-longer-produced column. It always takes a while to get used to the strange new mirror person.>>Co-incidentally, I also need to lose fifty kilos from my head ๐
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100 kilograms of spare head fat. What <>couldn’t<> we do with that? ๐
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Very noice Lee.>>Know what you mean on changing the glasses. It changes how people look at you (they give that puzzled “what's different” 10 yard stare).>>I only started wearing mine when I hit 20 & realised I couldn't see the bus coming ๐ฎ I hated my wedding photos with my glasses on. Just as I met my other half I changed to frame-less types. Not due to fashion but due to wanting the absolute lightest & not touching my face in BrisVegas heat reasoning. They've been great but boy did I get comments (cause no hiding behind them).>>I think I could lose 100kg off my head all on my own…….
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Yay on the new glasses thing. While I was putting together a photo slideshow for Conflux, it came to my attention just how much those old glasses of yours didn’t suit you. The new ones are a big improvement. Of course, its gonna be a drag having hordes of semi-naked women chasing you down the street every time you leave the house, but I expect you’ll get used to it over time.
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Cat he lives in Perth. That sort of thing is normal over there.>>Or did you mean straight women?
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Well, that confirms it: I am now officially the only person in the <>world<> who didn’t hate my old glasses. Sigh.>><>its gonna be a drag having hordes of semi-naked women chasing you down the street every time you leave the house, but I expect you’ll get used to it over time<>>>Oh, I have ๐
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Straight woman don’t chase me, not without sticks, anyway…..
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straight… bent… man, you guys are *so* fussy!
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Oh yeah, like you can talk with your “warm/no rigor mortis” requirements……
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I preferred your old glasses, but I really don’t mind if you’re going for the Sarah Palin look ๐
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Well, I was going to go for the Obama look, but I just can't pull off wide-eyed naive optimism >:)
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just so long as you steer clear of the McCain look:>>http://likeithateit.net/?p=691
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