I just returned from my eye exam @ Ossip. I don't have glaucoma yet, BUT my vision had not been correctly corrected. Heh. What I mean is… Apparently, all this time (about eight years) I've been wearing a prescription too strong for my eyes (given to me by one of those one hour places - Lenscrafters) and it has caused me headaches and eyestrain. Here I thought it was stress and staring at the computer all day that was causing me problems! I told the Ossip Doctor I had astigmatism as a kid. The last time I went to Lenscrafters, they told me they didn't see any and that I must have grown out of it. That sounded weird to me, but they know best, right? Wrong! The Ossip Doctor said I have A LOT of astigmatism and that I have *very very* steep corneas, which is unsual. (Hmmm… I probably couldn't wear contacts anyway then, eh?)
Gee, thanks a fucking lot for your incompetence Lenscrafters! I've made a promise I will NEVER go to a one hour place again for an eye evaluation. I'm pretty pissed at them. They don't know what they're doing and they rush you out so fast that mistakes, BIG errors, are made! Ossip has test machines I've never seen before, which I think provided more accuracy this time. I'll definitely go there from now on.
It has been strongly suggested that I go with the anti-glare/anti-reflective lenses because of my excessive computer use. As I've mentioned, that was what I wanted anyway, so yay, fashion and function :)
What has me down is the costs involved…
frames = $337. (I already bought these)
exam = $50. (paid today - insurance doesn't cover the special glaucoma screening I had to have since I'm high risk for it)
lenses = The eyedoctor quoted me $240. Walmart quoted me apprx $160.
Total cost will be: either about $627. or $547.

Shit, that's a hell of a lot of money! It might be longer than 3 weeks before I afford to do this. Bummer.

For those curious, my 'script is…
D.V. O.D. spherical -4.50, cylinder 1.75, axis 017.
O.S. spherical -4.50, cylinder 1.75, axis 178.
Not good. So, perhaps you can understand why I can't see a thing when I take these off :P

Key = Overall Finish / Band Name / Audience Votes / Judges Ranking

1st Place: Stereo Deluxe, 3422 points, (4)

2nd Place: Mantis, 3039 points, (1)

3rd Place: Jenn Cristy, 2548 points, (6)

4th Place: Emerson Rose, 2248 points, (3)

5th Place: Shadeland, 2199 points, (2)

6th Place: The Nancy School, 1966 points, (7)

7th Place: Rebuilt, 918 points, (5)

My votes were (you check your top 3): 1. Nancy School, 2. Stereo Deluxe, 3. Mantis

The Vogue sold out. They were turning people away because they were at capacity. I fervently wish they would start having local bands regularly again, so that news warms the cockles of my heart ;)

I love trying new things, and I guess I'm always on the lookout for miracle products… especially when it comes to intimate shaving needs. (Do I sound like a commercial yet?) I've found mens shaving supplies are more suited to that, erm, area. I'm guessing it is because their facial hair is coarse and we both are down below also :) When I saw a cream at the drugstore designed for head shaving, I couldn't resisit trying it on my nether regions. A quick glance at the ingredients and I felt safe doing so.
Got it home and broke the seal. (Although a necessity, seals annoy me, especially when there's a second one under the cap that don't discover until you realize nothing is coming out.) The bottle is weird… looks like a sports drink or something.*shrug* I couldn't get the nozzle on the cap to lift, so I just took the whole top off. Whoops, the pressure release caused a little of the cream to fling onto my hand. Eh, no biggie. This stuff is nice and slick. It doesn't take much of it. It is sort of the consistancy of a gel, but not goopy. It eventually foams after sitting on your skin for a while. (I can take or leave foam, personally.) It has a really subtle tingle (not painful, nice actually) while on your skin, then a bit of cooling effect after washing off. That makes me feel fresh and clean.
I've noticed that since I switched from using the Gilette Mach 3 to the Schick Quatro, I've been getting a much closer shave. I think I've sampled every razor on the market, and this one is by far the best yet. Coupled with the quick and easy glide from this cream, I'm impressed. No nicks. No bumps. The only draw back is the price- the cream is 6.99 a bottle. But to its credit, a little goes a long way, so it will last you. Razor blades are damn expensive these days too! But, ultimately, if I'm this smooth, it is worth it. :D

[Edit: I can't remember the name of it. I'll check when I get home and add it in.]

I'm sitting here after my bubblebath, still with a few flecks of glitter here and there, watching the rain streak down the pane and listening to it beat against the window. Despite the wine, I'm still too keyed up to sleep. Tomorrow is like the beginning of the weekend for me. I'm going to the Battle Of The Bands finals. I took Friday off so I could stay out late enough to catch Nancy School. I hope playing at 1am doesn't negatively impact the outcome for them. (I've gotta praise whomever decided to announce the time slots prior to the show though.) The singer is such a fucking great guy- one of the only friends I had in college. I'm so glad we connected again after all these years.
So, yeah, I've already decided how I'll cast my ballot… 1 - Nancy School, 2 - Stereo Deluxe (they really blew me away when I finally got around to seeing them… pleasant surprise), 3 - Mantis. I'm not drinking, even though I could just stagger home at any time since it's right next door. I have an eye exam the next day. Rolling in with bloodshot eyes would probably be a bad idea, heh. Btw, THANK YOU to those who've helped out with my glasses. They're going to be the best birthday present ever! You know I'm uncomfortable asking for things, so I wouldn't have mentioned it at all unless I really needed a helping hand (and I still feel weird about it :P). I truly appreciate every single, solitary cent (and so do my eyes *g*).
Still. not. tired. What to do? If I start coding at this hour, I'll get so involved that I'll stay up all night. I'm about to turn 28, you know, so I'm too old for that shit ;)
Oooh, I'll read for a while! I can't seem to get into this book, so it should put me to sleep soon.

I just heard the news that House Majority Leader Tom DeLay was indicted for his campaign finance scandal. I can't help but think that during my short time on earth, I've watched politicians gradually become more and more shady. (I have a feeling there's always been a little bit of that element there, but it seems to be getting worse. I don't know what's causing it… probably several things combined.) Have we come to simply accepting it as commonplace? I totally understand how that would make an eligible voter apathetic about voting, but I also believe it is now even MORE important to make sure you help choose the lesser of the evils for any office. A station I used to work for ran a public service announcement around election time. In it, a man used the “I'm only one person” as his excuse, then a woman, then another person, and another, until there was a stadium sized crowd of voices saying it. It had the desired impact on me. I wondered just how many 'I'm only one person's” could have swayed the results in the last election. For every one, there could be thousands…

Enough of that. On to shallow trivialities! If all goes as planned I'll purchase my new frames Thursday. I decided not to post the photos from Urbane Optical, because the shots we took are of the pairs I decided not to choose, heh. I have an eye exam Friday and I should be able to get the lenses filled in about 2 weeks! It could be 3 until I actually have them in my hands, depending on how long the lens crafters take. Gah, it seems so far off. I'm getting squirmy! :oP I have a hair appointment coming up shortly after that too, so I'll really be getting a new look! I had, um have, er had, uh have such great patience with people, but I can't stand waiting for stuff… maybe that stems from rarely having the means to treat myself to fun things? HA, nice segue to… lyke BUY ME A BIRTHDAY PRESENT roflez, lol, lmao, omg *snort* *snort*!!!11111111
<3 my sarcasm/cynicism. Seriously, you know where to find the link, if you want it. I don't have any plans to celebrate yet... boo to it falling on a Tuesday.

For the first time in literally _years_ I have plans for Halloween though! There's a rockin' show at a kickass divebar right across from my apartment. Score! (The jury's still out on my costume this year though.) If my fella's Ex ruins this night out too, I'm really going to fly off the handle. Wheeew, doggies! Thank < insert deity here > she's coming back from her business trip this weekend. I need some alone time [sans-kid] with my guy. It's been 2 weeks. *snarl*
I finished my Halloween layout. I imagine I'll slap it up Monday, then I can really devote some time to something else. K, back to work. (Sort of.) Here's hoping I closed all my tags properly! xo

There's a candy called Nips. The juvenile perv in me just has to titter every time I hear a commercial for them. Their latest slogan really gets me going: “Because when you love Nips, it shows.” I'm sitting here grinning. I can't help but picture what a commercial for actual nipples might be like…
- A man is panting and salavating profusely (think of, oh, a bulldog or something with slobbery jowls) at a woman's breasts. His eyes are popping out of his head like a cartoon character. She could be passing by on the street, in the park, in the grocery store, or he's plopped down in front of his computer breathless, drooling and bugging away at the web.
- Focus on a braless woman in a thin white tshirt. *water splashes her* Zoom in on her wet, stiff nipples. She twists her hair, bites her lip and giggles coyly.
I'm no marketing whiz, I know, but this imagery made my day go a little faster.

Some girls can never have enough pairs of shoes. Me? I can never have enough pairs of spectacles. I have six with prescription lenses and 3 plain clear plastic. When people ask me if I collect anything, I say glasses. (They usually think I mean shot glasses, heh.)
I've been getting cards in the mail urging me to get an eye exam. It has been about 3 or 4 years since my last- ACK! It is terribly important for me to keep up with it because Glaucoma runs in my family. My mothers is so bad she can't use drops to treat it anymore. She has a weird, uncomfortable medicated contact lense sort of thing she has to wear. Of course, they are very expensive and she's stopped filling her prescription for them. Consequently, she can hardly see without getting nose to nose with things. I'm almost as bad… I can't read up close or far away without my specs.
So, I've been saving up for new frames (and the required exam). I went to a store downtown (Urbane Optical on Mass Ave) that specializes in funky eyewear. The owner/operator looks like she stepped out of an episode of Ab Fab and there is an adorable poodle that mills about the shop. The place is a four-eyed girls' idea of heaven, let me tell you! I was in there a bit over a half hour trying things on. I finally narrowed it down to five or six frames, all of which seem to be by a British designer (fitting for the Anglophile in me, eh?). My friend snapped a few images with his camera phone. If I get a chance, I'll post them tonight. I know I'll like them so much that when my prescription expires, I'll want to refill the same pair, so it is like an investment, really.
I don't want price to be the deciding factor this time. It always has been :\ I've worn glasses since 3rd grade. My parents would refuse to spend over a certain amount on frames (and there were never any cool ones in their price range… they were all big and clunky) and I was always forced get the most basic lense package. When I got my first job, I gave my parents all of my first two paychecks so I could get some less embarrassing frames. Later, I started buying them in vintage shops and having my parents fill them elsewhere. It turned out to be cheaper than a brand new pair, so they were happy about that.
Now I'm on my own and its all up to me :P I've been skipping meals and paying my electric bills every other month to save up so I can spring for the anti-reflective/anti-glare lenses. I love the way I look in glasses, save the fact that you can't see my eyes and they are the window to the soul, you know ;) Seriously, they say so much about me and it irks me when no one can see them. I usually take my glasses off in photos for that very reason. It would be nice not to feel like I have to do that everytime.
I know, I know… they will be pretty pricey. I'm going to check out 3 more shops before I purchase anything just to be certain I'm getting the best deal. I look at it this way: They will be a functional improvement, and I *really want* them (more than anything I can think of right now and that's saying a lot).

If you've sent a gratuity or are planning to for my birthday (which is in 2 weeks), know that it will be going towards my spectacles and my eyesight is much appreciative :)

I hope to buy the frames this week and have the lenses put in 2 weeks later. Ideally, they'd be ready to wear in mid-October. All this ties in with something else I'm working on… sorry to be so vague. I'm not ready to unveil it just yet, but at the same time, I'm too excited not to make some cryptic mention of it. *EEEE!*

Mabel recently lost her husband. She had him cremated and brought his ashes home.

Picking up the urn that her dearly departed husband now resided in, Mabel poured his remains out on the counter…

She then started talking to him, and tracing her fingers in the ashes. Mabel said, “You know that fur coat you promised me, Irving, and never got?”

Mabel answered by saying, “Well, I bought it with the insurance money!”

She then said, “Irving, remember that new car you promised me and never got?”

Again, Mabel answered her question by saying, “Well, I bought it with the insurance money!”

Still tracing her finger through her husband's ashes, she said, “Irving, remember that blow job I promised and you never got? Well, here it comes…”

you learn something new every day, and today is no exception. I have a random bit of trivia. The phrase “mad as a hatter” originated in the 18th century when hat makers used mercury salts to produce fancy felt hats, which led them to develop twitches and tremors that made them appear demented to the casual observer.
The phrase 'Crazy Crackhead' may have been coined when a panhandler outside of The Melody Inn tried to sell me a ladder so he could get some change for the bus to get home. Or not. :)

Weekends are supposed to be rejuvenating, but I feel worse after this last one than I did going into it. (Note to self: You're not ignorant. You know not to combine things that are stimulants with things that are depressants. What does it take for you to learn your lesson?) I'm going to completely zone out tonight, so I won't be online. In the next few days I have to look for new glasses, get my shit down to storage (the mess is just about to start affecting my moods, so I know its getting critical because I usually don't give a fuck), pick up some housewares (I have some new ideas), and design 2 websites. I am thinking about wasting a couple of vacation days so I can just bum around all day. I need that. Gotta clear my head.