October 22, 2004 - 11:03 AM

I Can See Clearly Now

The rain is gone. That was just what the polluted, haze-infested skies of Los Angeles needed: an enema by rain. It rained nearly non-stop from Monday through Wednesday, and then, gloriously, the blue broke through and the sunshine came with it and they had a party on our deluged town.

The previous few weeks, I'd noticed the brown fog that squats on the mountains that form the horizonlines around the Valley become denser, more entrenched, implacable. It crept across the landscape, tendrils slithering into the cities and wrapping around the tops of skyscrapers. Imagine some evil demon, rising up from the ocean, towering over Los Angeles; every bellowing breath he exhales from his cavernous nostrils billowing out noxious brimstone rings. And he does this everyday, so it just gets worse and worse, especially with an October heatwave that stagnates the air in its place.

Then the gods, fed up with this growing bruise over this particular spot of the earth, drop buckets of precipitation to wash it out. And now, it's so beautiful and clear. Maybe the sky is back to it's usual brilliant self, and my eyes were just dulled by the grey cloak that covered the area for almost a week. Maybe the contrast from overcast skies to razor-keen cerulean, which is such an infrequent experience here, made me appreciate the normal weather. As it is, I just want to make love to the sky every time I'm outside.

Err...

Part of the explanation as to why I'm seeing el cielo with such clarity is that I got new glasses. It's been 3 years since I last had my eyes checked, at which point, the opthamalogist gave me a prescription for weaker glasses, telling stupid-ol'-me that it would help my pupils relax, leading to better vision. What a crock. I should've been more adamant about getting a stronger prescription what with a)it being 6 years since I had received my then current prescription and b)it having been 3 years since I noticed that I was squinting and straining to see things in the distance clearly. It was noticeable when I'd go to a movie and have to adjust my glasses to get the right refraction distance to make out the details on the screen; or when I'd be at a concert, and have to squeeze my eyes to admire how cute the singer was; or when I'd ben driving and have to do some preemptive guessing about what that exit or street sign said because by the time I could read the names on it, I'd already passed it.

So, even though I don't have any medical or vision plan at the moment, I marched into my local lenscrafters a few weekends ago and signed up for an eye exam. You know, it's pretty hard to pick out new frames while your pupils are gradually dilating...you really need someone there to help you out. But that's what I did after the doctor administered the eye drops. She told me to go out to the waiting room and wait for 15 minutes for the drops to take full effect, and I decided to try out new frames. My 3-year-old frames have taken a beating, what with my constantly falling asleep while wearing them and finding them crushed under my body the next morning; the lenses were scratched up, too, and the hinge screws were very loose. Plus, the magnetic sunglass clip-ons that came with that pair had lasted about 7 months before I lost them on a rollercoaster ride at Magic Mountain.

The pair that I ended up choosing are similar in style, a little simpler, all black instead of the midnight-blue of the last pair, with clip-ons (woohoo!). They actually have a slight slant to them which perhaps accentuates my asian features...or makes me look like those old blue-haired ladies with 84 cats and bad posture.

While the new frame is nice, it's the new lenses that have me beyond joyous. I can see now! The doctor, after hearing my story, agreed that I needed a stronger script. It took a week for them to special order my lenses (really bad eyes=thick lenses=bad, so fancy thin, high-index lenses that are resistant to breaking and have anti-reflective coating require special ordering), and the waiting period was like the days before Christmas. But better, because the payoff had no subsequent post-opening-present letdown...the gift of clear sight didn't dissipate after a few minutes. It kept giving and giving and giving and continues giving to this day. Glory hallelujah for glasses that work.

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Random Thought : Anybody have any advice on attending Drawn Together's premiere party next week?

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