New Sight

My last notable accomplishment of 2014 was to make it to the optometrist before my annual vision benefit ran out.  I have a pair of glasses I wear occasionally, but I thought, since I didn't need new frames, I should get some contact lenses. I was surprised to find out that I have grown about a point more nearsighted in each eye...so I actually probably will need new glasses now--but we were already going down the contact lens road, so that's what I got.

I tried on a few different brands of contact lenses--which I guess were all super-premium, because in the exam room the doctor said they were all the same price, which he wasn't sure of, we could talk about that in the other room, and in the other room, once all discussion was over, the "same price" was appalling and more than a hundred dollars more per 3-month supply than others in the case.  I had liked my experience up until then, as the doctor was very friendly and knowledgeable, but in the "other room" he and his assistant also informed me for the first time that because I was a new patient, they were obligated to do an eye exam, and this was separate from the contact lens fitting--not in terms of occurrence, but in terms of billing. I walked out of the shop $250 lighter despite my coverage, though they pointed out, delightedly, that I had "saved more than I was spending."  Maybe I should have anticipated this when I chose an optometry center with "Beverly Hills" as part of it's name.

That said, having the lenses is kind of amazing.  I guess everyone always notes that the leaves on the trees look so distinct...but it is always something I notice.  Also, street signs!  Driving is a different and more pleasurable experience.

The last time I wore contacts--in my youth, pre-Lasik surgery, I wore rigid lenses...so the soft lens thing is also remarkable.  It's like putting a little curved piece of Saran-wrap on your eye--and once there, it's truly invisible and largely unnoticeable in terms of feel.

A downside is that unlike the last time I had lenses, I am now old--and seeing far away means I have a hard time adjusting to seeing up close.  For some reason, I thought that wouldn't happen to me...because I'm magical I guess...but not so.  I will be needing some reading glasses.  Which the doctor (not a big surprise here) recommends I don't but from the drug store, as that could damage my eyes with long term use. Is this true?

Another downside thus far is that I don't seem to be so good at removing the lenses.  They are so invisible, they are difficult to find, and almost impossible to get hold of with short-nailed fingers (I actually resorted to tweezers tonight to get them out). I usually succeed by getting it to wrinkle up on my eye enough to see so I can pull it out,  where upon I can't help thinking that it looks and feels like a very tiny used condom.

All that said though, seeing without glasses is super-cool.  It crosses my mind that I might even play tennis again someday.

Related articles

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Under Construction

This blog is going to look pretty funky for a few days--or maybe weeks or months.  I'm in the process of trying to build a website around the blog, which seems like a good idea--but I'm not exactly sure how.  So I'll be experimenting with the whole thing, and hopefully not deleting seven years' worth of blog posts in the process!

 It's been on my list to have a writer's website for awhile, but it came to a head recently. As I've mentioned, I  have this staged reading coming up...

(Wait--I need to insert an announcement here:

MPW Stage and Screen Festival
Staged Readings of Three One Acts
APRIL 7th
7PM
ELECTRIC LODGE
1416 Electric Avenue
Venice, CA 90291

Note that if I had an "events" section or page it would be there, but I don't, so it's not...yet)

I have this reading coming up, and the director asked me, "do you have any actors you want to recommend?"

There was a time, when I belonged to small a theater company here in LA, that I would have had twenty actors I had worked with directly and would love to use.  Nowadays, I have some friends, and friends of friends, who are actors.  They are not "Wow, I know this person would be absolutely perfect."  They're more like, "I think they could be good--they seem the right type, and speak in complete sentences at parties."  But I haven't worked with them.  Also, I don't know the director very well,  he may have actors that he works with and really likes working with already, which, in these circumstances, seem ideal. So, basically, I have a small group of folks that I'd like to have the opportunity, if there are some openings, but I'm not ready to be solely responsible for casting them.  In this town, that happens A LOT. 

In this case my thought was, "I'll send their websites to said director. Then he can look at their headshots and reels, evaluate their training, experience etc"

The trouble was NONE of them had a website.  I ended up sending pictures from Facebook, IMDB links (one had a link with no picture) or their bios from posted play or film sites.  I still put them out there, but it was harder, and they don't look as serious.  

And I have to wonder, is that happening to me?  I doubt I'm missing out on a feature film assignment, but I meet a lot of people who have projects.  If they happen to idly think of me, am I making it easier for them to give me an opportunity, or mention me to someone else who might?

Not so much.

So it's time for a website--and as loyal blog readers, you'll get to witness its growing pains!

Goodbye Google Reader

I'm not just a writer of blog posts, I'm a reader.  You know how (some) folks say that you should read more than you write?  For the most part, that just doesn't happen?  When it comes to essays, short stories, screenplays, and my new-found interest, poetry, the ratio of write-to-read hours is vastly skewed toward the writing. It's a flaw,  but since there are more deadlines for writing than reading, and since even though the chances of being paid for anything I write is miniscule, the chances of being paid for reading is none, it seems likely not to be remedied soon.  It is possible, however, that I actually read as many blog posts as I write--if not more. There are two reasons for this:

1) The bar is pretty low, since I am a sporadic blog-poster.

2) The existence of Google Reader.
Reader is an awesome feed with an easy link from my Gmail page.  After I check my mail, I can give it a click and check my list of blogs.  When someone has updated, it shows up in bold, if not, it doesn't.  It shows me how many posts I have not yet read.  In this way, it's easy to keep up with other sporadic bloggers.  I don't have to check directly everyday, get frustrated, and eventually give up, only to miss a post when it appears.  It's awesome.

And it's going away.  The last time I clicked over to my Reader, I received a message that Google was "retiring" Google Reader come July,  And today, when I went up to my menu, the link to the reader page was gone.  You can still get to it, but it's harder.  So check out is in July--but apparently the maid is going to keep knocking, calling "housekeeping" every half-hour until we decide to leave earlier.

So I'll be transitioning, probably to one of the products described in this article. Transitions of any sort are not my favorite, because they usually involve having to make decisions about what to toss and what to keep.  And I have some blogs on my list that I've kept for awhile that are pretty much defunct, but I live in hope regardless.  Jane Espensen might  decide to start posting again, right?  And the same goes for many of my friends who began blogging at the same time I did.  I don't like to give up...but it's probably time to start letting go.

iPhone

I am writing this post from my new iphone. Will this ability increase my posting frequency? TBD. Will it decrease the quality of my posts? Also TBD but from this example it seems likely.

Tweets I Never Sent

I was going to tweet this morning--not like the early bird that catches the worm, but on Twitter, but then, as I was punching my pithy yet profound thoughts into my Blackberry, the a message popped up suggesting that I upgrade to the new improved Twitter. I thought--hell, why not? What else am I doing on the bus? I have time to upgrade AND tweet, and I'll be all current with the technology and shit.

This was not true, however. Upgrading literally took half of one bus trip and all of the other, and most of the walk to work, and I'll tell ya, these days, there is no time to be tweeting at work.

So what I was about to say, before I was interrupted, was that today I saw the bus-driver-who-never-smiles...smile.

Since this is a different venue from Twitter, I think I'll elaborate, and say that the driver of the bus that arrives at my stop at 8:08 AM, which, despite my best efforts, is the bus I end up on most frequently, never smiles. She also never talks, and pretty much avoids eye contact. It's not a spaced out vibe. It's a "Honey, I know you're there, doesn't mean I have to look at you" vibe.

Each morning I get on the bus, usually out of breath from having run for a block alongside it to the stop, which I know she must see. I'm not running behind the bus, I'm racing it to the stop, since the only place it can stop is at the stop, and then there's no waiting for some pedestrian just because she's running and waving her arms. But whatever. Each morning I pay, with my TAP card--she doesn't take kindly to people who have to count their change at the pay stand. Each morning I say something like "hi" or "good morning." She never answers--just looks straight ahead. One say I said, "I like your bracelet."

She stopped wearing jewelry.

Today though, at a stop light, I looked at her face in the rearview mirror, and she was SMILING. Teeth were showing. And then she was waving, looking in a direction that was not straight ahead even. I craned my head to look out the window as we drove away. It was a toddler, waving.

The busdriver caught me catching her smiling in the mirror and she looked pissed. She looked straight ahead again.

But a few minutes later, two kids and their mom got off the bus, using the front doors. SHE SMILED AT THEM, TOO.

She likes kids, apparently. Enough to smile at them.

Not much to do with this information though.

Except maybe tweet it.

Tech Withdrawal

March 4, 2011

I’m pre-writing this offline At the LAX airport. The guy next to me has a Blackberry like mine and it keeps making that little “da-dum” sound that says you have a text.

I’m so jealous.

Because my phone won’t work in Costa Rica, it seemed wiser to leave it at home for the trip, but now, for these few hours at the airport, I feel really un-armed. Plus, since I remembered that I now use my phone as a pocket watch, which means that walking to my gate, I had no idea how much time I had to spare. Here at the gate, I have my laptop out, but no internet access. I keep thinking of little question I need to google, tasks that I that require online access, and emails and calls I haven’t returned.

One of the online tasks waiting for me once I am again connected will be lengthy online job application. Wednesday night a friend from FSU wrote me about an admin assistant job at USC (NOT in the film department). If her boss liked me, they would be willing to wait for me until after graduation in May! It’s as an admin assistant at USC (NOT in the film department). We had an interview yesterday, where I felt a little over-agitated, since that’s the state I live in twenty-four hours before traveling, and probably also overly honest about my doubts, etc. because life transitions—like moving from student to someone with a full time job—are difficult for me. I like lots of time to plan and think and absorb, but somehow opportunities never seem to happen like that. It was either better that I thought though, or my friend really has sway with her boss, because despite any self-sabotage on my part, at the end of the interview he still seemed amenable to hiring me if I can jump through the administrative hoops ASAP.

They’re calling our flight. Off I go.

Why I Don't Want to Be Your Facebook Friend

This post appears here because it is 448 characters too long to be a status post on Facebook.

Freemuse World Forum wants to be my friend. While I am totally pro "free musical expression," I do not want to be their "friend." I would happily be their "fan."

Is it too rigid in this day and age to want to limit my "friends" to actual people? Is it cynical to think that an organization, a book, a pen name, or a mascot invented to promote an album does not really possess the ability to be my friend--even in the FB sense of the word, and is really just a ploy to gather my support in spreading awareness of said entity's existence?

Which-I am happy to do. I will happily "like" you, if you are a good cause, or one affiliated to a family member or acquaintance. I will "fan" you. If you show up on a status, invite or note auspiced by similar family member or acquaintance, I may well vote for you, watch your video or in some other way lend my support. But if you are not an individual (preferably human though I could see making rare exceptions for particular canines, or possibly one of those elephants who paints and can go on FB using a computer with very overlarge keys) who exists in the physical world, I do not want to be your "friend."

New Toy

Having made a little cash recently, it occurred to me, I could get a new MP3 player. It would revolutionize my workout--nay, my life! I would lift weights while listening to audio books, I'd be more likely to take long walks! All I was sure of was that I wanted to my player to "clip" as opposed to needing a carrier of some sort. (We had a little episode earlier this year, where Paul's brand new Christmas nano tragically fell into the treadmill at the gym, never to be seen again). As a Mac-user, I looked at iPods, but the nano was more than I wanted to spend, and the shuffle has all it's controls attached the earbuds--so if you lose or break the earbuds, it is a fifty-dollar tie-clip, until you spend an additional $30 on new earbuds. "Extra" money like this upsets me. Then I read this article comparing the iPod shuffle to the Sansa Clip.

I ordered the Clip. I waited with bated breath for a few days before realizing that ONTRAC, the shipping company, had somehow misplaced it. No worries, Amazon sent me another. Today it arrived. It's cute. It's red (okay, really more of a maroon). I'm excited.

Assimilation of the new technology has not been without hiccup.

First I had to extricate the clip from its molded plastic prison.
Then there was panic after I inserted the mini sized software disc into the disc drive of my laptop. DON'T DO THIS. After an unsuccessful attempt to nudge it out with a business card, I resorted to shaking my computer. It worked, but it wasn't fun.



Finally, after reading some online forums where people claim to have had luck with just plugging it in, I decided to test it. I downloaded my friend Jeff's weekly podcast into the podcast folder. And dragged two audiobooks out of iTunes into the Audio Books folder. The podcast read fine, but the Clip didn't recognize the audiobooks--which are in aa format. I haven't tried music yet. I'm pretty sure I need to translate my Itunes from MP4s to MP3s, and probably do something similar to the books. But for the moment, I have a podcast, and the Clip has an FM radio, so I'm sure that will get me to the grocery store and back and I can do more research tomorrow.

That time of year again

In my more zen moments I always think I can, through self-awareness avoid the ones like these: sick and stressed and extremely insecure about my abilities to achieve the goals I set for myself.

I love that conversation in Joe Vs. the Volcano where Joe's boss is talking on the phone, saying "I know he can get the job, but can he do the job?....I'm not arguing that with you, I know he can get the job. But can he do the job?"

Right now there is an internship that I would like. I've revamped my resume (i.e. cut it down by two pages and tried to emphasize admin). But I haven't called. Why not? What's the worst that can happen, they'll say no? No, i'm more worried they'll say yes, and where will I find the time to give them. On an energetic, healthy day, no problem. On days like today, when I wake up sore, with gummy eyes and a desire to cry, the idea of sacrificing a day of writing time and still making my deadlines seems overwhelming.

I try to remember when being sick was just being sick. You just went on with your life, except sick. It's not like that now. Waking up sick is like waking up with a bowling ball of anxiety in my heart. And I know I probably say this every time I blog when I'm sick, it's a cancer survivor thing, blah blah. If I get sick twice in three months, I think my cancer is coming back. If it takes longer than a week to recover, same thing. I start imagining in the back of my mind about how I will handle various obligations when I get the diagnosis. I buy the insurance on my classes every term. I'm making a production book for script list so that if I ever had to hand it off, everything would be there. And at some level, I think that's why I'll put off the call about the internship--because a cold=undiagnosed cancer, and I'm just going to have to quit, and I hate quitting? Wow, that's all pretty messed up.

Oh, and on a completely different note. I still really want a Kindle. The want has not subsided. I'm thinking of ordering one now.