After eight years I finally got some new glasses.

I first started wearing glasses in grade 8 and I have had the same prescription ever since! Like all glasses at the time, they were huge. They were so big they often pressed into my cheeks when I smiled. I kept those glasses for a very long time and I liked them so much that after several years I bought new ones that were basically the same style. Thats me, always keeping up with the latest fashion.

When I was in university I went to a new, smaller style of glasses (the ones pictured on the left). They are still huge by today’s standards, but in 1990 they were “in”. In 1999 I again purchased new, even smaller glasses (middle picture). These ones started to affect my vision in an irritating way as the bottom of the frames were in my field of view. I soon got used to it and just tipped my head down some to see things that were lower. Last month I got a new set of glasses, and again, they are smaller still.

Now I really notice the small size. The bottom of the frame is right in the comfortable zone for reading a book, looking at my keyboard, seeing food on my plate, etc. The doctor told me that I likely will never need bifocals, but my newest glasses kinda feel like that anyway. I find myself either peering down below my glasses or tipping my head down lots more, so much so that my neck is actually getting sore. From a distance I probably appear like someone struggling with bifocals.

I recently found my 17 year old glasses and tried them on. The prescription is the same, so I can see just fine. It was kind of like an IMAX theater where the screen takes up all your field of view.. life on the big screen without any borders or frames to infringe my vision. By comparison, my last pair are like watching life on a wide screen TV. Still comfortable and acceptable, but much smaller. In contrast, my newest glasses are kinda like watching a movie on an iPod.

Oh the trials of being a slave to fashion.