The blog commands me to write. Actually, Mike is always bothering me, and since I’ve had this post planned for a while, I figured I’d finally put it down. Only problem is I’ve forgotten what I was going to write about, so this might turn out a bit haphazard

I’ve blogged about my eyes before, but unless you have an eye problem yourself it seems people don’t really understand how debilitating it can be. I often used to get asked if I can see where I’m going when I take my glasses off…

I have an astigmatism in both eyes (and as far as I know, a measure of myopia as well), so what this really means is I cannot focus properly. My left eye is really bad; with my glasses off, what I basically see with my left eye is shapes, shades and colours. I am completely unable to distinguish textures, intricate details, and defined edges. I cannot read with my left eye, and even with my glasses on, it’s an absolute chore.

Fortunately my right eye is much better and compensates for everything. Unfortunately my right eye is also not good enough. As a simple example of something I can’t do: I can’t read road signs. I always have to memorise where I’m going, and how to get there, otherwise I’ll completely miss the road.

Another point, a lot of people seem to believe glasses are 100% corrective. Even with my new prescription I’m not even close to 20/20 vision. I can’t distinguish faces at a certain distance, so if I ignore you, or don’t wave back (I don’t recognise you, therefore you’re not waving at me), don’t take it personally, this is especially pronounced at night.

Night driving is a pain, and I’m only comfortable driving roads that I know extremely well. In daylight I have very poor depth perception — thanks to my exceptionally poor left eye, depth perception requires two — at night, it’s almost non-existant. Since I can’t tell how far away a car is (they could be 10m or 100m for all I know) or how fast it is travelling, I have to use lots of visual markers. This involves figuring out what is and isn’t illuminated by oncoming vehicles’ headlights and then using distances I already know to judge speed and distance.

Another thing I struggle with: seeing red on green and vice versa. This is a common problem with many people, for me, with the correct shades and lighting, the less dominant colour will just dissapear.

That’s it for the rambling post. This was mostly as a precursor to the following post regarding my xbox. So what do you see?