dark | Piss and Moan

One eyed travel

Posted on January 7, 2020 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Weird thing happened yesterday. Weird enough that I can count the number of times over the last 35 year it has happened on one hand. It was a fluke really, but it made me uncomfortable.

I have worn soft contacts for a long time, like since about the 5th grade. Having 30+ years of experience, I kind of “have seen it all” when it comes to these things, which is tough because I am pretty much as blind as a bat without them.

Anyway, yesterday they were kind of bugging me so I decided I would clean then in my cube here at work. No biggie. I had solution and a tissue. I proceeded to clean the contact for my left eye (the worst of my two eyes) and then put it back in. I took out the right eye, the best of the two, and proceeded to clean it. No problem….except that when I went to put the lens back into my eye, it was missing part of the lens. HUH?

I looked in my palm and sure enough there was a piece of he contact stuck to my palm, in the contact solution. Weird! These weren’t old contacts. They new as of 6 days ago, so they weren’t worn out or old or anything. Why did it tear? It’s a mystery to me.

So, blind in one eye and just over 1.5 hours of work to go. What do I do? It’s cold and rainy up here in the PNW, so I didn’t really want to drive home, half blind, in the rainy dark. So, I left work and headed home. I am glad I didn’t wait. It was hard to have an hour commute with one eye that is basically is useless – light and shapes is about it.

So, that is a new thing to consider that I hadn’t before. I need a spare set at work. Glasses isn’t an option since they are coke bottles and I don’t wear them in public. When I travel, at least for more than a couple days, I take an extra set just in case. I have never needed the extras, but this definitely has me thinking that I need to consider all my options when I am away from home now.

Ever had anything unexpected like this alter they way you think or behave?

Cold and wet

Posted on December 10, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by Andrew Haimerl on Pexels.com

OK, I am done with winter.

Particularly the cold and wet part of it.

The upper left corner of the US doesn’t get a lot of snow, at least on the coastal side of the mountains, but the rain seems to be endless. And the dark lasts forever, but not like Alaska dark forever. Just “I went to work and went home in the dark” forever.

Sheesh, we haven’t even made it to the winter solstice yet…

I.am.done.

Left in the dark

Posted on September 11, 2018 by backuphill

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

About that trip where I slept on the ground, in a tent, in a sleeping bag…

I also had to set up the tent in the dark, alone.

OK, so growing up, we were always setting up camping for family camping trips in the dark. It became a joke later as us kids got older, but all of us hated it growing up. And, it was always dad’s fault because he was always late getting home, which meant late leaving, which meant late arriving, which meant setting up in the dark.

So, as an adult out on my own, I always made it a point to leave early enough so as to not have to set up camp in the dark. I was pretty successful at getting it done! So much for being like my dad, right?

Well, I now know why dad was always late. His job – or in our case, our existence. He was a business owner and did everything. As the business grew, so did the work and the employees and everything else he was responsible for. So, of course he was always late.

Dad, I now understand.

But, I still hate setting up camp in the dark. Period.