I've been wearing glasses since ...oh...maybe 3^rd grade. Basically all my conscious life. My eyesight went downhill like an olympic ski jumper that missed the ramp entirely. Before middle school, I was in full on Coke bottles. To this day, without correction, I can't read 12pt type unless it's about 4 inches from my face. Styles being what they were in the early 80s, not only were my glasses thick, but they were tall and wide and the frames were thick plastic. Yeah baby, nothing but the best for me! Contact lenses were becoming more available and cost efficient about the time I moved into middle school. I'm sure permanent psychological scarring still abounds, but at that time, I was able to redeem some inkling of self esteem. Before long, disposables were available and then extended wear. I made the switch as soon as I was able, and I dumped my glasses. After all, why would I ever want to wear them again? From then on I've lived the happy illusion that I was just like normal seeing people: waking up, going about my day, and going to bed again, not thinking once about the fact that I'm practically blind. Then came college where my vision impairment came off sabbatical and took a turn for the complex. Astigmatism. Sorry old chap, contacts can't correct an astigmatism. They couldn't then, anyway. So I had to get glasses again. The blow was softer because I didn't have to wear them except for reading or computer work, and even then, only if I felt I needed them. Besides, they weren't the Coke bottle behemoths of my youth. They were thin, light and hip looking. Studious, even. Well as time passed I seemed to need them more and more, and when I got a job as a programmer, that meant 8 hours a day in front of the computer. At least they were hip. In 1995, anyway. Toric lenses came out which used a ballast to ensure a proper axis on the eye, making them capable of correcting an astigmatism. Hurray! Back to two eyes again! Except when I tried torics they twisted on my eyeball every time I blinked. They always settled back to their proper axis, but this meant every time I blinked my correction would be wrong for a second while a thin object slithered its way around on my eyeball. I couldn't get over this and went back to disposables. Also, they were daily wear only, so I would have had to take them out every day. I'll stick with the glasses, thanks.

I was a 27 year old wizard wannabe

I'm not your typical craven fan of the Harry Potter series. In fact, I'm not much a fan at all. I don't dislike the series, it's just not my bag. However, the young protagonist did happen to have one thing in common with me: his glasses.*Well, that and super powers Though mine were thin metal rims and were never broken in two and magically repaired, they did share that same round shape. Fan frenzy being what it is, simple geometric similarity was enough. I wore Harry Potter glasses. God help me. Styles change. That much is common sense. I accepted that my rims had pretty much gone out of style, and beyond that, I was nearing 30. The "studious" look wasn't really me any more. I dealt with the Harry Potter issue by simply never wearing them in public. Jokes get old fast at work*especially if you help them get old so I was reasonably safe. I still wanted new glasses, but now some other factors were at play.

• I didn't have a lot of money
• There was nothing functionally wrong with my glasses
• I hadn't owned a pair of fully corrective glasses for nearly 15 years
• My eyes hadn't been exposed to much oxygen for said years

I*Heidi really figured it'd be a good idea to have fully corrective glasses to give my eyes a break from time to time. Really, I'm not sure what that means except that it would be more convenient for me should I suddenly feel a need to go swimming. I don't do a lot of swimming. So I guess it's the oxygen. It must be, cause it sure as hell isn't the convenience. Glasses are a pain, albeit a minor one. So today, Heidi and I went and got two new pairs of glasses for me. One set of full correction, and one to replace my Potter specs. The full correction are on order and will show up in a week or so. I'm wearing the hip (circa 2005) and distinctly non-Potteresque astigmatism correcting lenses right now. I think they're giving me a headache. Where did I put my old glasses?