Self-Reliance

Anyone who knows me well can testify to my issues with relying on other people. I don't like having people pay for my things, I don't like help at work, and I absolutely detest taking my car to the garage if I think I can fix it myself. Doctors? No, no. No thank you.

This outright stubborn behavior probably stems from shitty parents and a lack of money growing up. Though the downsides are plenty, there are certain benefits. I can fix a decent amount of things, from VCR's to computers, gaming systems to engines, and clothes to furniture. I can change the air filters for my building(and often do). These are the skills that make me an excellent stage manager, and have helped me successfully navigate adulthood in my own apartment.

A couple weeks ago, I broke my glass of 10+ years. Though I tried to repair them, my efforts were in vain(Once something is too old, there's not much you can do). I hadn't been to an eye doctor since 5th grade, and I wasn't about to start now. I mean, if I was a rich girl, nanananananananana....

Luckily, years of needed quick nohow has resulted in superior Google skills. Within the hour, I had learned how to measure my eye strength(or lack thereof), and what that meant. I had to then translate that measurement into a perscription.

See, eye strength is measured by how well you can see objects about three feet away. There are websites that will reduce the text size with every click, and give you a number. I got 20/80. That didn't make any sense to me at all. So I tried another approach; I stumbled upon the word "diopter". A diopter is a "unit of the refractive error". Basically, it's the first number on a prescription that tells you how badly you see. It should be a positive number for farsightedness, and a negative one for nearsightedness. These numbers come in .25 increments. A diopter of -1.00 means you can see things a meter away clearly. -2.00 is half a meter. After measuring, I could see things slightly farther than half a meter: -1.75.

Luckily, I don't have any sort of astigmatism, and my eyes are evenly matched and regularly shaped. I only had to worry about that first number. My boy's mother suggested a site for eyeglasses. I wasn't sure if my science had been right, so I got the cheapest pair I could find. It took them about 2 weeks to get there, but boy did I miss driving.

I put them on, and they were perfect. Since this post is unreasonably long, I'll try to sum it up a little more succinctly. If you have insurance or money, and you can go to a doctor, please do. But if you stumble across something you can learn-how to change your own oil is a good start-do it! Remember, if the zombies come, you'll be that much more useful.