Monday, March 29, 2010

Big Bird!


This is Angel (I think), from the National Eagle Center. I love bird eyes.

When I had a parrot, it's eyes would turn bright orange when it got excited.

In other news, my eyes got checked today, and while not eagle quality, they're healthy and not overly dry (I've been focusing on drinking more water and staring at a computer less for the past couple of weeks, and they aren't bothering me now).

I always feel like a failure getting my eyes checked. Once my contacts are out, the tech sort of asks me, laughing, if I can see the letter on the wall. I can see a bright grey splotch. That's it. I could see that she had fingers, though, so at least there's that. And then there's the whole part about which is better, a or b. A or B. a or b. I find those really hard.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous4:46 PM

    Good news about the eyes!

    ReplyDelete
  2. When I had my eyes checked recently, I felt like the eye doc was harassing me. It was like being verbally abused. I mean, if there's very little difference between two things, then what am I supposed to do? She kept saying things like, "there HAS to be a difference. Blink a bunch of times and CON-CEN-TRATE." I, seriously, almost started crying at one point. It was the worst eye doc experience I've ever had. Thankfully, I won't have to go back for a good while.

    ReplyDelete
  3. good about the eyes. i don't like that "a or b" thing, either -- so when it's too close to really tell, i just pick one and move on, figuring that my eyes will just get used to whatever prescription happens.

    fie, your doc sounds AWFUL!

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnnieEm, thanks :)

    Fie, Ugh, that sounds HORRID!

    Kathy A. It's hard, isn't it? The tech this time was nice and friendly. She seemed to understand that it's hard and that sometimes you can't quite tell and all. I figure if I really can't tell, then the prescription won't be too far off anyway. And it can also be hard to tell between "brighter" and "sharper" sometimes.

    ReplyDelete
  5. bard -- i just got back from 10 days in japan, visiting my daughter, who is doing her junior year abroad. she is at akita international university, a tiny U, way the hell north/east of tokyo. we had a great whirlwind visit! flew into tokyo; met up with daughter in hiroshima; a couple days in kyoto; on to akita; and the last night at an inn run by jazz-lovers.

    i ran across your blog when you were teaching in japan.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Kathy A., That's fantastic! I hope you had an incredible time! I'd love to hear more about it.

    I only went to Tokyo once, for a couple days. But I spent lots of time loving Kyoto!

    ReplyDelete
  7. sorry, akita is north/west of tokyo. i'm still a little braindead after the trip... but it was glorious!

    kyoto was wonderful! we visited nara the first day, and did a quick tour of kyoto the second day -- golden pavilion, nijo castle, the philospher's walk. a college friend had visited a favorite professor in kyoto some years back -- he retired from our school, and then went to teach at waseda U -- so we've been trading notes about the nightingale floor at nijo and etc.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Those are some of my favorite Kyoto places! Especially now! I'll bet the cherry blossoms were blooming for you? The Golden Pavillion and the Philosophers' Walk are just incredible!

    I'm glad you had a good visit. is your daughter enjoying her studies?

    ReplyDelete
  9. the cherry blossoms were almost about to bloom! there were about 3 trees blossoming in tokyo, a few more in hiroshima, a few more still in kyoto, but we just missed the festivals. fergetaboutit up north -- too much snow!

    we did get to see a spring celebrarion at miyajima island, off hiroshima -- complete with a middle school marching band and a couple hundred little kids in costumes.

    my daughter is having a blast! she is starting to get more fluent, taking a lot of culture-oriented classes, racking up credits and pulling up her gpa. where this will go, who knows?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I spent most of a day at Miyajima Island, the day after I first went to Hiroshima. It was lovely and peaceful, and I spent the morning walking around up and down.

    I'm glad your daughter is having a good experience.

    ReplyDelete