wasn`t the rest of the world out of focus

Was having trouble with clearly reading street and exit ramp signs without speeding up to see them better, so I got an eye exam finally after two weeks of avoiding it.

Not blind as a bat out of hell on the freeway, I`ve just attributed my stressed out vision to reading and photo-editing too much as I have to take more frequent breaks.

Though I`m not afraid of blindness, having run around in heavy welders` goggles and into a wall in college for fun, it would be a dampener on my photography career.

As I sat down and the optomitrist put up lines of letters for me to read, I was ready to protest I can barely read anyways.

T, Y, F, R, P were stupidly similiar as were O, Q, C, G, D as I was getting annoyed with reading the bottom lines when I used to have 26/20 vision at the beginning of college.

He wished many people`s IQ would go up with glasses yet the doctor looked at me oddly as I said, at least it`s not stigmata. Astigmatism isn`t so bad as I thought.

Amazingly, my brain has been working overtime to balance out my warped cornea refracting light off axis by .090 as my lenses were off -0.50 on the left and -0.25 on the right. It`s crazy how it manages to flip the image as well, but the body can adapt so much.

And some people wonder if my brain`s working at all, no merely too hard as usual. Yet, the counter-effect has taken some getting used to now.

It`s been a bit trippy re-adjusting to the differences in seeing eveything in my own room, which I thought I could see, but now there`s so many little details I`ve missed from fuzz on stuffed animals to textures on my bed.

Was suddenly in trouble as I noticed girls` individual eyelashes and my girlfriend thought I was checking them out. I was just surprised that I could see so much better with snowflakes, fine print (it wasn`t just legalese confusing me) and people from more than ten feet away.

Sharp as tack is embarrassing after the realization I`ve submitted slightly blurry photo portfolios to city editors and confused my photo instructors for over-sharpening and too contrasty photos.

It`s funny how much you take for granted. I thought I was still sleepy when I missed spots while shaving, fuzzy text from staring at a computer monitor editing for too long, or even taking too many breaks while reading short-stories after too many textbooks.

Was so happy from the moment I put on a pair of glasses and didn`t have to work so hard to read. Technology is cool. Okay so it`s nothing new, but I didn`t know it was 600 years old.

Thank a few monks, Italians, Germans and British, for refining optics for wearing. Not a surprise that the glass guild in Venice were making reading lenses, a German thinker figured out why lenses corrected sight problems, and that a British astronomer figured out how to correct astigmatism. I drink to them. Go to wikipedia and learn about glasses and stuff!

Here I was thinking the rest of the world couldn't be seeing situations clearly. Lobbing terrorist funding pirate boarding hooks, rocket missiles and tank shells, and insults at our neighbours seems like fuzzy logic to me. However, it isn't as easy as a trip to the optomitrist or pub to work out differences and see it straight.

I'll figure out the rest of the world later. It could be worse as my 65 year old aunt is waiting for cataract surgury. Still driving stubbornly and slowing down to read road signs and guess when her street is coming up. Thanks, mom. I feel better knowing I was driving like an retiree and I'm not even in Victoria anymore.

Improv Everywhere? One can only hope!

NOTE: this was done as an warm-up exercise through interviews & reactions off the video from the website mentioned in article. I really do plan to do more! Enjoy!

A street prank group called Improv Everywhere leisurely strolled through Home Depot in New York with 200 participants shopping for home improvement in slow motion.

During a slow afternoon on Sunday on August 19, 2006, employees and fellow shoppers at the 23rd Street hardware store in Manhattan were left wondering if they were in a space/time warp or on drugs.

The action, complete with hidden cameras to record unsuspecting people's reactions, were at synchronized five minutes intervals.

"What are they doing? What's going on?” said one shopper as she freaked out to her boyfriend. “Is this some kind of street theatre or am I on drugs?"

Most ironic moment occurred in a song "Am I Standing Still", by the poet singer Jewel, pouring over in-store PA speakers a few moments before pranksters went into phase two, frozen motion.

Original prankster and orchestrater of the act, "Agent Todd" was still surprised by the effect of his terracotta prank army, as past settings have been in McDonald's, Best Buy, Starbucks, and Barnes & Noble.

"I hadn't noticed how quiet the store had gotten. Over 200 customers were dead silent," he said. "When the five minutes ended, everyone instantly sprang to life and began talking to their shopping companions. For a moment, it was as if the world was moving in fast forward."

Agent Todd, feigning innocence as a confused shopper with a small digital camera, interviewed some of the employees who had no idea what was going on.

"They were standing there looking at stuff, but completely not moving," said an employee. "They didn't seem to need any help."

The key to the act was to appear that nothing was out of the ordinary, but for one participant, he got a more heart-felt moment than he expected.

"I didn't know what to do, because there were half a dozen elderly people around me with walkers or in electric wheelchairs," he said.

The prankster was walking equally as slow or lifting up an item at the same rate the older people around him.

"I saw one lady in an electric scooter nearby who was really slow, and I felt horrible like I was mocking her."

Instead, the lady slowly raised one hand and waved to him and he returned the wave in slow motion.

"She just smiled and scooted off," he said with a grin, "it was a great feeling."

According to their website, http://www.improveverywhere.com 'missions' are about spreading "chaos and joy people can talk about ten years from now."

Their harmless stunts, such as an annual No Pants Subway Ride and a poker game in a pool at Ceasars' Palace in Las Vegas -- complete with floating table, waist-deep prank participant dealer and cocktail waitress in heels -- attract hundreds of volunteers out for a lark.

According to Agent Todd “most [Home Depot] employees either laughed or thought they were going "crazy," or both.”

The smiles and momentary confusion on people caught in the middle of the scene were priceless by all accounts.