Investigating

So, the other day, I did something quite unthinkable.  I conducted what one of my friends referred to as an "investigation into my past."


I asked one of the guys from our high school group of friends why he thought no one had ever asked me out in high school.


I know you are all terrified by this, I was too, but i figured even though it is something that people don't usually ask, I really wanted to know.  needed to know.  and I knew that this guy would know the answer if there was something to know, and that he would give me a straight up honest answer.  he really is the only person I ever would have asked this question of among any of the guys i have ever known. ok, straight guys i have ever known.  lets face it, i needed a heterosexual, alpha male perspective on this.


It actually went quite well.  I have my own ideas of what I was like in high school, and it was very good to get a different perspective on myself.


I remembered being a geek with a zitty face, bad hair, and hardly any friends.


That stuff didn't even make it into his recollections.  He remembered liking being around me because I was "smart, funny, and always in a good mood."  The only thing he remembered that he didn't like about my appearance was my short upper lip, and my flat bum, which he admitted are only personal preferences.


He actually liked the way I dressed, and my long neck, my beautiful hands, and my eyes.  My "get lost in them for a thousand years enchanting.  like have to throw your eyes in the pits of mordor enchanting" eyes.


oh, and my "gigantic knocks"


He said it was probably my smartness that scared guys off, "guys were just intimidated by a woman that could be more alpha male than the males could."  he says guys have fragile egos and think that if they are not dominant they are doing something wrong.  plus, i didn't seem to be interested in the stuff guys are interested in, and guys are pretty self-absorbed.




All in all, i found it a pretty good exercise.  I am still processing how to incorporate these ideas into my life, but it was really good to see what kind of a lasting impression I make on people, and how the fragile high school male ego perceived it all.

New Specs! New Specs!

So, internet, here are my new glasses:

These brown ones are juicy couture,  the style is called "behave".  Perfect for a librarian, yes?  they are brown with bone coloured stripes down the arms.   They are my business specs.

and these are my funky glasses, they have the magnetic clip-on sunglasses too, which is spectacular!  you can't see it in the photo very well, but the arms are the same colour as the front of the frames, a burgundy red, and the insides are an awesome lime green.  very cool.

The great glass dilemma

I need new glasses.  I haven't bought new glasses since 2006.

I was already starting to get antsy about not liking my current frames anymore, and then I have been having eye problems and headache issues, so I went to the optometrist, and discovered I need a new prescription.

This started "the great glasses hunt" of 2010.

It always takes me awhile to find glasses I like, because I am particular, and I know that I will be wearing them for awhile.  I have only owned four pairs of glasses over the 15 years that I have had to wear them.

The hunt started while I waited for my mom to pick me up from the optometrist, they had some very cool styles, but we ran out of time.

Then, we went to Hakim up the street from me in London, and all they had was crap.  And ugly crap at that.

Then, I was on my own.  I went looking in the local mall, and I found some nice frames at one shop, but quickly decided that being blind, and going looking for glasses on my own was a bad idea.  Well, ok, the decision was made for me when I had to get so close to the mirror in the store to see myself that I bumped my nose and left a smudge.

So then, I had to find someone to shop with.  Someone who understood glasses, and the desire to have funky ones in awesome colours.  I asked a girl that I talk to from my course who, it turns out, has three different pairs of glasses on the go at the moment.  We combined the trip with a general shopping day, and topped it off by going to see "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D with some other girls.  It was a successful trip, even though the store was packed, but the pair that I had really liked from the first time was only there in a different colour combo, so it had to be ordered in the colours I wanted, but we were pretty sure that those were the right glasses for me.

I went back today because they told me the glasses were in, with a different friend, because the first girl was sick.  So I tried on the frames, and my friend instantly agreed that they were perfect.  Then I turned around and told the saleswoman that I wanted them, and she said "Good, so what is your other pair going to be?  They are 2 for 1 you know."  Oh no, I did not know, the store was packed on the weekend, and so someone had failed to mention it (namely her, since it was the same saleslady).

What do I do now?  I had tried on almost every pair of glasses in the store on the weekend, and no other ones even came close!  Luckily, since we were the only ones there, the woman actually had the time to help us, and she suggested some of the designer frames in the centre, that I hadn't even bothered with before.  The second ones she pulled out were fabulous, so I went with those.

So I should have two new pairs of glasses on wednesday!  One funky red pair with lime green on the inside, and they have magnetic clip-on sunglasses; and one slightly more business-like pair that are brown, but have a light stripe down the arms.  My friend said "they are calmer that the other ones.  They can be our job interview glasses."

Don't worry guys, I will post pictures when I get them.  Because they will be fabulous!

Now my dilemma will be deciding which ones to wear each day!

Weirdness, thy name is library science

Yesterday, in research methods class, we had a guest lecturer talking about doing research on Second Life. 

He is conducting research and handing out surveys on Second Life.

Apparently, of the top occupations of people on Second Life, Librarian is only second to the porn industry.

Yeah, we're that weird.  At least some of us.

The class was pretty split between those who thought it was kind of cool, and were very interested in taking the distance ed course that occurs entirely on Second Life, and those who thought it was really creepy.

I am still kind of undecided.  I think it is kind of creepy, but then, I hated any kind of false face when i was a child.  I was even scared of Polkaroo.  I don't like people hiding who they are, putting on a different persona, being someone they aren't.  The world gets very precarious that way.  and there is a lot of weird stuff that goes on there too.  One of the girls who was taking the online course wandered where she shouldn't have been in Second Life, and her avatar was sexually assaulted.

But, I am fascinated by the fun and good things at go on there.  A friend of mine actually conducted a concert of people playing in front of their computers on Second Life once.  The guy who spoke to us does his research on storytelling in Second Life, like story circles and stuff.

Oh well, I probably won't even have time in my course schedule to take that course if it is even offered when I am here, so I suppose it is a moot point.




But let's face it.  The creepiness factor is sooooo going to win out!

Glasses Dilemma

I need new glasses.  New glasses are expensive.  I have expensive taste in glasses.

I have no money.

See the problem here?

now, the health insurance for grads at this university will pay $200, but that just covers the cost of some frames, not even the super expensive lenses!

Also, I am blind and living in a new city, so I have enlisted the help of a classmate who said she would come look at glasses with me this weekend.

Then, she suggested I look on clearlycontacts.ca because they have cheap glasses.  reaaallly cheap glasses compared with the stores I have been looking at.  all designer names and everything.

But, is it weird to order glasses online?  They say you have 30 days to return them if you are not satisfied, or they don't fit, or whatever, but it still seems strange to me.  what if I reaaaaally don't like them?  You know how they look really cool on the racks in the store, and then you try them on and they are horrifying?  or they hit your ears in the wrong place? or squeeze your temples?  these are things you just don't know until you get them in your hand!  granted, they have a webcam thing on the site where you can "try on" glasses, but they only have about a third of the styles that they carry that you can do this with.

but is it worth it when the final price is $117.00?  compared to the $400.00 the girl quoted me at Hakim.

I could get some prescription sunglasses too!