Jan 08
18
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
Posted by Stephen18
Tags: event, music, travel, work
I arrived in sunny California late last night (well OK, it wasn’t sunny at night) after an uneventful flight. We’d been delayed by about a half hour at each end, because of congestion. Other aircraft had to be moved out of the way so we could get through. At both ends of the flight. By the time I went to pick up my rental car, there were no more compacts so they gave me a full-size instead, for the same price. Bonus! Not much traffic on the roads at midnight, so getting to the hotel was easy. Nice place, in the open, stucco style of southern California. All good, but very, very late. By the time I got to bed it was almost 4am, home time.
Of course, I was wide awake far too early the next morning. At home or away, I never get enough sleep. Oh well. There was a card on my bedside table warning me not to sleep in too late, because there was a scrumptious breakfast downstairs. And it was right. Breakfast was very yummy. The sun was shining. Not a cloud in the sky. Warm. The day was off to a good start after all.
The show was nearby, well signed, and I parked in one of the Disneyland lots across the street. I followed the crowds toward the registration desks, and along the way stopped to take this photo of the main entrance (click the picture for a bigger version). As I put the camera up to my eye, my contact lens fell out. The complicated, fancy one. The expensive one. The one that gave me really good vision. I didn’t actually notice it fall out. I only realized what happened when I tried to focus the camera and the image through the viewfinder was still blurry. I looked around desperately to see if the lens had fallen on my clothing, on my camera bag, on a nearby lamppost. Nothing. I crouched down to peer at the ground, but I was the only stationary person in a bustling crowd, jostled by passers-by. Nothing.
Despair.
The lens was gone. This had never happened to me before. And I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t have any of my contact kit with me, and I didn’t have my glasses. There was nothing I could do. Now I had clear vision in one eye and blurry vision in the other. To make things worse, the blurry eye was the one in need of the most correction (it was the blurriest). To make things worse, I still had the piggyback lens in that eye, and by itself it actually makes my vision blurrier than with no lens at all (it’s supposed to always be used together with the special lens). Finally, to make things worse, the blurry eye was actually the brain’s preferred eye (my strong eye), so it was as if the other eye with clear vision didn’t exist at all. All I saw was blurry, with a crazy overlay of sharp that never quite came into view.
What a disaster. How was I going to make it through the day? There’s a larger photo here showing the difference between the two eyes. Compare with the original photo here. I put the camera away, finished with my one and only photo of the day.
I went through the rest of the day working the show, doing what I came to do, making good use of the time. But there was no joy in it. I couldn’t see. I felt handicapped. I felt depressed.
Toward the end of the afternoon my brain had switched over to the clear eye as its preferred eye (smart chap, my brain), and the blurriness had subsided to a background annoyance. Constant, but less immediate. At half past five I said goodbye to my colleague and returned to my hotel. I took my contacts out and put glasses on. What relief! I could see properly. Symmetrical. Even.
Tomorrow I’ll be back at the show, with glasses, with camera, and hopefully things will go better.
By the way, according to the International Music Products Association (NAMM) trade show, the only musical instrument people ever need to play is the guitar. Electric, acoustic, bass, whatever. The guitar. Oh, and maybe the drums. And occasionally cymbals. And that’s it. If you look carefully you might see a piano or two. Or some violins, as long as they’re electric. But it’s amazing how many acres of guitars there are at this show.
