so, along with purchasing i-can-see-forever-contacts, i finally made the step and purchased myself a pair of shiny new i-can-see-forever-glasses...and what a journey it was.now, normally, i would just fall back on my usual thick-rimmed, squarish frames. i've held that style for over a decade now, very de rigeur pour moi. not risky in the least...
but the sales woman did something dastardly to me.
just uncalled for.
she handed me a pair of thin-rimmed, bronze-colored frames that made me think of old-world thinkers and literary greats...of course, a modern spin on them, as they weren't spectacles by any means, but close enough in this day and age.
i really don't think i could pull off the sigmund freud look...nor would i want to.
i don't think i own enough tweed for such an endeavor.
i hesitated and put them on.
...and then there was the silence.
the silence of a million philosophers being asked what the meaning of life is.
a silence SO silent, it would've swallowed, not only the sound of the pin dropping, but the pin itself...and everything in its general vicinity.
my mum sat behind me and quietly whispered, "you look so smart."
the sales woman sat beside me and quietly nodded, "those look really nice."
but...but...this was outside of my comfort zone!
there was the frightening potential to look like my father circa 1965!
...the potential to look like my sister circa 1980!
i was overwhelmed, fearful and excited all at the same time.
i think i experienced this same feeling when i realized that i could wear other colors aside from black...which, according to dan, is one of the main differences between university-friday and modern-day-friday...a difference...also, an improvement.
these were not frames for those of the herd mentality.
these were the frames of book readers and contemplators.
frames of the classic ilk.
this would catapult me into the group of mature and timeless.
not young and hip.
i'm not going to lie, dear audience.
i was scared.
scared for my life...for what this meant.
i had been very carefully guided onto the grown-up bandwagon.
next stop: novel-reader-tea-sipper-berg.
...but wait a second...
"i do that anyway," i thought to myself.
i drink tea. i read novels...
i dream of being an old-timey cartographer, wearing beaten leather boots, trudging along unknown landscapes, recording information into weathered notebooks with fancy pen nibs and india ink.
these frames are not far off from what, in dreamscapes, i might actually be.
perhaps it was time to indulge the arcane adventurer in myself.
perhaps it was time for thin-rimmed, metal frames.
of course, this didn't go so smoothly.
i contemplated between a safe, thick-rimmed pair and these frames for almost an hour.
switching back and forth while saying to my reflection, "so, what do these frames say about me?"
i even went so far as to take photographs with my phone and send them to my paramour for a second opinion.
in the end, he seemed to like the thin frames as well.
so, the comments went as follows:
- mom: intelligent
- sales woman: nice
- other sales woman: beautiful
- paramour: flattering
- friday: OMG. I HAVE NO IDEA! I'M SO SCARED!!!
ultimately, i purchased the thin frames...wincing as i heard my wallet play a power ballad about being broke and empty on the inside.
at this juncture, i'm still not sure how i feel about them.
i made a decision to wear them all day today and each time i pass by a mirror i'm confused at the sight of myself.
who is this creature staring back at me?
she's the cartographer...readying herself for another map that will show her the way back to safety and comfort...
or, perhaps, the way to adventure!
for now, i feel ridiculously exposed.
the heavy lines of thick-rimmed glasses gave my eyes something to hide behind.
like a randomly placed barn in a horror movie...
but now, i have these thin things...like pencil scratchings.
my eyes can't hide behind them...
all face. no frames.
i suppose i'll just go read a novel and sip some tea and contemplate nothing in particular...
!
it seems these frames are doing their job already!
angsty night of philosophy, literature and (possibly) tweed...here i come!
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