A day for the happy icon
Jun. 28th, 2008 07:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I have a couple of prettier Turrow icons, but since I cut down the features of my account, they're sort of unusable at the moment. Oh well ...
Ah, the joys of aging. My new reading glasses are a lot stronger than my last pair (which I bought 11 years ago and threw out a few years after that, when I had no health insurance and couldn't afford a new pair). I've been seeing just fine for the last few years, but I'd noticed of late I was squinting a lot and having headaches after reading for just a short time. Now that I have vision insurance, everything was only $35 and the glasses are light and almost like I'm not wearing them. The type is closer, and my eyes don't hurt so much after a time at the screen. The joys of aging.

I feel like I'm standing still much of the time - in an effort to put more money toward paying down credit card debt, I don't do the things I used to do, such as go out with friends much or even go out myself much, so I won't spend (although I do have my weekly Starbucks outing). Yet, the last year and a half has been nothing BUT change and spending. I got a new job, moved across two states (again), adopted another cat, bought new furniture, a new (to me) car, had a disease diagnosis, had to make new friends, find new haunts, and effectively am still learning an almost entirely new career. This is a big reason I lean heavily on a happy fandom to take the stress out of the end of each day ... and why I get so discombobulated when I see that tranquility being threatened or upended. It's easy to get angry and kick others when you think they're the cause of that loss. And sometimes they aren't - and sometimes they are and maybe you just shouldn't pay attention, and disregard them for the obstructions they are. (I suppose it's nice to know, approaching 40, that I can still be childish when the occasion calls for it. *G*)
I heard mixed reviews on "Sex and the City" movie, and wasn't sure I'd like it. But it could be crap and I would probably still enjoy it - because these are characters I've come to love over the past seven years, I've rewatched episodes ten times, and they make me laugh when other things don't. I started watching it the summer of 2001 with a new friend I made when I traveled to Hong Kong, and always have happy associations with it. (And if there's a fandom for it, I DON'T want to know about it, thank you.) I like how the movie dresses up the actresses, but doesn't try to hide how old they are. There were a couple of plot points I could smack Michael Patrick King for, but overall I enjoyed it.
I was surprised how much I was okay with Samantha and Smith's breakup - I didn't think I would be. I liked Smith and he's a good guy, but it was handled to show that it was the best thing for Samantha. I like how she admitted she loved herself more than him, and how she couldn't give up her sex drive or other men for a relationship with him. And she ended the movie 50 and single, and it really was the best thing for her ... just like the other three girls being married was the best thing for them. As much as I say you don't HAVE to base yourself on a celluloid role model - and you don't - it's nice to have one once in a while even if she's a little unrealistic. You can keep your 22-year-old overnight virgin pirate kings with tiny bodies and a fuck-me pout - give me a 50-year-old single gal who has earned her own fortune, can still turn the heads of men half her age even with lines around her mouth, admits to plastic surgery, needs glasses, can deliver one-liners and pratfalls, and can get away with saying whatever's on her mind because she's earned the years to say it. :-D
Ah, the joys of aging. My new reading glasses are a lot stronger than my last pair (which I bought 11 years ago and threw out a few years after that, when I had no health insurance and couldn't afford a new pair). I've been seeing just fine for the last few years, but I'd noticed of late I was squinting a lot and having headaches after reading for just a short time. Now that I have vision insurance, everything was only $35 and the glasses are light and almost like I'm not wearing them. The type is closer, and my eyes don't hurt so much after a time at the screen. The joys of aging.

I feel like I'm standing still much of the time - in an effort to put more money toward paying down credit card debt, I don't do the things I used to do, such as go out with friends much or even go out myself much, so I won't spend (although I do have my weekly Starbucks outing). Yet, the last year and a half has been nothing BUT change and spending. I got a new job, moved across two states (again), adopted another cat, bought new furniture, a new (to me) car, had a disease diagnosis, had to make new friends, find new haunts, and effectively am still learning an almost entirely new career. This is a big reason I lean heavily on a happy fandom to take the stress out of the end of each day ... and why I get so discombobulated when I see that tranquility being threatened or upended. It's easy to get angry and kick others when you think they're the cause of that loss. And sometimes they aren't - and sometimes they are and maybe you just shouldn't pay attention, and disregard them for the obstructions they are. (I suppose it's nice to know, approaching 40, that I can still be childish when the occasion calls for it. *G*)
I heard mixed reviews on "Sex and the City" movie, and wasn't sure I'd like it. But it could be crap and I would probably still enjoy it - because these are characters I've come to love over the past seven years, I've rewatched episodes ten times, and they make me laugh when other things don't. I started watching it the summer of 2001 with a new friend I made when I traveled to Hong Kong, and always have happy associations with it. (And if there's a fandom for it, I DON'T want to know about it, thank you.) I like how the movie dresses up the actresses, but doesn't try to hide how old they are. There were a couple of plot points I could smack Michael Patrick King for, but overall I enjoyed it.
I was surprised how much I was okay with Samantha and Smith's breakup - I didn't think I would be. I liked Smith and he's a good guy, but it was handled to show that it was the best thing for Samantha. I like how she admitted she loved herself more than him, and how she couldn't give up her sex drive or other men for a relationship with him. And she ended the movie 50 and single, and it really was the best thing for her ... just like the other three girls being married was the best thing for them. As much as I say you don't HAVE to base yourself on a celluloid role model - and you don't - it's nice to have one once in a while even if she's a little unrealistic. You can keep your 22-year-old overnight virgin pirate kings with tiny bodies and a fuck-me pout - give me a 50-year-old single gal who has earned her own fortune, can still turn the heads of men half her age even with lines around her mouth, admits to plastic surgery, needs glasses, can deliver one-liners and pratfalls, and can get away with saying whatever's on her mind because she's earned the years to say it. :-D
no subject
Date: 2008-06-28 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-28 11:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 01:55 am (UTC)As for "Mannequin," I loved that movie as a kid!
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:12 pm (UTC)I watched Sex and the City in the later seasons. I think I liked it more because the 4 of them are very good actresses rather than seeing any similarities to myself. As women I found them sometimes very shallow, for example, Carrie and her $400 shoes.
You must have very good eye care insurance. I get my eye exam free but then they don't pay for digital imaging of retinas, which I think is a must, so there was $15 for that, my insurance also only paid $120 for frames, so I did get that part free, but then it only paid for percentages of lenses, and with progressive lenses those were $80 more expensive. I forget what else it didn't pay for, but I ended up paying $200.
I do know of a website where you can get exceptionally cheap glasses. Haven't tried a pair yet, since I just spent $200 on these (which I don't even like).
Zennioptical.com and I think there's another one. Check out Clark Howard's website, he knows all the cheap-o stuff.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-29 02:15 pm (UTC)No, by $35 I mean for everything - the exam and the glasses. Of course, I can't go over $120 for frames or I have to pay the difference, but I'm not a fancy person. This is the first time I've ever had vision insurance - before I always had to pay everything myself. Which explains why I hadn't gone in so long. Ditto with dental. Benefits FTW.