Every Saturday until the SAT in late spring, I’m no longer going to be able to sleep in. I’ll have to wake up at 7:30 and attend Mega Academy to prep for the SAT. This means that I’ll take one-and-a-half hour English and Math courses from 9-12, eat lunch at a random food vendor for 30 minutes, then return for a one-and-a-half-hour course in Writing. Add on the homework that’s distributed in each class, and it’s a bitch. Luckily, my Sundays are free, but for the second term of school (the first half of 2005) I’m also going to be taking the weekly Sunday test/go-overs. The work will simply never end.

I’m also disappointed that my Writing course isn’t going to be as fun as I thought. The essay homework explicitly states that I cannot construct it in such a fashion that it angers or offends people. I’m just going to have to be overly persuasive in convincing people that mass executions are a solution to overpopulation.

Edit: I forgot to mention that I went through the code of my site (and my posts), and after a good cleaning, I finally managed to get it xHTML 1.0 Traditional valid. *phew*

A trip to the optometrist on Thursday revealed two interesting things:

• I have innate monovision.

I’m not sure whether he took a stab in the dark or he already knew, but he pointed out to me that while my right eye is unable to clearly see objects far away, it’s adept at seeing things up close. Conversely so, my left eye can more easily see objects far away, while unable to clearly see things up close. I already knew my right eye was lacking, but I never noticed that my left eye had a deficiency of its own. It’s not something I had laser correction or glasses for, and it’s strange that I can’t find any webpages talking about innate monovision. I would’ve preferred to have a hypnotic gaze, eye beams, or even the ability to change the color/shape of my iris, but at least it’s a sightly mutation. What may not be so sightly, however, are the glasses I purchased after finding out that my left eye (far sight) no longer has perfect far vision. What better lead-in could one ask for?

• I got glasses.

I know. I felt a slight chill today, which might have been because I was wearing short sleeves but also because Hell froze over. For sixteen years and almost eight months I’ve been defying the Chinese stereotype of wearing huge glasses, a reputation which may soon come under fire. My distance vision is no longer perfect, and while I can still see enough to function in most situations, I don’t know how far or how fast my vision will deteriorate. So when the shit hits the fan, I want to be prepared, which is why I went and got glasses. I don’t plan to use them often, if at all, but they’re there if I need them.

There’s certainly a difference in distance vision when I wear them, and it’s interesting to be able to see far away with my right eye (albeit still not as well). However, I find myself unable to wear them for more than a minute without getting a headache, less if I’m walking or moving around. That in itself, along with the chance that I may become dependent on the glasses, is enough to dissuade me from wearing them too often, counteracting my disregard for personal apperance. Boy, these lead-ins are great.