Glasses

I first needed glasses around the end of first grade - an age when walking into class wearing them for the first time was sort of scandalous. The way I remember it, the whole class shouted "Adam, you got glasses?!" in chorus. It was a little traumatic. Back then I was wearing a pair of aviator glasses. Red.

After that I had a gold pair, and somewhere along the line I got a smaller pair with tortoise shell frames.

In fifth grade I suffered through unspeakable torture learning to put contact lenses in. They were gas perms, which dried out often and had a habit of slipping painfully off to the side of my eyeball. I kept wearing those all through high school and most of college - during that time I always felt like I was terribly unattractive if I had glasses on.

That changed in college, partly because the standard style of eyewear had gotten smaller. I look okay in those little rectangle frames, and I no longer have the patience for contacts. I haven't hair a pair of those in in years, though I still sometimes take my glasses off when posing for "author photos" and stuff. For a while I had a nifty Victorian-looking pair that I thought contributed to my general "beatnik goth" look from the time. I've never been able to stick to any one particular style for long, but "Victorian Beatnik" is one that I always come back to. By current look with the "tenth doctor" coat, brown bowler hat and faux Burberry scarf over a turtleneck is pretty much the best job I've done at that look. No steampunk for me. I'm more straight up steam with a side of beat.

A couple of years ago I tried a pair of those "transitions" lenses that automatically turn into sunglasses when you go outside. I hated them. I didn't like that they turned dark every time I stepped outside, even when it was overcast, so I couldn't enjoy a nice grey day in all its proper glory. I didn't like how it took them forever (in my case; mine might have been duds) to turn back to normal. At the time I was working in a dimly lit office and could barely see a thing for fifteen minutes after coming inside.

Last year I decided to go for the John Lennon look and ordered the only round pair I could find at the time. The black-rimmed pair I got was a bit large - the lenses are the size of dinner plates. The comment I'm getting most often on tours this year is "I love your glasses! Are they real, or is it a part of a Harry Potter costume?"

So I just ordered a new pair. Circular again, but smaller, and with bronze frames instead of black. I'd go for the circular rimless Steve Jobs type, but these are exponentially cheaper.

I'm rambling like crazy here because I simply cannot allow myself to sit idle these days. I have two books coming out and another being submitted to editors. I have to work and work to keep myself from going crazy. I pick up all the tours I can, clean the house constantly (not so you'd notice, though) and pace around endlessly. I haven't been able to read a full book or watch a full movie in some time, let alone write these new books. Being back at my old job running ghost tours (though most emphatically NOT for Weird Chicago) has been a HUGE help for me. It's good to be back. Library gig tonight, and another on Saturday afternoon. Four or five tours between now and Monday, as well. I'll be keeping up this pace for the next few weeks, and hopefully longer. I'm lining up more gigs - I'll (likely) be playing a set at Windycon, and I'll be at at the Teen Book Fest in Rochester this May. There's a little bit of talk of an "Adam Selzer and his Maritime Band" reunion gig one of these days.