This Journal

8.2.99 - Monday

Old eyes. The hair has been going and gone for quite a few years. The teeth started leaving way back in high school (and are in fact better off today than they ever were). The waist is going to have its sloppy way eventually but hasn't been too bad so far. And you never know what those inner organs and pipes are up to - could be some surprises there.

It's the eyes that really get to me.

It started as a little touch of astigmatism back in college. That's when I first needed glasses. During some long night of watching the same movie two or three times back to back, scrunched down in my seat at the Varsity theater, I came to wonder why they couldn't get the focus right. Shortly after that, I realized that only by squinting a bit could I get the page to behave itself. So began the downward slide.

About five years ago, the optometrist decided that it was time for bi-focals. A year after that, when I realized that these glasses weren't doing their job, he named it and explained, "Your eyes are going into a free-fall for the next couple of years. They'll just get worse and worse, but I'll be there to catch you. And it will slow down - maybe even stop - after awhile."

Well, he was right. That's exactly what happened. My glasses now are working fine (though they're a bit lopsided), but I can't use them at the computer or I get a red hot pain in the back of my neck. So I've got another cheap pair that works great on the screen, but when I look away out into the room my head spins.

I had a shock the other morning when I pulled out the Corn Flakes and couldn't read a word on the side panel of the box. I tilted my head back for the lower lens; I peered over the top. Nothing worked. Then I got it. The thing was printed in Arabic. (It seems that Murray found a deal somewhere on nearly out-of-date cereal for 99¢ a box. They couldn't sell this stuff in Addis Ababa or Riyadh, but they knew some old guy in the States was out here looking for a bargain.)

Once I got re-oriented, it struck me that Arabic is a strangely beautiful script that might even cater to the presbyoptics of those cultures. It has that wavy, light, uncertain grace about it. And it was a pleasure to find it on our cereal box. A pretty cheap flight to an exotic land.