I can see clearly now...

(*Thursday's blog - I just started it late so it is datestamped on Friday*)

Oh dear, it seems these post titles are all turning into old song references...

But it's true - I *can* see clearly now - not because the rain has gone but because I got some new glasses today. I had an appointment with an optometrist on Monday, chose my favourite frames with Mum's and Megan's help on Monday nite (they let me bring home 6 pairs to try), indicated my preference on Tuesday, and today I picked them up. So pretty (black/ white with flowers down the sides) but also so effective... it's true, I can see clearly now...

It turns out that one of my eyes struggles to see things far away, while  the other one is pretty good. This means that altho the main near/ far problem is that I'm slightly near sighted, the bigger problem is that my eyes are engineered to work in tandem but mine are doing two different things. Balance is key when it comes to sight, both for focus and judgment, and it takes one wonky eye to render both eyes wonky.

Although it is tempting to find the metaphor for today's blog post in the glasses themselves, perhaps reflecting on research as 'revealing' or 'seeing' or perhaps 'correcting inaccurate or blurred vision,' I am going to turn to something else: the problem of bad balance.

Actually, my body (which is usually healthy and doesn't cause me many problems) has other kinds of balance problems too - I can't walk, swim or ride a bike straight. I wobble all over the show - I remember one embarassing school swimming sports at Glen Taylor when I touched the wall and couldn't believe how fast I'd swum to the other end of the pool - surely I'd won the whole race? When I cleared my eyes, I looked int eh distance to see a whole row of disappearing peers, splashing their way to a wall far, far away. I'd swum straight for about a meter then managed to not notice an almost 90 degree turn which meant I very soon arrived at the side wall of the pool. First to touch, I suppose, but it was the wrong wall. Shame!

So much bad balance, and now bad focus; an impaired ability to judge. Hmm. Sounds like my life! Sounds like it's time to go on sabbatical! I'm off to bed, then off to work, then off to Matiu/Somes island, then off to Hongoeka, then off to two more days at uni and around Wellington with Joy Harjo - then off to Toronto! And when I get there, and spend some  time focussing on gaining some  more balance, more focus, well - I guess this is the way my sabbatical is like a new pair of glasses: by next June I want to be able to see clearly now...