On Seeing and Believing
I was walking in a strange neighborhood the other night, trying to find my way back to the subway, when I decided that the restaurant five doors down was stupid. They had two neon green signs, placed right on top of each other: the text wasn’t even readable. “Who designed that one,” I wondered.
I stopped then, staring at those signs. It occurred to me that there was, in fact, only one, perfectly legible sign. I just couldn’t detect it. No amount of blinking or eye rubbing could reconcile perception with the more likely reality.
This blew my mind. I wanted to stop strangers on the street, it seemed goddamn near miraculous. “You see that sign? I see two of them! Isn’t that the craziest thing you’ve ever heard? . . . No? Do you think that maybe, in some alternate universe, there are actually two signs? Because that’s kind of what I think.”
January 21st, 2009 at 11:52 pm
It would appear this issue is becoming more of an issue. Hilariously, just two weeks ago I passed my eye exam again. The lowest row, no problem, as usual. I suppose I should bring it up or something.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:51 am
Uh, yeah you should. Half because I am still insanely curious, half because — uh, your eyes don’t work.
January 29th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Update! I was just going blind, as an uncommon and likely temporary reaction to some medication I was on. So I’m off that now. Hurray!
Digital shit is still whack though; I get evaluated for nighttime glasses next month and did I mention THAT IS SO EXCITING.