SAI Performance

Daya's SAI performance was tonight and it was AWESOME.
Also, look who made the front cover!

Tickets were assigned and they had me on the balcony..... I was not pleased with that so I went to the ticket people, told them I can't see, showed them my glasses and asked for better seats.  As I was asking a lady walked up and said "I have 2 extra tickets"... and they were in the center, 7th row, and no one was sitting in front of me!

Even being so close I could not pick Daya out from the other dancers... I really can't focus on small details at all... but we will get a (free!) dvd of the whole thing so I'll watch it again.

The entire performance was really fantastic, and so was the art exhibit.
It's so good to see the arts alive and thriving with young people who are super-skilled.

I am not surprised by the degree of skill and talent in such young age groups. Not one bit.  Mostly I'm just so happy to see it and I'm proud of all of them.

*****
The visual arts kids are doing some things that are more advanced than when I was in high school, and I 100% attribute this to digital photography.  They just have access to so much more readily-accessible imagery.  The skill level is the same in general (for an advanced group) but they take it further. It's nice to see that.  However, the best work is ALWAYS done with a solid foundation on working from life.

I always look at the visual arts stuff at Laguardia as well and I'd say the same thing about them. Some of it is really, really super-good.  Not all of it but a lot of it.

*****

I forgot to take a pic of Daya after the performance so I did it on the way home.

It's common to see rats in the subway but I haven't ever seen a mom and baby together before!

For Lisa

Lisa, you said you wanted to see Daya perform....

Competition is this Sunday in New Jersey.
It is Nationals so will be live streamed.

You can see her Sunday around 11:30am Eastern Time 

Dance #449 at this link 

https://www.worlddancechampionship.com/live-broadcast/

Daya is dancing one of the 3 leading roles. (She is one of the chefs)

So Over This

In exactly one week from right this second I will be post-surgery.
I'm SO OVER these glasses.

The cataract is definitely getting worse, and I'm over that, too.
I have a posterior subcapsular cataract, and once they start they go fast.

I'm just so very over all of it.

This week will go by quickly though.
It's Daya's last week at SAI, and every single night this week except Wednesday (due to SAI performance) she has competition rehearsal til late.

I need to use this week to prepare for next week, as there are some things I won't be able to do for about a week after surgery. Like lift anything. I have to limit any kind of physical exertion.

I wonder if I still remember how to paint? I have been so checked out of it.
This limbo feeling has been so weird, I haven't felt like doing much of anything.

Almost there.

Friday Dance

On Friday I got to see a sort-of private performance (the dance studio only) of the dance Daya will be performing this Wednesday.
It was awesome.
She is awesome.

This print-out was in front of the restrooms in the dance studio....
.....Printed Braille is, as everyone knows, 100% useful.

Nice effort though, I guess.....

Statistical Outlier

Wow I made it to July 25 and my lens measurement appointment!
Just over a week to go now!

I have been to the dr more in the last couple weeks than since Daya was born.
As it turns out, aside from being as healthy as I knew I am, I am a bit anemic.  So, iron pills for a while and I have to go back AGAIN at the end of Aug.

I'm all cleared and measured for surgery.  There are a few different types of lens implants, monofocal and multifocal, but I can only get a monofocal because of the refraction error.

The mutifocal ones don't exist for my statistical group.

My doctor says I am a "statistical outlier"..... well, it's not the worst thing to be called.
He wants me to me somewhat conscious during surgery. I'm not thrilled with that but he's a good doctor- a wizard actually, so I'll take his word that it isn't scary.

I'm just about positive my cataract has gotten worse.  Dr said yes they often develop quickly and it would really be a problem in 6 months.

****
I have some cool pictures of Daya from Sunday but I am behind.  Will get to it.

I really cannot see well at all in these glasses.

It's almost over.  What a weird odd month this has been.

*****
Daya is doing well at SAI.  One week to go.
She has made friends, including 2 other Laguardians.
So she'll go into the first day with a known friend in dance.

****
OH AND I got an email last night from Steps, Daya's second (and very spendy) intensive which I paid ($1800+) for a few months ago.... they wrote me to tell me they changed their tuition structure and they refunded me $80.

When does that ever happen!

Stuffs

Here are some pictures that prove I can't always take Daya out in public.

We wen t to Petco for cat food and found this guy.

Costco now sells teenagers.

....and Central Park Discovery shared my Carousel painting on their Instagram!

Adventures in Blind Plein Airing

I met with Jin on Friday after work to see if I could pull off a painting.

What I discovered is that I REALLY don't like being out in busy environments unless I have to.
My vision is too compromised, and I'm not kidding at all about that. It's kind of scary.

I also can't see to paint.
This painting is rather terrible;
I could not see through my cataract in the upper right corner.

We were in Sheep Meadow and a park guy started kicking everyone out around 7:30..... I didn't have the people in yet and I have never rushed like I was rushing. (I do not ever work plein airs in studio after. So it had to get finished or remain unfinished.)  We did end up getting kicked out of Sheep Meadow.

Whether I was rushing, struggling to see, or a combination of both, this painting is not good.

I think I need to just take a break until after my surgery. It's not enjoyable, and too much of a struggle.
I would rather struggle with painting issues than vision issues.

Also, I think my cataract has gotten worse since my last dr visit.  It's also magnified in glasses.
I'm so glad this is getting taken care of.

8x10 oil

Girls Nite

Nicole is moving to Boston so I came out of hiding to meet up for mani/pedi and wine after work.
It was really nice to get out.

Now my nails are green.......

...and silver green.

Timing for things is good, going out with Nicole brought a solution to a problem that reared its head earlier today with dance.

Daya is doing a solo this year and she hated... and I mean HATED the song her teacher chose.

Teacher was unwilling to change it, Daya was unwilling to listen to it, so I ran it past Nicole.
She had a listen, agreed that it sounded weird, and suggested using a different version that wasn't a live version.  It worked, problem solved, teacher and Daya are happy.

It's an Ani Difranco song..... she either sounds fabulous or like complete trash.  So I don't blame Daya for not liking it; I didn't either.  But the other version I found really is quite nice.

Dance Stuffs

It's July double-digits!
I'm so over these stupid glasses.

Of course work got super-busy, which is unusual for July.

Daya sent me this video from her dance intensive today. They had a guest teacher.

She likes it so far.  While she doesn't find it especially challenging technically, it's still fine and she knows there is a lot she can get out of the program.  The are 2 other kids in her class who are going to Laguardia. And three from her studio, but one is in the high school group.

Also in case I didn't mention this before- it is allllllll free.

Vegetable Week

Well it has been a week since I last posted.
Daya has been home all week, and she turned into a vegetable.

Full-on teenage brain-rot.

I’m afraid that with the combination of heat and really not being able to see, it has been contagious and I have been a semi-vegetable as well.

This past weekend Daya and I were both stuck in a mind-numbing pit of total laziness. Both of us were only semi-functional.
Work has been busy and I saved all my thinking functionality for that. We had to go to Target and it took us both 2 ½ days to muster the willpower to do it.

********
Today Daya started the first of three summer dance intensives… this first one is 4 weeks long, and it is free. Aside from being an excellent program run by the NYC DOE, it is free and that is my favorite thing about it. Have I mentioned it is free? Breakfast, lunch, classes, all transportation, free!!

Leotards and shoes are not free but she already has those. This morning was orientation and they told us the program is funded through the DOE and also privately. Apparently Tony Bennett is a large contributor and sometimes he comes to the end performances. ABT runs the dance portion. There are 360 kids total, divided into middle school and high school for each of the studios: visual arts, string and brass instrumental, vocal, theater, film, and of course dance. They said over 900 kids auditioned (for all studios).

Since Daya was in 8th grade as of June, she is in the middle school dance studio.
So hopefully she will remember how to use her brain again. She will be dancing from 9-3 every day.

But most importantly it is free AND I can turn off the AC.

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I’m so over these glasses.

They are heavy and ugly and I really can’t see. My visual acuity in glasses is significantly worse than contacts, but that is normal.
The best vision I can get is with a hard contact lens.

So, glasses suck.

I’m ok getting around in places I know.
I can work ok but with occasional slight difficulty.
The thing I have a lot of trouble with, aside from seeing any small details, is focusing on details in the larger environment.

Because of this I decided it is best for me to lay low and stick to places I know. Basically, I won’t go anywhere I don’t know by myself.
Picking out details is really a challenge and I’m relying half on vision and half on memory.

I was going to wear my right contact lens in the evening and patch my left eye, but that lasted 2 days. I can’t see well enough and it’s too boring because I can’t do anything. So I started just wearing the right contact along with my glasses when I’m at home.

I haven’t painted but I probably can.
Being a vegetable has been more of an impediment to that at this point. (I think.)

This Thursday I'll probably go paint with the journalists after work, just to set that time and space aside and make myself do something.

Adjustment

So I'm a few hours into glasses and it is a huge adjustment.
They are very heavy, I already have a red line on the bridge of my nose.
I also need to get them adjusted, so will have to do that today.

I need to figure out sunglasses..... will try some of those clip on ones.

My cataract- while noticeable in contacts and also without any lenses- is more pronounced.
I think it is still getting worse than even earlier this year.

I really can't see very well.  I'm ok to get around and work but I could not, for example, drive in glasses. Definitely not.

In the evenings I plan on wearing my right contact and patching my left eye, so I don't have to re-break in my contact in that eye and also to give my face a break from these heavy things.

There isn't anything I can do about my glasses, and people trying to make suggestions on how to improve them is annoying because it's all just basic stuff that would have already been done if possible or practical, or their "helpful solutions" don't make any sense. It's the lenses which are a problem, because of the prescription. There is only a a little that can be done about that, which has already been done.

So it's a month and a week, I know it will all work out for the best and this is something to just get through.  It has to be done sooner or later and sooner is better.

I haven't  been in glasses since I was 11, and then very briefly after my retina surgery when I was 13.
It's amazing that, all these years later as an adult, I feel very conspicuous.  It was hard having these thick heavy glasses as a kid.  People were very unkind.  I won't experience that now as an adult, but isn't it strange how feelings come up that are essentially irrelevant in the present.