Thanks so much, Andrew. I did see "Extended" mentioned on the cover, but I still had no idea what I was doing. What would you recommend showing the friends - for a good first impression, you know? Like I said, I don't like that particular scene outside the church, but I love that they play the "Boom Boom" song in full - that scene is great. And I like the part when Elwood quits his job - it's so weird to see him without shades, don't you think?

Congrats to the Syracuse Orangemen on winning the Big East title today. They went through Cincinnati, Connecticut and Pittsburgh to get their

MACNAMARA IS AWESOME!!!

Yeah he is. He might have single-handedly saved that team's postseason hopes

Today was quite an event for me.

I've apparently got some kind of eye infection (gross, I know, but I had to share the story...), which just came about this morning. I normally wouldn't share something like this, because all it seems to be is a mixture of an infection and sinus, and quite gross. However, the original discovery of it was...traumatic.

I woke up feeling something in my eye, leaking out, but I just thought it was the morning stuff people get. My mom had woken me up and just left on an errand, and I went to the bathroom mirror to check it out. Turns out, some kind of "substance" was secreting from my eye...all around, not just in the corner. I was grossed out and worried, and I went to tell my dad. Now, he and I don't share half the medical knowledge my mom has, so we were lost. I went back to the mirror to check on it again, after putting eye drops in, and I suddenly felt very sick to my stomach. I started to worry about that, too. Then, I began to see those purple stars in front of my eyes (those of you who have rubbed your eyes very hard probably know what I mean...?), and things started to get dark. Now, this happens when I stand up too fast, but never in any other situation, and never when my eye is "leaking."

This is probably the punch line of my story, but at the time, it was one of my most scariest moments. I immediately thought of Ray, the movie. Those of you who have seen it should know what I mean - when he begins to go blind, as a child, a similar kind of stuff is also leaking from his eyes. I know, I know, it apparently had been happening for a while for him, and of course in both eyes, (and who knows how accurate the movie was?), but the similarities seemed huge at the time, and I panicked. I didn't tell anyone what I thought until later, and I felt like a complete fool, but I swear, I believe this was some kind of a message for me. True, I was being quite foolish in my worries, but it opened my eyes. No pun intended. For that one minute of complete fear before I began to calm down, so many thoughts flashed through my mind of what would happen if I really were going blind. How would I know, I wondered, until it was done, and I began to think of how much my life would change. I thought of my family and friends, I thought of not being able to do things on my own, I thought of the Internet (of here...seriously...), I thought of nature and just the common beauties of vision, and I realized how scared I was that I might lose such a precious sense.

Please don't laugh. I just wanted to share this. There's a huge difference between going blind and getting an eye infection, but today, my mistake in recognizing this helped me to become so much more grateful for my sight. I can be a little superstitious and read too far into things, but I do believe that today was meant to help me appreciate life a little more.

Nobody with a brain and a heart would ever laugh at this, dear! You are very right, we take things for granted and that's so wrong. You are a sensitive, bright, delightful young woman, Gina! God bless you!

((((((((((((((((((((((((Gina)))))))))))))))))))))))

Thank you so much, Lavi. All the same to you - that touched my heart.

I'm often guilty of taking things (many things, other than vision) for granted, so this was a nice wake-up call for me.

Gina, dear, I hope you are well now. It's a scary thing having something with your eyes, I know.

When the $&#*#@ are these twins going to sleep through the night!!!!!!!!

Thanks, JM and Part.

Part, it must be a truly terrible thing for someone to experience going blind, knowing what's going to happen, but being completely helpless. How scary.

Thanks for your "soapbox routine" - we all appreciate it.

The eye (that sounds so silly..."The Eye"... ) is doing much better today. Either it wasn't as bad as I thought, or the drops I'm taking are working. Regardless, I'm very thankful it's improved. I've been wearing my glasses instead of my contacts, and I'm now also grateful that I don't have to wear them normally. The prescription isn't as recent, so I can't see as well out of them - I couldn't even read the scores on the baseball game!

Wow, Gi! That sounds scary... I'd freak out too. I wouldn't laugh at you, that is pretty serious, especially if you don't know what's going on. And we always assume the worst when we don't know what something is. I'm glad it's getting better. Did you find out what caused it?

Now that's serious!!

Thanks, Zia. As for what caused it, I suspect my toddler cousin. We had been hanging out the night before, and he's quite the little snotball, so you never know. Really though, I have no idea for sure. </strong></font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">No kidding! I kept smudging my glasses, and they were sliding down my nose all day, so when I discovered that they also inhibited my baseball viewing abilities, that was the final straw. Then, when I took them off and realized that all the players looked like nothing more than blurs to me, I was a little more appreciative.

Aww... Gina! That's really scary. I always get scared at first thought of something like that. I remember when I was 9 years old after going through my sister's book about symptoms of some of diseases, I felt I had them all.

Anyway, you most likely have gotten it because of your contacts. I'm not in favor of using contacts really, eyes are very sensitive and these sort of things while are rare to happen, can happen, so I go with the Murphy's law.

I prefer my frameless glasses and I'm quite comfortable with them.

So, Afs, we're both very nervous about our eyes, aren't we?

My mom reminded me to be sure to clean my contacts and the case very well, but it didn't even occur to me, until you mentioned it, that maybe the contacts were the cause of it. Every so often, I'll get little pieces of dirt or dust in my eyes, so that can be a bother to fix with the solution and contacts, but I would never expect something like this...you just never know, though.

I might be worried but I don't take good care of them. Too much computer, TV, movies.

You can never be too careful about handling contacts. The source of bacteria even could be your hands and it can be trapped under the contacts. Of course, hanging out in a polluted air while you wear contacts can do that too.

I hope you get well soon.

SB, this St. Ives Apricot scrub rules. I bought it a few says ago and I'm loving it. Thanks for the advice.

One time I tried to convince my mom I was going blind and it worked great up until she called an eye doctor.

Yea, the one where you and a friend go in a public place and take turns shouting penis slightly louder each time until one of you is too embarrassed to continue or one of you gets in trouble.

Did you ever wear glasses?

Yes, I did. Now that you mention it, I'm not exactly certain when I first got them. I think it was third or fourth grade. Anyway, I switched to contacts when I started sixth grade, and they've worked quite well for me.

Yeah, I could see it.
But I always heard it's not good for people to start wear contact lenses too young, because their eyes are still growing.
I only heard it, without a serious explanation, so I don't really know. Do you know?

I'm just glad my eyes are still in a very good shape.
Like this pair of eyes:
And I hope I won't have Ray Charles's eyes:

I miss my contacts. I started wearing glasses when I was 4, and then got contacts when I was 16. I wore them for years and never had a problem, until we moved into a condo with electric heat. I scratched my cornea removing a lens, but because the air in our home was so dry, I kept reinjuring the cornea. I couldn't wear them after that. Years later (and a new home with hot water heat), the cornea finally healed, but then I got Bells Palsy, and now my left eye tears constantly. I would love to have my contacts back, but I guess glasses aren't so bad.

I looked back at some of these posts, and just to catch up - Gina, I'm glad you're eye is better.

Afs - Isn't St. Ives the best?? All my daughter's friends ask her all the time how she keeps her skin so clear! Glad you're happy with it.

Just found a bunch of old cds that I used to listen to in Middle school. Got some decent $$$$$ for all of em.

Enzo, I'm not really sure about that - it sounds reasonable, though. I've heard that, for people with glasses or contacts, their eyes will continue to get worse as years go by. I'm not certain how one could avoid that, but it's scary to think about. When I don't have either my contacts in or my glasses on, I'm blind as a bat. I hate to think how I would manage going through life without either.

Thanks, SB. Wow, after reading your troubles with your eye and contacts, mine don't seem as bad...I'm glad you're okay with glasses, though.

Did you know that Shrek 2 was the 3rd highest grossing movie of all time?!?! I had no idea it did that well.

Gi, I got glasses in third grade and contacts in sixth too! Crazy. I'm really blind without them too. I'm like Marilyn Monroe in How to Marry a Millionaire, when she misses the door and walks into a wall, or doesn't recognize people when they come in a room... It's pretty bad. My family makes fun of me for how I am if I'm not wearing glasses or contacts.

But I think about that too, how they only get worse... and I think, if it's gotten this bad in the last 15 years, how blind am I going to be in another 15 years? And I don't think I'd EVER do Lasik or anything... I've seen how they do it on a commercial, actually going in your eye, and man, that is NOT for me. I'd die first. I'm such a wimp when it comes to stuff like that.

You know, I was thinking it might have been caused by your contacts, too, like an allergy to a new solution or something. I'm allergic to one brand of lenses (Bausch and Lomb, the biggest one-- go figure), and the first time I put them on, my eyes got all bloodshot and teary. Even after I took them out (immediately) and put glasses on, I was still teary-eyed for like a week. All week, everyone would look at me funny everywhere I went, or when I'd see people who know me, I'd get, "Omigod, are you crying? What happened?" Thank God for waterproof makeup, that week.

Zia, how weird! *hums Twilight Zone theme*

Yeah, when I take my glasses off/contacts out, people become giant blobs. I probably couldn't tell my brother from my dad. I always carry solution to school in a tiny bottle, just in case I get dust or dirt in my eyes. I've luckily never needed it, though - so we squirt it on people and pretend like we've sneezed, or it's raining, or the ceiling is leaking, or... Do yours ever dry out, perhaps from not blinking enough? I'll be in Band, bored out of my mind or reading music (or both!), and all of a sudden, I blink, and my contacts nearly pop out!

My dad actually got Lasik surgery quite a few years ago, and it's apparently worked well for him. I remember sitting in the place where he had it done when I was very little - all I knew was that these "people" were doing something to my daddy, and though he didn't seem very worried about it, I was scared for him. Guess I'd be a wimp, too, if I ever needed it done.

Yeah, my contacts dry out all the time. Especially on cold days when I crank up the heater in my car, oh, it's horrible. I blink and I can feel the lens go crazy in my eye. Or in class, that's happened to me too.

I never lost one from it actually coming out of my eye when I'm out somewhere, but a couple of times I've dropped one when I'm putting them in or taking them out. And you're half blind so you can't see if it's on the counter or on the floor or in the sink or what... you don't want to move your feet in case you step on it, so you just try not to move too much while you bring your face within like half an inch of the counter so you can see. Oh, the drama.

I used to wear contact lens some years ago. After a serius conjunctivitis, I decided I had had enough of that torment and resumed my good ol' spectacles.

I've been wearing specs since I was a child. After a long and doomed from the start conflict, where I often failed to greet people I knew only to greet people I didn't know just because I wouldn't wear specs, I came to terms with that and I can easily say now I like my spectacled face.

I wear spectacles, and I don't like the idea to try contacts. I guess eyes must feel tired having a piece of plastic in them for the whole day!