Rationing & Yucky Smoke...

Ok Two main complaints today:

1. Rationing of Resources
2. Smoke... in general

1. Rationing:

It's come to my attention that I have no money left for this month due to paying a large bill, and am running low on lens solution. This, it has to be understood, is a major disaster, much in the scale of Earthquakes and Floods.

I've been wearing contact lenses since I was 17, I discovered them right at the end of sixth-form and just before my A-Levels. Up until that point, I was your typical average speccied four eyes ultra-shy geek that everyone avoided, and suddenly with the advent of lenses, people started actually talking to me, and I found my confidence level tripled. It was very strange to suddenly be able to walk into the Sixth Form Common Room on a free period, and to sit down and talk with girls sitting opposite without the usual panic attacks or unbelievable nervousness. (girls!! they were unattainable mythical creatures for me, even trying to attempt to bring about a conversation with them nearly brought me out in a rash!) Having the thick brown glasses free on the NHS with lenses the thickness of bottles didn't help either.

Since then, I've become more confident, and I bet many of my former classmates wouldn't recognise me now as the same shy, generally strange person who was in school. I wear glasses and lenses interchangeably now, and am not bothered by them, but generally, I still prefer wearing lenses, partly because of a line of sight reason.

You don't get an area that is blurry with lenses, you can see clearly out of the whole line of vision, whereas with glasses there's always that bit beyond your frames that is blurry. The other reason is still one of confidence. I still feel much more confident when I have to sing or speak in public, when I'm wearing lenses.

So the fact I'm running out of solution and don't have the money to buy any more at present, means I will have to ration my wearing of them carefully. Times when I'm singing in public, like leading worship in church, etc I'll wear my lenses. The rest of the time, (i.e. my everyday job) I'll wear the glasses. Many important clothing and style decisions will have to be made this month now to tie in with whichever Im wearing to assist my eyesight!! *sighs* It's so hard being me.

2. Smoking In general.

At present I am sick to the back teeth of smoke in public. When I go to eat a meal, have a drink, accompany my sister on the guitar at open mic nights... wherever I go, there seems to be smoke. Even in so-called "non-smoking" areas, it still drifts across, and by the end of the night, you end up smelling like a 40-a-dayer. I HATE IT!!!!

Last night I was accompanying my sister on the guitar as she sang at a club/pub in an open mic night, (she writes her own stuff, usually not acoustic - see her myspace) and I came home absolutely reeking of smoke. We were only in there for about two hours!! I can't wait when the new smoking legislation comes into force about smoking in public, I would just like to go somewhere without being contaminated by someone else's habit.

Yes I realise people have the right to smoke, hell if they want to be stupid enough to kill themselves slowly from the inside, let them, (!) but I don't see why I should have to ingest their smoke as well. Passive smoking is still a big percentage of all Lung cancer cases, obviously not the majority, but it certainly contributes to the figures. July next year should see the new legislation becoming law here, and Liverpool City Centre should generally become a much cleaner place, and I will be abe to go for a meal, or a drink, or to sing or play in a smoke-free zone. I can't wait.

Well that's my moans for now.