Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Solitary Confinement...

So, I Just returned back to work from a duration of 10 days without my RGPs, to give my eyes "rest" before starting with a series of tests yesterday...(my next post)

Firstly, I have to admit, I was more “lost” than I had anticipated, I literally ended up locked up in my flat with all curtains drawn for the duration of that 10 days as my eyes ended up being extremely sensitive to light now they were “relaxing”

I had stocked up on Podcast and Audiobooks and had present some Radio stations to stream on my Mobile, as Watching TV or reading a physical book weren’t really going too be an option…. So My mobile and I were going to be best buds for the next 10 days for sure…
It did mean however, no real options to keep “in the loop” via all the known social networks as I could not read it, the only thing I managed over that period was a little bit of Skype calls and a bit of “Whatsapp” via some speech recognition and voice software on my hpone. I was able to get this sort of to work,(although I’m sure this could be smoother and im going to start looking into some more efficient ways of doing this for when im having a “bad eye day” so to say) and therefor had some belters off spelling and “translating mistakes” when I looked back over the chats ive had.. So It was kind of an Internet detox at the same time I guess….

The first day I just settled in, just lying in bed in a very darkened down bedroom, mostly listening to some stand-up and a James Patterson book and still full off spirit, until suddenly I got the fright of my life….. whilst a descriptive scene was describing a gun fight it suddenly got very real indeed, I could have sworn I was hearing gunfire myself….. Massively load bangs started rumbling through the apartment complex/ local area… WTF? Ah, ok….

"Gong Xi Fa Cai – Happy Chinese New Year" – The Year of the Snake had started…

As I was invited to a celebration of this by a friend of mine the next day, I figured it wasn’t until the next evening, well, these bangs made sure ill never remember the start of CNY ever again for sure, couldnt see the fireworks, but surely heard them.

As said, I was invited by a friend of mine to come and join the celebrations the following day, and was picked up by a mutual friend of ours who patiently walked with me whilst I was navigating my way to and into her car and then into the house where the party was…. All whilst using my trusted cane…

I had been looking forward to this, being introduced to traditions and having new experiences… as apparently traditional there is quite a bit of gambling going on during these days, I counted myself kucky I actually couldn’t see a thing, as in that way I couldn’t participate or being tempted into participating into a game I would know in the first place and therefor losing all my allocated dosh… there are bonuses sometimes I guess.. (-:

Unfortunately apart from eating some really nice food, the only tradition I experienced was the tradition of “the red envelopes”
Traditionally these are envelopes filled with some money and are typically given by the married to the unmarried…. And as Im not married or have ever been, (although based on this fun surprise i might just stay unmarried for another while d-: )I suddenly was handed these envelopes aswell, and I wasn’t even family… initially slightly embarrassed, but after being reassured I shouldn't be, I accepted the envelopes… unfortunately not too long after that I already had to go home again, as the whole experience had been pretty full on…. the brightness of the daylight was really playing havoc with my eyes, and was creating a massive headache aswell… .something I hadn’t anticipated so intense and sort of set the tone for the rest of the week…

I had figured I could on occasion go to the pool at my apartment complex and at least sit there for a couple of hours, but I figured if daylight from just sitting inside hurts like this, sitting in the sun would definitely be a nono…. so that was it for the whole period…. Inside the flat, curtains drawn… fun… )-:

The rest of the days were basically do-able but slightly frustrating as-well, boredom set in, Insomnia set-in, cabin fever started setting in towards the end of the week even.

I even had a night were suddenly my vision went completely on black, this was pretty scary and completely freaked me out, but when I woke-up the next day it was almost back to “normal” again…

The only thing that sort of kept me sane were visits of friends of mine, stopping by to bring me some lunch or dinner and some chat….and then secretly checking if I actually had eaten previously or if my fridge was still stocked up enough, and if not, arranging for some top-ups…

The only other time I got out was the last Saturday , where yet another friend of mine contacted me in the evening saying, get ready, we going out and getting something to eat… this initially was very daunting, as the previous venture out, wasn’t that successful, but at the same time, what kept me sane that time around was the company and patient assistance of my friends, and that would be the same this time around….I wasn’t alone, I had company, assistance, guidance… it be ok.

Also there was the added bonus that there’d be no daylight to irritate my eyes again, plus if id just constantly wore my sunglasses id be pretty ok I reckoned and im glad I did go out, as it was good for the mind and the soul… probably more a life saver then I initially let on I guess.

All in all this whole period was rougher then I had anticipated, it was quite confronting to be back into that “black hole” for a while, but at the same time, it was something that had to be done, and in a way is for a good cause, the future management of this disorder…

Onward and upwards….
Gong Xi Fa Cai 



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