I finally replaced my old Oakley sunglasses

Remember when Patrick took me to Cannon Beach, Oregon and my beloved sunglasses broke? Well, Oakley doesn't make those sunglasses anymore, which is a real pity. They'd lasted me for ten long, glorious years before mysteriously giving up the ghost.

I hemmed and hawed about getting new ones, and kept putting it off because, hey, it was winter in Seattle. Not exactly sunglasses weather. But then last weekend happened, and holy sunny, Batman! I caved and bought myself some replacement ones. I'd gotten a cheap pair at the beach just to deal with the light on the water, but those are never anywhere near as comfortable and nice-looking as decently made sunglasses, not to mention they feel like even opening the earpieces out will make them break.

These are the ones I got:

Titanium frame and polarized lenses. No Muir snowfield blindness for this girl!

I'm fully expecting to never have to buy another pair of sunglasses again. If plastic frames will last me ten years, titanium ones ought to last longer than I will. And you can get replacement lenses, if they should get scratched. I take really good care of my stuff, though, and my other ones didn't have a single scratch on the lenses (contributing a few kinks to the strange plot twist of how on earth they could've broken the way they did... I suspect gremlins are behind it).

They're actually listed as men's sunglasses, but big deal. The women's line lately is full of these awful gigantic glasses that make you look like some sort of alien insect. No thank you. I'll take these any day. I love them so much that I've actually been wearing contacts to work so I can wear my sunglasses while driving. Usually I hate wearing contacts because my eyes are naturally fairly dry and they can be uncomfortable, but these are worth it.

I'll put up a picture of myself wearing them when I feel up to it. Physical therapy today made me a little achey, and I have it periodically for the next three weeks. Keep your fingers crossed that it fixes all my issues... The other night I was standing in the kitchen with Patrick and turned my head rapidly to the left for some reason. There was a huge crack from my neck that almost echoed around the kitchen (it was loud), and then I felt a little better (once I ascertained that I hadn't just turned myself into a quadriplegic).

Hopefully I am on the mend.

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I was going to post this as a comment, and then I realized it was long enough for its own post, so here it is.

I am driving a 2012 Nissan Altima! I am calling it my Wizardmobile. The last time I bought a car was 2002, and I am SO unfamiliar with all the newfangled stuff that's come out in the decade since then. Apparently you no longer use keys to start a car. They are passé. Instead you just have the keys near the car and push a button.

It's a nice car. The doors shut solidly and it has some good acceleration. I'm used to a manual transmission, so having only the options of fully automatic or weirdly quasi-manual are odd. My hand keeps drifting over to where the shifter should be when I'm not thinking about it. It has something like 10 drink holders scattered all over the cabin. No clue what some of the buttons do, and not about to try them out for fear one is an emergency ejector or flame thrower.

The really nice things about it are that it is a tall enough car that neither Patrick nor I has our heads brush against the ceiling (my usual car is very compact), and it has a nice stereo system. The bass is lovely! But I do miss my car. And it is hard navigating a 4-door sedan around when you are used to a 2-door coupe and you have to park in a very cramped parking garage.

Like this, but in black.

I made sure to get the all the various insurances on it, just in case I had really horrible luck and someone else hit me before I even got my regular car fixed. The claim for this will go to the other driver's insurance along with everything else. They are supposed to contact me either this week or next, and we'll see how that goes. I hope it isn't some long, drawn-out fight. If they try to screw me, I guess I'll just end up getting a lawyer. Fun!

The doctor gave me a prescription for ultrasound physical therapy, so I'll be calling that place today to see about an appointment. The massage yesterday didn't hurt nearly as much as the previous one, owing in part to me mentioning to the therapist that I'd been in quite a lot of pain after the first one. She lightened up a lot this time, and I was able to get out of bed this morning without wanting to shriek. I think massage will work better and better as my hurt muscles heal up. Now it mostly feels like I've had a really godawful workout and I'm suffering through the aftermath. A week ago this time it felt like I'd been hit with a... truck. Oh, right. Hah.

So glad that dizziness is going away. It was just horrid on Sunday. One wave after another of disorientation. Since then it's happened a little less each day, and today isn't very bad at all. The doctor thinks perhaps it was brought on by Patrick and I going for a short hike-walk that involved some elevation gain (climbing). When I climb, I can feel my back muscles working, and the doctor said that it might have occurred from too much muscle tension fooling with my nerves. Either that or the concussion. Or both. Personally I'm going with the "both" theory. Having waves of disorientation and mood changes approximately one week after a concussion fits exactly with the classical profile. At any rate, I am glad that crap is easing off. I've finally quit crying about everything. I bet Patrick is relieved...

Aaaaand there, just set up four physical therapy appointments. I hope they help. I'm relieved to have come out of this without broken bones or some sort of terrible permanent brain damage. Just have to deal with the concussion and whiplash, but I am improving. I'm not supposed to go on anything more than a short, easy walk (no real elevation gain or loss) until I can move around without pain, and I can't carry a day pack for probably a couple of months. I'm hoping I'll be able to pick up the cello again soon (literally pick it up, it's pretty heavy and I can't even clean the catbox without my back arguing with me right now). Maybe in a couple weeks. On the up side, I'd only had one lesson, so there isn't much to worry about losing. It's not like I'm going to backslide after months of serious progress. I guess if I was going to get hit by a truck, this was the time to do it...

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