Showing posts with label art/ legally blind/ visually impaired/. Show all posts
Showing posts with label art/ legally blind/ visually impaired/. Show all posts

Thursday, July 19, 2012

baby your a firework

Its funny how many thoughts and emotions I've gone through in the weeks since i learned I also have RP. Some people have asked me questions which i really like, and others have said nothing. I think maybe they feel sorry for me and I wish they wouldn't. Asking questions is never felt invasive to me, it has always comforted me , it shows me that person wants to understand and know what I am going through. Maybe it is different for others with vision loss.


The strangest and hardest thing to go through with vision loss no matter how strong you are is the realization that something you had seen before is now different. With anything degenerative  you can see something in your way and then months later not be able to make it out at all. Shapes of words may even get harder to "fake".

For the Fourth of July I went with my family to the family cabin . It was the most perfect get away after everything. We had a blast with the kids and just doing things with the family like cooking took my mind off of everything, it was wonderful. On the fourth we got up and got ready to go out and see the fireworks. I hadn't seen any since we all went to Disneyland in November so i was excited.

We had fun sitting and waiting and people watching.  Finally the time came for the fireworks and I turned my head as I heard the first "boom" to see the colorful burst in the sky.

And I instantly had to close my eyes. My eyes burned so much! The fireworks were so bright and with my night blindness getting worse and my light sensitivity I couldn't watch the fireworks. I sat and cried quietly for a minute til I regained my composure. My daughter kept telling me about them so I asked her to tell me what they looked like, the colors, and which ones were her favorite.


With my eyes closed I listened to what my husband and daughter were saying and just imagined what they looked like inside my head. 

I watched the fireworks through their eyes. 

Somehow this made me less sad and more happy.I opened my eyes a few times, head turned away from the display and just watched my husband and held my daughter.I think it was only so hard because this realization came in public and with something I was excited that I could always go and see, maybe not anymore.

I know I will go through more of these moments and its not what I'm going through but how i choose to go through it. maybe if i focus more on how my daughter sees it or memory's of things it wont be so bad.


Sunday, July 15, 2012

feeling blind n girly

There are certain things Ill miss trying to do when i lose more of my sight,.
its doing my nails.


For my friends its seriously the girliest thing I do  but i really love it.


For sometime I couldn't really grow them, that and i just figured since my eyes were so bad why really try. Over the last year and with the inspiration of a friend Monika I started to really like doing them more. I would come home and sit and relax, paint my nails or file them and relax. When I came in to work my friend Lucy would notice them and always compliment them, it meant so much to even have them noticed.


I'm not going to lie I've had to get so close to them i have indeed had nail polish on my nose, but i didn't care. I found that if i took my time with a ton of light and patience i could paint them myself and i was so excited!


For other woman its easy to do your nails but for me it is a huge deal. 


I started collecting colors, then it was glitter and top coats and nail art! I found I like the glitter more because i can see the nails shine.My friends started to see how much this taken for granted ability by others had made me feel so much better. 

some of my nail collection


When i lost my box of nail polish in the move one of my best friends Brie even sent me a care package with nail polish.


I was talking to my husband  the day i found out I also had RP and I asked him," would you learn to paint my nails so when my sight is gone  i can still have pretty nails?" He said of course.

I may not be able to really see my hair color any more, or paint the best nails, but I will continue to try to stay girly going blind or not.


Thursday, March 10, 2011

the symptoms of being blind,..ish (ode to a bee)

I think sometimes we have symptoms of our visual issues. A secondary affect on our bodies and minds  from our blindish lifestyles.

Ive had some time off of blogging due to health issues. i like many Americans Ive found out i have high bad cholesterol. It was a huge shock to me since I'm fairly young and didn't think i had eaten that poorly, and 2 that i have a severe  dust allergy. I found all these  out while seeking a doctor for my migraines,.. lol a bit more news then i had anticipated.

With many visually impaired people there are migraines. those horrid reminders of a day full of squinting and straining. We can get tension headaches from this, eye strain, "eye" migraines causing auras and temporary lose of vision, and then just utterly horrid migraines. It started to make me think how much  vision loss effects  our whole body's. In going to the doctors they told me what they think the cause of my extremely bad ones are " i think you've pinched  a nerve in your neck from straining to see." I have a blind re-lated injury? It appears so, from years of cranking and improper sizes and what not Ive actually injured my neck causing migraines. Ive suddenly become so aware of my neck and how i hold it, many of you maybe be sitting up straighter right now.

I started to think about all the bruises Ive had, oh yeah and some doosies! no matter how much i know there is  a table there, its going to catch me in the shin when i least expect it to, or a corner i thought wasn't close reaches out and bites my elbow, mean corners.Don't even get me started on the random toy of my daughters that find its way under my heel since i cant see a barbie boot, or a mini  my little pony on the floor!

But i don't think it ends there, it really seems down to the smallest injury we tend to be a bit rough on our poor bodies, even mentally.Many people I've met with visual disabilities seem to also have (whether its hidden or not) anxiety, panic attacks, or some form of depression. It really takes a toll on us even the strongest who appear completely adjusted have gone through some sort of emotional issue. the years of ridicule, or lack of acceptance, for me i have trouble in n places I've never been. i can get around with confidence but if i don't know how to get home since i cant see streets signs, or lose a companion who's with me i have had panic attacks. In all the support organizations I've found why is it no one talks about that? I bet you more people would find it easier if they knew they too were not alone.

Food related traumas,.. Ive eaten more bad food, drank bad things, and mistakenly bought bad fruit. The other night has to be one of my favorites of these,..

With my new no sugar, no fat, no cholesterol diet i found a loop hole for dessert; berries in fat free whippy creme! I thought about it all day and couldn't wait for that bowl.Turned the t.v. on to "bizarre foods" (great show) and went to get my dessert. As per serving suggestions i placed 2 servings of whippy creme on one side of the bowl, then emptied the small container of raspberries on the other side. Such placement was done because well you have to be able to perfectly ration the whippy creme with each raspberry,.. well OK,.. maybe that's just me :). Mind you it was night time and dark in the house. I keep the lights off most of the time due to my light sensitivity and with the migraines Ive been extra sensitive lately. I moved through the dark and found the couch waiting and was immediately pounced by my loyal seeing eye dachshund. As i watched my show and laughed i carefully ate my yummy berries n creme, slowly savoring. after about half was gone i noticed something sort of odd, something was in the bowl, ,hmm, probably just half of a raspberry i thought. i placed it upon my spoon, dipped it in for some creme then stopped. It didn't seem right but i couldn't really see. I pulled it closer and there on my spoon covered in that whippy creme i dreamed of all day,... was a dead bee! I almost ate that! In my head all i thought was " dang it blindish girl you almost did it again!" Not knowing what to do i went and placed it back on the mound of creme in the bowl and put it on the kitchen counter and waited for Shane to come home. When he got home and i showed him the poor little be we both laughed, relieved i had not eaten it not knowing what could've happened. He called the store and got the manager  who replied " wait ,.. a bee bee? like a buzzing one? it wasn't that warm outside!" they suggested we bring it back in in the container. Not wanting to send him back covered in creme, i placed him in the container and rinsed him off.after he was clean i dropped him back in the raspberry container where he had died not willing to give up that delicious raspberry.

If i had better vision i would've seen that bee, or not picked up that weird thing on the balcony that turned out to be a dead June bug last summer. Even with all our bodies and minds are put through remember the funny things and it really gets easier.Find and reach out to others who seem to be going through what you are and talk about it. Most importantly, don't forget to take care of you. Those with physical losses are some of the most selfless and caring people, but they don't take care of themselves enough. you are just as important, I'm learning this the hard way. And don't forget to laugh  no matter what :)

Just remember the bee in the raspberries .

Sunday, January 30, 2011

6 days to go!

so i have my show next friday and im definatly excited its been a year since ive  had a gallery show let alone a solo one, so here is a few pics of the new work sorry my camara isnt very good better pics to come after friiday!

                                                                      Tsifteteli

Bettie
Gemini

Beauty in the haze:Center Stage

"Imagine the most beautiful thing"