This is a thread for ILXORS IN THEIR 50's

Approaching 56, never had glasses but I've been struggling with eye fatigue in the last six months; picked up a pair of +1.25 readers from the pound shop. They make my phone look like an upgrade. I can read it from 25cm away (without: more like 40cm). Useless for anything else, but the fatigue has subsided anyway, possibly because it's actually daylight for the entire working day and I cannot get ambient artificial light levels right in my miserable little back bedroom office.
I only wear the readers for minutes at a time but they're like a superpower for microscopic label details.

Obv everything else is falling apart.

I've just bought a ticket for up and coming act PAUL MCCARTNEY

Sorry to inform you but PAUL IS DEAD. We know this because at the very end of the song "Strawberry Fields" you can hear a voice say very plainly "I buried Paul." Also, on the cover of the Abbey Road album, Paul is pictured barefoot, which is how corpses are prepared for burial in - I think it was Sicily or someplace like that. Shocked you never heard about this.

whatever happened to the 'buy this lamp for 400 pounds' things that were forever on the TV / falling out the guardian? 'serious' i think they were called. that said, in sure you can buy daylight bulbs for less than 400 pounds.

(i checked, £3.29 from screwfix)

(do we have a 'wonders of the modern world' thread because 6W light bulbs should be included there)

heck, white LEDs alone are an amazing achievement

Funny how most of the posts itt are about bodies. That’s the one thing we all have in common I guess

the £400 daylight bulbs probably put out a few more lumens than the £3 screwfix ones - you can still get £200 daylight lamps for artists, but yes the price is probably a triumph of marketing over technology.

heck, white LEDs alone are an amazing achievement
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2014/press-release/

yep!

lol. everything hurts.

― Humanitarian Pause (Tracer Hand), Saturday, June 8, 2024 4:23 AM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm

snoball even warned me about this shoulder shit! fml

I had a bad case of subacromial bursitis last year. Got lucky with a GP appointment - physio specialist was in that week. I showed him how I could get this hand all the way up my back (not bad for an old-timer is what I was aiming for), but this other hand? No way, Hipsway. Not even behind my back. He identified the issue immediately, pressed HARD into my bursa and got me to magically do what I couldn't previously, and then gave me exercises to do.

As with all other "do this for 20 mins every day for the rest of your life, don't skip a step" routines that I'm supposed to be doing, I did it half the time for a few weeks and it totally worked.

i had intense pain in my right knee a few weeks ago out of nowhere that persisted for a week, i was about to go to the doctor but then it gradually got better and is mostly fine now (my suspicion is that i need to drop 20 lbs to fully get rid of it). Typical in that i was waiting for some terrible news about a chronic condition but it was just a slow healing process due to age and not great personal habits. of course that bad habits are eventually gonna get me...

out of desperation, i've just tried my old glasses, the ones i used up until 2 months ago and lol, blind. sunglasses too. guess i'm stuck with these for the near future even though i think they are making me light-headed.

i had frozen left arm a few years ago that they couldn't find anything wrong with despite ultrasounds. got better on its own but took an entire year. there'd be times when i'd drop something and grab for it with the bad arm without thinking and would swear because of the pain. right one is just about 90% again after the same happening to that last january.

fucking hell, people!

I had something similar happen with both of my shoulders, but the right was significantly worse than the left. Couldn't raise my right arm over my head, couldn't scratch my own back. Got weekly acupuncture for a couple of months which helped a little, but it gradually went away on its own. I still don't think I have full range of motion, but it doesn't just hurt all the time, so I'll take it.

it’s just confusing. I have good shoulder mobility. I stretch. I exercise. ??? am currently in the doctor’s waiting room. will report back.

So they think it’s shoulder “impingement”. Which may get better in a few weeks. They are booking me for an ultrasound to be sure. Pretty happy with this result!

Xposts back although my eyes are well short&longsighted lensy at the same time, but my overall eyesight has been improving the past two tests. Possibly due to sacking the contact lenses.

I'm due another about now so who knows ...

(Tried varifocals briefly, frankly sucked, and my eye doctor said 'Yeah let's just go for two pairs,' and it's been gravy since.)

The problem with the two-pair solution is that "where the fuck are my reading glasses?" is a very real problem now.

I just lift up my glasses when I need to see close up.

right there with you

https://i.imgur.com/hyHWxyX.png

The way Sen. Carl Levin wore his glasses like this used to irrationally piss me off. Like it was an intellectual way to offer some Shade Tippin' .

But now, I get you, Carl. I get you.

Battle not with eyeglass wearers lest ye becom etc.

Sen. Levin was just channeling Ben Franklin

I just lift up my glasses when I need to see close up.

― Christine Green Leafy Dragon Indigo, Saturday, 22 June 2024 13:01 (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Ditto, but I found I have to use my readers when working ont’ laptop. But I get drowsy if I have them on too long and/or walk around with them on…

Battle not with eyeglass wearers lest ye becom etc.

But see, most people who wear glasses look their glasses, even in official portraits.

Feel like Levin would've wore earbuds all the time, even when he wasn't listening to music or podcasts.

I lookawful without my glasses on. All sorta washed out. Maybe it is just that I'm so used to it, having worn em since 16?

When my father turned 50 I laughed when a short while later Saga (UK travel and insurance company for the over 50s) sent him a brochure through the post that seemed to arrive like a laser guided bomb. Today they sent me an email.

Ask not for whom Saga trolls.

In re glasses, one vanity benefit I get from them in my 50s is that they somewhat obscure the ever-growing shadows under my eyes. Way better than any kind face cream would, I'm sure.

Snoball - ha! I've very nearly made it through the first year of my fifties without Saga tracking me down.

Yeah, I started to get marketing mail from Michael Parkinson

I got my first mail from Saga the day after my 50th birthday. The only one I get repeated mail from is a retirement village outside Malvern (which admittedly looks very nice).

We actually took advantage of a special over 50s hotel discount earlier this year. We were by far the youngest people there.

I might have claimed pensioner discount for F at the outdoor museum in Bucharest last year. She wasn't best pleased (but the lady on the desk took it all in good spirits and gave her it anyway).

My wife takes great joy in claiming discounts based on me.