Monday, July 2, 2012

Lazy eye/ Why I Can Never Ever Watch 3D Movies wah

Read blogger Aduhi Chawngthu's latest blogpost about how she watched Spiderman in 3D and how it felt like the flying things were going to hit her at one point. And I am forcibly reminded again of how I can never get to experience what 3D movies look like (Squirm with guilt, Aduh)

I have Amblyopia, or Lazy Eye (I prefer the latter term, sounds kinda cooler), a condition in which one eye loses the ability to see things clearly. I can only barely distinguish shapes and colours with my left eye, and when I try on 3D glasses, all I see is a red image with a hazy blue blur somewhere in the corner of my left vision.

Apparently, when I was a child, I had a fever. My hands didn't feel just like two balloons but I got severely cross-eyed. Some doctor managed to cure me of it, but my sisters still like to talk about the fact that at one time, my identification mark was, "left eye on the right side". Still crops up occasionally when my eyes are tired and my friends like to point out, "Awi, kha a kalh, a kalh leh lo! A kalh leh chiah!"

Anyhoo, my parents and I thought all was fine and dandy until the time I complained of severe headaches when I was in class 5 and we went for an eye check-up. The doctor revealed the fact that I could only see clearly through one eye, which startled everyone, most of all me, because I had been having very clear vision. But it seemed that while my left eye is lazy as shit, my right eye has been over compensating like mad, hence the headaches.

"Your daughter will become blind within three years", proclaimed the eye doctor, "unless she wears an eye-patch for seven years and force the unseeing eye to see!" So I wore an eye patch. Like so. Unfortunately I wasn't as cute as the little girl there. And trying to navigate the world and especially school seeing just hazy outlines and colours was pretty harrowing for me. For one thing, I'm naturally clumsy, and the patch made me lose my depth perception, so I kept on falling down stairs, tripping and bumping into things. Also I fell way behind on my school work since I couldn't read anything. And I looked like a dork. So I gave up the eye patch, and nothing my parents said, not even the threat of blindness could make me take it back. And Lazy Eye is curable only with patching.



The doctor was wrong, though. It's been many many years since her prediction but my vision is still the same- left eye lazy, right eye workaholic. Also, since I've  never known what it's like to see the world through two functioning eyes, I've never felt deprived or anything.

And then they had to invent 3D. So now I feel a little bit miffed. And I also have a tiny headache too because I've been straining my eyes a lot lately.

So damn you, you prejudiced-against-visually-challenged- people-3D inventor!

Nah, not really. I still have my books, my 2D movies and the ability to see the funny side of most things, so I'm pretty good. And thankful. And to everyone with two functioning eyes, go watch the 3D version, Aduhi makes it sound pretty awesome. Ta!

12 comments:

blackest3D said...

I knew people with bad eyesight can still see 3D by wearing contacts/specs under the 3D glasses, but you are pretty unfortunate to never experience the awesomeness that is 3D! The actors come to life, they pop-out from the screen and sit next to you. I've had Ironman steal my popcorn and the Hulk just wanted my Coke, which he later smashed and splattered all over the front row.
But seriously, I'm not a big fan of "3D" movies (The quotes are necessary!) but last time when I checked timings for The Avengers movie, out of all the multiplexes and Theaters in Pune, there was exactly one show in 2D, and the rest 30+ shows were in 3D.
It's just the multiplexes' way of making a few more bucks on each show by charging rentals on the "3D" glasses.
On an uplifting note for you, recent "3D" technology no more uses red and blue glasses, they use polarized light which 3D's the shit out of the movies. Read more below and rejoice: http://io9.com/5589449/how-do-3d-movies-work
I have done my good deed for today, black out!

ku2 said...

oooh, way to go to make the second half of my title redundant. Yeahh, I'm a bit bummed on missing out on the realism of 3D movies, I want to be able to feel like I can reach out and touch Legolas' hair and match Sauron's stare eye for good eye (Reading a funny article on LOTR, hence the reference). Thanks for the silver lining!

Senmami said...

My (ex)boyfriend is one eye blind from a childhood accident. So he must have pretended to 'enjoy' all those 3D movies that we went to!! Very trullo... And all the while I was suffering from dizzy spells! hmmm...Let me make a phonecall...

Aduhi Chawngthu said...

3D is ok, but I can live without it. I wanted to watch Spidey in 2D but when I booked my ticket only the 3D one was available and it was no fun having to adjust your 3D glass every two minutes. And most of the time you don't even realise you are watching in 3D, unless there is some object flying at you :D in some fight scene :D

OK Seriously don't feel bad or feel that you are missing out on something great, it's no big deal, except you can actually feel like you are in the movie and the waterfall is going to drench you and the rocks are going to smash you to bits, you close your eyes so that the dust doesn't blind you :D

Ok now seriously, you said "since I've never known what it's like to see the world through two functioning eyes, I've never felt deprived or anything", so same thing goes with 3D. You cannot miss what you never had. End of story. Cheers.

Anonymous said...

Interesting read again as always. I never noticed you wearing that infamous eye patch in schools. weird. Im also sorry about your lazy eye but I do applaud your humoristic attitude about it. But I think You would rock that eye patch any time.
coming to 3D..i have never watched any movie in 3D 'cause i am a selfish territorial person. watching a movie or Tv with any other person feels so wrong! You got to enjoy the experience yourself. I hate watchng Movies in theatres esp in Vai Ram 'cause you cant bloody hear what they are saying amidst obnoxious 'Lu kir' and howlings and stuff I do not want to mention. So my point is I dont think you and I are missing out anything much.. I love watching anythng on my laptop lying down with a pair of ear phones all by myself. 3D te chu lu ati hai duh duh nen!! an ti :P

Mimihrahsel said...

But mate, I love love your big brown eyes, its unique :)

ku2 said...

@senmami: Hmm, maybe he really was able to enjoy them? Inngaizawng kara inhauhna thlen ka duhloo :(

@Aduhi: Haha, why so serious? Darn, and I was trying to make you feel guilty :P

@gkhiangte: What's an obnoxious "Lukir" inside movie theatres?? Now I'd have rocked that eye patch but the docs say that after a certain age, patching no longer works.

@mimi: Thank you muchly baybeh!

LisaJS said...

I suffer from a problem with my left eye which leaves me with double vision & extreme sensitivity to light. Since last year I've had to wear a patch to block out the vision from that eye. I don't really miss 3D that much- I agree with blackest3D about 'the quotes are necessary'- never noticed a massive difference between 2D & 3D. Not being able to see in 3D is pretty low down my list of things that suck about wearing a patch- the constant hot, sticky feeling from never feeling fresh air on that side of my face & the stupid childish comments I get from some people are far more annoying. On the plus side you can get some cool looking patches now, I've got a few different colors & styles which I can match with different outfits. I'm sure you'd look good rocking an eyepatch, I've come to like how I look in one, just hate having to wear the thing all the time. If I had two good eyes I'd be tempted to keep some of my patches to wear as an occasional fashion accessory.

ku2 said...

@LisaJS: Wow, I like you! And now i feel like a whiner :D
The thing with me was I had to wear a patch over my good eye to force the lazy one to become active, and I could barely see, so that's why I could not bear to wear the patch. And patching works only up till puberty or something, and I'm way past that, so wearing it again would be kind of pointless, save as a fashion accessory, like you said. Though now I'm tempted to try on one :D
Thank you for visiting and for the comment!

Mizohican said...

All I could think of while reading this post was, "Arrrrr... me hearty... she be a fine wench" you know... with the eye patch and all :D

But hey I completely disagree with Aduhi's post. I'll go there next to rant too, but here's what I wanna say. First of all the movie sucked, and secondly, I don't find anything that great about 3D. Of course it adds some depth to the movie dimension at certain parts now and then, but a 2D experience is equally awesome too. The only 3D I loved was when I was playing NFS at my friends 3D PlayStation. Now that was freaking awesome and it was 3D throughout the game, unlike the movies.

So hugs, kuks, you aint missing much.

And I completely understand what you are going through with your lazy eye. I too suffer from a slight disability. I have severe cylindrical lenses. Which means I CANNOT see anything in the night when a car highbeams me from the other side. Most people find it difficult to see of course, but me, I go completely blind. Hence I cannot drive anymore in the night and my license had been revoked, which especially sucks for me considering the fact that I am a bachelor.

H.Vangchhia said...

hmmm :)

ku2 said...

@mizohican: Riiight, so being a bachelor means you get to drive at night? Such scandalous pursuits you bachelors get up to!
And I don't know about fine wenches, but arrr..thar be a winsome laddie!!

@H.V: hmmmmmmmm back :D