Blinded by the light

On Sunday, when Jody and I were taking a little Sunday drive to Mayville and Erie, I noticed a little problem with my vision. There were a few extra "floaters" in my field of vision, eventually followed by a streak of light whenever I moved my line of sight quickly. The flashes sort of looked like a crescent of lightning. I didn't know what was going on, but when it didn't go away it was clearly time to call the eye doctor the next morning.

After an exam, it was determined that I had a "gel displacement" in my eye. That stuff in the middle of the eyeball moved a bit, dislodging some particles (floaters) and bumping up against the optic nerve (flashes). No retinal tears were found, which was the good news. But I need to keep staring straight ahead whenever possible for the time being, until everything settles down.

In addition, the doctor doesn't want any jarring of the eyeball. So heavy exercise -- and by that I mean anything more than walking -- is out for something like three months. We're about to find out if a running columnist needs to run to get good stories. Or, put another way, there goes my plans to take up boxing this year.

I've been watching some movies for the last couple of days. Suggestions are welcome ... and "Scent of a Woman" may not strike me as too funny right now.