Seeing Beyond Sight Photo Challenge by Charlie Fish
October 15th, 2007 9:27 AMAfter so many brilliant completions, I wanted to do something a little different. I was originally tempted to go epic and spend 24 hours without sight, but that would have taken planning - and in the end sponteneity won out.
Last Friday night I was drinking in the pub with a friend, and the subject of this challenge came up. I decided then and there that I would do it the following day - regardless of my other plans. I set myself two goals:
1) I would wake up blind, and do my usual Saturday morning chores, without sight.
2) I would attend a theatre matinee, which I had already planned to do, without sight.
The original 24-hour epic idea will have to wait for another day, but meanwhile I felt like those were decent challenges. And there is an extra twist in the tale...
The friend with whom I was drinking when this discussion arose suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, and unfortunately she doesn't have the option of taking off her blindfold. In a neat role reversal, she was guiding me for the day!
Pictures and story below...
15 vote(s)
The Vixen
5
Lincøln
5
Burn Unit
5
Loki
5
JTony Loves Brains
5
Meta tron
5
The Villain
5
YellowBear
5
The Villain
5
Ladybug
5
Lank
5
Flitworth
5
The Revolutionary
5
susy derkins
5
cody
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Great new take on the task. I love it. I thought we had exhausted new takes on the task. Boy was I wrong. I can't wait to see now what other people come up with.
I felt like humming a little and rocking, and maybe having a little cry. Funny thing is, Lucy often does hum for no apparent reason.
seems like you thought hard and realized much about a number of things.....
i remember doing this task and thinking about how much of our simple interpersonal communication is really visual...
Nicely done!
Blindfolded chores and blindfolded eating both sound complicated and really interesting. A great idea, and a lovely writeup.
And I appreciate the sacrifice of seeing a show that's at least 30% dance without removing the blindfold. If your theater ushers are anything like ours, I imagine you missed a whole lot of frowns generated by your escapade.
What'd Lucy think of the task? I could easily see it being interpreted as rather obnoxious and offensive. (For that matter, I'm not entirely convinced that it *isn't,* despite our best efforts to approach it in a positive way.)
Loki - that was a concern for me, that Lucy would find it insensitive. But she's a good enough friend to tell me if she thought I was taking it too far (for example she made it clear that she didn't want to guide me to the ticket booth without Fiona there as well), and I think she could see what I was trying to do. I didn't want to take the piss! In the end, I think she found it all very amusing.
Starting the task by waking up "blind" was brilliant! I imagine that must've been really disorienting, not being able to look around you in preparation before donning the blindfold.
It's also really interesting how you talk about how you felt lonely when there were lulls in the conversation. I've never thought of about how isolating that'd feel, but it makes a lot of sense.
What an amazing completion. Its so well done.
Absolutly awesome and I think it is such a thought provoking experience. When we did our's it was just for about half an hour and it was v v difficult so I have the upmost respect for both you and Lucy especially.
Great completion.
And that picture of your lunch is AMAZING!
Oh lord, not the mushy peas! Whenever I'm in the UK (a lot), I always end up "giving them another chance." But seriously. Why mushy? Why not fresh? Why must they taste like vinegar? I already put vinegar on my fish and chips, why must there be more?
I spent a day in Wells-Next-The-Sea this past June and we went to this tiny little fish and chip shop bursting at the seams with the locals. When we finally got our food, I caught sight of a customer dipping their fish in a little plastic carton of mushy peas. I think it was the unnaturally greenish hue that made me think, "Okay, one last chance..."
I ended up getting harassed by my aunt for not eating it after spending another 10 minutes in line. "Think of us kids during the war... we didn't even have mushy peas served in plastic..."
I've been spending a lot of time going back over the completions for this task and just wanted to tell everyone who did it and told their story just how much I appreciate it.
I'm almost normally sighted, but I was raised by my grandmother, who has the same sight problems as your friend Lucy as a part of Sjogren-Larsson syndrome. Your description of dependence on routine and placement touched me; everyone in my household growing up learned to accommodate for that, and eleven years out of the house I am still a compulsive organiser. Enough so that I putter around my own space intentionally blinded when I get migraines, but the outside world is a scary something else altogether. You are making me want to level zero this just to remain mindful when dealing with the old lady. thank you.
Wow, this is great. I love how you start it off as a completely normal day. A lot of other people who have completed this task have gone on crazy adventures, but with yours, we get to see a day in the life of Mr. Fish! Great job. Oh, and I love the eye "plasters."
So, when are you, Minka and Mr. Mouse coming to our side of the world? I'm going to keep on bugging you guys, just to let you know :)