Why is it that airplane bathrooms highlight and magnify facial blemishes better than any other environment?

Do you think the owner trims these? Or does he or she hire someone to do it? If so, is there any art direction involved?

My choice of glasses frames has paralleled my taste in hair styles.  When one side of my hair was short and the other was long in sixth grade, I had two pairs of colored metal frames – one of which had classy tinted pink lenses too.  At the start of college I went through a chin-length bob, and felt it appropriate to pair it with some frames that came with snap on sunglasses.  As a first year design student I became acutely aware that my frames were out of date, and switched to a pair that I could only tolerate for a week.  The heft of high performance plastic needed for the frame style and my prescription was too heavy on my nose.  Santa Cruz had rubbed off on me.  I wasn’t about to tolerate oppressive eye-wear.  Roar! I’ve since settled  into a brown and teal pair that may or may not auto-tag me with: design, designer, internet4eva.

Recently, I wore these glasses into an airplane bathroom.  Never again! They can’t leave the gate on time but they can perform pore-enlarging, blemish accentuating magic in those cramped, human-scented closets.  I saw intricacies of my face that have never before been explored, and it dawned on me that I like living in semi-blur. “Hello, you.”  I think people with perfect vision might also be super organized.  Let’s talk about these hedges that belong to a neighbor of my sister in Menlo Park, CA.  Three tiers of organization in hedge trimming, and not one Jumanji animal!? Congratulations on your eyesight.

This morning a waitress at the sub-par breakfast place near our house recognized us. This first, non-acquaintance public recognition is alarming. It indicates that I live here now. I like remaining blurry because it allows me to escape, but I love focusing in because humans are bizarre.  Is design about the balance?

I run into my clutter all the time, but it’s not all Windex and streak free shine on the other side either.  Just last week I wore my glasses to the salad bar at work and full-on smacked my face into the sneeze guard.

I’m willing to hedge my bets on the blur-life.  What do you think? Has your eyesight shaped your outlook?