After three days of misery without my glasses and one day adjusting to the new ones, I am both relieved and mildly flustered by my current situation. Though I can see fine without my glasses, due to having both nearsighted and farsighted vision (left and right eye respectfully), I have some serious trouble focusing on anything right in front of me. The glasses keep me from getting terrible headaches as a result of serious eye strain. They are paramount, especially in my current profession.
Going in for a routine eye exam earlier this week, I had expected a mild change at most to my prescription to keep up with my left eye slowly getting weaker. I was right in terms of the mild change, but I wasn't prepared for - and was completely flabbergasted by - the idea of two separate pairs of glasses. Though I was glad to hear that the farsighted pair for use when not on my computer or gaming would allow me to see roadsigns a bit better, I wasn't happy at the idea of paying double for glasses. Thus, I chose to hand over my current pair, so that I could save another hundred dollars or so on frames.
Flabbergasted | fla-bər-ˌga-stəd: adjective: feeling or showing intense shock, surprise, or wonder; utterly astonished
On to our word of the day, this one is near and dear to my heart. It was the first "Word of the Day" type of word I had ever seen, and it was introduced to me by my seventh-grade English and Reading teacher, who also introduced to me the absolute love of reading that eventually led me to write. I thought it sounded so strange and cool that there was no possible way it was a word.
Flabbergasted | flæb.ɚ.ɡæs.tɪd: adjective: feeling shocked, usually because of something you were not expecting
Sadly, this particular word is rarely used in the novels I have been reading, so I had to go back and do some more digging in personal favorites. I was lucky to find it rather quickly in Acheron, as it would seem that the character, Ryssa, was fond of using it in her diaries. None of the other books, however, had it available for easy access.
I was completely flabbergasted by his whispered request that was tinged with anger.
Perhaps it is that this word is simply too strange to be used more regularly in pop culture, but I would personally like to see it more in the fantasy and science-fiction genre. I have yet to find a better word to use instead of "shocked." And I, personally, am quite flabbergasted that there aren't more authors taking advantage of such an interesting and unique word.
Now that my glasses are back, expect more words of the day, and keep an eye out for other articles popping up over the next week. Until then, though, happy reading!
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