Clark Kent Phenomenon

This post is sparked by several different incidents that have happened to me and/or my friends.

I wear glasses the vast majority of the time. I own contacts, but in general it's hard to beat the convenience of reaching to your night stand in the morning and whipping on your favorite frames without needing to squirt and rub on some tiny little lenses to stick on your cornea. Also, while not the biggest hypochondriac in the world, I have had nightmares of developing some horrible eye eating infection in the past, so it makes wearing them even less appealing. Sometimes they can be fun for a change of pace, though.

People's reaction to such a little change can be astounding. Some act as if you just came back from one of those makeover shows, and say you look fantastic. People ask if you're wearing makeup, or if you did something else to yourself. On the extreme end of the spectrum, people don't even recognize who you are. This happened to me a few years ago at a party for a bunch of my fellow students, of which all had known me for over 2 years at that point. Granted, other changes in my usual appearance included heels, my hair in an up do, a dress, and extremely minimal makeup. However, I arrived to the party, mingling and saying hello to people and getting pretty cold or polite responses. "What the hell?" was the foremost thought in my mind. I sidled up to a group of folks I was supposedly friends with and joined in the conversation, and suddenly got 4 blank stares.

Them: "Gigi?"
Me: "Who the hell did you think I was?
Them: "We thought you were someone's date."
Me: "Are you kidding me? You've been around me and seen me on a near daily basis for two years!"
Them: "Yeah, but you don't have your glasses on. And you're wearing a dress."

This conversation was repeated a few years later at a Christmas party where my boss (who also saw me on a near daily basis at the time) didn't know who I was. So, obviously, if I ever choose to go into a dangerous line of work where I need to protect my identity, I just need to wear some funky glasses and take them off when the task is complete. Problem solved!

On an associated line, I hate it when people tell me or others we should take off our glasses if we want to look "sexy", "hotter", "cuter", etc. I think that if a guy lacks the imagination to be able to judge how freaking good I look with glasses and then extrapolate a general idea of how good I look without glasses, well, maybe he's not worth my time. I need a man with some creativity and observational skills in my life, so I think that I'll keep the glasses as my main source of vision. I'll use the contacts if I damn well feel like it!