Bubbles

10/25/2015	24208
10/26/2015	23326
10/27/2015
10/28/2015	23477
10/29/2015	23144
10/30/2015	22451
10/31/2015	23241

The past few weeks haven't seen a lot of progress in terms of what is seen in the chart.  But I think I know why.  It's because in the game Bubbles, you go through different levels.  When you miss and pop the wrong bubble, you cannot progress to the next level.  However, the higher the level you are, the more points you get.  So you want to stay in the higher levels in order to get a high score.  

However, there are some instance/configurations in which I really am clueless as to which bubble is the closest, so it's making it difficult to stay higher and higher in the levels.  I'm constantly shifting up and down between the high and low levels because of this cluelessness.  

This chart can be used as an excuse for becoming depressed or losing morale.  However, I'm not looking exclusively at score as a gauge of progress.  I also am taking into consideration subjective experience.  That seems to have improved quite a lot in the past week, particularly yesterday and Thursday.  Also, when I look at my eyes in the mirror I am getting very close to being able to make eye contact with myself with both eyes--which--is going to be weird when it finally happens.  Also, my eyes seem to be getting bigger, particularly my 'lazy' eye.  

So in other words, I see this apparent plateau as a sort of gestation period.  I know things are happening even though it's not showing up in the chart.  It's sort of like Boil's Law, when you heat a pot of water to boil.  You put a steady amount energy into the liquid water.  The temperature steadily rises.  However, a curious thing happens at near boil.  The water temperature stops heating.  The energy used for increasing the temperature is then used for phase change: converting the liquid water into water vapor.  Once the water is converted into vapor, however, it can be heated beyond 100º C almost indefinitely.  Something similar is happening here.  I'm putting a steady amount of work to my eyes (energy), but I'm not getting the output that I'm expecting (higher score--albeit, other things are improving).  But when the fusion becomes so good that I lose my cluelessness, I should break out to the other side. 

More progress with Bubbles

10/17/2015	22800
10/18/2015	22653
10/19/2015
10/20/2015
10/21/2015	23665
10/22/2015	22845
10/23/2015	23009
10/24/2015
10/25/2015	24208

It looks as though using the glasses for all close-up viewing has allowed my eyes to diverge much more easily, and thus, break out of the plateau.

I have noticed that my depth perception is improving.  I'm now significantly noticing that the game looks different, and that my suppression is decreasing in normal everyday viewing.  Today I got the highest score ever, 24208.  My 'note to self' from yesterday is helping.  Do not intellectualize what you're doing, and let the eyes do their thing.  Move things around until you find a useful configuration. 

I should mention that I recently got a Chilipad, which has helped my sleep tremendously.  Of course, having good sleep helps everything, not just vision training, but literally everything.  So that's something which does require mention.  If you're curious as to what it is, it's a pad/sheet thing that goes under your sheets.  It has tubes which carry water which goes to a cooling unit off the side of the bed which either gets cooled or heated, depending on your preference.  I keep it at around 60 degrees, and it's improved my sleep quality tremendously.  I don't remember ever having such high sleep quality--and consistently.  My days are now much more productive, enjoyable, and energy-filled.  

Morale is high.  I expect to see more changes in the coming week.  I expect the score to continue to increase.  Morale has never been as high as it is now.  

Note to self

Note to self: when playing the game, do not intellectualize what you are doing. Move the eyes around, and let them settle in a place that feels right, and which results in the best performance.

Making it easier

10/10/2015	19938
10/11/2015	18637
10/12/2015
10/13/2015
10/14/2015	19222
10/15/2015	24072
10/16/2015	20222
10/17/2015	22800

It seems that I had plateaued a bit in the past few weeks as you can see by the chart.

This has made me ask 'Why did progress seem to stop?' and 'What else should I be doing?'.

Then something that Dr. Tran said to me came to me.  He said to use +1 reading glasses when dealing with things that are close to me: working on the computer, reading books, etc.

I have +1 reading glasses around me at all times.  I use them when I read books.  However, when I'm at work, the monitors are at a somewhat healthy distance away from me.  I had it in mind to use them while working, but I actually see modestly better without the glasses.  I think that might have something to do with warping which is a result of the fact that the glasses are not high quality--perhaps it's not a result of that fact that I shouldn't use them.

Thinking about this a bit, I decided to give it a try and make this alteration anyway, even though they don't per se improve my computer vision.  

It seemed to have made a sizeable difference in my ability to diverge, and it seemed to make an almost instant difference in the quality of vision with and without the glasses (when I'm not using them for looking at close objects).  It made me think and visualize about what could be happening.

Because the +1 lenses are doing a significant amount of the refractive work, that's less work for my intra-ocular lens to do.  Therefore, it's doing less thickening.  The lens doesn't think it's looking at an upclose object, because the incoming light rays are already somewhat parallelized.  The eye thinks it's looking at something mid-distance perhaps, and therefore, via the accommodation reflex, the eyes want to naturally diverge for those mid-distance objects.  This makes divergence much, much easier and natural for me.  And therefore, it's making fusion much, much easier.  

It's making it much easier for me, when playing Bubbles to see around the other side of the bubbles.--because you can't see the other side of your fixated object when the eye is turned inward.  This 'seeing the other side' appears to be integral in gauging relative depth of the bubbles.  

The lens seems to also just save me a lot on energy.  I get the impression that thickening the lenses for focusing on close objects requires a lot of energy, and that perhaps, most people should use reading glasses just to spare their visual system from undue stress.  And man, I stare at computer monitors at least eight hours a day for work.  Looking at screen for eight hours a day without reading glasses while attempting to gain stereopsis... what the hell was I thinking?  

The saved energy from using the reading glasses while working seems to have helped quite a lot.  I just made this change last Thursday, but I expect to see my score to begin improving again.  

Learning how to use my eyes

9/30/2015	19145
10/1/2015	20717
10/2/2015	21770
10/3/2015	23114
10/4/2015	21421
10/5/2015
10/6/2015
10/7/2015	22291
10/8/2015	19769
10/9/2015	22217
10/10/2015	19938

Last week doesn't look particularly good.  I think that's mainly a result of poor sleep quality.  I'd been doing some fasting and apparently that's not good for sleep.  I made sure to eat very well last night and my sleep was excellent as a result.  I'd also heard that saturated fats are very good for sleeping.  I'd also heard that apple cider vinegar and honey are excellent for sleeping.  So last night, in addition to having good eating, I mixed apple cider vinegar, honey, and a tablespoon of coconut oil (high in saturated fat) with some hot water.  Tastes a little funky but not bad.  With that I took the normal dose of ZMA and melatonin.  Man, I slept like a champ.  Gonna keep on doing that!

I'm not worried about my scores last week.  I know things are getting better.  Just now, while playing, it occurred to me that I'm sort of figuring out how to use both of my eyes.  My attention on my left eye should never stop.  Normally it's drifting around and I have to 'catch' it.  But I've realized that I can sort of put the 'little person' (the humonculus) closer to my center.  This makes me identify myself as being between my eyes, and it makes my attention on the left eye semi-automatic.  It's a lot of strain and a lot of work, but I notice that it very significantly decreases my characteristic 'drifting'.  This must be how to use eyes.