I FELL ASLEEP WITH MY CONTACTS IN!!!
Arrrgh.
Repeat: Arrgh.
I got lucky. I got really lucky. Things could have been much, MUCH worse. I woke up this morning and went out into the suite's common room. I wondered why everything looked so beautiful that morning, I could see everything in complete clarity. Maybe because it was a Friday. Hopped into the shower, and noticed that I could read the title of a magazine in the bin (duPont Registry). Funny, I could never read text that small before. I wondered if my eyes somehow got miraculously better overnight, but then realized the truth. I paniced. Went into the adjacent room. Sure enough, I found my contact lens bottle and container.
With the lids off
Shit.
My eyes felt fine at the time, so I wasn't sure whether or not to take out the lenses or keep them in. I had talked to a friend of mine a few weeks back who said that he had left his in for around 4 hours while sleeping, and developed a really nasty corneal ulcer, and now has to go for a few months without them. The most I've ever slept with them in was 2-3 hours. Never a full night's sleep with them in before. Never 24 hours straight. How bad were my eyes damaged?
I was afraid to take them off. I knew I had to. They came off easily, probably because the steam from the shower hydrated the contacts a bit. Now, it feels funny when I blink. My eyes are dry. My glasses are on. I'm not in a good mood. But I've done my research, and was able to do a few writeups on it. See What happens when you leave your contact lenses in for too long?.
9:42 AM EST - Well, if it weren't for the little scare I had this morning, I would have to say that this is one of the best Fridays to come rolling along in quite a long while. Yesterday's trip down to D.C. was great. The Metroliner is one of the best ways of getting around -- $178 round trip from Philly to D.C., by train. I doubt it would have costed much more to fly there. Of course, being a business trip, I didn't pay for it.
And after all was said and done, I returned with freeze-dried ice cream. Excellent.