How I fixed my glasses.

I have glasses that I don't wear all the time, but they help when I do. Anyway, I noticed the arm getting a bit wobbly, so I bought one of those little eyeglass repair kits. Sit down with it and survey the situation: 4 screws, a little rubber washer thing that's a starter for the screw, a screwdriver, and a magnifying glass. Seems simple enough, so let's do this.

I remove the existing screw, only to find that none of the screws in the kit will actually fit. Why? Because the hinge itself is bent, so while it's possible to align the arm in the hinge in such a way that you can see all the way through, it doesn't line up to allow for a screw. I try using pliers to bend the hinge parts back, doesn't work. I don't want to use too much force for fear of breaking anything. After about an hour, frustration leads me to thinking I should just put the old screw back in and deal with wobbly frames for now. But I dropped the screw and despite having a wooden floor in here, I can't see where it went. I looked for almost another thirty minutes and gave up.

Took everything to work with me tonight, hoping better light and a different setting might somehow lead to a breakthrough. So I try all the screws again. No dice. Makes sense, since the composition of metal and the laws of two matters occupying the same space hadn't changed in less than 24 hours. I tried a paper clip, thinking I could just loop it through for now, but it was too thick to fit. I took a twist tie and tried to remove the paper covering, but couldn't get enough off to fit it through, either. Then it dawned on me. What is thin and metal, fairly pliable by hand, and is short enough that there won't be a giant extra bit to deal with? A staple. So I took a staple, straightened it out, and managed to fit it through with zero trouble. Bent the bit on the bottom so it goes back up on the outside, and the remainder on the top bends out and along the arm, well before the area that touches my ear. I'm not sure if the arm and hinge holes being mostly misaligned helps the situation or not, but it's a super snug fit and the arm is tight again. I never fold my glasses up, so I don't have to worry about the staple breaking, but even if I did... it's a staple. I can buy hundreds for almost nothing.

I know this is a story about basically nothing, but I'm not the handiest person in the world so I was pretty satisfied with the solution and the outcome. Hooray for being able to see clearly again. :)