Glasses or (Colored) Contact Lenses: Do You Really Have To Ask?

I've been partially blind for practically half of my life. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but seriously, since 6th grade, I needed something to aid my vision or else I would bump into posts, greet the wrong people and fall into manholes. I'm nearsighted as a... very nearsighted creature and honestly, I will not be able to read the laptop screen that I'm staring at right now if not for my glasses.

This handicap has paved the way for the inevitable geekiness that came with wearing glasses in high school. The years I've spent with wire and glass sitting grotesquely at the top of my nose were the moments I felt most unattractive. I honestly felt shackled by this evil contraption on my face.

Then, the sun appeared and the heavens parted. Contact lenses entered my life and my existence returned to normal. No more need to have a clean cloth handy to wipe off smudge, no fogged up vision when eating soup, no more pesky rain splotches on my glasses that made me think they should have a built in wiper like those in windshields of cars. To cut it short and make it more dramatic than it should, contact lenses saved my life.

Now, for the longest time, I've been wearing clear ones, obviously with grade, but I've been meaning to try on colored contact lenses since late last year but never get around to actually do it. I've been convincing myself that it's not vain to do so because I actually do wear ones anyway for the correction of my vision problems. 

See, I poke fun at people who go all the trouble of buying, cleaning, managing dry eyes and other irritations just for the sole purpose of having different colored eyes. It's too much hassle for a cinnamon or charcoal colored iris, not to mention expensive.

Now, as fate would have it, the last time I went to Executive Optical, they didn't have the grade of the clear contacts I was supposed to by. The optometrist there sales talked me into buying a colored one, which surprisingly turned out to be cheaper than the clear version, and ultimately I went home with my very first poser iris lenses.

In hindsight though, I wish I didn't try on their testers in the store. 

I asked for the most subtle colors they have, ones that won't make me look like a trying-hard Caucasian wannabe. I was given a choice between Cinnamon and Amethyst. The lady said I could try both to see which one looked better. So I did. 

It was after leaving the store that I realized that these lenses that they have for fittings were not being sanitized properly but just cleaned with ordinary solution and stored in this airtight bottle. What did I expect anyway, that they autoclave it? But still, I just think it's unsafe to have these lenses tried on by different people without first establishing that they are free from any infections. I still love the EO shop but I don't think I will ever let those communal contact lenses touch my sclera again.

That said, I'm pretty fond of my Amethyst eyes but getting bored of it pretty quickly. I didn't pick it because of the violet tinge but because, out of the two, it looked less conspicuous. There was almost no difference, except for the slight doll eyes effect. Now, I wished I had picked the more obvious one just for the kicks. But hey, there's still an entire lifetime to try lenses in all the colors of the rainbow.

It's not like my eyesight's getting better.

Top 12 Photos of William & Kate's Royal Wedding

Cinderella and her magic slippers got nothing on the royal wedding of the century of Prince William and Kate Middleton. I think every girl with a princess fantasy was crying over television screens all around the globe yesterday when a middle-class commoner married a future king, and in the process, became a real-life princess. Okay, the Duchess of Cambridge, actually, but who wants to be specific?

I have been to a few weddings in my lifetime and even though I "attended" this affair only via cable television and internet, I felt that it was one of the best weddings I've ever had the opportunity of witnessing. The sincere and obvious love of the couple in front of the altar was enough to make the event a moment to remember. Add to that the simple elegance of the ceremony, the dress and the over-all ambiance, it was such a remarkable experience.

Feeling the need to immortalize the event in any way, here I present the photographs I think most showcase the magnificence of the event.

And my favorite...

Just goes to show that even the most prim and proper royal gathering has to have one kid ruining absolute perfection. Cutest wedding photo.. ever.

Top 10 Must-Haves for Newly Registered Nurses

10. Xerox copy of all important documents including Diploma, TOR, PRC License, Board Certificate, Board Rating, Certificates of Seminars/Trainings attended and resume.

9. White clinical uniform of your own choice. See: Uniform Designs for Nurses

8. ID pictures of all shapes, sizes and background colors. Whether it's 1x1, 2x2, passport size, 2x2 with green background, 1x1 with white background, corporate or casual attire, Matured Experienced Nurse or Enthusiastic Fresh Graduate look. You need them all.

7. Umbrella. The freak show that is our weather is certainly unpredictable. Whether you are avoiding the sun or trying hard not to get soaked, an umbrella is your best buddy while commuting. And let's face it, majority of nurses don't have their own cars. With non-existent salary, we can't afford one.

6. Your own personalized stamp bearing your Full Name, R.N and Lic. No.  Personal choices are Shiny Stamps and Trodat Stamps available in leading National Bookstore nationwide (P.S. Am not getting paid to advertise ff. brands. Although I should.)

5. Dedication. If you are lucky enough to use the stamp that you have just requested to be custom made, it probably means you are offering your services for free. Nobody will survive a week working in a hospital minus the proper compensation without a fairly high amount of dedication coursing through their selfless humanitarian veins.

4. Lightweight, non-tormenting shoes. Yes, they look butt ugly. But 'lo and behold, you will worship their hidden powers of comfort. Especially when you're working in a busy ward where sitting without doing anything is considered a mortal sin and there is a shortage in monoblock chairs. Cheap imitations are not only acceptable but v. wise buys indeed.

3. Hospital backers. It's not what you know but who you know. It's the absolute truth. Learn it, love it, live it. If you can.

2. Tons of trainings and seminars if unpaid work experience is not your thing. Fret not, young Florence Nightingales. There might be a non-existent demand for nurses in the country but there are endless opportunities in the land of Trainings and Seminars! From First Aid to BLS, ACLS, BST, ECG, PALS, ETC, WTF... You name it, they have it.

and the No. 1 Must-Have for a Newly Registered Nurse is..

1. SALARY. Twenty years and counting of being dependent on allowance given by parents. Is this ever going to end? Unfortunately, if you are a nurse, only time will tell.

Uniform Designs for Nurses (Traditional Whites vs. Technicolor Scrubs)

There is one thing that all newly licensed RNs go through. It's like a coming-of-age, right of passage ceremony / ritual every young and excited nurse experience. After 4 long years of wearing a university mandated uniform, the world has finally proclaimed that, this time, we are equipped enough to decide... what to wear.

To tell you the truth it's not as simple as it sounds. Okay, for male nurses, maybe. Their uniforms all look the same to me anyways, although some metrosexuals opt for the Chinese collar style even though most of them resemble a Chinese as much as Vice-President Binay does.

I've seen good designs and frighteningly bad ones from RN friends, college classmates and random-nurses-commuting-to-work. However, when I tried to search for pictures of such so that I could give a copy to my seamstress, Google either gave me nurses in scrubs or some slutty Halloween/Fetish costume with a probable porn star as the model.

Unlike other countries which have stopped tormenting their nurses with having to wear boring whites day in and day out and opted for more comfortable I-come-in-all-shapes-and-color scrubs, here in the Philippines, we're still stuck with white. And not just white as a color but also white in stiff must-be-ironed-with-iron-fists type of cloth. I think only the most advanced (and expensive) hospitals have their RNs in scrubs. But for the rest of the country, scrubs are only for OR and Nursery.

I don't think it's a bad thing, though. I think white uniforms look more professional although scrubs are definitely easier to move in. The appalling thing about scrubs in this country is that almost everyone wears it. From manicuristas to yayas who follow toddlers around to people in spas to people in derm clinics who prick pimples off other people... it's hard to count them off one by one. So maybe, for the meantime, unless I get hired in one of those high story buildings with the names St. Lukes / Medical City / Cardinal Santos in it, I'm voting for the traditional whites.

Speaking of which, I have compiled a small pile of white nursing uniforms for those who are still looking for a design that would best fit them. I'm not saying all of them are good (actually, most are Bleh with a capital B) but they are all I've manage to find. Click on the image for a larger version.

Not a lot to choose from, I know. Three of them looks exactly the same and I'm not sure if two of the above are even allowed in certain institutions. Okay, maybe I am now leaning towards scrubs now. Expensive hospitals, hire me already!

Ipod Touch Love

So I've recently jumped on the bandwagon and purchased my own ipod. It has been forever that I have been salivating over these music/video/games-playing, photo-browsing and internet-surfing exquisite creatures of Appledom. And now that I have the thing in my hand and that it's working incredibly well, I couldn't be happier.

I actually could not believe, being the self-proclaimed novice techie that I am, that I've never heard of even the existence of such a gadget before last month when I accidentally saw one on the Abenson Christmas Catalogue. Because it looks almost exactly like an iphone, I just assumed it was the latter that I have been seeing all around the geek section at the malls. When I finally remembered to google for it, I realized the sheer brilliance of this device and decided to purchase it after some heavy price canvassing and feature researching.

What I like best with the Touch is it's almost like an iphone without the phone feature and camera, which is fantastic because I already have a perfectly good phone with an even better camera. When I lost my old Nokia 3230 I contemplated on replacing it with an iphone but decided not to because it was (and still is) unbelievably expensive. Now, I have all the features of the iphone that I want with only a third of the price. *does happy dance*

One drawback that I can see is I have to charge it via usb port in my computer as it doesn't come with a wall charger. But other than that, this device is really a joy to have. I've installed more than 60 apps (all free) in my unit and they barely take up a gigabyte. They are mostly games but I also have some really useful ones like a non-online dictionary which is proving to be really helpful for me. I've also downloaded Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and am now reading it via my ipod touch every night. It's a really cool way to get to know the classics, I must add. :)

Despite all the greatness, one inescapable part of having one is the endless smudges and fingerprints you get on it by just literally holding the device. Moreover, the back portion of the gadget gets pretty slippery when  coated and double coated with human oil extracts and other things you don't want to think of, thus there is an increased possibility of ipod slippage. Mortal Sin #1. Therefore, a skin is compulsory. Not only does it prevent scratches, your Touch is virtually smudge proof. At least from the back. I recommend the rubber ones rather than the clear crystal cases because they feel so much better in your hands.

Speaking of which, I recently bought one that looks exactly like this one but in a different color. I found this picture at some US ipod accessory selling site. It retails for $ 4.95 ( 229 PHP ), I bought mine in Bangketa de Morayta for P80. :)

More raves soon, definitely. Pardon the excited blogger.

Step Up

My first style-related post, as I usually spend my time more on fussing over the latest book released or Glee's newest episode rather than what's hot in the fashion industry. Yesterday, I spent my day attending Niner's Final Coaching for the IELTS and Sir Ervin Temporal's birthday bash. I cannot believe the owner of 21 branches nationwide of 9.0 Niner is only turning 22 this day! Now, that is beyond amazing, I must say.

So anyways, after laughing out loud with stand up comedians Michelle Obomeshell's and Ate Glo's sets, I raided Megamall's department store to look for a birthday gift to my sister and some footwear. What greeted me are square meters of shoes after shoes, from sandals to corporate-looking ones. I've forgotten how diverse and extensive Megamall's department store is.

One thing I've noticed is that Gladiator shoes are still apparently in style, much to my dismay. Rows after rows stood atrocious-looking sandals with numerous thick straps in hideous colors. It looked like they've taken the whole Julius Caesar era to the next level, internalizing and replicating Cane and Abel's fashion sense. How unflattering.

Thank Obama it looks like doll shoes are making a comeback. Gone are the lethal pointed I'm-gonna-kill-you-with-my-toes stilettos that I cant' wear anyways because their heels tend to have the circumference of a sharpened pencil. Wedges are blessings from above, however, most of them decided to fuse with evil Spartan sandals resulting in 300-with-really-high-and-solid-heels mutants. Imagine Gerard Butler in wedges. Goosebumps anyone?

After roaming around the store and after getting irritated on how slow the shoe size delivery is at SM at that time, I came home with a midnight blue and black doll shoes and and really comfy wedge I'm dying to use. Finally, my money's being put to substantial use other than food and more food. Less calories, more soles. Yes, indeed.

Wordless Wednesdays: Fibrella Umbrella

Wordless Wednesdays.. eh, THURSDAY EDITION.
Blame previous absentminded post.

New addition to my bag. Every commuter's best friend.

Shopping for an IELTS Review Center

Yesterday was a refreshingly action-packed day for me. For the first time in two weeks, I traveled past the border of our town and revisited my beloved UBelt. Me and my friend/classmate/groupmate Vanessa were supposed to meet at 10am but due to highly time-wasting circumstances that were not my fault, I arrived at St. Thomas at around 12nn. She was already processing her preliminary application for NCLEX at a center there. They also process IELTS applications for a fee of 300+ pesos. I grabbed all the IELTS review center fliers I could get my hands on for additional resource. When she was done, we visited a neighbor center ISCEC-KAPLAN and asked for rates and such.

Their rate for the IELTS review is 7,500, which is a bit on the higher end of the market as review fees commonly range from 2,500 to 10,000 pesos. I also didn't like their program which is comprised of non-flexible lecture schedules and the limited time in which you can use their facilities (maximum of 2 months). Plus, their latest review season has already started last Oct. 12, 2009 with only 13 students enrolled. Now, some people would say that a one-on-very-few approach is better. I say, depressing.

Next stop was another center I found on the internet which I dutifully labeled as interesting. So we looked for Niner's IELTS Review Center along the PRC street and found it right away. The office was small and homey packed with students coming and going as they please. On the front desk was a handwritten sign which said "Lunch Break" and there was no one there to talk to. I looked at the time and it was quarter to 1pm so we decided to wait until the break was over so we could inquire about the review program. I grabbed a paper from a box marked "Schedule" and written there was the schedule of all the lectures of all the branches of Niners for the next two weeks.

Each lecture runs for 2-3 hours and there are 3-4 lectures per day. 9-12AM, 1-4, 4-6 and 6-9PM. When the information lady arrived, I inquired about the program and lazily pushed a laminated piece of bond paper sitting on her desk. A long list of subject was there as well as the fees. P2,500 for the Crash Course which consist of only 8 lectures and P5,000 for the Unlimited Course with Final Coaching at SM Megamall or P4,500 without the final coaching.

I asked about the schedule, whether there will be a fixed schedule that a reviewee should attend and she said no. So that means, if I take the unlimited course, I can attend any scheduled lecture when I want, wherever I want. Also, even if I enroll in the branch in Morayta, I can still go and attend classes in other branches. Sounds great to me. Complete freedom!

I asked how many students per class and she said that the lecture hall could accommodate 50-100 students per session, which I thought was fantastic even though some would be appalled by the number (considering that other centers boast having a maximum of 10 or 15 students per class).

Here's the weird thing about me. I am not comfortable with a class with only a few number of students. I hate it when the teacher/reviewer is right in your face. It makes me uncomfortable and pressured. I've never been tutored and the one-on-one review style for me is just ridiculous. Hence, I would be perfectly comfortable blending in with a large crowd than sharing a class with only 9 other people.

I looked up the other centers on the brochures I got (Speakwell, Allgen and Rachel Allen) and found them not that suitable for me. Speakwell is more affiliated with IDP Australia and I'm quite concerned about that as I need to file in British Council and that they also have very limited slots per class which I hate. Allgen and Rachel Allen, I have the impression, is more concerned with NCLEX rather than IELTS and I want a center with IELTS as their forte.

So in the end, I am not completely decided yet but I'm veering on the direction of Niner's. Any suggestions for a review center?

Enough about this ramble fest on reviews and tests. Going back to my (yester)day, after inquiring, Vanessa and I decided to go to SM Megamall because of the 3-day Sale. After the long fx ride, we arrived at the mall famished so we decided first to eat at Shakey's before taking a look around. There were so many people but also so much stuff on sale. We had so much fun window shopping but in the end I bought a lip gloss from The Face Shop and 2 beautiful Fibrella Umbrellas, 1 for me and 1 for my future mother-in-law (haha) because it's her birthday. I was about to go home really happy with my purchases, until I saw the long line at the FX terminal. Long story short, it took me more than 1 hour before I got a ride. The fatigue and the hassle of commuting home did not dampen greatness of my day. I was still a happy camper when I arrived at home, my bed greeting me with soft and cuddly pillows.

I missed the outside world. Yes, I really did.