Salamin [sa mata]/ Eyeglasses

@ mirandablue

Nakaka-inggit ang mga taong malinaw ang paningin.  Sa totoo lang, pinagwalang-halaga ko ng aking 20/20 vision hanggang isang araw sinabihan ako ng doktor na kailangan ko na mag salamin.  Meron daw akong hyperopia o farsightedness---malinaw kapag malayo, malabo kapag malapit. Karaniwang problema ito ng mga nagkaka-edad...kaso trentaydos lang ako noon, at mas malabo pa ang mata ko sa aking nanay.  Sa tulad kong mahilig magbasa, malaking ginhawa ang reading glasses.  At kapag wala akong salamin, kahit menu di ko mabasa kaya ipapabasa ko na lang sa waiter.  At kalimutan na natin ang texting, di kaya ng powers pag walang salamin.:p

Posted for Litratong Pinoy

Lucky are those who have good eyesight.  Truth be told, I took for granted my 20/20 vision until the day the doctor told me I need to be fitted with prescription glasses.  My vision defect is called hyperopia, also known as farsightedness---this causes difficulty  focusing on near objects, a clearer vision on distant objects.  It's a common problem that comes with aging but I was only 32, and my mom had better eyesight.  For somebody who loves to read, reading glasses really improved my life---it reduced my headaches and squinting.  And when I forget my glasses?  I couldn't even read the menu, I had to ask the waiter to read it for me.  And forget texting!  If I don't text back, it means my reading glasses are somewhere else!:p

@ mirandablue

For Thursday Two Questions - you are invited to answer and join:


1.  When was the last time you had your eyes checked?

• My last eye check-up was in November last year. I usually have my eyes checked a few weeks after my birthday.  The doctor suggested progressive lenses but I'm not ready for it, psychologically.:p  So he prescribed another pair of glasses for driving.

2.  Do you think eyeglasses affect your looks, your lifestyle?

• Yes and yes.  I think I look "older" with glasses...people started calling me "ma'am", it used to be "miss".:p  A girlfriend gets excited while we're in a restaurant and I couldn't even see clearly what or who she's excited about!  Imagine all those sexy, good-looking guys walking by and I missed them!  My sister just told me that I look like an old woman when texting without my glasses on.  Who would want to read at the beach wearing a pair of reading glasses? *LOL*

On growing old (reposted)

Hanging Bridge at Eden Nature Park

A girlfriend was ranting about her job at dinner the other night, and said that she feels tired and old while smoothing away her imaginary wrinkles. I commiserated with her, and half-jokingly plotted to beat up her Korean boss.

It made me wonder afterwards if "feeling old" is synonymous with maturity. Is it when we mature that we start to feel old, or the other way around? I "felt old" at 14 after my father died, while my family started to remind me that I’m getting old at 35, harping on my ticking biological clock…tik-tak-tik-tak.

It used to irritate me, the constant reminder about my biological clock---now I find it rather amusing. I'd like to believe that I've finally matured when I was able to overcome the things I used to despair and grieve about, and endure life's uncertainty without jumping off a bridge.

A few times, I caught myself sounding like my mother (cringe!). Then I remember the time [when I was an angry and confused teenager] I declared to everybody who wanted to listen that I would NEVER be like my mother! Now it becomes apparent that I can’t escape the genes I inherited from my parents---I should at least thank my mother for the accidental good genes I got. So I’ve accepted the fact that whatever I do, I can’t avoid cellulites!

The physical aspects of growing old are unavoidable, and because we have a youth-oriented culture, it is natural that we become conscious of our age. I'm turning 40-something this October and I do not wish to look 25---well, maybe just a gorgeous 40-something (hehe). I cursed the day when I started wearing reading glasses---I was 33, and people started calling me ma’am, my cousins called me Miss Principal. But I soon realize that it was actually a blessing. With imperfect vision, I could barely see my wrinkles! (What are wrinkles anyway? They merely indicate where smiles have been.)

It is true that our bodies and minds do change with age, but I believe that we really do get better as we mature. Only in the past few years when I really begun to learn who I am, what I want, and accepted the things I cannot change.

I’ve also found that my personal definition of beauty changes over time. There is a depth and beauty that comes only with age. The men may disagree, but look at Diane Lane (43), Monica Bellucci (44), Halle Berry (42), Zsa Zsa Padilla (43), Dina Bonnevie (47), Meg Ryan (46), to name a few.

When we were younger, my girlfriends and I would meet for lunch that dragged on until dinner…talking about the men [or the lack of it] in our lives, our jobs, fashion trends, movies and books, places we'd like to visit, our daily dramas. Now, we talk about our health scares, our aging parents and their health problems. We worry about our nephews and nieces, the quality of their education, the drug menace, over-population, women and children's rights.

I know that I am getting older because I begin to think about problems which didn’t use to concern me at all. I worry about global warming, deforestation, street children, cholesterol, dioxin carcinogens, terrorism, the economy---and try to do what I can to help. I can now watch a senate hearing on TV without falling asleep. I am officially a "concerned citizen".

While some people look at growing older with fear in their hearts, I see this time of my life differently. There is so much growth that happens as we mature---I am not talking about unwanted hair growth, but emotional, spiritual and yes, physical growth. I’d like to make most of getting older by living my life in a vibrant and healthy manner. I laugh and smile everyday. Read. Listen to music. Eat well. Hold on to my dreams. Love what I'm doing. Engage in stimulating conversations. And still try to exercise, drink lots of water, and get some sleep.

I still panic sometimes, forget to breath. But I have a lot to be grateful for, reaching this stage of my life with conscious and unconscious risks taken, surgeries, illnesses, hopes, regrets, dreams, fears, disappointments, loves, memories. And I’m writing this, smiling at the thought that wrinkles and grey hairs don’t hurt.

Let’s celebrate our journey through this life.

Musings of a future Belo patient

I ran into a former officemate at the mall last weekend with her older sister. We’re of the same age, she has a 14-year old daughter, and she looks fabulous! Her sister, a few years older, has clear taut skin, no excess fat in her fit and tight body. Their genes make me feel inferior!

Way back, she was the first person I know who brings fresh vegetable salads to work for lunch, and snacked on fresh fruits. She would scold me after my yosi breaks, complained that I smell like an ashtray, and with a well-meaning lecture to kick my dirty habit (I finally did almost 5 years ago). They’re a family of health-nuts---no saturated fat, salt and preservatives, just green, leafy crap that I hated. She and her sister are effortlessly gorgeous women with a radiant healthy glow about them.

My genes descend from a long line of meat-loving, soda-chugging folk, whose idea of exercise is brisk-walking to the street corner for some deep-fried banana-Q, with ice-cold Coke as pantulak.

Somebody told me that I still have some sex-appeal (promise…I didn’t invent that one!:D), but decades from now---when the baggy layers under my chin meet my chest, when my tummy is as big as my boobs, the under side of my arms develop bat-wings that would cover my elbows, and I’m scraping my fat butt from a rocking chair---my old officemate would probably look like a batch-mate of my 30-year old cousin.

Will timeless charm and enviable wit be enough to comfort me by that time? Not likely!

So ladies (and gents na rin), before you light that cigarette, chug on a can of soda, bite into that juicy cheese burger, or chew on that french fries, you should do a mental age morph of yourself. On second thought, go ahead---I'll see you in Vicky Belo's waiting room soon!

Pregnant with possibilities

I like the phrase and the sound of it. Pregnant with possibilities is what I’d like to be in the Year of the Rat. In my mind, there’s a picture of a psychedelic butete burping letters from its mouth --- P O S S I B I L I T I E S. Each letter bubbles on the surface of the water and turns into gorgeous men parading on the beach. I am the only person on the beach---judge and jury of this parade. It's Raining Men is playing in my iPod. :D

Kidding aside, I approach the New Year armed with lessons learned this past year and inspired by possibilities. There have been a great many things that happened to me in 2007, but I had blunders as well as things that I tried but fell short. In 2008 onwards, I’d like to focus on life's possibilities and develop a kind of optimistic hunger to try something new.

This year, I would like to be fearless in many areas of my life, make mistakes, take chances again…been a cautious observer for so long. At the back of my mind, there’s the fear of failure, disappointment, pain---but if I’ve learned something all these years, it’s ‘what won’t kill you makes you stronger.’

Life in a rat race is getting dull and exasperating, not to mention brain-numbing. I’d like to take it slow this time, take nothing for granted---‘suck the marrow from the bones of life’.

“To be a better person” has been my personal slogan for so long. I’d like to stop getting better, and start appreciating what I am. I’d like to give in to a little temptation once in a while, stop trying to make everything rational. I’d like to doubt again in order to test my convictions.

Yes, I’d like to live deliberately from now on…it’s about time!

The trouble with the rat race is that even if you win, you're still a rat. ~Lily Tomlin

My net worth

“You need to find a husband,” Jason, my hair-stylist, announced while massaging my scalp. I pretended not to hear and continued to read a magazine. He ignored my silence as he blabbered about a single male customer of his who was “just right” for me. There was a time when such comments about my single state would rub me the wrong way.

To Jason and the others who meddled in my personal life, a woman my age should be in the happily-ever-after set---not still waiting for Mr. Right. If a woman my age hadn’t walked down the aisle and tied the knot, folks thought something was wrong with her. An elder relative even asked me once if I was a lesbian!

For many years, I agreed with them. The word single sounded like a disease to be avoided at all costs. If being single was so great, then why did most of my friends constantly date in an effort to head toward the altar? And why did the single women I knew seem like miserable misfits? There was my 3rd grade teacher who played the piano until the wee hours of the morning. My grandfather's cousin, Lola Deling, braided flowers in hair and was mad as a March hare.

I concluded marriage and motherhood equaled “success” for a woman; singleness branded her a failure. Thankfully, as I got older, I got wiser. My notion that a woman’s worth is based solely on her marital status was challenged. Over the years my eyes were opened to the many ways I am considered a success---even as a single woman. I had the best lessons as a single woman through a few forgettable dates. I refused to compromise my standards---it was mostly met with anger and disappointment but I held on.

Instead of needing a husband and kids to find my worth as a woman, I’ve come to realize success is measured only in knowing what you value and you stick with it. With God shaping my perspective, there’s no such thing as failure.

The fact is, sometimes it's really hard to walk in a single woman's shoes. That's why we need really special ones now and then to make the walk a little more fun.
~~~~~

Later that day I got to thinking about relationships. There are those that open you up to something new and exotic, those that are old and familiar, those that bring up lots of questions, those that bring you somewhere unexpected, those that bring you far from where you started, and those that bring you back. But the most exciting, challenging and significant relationship of all is the one you have with yourself. And if you can find someone to love the you you love, well, that's just fabulous.
~ Carrie Bradshaw