Monthly Archives: August 2008

Contact Lens Experimentation

Posted by Leaf on August 30, 2008 None comments

It’s been so hard for me to find a comfortable pair of contact lenses. I am so envious of the people who can wear theirs all day, everyday. I can tolerate mine, at most 12 hours at a time, and not when I’m at work looking at the computer. I’m a weekend lens wearer.

My very first pair of torics were soft, non-disposable contacts I got in high school. The most awful things in the world. I wore them only a few times for very special occasions (read: very cute guys). Hated them. They were thick and large. Getting them in was a long process, taking them out after they were plastered to my dry eyeballs at the end of the day, was even worse.

Next, I tried monthlies: Frequency 55 by CooperVision. They felt so much better. Thinner. Still not good enough to wear daily but at least I was able to wear them for 12 hours at a time versus 6 hours with the previous pair. I wanted to find something even better though, so three weeks ago, I ordered three different brands of contacts to try. Acuvue Advance, Acuvue Oasys, and Vertex. Here’s what I’ve found.

Vertex – These are meant for 1 to 2 week wear so they’re much thinner and flimsier than the Frequency 55 contacts. I have a much harder time putting them in by comparison to the rest. And I already have a hard enough time wearing contacts as it is. But because they’re thinner, they’re also more comfortable once I get them in right. In terms of lasting comfort, I’m still mixed about them. They felt ok after 6 to 7 hours of wear, but once, when I fell asleep with them for 2 hours, I woke up to extremely dry plastered-on contacts. Even after using saline to re-wet, I still had a hard time pulling them off. I probably won’t reorder these.

Acuvue Advance – I got these for my right eye. Acuvue Oasys – I got these for my left eye.

By wearing one in each eye, I could really compare which one felt better. Even though these are also very thin since they’re 2 week lenses, I have a much easier time putting them in my eyes for some reason. Guess it’s just a better fit. These two are very similar in comfort but the Acuvue Advance feels slightly better than Oasys.

So in the future, I’m probably going to get the Acuvue Advance or maybe I’ll just try yet another brand.

Traffic

Posted by Leaf on August 28, 2008 2 comments

I spent an hour this morning on a commute that just a week ago, took 20 minutes. By the time I got to the office my bladder nearly burst.

Speaking of, have you seen the crazy things people do on their morning commute?

Read the paper
Shave
Apply mascara
What is this your bathroom?

My fix

Posted by Leaf on August 25, 2008 1 comments

I am a sucker for this stuff.

I went and got this jar of night cream which I probably don’t need, just so I could get free eye makeup.

Even though I don’t need more of that either.

I should probably explain myself. I realize it would’ve made more sense for me to just get the eye makeup and be done with it. But since I don’t need more eye makeup, for me to outright purchase more of it would be stupid. This way, I didn’t really buy the eye makeup. They gave it to me. They foisted this unneeded product upon me. This is so much less stupid and makes so much more sense, because now I have the night cream I didn’t really need plus the eye makeup I really didn’t need either. And yet I’m reveling in my shopping bonanza. My itch – it is scratched.

Second Anniversary

Posted by Leaf on August 21, 2008 2 comments

Two years at my job. Milestone. Huge. I get a cookie for this. Somebody give me a cookie! Or maybe some Xanax.

No ands or ifs, but definitely a lot of butts.

Posted by Leaf on August 19, 2008 2 comments

Taking pictures of animals is rather tricky, especially when they’re mostly in the water and you’re mostly not. So you end up getting snubbed by them. A lot. And yes, they may have cute butts, but it’s ridiculous when all you get are their hineys.

Interesting tidbit about poisonous frogs: they’re not poisonous in captivity because they get their poison from eating poisonous bugs in the wild.

Hey lady, get lost.

This silver arrowana would give me the middle finger if he had one.

See, I don’t mind getting the lionfish butt. Its tail is see-through and polka-dotty and rather pretty. I kinda’ like this end. I win!

If you got it, flaunt it.

I can’t find his head or butt. What a funky looking creature, the nautilus.

Oysters, come and walk with us

Posted by Leaf on August 18, 2008 3 comments

I ate a raw oyster for the first time this weekend. It tasted like cocktail sauce and fishyness. And oysteryness. Here it is. This is the guy I put in my mouth.

Remember the Walrus and Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland? This photo made me think of that. For the people who aren’t familiar, basically, the Walrus & Carpenter lured these baby oysters out of their bed and ate them, all the while singing the most joyful Cabbages & Kings song. Oh the horror.

The jury’s still out as to whether I’m going to put another uncooked oyster into my mouth, chew, and swallow.

Slippery Slope of Bad Decisions

Posted by Leaf on August 15, 2008 2 comments

Last night, I went out with my cousins for dinner & a movie. Sort of a last get-together before school starts. School. Bleh. Even though I’m years done with school, “back-to-school” still evokes that feeling of dread. Traffic’s going to pick up as soon as everyone returns from vacation and falls back to their business-as-usual routines. So we went out for pho and then watched Tropic Thunder. Goofy entertaining fun. Tom Cruise was great. Robert Downey Jr. was ridiculous-stupid & funny.

None of that involved any bad decisions. It was afterwards when I got home and had dinner number two: Chinese takeout, at 10:30PM. Then I had coffee because well, why not? I wanted it. So I made 4 cups and downed two. And I was unfazed, still sleepy. I finished the rest of the coffee. Then I hopped online and shopped. I don’t even remember what I ordered. Oh yeah, contacts and skincare products. (That’s not frivolous; not the bad-decision part of the evening.) The bad part was when I decided to stay up until 4:50AM doing nothing but browsing online at face products and digital cameras I have no intention of getting. I’m a zombie right now and I need to do some writing -not blogging- and All I Can Think About is SLEEPING even though, yes, I had more coffee this morning but my head is still in a fog and why are all my sentences runny?

A Sickness

Posted by Leaf on August 14, 2008 None comments

My cousin’s room has one shelf that looks like this:

And that’s not even all of it.

I thought I was bad. Compared to her, I was in the junior league.

Asian Festival

Posted by Leaf on August 12, 2008 3 comments

Round these parts, people come up with any ol’ excuse to throw a festival. Music, summer kickoff, arts and crafts, Folklife, name-of-a-city-in-the-suburbs, whatever. This time, it’s Asian-ness. The Asian Festival.

Can’t have a festival without food and crowds of people. In this case, quasi-ethnic foods.

It’s supposed to be chicken satay. Just supersized.

I don’t know what the leaf wrapped things are but this guy is frying up some eggs in the egg iron griddle. That’s a lot of eggs for one order.

This dish reminds me of Taiwanese oyster pancakes. Minus the green leafy vegetables. And the red ketchupy sauce. And the tapioca batter. And the oysters. Ok nevermind. They’re about as similar as the Gipsy Kings and Dire Straits.

And dancing. Have to share some culture beyond just food. You don’t want people thinking all Asians do is eat eat eat, even though that is pretty much all Asians do.

I love how these girls danced in front of a big bottle of beer. Really they were walking around on stage looking mostly confused. Reminded me of Chinese school dance performances.

Seriously girls, this is how you do it. Easy peasy.

There were tons of crafts stalls for you to poke around and shop too. Get in touch with your inner Asian.

Musica en al Fresco

Posted by Leaf on August 8, 2008 None comments

The Gipsy Kings are playing at the Wolf Trap (a little informal outdoor venue with a relaxed-country feel to it) this week. The first time I heard about the Gipsy Kings playing there, I was thinking, Hey I have some of their music in mp3s. Let me go dig it up and have a listen, see if I like em. Turns out I have no Gipsy Kings. I was thinking of Dire Straits. How did I get that mixed up? They’re not remotely similar. Or maybe it was the Sultans-Kings connection. Eh, close enough. I went to YouTube instead and listened to a couple of their well-known-to-everyone-cept-me songs. Latin flavor; acoustic guitars; and Spanish singing.

A flamenco dancer during one song.

They are excellent in person. Nothing fancy. 11 guys on a stage playing mostly acoustic instruments; lively, rhythmic, and perfectly relaxing. Now I wish I could play the guitar!! The artists spoke in Spanish to introduce some of their songs which I was only able to vaguely understand. No matter, music doesn’t require any translation or explanation.

leafing through

a life