Lasik (Part 4), or The Baggage from My Past

I live in a place with the highst rate of myopia in the world. Myo-what? That's the medical term for short-sightedness. Most of my friends will agree with me that it is very annoying to have a pair of spectacles perching on your nose, without which you'd have to grope carefully in order not to trip over things while walking. Being myopic is more of a psychological scar than an everyday inconvenience for me. The reason I say this is because of the circumstance that made me short-sighted.

I was born to parents who did not need to wear glasses. My mum is not myopic now although she is beginning to develop long-sightedness due to old age. This condition results in her not being able to see things clearly at a close range. Think of it as the opposite of myopia. But I am digressing.


Photo credit: www.freephoto1.com

After a tempestuous relationship, my parents separated when I was barely learning how to control my piss. Anyway, I was put under the care of my maternal grandmother. Now, as it turns out, my mum was an adopted child so there isn't any blood relation between her and granny. This is an important point, as we shall see later. The other significant thing to note is that my granny's biological sons are all severely myopic.

Effectively, I was put into an environment where short-sightedness was the norm. I was also made to read textbooks over long hours under a dim fluorescent light bulb. The first sign of failing eye-sight appeared when I turned 10 years of age. I found that I couldn't read the service numbers of public buses until they came right up to the bus stop. I remember a funny experience with a friend of mine who also had problems with his eyesight. We had missed a bus because we couldn't read the number until it was too late to flag. Yes, bus drivers were and still are an impatient lot. So we devised a plan. You know how it is with 10-year-old boys, they come up with the most ingenious of plots. My friend stationed himself about 50 metres ahead of the bus stop and he did the number spotting, waving to me when the right bus approached. I then had ample time to flag the bus while he would make a mad dash back to the bus stop.

So that was my first step into the world of myopia. I was definitely coerced into it. I remember the physical abuse that I received if I did not do well in school. One of my uncle even set his own test papers for me on a weekly basis, giving me a good thrashing when I got any mistake. Once he returned from work while I was watching TV. He promptly interrogated me on why I was not studying. I got another beating with the warning to "make sure that you are studying when I return home." All that abuse was witnessed by other members of the household. No one intervened.

There is only so much that a yound child can take before he breaks and does one of two things: run away or allow his will to be broken. For good or bad, I chose to conform to expectations, putting in countless hours of revision and reading. All the while under unsuitable lighting conditions.

My short-sightedness hangs like a ghost from the past, a reminder of the unhappy days and how I was robbed of my birthright. I have no genetic pre-disposition towards myopia but I was forced to abuse my eyes to point of failure.

Now that I'm a father of two beautiful daughters, I pray desperately everyday that they will not have to wear glasses when they start going to school. Because when I put on my glasses every morning, I am reminded of the emotional baggage that flawed care-givers placed on me so many years ago.

__________
Technorati: myopia, health, lasik

The quirks of urban living

Before I go to the story I must state on record that I'm NOT bored with life and the most serious vandalism I ever did was missing my aim at the men's room while half-drunk with 40% Bacardi.

Whatever...

Earlier this evening, a friend told me that the buttons in the lifts of HDB blocks could be "re-booted", much like pressing Ctr-Alt-Del on a Windows OS. Apparently what happened was that punks had been jabbing all the buttons, resulting in much annoyance to the next person taking a ride. Imagine visiting every floor before you reach your destination.

Anyway, this friend of mine found out that, at least in the lifts serving the block he lives in, he could cancel all the activated buttons by simultaneously pressing three buttons. Neat little Easter egg for defeating all those punks.

Well anyway, as you can see from the time stamp of this blog post, I am feeling insomniac. Guess what's the best way to kill time in the middle of a dark and silent night, besides blogging? Of course, it's to conduct scientific tests. Heh.



So, I went into the lift at my place and randomly pressed a few buttons. It turned out that if I pressed more than three buttons, not necessarily simultaneously, the activated buttons would be de-activated, reverting back to stand-by mode.

A pretty interesting Easter egg. It prevents itchy-fingered kids from doing their stuff but the lift cannot serve more than three floors at a time.

__________
urban guide

Stress

We experience mental stress generally when we perceive that the demands of aspects of our lives overwhelm our capabilities to handle such demands. All of us have experienced some form of stress in our lives, some are better able to handle it, others need external intervention.


Hallucination is a symptom of extreme stress
Photo credit: www.cattlerange.com

We are probably familiar with the general stages of stress. They are, in order of severity:

1. Awareness. This happens when we become aware of the threat to our well-being and this is usually associated with a sudden increase in pulse rate. In most people, this is the shortest stage of stress and they eventually move on to next stage.

2. Coping. The typical response after we become aware of the threat to our well-being is, of course, to try to get rid of the problem or to find ways of living with the problem such that it does as little damage as possible. We know that coping mechanisms cannot function indefinitely as it depletes our resources. When the threat eventually outlasts our coping mechanisms, we move on to the third and most serious stage.

3. Exhaustion. When our coping mechanisms are overwhelmed, our body can no longer maintain normal functions. This results in our organ systems not performing the right things. For example, improper organ functioning may be manifested as stomach ulcers, heart attacks or insomnia. The most serious consquence is, of course, death from these manifestations.

There is considerable overlap among the three general stages. For example, a person may experience insomnia while successfully resolving the problem. My experience with the stages of stress is typical. I remember experiencing frequent diarrhoea during the school examinations, especially before and after tough papers.

The most insidious way by which stress levels build up in most working class city-dwellers is presenteeism. We ignore stress signals to carry on working, always striving for one more hour, one more page or one more deal. Employees & employers alike are equally guilty of promoting such health-destroying behaviour because going on sick leave is generally frowned upon. The subconscious message is that a person who fails to cope with stress has a lesser moral character or questionable work ethic.

There is always a choice to walk away from work when the alarm bells go off. Workers need to be empowered not just with legislative protection but also with knowledge of how to recognise stress levels and the available resources to help them cope.

__________
stress health

Lasik (Part 3), or The Second Skin

The best non-medical invention that came along, in terms of myopia correction, is the contact lens. They fit on the cornea like a second skin, providing clear vision in the entire field-of-view, unlike spectacles where there's always a blind-zone outside of the frame.


Photo credit: Bryan Tong Minh

I got into the act quite late, having worn my first pair only at 18. This came about after running too many competitive cross-country races stumbling over roots and shrub without the benefit of wearing my 500-degree glasses. The only time I did wear glasses while competing, I ended having them flung off my nose while trying to catch up with the guy in front of me during the last leg.

The trick to wearing contact lenses is to keep them on short and keep them clean. Cleanliness is paramount. It was something that I took for granted and ended up with two bouts of conjunctivitis. Simple rules apply. Always wash hands before handling, never wash lenses with tap water.

As a result of those two bouts of infecton, I could no longer put on contact lenses without getting sore eyes after 2 hours of wearing. And my eyes would ache for a few days after that. So ended my tryst with the contact lens.

__________
lasik contact lens

The 25k project (Part 2)

It costs quite a sum to apply for Canadian Permanent Resident visas for a family of four. In Canadian dollars (CAD), it’s 550 each for Wifey and me, CAD150 each for Faith and Joy. That makes a grand total of CAD1400 or SGD1900-plus with current forex rates.


Sunset in Vancouver
Photo credit: Matt Jones Photography

The Canadian visa section in Singapore charges SGD2192 if we’re paying in Singapore dollars. That’s quite a hefty premium. It’s less costly if we get an international bank draft in Canadian dollars. It’ll cost under SGD2000 with the service fee added in

With knowledge, there’s empowerment (and savings).

__________
emigration vancouver