Tuesday, April 17, 2007

My Contact Lenses



I started to wear spectacles shen I was in standard 3. We were at the A&W Drive-in, when my dad asked "So what do you want, Helena"
I said "menu dia mana?"

"Just read the menu at the big board" my dad said referring to the giant menu just in front of the drive-in parking.
"Taknak baca kat situ. Nak menu kecik tu jugak" I insisted.
"Helena, kenapa ni? Cepat cakap nak order apa" My dad pandang I semacam.

"Helena, baca menu kat board tu, papa nak dengar" My dad asked, after staring at me for some time.

"Mmmmm...." I dilly dallied.

"Helena tak nampak, ye?" My dad asked again.

"Tak......." I replied softly.


I was a specky girl throughout my schooling years. When I look at my old pictures, I noticed that the frames I had masa sekolah rendah and lower secondary, semuanya frame toye-toye. My glasses became much nicer in my upper secondary.

When I was doing my A levels, I brought up the courage to get myself contact lenses. This would be the first time that I buy something expensive on my own, and knowing that the purchase is against my parents instructions. "Lena, jangan nak cuba2 pakai contact lenses. Do you know how dangerous it is to have a foreign thing in your eye, hygiene issues and all?" They repeated told me.

I wore my contacts without their knowledge. Whenever they come to visit, I would rush to the toilet to take out my contacts and capai my specs. Pening tau, tukar2 macam tu.

I finally told them the truth just before I finished my studies. They were not that angry. Infact they were not suprised. Hehe.... I guess I ada terkantoi with them without even realizing it.
Ni nak ceta pasal my ex-boss kejap ye.....

My bosses at my current company are mostly Americans expats. (I dapat boss baru every 3 years) When I had a German boss few years back, working environment at the office was fantastic. This expat memang rugged betul. His hobby is playing his electric guitar. He is a workaholic, but he makes work fun for all of us.

On his 1st year, on my birthday, he came up to me at 8:30am and said "Hey Helena, Happy Birthday" He gave me a present with a card on it. "And Helena.... you can take the day off" he continued.
"Excuse me, what did you say?" I asked, as I thought I heard wrong.

"I said, you can have the day off" He smiled.

"Why.....?" I knew I sounded dumb.

"Because I think that you deserve to have a good time on your birthday." he started to look at me strangely.

"Oh....Ok.... thank you" I said, still not believeing my ears. Tak pernah orang buat macam ni kat company ni.

(In the end, I still keje jugak hari tu. Padan muka. Last minute nak buat report, in which kena submit the next day. Padahal report tu i boleh buat dah seminggu dah. haha. Padan muka I!)

eh keluar topic sikit takpe kan...?

Ok, Bila I start keje dengan boss German ni, I tension sebab every time dia gi oversea, mesti colour mata dia berubah. His eyes are green, but would turn gray bila balik overseas.

Jealous la I tengokkan.... so thats when I started to get coloured contact lenses. He just came back from US, and knowing that his eyes will be gray, I belilah contacts gray colour. (Tak kuasa pulak nak mata hijau) Hehe. Tapi takboleh pakai lama sebab rasa gatal2 pakai coloured contacts. Texture dia kasar sikit. So burn lah RM300 hanya sebab nak mata sama colour dgn bos mat salleh. Hehe.


Oh Ya! There are 3 statements yang akan I ingat my boss ni comment pasal I. (Yes he is my favourite boss. I love this guy)



"Helena, your table is such a mess that it looks like a bomb just landed there, but it's amazing that any information needed from you, it's all at your fingertips" His comment pasal meja I yg forever berterabur.


"Helena runs the place, not me" He loves telling VVIPs this.


"Helena! Congratulations! You are a fast worker, both in the office and delivering babies!" He exclaimed when I called him at 9am saying that I've delivered a baby boy. (I called him at 8am saying that I'm on the way to the hospital)


Oh... sambung cerita contact lenses. So even today, I were contacts most of the time. I only pakai specs after Maghrib. Everyday. I hate wearing specs now. The weight of the spec on the bridge of my nose gives me a headache. I tried to stop wearing contacts, but I cant, because of the headache.

So adakah I akan pakai contacts sampai I bercucu cicit? Sampai gigi I rongak?
Note : Kelam kabut ke my entry ni? Sorry la ye.....

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

stdrd 3 dah pakai speck? uish..kita alhamdulillah..dah 27 years old still leh tgk ngan terang..:-)

besnya dapat bos camtuh..keje pon rasa hepi je kan..takde stress sgt..last 2 weeks on 3rd April is my 27th birthday..bos kita pon celebrate kat office with a surprise birthday cake yg dia beli..rasa dihargai sgt2..:-)

p/s: betul la kak helena..little bit kelam kabut la post kali ni..btw, i enjoy read ur blog!..

cikdinz said...

itulah dia orang german.
tak nak keje lebih-lebih dan begitu sporting...

Helena said...

rose : yup, Helena pakai specs at std 3. And Anastasia pun ikut, she started to wear specs end of std 1. You are lucky to have perfect eyesight!

Its true, the more you get appreciated, the more you'll do for your company.

Hehe, kelam kabut eh, dont know what happened to me this morning. but glad to know you enjoyed it still.

cik dinz : Kenapa dgn Germans cikdinz? But my ex-boss ni mmg workaholic, so there is no such thing as taknak kerja lebih. He is also such a BRILLIANT person. I LOVE working with him. Infact, dgn dia, I sanggup stay at the office (tanpa merungut) until 10pm. Hehe. He brings the best out of me. I miss that feeling. Pergi kerja masa tu bukan rasa macam pergi kerja pun. Best.... hehe

pB said...

wah besh nyer kalau bila besday, dapat off ....

ini kalau besday, kalau nak enjoy, kena cambik cuti tahunan.

udah lah cuti tahunan ciput jer..
18 hari hingga lah pB pencen..

Ohhh tidak...!!!!

Helena said...

pb : keje dgn mat salleh ni best. Mereka very caring. Masa boss Helena Canadian dulu, si Zaryff selalu kena athsma. Ada one time tu masuk hospital seminggu. Si canadian ni kasi Helena off for 1 week. Dia kata Helena boleh balik kerja only after my son got discharged. (And he informed HR kata not to deduct my leave)

And like I said kan, if we were treated good by our employers, sure kita pun berlebih kurangkan and pikir lebih pasal our responsibility at work. Infact dalam 1 week tu, I still come to the office nak siapkan project. Marah dia tengok I datang. I kata my mom jagakan Zaryff kat hospital. And dia kata "Your mom is not your son's mom. You are his mom and you should be sitting next to his bedside."

pb, cuti tahunan Helena 20 hari jerk.... itupun baru naik this yr. Tahun lepas 16 hari jer...

Mr. Right said...

Helena,
Cuba tanya Rose dia celebrate birthday ngan siapa?

Heheheehe...

Helena said...

MR Right : Mesti la dgn you kut? hehe... ni mesti ada ceta best nih....

Mr. Right, thx for dropping by.

Rose : jawab... jangan tak jawab.... eh... lupa nak wish HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! eh, pakcik tu kasi apa ye?

Darling said...

awal betul u pakai spec ye. i a bit rabun tapi masih ok without spec cuma bab silau tu selalu failed.

i lak every year akan ambil cuti bila my birthday. my reason is tak nak spoilkan my birthday, nanti suwei. so my bos akan sign je le borang i. takde siapa nak query sebab every year mcm tu. luckily setiap kali birthday tak ada kerja yang urgent ke, kena pergi conference ke.

best kalau dpt bos mcm tu. semangat je nak pergi kerja. my bos taklah baik hati mcm tu sangat. cuma dia ok dengan i sebab i jenis terus terang & takkan say no bila dia suruh buat apa pun walaupun diluar bidang kerja i(keje ye bkn benda lain hehe)

Anonymous said...

Thanx kak helena..
Hehe..Pak Cik tu bagi Jam tangan..cantik sgt..i really appreciate it..dah lama takde jam..(jam lama ade..tapi x-bf bagi, ade org tu jeles org pakai..kui kui kui)
celebrate kat kl je..tak g mane2 pon.tgk wayang (mr. bean), bowling, mkn2..hehe..
tapi..dalam sronok2nye..ade cite tak bes..pak cik ni terlanggar kete savvy minah mane ntah smpai pecah lampu depan..sama2 rebut parking..rebut parking sbb nak g beli kek besday org..huhu..terharunya..

silversarina said...

Contact lense ni kena orang rajin pakai baru jadi sebab kena jaga bersih ke tak... dulu masa anak sorang akak pakai contact lense, lepas tu tak berjaga sampai terkoyak....pastu dah malas nak guna dah...pakai specs all the time .... selalu pulak hilang, letak merata bila nak tido..pernah hilang jatuh kat tempat telur dalam peti ais, separuh hari mencari.....

akak suka tengok orang pakai contact lense berwarna, camtik :)

Kak Elle said...

ntah ye helena tapi kalau dah bercucu tu kena lah beli contact lens yg untuk tengok dekat pulak...nanti entah kemana punting tu masuk kan....hehe

Sue said...

Minah pun mula2 taknak admit kena pakai specs, sampailah one day tersilap nampak alpha masa Maths test yg ditulis kat blackboard...end dari Sec 4 kena pakai specs.
Teringin jugak nak gunakan contacts...tapi any part of my face including the eyes tak serasi dgn foreign objects *sigh*

KakNi said...

Samalah macam anak saya yang sulong tu heheheh
Mula pakai spek masa darjah 3...

Saya ni kejap pakai spek, kejap pakai contact lenses. Mata saya agak sensitif, bila pakai lenses tu dalam 2-3 hari mesti stop kejap, pakai spek balik. Kalau pakai yang daily tu ok, cuma yang daily tu tak ada estik (spelling tak tahu). Mata saya sebelah aje ada estik, so sebelah ada toric, sebelah lagi tak ada toric.
Bila pakai yang daily (tak ada toric) tu kat office tak berapa selesa, kalau pergi jalan2 ok.

D said...

HeHeHe... The life of people wearing contact lenses! I met a friend recently who said she got real tired poking lenses into her eyes that she went for a laser treatment. I dunno, she vows it works for her. Tak nak try ke? Laser.. Zap! Zap! sekarang new technology tak payah lift eyelids pun!!! If you stick to lenses pun tak pe gak, they now have bi-focal lenses too... HeHehE

Abu Ikhlas said...

hehehe..thanks for your comment. Sorry for late reply. Yes im back already but next ogos im heading to turkmenistan till 2010. Sekarang memang spend masa betoi2 dgn family and sibuk dgn pelajaran dia orang. My time very pack now.

lama tak nampak kat dcck...merajuk ke atau dah fed up. Saya mana ok layanlah...hehehehe anyway nice to see u again

Anonymous said...

I baru join ur corner..got ur link from MA. Dulu2 tak terpikir pun nak kena pakai spek. Skg dah kena pakai lak. Ada gak nak melawa2 pakai lens..tapi ampun..tak jadi, beli, try nak masuk kat mata tak jadi2..last2 pakai spek je lah. Sbb rabun jauh so nak drive, nak kuar baru pakai..envy la kat u Helena bole tukar2 kale lagi...

Anna-M

NBK466 said...

Jap nak bayangkan Halena umo dah 80..gigi banyak dah takde, pakai gigi palsu...dah bercicit pun..tapi maintain contact lense BIRU...hu..hu..hu..

Unknown said...

Hi Helena,

I want to wear contact lenses so much. I tried last year but it lasted just a short while. I find it hard to accept something foreign in my eyes...sigh! Will try again sometime. Determined still..ha ha.

Interesting to hear about your bosses especially the musical one. Learn from them Helena. Sometimes they are more humane, compared to our local bosses!

I gave birth to my twins in Perth. My experience there made me realise the nurses there seem to be more 'muslim' than our people. How they were so caring and how they cared about my comfort and tried to minimise my suffereings. I really thought hard about their touches, mat sallehs ni.

maklang said...

maklang kalau tak nampak, automatic telinga tak dengar! boleh ke camtu??

Anonymous said...

darling : kira ok la tu... rabun sikit tu adatlah. My power is quite high = 600.

My current boss was just located here early this month. He's also an American. So far okay la. First day dia dah emphasize on family. Which is so FINE with me... hehe

Rose : Wah! pandaila dia kan. Mesti la dia bengang u pakai jam orang lama....

La... accident ke? Such an expensive cake that was, eh? Takpalah, you kenalah pujuk2 dia, manja2kan dia.... Sian kete dia.... hehe

Patutnya birthday takleh tgk Mr Bean. Must choose a romantic movie... , paling tak ceta seram....ish.... kena hantar training mr. Right ni...hehe

loveujordon : jenuh nak basuh daily tau... nyampah pun ada. I cant imagine how I could have basuh contact lenses hubby dulu2 masa baru kawin.... hehe... imagine cleaning 2 pair every night!

kak elle : eh... did you say puting? erm.... err.... would I be the type who would jaga cucu.... well.... havent really thought of that kak elle. BTW, I dont give puting to my children, so I nak ajar my kids jgn bagi puting to their babies pulak... hehe .. the same goes to buai...

minah : Helena serasi with all kind of contacts, BUT not the coloured ones. Yang coloured ni boleh pakai 4-5 hours aje, rasa macam ada pasir aje dalam mata. But then, due to the price, Helena takdela experiment with other brands sangat....

aNIe said...

Kak lady dah berumur ni baru paka spek...sebabnya...rabun dekat...kalau takde spek...tak boleh blogging...heheheh...

Senyum kak lady baca statement boss helena tu...especially about the baby deliveries..heheh..kelakar...

Anonymous said...

Ahni : oh, yr child wear specs? Mmm.. How often does her power increase? Anastassia has a small face, so most children specs would look huge on her face. She ended up choosing the frameless type. BIG MISTAKE! There was once that she broke her glasses 3 times in 6 weeks!

Well, I need to wear glasses more often I guess... since you ni 50-50 kira ok la jugak....

d : a friend of mine was trying to get me to do lasik. RM4K aje per eye dia kata.... I was tempted, but decided not to. And guess what, ealy this year there was a research done that confirms that there is a possibility that Lasik does have serious side effects, but the effects will only show several years after the surgery.

Abu : Hey thx for the visit. So tengah melepak sakan la ni ye.... Wow.... sampai ogos pulak tu.

Turkmenistan? So you signed a new contract? The last few months pun you were there kan? Yes, kena make full use with your time here, esp with wife and kids. How is Nisa by the way?

Merajuk? Takdela.... Helena biasa aje....

Anna-M : Thx for dropping by. Helena pakai contact colour pun, masa time tu aje, way back in 2000. Lama2 bila i got pregnant, I switched back to normal colour.

Yes, it's a bit tricky the first time you wanna insert the lens. But it gets pretty easy once you get the hang of it... once dapat masuk, lepas tu senang je.....

nbk : HAHA.... exaggerate betul la you ni. Contact biru takdele.... tapi pakai contact lens tu..... mmmm......errr.... itula persoalannya dalam my entry ni....hehe. But I was thinking more like at the age of 60... NOT 80!

ruby : hey, dearest ruby is here!

Contacts? But you dont wear glasses right? Or do you?

You are right about mat salleh bosses being more humane. They treat you like family, making us want to give more. They put family and safety in their top list.

YOU HAVE TWINS????? Best nya....... Yes I understand what you mean, I bet the nurses pampered you just as if you're their own daughter right? Well, the problem with us Malaysians or maybe Asians in general is that we are not used to show our feelings and compassion in public. Everything is done behind closed doors. Even that pun, entah ada entah tak... betul tak... hanya sebab we are not used to say I LOVE YOU to our mom, dad, siblings....

maklang : eh... boleh ke camtu.... kelakar la... hehe. Helena ingat lagi ada one time I never even bothered to get new glasses after my old one broke, then tak pasal2 sakit mata for 3 days. Mati kutu Helena, spec takde, contacts tak boleh pakai, power 600..... nak tgk tv tak boleh, nak do my reading pun tak boleh.... mmg rabun for 3 whole days.... hehe

Fid said...

araraaaa..oklah helena buleh pakai contact lens and spec...
saya ni plak...mata Corneal Dystrophy
mmg masalah..
rabun tak de rabun mana..tp mende2 kecil mmg tak boleh focus.
muka org pun dari jauh tak nampak sangat.kalau org tak tahu.akan kata saya ni sombong...
mmg jalan tak nampak org...

wahh bestnya boss helena....

Intan said...

i stopped using contacts more than 10 years ago. i have astigmatism and mine is semi-hard and it was very troublesome.

a cousin used to wear glasses at ur age and hers were really thick and when she was younger, she looked really nerdy. of course she's wearing contacts now and looking groovy!

david santos said...

Here I am again for seeing your work, thanked

Unknown said...

Helena dear,

Lupa nak beritahu you. 21st ni I won't be there. I have a family kenduri to attend to. Too bad kan. Manatahu jumpa situ. Insy next time.

Helena said...

Fid : thx for dropping by. Corneal Dystrophy? wow.... first time dengar ni. Kesian you, so you mean thres nothing to be done for you to get perfect vision? Susah jugak kan.... what causes this actually, mmg ada from birth or due to benda lain?

intan : luckily my astig is still mild. Tapi tak taula tua2 nanti kan. Hey, I really do have to stop using contacts la kan? Its good that you did not get too dependable on contacts.

Well, do I look nerdy dulu? more like toye kut....hehe

Sya said...

Helena.. I started wearing specs masa kat UKM walaupun kena pakai erlier than that tapi masih berdegil sampai lah kena tegur ngan lecturer. My first framre warna pink, pastu hitam, pastu pink.. i got lots of pink frame.

I got the courage to wear contacts when I managed to keluarkan spmething kat mata hitam.. so I know I can do it. So since 2001 memang pakai contacts - no spec at all. Setakat ni dah pakai warna, hazel, grey and blue tapi lom ada courage nak pakai green colour

Helena said...

David : Hi, good to hear from you again. Do have a good weekend yah!

kak lady : hehe... kena jaga specs tu elok2. Nanti takleh blog.....susah nanti.

Hehe... Helena pun kelakar dgr statement dia. Tapi dia mmg terperanjat sbb Helena call at 8am kata I'm on the way to hospital... tup2 pukul 9am, dah call kata dapat baby boy. Hehe... Helena mmg senang deliver my babies.

Ruby : Oh.... next time la boleh jumpa kan. I'll be rushing on that day because Zaryff ada Canteen Day. So had to juggle between the 2 functions.

Sya : well, tengah visualize you with pink frames nih .... hehe.

So you are now 100% wearing contacts ye... (color2 lagi ...hehe. Helena dah stop) I used to do that tau, itu yg sekarang problem nak pakai specs.... But maybe I sorang je yg problem macam tu kut. Everytime I wear specs mesti rasa pening, esp if to work and driving. Kalau kat rumah, watch tv, ok, no problem.

Fid said...

Helena,
Corneal Dystrophy tu from birth lg dah ada..sudah ketentuan...
caranya ada, tukar cornea baru! (ini i tulis balik ayat yang doctor cakap)
But doctor tak nak benarkan buat skrg katanya masih muda tunggu tua2 sikit itupun kalau terus tak nampak...selagi nampak kekal je begini....

Anonymous said...

Fid : OIC, from birth ye. Well, semoga fid dapat tabahkan hati dan kekalkan semangat dgn cabaran yg diterima. InsyaAllah everything will be okay. Do get in touch constantly dgn your doc tau.. Take care dear....

Makcik Runner said...

hahahaha..suke baca yr x-boss's quotes tuh. if i have that kind of boss i wouldnt mind keja sampai tua.

yeah i wear contact lenses n specs too. i dont really like wearing specs coz its heavy. my power on both sides are quite high too. i started wearing contact lenses when i start working my 2nd job. itupun sebab tengok ada member pakai rasa teruja sangat nak cuba. but it was semi hard lenses (can u imagine that) coz my astigmatism is very high and they dont have special soft lense for astigmatism. i used that kind for almost 10 yrs before i changed to soft lense.

tak nak pakai lense ada satu jalan lain. wanna try lasik eye surgery? some people claimed to have sharp eagle eyes after surgery. hmm...dare to try?

cepotet said...

I love this entry.. it makes me smile while reading it. I suka.. *senyum*

Helena,
do u mind if I link kan ur blog kat my blog?

Helena said...

kc : mmg best kerja dgn dia. After Malaysia, he is supposed to go back to Germany. But he fell in love with Msia so much that he resigned and cari kerja lain yg membolehkan dia stay kat sini. Its a big change for him as he's been with the company for so long.

lasik eye surgery? Read in the papers few months back that there is a side effect to lasik. pls see my comment to D kat atas tu. So ngeri pulak rasanya.

erni : hey! thx for dropping by. Glad u enjoyed the entry. Link kan aje, Helena tak kisah ....

Take care dear.....