Hernia :(

It all began with increasing frequency of gastric discomfort. Initially I thought they were just normal bouts of gastric discomfort. I began to notice something usual: they occurred more and more often (as often as once a month), they were not associated with missed meals or late meals, and normal gastric medications did not have any effects. There was also stretching discomfort at the inguinal region (that's medical term for the region between the thigh and the abdomen) which made me suspicious about hernia.

However, when you google hernia, its presentation is commonly as a bulge. I did not notice anything bulging. When I compared my left and right side, the right side feels "harder" as if  there was something underlying it but I did not suspect anything. I thought it was quite normal to have your left and right body unsymmetrical. I went to see doctor and he could not feel the hernia pouch on my inguinal region but I still got my referral to hospital. In fact, I was actually more bothered about the gastric pain which lately seemed to coincide with the discomfort at the inguinal region.

When I went home to attend my cousin's wedding last week, I decided to ask my uncle who is a doctor. He told me that inguinal hernia could extend to the scrotum. After hearing that, I started touching myself to realise that I had 3 lumps there!! Shit.. I was very sure that previously I only had 2 balls down there. After 1 of the random nights, I woke up with only 2 balls down there so I am quite sure that really I have inguinal hernia which goes to the scrotum. No wonder there is no visible bulge anywhere :( I always thought inguinal hernia and scrotal hernia as different issue altogether. Since my discomfort is always at the inguinal, I am not bothered to check for any random lumps at the crotch.

I went to TTSH yesterday and the doctor said I got no hernia as she could not feel anything at the inguinal region. I told her about the scrotum lump and I had to expose myself T_T Just with 1 cough, it was confirmed that I have a hernia down there. I am fully prepared with the fact that hernia repair will only be done by surgery. However I am not prepared to here the risks, although the likelihood is very small. The first one I am most worried is if somehow the spermatic cord is damaged. It basically means I will just become a half man. Haiz :( The second risk is the nerve damage that will affect my thigh. I know the risks are small bla bla bla but you can never know anything before it is cut open and see how anatomy is like down there.

I can't wait until 15 January which is the earliest date TTSH can give me. I will try Glenagles this Thursday. I believe in private, as long as I am willing to pay, I can get it done more quickly. Thank goodness I decided to purchase a health insurance earlier this year. The problem is finding a good surgeon. I ask around so many doctors and all of them have no contact with hernia surgeons. I decided to book an appointment with the doctor who operated on my dad 20 years ago (as well as my grand uncle and grand aunt). I believe that he is good. My concern will be his age. Sigh.. I mean if I have to sacrifice my reproductive capability and my thigh nerve because of my anatomy, I can accept it. But I am worried if unsteady hands will damage the wrong thing. Huhuhu T_T

I don't know how this will turn out but my advice for all of you, especially the guys, out there:

1) Get a health insurance. You never know when disaster or illness strikes and you need it. The hospital bills in Singapore is crazy and with an insurance, at least you don't get to worry about finance. Yes, a peace of mind is costly.

2) Get a rider that allows you to go to private hospitals. The wait at restructured hospitals are crazy. I seriously cannot wait another month with the occasional gastric discomfort (which is happening more frequently) and an additional lump bigger than testicles in the scrotum.

3) This may sound inappropriate but touch and play with your balls everyday. Don't be like me who cannot even be sure whether I have an abnormal lump in my scrotum! Honestly, even the severe gastric pain still cannot compare with the worry thinking if you have any abnormality in your manhood! In fact, this is what making me more worried lately.

Spongebob Charity Walk

I am half dead after waking up at 5 am today. Haha.. I am not a sporty person and I am not a fan of Spongebob so it was quite a feat that I said "Yes!" when my friends asked me to go for Spongebob Charity Walk. It was a 3.5km walk so I took it as a warm up before my 10km Standard Chartered Marathon Run in 2 weeks time.

It was the first mass event I joined so frankly, I did not know what to expect. The joining fee was $25 and the race pack had 1 t-shirt, 2 cup noodles, 1 box of cereal, various vouchers that I have no use of, and Kiehl's samples and ticket for free 15 minutes consultation. It is worth >$25 if you find any use of the vouchers. The t-shirt was rather disappointing: plain white with the picture above (minus the Spongy Charity Walk). Yes, the white letters took up so much space, more than Spongebob and Patrick themselves. Cup noodles also did not impress me. You want to have an event to promote health and well being but the goodie bag has instant noodles?? What???!!

According to the post-event news, there were about 600 participants. It did not feel that crowded. Haha.. My friends and I could still take pictures without any need to queue. I also could take pictures without random strangers on the background. Lol. Although I am not a fan of Spongebob, since I was already there, I might as well take photos with the various standees lo. Haha..

The walk itself had nothing special with only various Spongebob cut outs along the way. I was expecting things more happening. The climax became anti-climatic as the organisers were rather screwed up. We were grouped for the photo-taking with Spongebob and Patrick's mascots but we were grouped with strangers. WTF!! Bleah..

The medal is also rather disappointing. In the promotional picture, it is coloured but the actual one is not coloured. Bleah.. But I think it is still okay to keep as a "collection" lo. Haha.. At least I still get it and no need to fight (and did not get) like the Hello Kitty Run earlier this month. Lol.

After lunch at e-Hub! nearby, my friends forced me to waste time and money by watching Penguins of Madagascar. Jeez... I wanted to go home and rest already leh :( But I was kept hostage because I put my bag in a friend's car. I managed to skip temptation of using the $2 voucher (from the charity walk!) for ChaTime. Jiayou, myself!! No bubble tea until end of 2014 at least okay!

Usually I like to watch cartoon but I have no interest whatsoever after seeing the trailer for Penguins of Madagascar. It seems to be pure comedy without any meaningful story or plot whatsoever. None of the animals fall under cute category either.

The story is about an octopus who wants to take a revenge against all the penguins. The octopus is used to be the main attraction in a zoo before penguins are brought in and people are flocking to cute penguins. The octopus gets shipped to another zoo and the same scenario repeats. Now the octopus has created Medusa Serum to turn cute penguins into hideous monsters. The octopus kidnaps all the penguins in zoos across the world to do this. Only the 4 penguins of Madagascar and an organisation called North Wind can stop this evil scheme. 

The octopus is successful to turn all but 1 penguin called Private into hideous monsters. Private "sacrificed" himself to reverse the process using his cuteness "power". Seriously what the fxxx and he is not even cute or like-able or anything.

What a waste of $9.50 and my Sunday T_T

Working and studying are tough. Constantly there are things to do and I find myself having not enough time to rest and do my usual time-wasting activities. Bleah.. I guess it helps a little bit that I like to study so studying is not that stressful to me. The stress from trying to memorise and getting the correct answers is bad enough. Haha... But honestly, one good thing that I have to work and study at the same time is that it makes me more disciplined with time management. I guess I have to slowly cut down and get rid of the times wasted for surfing internet and watching youtube videos.

I went home for about 4 days last week to attend a wedding from a distant cousin. His mom and my father are cousins. Come to think of it, it was quite weird that I was looking forward to his wedding. I am not too close to him. In fact, we only met twice: once in Singapore when he was looking for accomodation (we are of the same age by the way) and then once when I went back to Pontianak a few years back. Perhaps I was just longing for holiday so this wedding was a perfect excuse to go home for a short break and at the same time to meet some relatives.

Since April-November, there are about 60+ comics at home that I need to read. Lol.. I totally had no time to read them as I also had to juggle with my study materials. I shall see how December go.

This short break also makes me think that I should start dieting again. I used to buy meal replacement cereals to try to lose weight many years ago and it did not work. I was constantly feeling hungry but now I knew why. I was a poor student back then and instead of following the direction of 2 sachets per meal, I only used 1 to "save". Obviously with half of the energy, it made me constantly hungry. Now that I am working, Rp 15000 per 2 sachets (or less than <$2) to replace a meal seem worth trying. I still feel hungry but I don't know if that's my body is in the process of adapting back. As long as I don't fall sick, I guess I will keep on trying. Haha..

Changi Airport is having Disney-theme Christmas decoration this year. Yay!! Although I had yet to see anything even when I landed back on Monday. Haha.. After reaching home, I was welcomed with a letter from Golden Village. I got 2 free tickets from their September member draw. Whee.... I was thinking of watching Big Hero 6 on that day (overheard people talking about how funny it is at the airport). Since the free tickets have short expiry (in January), I decided to keep it for Big Hero 6. In the end I watched The Book of Life using the free tickets from the Maze Runner event.

I thought I was going to skip The Book of Life as I did not really like the animation style. But since the reviews are generally good, I decided to give it a try. Since this post is already too long, I will write a separate one on the movie. Lol..

On Tuesday, I tried to pangseh the dinner invitation for the dance team for the company's dinner & dance earlier this month. I already went home and it was already 1 hour after the supposed meeting time but I was "emotinally blackmailed" when I was still asked to come. Grrraaaah... I gave in and took a taxi there. Not a fan of Indian food but it was quite a good experience eating Indian buffet. I did not like most of the food except for the naan bread and the cheese soup thingy (can't remember what it is called).

Other than that, I guess I am back to my usual boring life.. Haha.. but today I took a break from studying to write this blog.

Dao

This is a bit outdated as it would be something that happened a few weeks ago during last pharmacy congress. I am an introvert, shy, and can't be bothered person. When I come across someone I know but I am not too close with, I will just pretend not to see or not to know them. At times, I will even try to avoid eye contact. During pharmacy congress, obviously I would come across my ex-classmates, ex-lecturers, etc and basically I tried to do all the above.

Ironically, as I was alone, I ended up with my ex-classmate who was also alone. It was pretty awkward but not too bad as we were quite okay at school. However at one of the optional sessions, one of my ex-lecturers sat next to my ex-classmate. Oh no.. Imagine when my ex-lecturer not only remembered me but also remembered my name! Oh em gee.. I mean I was not a popular student and I was not very bright too so I did not expect to be remembered, especially since I graduated 3 years ago. After that, I met another ex-lecturer in the toilet and he smiled when we had a brief eye contact which also meant that he remembered me. Ouch.. a part of me felt happy for being somewhat 'memorable' but most part of me felt embarrassed as on many previous occasions I had always pretended not aware of them.

Life often takes unexpected turn and that is why I rather leave everything to God's plan instead of making my own plans. I am never interested in going to clinical track but now I am doing Clinical Pharmacist Preparation Program (CP3) How on earth did this happen? I am considering Masters in Healthcare Administration or Masters in Clinical Educator. Unfortunately, the former requires at least 4 years of working experience and the latter requires some clinical practice experience. Then I received a call from one of my bosses to offer me about this CP3. Apparently, the person who was supposed to go for this run was withdrawn for some reason so there was a vacancy. Not sure why I was being considered as I have always made it clear that clinical track is not my interest. With a deadline of 1 weekend to make my decision, it was quite difficult.

Well in the end I decided to do it. I don't know what the future lies but at this point of time, I have told the boss about my expectations and reasons for doing this. I don't mind having some clinical background but I don't want to be limited to clinical track. I am just doing this just to "kill the time" while waiting for 4 years to be eligible for the Healthcare Administration or for foundation to do Clinical Educator.

I nearly died looking at the course material now. Sigh.. If it is going to take so much effort, might as well aim for the Masters in Clinical Pharmacy :( I don't know how I am going to survive this. A part of me actually feels rather excited to study again. I guess I am just a chao mugger deep inside.

Regardless of the outcome, I guess I have to be thankful for this privilege. I mean there are many people who prefer clinical to operations track and here I am, who prefer operations track, end up getting to do a clinical course. I was told that there would be an interview but because I was so last minute into the registration, I was in without an interview! Wow.. I guess I would never pass the interview round since I would not be able to give a model answer of being clinically driven or something. I am also quite happy that the IMH pharmacist who is involved in this actually also remembered me although I only did a 1 week attachment there during my pre-reg. Again I did not expect to be that memorable.

Oh well.. that's all for tonight.. Did not study tonight because of blogging. Well done!! Haha...

D & D

The series of burnt weekends finally ended tonight with Dinner & Dance. It was my first time to experience a true D & D as I was both having dinner and dancing. I guess that is another item crossed out from my bucket list. I am not a dancer and I never imagine myself to be able to dance in public. Of course I don't dare to even watch the video as I think I would be embarrassing myself.

I did not want to go for this D & D for many reasons and I really regret going. Firstly, it was a waste of $60. One of my colleague is a member of the organising committee and she assured me that the food was okay. Well, the food sucked. Secondly, I was not excited with the retro theme. 1 good thing about performing was that I could just wear the dancing costume for the dinner. The rental cost me $50 although it would be reimbursed by the clinic. I had difficulty finding suitable costume and I just grabbed whatever I could find. The top was okay but the bell-bottom pants were too long for me. It was nothing fantastic and I was not eager with taking pictures whatsoever which was like defeating the purpose of going for such a social event.

Thirdly, my team lost! Ouch! We only got consolation prize which basically meant that we were lousy. It was quite disappointing as I thought we were not that bad. We deserved at least the 3rd prize or 2nd. Bleah.. I guess I am just kiasu. I already spent time to practice and hunt for the costume, forked out money for the costume, and embarrassed myself on stage so of course I wanted to win something la.

But the thing that made me upset the most was that I LOST MY EZLINK! Bloody fucking shit!! It still has $20+ value inside T_T I am sure it dropped during rehearsal. Sigh.. I hope whoever found it but did not return it to me will just get the karma.. Fuck fuck fuck la..

The only consolation I got was that I won a lucky draw prize #258 out of 400+ available prizes. I don't know what I got but I doubt that it would cover all the money I spent for this event. Sigh..

Trying the 60s clothes is quite an experience for me. The materials are very light and comfortable. Everything seems to be quite loose. Unfortunately, as I am used to the clothes nowadays like tight jeans etc, retro clothes feel like pajamas (in a good way). I don't have the confidence to wear them outside though. With them being loose, it does not provide enough support, especially for the butts and the crotch. Lol.. And 1 thing very unique about the 60s is that floral prints and neon colours are deemed masculine for men fashion. 

Sustainability

After 2 years of hard work, stress, negative emotions, black faces, and curses and bitching behind me, I am glad that everything is finally paid off as my project won the "Sustainability Award" today. Hooray!! I guess even my bosses knew how disappointed I was last year when the same project did not even win any award. I wanted to cry when the company nominated this project for sustainability award for this year as it meant that I had to prolong my agony for another year. I was like, "Is there a point continuing something for another year to hope for an award when it can't even win anything for this year's competition?".

Today I am very glad and I am very proud as I am the first one from the company to win this "Sustainability Award" :) I feel like a prick for saying the following but I really would like to thank the bitches who black-faced me when I asked for help for the data mining. Thanks to them I decided not to seek their help for the 2nd year of the project. It was a tiring and lonely journey but hey, now I don't need to share the credit. Yee haa.. And you suckers just lose an opportunity to boast something in your resume.

Perhaps I was too arrogant and too over-confident last year as everyone was saying good things about my project. After that failure, I did not hope much for this year. I was shabbily dressed and tadaaa.. I looked bad on photos. Haha.. I am pretty sure. Deep inside, I think I am a very shy person. Before announcing the result, the MC was giving a short synopsis of the winning project. The second I knew that it was mine, my heart was beating real fast. Yeah I was quite shy. Lol..

Anyway, the greatest glory goes to God as nothing is possible without Him. I would also like to thank the judges for judging that my project is worthy of winning this, the co-leader of the project and my colleagues (some of them are not even with the company anymore) who have directly or indirectly been involved with the execution of the project. Special thanks to my colleagues who had to work harder to cover me during the hours (which amounts to a few days in total) I spent in my computer during the data mining, report writing, and poster designing.

As I don't want to reveal my identity too much, that's all that I want to say. No more details haha.. 28 October is usually an emo day for me as that was the day when my parents dumped me here 12 years ago. Looks like this year gotta be a good one. I hope tomorrow will be a good day.

Lastly, I hope that God will keep me grounded and not to be arrogant just because of this. I know it is not going to be easy because pride/arrogance is one of my weaknesses.

Sleep debt

I am sleep deprived this week and things are not going to be better in the coming weeks. 24th Singapore Pharmacy Congress also happened on this weekend. I have to work on next Saturday and Sunday will be company's strategic retreat. T_T The Saturday after that will be D & D which means that the week prior to that will be burnt for dance practice. Haiz...

Because of the strategic retreat, I had to shift my renovation turn with one of my colleague. Thus I did last Wednesday and I stayed back until close to midnight o_0 It was not my turn actually. Friday was my turn again and it ended 1 hour later than initially planned. The only consolation was that I had work to do so that at least I could make use of the time. Of course it was not as efficient as expected with my tiredness. Even the vendor and contractor who are involved in renovation told me on Friday that I looked very much more tired and stressed as compared to Wednesday.

Tiredness aside, lets share some of the better moments. On Thursday, I managed so sell my HG 1/144 Gundam Deathscythe and Deathscythe Hell. It has been more than half a year since the last time I managed to sell anything in April. Clearly I am buying things at much faster rate than things being sold T_T I am actually quite reluctant to part with the Deathscythe as it has the mini Duo. But since my collection at home already has 1/100 Deathscythe, I guess there is no point keeping both. I was actually looking for Deathscythe Hell but I wanted the one with the mini Duo so I don't want this one that does not have mini Duo.

The last thing is a bit of shameless but I guess I will just go ahead as perhaps this will be the only time that I will be involved in Singapore Pharmacy Congress. So my name is listed somewhere in the programme as well as the website. Lol.

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends

Rurouni Kenshin: The Legend Ends is the finale of Kenshin live-action trilogy. After a great first part and an awesome second part, expectations are high for the third part. As much as I want to be positive, unfortunately The Legend Ends fails to deliver fans' expectations of climactic finale to end the series with a bang.

The root cause of the failure lies with how the movie deviates from the original manga/anime plot. The first hour was an ultimate boredom that even if you fall asleep at the beginning, you still can follow the story later on. The first hour is mostly about emo Kenshin trying to learn the ultimate technique from his master, Seijuro Hiko. After that, it starts to get exciting with all the battles.

As I mentioned earlier, the battles are not as exciting as the original manga/anime. In the manga/anime, the battle against Shishio is not only a fight with Shishio. It is also a battle against Shishio's army: the Juppongatana which is sadly almost made absent in the movie. Kenshin vs Chou is already shown in the Kyoto Inferno and in The Legend Ends we only have Saitou one-shots Usui, Kenshin vs Seijiro, Sanosuke vs Anji, and the final battle against Shishio.

Sanosuke vs Anji battle was like a joke as there is no relationship between the two in the live action. Again, I hate how the director makes Sanosuke as if he is completely useless and lousy in battle. Sano's fight is just randomly hitting like a street gangster. Bleah... The 4-vs-1 battle against Shishio is nicely executed although I have to say it is weird that Aoshi just appeared out of nowhere for this battle in the movie. I know that they don't want to create cheesy special moves like the anime but I think they should at least put in a few moves. The final battle feels rather bland and has nothing outstanding as compared to the other battles in the movie. Even Kenshin's Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki (that the movie spends an hour for him to learn this move on!) gets poor representation in this battle. Lame..

The most memorable part on Kenshin vs Shishio fight is Yumi's sacrifice. Sadly, this part is played down in the movie. Without dramatisation, audience will feel that Yumi is an idiot instead of feeling emotional that this is an act of love from her part.

My last complaint will be how Okina is made dead in the movie. Come on! Aoshi was a jerk who eventually turns around. With Okina being 'indirectly' killed because of Aoshi, Aoshi is not depicted in the good light in the movie.

All in all, I think this is a big anti-climax for all the good things that the first 2 movies have done. This is talking from a fan's point of view. For people who have not read the manga or watched the anime, I guess the movie is still enjoyable and worth watching.

Although the 3 movies can be considered "good" to "very good", I don't think I will be buying their DVDs. Why? I am quite disturbed with the amount of blood. Haha.. I am not disturbed with blood in cartoon (anime) or drawing (manga) forms. But seeing it in a very realistic manner kinda bothers me. Lol.

Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary

Saint Seiya: Legend of Sanctuary is a full CG-movie based on the Saint Seiya's Sanctuary arc. I was quite disappointed the first time I saw the trailer because the character design is nothing like the anime. I sort of feel that they will somehow butcher the story but I am still hoping for something good after seeing the awesome action scenes and Final Fantasy-ish look of the characters. Sanctuary arc itself is fantastic so even if they somehow butcher it, it would still be interesting to watch.

The movie opened with a bang: a battle among a few Gundams. Oops... It may seem too over the top for some people but I do think that the gold saints flying and shooting colored things really remind me of Gundam battle. Basically the first 30 minutes are awesome with the introduction of the Seiya and friends and their power. It actually made me kinda excited to hope that things would just be getting better.

Sadly, things are going downhill after the first 30 minutes. I hate the new design of the gold saints. In the anime/manga, they are supposed to be in their 20s but in this CG version, they all look like old man. Just ew... They even make Milo into a female. Like whaddafuk.. Things start to get unbearable past Taurus as the story starts to deviate from the manga/anime. With the short 90+ minutes screen time, I know things will get shortened but I expect at least great animation for each of the iconic duels and each of the gold saint's special moves. Obviously these do not happen.  The duels are getting more and more absurd with just flashes of light flying here and there as if the animators are also growing lazy. All these crap culminate in the bizarre climax when Saga merges himself with some rock and becomes a super monster. That really reminded me of the final bosses in Final Fantasy games.

It is said that the modernisation is an attempt to get new audience. That does not and will not happen apparently. I did not see any children in the cinema yesterday. I think the plot is way too crappy for this movie to be able to withdraw the crowd. All the light and fireworks may be visually appealing but it defeats the purpose of action movie when all the action scenes are blinded and hidden behind all these bling bling. 

The modernisation attempt is kinda hit and miss for me although there are more misses than hits. The new cloths make the characters look like tokusatsu characters and you don't really see the shape of the constellations they are representing. The new look of sanctuary has nothing Greek about it. In fact, it reminds me of Asgard from Thor films. You will wonder why there is a need to go through the 12 temples when the saints are capable of flying and teleportation -__- They might just as well fly and teleport straight to the the final temple. The only hit is their transformation scenes. It is a good idea to have them "summon" their cloths from the metal plate worn as their necklaces instead of carrying the cloth box at their back.

People generally find Seiya to be too genki and irritating but I find him okay. Shiryuu always wears his cloth which is kinda opposite from his anime/manga self who always tries to get shirtless in all his fight. Hyoga tries to be cool but fails. Shun is more masculine than I expected. Unfortunately, he is really a wimp here as he does not really fight. Ikki reminds me of Terra (Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep) and he is also a loser here. Sadly the brothers are omitted from their duels against the gold saints so basically they don't win any fight in the movie. I actually like Saori's personality here. In the original anime/manga, she is behaving too mature for her age but in the movie, she behaves like how 15 year old girl should be.

Overall, I think that this is a big failure and a big disappointment to old Saint Seiya fans. They might as well call this Saint Seiya: Final Fantasy although unfortunately it is a combination of the bad parts of both worlds.

By the way, I did not know that they had a sneak preview on last Saturday :( I did not know how much it cost but if I went for that, I would get movie premiums such as A2 movie poster, movie cards, plastic folder, and a mini tin box with the same of the cloth box. Haiz.. Anyway I am also upset that the ticket cost me $13. I think since it is an exclusive by Odex, they decide to charge such a ridiculous price lo...

Spectacles

After close to 10 years, it is time for me to get new spectacles. For people who doubt the effectiveness of social media advertising, I can honestly say that it works. I came across the advertisement for Owndays PC on facebook which caught my interest for the ability of the lens to cut down up to 40% of blue light from electronic devices like computer, gaming devices, handphones, tablets, etc. I happened to see that advertisement when my eyes were very tired so it was really the right thing at the right time. Before going down, I tried to google for people's experiences with the shop and overall the reviews are pretty positive. After going, it is not all flowers and pretty things so I decide to write about my own experience which I hope is more balanced.

Owndays is a spectacle shop originating from Japan. It opened its first store in Singapore in 2013 although I was never aware of this. Owndays is unique as it displays the frames on the shelves for customers to take a look, touch, try it on, and look at the price. This is in contrast to typical optics where frames are kept inside a glass display and customers have to ask the shopkeeper to take it out. To add to its unique-ness, the pricing is very straight forward and there is no hidden charges. The price that you see include the frame + the basic lens. Just add another $100 if you want to upgrade the lens to a thinner one or the PC lens. The best thing is everything will be ready in just 20 minutes.

I was expecting to wait 2-3 weeks as my degrees are pretty bad. Imagine my surprise when they have all sort of lenses available with various degrees (including astigmatism!). The optician, who assisted me, also showed how the PC lens cut down the light passing through her torchlight to show that the lens is not some gimmick. Sadly, to keep the weight at lighter side, all the lenses are made of plastic. Plastic lenses are generally thicker than glass lenses which make them not very suitable for people with severely poor eyesight like me. The optician was also honest and told me, who have been using glass lenses my whole life, that plastic lenses can be twice as thick as my glass lenses and they won't give as clear as glass lenses too.

The service is top-notch. Although I said that I already had a prescription, the optician still offered to check my current spectacles to ensure that it is indeed the same as my prescription, to check for my degree (which is obviously worse than my current prescription), to check for the astigmatism axes and my focal point. Wow.. From my previous experience, optical shops usually cannot bother to do re-measurement when I just provided them with a prescription.

Style-wise, as expected from Japan, the available ranges are pretty huge, colorful, trendy, and chic. Unfortunately, as expected for their price, a lot are made of plastic and rubbery material which will definitely not last through the test of time. In addition, a lot of their models have nose supports connected to the frame only by a screw. I think that is another minus point since I am looking for something durable. There is a small section for titanium frames but they also feel rather plasticky. I guess that's the downside for their attempt to keep things light. In relation to my high degrees and plastic lens, my choice of frame became quite limited as I had to choose frames which are sturdy enough to support as well as to hide the thick lenses.

My main objective is to get a new pair of spectacles to replace my current one which was bought like 7+ years ago. Lol.. But I am quite vain and I ended up with 2 pairs. Oh em gee.. I chose a titanium frame for my first pair which is going to be my main one and that cost me $298 in total (inclusive the upgrade to PC lens). There is an ongoing promotion for half price for the second pair and thus my second pair only cost me $138 in total. I chose a sporty style and this is purely for vanity purpose as the thick frame will make me look weird for daily use.

I guess I was a bit too excited when choosing my second pair and I did not realise that the back half of the temples (yes that is what the long part of the frame which is resting against your temples are called) is made up of the rubbery material. It feels like the rubbery material for the casing of my Sony Ericsson K800i phone and I hate it. It will get sticky after a few years even when it is not being used. Shit man!

Ironically, my vain pair of specs becomes my main one. Thanks to my weird and non-symmetrical facial features, the temples have to be configured into a very weird position that makes the whole spectacles cannot fit to the box. No choice but I have to wear it. It does not make me giddy and I adjusted to it rather quickly which proved that they got the measurements correct. My previous spectacles always have something 'not right' as I will feel a bit giddy and need some adaptation when I change to them.

On a second look, the frame actually resembles goggles donned by superheroes so I will call refer this as "superhero" specs. Lol. The thickness of the lens really shocked me! Although the optician had been very honest about it, the thickness was way too thick. It made me really like an old man T_T On top of that, the PC lenses appear blue-ish which means they are really reflecting blue light but this makes the lenses appear even thicker. My my...

Some of you may be wondering if the PC thingy is just a gimmick. I can testify that it is not. Comparing against my 'normal' glass lens, the reflection of white light on the PC lens is blue-ish and much more defined while the reflection of white light on normal lens is white and very light. That basically means most light pass through normal lens. In addition when compared against white paper, the paper appears brownish under PC lens which also proves about lesser light passing through.

I still don't know if I like it or not. It cuts down the glare from computer screens but at the same time, you need sufficient light to be able to see something. The fact that less light pass through makes my eyes feel a bit tired. I don't know if my eyes naturally compensate the "lesser light" by working "harder". It makes looking at computer screens more enjoyable and relaxing when you are doing brainless things like watching anime or youtube videos. At the same time, when you need to focus eg. reading, it is more difficult and tiring.

With the addition of these 2 pairs, I have a total of SIX pairs of glasses now. What the... Hahaha... They are:
1) The one for daily use
I don't think there is any brand for this and I have been using this same pair since my JC days. Either that the quality is good or I just take a good care of it or both. A lot of paint has disappeared but it is still my number 1 pair as it is the most comfortable.

2) The nerdy one
I got the frame for free when I purchased the one for daily use. I only put it in lens with a degree in my university days. Although I like it because it gives me a 'different' look, it is not comfortable as it keeps sliding off. Lesson learnt is to avoid those long plastic temples which are not very bend-able to follow my weird facial contours.

3) The formal one
Red frame and Levi's brand. It is my first branded frame (thanks to my parents!) although I don't know if it is fake since I bought it at Mangga Dua, Indonesia. Lol.. Because of the price tag, I reserve this only for special formal occasions. I don't know why the lenses are damn heavy and the nose pads always leave marks on my nose. This discomfort is what deters me from using this for daily use.

4) Sunglass
This is a sunglass with prescription lenses. The brand is Giordano. Again courtesy to my parents haha... Nothing really trendy about the design but because it is a sunglass with prescription lenses, it has a special place in my heart. Haha...

5) Superhero goggles
I am 'forced' to wear this because it does not fit into the box. Lol.. I have to get the right temple readjusted this weekend as it keeps sliding down. Grr...

6) New-kid-on-the-block
The last one is the new one with titanium frame. I have yet to wear this so it is difficult for me to say anything about it yet.

Folded

Front view

Top view

Ok this makes me feel that I own a spectacle shop liao