This past Wednesday, I received a pair of soft contact lenses… and to say the least they are much harder to get in than what I expected, at least at first.

Monday, I was at the doctor’s to try them on for the first time. The people there tried prying my eyes open and inserting them, but no such luck, after a good twenty-some minutes of trying I opted to try it myself.

Another half an hour later, I’m still there, frustrated at my inability to get  a piece of soft plastic in between each of my eyes and eyelids.

Wednesday, the day I’m scheduled to have my “training session”, I try to get them in. About twenty minutes in, the left eye one is in. I have a mini-celebration in my head… until I remembered there was another one.

I sigh, and proceed to get the right one in, expecting it to be much quicker since I got one in already…. exactly the opposite. I was told I was doing everything correctly, but the contact just wouldn’t stick onto my eyeball. Getting increasingly annoyed, I put the contact back in the container, wiped my hands on a paper towel then picked the contact back up in my right index finger. I pulled up my right eyelid with my left index finger then pushed down my lower lid with my right middle finger. I pushed the contact towards my eye, feeling the jellyfish-like plastic touch my eye. The assistant told me that it was touching my eye and to look upwards, then to the right, then to the left.

“Now, slowly bring back your finger and blink a few times,” she said. I did so then looked at my right hand, the contact wasn’t there, meaning it was in my eye or it fell. I looked at the mirror and a little glint of blue was beneath my eye- the contact came out.

I took in an aggravated breath and did the same thing. Again the contact touched my eye and left my index finger. This time, the assistant added the instruction to lightly tap on my right eye after bringing my finger back, which I did… and the contact was in. 5o minutes of trouble finally gave into getting the contacts in. The assistant congratulated me and then reminded me not to rub my eyes or else I might damage my cornea if there is something trapped underneath my contact.

Next, the doctor came to see me. The right contact was awfully bothering me, and I couldn’t see as clearly through it as I could with the left. I expressed this to the doctor and she told me to sit down in the chair. Then she shined a bright light into my eye, frowned, and then told me I put it in inside out. She told me to stay still, and then she plucked it from my eye, flipped it over, and tried to put it in. Multiple tries later, she tells me to try it myself.

I took the contact in my hand and went back to where I spent nearly the last hour getting the pieces of plastic in my eye. Surprisingly, after about 10 minutes, I get it back in. Delighted, I take a look around. Now, the assistant told me I have to learn how to take them out. She told me this would be quicker and easier than getting them in. Unsurprisingly, for me it still took quite some time.

I touched my right index finger to my left eye, touching the plastic surface, and swiped down. My vision started to blur as the contact left my pupil. Nope, I said as it slided back up on its own. Slide down. Nope. Down. Nope. Down….. UGH. I tried the other eye. Swipe down. Nope. Down. Nope. Down. Nope… UGH. I went back to my right eye. I swiped down, then blinked. My vision went back to what it was. I looked on my hand. No contact. I looked in the mirror, and there it was, right on my cheek again. I chuckled and plucked it off and placed it in the container then proceeded to get the other one out. It took another 20 minutes, but I finally got it out.

Then, I was instructed how to clean them by rubbing it on my hands for at least 30 seconds.”Remember”, she reminded me, “don’t rub in a circle, only back and forth”. I nod back. “Otherwise, you might rip the contact.”

“Do you want to wear the contacts home?” asks the assistant.

“No, I think I’m all set,” I reply with a slight smile.

Thursday, it’s Thanksgiving. I just put my first ever pumpkin pie in the oven and then I decided to try on my contacts. I got my right eye one in about 10 minutes, but the left one took twice as long. I had the same issue of doing the procedure right, but the contact just not sticking to my eye. I was quite happy to be able to see nearly as well as I would be with glasses. Though for some reason, the right eye just didn’t seem to be very clear.

About two hours later, as I am supposed to, I take out my contacts with much less trouble, but still taking about 20 minutes to get them out. I clean them and then snap on the covers with a sigh of relief.

Friday. I’m able to place in my right eye contact in about 15 minutes. I looked down at the left eye contact and noticed a rip in its side. Ughh. I put it in anyways, but quickly decided to take them out considering that a broken contact  might not be good for my eye.

Saturday (Today). I went to the doctor’s office to check on why my right eye wasn’t so clear. We went through nearly every brand of contacts to find one that works for me. None seemed to make my right eye clear. I was in the office for nearly two hours. The doctor joked that even though I wasn’t able to achieve clear vision through my right eye, at least I got the practice. Towards the end of the visit, I was able to put my contacts in extremely quickly (less than 2 minutes each).

My doctor is ordering yet another kind of contacts for me to try on, and I’m crossing my fingers that they’ll work well for me.

Overall though, contacts bring along a new level of freedom and mobility, even if they are a hassle to begin with. If you try to notice them in your eye, you will, but if you just carry on with what you do each day, you don’t notice them at all and once again, you have peripheral vision.

Oh, and by the way, check out EricOuyang.Com, if you haven’t yet. I’ve uploaded both the intro page and the front page of the site for you to see.

This is a new segment of the ReflectionUpon where I express my opinions on common topics and “redefine” them from their typical meaning to people.

The first one, especially being an American born Chinese, is talked about a lot. I hear about people, especially Asians, complaining about not getting good enough grades. Though that isn’t really a good thing, I have a few things to say about that.

First of all, doing poorly on one quiz or test isn’t going to kill you. A year from now, even in a few months, it wouldn’t really matter that you got an 80 on your science quiz.

Second, grades aren’t the most important part of a person. It is much more important to actually learn something during school and learning life skills such as time management and being a happy person. I know many people feel that if you don’t get good grades you won’t be able to get into a good college and live a good life. Though that is true, that isn’t the only criteria for getting into the best colleges. I’ve heard of straight-A students not getting into their college of choice, and that is because their only good part is good grades. If those people don’t have anything else that stands out such as playing an instrument, a sport, or something else, then the colleges won’t want to accept them. They are looking for people who are well rounded and do well in many areas.

But I do want to emphasize that I’m not saying grades aren’t important, because they are, but there are just many more important things to life.

People think that if you get good grades he/she is “smart”, but I’m against people calling themselves or others “smart”. I strongly believe that everyone is smart in their own ways whether it is being able to communicate with others, sports, art, music, science, etc. In particular, I feel that IQ tests should not be used in determining the abilities of a person since that doesn’t really show one’s ability.

Another thing is what people think about the SATs. Yes, they are important, but again, there are many people who get perfect, or nearly perfect scores who don’t get into the best colleges. Likewise, I know people who did pretty well, but not great, but still got into great colleges. Again, it is the whole being “well-rounded” thing that helps people get into their choice colleges.

Finally, you are probably wondering how to get better grades. What I feel is that the best way is to learn from your mistakes in the past and be a hard worker. If one persists towards their goals, they will gain something from it whether it is actually achieving that goal or learning from where one goes wrong. I think that parents shouldn’t push their children too hard to get good grades but rather, tell them to always strive to do well, but if they don’t it isn’t the end of the world. I think it is completely wrong that a child should want to get good grades just because their parents would ground them if they don’t or because they would reward them if they do well. The child should feel self motivated to do well and feel that getting good grades is a reward in itself. Though that doesn’t mean you don’t reward them, but it just means that the reward shouldn’t be the motivation.

Again, what I have said here isn’t what is right, it is only my opinion on grades. I encourage you to question my thoughts and ask me for information if you wish, just leave a comment, or start a discussion on the forum.

Comments on “Redefining”? Do you like the idea? Tell me that as well. Thanks for reading.