So I've decided to just jump headfirst into pursuing optometry, because it interests me, and it seems like a good job and career, and you can't really ask for much more in life. I'm taking an expensive OAT prep class right now and it's kind of stressful because I don't have a lot of outside study time available, but I'm trying to stay on top of it and I think it will definitely be worth it in the end.
My biggest fear right now is that after finally deciding that this is what I want to do with my life, and strongly pursuing it for months, that I'm going to get rejected from every school I apply to like I did for grad school. But I guess I shouldn't really think about that right now and I should just focus on doing the best I can.
In order to be more confident about my decision, I shadowed an optometrist in Thousand Oaks over my spring break, and it turned out to be a great opportunity. The optometrist, Dr. Tim Trinh, graduated from UCLA in 2003 and from UC Berkeley's optometry school in 2007 (which is where I most want to go right now) so he was a good source of information about the optometry school process. He was just an incredibly nice and honest man; he even took me out to lunch and paid for it! Since he just opened (or I guess re-opened since he bought it from someone else) his own private practice about six months ago, he gave me a lot of information about the business side of optometry, too.
It was a pretty busy day at his office, which only consists of him and his optician/receptionist/whatever-else-you-need-her-to-be woman, so I got to watch a variety of eye exams. The very first man that came in was probably around 70 years old and his English wasn't very good (I think he was some sort of eastern European) but he had his daughter with him who helped translate. The optometrist had this cool digital microscope so I could see what he was looking at on a computer screen. I got to see what a cataract looks like, and I got to hear Dr. Tim make his standard joke of "Having cataracts is good because it means that you have lived long enough to get them" (Ha Ha). I also got to see first-hand how optometry exams can be somewhat challenging when there is a language barrier. The optometrist would say the usual "Which one is better? One or two?" to which the patient would respond, "Two." Then he would say "Now which one is better, three or four?" and the patient would respond, "Two and four." The optometrist would try to explain that he should just say three or four now, but the patient didn't seem to get it. There was much back and forth of "Three or four?", "Two and four," "No, just three or four," "Two and four," until finally the patient's daughter translated as we all laughed and he finally seemed to get it.
I also quickly learned that giving eye exams to kids can be frustrating, as well. There were these two brothers who came in, ages 7 and 9, and both already had glasses so they were old pros at the eye exam. They didn't seem to have my childhood problem of saying absolutely nothing when the optometrist asked me to read the line of letters on the chart until she got so frustrated with me that she yelled "Just say something!" I guess I've always been a perfectionist, and I was afraid of getting any of the letters wrong! But anyway, these two boys did really well during the exam until it came to putting eye drops in the 7 year old to dilate his eyes. He was really frightened of it for some reason. I guess some people have a weird thing about their eyes (yes, Laura, I'm talking about you). I'm not sure if he was afraid it would hurt, but he was squirming out of the seat and moving his head around like crazy. I don't know how Dr. Tim managed to get the drops in his eyes (all three sets of them!) but somehow he did. I guess that'll be one thing that I'll have to learn how to do in optometry school.
The most interesting patient of the day was also the youngest: an 8 month old baby girl who had already been wearing glasses since she was only 4 months old. Her mom had noticed that she was developing a lazy eye and even though her pediatrician said it was fine, Dr. Tim told her to bring the baby in so he could check her out. It's actually pretty bad for a baby to have a lazy eye because the brain learns to ignore the information coming from that eye and that part of the brain won't develop properly, so even if the lazy eye is later corrected, the vision won't improve. So Dr. Tim did an objective eye exam and discovered that she was really farsighted, meaning she can't see near things. She was so farsighted that in order to see far things she had to turn her eyes inward (like we do when we focus on something close to our face). He gave her glasses to try to correct the lazy eye, but they hadn't fixed it, which is why the family was back the day I shadowed the optometrist. So now he has referred them to a pediatric ophthalmologist at UCLA to see if she needs surgery. It's rather sad for an infant to already be having eye problems, but hopefully they will get it all worked out and she will have a normal life!
I learned a lot of great things that I never knew about optometry in just 8 hours that day and I'm hopefully going to shadow him (or even get paid to work for him!) more this summer, so I'll get to learn even more. He's really happy and loves his job, and I'm excited to feel like that, too, one day!
So enough about optometry (Well, for now, since I'm sure I will talk about it a lot in the future). In other news, LAURA GOT ENGAGED! FINALLY! I am so freaking excited for her, it is not even funny! And they might get married in late summer, which means we (well I guess it is more of a "they" but I feel like I am involved. Haha!) get to start planning it now! Tomorrow I am driving up to SLO with her mom, and all of us plus James are going to tour a potential wedding venue and then go to a bridal fair on Sunday. Yay! I can't wait! I feel like I'm more excited about Laura's wedding than I would be about my own. But I guess only time will tell...
I'm off to get some studying done and then sleep so I can be ready to go in the morning. More on optometry, graduation, and my equally annoying and interesting comparative literature class later.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
a much needed update on my life
So I've been holding off on posting anything about grad schools on here because I was worried that I would be rejected from them and then I would have all my lost hopes on the internet forever. It turns out that that was a good decision, because I have been rejected... from all of them... except UCLA... which I will probably be rejected from sometime next week.
A few weeks ago when it had been a month since my Arizona interview and I realized that I was probably going to be rejected from my best hope at going to grad school next year, I had a sort of quarter-life crisis where I realized that I didn't really know what I want to do with my life. For years, I have just assumed that I would go to grad school and become a "scientist" and I never considered anything else, which now seems really stupid. I mean I should have realized that when people asked me what I was going to do with my life and I replied, "Um... research?" that maybe going to grad school wasn't the best thing for me. I'm realizing that maybe I don't have a passion for it. I still love neuroscience, and I love a lot of the research being done in it, but I'm not sure if I want to actually be doing any of the research.
This brings me to my next problem: If I don't want to go to grad school and get a PhD and do research for the rest of my life, then what do I want to do? This question has taken up most of my allotted worry time in the last few weeks. Everyone says that I should just do what I want to do, but what if I don't know what I want to do? What if I never know what I want to do...?
Optometry has been something I have been seriously considering. I really love the IDEA of being an optometrist, but I actually have no clue if I'd like it. I'm planning on shadowing some optometrists, but I'm not sure what good it will do me. I feel like this is such a sudden change that I don't know if I can trust my feelings about it, because what if they go away just as fast as they came?
Currently my plans after graduation are to continue working at the CTO while taking a few extra classes I need for optometry school and moving back home. I kind of feel like I'm jumping into the optometry thing in order to have something to do and something to work towards, but seriously, what else would I do with my life?
I guess I have a lot to think about in the next few months, and in the mean time I'm going to enjoy my spring break and work on my eharmony profile (yes, I joined eharmony, but that's a story for another day).
Since this post was kind of depressing, I'm going to end it with a really awesome song that has been stuck in my head all day:
A few weeks ago when it had been a month since my Arizona interview and I realized that I was probably going to be rejected from my best hope at going to grad school next year, I had a sort of quarter-life crisis where I realized that I didn't really know what I want to do with my life. For years, I have just assumed that I would go to grad school and become a "scientist" and I never considered anything else, which now seems really stupid. I mean I should have realized that when people asked me what I was going to do with my life and I replied, "Um... research?" that maybe going to grad school wasn't the best thing for me. I'm realizing that maybe I don't have a passion for it. I still love neuroscience, and I love a lot of the research being done in it, but I'm not sure if I want to actually be doing any of the research.
This brings me to my next problem: If I don't want to go to grad school and get a PhD and do research for the rest of my life, then what do I want to do? This question has taken up most of my allotted worry time in the last few weeks. Everyone says that I should just do what I want to do, but what if I don't know what I want to do? What if I never know what I want to do...?
Optometry has been something I have been seriously considering. I really love the IDEA of being an optometrist, but I actually have no clue if I'd like it. I'm planning on shadowing some optometrists, but I'm not sure what good it will do me. I feel like this is such a sudden change that I don't know if I can trust my feelings about it, because what if they go away just as fast as they came?
Currently my plans after graduation are to continue working at the CTO while taking a few extra classes I need for optometry school and moving back home. I kind of feel like I'm jumping into the optometry thing in order to have something to do and something to work towards, but seriously, what else would I do with my life?
I guess I have a lot to think about in the next few months, and in the mean time I'm going to enjoy my spring break and work on my eharmony profile (yes, I joined eharmony, but that's a story for another day).
Since this post was kind of depressing, I'm going to end it with a really awesome song that has been stuck in my head all day:
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
observations in jamba juice
So I'm sitting here at jamba juice (again) and I realized that I was slouching which is something I've been trying not to do. Then I look up and see the girl sitting next to me is slouching too. And as I look around the room I realize that almost every person here is slouching!
Obviously people haven't always slouched. I'm pretty sure that it's a recent development in the last couple decades. So isn't it weird to think that society somehow dictates how we sit?? I mean everyone knows that what is acceptable in common society often influences what we do and how we act but it's weird to think that it controls something so mundane as how we sit down.
Anyway I had this random thought so I thought i'd take this opportunity to write in my blog! Maybe i'll start a new one called "musings of a bored college student" lol.
Obviously people haven't always slouched. I'm pretty sure that it's a recent development in the last couple decades. So isn't it weird to think that society somehow dictates how we sit?? I mean everyone knows that what is acceptable in common society often influences what we do and how we act but it's weird to think that it controls something so mundane as how we sit down.
Anyway I had this random thought so I thought i'd take this opportunity to write in my blog! Maybe i'll start a new one called "musings of a bored college student" lol.
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Tuesday, January 18, 2011
man i really suck
So apparently I really fail at blogging. Maybe it's because I know no one reads this or cares. But I have a break right now for half an hour anyway so I figured I should try again. Although I probably should do some work since I've been super lazy lately and I have a lot of stuff to do in the coming weeks.
I am currently sitting in the student union drinking one of those new probiotic yogurt smoothies from jamba juice (strawberries alive flavor) because I had a coupon to get it for only a dollar and I think it's my new favorite one!! It's so yummy and creamy and good!
In my last post I promised I would write about the presents I got for xmas so I guess I'll do that now. As they say, better late than never! An external hard drive and a wonderfully fuzy and warm north face jacket were my two big presents. I also got seasons 4-7 of gilmore girls!! I recently started watching the series again starting at season 1 and I'm already on season 4. That show never gets old! Other presents include $50 gift card from betty, 2 $15 itunes cards, a yoga mat and pants, headphones from my sister's bf ben and a few other miscellaneous items.
Speaking of ben, he's so awesome! He stayed with us from december 27 to january 5. It was fun to hang out with him and my sister. Even when the 3 of us were squished (quite literally since ben is 6'3") on our tiny couch watching tv.
On more recent news, I went home this weekend (for the second time since school started again 2 weeks ago haha) and it was wonderful as usual. I just love going home because home is like a little bubble where the rest of the world doesn't matter and I can just sit on the couch and watch tv and movies. I did see 2 movies in the theater though! The King's Speech with my parents and Black Swan with my parents and Brittany! They were both so good and I think either one deserves to be best picture, although maybe Black Swan a little more so. The leads in both certainly deserve best actor or actress, respectively. I'll try to post in my movie blog about them this week.
Speaking of movies, the Golden Globes were this weekend and they were both good and bad. Good in that natalie portman, colin firth, claire danes, the kids are alright and boardwalk empire won. Bad in that the social network won best picture and glee won 3 awards!
Ok that's it for now but this was kind of fun so I'm going to try doing it again soon!
I am currently sitting in the student union drinking one of those new probiotic yogurt smoothies from jamba juice (strawberries alive flavor) because I had a coupon to get it for only a dollar and I think it's my new favorite one!! It's so yummy and creamy and good!
In my last post I promised I would write about the presents I got for xmas so I guess I'll do that now. As they say, better late than never! An external hard drive and a wonderfully fuzy and warm north face jacket were my two big presents. I also got seasons 4-7 of gilmore girls!! I recently started watching the series again starting at season 1 and I'm already on season 4. That show never gets old! Other presents include $50 gift card from betty, 2 $15 itunes cards, a yoga mat and pants, headphones from my sister's bf ben and a few other miscellaneous items.
Speaking of ben, he's so awesome! He stayed with us from december 27 to january 5. It was fun to hang out with him and my sister. Even when the 3 of us were squished (quite literally since ben is 6'3") on our tiny couch watching tv.
On more recent news, I went home this weekend (for the second time since school started again 2 weeks ago haha) and it was wonderful as usual. I just love going home because home is like a little bubble where the rest of the world doesn't matter and I can just sit on the couch and watch tv and movies. I did see 2 movies in the theater though! The King's Speech with my parents and Black Swan with my parents and Brittany! They were both so good and I think either one deserves to be best picture, although maybe Black Swan a little more so. The leads in both certainly deserve best actor or actress, respectively. I'll try to post in my movie blog about them this week.
Speaking of movies, the Golden Globes were this weekend and they were both good and bad. Good in that natalie portman, colin firth, claire danes, the kids are alright and boardwalk empire won. Bad in that the social network won best picture and glee won 3 awards!
Ok that's it for now but this was kind of fun so I'm going to try doing it again soon!
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Tuesday, December 28, 2010
i have the dumbest roommates ever
who leaves the stove on overnight!? seriously. and who leaves a light on when they leave the apartment?? i'm glad i had to come to work today because otherwise our apartment would have filled with gas and our gas and electric bills would have been huge.
ok now she just texted me back after i asked when the last time she used the stove was and she said last night so i tried to be really nice about it and just said to make sure she turns it off the next time. then she said it wasn't a big deal. seriously?? it's totally a big deal! not only is it dangerous but it wastes a ton of money! so i told her that and then she said "it was on low for a few hours. it's better if it wasn't on but there's no need to blow it out of proportion like you seem to do a lot when it comes to me." ok there are many things wrong with that statement. first, i didn't blow it out of proportion. i think i reacted as anyone would if the stove was on when they arrived at their empty apartment. second, i don't blow things out of proportion with her and if i do, it's because it is warranted.
god i just hate this girl so much. she is rich and pretentious and thinks she is better than everyone else. just because you drive a bmw doesn't mean that you have the right to block my car in and not leave your key! she just has no concept of how her actions affect other people.
i could go on more rants about this girl, but whatever, i'm over it.
on a more positive note, i just figured out how to see the news feed for my favorite people friends list on facebook! i thought it had disappeared with the new facebook changes. so excited that i don't have to look at the posts by all the stupid people that i am friends with on facebook.
also, i finally got to meet my sister's bf! he's really cool. i just wish i had more time to hang out with her alone. but i think we might be going whale watching on thursday if it's not raining!
ok this post is getting long enough so i'm gonna stop for now, but you can look forward to presents and parties in the next post!
ok now she just texted me back after i asked when the last time she used the stove was and she said last night so i tried to be really nice about it and just said to make sure she turns it off the next time. then she said it wasn't a big deal. seriously?? it's totally a big deal! not only is it dangerous but it wastes a ton of money! so i told her that and then she said "it was on low for a few hours. it's better if it wasn't on but there's no need to blow it out of proportion like you seem to do a lot when it comes to me." ok there are many things wrong with that statement. first, i didn't blow it out of proportion. i think i reacted as anyone would if the stove was on when they arrived at their empty apartment. second, i don't blow things out of proportion with her and if i do, it's because it is warranted.
god i just hate this girl so much. she is rich and pretentious and thinks she is better than everyone else. just because you drive a bmw doesn't mean that you have the right to block my car in and not leave your key! she just has no concept of how her actions affect other people.
i could go on more rants about this girl, but whatever, i'm over it.
on a more positive note, i just figured out how to see the news feed for my favorite people friends list on facebook! i thought it had disappeared with the new facebook changes. so excited that i don't have to look at the posts by all the stupid people that i am friends with on facebook.
also, i finally got to meet my sister's bf! he's really cool. i just wish i had more time to hang out with her alone. but i think we might be going whale watching on thursday if it's not raining!
ok this post is getting long enough so i'm gonna stop for now, but you can look forward to presents and parties in the next post!
Thursday, December 23, 2010
my sister is home and it's almost christmas!
but i'm at work right now for the next 9 hours or so, which kind of sucks, but at least i'm getting money!
last night was our annual holiday party with the artingers and it was pretty fun. we ate really good food and i finally got to talk to kelsey about law school. the highlight of the night was watching hilarious home videos of erika when she was baby!
the present opening went well. i got ucla sweatpants from victoria's secret and another $15 itunes gift card. i can finally buy all the music i've been wanting! i think all the artingers liked their presents. rachel lost another christmas gift. it was erika's necklace this time instead of the ring she bought me for last christmas but lost then found then lost again. she also didn't wrap or bring one of kathy's presents even though i reminded her. i don't know what it is about rachel and christmas gifts. haha!
i can't believe it's christmas eve tomorrow. somehow christmas snuck up on me this year even though i was done with finals on december 8. i guess i haven't been listening to christmas music for a month and baking cookies everyday and i've only been shopping twice so i just haven't gotten into the christmas spirit like most people have.
but i'm definitely looking forward to our yearly christmas traditions! christmas light watching tomorrow night, watching christmas vacation, opening presents, and seeing a movie on christmas day.
then new years is in a week and i don't really have any plans except to hang at my house at my mom's "party". we used to have a bunch of people over every year for new years, but lately it's been like one or two. for some reason my mom wants to have a big party again this year so she keeps bugging me to invite my friends. i think if i had friends to hang out with i'd be hanging out with them instead of staying at my own house for new years. but maybe i can convince laura and james to come! that would be fun.
ok i gotta get off the computer now and do some actual work. i'm excited that i'm actually keeping up with this blog!
merry christmas and happy new years!
last night was our annual holiday party with the artingers and it was pretty fun. we ate really good food and i finally got to talk to kelsey about law school. the highlight of the night was watching hilarious home videos of erika when she was baby!
the present opening went well. i got ucla sweatpants from victoria's secret and another $15 itunes gift card. i can finally buy all the music i've been wanting! i think all the artingers liked their presents. rachel lost another christmas gift. it was erika's necklace this time instead of the ring she bought me for last christmas but lost then found then lost again. she also didn't wrap or bring one of kathy's presents even though i reminded her. i don't know what it is about rachel and christmas gifts. haha!
i can't believe it's christmas eve tomorrow. somehow christmas snuck up on me this year even though i was done with finals on december 8. i guess i haven't been listening to christmas music for a month and baking cookies everyday and i've only been shopping twice so i just haven't gotten into the christmas spirit like most people have.
but i'm definitely looking forward to our yearly christmas traditions! christmas light watching tomorrow night, watching christmas vacation, opening presents, and seeing a movie on christmas day.
then new years is in a week and i don't really have any plans except to hang at my house at my mom's "party". we used to have a bunch of people over every year for new years, but lately it's been like one or two. for some reason my mom wants to have a big party again this year so she keeps bugging me to invite my friends. i think if i had friends to hang out with i'd be hanging out with them instead of staying at my own house for new years. but maybe i can convince laura and james to come! that would be fun.
ok i gotta get off the computer now and do some actual work. i'm excited that i'm actually keeping up with this blog!
merry christmas and happy new years!
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
experimenting with posting from my phone
One thing I forgot to mention in my last post is that I got new glasses last week! Here's a picture (I think...)
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