JessicaRulestheUniverse.com

Does your optometrist commemorate the Mexican Revolution in her shop window?

Does she have photographs of Zapatistas on her walls

along with souvenirs from her recent trip to Mexico? (Why aren’t we all spending our vacations in Mexico when we have such close cultural ties? In colonial times Spain had very little to do with these islands, the Philippines was governed out of Mexico. There was the Manila-Acapulco Galleon Trade. Today’s Mexicans refer to it as the China trade, they know as little about us as we know about them. The only Filipino known to Mexicans is Manny Pacquiao, because he beat their fighters. Oddly enough the first Filipino world boxing champion was named Pancho Villa, like the Mexican revolutionary.)

And archival photos and vintage cameras?

Does your optometrist have a sale on colored contact lenses (P1,800 a pair), give you 30 percent off on eyeglass frames, and make your eyeglass lenses for as low as P350? Does she offer huge discounts just because she feels like it? Does she make Joey “Pepe” Smith’s glasses?

Does your optometrist have that Sixties love and peace hippie vibe?

Mine does. Nella Sarabia’s optical shop is at the UP Shopping Center, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, telephone number 4355685 (Call first). Nella’s great-grandfather was the first Filipino optometrist, and her people have been eye doctors for generations. She also has a collection of old spectacles, which we pore over, restore, and turn into my vintage glasses.

Voila! My next pair.

My current favorite in this frizzling summer: Vintage Supervillain.