60s and 70s Pics - carefree and totally - a major accident at 6 years of age.

I was a curious Kid

This post is a throwback to the most enjoyable and carefree years of my life. Its true that at certain stages in life, you have moments of joy and prolonged happiness. Like my marriage to my lovely wife, the birth of my 2 sons, the many family dinners and overseas trips throughout the years, they they all gave this lucky guy happiness and joy

 

However, for me, without even knowing it cognitively, the carefreeness and no responsibilities (not irressponsibilities) of a kid for the first 12 - 14 years of my life were the happiest.  Play, eat, get into trouble, sleep, go for gatherings, school with little or no homework,and repeat day in day out . No excessive tuition (like the poor kids of today), no gifted and banding of our IQ levels, just good (not clean, we were mostly filthy from outside gallivanting) fun with zero connectivity. No PC, no portable IPad, No IPhone, No Airpods, No handphone, no social media, no TikTok, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, nothing.

Yet, we had so much fun it was incredible. A truly different world.   

Wow, I wished those times would have lasted. 

It never does. So to look back at the 'good old days' with wonder and smile is a privilege I have. True, times were tough for Singaporeans in the mid to late 60s, our country was going through separation from Malaysia, we were very poor GDP per capita PPP was like less than US 500, the threat of communism taking over the region was real, and there was a lot of gangster activity in many parts of Singapore. It was truly an extremely difficult time to be an adult in Singapore in the 60s. 

   

From Left : Uncle Phoon, Lorraine, Rick, Mum, Aunty Mona, Wendy and May

For us kids, it was the complete opposite, it was an other worldly bliss full of birthday parties, playing daily with the neighbourhood kids, going for piano lessons every Saturday, learning karate at the Palmer Road YMCA, going to Presbetarian Church Sunday school at Selegie road, and later (around 1973) we had regular swimming lessons at the Singapore Swimming Club at Fort Road. My brother and I trained under the legendary Mr. Neo Chwee Kok, the Flying Fish who represented Singapore at the 1958 Olympics.

We did reasonably well as swimmers, I represented my secondary School House as the Swimming House Captain, and swam on the periphery of the school swim team. I was also selected to be the Boys Captain during the 1977 - 1980 swimming days for the Singapore Swimming Club. We swam at numerous meets in South East Asia, competing at the Sanya Samaki Swim Tournaments in 

a) Bangkok

b) Jakarta

c) Penang

d) Manila 

Those days are etched in my memory for the rest of my life. I will post some of those photos in the later days, weeks and months.

Back to No. 6 Adis Road, where I lived from 1962 - 1978, a full 16 years. What did my brother and I do for fun ? Well, we got creative and made our fun, through real CONNECTIONS with our neighbours. 

We did kite fighting, making our own glass string, climbed trees to pluck rambutans, walked around our house and neighbourhood to look for leaves which were pressed together and catch the striped spider to fight with the neighbours, rode our bicycles (we had Chopper Bikes made from Raleigh company in the UK), had fighting games, hide and seek and every manner of nonsense you could think of from sam seng boys we would do, on a dare or just out of plain boredom.

 

We had a see saw which was really fun 

My parents had 3 dogs, Jippy (mother), Mickey (for John) and Scamper (for me). To this day, I still have the bite marks from Scamper (my dog) on my left wrist when I went and tried to pull her from her sleep. She was a temperamental dog, and had occasional mad bouts in her behavior. If I had a time machine, and went back to the late 60s and early 70s what would I change ?

Nothing.

Merry Go Round with 'S' on it 

Finally, an event which changed my life. I was about 5 to 6 years of age. We had a black and white TV set in our living room on the second floor of our house. We watched Combat, Beverly Hillbillies, Banana Split and Little House on the Prairie almost religiously - yes we had nothing else to do in the evenings. Another favourite show was the Flying Nun starring Marge Redmond and Sally Field (in later episodes), I actually thought I could fly. That was how naive and dumb I was at 5 years of age. 

Botanic Gardens watching the Swans

At the back of our house, there was a water pipe stretching from the 2nd floor to the squatters at the back. One day, I decided to try to reach for the pipe by jumping from the top of the wooden stairs and catch the open pipe and swing along like Tarzan. With some egging from my brother, I jump and missed the pipe by a mile.

I remember tumbling down the whole 10 steps and I blacked out.

Next thing I knew was the good tenant Ken Omemori called my father urgently and he came rushing home and transported all of us to Singapore General Hospital. I went for surgery for a cut which took 6 stitches from the legendary Dr. Yahya Cohen, my Dad's then best friend.

I had a brown patch of plaster on my right forehead testament to my youthful gunghoness and stupidity.

The year was (I believe) 1967.

Carpe Diem. 

 

WHY QRA ?

 

Why QRA ? 

Why QRA ?  

Let me state the reasons :

QUALITY 

The "Q" states Quality. Quality in our mission, our ethics, our people, our products, our services, our procedures and our prices. 

Customers come to QRA for Quality. High Quality. 

RELIABLE 

"R" stands for Reliability. Customers can rely on us to provide the stated test services, our repair services, our products and our people can stand up and be counted upon. We show up when the chips are down, on the table and up. 

ASSURANCE

We assure you of nothing but the best from us. Our products, our services, our people and our pride in giving you the assurance that you can count on us every time and at any time. 

That is the WHY QRA answered. 

Start with Why

 

Fresh from a trip to Chiang Mai Thailand, I have reread this classic by the Forever Optimist Simon Sinek. "Start with Why."  In it he dissects the brain into 2 areas, the Neocortex (frontal lobe) responsible for :

a) logic

b) reasoning and deduction

These 2 aspects form the What and the How of problems or circumstances. For example, 

a) How did we get to this point - for any situation

b) What is so great about the IPhone (for example)

and Limbic brain which is for the feelings and emotions aspect of our cognitive awareness. The Limbic brain addresses or answers the Why question.

Many times, people never think about the Why in their decisions, because 

a) it has been decided by the higher authority like the Government or Company Rules

b) it is too difficult to stand out from the rest of the people, hence the "follow the crowd" principle.

In short, the neocortex is the "minds" part of the "hearts and minds" phrase in convincing while the limbic brain is the "hearts" part or the gut feel which accounts for the "Why" question of 

"Why we do what we do".  - The question we must ask ourselves, ever so often.

Some Inconvenient albeit near meaningless Questions I should ask myself :

1. Why do I follow a half baked English Premier League team called Wolverhampton Wanderers ?

2.  Why do I watch half baked movies or series on Netflix when there are better choices of my time after work ?  

3. Why am I meeting (certain) friends more than I should when they only add to my baggage and time wasting ?

There are many Why questions which are relating to my business and personal life which I should and will not make public, but if anything, this book questions ignites the Why I do this and Why I do that.

Of course, I do not need to justify every action but every now and then its good to take stock.

Pause and reflect on life.  

Only I will know where I am - if that makes any sense - 

 

Tissue Paper Nation - Singapore

Packet Tissues at Tiong Bahru Market this morning

 

One very weird social behaviour of Singaporeans which  makes us stand out from other nationalities is the use of packet tissues to 'chope' or reserve tables at hawker centres and food courts.

People here normally 'chope' the tables with the 30 cent packet and then make a beeline to their stall to buy their prawn noodles, economy rice, dou hwa beancurd or chwee kueh. I guess the psyche amongst Singaporeans is 'chope' first and buy your food. 

I just came back from Chiang Mai and that culture is not visible or prevalent there. Plenty of Chinese and foreign folk buying stuff and then looking for a table or a spare chair or two to eat and drink.

We DO share tables at hawker centres, so the fact that Singaporeans are kind and helpful generally is still prevalent. 

Its this Tissue Paper Power which makes me laugh at the impracticality and kiasuness (scared to lose out) of some Singaporeans. 

Chiang Mai - former capital of the Lan Na Kingdom. Beautiful and Restful

 

Before the Kingdom of Thailand, there were actually 3 different kingdoms. See graphic above.

White Market at One Nimman 

I just finished a visit to the former northen capital of Thailand ChaingMai. Roughly 3.5 hours by plane from Singapore, it is a very nice getaway for Singaporeans who may be tired and slightly overwhelmed by Bangkok's commercialism and Pattaya's sleaziness.

Chiangmai is a very restful place, and it emits a lovely small town vibe and with the right mix of locals and tourists I would recommend it to anyone who needs a short getaway for 4 to 6 days. 

There are lots of tours to participate, like the many temple tours for example. In addition, there are numerous walking trails (with guides of course), white water rafting for certain times of the year and the elephant conservation park for the city folk like me.  

Crane showing off its plumes 

My personal favourite is the Chiangmai zoo, it is at the end of Nimman road, and accessible by the many transport options like Grabcar, tuk tuks or even just take a long walk (half an hour) and you reach the place. I have visited it 3 times these last 2 years, and I enjoy just mosing around the enclosures, watching the animals basking in the enclosures and also during feeding times when they do come to life.  

With a friend from Singapore, Fang 

One Nimman is a walking street just like our Bugis Junction and it is airconditioned and provides tourists and locals alike with all the many trinkets and souvenirs to take back home for the memories. Food choices there are plenty, with Thai favourites like the Paad Thai noodles, Boat Noodles (I tried some yesterday and it was delicious), crab meat fried rice and the fried crispy pork fried rice. Desserts are plentiful, from Thai durian sticky rice, ice creams of all flavours , Red Ruby and the all too famous Mango Sticky Rice. 

The one standout Chiangmai dish I tried and was fully satisfied was the Khao Soi (see previous posts), just whip out your Google Review and choose. My favourite was the Muay Khao Soy and Soi 12 off Nimman street.    

Price wise, things are a lot more expensive than they were a year ago. The cost of living issue is a global one, with supply chains and cost of harvesting and manufacturing going up quite a bit. Food especially good food is around 75% of Singapore's prices. So come prepared.

We had a steak dinner for 2 just the other night at a supposed 4.5 star place on Nimman Road, 2 x Wagyu striploins, some mashed potatoes, a caesar salad and 2 non alcoholic drinks. The bill came to around THB 1,900 or $75. The quality of the steaks was not as good as even our  NUSS Guild House which is above average 

Wooloomooloo, Origins Steakhouse or even Bistecca in Singapore all of which are in my opinion, world standard are on a different league.   

Do visit Chiangmai for a nice chill holiday, find decent even top notch hotels for a fraction of what you pay for a 4.5 star or 5 star one in Singapore. Dine like a top executive in some very nice places, with warm welcoming smiles all year round. Visit the zoo like I did. Try the Thai massages if you are so inclined (I am not) and walk and shop to your heart's content without the harriedness and hustle and bustle of the large metropolis like Bangkok.

It will do your soul wonders. 

Carpe Diem.  

Khao Soi - Northern Thailand's famous dish.

 

Muay Khao Soi 

Situated off Nimman Road, at Soi 12, is Chiang Mai's most reputable coffee shop, Muay Khao Soi. Serving Khao Soi, it is reminiscent of Singapore's Laksa. A brief description goes like this. There is a curry soup base, with yellow noodles, some boiled and some deep fried. Throw in a couple of chicken legs and the dish is complete. 

My associate and I had the larger version of it, with 2 chicken drumsticks. The price per dish was THB 85 or S$ 3.50.  The chicken drumsticks were very tender and flavourful, and the soup base was just the right viscosity - not too watery, neither was it too thick - The noodles were just the right crispiness. This is the second time I am eating Khao Soi (the first being last year) and I am never disappointed each time I eat it.  

To top things off,  I ordered the fried pork skin or pork lard. It was best eaten with some Thai pickle. A really satisfying meal, at a very decent price too. 

Pork Lard with Condiments 

Muay Khao Soi

36 Soi 12

Nimmanahaeminda Road, Muang 

Chiang Mai 50200. Thailand. 

Lapin Cafe 25 July 25 - Fabulous Italian Food - Chiangmai

 

Super Fresh Calamari with Cabernet Sauvignon 

Situated along the Lampang Chiangmai Superhighway, is a gem of a small eatery. Called Lapin Cafe, it serves top notch Italian food at pretty decent prices. I have an extra night for my business trip which I am currently on, and I checked out this little restaurant on the outskirts of Chiangmai. 

The restaurant serves perhaps 20 people inside and 10 folk outside. I ordered 2 of their house specials and I was not disappointed. The calamari (babu octopus) was superbly fresh and tender and the flour batter was crispy. The dichotomy of crisp exterior and tender and flavourful interior really made my day.

I also tried a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and it was the perfect foil to the fried calamari.   

Lapin Cafe - Outskirts of Chiangmai 

By the time I arrived at almost 2pm, the place was empty but it filled up with late coming lunch diners after me. The next course was seafood risotto (see below). The presentation was really pretty. The risotto rice was very flavourful and full of ingredients. There was a strong truffle flavour and aroma. There was 4 very fresh and tasty scallops, some calamari bits, cherry tomatoes and shavings of parmesan cheese. To top off the pretty dish, there was some herbs and a slice of lemon.

Seafood Risotto Pretty as a Picture 

Happy Diner 

The price for the meal, a breakdown of the prices are shown below : 

                                    THB                         S$

1. Calamari                  210                          8

2. Truffle Risotto          380                          15

3. Cabernet Sauvig     220                            9

4. Water                       25                             1

                                                               ---------

                           THB  835        Total     S$ 32

                                                               ---------

My verdict ? Fantastic food and in a quiet setting. Price is expensive for Thailand, but I have noticed that costs of food has been escalating upwards for the last 2 - 3 years.

Lapin Cafe 

8/43 Lampang - Chiangmai Superhighway

Tambon Chang Phuek, Chiangmai

50300  

Oral Hygiene - My first line of Defence

Oral hygiene is so very important for us all. I have discovered this only in the last 3 years or so. I have had issues with my gums, and I realised that regular brushing of my teeth is not good enough. I have to floss, or use interdental wires to get in between my teeth. This is to prevent plaque buildup and ultimately gum disease, which if not checked, can result in me losing a lot of my teeth.

My regimen is brush and use floss (interdental easier for me) twice daily and seeing my dentist as many as four times a year.

Yes, growing old is not cheap. That is the brutal truth of the matter. 

Its a hard struggle with sugar, to be very honest. I take my morning coffee with half a teaspoon of sugar, and try to minimise sugar intake with every meal.

Scientific studies have shown that sugar, in particular refined sugar, if not checked when we get past a certain age, will cause age related metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance and increased inflammation. Diabetes is a very real possibility and I know easily a dozen friends who have to cut their sugar intake seriously as they have diabetes.

I have seen friends first hand, have serious wounds, as a result of something as innocuous as an insect bite !

Back to Oral Hygiene. I brush at least twice a day and floss or use interdental wires to clean between my teeth. The saying "prevention is always better than cure" so I intend to keep my teeth (or as many as I possibly can) for as long as I live.

The goal is to age well, age slowly, and hopefully have a dignified and fast passing when that time comes.    

 

QRA Vision (2025 - 2030)

 

This is the Vision set out by me in 2020 ; in the midst of the COVID 19 crisis. We are well on track to achieving the goals set out. Business is very good this year so far.

Even in this year of very uncertain economic outlook made worse by the US tariffs, I am very confident that QRA will ride out the ups and downs in a very positive way. QRA is very well positioned in its industry to capitalise on the opportunities which are coming our way. In the last few months we have secured orders from many unexpected and non traditional markets. I firmly believe that utilising AI to generate leads, enhance industry awareness and create opportunities for our little business is the way forward. 

Good news is expected for this second half of this year.

Seize the Day !! 

I no longer need these, hopefully for the next 25 years !

 

Glasses, Contact Lenses Case and Disinfecting Solution

Since my cataracts operation approximately 1 month ago, I can say that the followings have changed. Firstly I am very grateful for being given the opportunity to see perfectly clearly again. After a span of 55 years of poor eyesight (myopia degree 800 plus, with aestigmatism and some floaters), I can see clearly now. I wake up each day with a sense of gratitude and hope.

My attitude to eye management and care has improved tremendously

As mentioned in the past posts, I do eye exercises, take breaks to rest my eyes, use eye drops diligently and clean my eyes with 0.9% sodium chloride solution daily. I will continue this regimen for more than 1 month, even though my ophthalmologist has recommended to use the drops for 1 month.

There is another set of eye drop regimen which I am doing almost religiously, that is to drop 1 drop twice a day of Timolol Pol for reduction of eye pressure. This is very crucial for my eye health as the eye pressure is directly related to long term macular degeneration and glaucoma which can cause blindness, so I cannot take things lightly.  

Since I worked closely with my optometrist and ophthalmologist surgeon, I am VERY FORTUNATE to be able to adjust for reading and doing screen work using my right eye and driving and looking far with my left eye. 

I do not need to wear glasses, and contact lenses for a long time now (hopefully) 

Prescription glasses, contact lenses, disinfecting solutions and saline solution bottles are a thing of the past now, so that is a big plus for me.

Its not all a bed of roses - I need to still practice near field focussing 

I can fee very far now, as far as 500 m or further unaided. I tested my new sight and can see runners and cyclists as far as 500 m or even further, the shapes and clarity of the image is superb. 

Occasionally, I get into some near field focussing whereby I need both my eyes to adjust so that the image is singular. I do not have the flexibility or plasticity of my eye lens as a young person, so that is  the downside of this surgery.

It is highly recommended to go for this elective surgery as early as possible, as I firmly believe that my quality of life is enhanced greatly with clearer and brighter vision.

 

Take time to smell the roses.

 With a good mate, Tom having lunch

The current worldwide geopolitical situation is a mess. I won't parrot the news and the many podcasters who spread doom and gloom every other day. Today I want to remind my readers to take time to smell the roses.

While I am very focussed on achieving my business goals and personal life objectives, I need to be reminded that health is wealth. I must take care of the mind, body and spirit and I must not neglect the fact that life is finite, so while I am pushing the financial goals to hit the right numbers, life first and foremost is about people.

Take time to spend with the people that matter to me, my family, my relatives, my good and trusted friends and the community at large.

No one really cares about you - in the world of social media. People come  visit my Youtube account to be entertained, and for this blog, I guess, its the same goal.

Have a good Saturday readers. 

Can I get 250,000 views by September 2025 ?

 

The year is fast closing to an end. Barely in the blink of an eye (pun definately intended) we are past the halfway mark. Its a scary thought at as late middle aged, early old age people such as me, I still have a thriving business which keeps me very busy every day of the week and sometimes Saturday too, active hobbies like running and karate, social interaction and a social mission I have yet to fulfill.  

I will continue posting my posts as regularly as I can, as I love to write, to read and explore new social media technologies, even though I am rather a late entrant in the AI scene. Its better late than never.

Dear readers, this blog will always be free for everyone to read. Everybody is welcome to post their comments, good and critical and everybody can ignore my thoughts and views. Its a free country and my wish is to get 250,000 views by September 2025.

Read On ! 

Carpe Diem ! 

Editor's Update 29 Aug 2025 

We have hit 250,000 views, thanks everyone !  

2 Young Brats with our Parents circa 1970. What we did with our free time in late 60s to early 70s.

The time is sometime in 1970. My father was 50 and my Mum 40 years of age.  The 2 young brats in the picture are John (my only younger brother) and I. 

The setting for the top picture is the Botanic Gardens. We occasionally went there with our parents to feed the swans (you can see one in the background), and we created all kinds of mischief (well mainly me, as I was the Bully in Chief).

I constantly remind myself that the first 12 years of my life was totally carefree, practically zero homework, tests were a breeze to take in school, we never really studied much if at all in Primary school and the main events were always after school, playing and fighting with the neighbourhood kids while waiting for my parents to come home.

Our daily routine was (if we were in the morning session) ;

a) 6.00 am Arise and have breakfast (2 half boiled eggs and some toast) ;

    6.30 am Take the school bus ; 

   Oh man that in itself was an adventure. We were always up to no good (well Me and a     couple of other miscreants), there was loads of monkey business inside and all manner of bullying between the older kids and the newbies.

  7.30 - 12.30 pm School

 12.30 pm Lunch in school - we were given pocket money to buy lunch from the tuckshop 

  1.00 Go home.The school bus would fetch us home.

  2.00 pm - 6.30 pm All kinds of fun around the house with the neighbourhood kids.

 Games we played : 

Catching spiders, hide and seek, fighting games, playing with kites,exploring the neighbourhood. I had the occasional Chinese homework for the school "Ting Xie" of Listen and Write Test from Primary 3. I recall, I did pretty badly then and the Mrs. Pang who was a really nasty piece of work, would call me up in class and ask me why I failed. If I did not give a reasonable answer, and most times I couldn't, she would wring my ear and I could hear the membrane cracking even now when I took my punishment

Chinese as Second Language 

To be honest, easily 50% of the boys got the same punishment. St Andrew's boys were notoriously monolingual, and it was a 'badge of pride' to fail our Chinese exams.

My parents hired a Chinese tuition teacher from Pri 3, but with little success. I was a recalcitrant and made little effort to practice, let alone use the language in those days. 

We had a swing in the garden, a slide,and kennels for the dogs. We had a rambutan tree, several papaya trees at the back and gauva trees. 

People who lived in our house compound  

Our house had a row of squatters who lived in the shacks (around 4 - 5 people), we had a Mr. Fry who was my father's clerk, a Malay family and some random people who did some dubious stuff. I believe they were odd job workers and did night life business.

Por Por 

Our Por Por (paternal grandmother) lived with us, and we terrorised her, I am rather ashamed to say. She used to call us "Sam Mun Zai"  or "Sam Seng Zai" (hooligans) in Cantonese. 

Our Por Por used to live at the second floor back room facing West and she had a small Sanyo Colour TV with antennas sticking out to entertain her. She was a Gem of a grandmother, she could speak some Malay, and she taught my brother and I Cantonese.I have since spoken some Cantonese and always give my Por Por credit for teaching me a sprinkling of Cantonese during my early formative years.  

Our Neighbourhood Friends 

They were a motley bunch, and their ages were easily 10 years to a couple of years older or younger than us. There were Chinese kids, "S", "R" , Liang Puck, "Poh San" and "Kee Seng" as I recall. There was also a Jacob Matthew who lived up the road from us.

He is now happily resettled in the US and we have reconnected.  

Our first 15 - 16 years 

We were the neighbourhood kids, the gang of kids who had too much free time and never spent much time in the house.

It was a glorious time !!! 

My Eye Cleaning Regimen Daily for the past 3 and a half weeks ; Do's and Donts after my Cataract Surgery.

 

Ever since my first eye cataract surgery on the 23rd of June and the second one on the 30th of June, I have been following a strict eye cleaning and antibiotic dispensing regimen everyday without fail. I have to follow this - the dispensing of eye drops daily for up to 1 month without fail.

1 day Prior to the Op.

1. Crevit 1.5 % 4 times a day. - Antibiotic eye drop

2. Nevanac 1 mg / ml  34 times a day - Anti inflammatory drop

After Surgery (See Picture Above)

- up to 1 month each eye ; so its 5 weeks in total, since one eye is  operated on 1 week later.- So my final dates for use of these eye drops are (approx) 21 July and 28 July 2025.

1. Crevit 1.5 %  5 - 6 times a day ; - Antibiotic eye drop ; every 3 hours of waking time

2. Pied Forte prednisolone acetate 1 % - Anti inflammatory drop ; every 3 hours of waking time

Daily Cleaning of Eyes 

I have 10 cotton balls and 1 capsule of sterile saline solution to wash my eyes and the surrounding areas clean.

Must Avoid ( 5 - 7 days or  up to 14 days)

All forms of strenuous exercise, running, jogging, karate and weight lifting. The eye muscles, in particular, the obliquus, sclera and rectus lateralis (I am guessing) have had to accomodate a new lens, so that means, the muscles would be cut and resown back. The strengthening and rebuilding of that muscle would take time, sometimes as long as several months.

Hence it is best to not strain the eyes inadvertedly. All the bodies muscles are interconnected in one way or the other.  

Washing of Hair - Dust, Soap and Shampoo - No No 

I use a pair of diving goggles every day for the last 3 and a half weeks when I wash my hair. It covers around my orbital bone and the are around my eyes are not pressed in any way. That way I can wash my hair and scalp and ensure that there is very small chance of any shampoo or soap entering my eyes. I still do this now, 3 and a half weeks from my first op. I plan to continue doing so for up to 1 month - as a precaution.

The reflex action to wash my face - what then ? 

I try my hardest when I wake up each morning, and resist the urge to wash my face with tap water. Instead, I use the sterile saline solution and cotton balls to clean the area around my eyes, clean free from eye dirt, and the remnants of the antibiotic and anti inflammatory eye drops. I had a couple of 'automatic reflex actions' whereby I threw water across my face but fortunately my eyes were closed. There are impurities and small sediments in the tap water, so PLEASE use only sterile saline solution and the doctor's prescribed eye drops until he gives the OK to wash or swim. This typically is one month after the operation of each eye.

So, in total, its 5 weeks. 

 After the First Week of Each Eye Op (Do's and Dont's)

1. Practice Good Eye Hygiene (See above)

2. Never rub the operated eye for one week. The muscles are just stitched back.

3. Use the eye shield at night to prevent semi conscious rubbing of the just operated eye.

4. Use sterile saline and cotton balls to clean around the eyes. 

5. Use the eye drops as prescribed.

6. Wear the all covered sunglasses when going out ; the new vision is superbly CLEAR and BRIGHT.

7. Never stare at the sun ; (I will never do that, but a reminder to my subconscious self which tends to do stupid things when I not brain engaged)

8. Avoid swimming for 1 month ; in my case, I will avoid swimming for 6 months. 

9. Follow up with all my opthamologist's subsequent appointments. 

 

Daily Eye Exercises and Supplements

 

Lutein Capsules (2 per day) 

These are the eye exercises I practice on a daily basis ; to strengthen my far vision as well as my near vision. Additionally I also practice rotational vision to strengthen my ciliary muscles around the eye.

Eye Rotation 

Rotate both eyes by following an imaginary point in the distance 10x each in each direction, clockwise and counter- clockwise.

Thumb Stretch Out 

Stretch our your right thumb and move your hand right up to your nose and back outstretched. Do this 5 x on each hand.

See Greenery 

Look at some green trees or grass as far as the eye can see, start with the left followed by the right. Do this for 5 minutes each eye.

Palming

Palming of the Eyes.  Warm up your hands by rubbing them together, then cup both your eyes (don't touch the eyelids just cup over the orbital bone), close your eyes and focus on an imaginary black cube in your imagination. Rest for up to 15 minutes. Do this every 4 hours and up to 3 - 4 times a day. The muscles of your eyes will be very relaxed and you will see better.

Supplements (See Above First 2 Pictures) 

I also take 2 supplements from this Singapore brand called Ultimate Vision which has 25 mg lutein and 5 mg zeaxanthin. It certainly helps in me seeing things with clarity as well as far vision.

Thoughts on a Lazy Sunday 13 July 2025 - Pressing On with all my might.

This is the 3rd week with perfect eyesight for me after my cataracts surgery. I have vowed to maintain as healthy eye health for a possible as I can and for as long as I live. The gift of sight is so taken for granted that people who live with poor eyesight for many decades, can, with the advancement of technology and skills development of doctors, finally see perfectly.

After 55 years of poor and compromised sight, I can see clearly now. I am forever grateful to the good Lord, for being born in a well managed, wealthy and stable country like Singapore and at a time like this, where the global geopolitics is so unsettling and there are ongoing wars in Europe (Ukraine) and Middle East (Israel and Hamas) and the threat of trade wars as a result of a certain US President's tariffs globally. 

"You do not know what you have only after you have lost it" is my thought for the day.

"Make the Most of my New Gift and Keep it Well Maintained"  is my second thought 

The time is NOW to seize the coming days, months and some years to make the most of my business potential. I will take nothing for granted, my key clients, my committed staff, our landlord and most importantly, the fact that Singapore is nothing but an island with no natural resources with the exception of the diligence, creativity, efficiency and strong entrepreneuriship drive of its people.

So what did I do this lazy Sunday 13th July ?  

New Promotion Google Ads

I kickstarted a new promotion on Google Ads for my company QRA International for Key      Phrases or Key Words. 

2 Videos on Youtube for our Lab and New Products 

I added 2 new Shorts on our corporate Youtube Channel "On Your Mark" 

a) High Ceiling (2.6 m internal) High Temperature Oven  (TUV SUD customer)

    RT to 270 C in 60 minutes or less.

b) Our Beautiful Lab at 21 Toh Guan Centre, # 04 - 02 S 608609 

While the phrase "No Rest for the Wicked" is used most commonly as a joke, I like to emphasize that our company QRA International DOES provide value to our clients mainly in the Biotech, Biomedical and Pharmaceutical sectors for the last 15 years now.

We aim to be at the cutting edge of testing technology especially in Shelf Life testing and Accelerated Aging incorporating Artificial Intelligence in our processes for the present and future services and products.

 

 

  

Mosella - International Cuisine at Pan Pacific Orchard

 

Seafood Paella 

I recently had the good fortune to dine, not once but twice at this Internationally renowned hotel's Mediterranean restaurant. Mosella.  The food is very good, the service excellent and the ambience with the high ceiling, above average.

The Mosella restaurant serves international cuisine. The hotel is at Claymore road, beside the Thai embassy and the Orchard Towers. 

Let me review the 4 dishes we had. On the first visit, my associate and I had the Pan fried Cod and Seafood Paella (above and below). The Paella was very tasty with lots of calamari, some morsels of mussels and 2 giant Tiger prawns. 

This dish alone is a standout. For $ 72 for 2, it is pricey. Fortunately for me, I have an App which offers discounts of up to 50% and we managed to get 30% off the whole meal off the Ala Carte menu.   

Pan Fried Cod with Asparagus Spears 

The pan fried asparagus is another superbly tasty dish. The skin is crispy and the meat, tender and succulent. The sauce with the grilled asparagus added a new dimension to the meal, which I totally enjoyed. Price $42 is again on the high side. 

Zuccini Tempura Spears 

This zuccini dish was somewhat of a letdown, the flour tempura was rather clumpy and not crisy enough. The zuccini while fresh, did not emit any erstwhile flavour as a reault of my wife did not bother to eat the remainder of the dish. 

Grilled Lamb Chops 

Amazing 3rd dish. The grilled lamb chops. The meat, while fatty was so flavourful reminding us of the grilled char siew or belly pork from our chinese cuisine.

While the meat was rather fatty, I would say all in all it was an extremely satisfying dish, only second in place to the Seafood Paella in terms of flavour, optical delight and well worth trying on the odd occasion when there are only the 2 of us dining out on a Saturday night.

Mosella Restaurant

Level 2, 10 Claymore Road

Singapore 229 540

Email : mosella.ppsor@panpacific.2com    

I have been given the gift of perfect eyesight ; I'm forever grateful.

Horizontal Section of Eyeball 

I have had my procedure done for my eye cataracts recently. On 23rd June I had the lens removed from my right eye and on the 30th june, the lens from my left eye has been removed. In its place are 2 mono-focal intraocular lens from Johnson and Johnson with the field, width of vision and depth of vision enhanced to practically 20 / 20 for my left eye and near 20 / 20 for my right eye. My reading ability is the same as before using my right eye.Its a tremendous improvement from my previous eyesight where I had to rely mainly on my contact lenses and spectacles from years ago.

The key thing to note is to work closely with an experienced and knowledgeable opthomologist, follow all his / her instructions and give him / her all your previous eye prescriptions for him to select the right set of intraocular lenses for you. 

My previous optometrist, Mr. Leow of Star Optical was instrumental in guiding my brain to adapt and effectively use one eye for reading (right) and one eye for far sightedness (left). That way I can in theory see both near and far field, when I used my contact lenses.

After my 2 ops, my brain has adapted to the same set of 'instructions' whereby my right eye is used for near field reading and my left eye for far sight. So far, with a little bit of adjustment, I am doing well in both areas. 

The differences ?  

- Everything is so bright and so clear now. 

- I need more time to adjust to the spatial (width) awareness and so this is taking some time. 

I hugely grateful to Dr. Wesley Chong, a senior opthomologist surgeon from the Eagle Eye Centre, who is extremely talented, humble and blessed with outstanding bedside manners. He is very approachable and answered all my basic questions Pre and Post Operation via email - many times, within an hour of my sending out the email. Huge shoutout of thanks to him and his staff. 

My 2 procedures were carried out at Mt. Alvernia hospital and I was treated as a day surgery patient. Thankfully, the bulk of the operation costs (hospital, doctor and medications) were borne by my SingLife with Aviva critical disease insurance and my Medisave.

Thank you Wesley and team !

I recently bought a book written by a Dr W H Bates, who was the preeminent opthamologist surgeon in the US in the early 20th century. In it, he detailed that vision and eye care is so important and everyone CAN have perfect eyesight, if only they were trained or learnt certain techniques to maintain and even reinforce one's eyesight. I am almost finished reading and the key takeaways from the book, I will put up in the next post.

Muscles of the Eye 

Ever since I was preparing for my Ops, my midset is now this. For a good 53 years (I have been heavily myopic since I was about 10 years of age), I have lived with poor eyesight. I have bad myopia due to bad reading habits (reading in poor light, lying down and reading are 2 examples).

Now that I have regained this wonderful gift, I will make every single effort to not lose it again.

Every day without fail, I am doing the following eye exercises.Once in the morning and maybe one more before I fall asleep. 

The eye has muscles attached to it just like every other organ in our body. We need to regularly upkeep the muscles and take proper nutrients to ensure these last the remaining years of my life with the best quality and performance possible 

The gift of sight is accorded to many, yet few are appreciative of what the gift actually brings along with it. I list the following :

a) enhanced sense of smell

b) clarity of thought.

c) mental acuity.

My daily routine now in the morning entails the following :

1. Eye exercises seeing far and looking at greenery (100 feet) for 5 minutes each eye.

2. sticking out my thumb and extending my hand and pulling back right under my nose. My sight then follows my thumb.

3. Doing 360 clockwise and anti clockwise eye revolutions.

4. Cleaning my eyes with cotton buds and saline solution for up to one month

I am so grateful and happy for my new gift.

Seize the Day.