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