Don't use handphone when alighting from bus

This woman is really stupid!! Luckily for her, her head did not fall off!       The girl did not have time to leave the bus, She was busy talking on phone. Her head was caught between the bus doors. The driver did not notice her and continued driving the bus for a few meters, until he heard people screaming from the nearby salon.         A lesson to be learnt - don't talk on the phone when you are on the move!!

 

The Typewriter Song 打字�之歌 ( ��音�大�一� )

The Typewriter Song 打字機之歌

http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=G4nX0Xrn-wo&sns=em

VITAMIN F

Vitamin F...... I liked this... Why do I have a variety of friends who are all so different in character?  How can I get along with them all?  I think that each one helps to bring out a "different" part of me. With one of them I am polite. With another I joke. I sit down and talk about serious matters with one. With another I laugh a lot. I listen to one friend's problems. Then I listen to another one's advice for me. My friends are like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. When completed, they form a treasure box. A treasure of friends! They are my friends who understand me better than I understand myself. They're friends who support me through good days and bad. Real Age doctors tell us that friends are good for our health.  Dr. Oz calls them Vitamin F (for Friends) and counts the benefits of friends as essential to our well being. Research shows that people in strong social circles have less risk of depression and terminal strokes. If you enjoy Vitamin F constantly you can be up to 30 years younger than your real age. The warmth of friendship stops stress and even in your most intense moments, it decreases the chance of a cardiac arrest or stroke by 50%. In summary, we should value our friends and keep in touch with them. We should try to see the funny side of things and laugh together and pray for each other   during difficult times. Some of my friends are friends online. I know I am part of theirs because their names appear on my computer screen every day and I feel blessed that they care as much for me  as I care for them.

-- TO PREVENT SPAMMING, KINDLY DELETE MY NAME AND EMAIL ADDRESS WHEN SHARING.  THANKS

Fwd: The Photographers

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Leslie Chang <lesliecck@gmail.com>
Date: 23 June, 2012 10:10:44 AM GMT+08:00
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: The Photographers

IT'S HARD TO SAY WHICH IS MORE AMAZING... THE ANIMALS OR THE PHOTOGRAPHY!!! The photographers caught these special moments, what a privilege to see…     . IT'S HARD TO SAY WHICH IS MORE AMAZING... THE ANIMALS OR THE PHOTOGRAPHY!!! "Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... don't mind... And those that mind.... don't matter."

No virus found in this message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com/
Version: 2012.0.2178 / Virus Database: 2425/5042 - Release Date: 06/03/12

--
Best Regards,

Have a nice day.

Leslie Chang

Fwd: The beauty of pollination

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Leslie Chang <lesliecck@gmail.com>
Date: 23 June, 2012 10:19:02 AM GMT+08:00
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: The beauty of pollination

Amazing photography!   The hummingbird doing rolls chasing a bug is neat!!! This is beautiful.......be sure and watch closely (around 2 min 40 sec) and check out the baby bat under its mama....unreal. If you never knew what goes on in the garden when you aren't paying attention. Watch this - some of the finest photography you will ever see. http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/xHkq1edcbk4?rel=0

--
Best Regards,

Have a nice day.

Leslie Chang

Fwd: Bubble tea

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Chen jia yang .Paul" <ky17360@hotmail.com>
Date: 23 June, 2012 10:30:23 AM GMT+08:00
To: <siewsiewlian52@gmail.com>, <shawncsm@hotmail.com>, <richlai_168@yahoo.com.sg>, <axtro_12@yahoo.com.sg>, <skymoon0409@yahoo.com.sg>, <seowcheelin@singnet.com.sg>, <fookhin.you@mottmac.sg>, <tyee_2001@yahoo.com.sg>, <seah.martin@gmail.com>, <changchengliang@gmail.com>, <mbslim@singnet.com.sg>, <bcneo@kester.com.sg>, <bernard.ng@cimb.com>, <stephanie@silverlineps.com>, <cher23ine@yahoo.com.sg>, <yeogekhong@njrsp.com.sg>, <louistanps@gmail.com>, <loo_ng_kiat@yahoo.com.sg>, <tankp2010@gmail.com>, <louistblues@yahoo.com.sg>, <spgal@hotmail.com>, <childhood_89@hotmail.com>, <wfkon@kester.com.sg>, <kang_heong@hotmail.com>, <liew_ming@yahoo.com.sg>, <teoweiling@hotmail.com>, <busybsee@gmail.com>
Subject: Bubble tea

 

---

---

    

Dear All,     I (not me) will roughly translate this article which is in Chinese.     Bubble tea (pearl milk tea) brings alot of sweet excitement to our taste buds but it is also very harmful to health.  Milk essence is the main ingredient in bubble tea. Ten cups of fresh milk cannot match the taste of a teaspoon of milk essence. The main ingredient of milk essence is hygrogenated vegetable oil, a type of transfat. Experts says that a glass of 500ml of bubble tea a day far exceed the allowable limit of transfat for any person. It will lead to heart and blood vessel diseases.     Milk essence gives the bubble tea the fragrance and make it tasty. The fragrance and tastiness derived from a type of chemical. This chemical has trace of arsenic, lead, copper and many harmful minerals.  Long term consumption can lead to heart and blood vessel disease, cancer, asthma and other health complications. It reduces the IQ of children.     Consuming the black bubbles is equivalent to consuming plastic. Normally these bubbles were made from casava (tapioca) powder. This alone does not give the rubbery texture. To make it more rubbery, millet protein is added. Some "black hearted" businessmen felt that this is still not rubbery enough. so, an artificial plastic powder is added. This type of artificial plastic material will never be digested and absorbed into the body. It will remain in  the body and cause havoc to our health. You can imagine what will happen to your health after prolonged consumption of transfat and plastic!!!!     FOR YOUR HEALTH SAKE, PLEASE ABSTAIN FROM BUBBLE TEA.    珍珠奶茶       珍珠奶茶在給人們的味蕾帶來甜美刺激的同時也給人的健康帶來 隱患。   " 奶精 " 是珍珠奶茶 之魂。十杯鮮奶的味道，也不如一勺奶精來得香濃 。奶精的主要成分氫化植物油 是一種反式脂肪酸 。   專家指出 : 每天一杯 500 升 (?mL) 珍珠奶茶中反式脂肪酸含量已超出正常人承受極限，飲用者易患 心血管疾病 。  奶精 " 使奶茶變得 香濃源自於奶精中一種名為 " 植脂末 " 的化學物質 .  這種物質中含有砷 ( 砒霜 ) 、鉛、銅等有害物質，長期攝入，可增加 患冠心病、 腫瘤、哮喘 等疾病的幾率， 幼兒更會變得智力低下 。  吃 " 珍珠 " 等於吃塑膠  吃 " 珍珠 " 等於吃塑膠？珍珠奶茶正因為這些黑色的小顆粒而得名，我們一般叫它為珍珠粉圓，公開的主材料是木薯澱粉。然而，單純的木薯澱粉並不能讓珍珠彈性足，如今比較通用做法是在其中加入小麥蛋白。 即使如此，有的商家也覺得彈性 還不夠，為了讓珍珠有 " 嚼頭 " ，於是再添加人工合成的高分子材料 。  說白了，高分子材料就是塑膠 ，這也是行業內心照不宣的秘密。這樣的成分不可能被人體吸收，吃塑膠是什麼結果，大家可以想像。  Aiyo there goes my favourite drink...@ Cha Time!

Fwd: Good news 4 hokkien mee lovers

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Chen jia yang .Paul" <ky17360@hotmail.com>
Date: 23 June, 2012 10:36:02 AM GMT+08:00
To: <siewsiewlian52@gmail.com>, <shawncsm@hotmail.com>, <richlai_168@yahoo.com.sg>, <axtro_12@yahoo.com.sg>, <skymoon0409@yahoo.com.sg>, <seowcheelin@singnet.com.sg>, <fookhin.you@mottmac.sg>, <tyee_2001@yahoo.com.sg>, <seah.martin@gmail.com>, <changchengliang@gmail.com>, <mbslim@singnet.com.sg>, <bcneo@kester.com.sg>, <bernard.ng@cimb.com>, <stephanie@silverlineps.com>, <cher23ine@yahoo.com.sg>, <yeogekhong@njrsp.com.sg>, <louistanps@gmail.com>, <loo_ng_kiat@yahoo.com.sg>, <tankp2010@gmail.com>, <louistblues@yahoo.com.sg>, <spgal@hotmail.com>, <childhood_89@hotmail.com>, <wfkon@kester.com.sg>, <kang_heong@hotmail.com>, <liew_ming@yahoo.com.sg>, <teoweiling@hotmail.com>, <busybsee@gmail.com>
Subject: Good news 4 hokkien mee lovers

---

  

I don't know how far is true. For yr reference only. Pls judge yourselves. Better seek more opinions.    EXTREMELY GOOD NEWS FOR BAK KUT TEH, CHAR KUEW TIAU, HOKKIEN MEE CONNOISSEURS  More reasons to eat Chee Yau Char/ Bak Eu Pok (pig's lard) now because it contains natural fats and not trans fats as in processed food made by Man. *This is a very useful 'must read' article. It makes sense to me. Even if you have received this before it is worth reading it again.* *Low Cholesterol Levels Increases Cancer Risk* - American College of Cardiology For years, I've been telling my patients that the medical establishment's obsession with lowering cholesterol per se to prevent heart disease is causing more harm than good. If your doctor continues to get you worried about your high cholesterol levels, here's *a bit of good news* for you... In fact, your high cholesterol may be protecting you from cancer. Today, I'll explain the truth behind the myth of cholesterol, and show you how to achieve heart health naturally ! A new study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology revealed that driving down cholesterol levels actually increases the risk of cancer. Researchers at the Tufts University School of Medicine found that among people taking "*statin drugs - like Lipitor and Zocor* - there was a higher *rate of cancer*. Although the link between the drugs and cancer wasn't clear, there was no doubt that *drastically low cholesterol levels* correlated to cancer risk". The big drug makers continue to sell the notion that the best way to fight heart disease is to lower LDL levels, the so-called "bad" cholesterol. Yet 75 percent of people who suffer heart attacks have *normal cholesterol levels* ! It makes sense that low cholesterol levels are linked to cancer because cholesterol is one of your body's basic building blocks. You need it to produce testosterone, to build and repair cell membranes, and to preserve your nerve cells through the formation of the protective "sheaths" that cover them. Starving your body of this critical substance will lead to other health problems. We already know that extremely low cholesterol levels result in muscle weakness, fatigue, depression, decreased sex drive, and "brain fog." This new research shows that there may be even more *deadly consequences*. What really matters is not low "*bad cholesterol, but high levels of HDL*, the so-called "good" cholesterol*". As long as you have a high HDL count - 75 to 80, for example - it doesn't matter whether your total cholesterol is 150 or 350. A high HDL will always keep your risk of heart disease extremely *low*. So why haven't you heard this already? It may be because there's *no drug that effectively raises good cholesterol levels*. You can only effectively do it naturally. Consume natural fats. Avoid processed or fast foods containing * "trans" fats * - these man-made substances *were never meant for consumption*, and your body doesn't know what to do with them !!!. They wind up clogging your arteries and putting you on the fast track to heart disease. * Instead, get your fat from free-range or grass-fed animals, eggs, nuts, and *unprocessed vegetable oils*. These are some of the healthiest foods you can eat. (As with all foods, look for organic or minimally processed options whenever possible.) The health benefit of these natural fats comes from their balance of *Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids*. Your body needs both but, as with cholesterol, they have to be in balance. *Omega-3s are great for your heart. They've been shown to prevent irregular heartbeat, reduce clogging of the arteries, lower blood pressure, and decrease inflammation in body tissues*. If you stick to eating *natural fats*, you'll automatically get the right ratio of Omega-6 and Omega-3, which is about 2:1. As an added bonus, you'll automatically raise your "good" cholesterol levels and you'll reduce your risk of cancer. ==============================================The information in this email is confidential and may be legally privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, please immediately contact the sender and delete/destroy the message. Any disclosure, copying or distribution of the message by the unintended recipient, or any action or omission taken by such recipient in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful.============================================== -- EMAIL ETIQUETTE To protect their privacy and yours, PLEASE delete details of all previous senders before forwarding/sending again. Thanks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ --

Don't always sleep late!!

Good rest and sound sleep is very important... if u don't sleep well, The toxins in your body will accumulate... Affecting your health and your mood... The main causes of liver damage are: 1. Sleeping too late and waking up too late are the main cause.. 2. Not urinating in the morning. 3. Too much eating. 4. Skipping breakfast. 5. Consuming too much medication. 6. Consuming too much preservatives, additives, food coloring, and artificial sweetener. 7. Consuming unhealthy cooking oil. As much as possible reduce cooking oil use when frying, which includes even the best oils like olive oil. Do not consume fried foods when you are tired , except if the body is very fit. 8. Consuming overly done foods also add to the burden of liver. Veggies should be eaten raw or cooked 3-5 parts. Fried Veggies should be finished in one sitting, do not store. We have to adopt a good daily lifestyle and eating habits. Maintaining good eating habits is very important for our body to absorb and get rid of unnecessary chemicals. Because….   Evening 9 - 11pm: is the time for eliminating unnecessary/ toxic chemicals (de-toxification) from the antibody system (lymph nodes). This time duration should be spent by relaxing or listening to music. If during this time a housewife is still in a unrelaxed state such as washing the dishes or monitoring children doing their homework, this will have a negative impact on her health. Night at 11pm - 1am: The de-toxification process in the liver, and ideally should be done in a deep sleep state.   Early morning 1 - 3am: de-toxification process in the gall, also ideally done in a deep sleep state. Early morning 3 - 5am: de-toxification in the lungs. Therefore there will sometimes be a severe cough for cough sufferers during this time. Since the de-toxification process had reached the respiratory tract, there is no need to take cough medicine so as not to interfere with toxin removal process. Morning 5 - 7am: de-toxification in the colon, you should empty your bowel. Morning 7 - 9am: Absorption of nutrients in the small intestine, you should be having breakfast at this time. Breakfast should be earlier, before 6:30am, for those who are sick. Breakfast before 7:30am is very beneficial to those wanting to stay fit. Those who always skip breakfast, they should change their habits, and it is still better to eat breakfast late until 9 -10am rather than no meal at all. Sleeping so late and waking up too late will disrupt the process of removing unnecessary chemicals.   Midnight to 4am is the time when the bone marrow produces blood. Therefore, have a good sleep and don't sleep late.

A HEALTH NOTE ON BUBBLE TEA

A HEALTH NOTE ON BUBBLE TEA

 

 

Bubble tea (pearl milk tea) brings a lot of sweet excitement to our taste buds but it is also very harmful to health. 

Milk essence is the main ingredient in bubble tea. Ten cups of fresh milk cannot match the taste of a teaspoon of milk essence. The main ingredient of milk essence is hydrogenated vegetable oil, a type of transfat. Experts says that a glass of 500ml of bubble tea a day far exceed the allowable limit of transfat for any person. It will lead to heart and blood vessel diseases. 
 
Milk essence gives the bubble tea the fragrance and make it tasty. The fragrance and tastiness derived from a type of chemical. This chemical has trace of arsenic, lead, copper and many harmful minerals. 

Long term consumption can lead to heart and blood vessel disease, cancer, asthma and other health complications. It reduces the IQ of children. 
 
Consuming the black bubbles is equivalent to consuming plastic. Normally these bubbles were made from casava (tapioca) powder. This alone does not give the rubbery texture. To make it more rubbery, millet protein is added. Some "black hearted" businessmen felt that this is still not rubbery enough. so, an artificial plastic powder is added. This type of artificial plastic material will never be digested and absorbed into the body. It will remain in  the body and cause havoc to our health. You can imagine what will happen to your health after prolonged consumption of transfat and plastic!!!! 
 
FOR YOUR HEALTH SAKE, PLEASE ABSTAIN FROM BUBBLE TEA.   珍珠奶茶       
珍珠奶茶在給人們的味蕾帶來甜美刺激的同時也給人的健康帶來 隱患。

" 奶精 " 是珍珠奶茶 之魂。十杯鮮奶的味道，也不如一勺奶精來得香濃 。奶精的主要成分氫化植物油 是一種反式脂肪酸 。

專家指出 : 每天一杯 500 升 (?mL) 珍珠奶茶中反式脂肪酸含量已超出正常人承受極限，飲用者易患 心血管疾病。 

奶精 ” 使奶茶變得 香濃源自於奶精中一種名為 ” 植脂末” 的化學物質 . 

這種物質中含有砷 ( 砒霜 ) 、鉛、銅等有害物質，長期攝入，可增加 患冠心病、 腫瘤、哮喘 等疾病的幾率，幼兒更會變得智力低下 。 

吃 ” 珍珠 ” 等於吃塑膠 

吃 ” 珍珠 ” 等於吃塑膠？珍珠奶茶正因為這些黑色的小顆粒而得名，我們一般叫它為珍珠粉圓，公開的主材料是木薯澱粉。然而，單純的木薯澱粉並不能讓珍珠彈性足，如今比較通用做法是在其中加入小麥蛋白。 即使如此，有的商家也覺得彈性 還不夠，為了讓珍珠有 “ 嚼頭“ ，於是再添加人工合成的高分子材料 。 

說白了，高分子材料就是塑膠 ，這也是行業內心照不宣的秘密。這樣的成分不可能被人體吸收，吃塑膠是什麼結果，大家可以想像。 

Don't drink any more!

--
Best Regards,

Have a nice day.

Leslie Chang

--
Regards,

Mr Chang C.L.

_________________
http://MrChang.com

Papaya for Uric Acid Problem

Papaya for Uric Acid Problem Say bye-bye to uric acid problem!     Just try it if you've got uric acid after all no harm done.   This is a really effective, just mix green papaya cubes to the ordinary green tea, my cousin-brother tried and found it very effective. I have also shared with a friend with gout to try this (his "toe joints" started to deform), after a week of drinking this formula there is significant improvement, and after two weeks the toe joints heal and revert to normal state. It is almost three years now, the joint pain is gone, but he maintains the intake between 1-3 times monthly to avoid relapse. Other friends suffering from years of gout problem have also recovered. It is good for all, even those without gout. Good formula! Do share with the people in need! An improved sequence by Professor Lai from the China School of Pharmacy : Cut green papaya into small cubes, place into the water, bring to boil, then add tea leaves, similar to the tea-making process. Clinical tests show that this brings better effects for treatment of gout, subject to frequent drinking of this formula. Mr. Liu Qing, Chief of the Rende Town in Tainan, was suffering for years from severe stomach pain around the posterior wall of stomach. He used green papaya as a tea pot to prepare the family tea daily, after a month, his chronic disease condition was much improved. His family members with high uric acid were also healed by the same papaya tea. For this Mr. Liu planted a lot of papaya to share with relatives and friends with similar sickness. According to Mr. Liu, in selecting the green papaya as tea pot, pick those the shape of which is fat and short, with larger capacity. Cut off the top part of the papaya, clear away the seeds, open a small hole at the upper side wall to facilitate pouring of tea. Create a small ventilation hole at top cover, put in the tea leaves, pour in boiling water, place the top cover back onto the papaya, you may also use the toothpicks to secure the top cover. Similar to normal process of preparing tea. Liu like to use Oolong tea as the taste is good. He was pleasantly surprised that the stomach pains he suffered for many years was healed after a month of drinking tea from the green papaya pot, without taking any other medication. He passed some green papaya leaves to a friend who worked at a Medical Center to test and analyse the content. The tests confirmed that the healthy enzyme present in papaya is beneficial to human health. Now as papaya in Mr. Liu's orchard is yielding suitable size fruits, he would share the fruits with family and friends Xu Fuchang, an experienced papaya farmer, said green papaya means to unripe papaya, where the skin is still green in colour. Generally, the papaya takes about four months to fully mature and ripen, but the healing effect would be lost after it is fully ripe. Green papaya should be harvested when the papaya is approximately three months old, when the fruit is still firm, and the "papaya milk" contains high papaya enzyme and other healthy ingredients. Not only the green papaya can be used in tea drinking, you may also cut them into cubes, and boil with the ribs, or even slicing the green papaya into fine long pieces and fried with garlic, very tasty, and no adverse effects on the human body.

 

 

Lee Kuan Yew / Must Read If You Do Not Want To Die Prematurely

Lee Kuan Yew On  Getting the Best out of Life "The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge.

If you're not interested in the world and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture."

 MY CONCERN today is, what is it I can tell you which can add to your knowledge about aging and what aging societies can do.

 

You know more about this subject than I do. A lot of it is out in the media, Internet and books. So I thought the best way would be to take a personal standpoint and tell you how I approach this question of aging.

 

If I cast my mind back, I can see turning points in my physical and mental health. You know, when you're young, I didn't bother, assumed good health was God-given and would always be there.

 

When I was about 57 that was – I was about 34, we were competing in elections, and I was really fond of drinking beer and smoking.  And after the election campaign, in Victoria Memorial Hall – we had won the election, the City Council election – I couldn't thank the voters because I had lost my voice. I'd been smoking furiously. I'd take a packet of 10 to deceive myself, but I'd run through the packet just sitting on the stage, watching the crowd, getting the feeling, the mood before I speak.

 

In other words, there were three speeches a night. Three speeches a night, 30 cigarettes, a lot of beer after that, and the voice was gone. I remember I had a case in Kuching, Sarawak . So I took the flight and I felt awful. I had to make up my mind whether I was going to be an effective campaigner and a lawyer, in which case I cannot destroy my voice, and I can't go on.

 

So I stopped smoking. It was a tremendous deprivation because I was addicted to it. And I used to wake up dreaming…the nightmare was I resumed smoking.

 

But I made a choice and said, if I continue this, I will not be able to do my job. I didn't know anything about cancer of the throat, or oesophagus or the lungs, etc. But it turned out it had many other deleterious effects. Strangely enough after that, I became very allergic, hyper-allergic to smoking, so much so that I would plead with my Cabinet ministers not to smoke in the Cabinet room. You want to smoke, please go out, because I am allergic.

 

Then one day I was at the home of my colleague, Mr Rajaratnam, meeting foreign correspondents including some from the London Times and they took a picture of me and I had a big belly like that (puts his hands in front of his belly), a beer belly. I felt no, no, this will not do. So I started playing more golf, hit hundreds of balls on the practice tee. But this didn't go down. There was only one way it could go down: consume less, burn up more.

 

Another turning point came in 1976, after the general election – I was feeling tired. I was breathing deeply at the Istana, on the lawns. My daughter, who at that time just graduating as a doctor, said: 'What are you trying to do?' I said: 'I feel an effort to breathe in more oxygen.' She said: 'Don't play golf. Run. Aerobics..' So she gave me a book, quite a famous book and, then, very current in America on how you score aerobic points swimming, running, whatever it is, cycling.

 

I looked at it sceptically. I wasn't very keen on running. I was keen on golf. So I said, 'Let's try'. So in-between golf shots while playing on my own, sometimes nine holes at the Istana, I would try and walk fast between shots. Then I began to run between shots. And I felt better. After a while, I said: 'Okay, after my golf, I run.' And after a few years, I said: 'Golf takes so long. The running takes 15 minutes. Let's cut out the golf and let's run.'

 

I think the most important thing in aging is you got to understand yourself. And the knowledge now is all there. When I was growing up, the knowledge wasn't there. I had to get the knowledge from friends, from doctors.

 

But perhaps the most important bit of knowledge that the doctor gave me  was one day, when I said: 'Look,  I'm feeling slower and sluggish.' So he gave me a medical encyclopaedia and he turned the pages to aging. I read it up and it was illuminating. A lot of it was difficult jargon but I just skimmed through to get the gist of it.

 

As you grow, you reach 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25 and then, thereafter, you are on a gradual slope down physically. Mentally, you carry on and on and on until I don't know what age, but mathematicians will tell you that they know their best output is when they're in their 20s and 30s when your mental energy is powerful and you haven't lost many neurons. That's what they tell me.

 

So, as you acquire more knowledge, you then craft a programme for yourself to maximise what you have. It's just common sense. I never planned to live till 85 or 84.! I just didn't think about it. I said: 'Well, my mother died when she was 74, she had a stroke.. My father died when he was 94.'

 

But I saw him, and he lived a long life, well, maybe it was his DNA. But more than that, he swam every day and he kept himself busy! He was working for the Shell company. He was in charge, he was a superintendent of an oil depot.

 

When he retired, he started becoming a salesman. So people used to tell me: 'Your father is selling watches at BP de Silva.' My father was then living with me. But it kept him busy. He had that routine: He meets people, he sells watches, he buys and sells all kinds of semi-precious stones, he circulates coins. And he keeps going. But at 87, 88, he fell, going down the steps from his room to the dining room, broke his arm, three months incapacitated.

 

Thereafter, he couldn't go back to swimming. Then he became wheelchair-bound. Then it became a problem because my house was constructed that way. So my brother – who's a doctor and had a flat (one-level) house – took him in. And he lived on till 94. But towards the end, he had gradual loss of mental powers.

 

So my calculations, I'm somewhere between 74 and 94. And I've reached the halfway point now. But have I? Well, 1996 when I was 73, I was cycling and I felt tightening on the neck. Oh, I must retire today. So I stopped. Next day, I returned to the bicycle. After five minutes it became worse. So I said, no, no, this is something serious, it's got to do with the blood vessels. Rung up my doctor, who said, 'Come tomorrow'. Went tomorrow, he checked me, and said: 'Come back tomorrow for an angiogram.'

 

I said: 'What's that ?' He said: 'We'll pump something in and we'll see whether the coronary arteries are cleared or blocked.' I was going to go home. But an MP who was a cardiologist happened to be around, so he came in and said: 'What are you doing here?' I said: 'I've got this.' He said: 'Don't go home. You stay here tonight. I've sent patients home and they never came back. Just stay here. They'll put you on the monitor. They'll watch your heart. And if anything, an emergency arises, they will take you straight to the theatre. You go home. You've got no such monitor. You may never come back.'

 

So I stayed there. Pumped in the dye, yes it was blocked, the left circumflex, not the critical, lead one. So that's lucky for me. Two weeks later, I was walking around, I felt it's coming back. Yes it has come back, it had occluded. So this time they said: 'We'll put in a stent.'

 

I'm one of the first few in Singapore to have the stent, so it was a brand new operation. Fortunately, the man who invented the stent was out here selling his stent. He was from San Jose, La Jolla something or the other. So my doctor got hold of him and he supervised the operation.  He said put the stent in. My doctor did the operation, he just watched it all and then that's that. That was before all this pr`oblem about lining the stent to make sure that it doesn't occlude and create a disturbance.

 

So at each stage, I learnt something more about myself and I stored that. I said: 'Oh, this is now a danger point.' So all right, cut out fats, change diet, went to see a specialist in Boston, Massachusetts General Hospital. He said: 'Take statins.' I said: 'What's that?' He said: '(They) help to reduce your cholesterol.' My doctors were concerned. They said: 'You don't need it. Your cholesterol levels are okay.' Two years later, more medical evidence came out. So the doctors said: 'Take statins.'

 

Had there been no angioplasty, had I not known that something was up and I cycled on, I might have gone at 74 like my mother. So I missed that decline. So next deadline: my father's fall at 87. I'm very careful now because sometimes when I turn around too fast, I feel as if I'm going to get off balance. So my daughter, a neurologist, she took me to the NNI, there's this nerve conduction test, put electrodes here and there.

 

The transmission of the messages between the feet and the brain has slowed down. So all the exercise, everything, effort put in, I'm fit, I swim, I cycle. But I can't prevent this losing of conductivity of the nerves and this transmission. So just go slow.

 

So when I climb up the steps, I have no problem. When I go down the steps, I need to be sure that I've got something I can hang on to, just in case. So it's a constant process of adjustment.

 

But I think the most important single lesson I learnt in life was that if you isolate yourself, you're done for. The human being is a social animal – he needs stimuli, he needs to meet people, to catch up with the world.

 

I don't much like travel but I travel very frequently despite the jetlag, because I get to meet people of great interest to me, who will help me in my work as chairman of our GIC. So I know, I'm on several boards  of banks, international advisory boards of banks, of oil companies and so on. And I meet them and I get to understand what's happening in the world, what has changed since I was here one month ago, one year ago.

 

I go to India, I go to China. And that stimuli brings me to the world of today. I'm not living in the world, when I was active, more active 20, 30 years ago. So I tell my wife. She woke up late today. I said: 'Never mind, you come along by 12 o'clock. I go first.'

 

If you sit back – because part of the ending part of the encyclopaedia which I read was very depressing – as you get old, you withdraw from everything and then all you will have is your bedroom and the photographs and the furniture that you know, and that's your world. So if you've got to go to hospital, the doctor advises you to bring some photographs so that you'll know you're not lost in a different world, that this is like your bedroom.

 

I'm determined that I will not, as long as I can, to be reduced, to have my horizons closed on me like that. It is the stimuli, it is the constant interaction with people across the world that keeps me aware and alive to what's going on and what we can do to adjust to this different world.

 

In other words, you must have an interest in life. If you believe that at 55, you're retiring, you're going to read books, play golf and drink wine, then I think you're done for. So statistically they will show you that all the people who retire and lead sedentary lives, the pensioners die off very quickly.

So we now have a social problem with medical sciences, new procedures, new drugs, many more people are going to live long lives..

If the mindset is that when I reach retirement age 62, I'm old, I can't work anymore, I don't have to work, I just sit back, now is the time I'll enjoy life, I think you're making the biggest mistake of your life. After one month, or after two months, even if you go traveling with nothing to do, with no purpose in life, you will just degrade, you'll go to seed.

The human being needs a challenge, and my advice to every person in Singapore and elsewhere: Keep yourself interested, have a challenge. If you're not interested in the world and the world is not interested in you, the biggest punishment a man can receive is total isolation in a dungeon, black and complete withdrawal of all stimuli, that's real torture.

So when I read that people believe, Singaporeans say: 'Oh, 62 I'm retiring.' I say to them: 'You really want to die quickly?' If you want to see sunrise tomorrow or sunset, you must have a reason, you must have the stimuli to keep going..'

 

Have a purpose driven life and finish well, my friends. 

If you have to fall, do fall like a seed to germinate, unlike a leaf to die.