Is Timing Everything?

This morning I left my mobile at home and realised it before reaching the subway station. So I backtracked and lost precious time. It could have been worse if I had already boarded the train.

Photo by Fabrizio Verrecchia on Unsplash

Yesterday around lunch time the clinic was crowded and I was deterred from joining the long queue for a medical review so as to replenish my medicine. This afternoon I tried again and had a premonition that it would not be crowded. I didn't think it could be the case and dismissed the thought.

When I reached the clinic it was relatively empty with only three persons ahead of me in the queue. Not long after, the crowd showed up for medical consultation as well as for the procurement of face masks in light of the Wuhan epidemic. 

After collecting my medicine I picked up a chicken curry puff for a quick bite from the same stall that I bought breakfast from yesterday. The same lady who had served me yesterday smiled and greeted me,"Happy Lunar New Year!". I had an inkling that she might have mistook me for someone else. 

She continued with, "Have you taken your lunch?" I held up the pastry and said, "I am having this for lunch." Yesterday morning she looked so stressed up whereas this afternoon she was so chirpy.

Timing may not be everything, but good timings had certainly made my day in spite of a bad start.

Gratitude Challenge - Day 3 (Parents)

"Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things. If you just study this one word "gratitude" every day for a month, I guarantee that your life will shift." --Bob Proctor

Join me on this one-month journey to practise "gratitude" on a daily basis and see how it would impact your life. You could keep a journal or blog of your own, and post your comments below.

For Day 3, let's be thankful for Parents.

Photo by Brett Meliti on Unsplash

Parents are not perfect but they are the reason that we exist and take after them, by and large. Photographs, videos and memories will remind us of how they have looked after us when we were young, ignorant and helpless.

Our parents are there for us through thick and thin, generally, with irresponsible parents being the exception.

When we, in turn, become a parent it will come full circle and we will realise the full weight of what our parents have gone through.

Moving on, there will come a time when our parents succumb to the aging process, grow weak, require medical care and our support. May we be ready when the time comes and take care of them just as they have looked after us when we were young.

While they are still with us, there are many opportunities to make time for them and honour them besides their birthday, Mother's Day and Father's Day. This applies not just to biological but also foster parents, where applicable.

Click here for Ed Sheeran - Photograph (Official Music Video)

Gratitude Challenge - Day 2 (You)

"Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things. If you just study this one word "gratitude" every day for a month, I guarantee that your life will shift." --Bob Proctor

Join me on this one-month journey to practise "gratitude" on a daily basis and see how it would impact your life. You could keep a journal or blog of your own, and post your comments below.

For Day 2, let's be thankful for You.

Photo by MM Tey on Unsplash

Yes, you. While you may not be hogging the headlines, you are unique and there is no one quite like you. That applies the same even if you have an identical twin like the ones I chance upon today at a Subway outlet.

You have hidden talents which you may not have discovered yet. Once unearthed, you can work on it and develop your potential to live a more effective life.

While growing up you had had your fair share of identity crisis with questions such as 'Why am I me and not somebody else?' and 'If only I was like this other person'. It helped though when you realised that others are asking the same questions.

Self-acceptance is a biggie. Just witness all around how even adults grapple with this as they resort to accessories, pretences and other clutches to cover up what they perceive as shortcomings.

Once you accept yourself for who you are, you will feel the freedom to be your authentic self without fear of what people might say. Your true friends will show up alongside with you.

For your reflection:-

The Serenity Prayer

"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,

Courage to change the things I can,

And wisdom to know the difference." -- Reinhold Niebuhr

  

Gratitude Challenge - Day 1 (Life)

"Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things. If you just study this one word "gratitude" every day for a month, I guarantee that your life will shift." --Bob Proctor

Join me on this one-month journey to practise "gratitude" on a daily basis and see how it would impact your life. You could keep a journal or blog of your own, and post your comments below.

For Day 1, let's be thankful for the miracle of life. 

You are alive today because of the breath of God in you which makes you a living spiritual being who is housed in a body with a soul whereby you have thoughts, feelings and freedom to choose (will power).  

Because of life, you can still play the game. It is not just a board game, although there is one called "The Game of Life", but your own life.

So, play the game and keep your light shining bright before it gets snuffed out like a candle when the appointed time to move on cometh.

Life is now, today, today. Up and on!

For your reflection:-

"“All flesh is grass,
And all its loveliness is like the flower of the field.
The grass withers, the flower fades,
Because the breath of the Lord blows upon it;
Surely the people are grass." -- Isaiah 40:6b - 7 (NKJV)

Who is the most famous granny in the world?

That has to be Maria Ann Smith. To those who knew her, they called her "Granny Smith". 

To those of us who don't know her personally, we are acquainted to her by the green apples that we partake as they are or in processed forms such as apple pie and apple strudel.

Here then is an extract from Wikipedia for a bite of history on the Granny Smith from Australia that is now renown all over the world:-

The Granny Smith Cultivar originated in Eastwood, New South Wales, Australia (now a suburb of Sydney) in 1868. Its discoverer, Maria Ann Smith, had emigrated to the district from Beckley, East Sussex in 1839 with her husband Thomas. They purchased a small orchard in the area in 1855-1856 and began cultivating fruit, for which the area was a well known centre in colonial Australia. Smith had eight children and was a prominent figure in the district, earning the nickname "Granny" Smith in her advanced years.

The first description of the origin of the Granny Smith apple was not published until 1924. In that year, Farmer and Settler published the account of a local historian who had interviewed two men who had known Smith. One of those interviewed recalled that, in 1868, he (then twelve years old) and his father had been invited to Smith's farm to inspect a chance seedling that had sprung near a creek. Smith had dumped there, among the ferns, the remains of French crab-apples that had been grown in Tasmania. Another story recounted that Smith had been testing French crab-apples for cooking, and, throwing the apple cores out her window as she worked, had found that the new cultivar had sprung up underneath her kitchen windowsill. 

Whatever the case, Smith took it upon herself to propagate the new cultivar on her property, finding the apples good for cooking and for general consumption.Having "all the appearances of a cooking apple," they were not tart but instead were "sweet and crisp to eat." She took a stall at Sydney's George Street market, where the apples stored "exceptionally well and became popular" and "once a week sold her produce there."

Now, we can add green apples as another icon to associate with Australia all thanks to Granny Smith.

Fish Watching

You could say that you are "Gone fishing" and bird watching. But, you rarely hear of people going to watch fish. Scuba-diving, maybe.

Photo by Rachel Hisko on Unsplash

However, what they do say is that they are going to visit an aquarium or they have an aquarium at home where they can watch some fish.

Well, you can watch some fish for real (the fish are real), without donning a diving suit or minding an aquarium, in the comfort of home on your computer and reap the psychological benefits of calmness and relaxation.

Click here for 500 + Fish Identification Documentary by Pano4life.

One Way Ticket

This 'choo-choo train' song originating from Boney M has got the bells and whistle with an eclectic mix of music. The song chugs along like a train with accompanying all-sorts-of-going-ons as can be expected of a train.

Photo by Denis Chick on Unsplash

The underlying theme though is pensive. Your babe is leaving you and the love you shared is distancing away on a one way ticket to the blues and never coming back. You are gonna "take a trip to Lonesome town" and "stay at Heartbreak hotel". You cry your tears away.

Click here for a cover version of "One Way Ticket" by Precious Wilson of Eruption.

May your love lost be found again as you move on in life. Take the train of life, alight at new stations, meet new people while staying in touch with long-time friends, and expand your horizon through internet or overseas travel.

With patience and taking good care of yourself, you will be ready when the love train shows up next. 

Biting Into The Myth of Mice and Cheese

Pet mouse owners and experts have attest that mice do not like cheese. The rats prefer morsels such as fruits, vegetables, grains and man-made snacks.

Nevertheless, as scavengers they will consume the cheese as a matter of survival necessity.

The myth of mice taking to cheese like duck to water will persist and the designers have their hands full this Lunar New Year with the following sample of their creativity:-

As the folks celebrate the lunar new year with staples such as kumquats, mandarin oranges and chocolates, the mice are in for a feast, too, if they can outwit the pest controllers and roaming cats.

Thank you for reading Daily Refreshing. Wishing you a Happy, Healthy and even more Prosperous Lunar New Year!

Sushi Express

One of the best export from Japan is sushi. Can good sushi be found outside of Japan or, for that matter, can great chilli crab be had beyond the shores of Singapore? The proof is in the eating which would depend largely on the ingredients and culinary skills that go into the cooking.

Although originating from Taiwan, Sushi Express has found its niche in serving you fresh sushi from its kitchen on conveyor belts where covered plates of sushi are rolled out at SGD 1.50 per plate in Singapore. This is a sound value proposition for you to begin your initiation into the world of sushi without burning a hole in your pocket.

While you are it, get yourself a bowl of miso soup (another great Japanese export) for SGD 1.50 with slices of salmon, and help yourself to the complimentary green tea and pickled ginger.

Sushi Express is on a roll to be household name for affordable sushi and would continue to thrive on volume of repeat business for the great quality food they serve at a discount to similar fares elsewhere. 

If like me, you are thinking of sea urchin, do ask first whether there is stock  beforehand so as to avoid disappointment. 

Click here to see what's on the menu.

Something Old and Something New

The radio has moved with the times and can be accessible on your mobile and internet with plug-ons to social media.

Give your eyes a break from all the blue light emitting from your media devices by turning on your virtual radio instead. You will be amazed how good an uncomplaining and temperate companion audio broadcast can be when you are doing mundane stuffs or just chilling.

Click here for Gold 90.5 FM for something old where it "sounds good and feel good".

Click here for KISS 92.0 FM for something new where you can catch "all the great songs in one place". 

If you wanna relish the nostalgia of owning a piece of radio, both old and new  are still available now before they vanish the way that typewriters had disappeared. 

But, the sound waves of radio is not about to fade away and will thrive on to keep us in good company.

Who is Mikaela Shiffrin?

Although we are from the same planet Earth, we can be worlds apart. However, there comes a time when the word spread and the unknown becomes globalised. 

For example, long ago hidden Bali of Indonesia is now a popular destination and a swimmer like Joseph Schooling is basking in the limelight.

Taking the drift, Ho Chi Minh City and Mikaela Shiffrin could well become mainstream in the near future.

Mikaela Shiffrin
Image credits: Outside TV

Back to Mikaela, she is fast on ice and downhill at that, and has been appointed as a Longines Ambassador of Elegance since 2014.

Click here for more on Mikaela Shiffrin and be inspired by the regiment of training that she undertakes to stay on top of her priority -- skiing.

Hey, you can spot her Longines as she does her workout. 

  

Watch Japan Hour

Japan Hour is a well-produced documentary of travel within Japan which invokes your sense of adventure and, at the same time, gives you a peek of life in Japan.

Photo by Agathe Marty on Unsplash

Train travel and local dishes feature prominently and you will invariably find some new and interesting things to amaze you. Your travel guides are usually a pair of local celebrities such as actors and sportsman. The commentary and dialogues are in nihongo, but as there English subtitles you will be able to follow the programme easily.

Channel News Asia broadcasts Japan Hour weekly and you are able to view a weekly episode at their website. 

Click here for to watch Japan Hour and let it bring some smiles to you that life is fun and good.