OLD TALKS 老生常谈

My Presbyopia (老花眼) is getting worse. I could still see my PC monitor without glasses a year ago, but now I have to wear glasses every moments in order to read the monitor. I use PC most days and each day is around 8 hours. I hate having the glasses on.  I was not that busy recently and that drove me to tidy up my flat in Chang Ping which had been vacant for many years. After spending some efforts, it can now be lived and I am quite pleased about it especially the estate has become a bit popular and more people (small families) have moved in.

I replaced my bedroom aircond because it was very noisy and costly to run. I bought a new  bossy desk and chair for the reading room, a new 32”LED TV,  a new bluray player and a small set of 5.1 hi-fi system for the sitting room. I have also brought my pc notebook from Hong Kong and put it there for my leisure reading and typing. When everything was ready, I connected those HDMI appliances together thru a 3-in 1-out HDMI converter. Now, I can switch amongst bluray, PC, and TV set-top box. With this outset, my tiny little 10” notebook now becomes a 32” big one. I bought myself a set of wireless keyboard & mouse, and I now can sit on my sofa to type and read on the big screen.  It immediately solves my presbyopia problem. How wonderful it is.

In addition, I can save money from buying an up market SMART-TV because the so called smart-tv could not be as smart as my real pc on the tv screen. In terms of easy surfing, a smart-tv remote control definitely cannot beat my wireless keyboard & mouse.  The commercial gimmick of Smart-TV cannot fool me. I will do the same in my HK’s home. Instead of using a notebook, I will use a desktop PC because I have three desktops at home. I can simply put one next to the TV and put hard network cable onto it and that is. Alternatively I can put my spare 802.11N wireless adaptor in its USB slot and let it do network connection thru wi-fi. I can also set my pc to run on either windows, linux or even android. So for those that are interested in buying a Smart-TV, they can re-think IF THEY CAN TURN THEIR EXISTING TV INTO A SMART-TV. The investment is just a set of wireless keyboard & mouse, plus a desktop to TV VGA cable & audio speakers (I don’t expect your spare PC has a HDMI outlet) and an optional wireless adaptor. All these together should be within ￥300, and you don’t need to throw away your working TV for a Smart-TV.

I like milk tea for its special red tea fragrant. However, red tea is notorious for carrying high amount of ‘wet’ which is not good to human’s intestines and stomach. I know that if I take too much milk tea, then problems will come. Recently I did take quite a lot, but it did not hurt at once. It was cumulating and waiting for a catalyst to burst. So happened my cousin brought me a bowl of Indonesian curry and seriously told me to finish it. I took only 3-spoonfuls and that was enough to break me. In less than an hour, a reddish skin rash appeared on my inner left thigh (左股沟) and it developed very quickly to extend to a sizeable size. HK’s Summer is hot, skin rash is irritating. It is itchy and painful and I don’t need to relate further. Initially I tried some Elomet but it did not help (it could be the Elomet had expired). I knew what it was therefore I was not panic.

That’s how I overcame it.

1.    Did nothing and just let it develop further until it reached its peak.

2.    Applied a thin layer of eczema cream (can be Elomet, Hydroderma or something that contains hydrocortisone) 3 times a day.

3.    Performed a mini-fasting program called The Lemon Detox Diet (Madal Bal Natural Tree Syrup) in conjunction to 2 above.  (if you want to know more about the diet,  search  the web using the above keywords)

4.    After the program, took light meals in the 1st 2 days (rice porridge is good)

Warnings: consult your physician (doctor) for any illness you have. I don’t consult a doctor because I know my situation well.

I remember the first time I had this type of skin rash was 1987 when I was in NZ. I was very panic because

1.         Firstly I did not know what it was (young and inexperienced).

2.         Secondary I was in another country where I did not have my usual doctors to consult (no trustworthy party to consult).

3.         Thirdly, it was very irritating and you did not know how soon it could be cured (cannot foresee when it’ll end).

Normally when someone faces a situation that is out of their hands, they tend to panic. In commercial arenas, we are fragile and could be a subject to be slaughtered. In financial markets, we tend to surrender and lose out all our money. Therefore it is important to stay calm and not to panic. Once you know what the devil is, you have a way to handle it.