Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

I've been on this journey for close to two years now and I am still not used to this. But that's the reason I threw myself off this cliff in the first place, knowing it is a territory that I would need to learn how to navigate again.  But when I started this journey, there were a few conditions I set for myself: 1. I wanted to feel belonged 2. I have to be working on things that made me feel fulfilled or satisfied 3. The people I would inevitably surround myself with have to share my vision and mision. Nothing is going to be perfect, that much I know, but at the very least, working with people who had the same style and personality as me is top priority.  4. I don't want to deal with authoritarians every single day.  5. I would have to learn how to socially adapt myself to groups of people again and if my gut instincts told me that it is not the right group of people, I would have to get out.  6. The very nature, the very core of what we do on an everyday basis has to be a

Space Sweeper the Korean Sci-Fi Blockbuster hits Netflix 2021 Image Source: KoreaTimes Let me come clean. The first thing I thought when I saw Song Joong Ki leading the lineup for this movie was ' Is this OK?'  ' Hhhmmm.....what about, you know...his personal life', and as a fan of his previous personal work, I had the same doubt I had when he was casted in 'Descendants of the Sun'.  Sorry, Joong Ki. 😳 But the concept of a sci-fi movie in the Korean film platter was enticing. The trailer didn't look half bad either. When it comes to space movies, Hollywood has always been the Big Guy. We expect Hollywood to deliver the big guns and explosions while Kdrama land is all mush, love, arm grabs, ice-cold kiss scenes, love triangles, and of late, time traveling.  So, sci-fi? Interesting. Honestly, I went in with an empty mind which is not necessarily an open one. Ditched the reviews, writeups, Youtube reactions and everything else and hit the 'watch' butto

I am relooking at my life like I've never had to before. I don't even know if this is a mid-life crisis but whatever that I have been through thus far have served critically to making me into a person that I am excited to meet.  I've gone from being absolutely shocked, dismayed, excited, elated, hopeful, destroyed, emotionally drained, disappointed, hopeful and wonderful again, and then have had my soul crushed within these few years.  I don't even really know where I am going anymore. I thought I knew.  Some people just power themselves up by making people feel horrible. They're just the way they are, and honestly speaking, my younger self would have done everything within my power to try to change these people. To believe that I have a pocketful of cheer dust to sprinkle over them to make them better.  But I am no longer young.  I know now that there's nothing I can do to change mean people. The only I can do is to understand that they are the way they are bec

The Covid-19 panda ic is still raging on and, honestly, the numbers coming out in my state and city is not encouraging. We are still recording new record numbers and yet, some of us are required to be at work and unnecessarily exposed to the risk of infection. It wouldn't be anything to worry about if it was essential to my job. But the fact remains is that it is not. We don't know when all this catastrophe will be over and everyday, I pray that it is soon.  Not only are we at high risk of catching the virus, we are doing unprecedented damage to the environment judging from the number of plastic and disposals we are left with no other choice but to use especially when we are ordering food through apps.  I feel frustrated that all my efforts to avoid commercialism, materialism, and active participation in environmental efforts is going to waste.  I wish there were better options but I know there's none at this point in time.  Every single day, my efforts (as small and insign

Fighting against the clocks of life Have you ever been in a situation at work (or work at home) whereby you're literally micro-managed to a point whereby you're afraid to go to the bathroom to answer nature's call?  online surveys JavaScript is disabled! Well, that's the situation here right now.  Even when we are to work from home, I find myself sitting there holding my bloody pee (other other more serious nature-related situations) in because I would be hounded down. And when found (and explained), I would still be chastised.  Does this not fall under some form of human abuse? #lol I don't think this kind of management style suits me, seriously. People taking short breaks is actually good for productivity and not to mention mental health .  This is not pissing (pun intended) on anyone, really, but there are people out there who are like that. And if you're one of them, let's share a a very emotional high-five.  Sending you lots of love during this tough C

Have you ever watched a show and wanted nothing to do with the Male and Female leads and spend half the show just rooting for the side story? This is the case for me when I was watching Korean drama 'Start-Up'. And I know I am not alone. The internet has blown up with camps of people rooting for this camp and that camp. I didn't even care about the main storyline cause it was so blotchy and lame that I wanted our second Male lead to have something good happen to him.  At times, I just gave up the main storyline. Seriously. The fast-forward button became my best friend. Lol The sidestory was so much more meaningful and endearing. Major failure on the writer's part.  Yes, the second lead is way cuter but his relationship and scenes with the grandmother he never had were such scene stealers! The things he did and sacrificed also casted a shadow over the Male Lead. The Male Lead was such an inconvenience! The fact that I gave up the love story is proof of the fact that roma

I know everyone still uses Google Chrome as their main browser (so do I, most of the time) but I've been exploring other browsers just because I want to see what they can do and also, I use them differently for work and personal reasons.  In year 2020 alone, it was reported by the University of Maryland that there is one cyber threat every 39 seconds. That's 2,244 attacks per day. 😲 The stat didn't sit too well with me because we are now more dependent on our phones and the internet than ever before. I don't even have much cash on me anymore these days because I use eWallets, debit card, and online transactions for nearly everything.  I mean, a bunch of colleagues went out for lunch and one person pays for the meal. The rest of us split up the bill and started transferring our share of the meal via TouchnGo and Grab. I paid my sister for buying reusable customized face mask she got from her friend with TouchNGo. A work superior borrowed cash from me (even though he is

Experiencing menstrual problems is something that I've always been upfront about with my boys and yet, I have a feeling that they will never, in fact, NO MAN will ever, understand the true shame, (guilt, even - for having it or complaining about it for fear of being shunned or being labeled as whinny ).  But it IS a problem all women go through and we suffer not only monthly pains, everything else related to starting and raising a family is placed solely on the shoulders of women. And we're not permitted to complain about it.  “For example, the homeless do not have access to menstrual products but for students, the school toilets may not be clean or have proper bins in the cubicles, which makes changing pads difficult,” she said. - The Painful Reality of Period Poverty in Malaysia Sometimes, periods get so bad that we reduces us to puddles of misery. And yet, if a woman was to call in sick from work because she knows she is not able to fully function for the day, it is assumed

Pandemic Problems: My body has absorbed so much soap and disinfectant lately, that when I pee, it cleans the toilet In a blink of an eye and it's almost the end of the year. Christmas is approaching. Mall decorations and the songs they're playing over the radio airwaves are telling us so but it doesn't quite feel like it, does it?  We entered the year almost in a panic, lumbering our way around a potentially deadly virus while holding onto the hope that it's just another one of those scares that never quite made it to our shores. We kept our ear to the ground and religiously hung onto the words of our Ministers, Health Officials, Government workers, and reporters. We tried to keep calm and most of us did what we had to do to keep ourselves, our family, and our friends safe.  But here it is....this virus. Hitting not just home but the world over the head. Despite how many movies we've seen about viruses and pandemics, reality is so much harder and real.  We've be