Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

This is something I dug out from my PC closet written...erm, date not disclosed. Anyway.... *** *** *** I am made of steel, invincible . Nothing can hurt me nor destroy me. I am made of steel, my metal fingers can wrangle any form of tangle, emotional or otherwise. I am made of steel, therefore, I don’t need muscles to withstand brute force smashed against me. I am made of steel, hence, nothing can dash my will to succeed and reach my goals. I have built such a strong fort against external force and harm because of a well-learned experience that nothing, not even Optimus Prime ’s brawny arms can tear me apart. Nor can Yoda (or is he Yoga ? I forget) talk me out of surrendering. Bruce Lee is nothing – he’s just a piece of meat with two fists. Really big….fast fists. But still….nothing can penetrate this fortress. I am invincible, unconquerable, impregnable and indestructible. I am not afraid of threats because I KNOW no one can hurt me. Nothing can hurt me for I ha...

In this fast-paced world that we live in today, we’re reeling ahead of ourselves in terms of knowledge, material gains, stress-overload, expectation of oneself, goal-reaching….and knowledge. You see, these days, you can find information about anything under the sun with the internet. I remember one time, I was so stressed out that I ran up Google and ran a search for throat ache and neck pain. I thought I had neck cancer. I thought I had thyroid problem (did a test, came out normal). Then I had these little dots on my leg and I thought I had skin cancer! Walamak …. I am not saying that we should all be blur-blur like me and know nothing but you know what? It’s crazy that a lot of people are struggling to stuff up their grey matter with as much information as possible. I think it’s fine if you want to google up why your poo is purple in color or want to learn to fix your fence but some people just go way beyond that….and it is disturbing. Indifference , my friends, is somet...

My maid needs to learn how to read English. Went to Jusco, bought some stuff and she went on to place the stuff bought in their rightful places. This is not in the right place. Cooking Spray don't make friends with RIDSECT very well unless we're planning to cook cockroach curry lor, hor?

I got new icons for the services that I have to offer through my website! Been thinking and thinking...then thonking, thonking about it for such a long time and just NEVER MADE TIME for it! In my industry, word is everything but recently, I was working a website for a client of mine and his brother reminded me that despite the fact that I am a freelance writer and it's always about words, words, words and more words with me, I need to spruce it up with a couple of images to 'pretty things up'.....just a little wee bit. I agreed....so.....force myself to sit down and think of some nice little icons to make for my freelance writing and search engine optimization services and TADA!!!!! SEO article writing services - writing for the purpose of search engine marketing and optimization mah. Search engine use spiders mah....so, spider lah in replacement of the 'o' for SEO. Cute spider or not? Surprisingly, not very hard to illustrate this spider. *yawn yawn yawn* We...

Pay me. Pay me now. Freelance writing services for website, seo web content and also ghost blog writing services guaranteed to create good traffic for your website. Testing testing. $240 for 20 power-packed, keyword-filled SEO web content for your website or blog. Promotion price until end of this year (erm, 2008) only. Actually, this is testing testing page because of my cousin only.....but if you press, I think it works. Ah well... Powerful freelance blog ghost writing services

Some people just can’t stop trying to control other people. It annoys me….so completely that I just feel like an uncontrollable knee-jerk reaction to reach across the table and twack their noses! The thing is, some people have this really infuriating habit of trying to teach you how to teach your kids . That’s exactly what I am getting at lah, OK? It’s like someone who’s constantly watching you…and waiting for you to foul up so she will walk up to you and point it out to you very ‘cheerfully’ and ‘nicely’. I take her words with a PUNCH of salt, for your information and most of the time, I try to steer clear . You’ll never know when my hand (and mouth) might decide enough is enough, you know! Anyway, had a dinner gathering last night and met up with some of the most fabulously animated gwai-lows and made some new friends together with some relatives discussing everything under the sun. Our conversation was laced with McCallan and some other drink that I cannot remember liao lah. ...

Never ending….the number of social networking and web 2.0 websites keep popping up nowadays, trying to take a piece of the huge mega-sized cheesecake that Facebook is chomping on. Looks like Orangeshark is making a small not-to-be-ignored wave out there and I am quite sure it’s not the only one. Too lazy to scout around for more. Just by skimming the surface of it, Orangeshark is a place where people play games, communicate and network with each other. I don’t see too many ‘vegas-style’ games, so, I assume it’s a kid-safe place. For me, I’ve not signed up with them yet….as it is, I have my plate full but my eyes are open and I would like to see how they’re doing and what kind of waves they’re making. But there’s a small part of me that is wondering, ‘ Do we really need another one ?’ I mean, Facebook’s got all those vampires, battles, jigsaws, scrabbles, drink-throwing, face-slapping, sheep-throwing, coffee-giving, drink-mixing games in there as it is (I hardly use the...

No one, not a single person, can become BIG walking alone. This is something that I have to keep reminding myself. Delegating , for people who know me or have worked with me before, is not one of my stronger points. But eh, cannot blame me, right? I’ve been freelancing for a long time liao – this means, everything I phow-ka-liao (packaged) mah. So, it’s normal for me to feel so apprehensive and distrustful over other people’s skill-set. Nevertheless, in order for me to grow, I have to learn how to do that. I’ve been yearning to grow bigger and better with my career and I see incredible opportunity and there are opportunities everywhere for me because my business is literally boundary-less. If US cannot, I target London, if London cannot, I go Australia, if Australia cannot, I go Hong Kong, etc. You get the picture. And I don't even need AirAsia punya low-cost ticket. Don't even need to move my sorry ass. Yet, I’ve said ‘ no, I don’t have tim e’ so many times already….a...

Don’t be stupid, Chong tells women If there's ever 'the' most machonistic article, this one has got to be it! Early in the morning, I choked on my coffee and went ballistic, hardly able to believe a single word that I was reading on page 2 or 3 of our local daily! Eddie Chua, the writer, go EFF OFF!!! MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong should EFF OFF TOO! Not that I am condoning women being so vulnerable to submitting to their loved one's (or one-night-standers) demands for a little 'recorded' adventure under (or above) the sheets. I don't....not after the Edison Chen fiasco but not a single word in that article was aimed at the men who uploaded the stuff! Not a single word...not a single remark about how disgraceful and unethical the act of these men. Instead, once again, the fingers are all pointed at the women. How STUPID they are to have it done to themselves!!! $#W^#&!Q$@&^#^*&*($@%^&!@% $%^$...

Me and a good friend of mine were discussing something about a month back (yes, I DO record everything that I want to blog about in a document so that I don’t forget) about how human beings lower their moral values as they get older. When you’re in your twenties , those who are self-righteous or who are morally walking the right path would shun activities like ‘ calling on the girls ’ or visiting night clubs for non-business purposes . The young and morally correct people also tend to be stricter about religious rules – as in they attend church more and listen to what their bosses or teachers have to tell them. They’re more attentive towards these moral regulations, written or unwritten. I find that people tend to lower their moral values as they get older. If you asked me fifteen years back if I would accept a man who cheated on me, I would very promptly deliver a karate kick to your gut…even if you’re not the one cheating on me (LOL). Just for asking . How dare you! ...

OK, I must admit that I am crossing the line again . Once again, I’ve lost control of my schedule and wwwaaaaayyyyy over my head. This morning, supposed to go pasar (wet market) to get some food stuff. My maid’s reminder, “ Makanan, sayur dah habis, nyonya ,” (food’s finished) she reminds me for the tenth time yesterday. I KNOW !!!! So, what happened? Why didn’t I just go to the market after dropping my kids off at school? Well, a client wants to drop by and pass me a CD. Inevitable because the client also have to rush off somewhere Thursday and despite attempts to download files through the internet earlier, they all failed. And it’s nice of him to drop it off at my place. I could’ve just asked my maid to pick the CD up for me but there’s a major communication problem there. My client is a gwai-low, my maid in Indon. I intended to drop my son off to school a little earlier so that I could go the pasar earlier but my usual visit to BHP for breakfast was unintentionally ‘extended’...

In terms of internet savviness, I think I am quite ‘ there ’ lah….a bit lah. Not a lot but a bit ‘ there ’, up there with some of some internet marketers out there but let’s face it, I’m not going to be swimming in cash yet unless I learn to do something extraordinary . REALLLLLYYYYY EXTRAORDINARY. But come to think of it, some of the biggest gazillionaires who made a whole lot of mullah from the Internet did not start out thinking it would make them millionaires. In fact, some of them did it for fun. Humor me, fun = lots of money . Let’s have lots of fun, then, instead of working our butts off for mediocre earnings, am I right? :-) That leaves me thinking…what can I do that is fun and can make me truckloads of money everyday? I want to hear the cash register going ka-ching, ka-ching every minute of the day and my sole responsibility is to have complete, unbashed fun. I took this list off somewhere, can’t remember where (trust me, I have all these things, ready to be blogged abo...

I just couldn't resist posting this because it's Monday and I am having a sucky time adjusting. And my kid is having his exam and this poor mom also feeling a little stressed out. Oh yeah....not to mention there's TONS OF WORK to be done. Never complete wan...the work. One on top of another.... So, for those of you who are feeling a lil like me right now, click on the above image and read. Or if you've got really good eyesight, you should be able to read without clicking. :-) Ciao!

I am going to write really short today because I’m tired of spelling…yeah, I got Microsoft Word to help me spwell but so what? Don’t want to spill too much tonight because I’m done with speeling . My son’s got exam tomorrow and we’ve been running through a lot of spoolings today and you know what? If I thought Chinese words were tough…blooooddiiieee hell, I got it all wrong. English is far harder . We spent forty minutes studying and memorizing just one word… mischievous . See ? Even I got it wrong without Microsoft Word…and shit, I just realized that I taught my son how to spill the word wrongly. Tiu ! Why can’t mischievous be mischivius? Or mischivus or something more logical instead of the conglomeration of unnecessary letters in there. Sigh…I got to sleep early tonight cause tomorrow is….well, Monday. He’s in standard two for crissakes! Isn’t he supposed to speell words like school, garden, mother, father, cup, fat, thin, short, long, home, house, kid, p...

I live in a place where many foreigners like to populate. This is turning into another Desa Sri Hartamas. Must be something the govt worked out or perhaps it’s the offers by the developers or management companies. Give me two minutes to figure out how to write this without me sounding like a nun…. OK. Like this . This is Malaysia and we have comparatively stringent and restrictive laws about showing too much skin, or being overly sexually expressive with the opposite sex. Generally speaking, excessive touching and oral exchange of bodily fluid is acceptable, most of the time, behind closed doors…which also includes under the influence of alcohol provided you’re not behind the wheel. That one, another funky story. In pubs, in alleyways and in stairwells, you have all these desperate pubescent kissing up a storm and going on a touching rampage while adrenaline and hormones scorch their nerve endings. Some do the deed, some don’t. In short, if you’re not drinking in a night spot ...

OK, here's the thing with this image thing....you don't want people to design robots or programs or spiders or cockroaches or whatever to spam blogs and websites. I understand that. In fact, I am all for it. It's annoying to have spambots come in and post one liners like.... Can't get it up? Try this website. Top quality Viagra for low pricing. Value discount if bought inbulk. Or the most common ones would be.... Want a completely paid-for holiday with your family and coming home to a villa beside the sea before taking a spin in your luxury car. Then you have to read this! It's amazing! Within three weeks, you will get $32,000 in your account. Within a month, whether you like it or not, we'll bank in $65,498 into your bank account. Within six months, you're a f*%#@* royalty. I don't like that....and I assuming you don't like that either, right? If you have a popular blog, you get even worse stuff like hate mails, awful comments or people who ...

When asked what’s my one single favorite thing to do in the world, I would usually name a whole list of things that I love to do when my work is not screaming at me. Something that takes my mind COMPLETELY off of everyday tasks and relaxes me. Take a guess what it is…. If you say ‘ reading ’, yes, I love reading (especially soppy love stories with lots of sex scenes, please. Hee hee hee ….) and I also love mystery novels but it’s not the first on the list. If you say ‘ playing the piano ’; yes, I love playing the piano. Creating forms a huge part of my life and whenever I play the piano (as inept at it as I am), there’s this tiny little girl inside of me jumping up and down with glee, clapping her hands. It’s my childhood dream to be able to play the piano! And thumping on the keys gives me a sense of satisfaction when I hear the music. If you say ‘ writing ’; You’ve got to be kidding me! You mean I don’t write enough as it is? Case closed. If you say ‘ playing with my kids ’; Yea...

Writing poems wakes up a dead mind! With Halloween around the corner and my lids heavy, writing this poem got the juices in my head flowing again....slush slush slush..... by Marsha Maung Snarling teeth, red eyes and flesh that rot They excite me, but they scare me not Fairies, angels, ghost, goblins and Dracula The air smells nothing short of spectacular You believe me, you believe me not Over the angel wings my siblings fought Karen got the angel wings, I got the cloth To put over my head, like Casper , I thought Reeling back and forth inside my mind Are the sweets and all goodies I will find When I go aknocking on my neighbors’ doors One by one, three, four, five sweets and more! Oh goodie, oh goodie goodie goodie I bet I have more sweets in my bag than Kelly Kelly thinks she’s sweet, she’ll get more sweets But she forgets, I am quicker on my feet Mom says that’s NOT the spirit of Halloween To celebrate the culture is not a contest...

I hate it when people say that in order to be a good writer, you’d have to have a mind filled with complicated, bombastic, not-your-usual-everyday words in order to survive as a freelance writer. That’s like telling me that unless you’re driving a Porsche, you’re not allowed to play in a certain park or eat in a particular restaurant. To me, the quality evaluation of one’s work should be a little bit more realistic because unless you’re writing for something like, say, a magazine or a really popular paper, then a huge vocabulary will not come into play at all. While I don’t encourage every Jane, John and Jonas to become a freelance writer (it would, then flog the market….as if it’s not flooded enough as it is) because it requires a whole lot more than just knowing how to spin some words together just for the sake of making the numbers. Continue reading this article here (MarshaMaung.com)

Some people say it's stupid but I think this is doing things the right way lah....when I charge people by the hour, I actually use a timer....quite like a psychiatrist or marriage counselor lidat. When I start, I start, when I pause, I pause....then I round it up. To get your own stopwatch, go to www.online-stopwatch.com . Mine was free....

Sometimes, when you see that someone is out of place, you know that person is like a fish out of water….maybe a little desperate, probably unfamiliar. It’s like when you’re in a foreign country, locals can spot you 3km away, right? Well, that’s probably what happened to me this morning when I went to the morning market to grab some foodstuff. Most of the time, people who visit the wet market are aunties and uncles and perhaps some really young people who were dragged out of bed by their parents to fetch them to pick up some food from the market. These people stand out very remarkably…mouth drawn into a thin line, a frown and hardly-open puffy eyes. But that’s not me . Strangely enough, I quite like visiting the wet market now that they don’t perform the ‘ slaying of the chickens ’ atop the back of a truck for all to see…like a stage. Now, I think they hide in a camp somewhere nearby, slay the chics and then chop them up on the way, and plonk them for sale in the ...

Many people are hit by the nose-diving economy….friends lament to me their sorrowful stories about how their bosses are forcing them to leave their jobs by unnecessarily undulating their functions and roles in the company. Some others are luckier in a sense that they don’t have to work…their husbands do, however, but accordingly, bonuses aren’t going to that fat this year and a lot of mid-management people are kinda underhanded with their handing of responsibilities. Then there are those who are in the investment and business world… even worse ! Many of them have crashed out. Recently, a relative (two of them, in fact) was kicked out of an organization that they’ve been working for for a long, long, long, long time. It’s sad to see the world the way it is now. For me, yeah, I’ve been hit. I would be blatantly lying to say that I have not been. I have begun digging into savings as it is because my previous focus was on my US clients. Well, it goes without saying…unless you’re sti...

I've updated two articles on my freelance writing website. One of them is not really a helpful article but I am posting it up for variety's sake and also that I think it might come in handy for me when I decide to do one of those solo adventure travel trips that I've been yearning for for so long. Adventure Travel Information for the Woman Tourist But what's more important is this article about how to start your own business and what is required of you. We all know you are perfectly capable of working out the figures and jotting down whether the fridge is more important or the letter-opener, but what about emotionally? What kind of state of mind would you have to be in order for you to be a good entrepreneur? What Does It Really Take To Start A Business?