Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

It's no wonder I no longer work in the corporate world....I don't think I can take it, anymore. Perhaps I am pampered beyond belief. Or maybe I have just developed my own system to the extent that any other system is no longer deem effective. Trust me, I am 120% more effective now compared to when I was fully employed simply because I am responsible for my own income...no work, no money. But I don't know. I think it might work if given the chance to telecommute or be in control or something. In this shitty economy, I wonder who is ever going to give me control, huh? Anyway, this is something from my album of jokes to share with you. If you were sitting in the cubicle next to me and I picked up a call from our boss for you, this is what the message would be like....

I don't know what possessed me to watch all these videos of airplanes landing....hang on a minute, I think I remember now....aaahhhh....I was watching the video on the airplane that took off in NY and crash landed into Hudson River. The airplane struck some birdies only minutes after they took off - that incident left them two-engines short. The pilot initially wanted to land in a nearby airport but they decided that they won't be able to make it. As they rounded the corner, the pilot and co-pilot decided that they had to make an emergency landing. And that...they did...in the river. It was a move that probably saved a lot of lives....a hundred-odd people in there. Then I got on to watch this video of a plane landing in Kai Tak airport (the old HK airport) which, I didn't know before this) is so precarious! The pilot has to perform a super-sonic cornering right about 30-40 degrees before alligning the plane with the runway. If they overshot it, they would make to mak...

I am a slow cooker....fan. Meaning, I adore the slow cooker because you can fit everything into it, forget about it until it beeps or stops by itself and goes on the 'warming' mode. As you can already tell, I am not much of a chef. Anyway, I've always fancied Western food or Mexican food and have purchased cookbooks with such recipes in abundance. One fine day....I will get to making some of those recipes for my kids. Western food, I don't know why, is mighty popular with the kids, on top of being easy to make (according to those books). For me, Chinese dishes come easy because I grew up consuming Chinese dishes. Even if I were to use the hit-and-miss method of cooking, it would usually end up quite edible. :-) Anyway, I saw this recipe for 'Swiss Chicken' last night and it sounded really.... Swiss . I've never tried anything like that before. But the moment I turned the book around to take a look at the recipe, I sigh.... First, there's the S...

I’ve been pissed mad at my new phone. OK, I finally UNINTENTIONALLY destroyed my PDA phone. Truth be told, I got A LOT fed-up with the whole PDA concept…mine was an iPaq which required the use of a stylus which I almost always inadvertently lose and then I find it the moment I buy a new one. Anyway, I’ve been meaning to buy a new phone for the longest time but a voice inside my head told me that I have to be a little thriftier these days – and I always end up listening to that voice. So, I waited for myself to spoil the thing. And then it happened and the first thing I did was run out to the mobile phone shop and told the guy, “ I want a phone. Cheap-cheap, simple-simple, nothing fancy, can play mp3, comes with simple camera …that’s it ”. So, this nothing-fancy phone came with a radio and I miss listening to the radio when I work. But the signal isn’t very strong on the phone so I have to find a location on my desk where I can plonk the phone. Ironically, the radio is crystal clea...

Really...in times like this, some people still have the audacity to play around with their mobile phones, making calls and sending text messages. If I hire someone like this fellow mentioned in this blog post, I better sprint into a brick wall and die. I keep my mobile phone number secret....very secret....as secret as secret can be. I don't like people calling me for no reason because....surprise, surprise, I don't have a lot of time to waste. Especially strangers. I received a call today from a 012 number, I took the call and the fler said, "Hellow....hellow...hellow....who is this?" First sign of a crank caller...he doesn't even know who he's calling? I ended the call. I ignored his second call as well. Then he sent me a text message, "Eh, you bohsiakah?" HUH??????? Eh! Don't waste my time lah....but I have to be respectful and thinking that maybe this person could be a very forgetful client (like dialing and then forgett...

On Saturday, my son had his first OFFICIAL sports day. I used the word ‘official’ because when he was in Junior 2 in this private school last year, all he had was a telematch that was as official as a school tennis friendly vs. Wimbledon. It was held in Stadium Bukit Jalil, yes…that huge one and we had to be there at an ungodly hour of 7.30am….which means we have to wake up at 6am. The good news is that…there’s no traffic gridlock to contend with because no one in his or her right mind would hit the road because it’s a Saturday.  Needless to say, we woke up late.  I have pictures for this but of all days, I forgot to bring my camera on THAT day BECAUSE I woke up late and was dashing out of the door with my undies still knotted up. My neighbor was there with her daughters too because her kids and my kids go to the same school by virtue of the fact that the school is 4 minutes walk away (refer to earlier blog post) so, I asked her to tumpang (borrow) camera and I volunteer to take pict...

I've just got to rattle this off of my chest before I resign for the day. It's late....and I have an early morning and perhaps, a longer day.  I think I am one lucky bitch....and here's why.  Bakery, market, restaurants, and myriad of different amenities and conveniences are merely 5 minutes drive away.  Kids' school is 4 minutes walk away. GIANT (for groceries) is 8 minutes drive away.  The park (a rather nice but a little lacking) is 6 minutes walk away. A friend's restaurant is 3 minutes drive away. Stationery shop is 3 minutes drive away.  Office is 0 minutes away.  In-laws' place is about 12 minutes drive away. I get to earn a living and raise my kids at the same time.  I decide how I work. I have a nice house.  ...and a nice kitchen.  I continue to have new clients with new projects to work on (which also means that it's about time I learn how to outsource and trust other people) in this troubled economy. I have friends who would come to...

I never realized that I talked a lot with smilies until a friend messaged me…. ‘ Why do you end everything with a :-)?” I was caught off-guard because it isn’t the kind of thing that you take notice of, you see. And my answer is simple, “That’s because whenever I am smiling, I type :-) and if I am not, then I end it just like that. That’s when I am serious.” I’m not lying….it’s seriously why I use the smilies. I smile, and my sentences smile with me….talk about writing like you’re talking. I walk my talk. :-) (yes, yes…I AM smiling) Her question bored into my skull for a while because I remember using :-) in some emails and posts, not because I was smiling, but to let the other person know I write in jest. And it makes a world of difference! Here….let me compare some of them with you. F**K Off!!!!!!! Vs. F**K Off!!!!!!! :-D You’re a moron, you know Vs. You’re a moron, you know. :-) Bitch-slapping is not allowed in this forum Vs. Bitch-slapping is not allowed in this forum...

You've just landed in Tokyo (For Japanese, let's just imagine you landed in....India, ok?) and you're alone. You've been told to go to this particular hotel called....erm, Tokyo Hotel (I know....so imaginative I kill myself, sometimes) and there's no GPRS and translation services so you're going to have to navigate yourself through the maze of unknown faces, and worse, all those words and signboards are supposed to mean something...and yet they don't. You're completely lost. *** "On a visit to China I felt outside society. I couldn't understand the written codes around me. Then I understood what it felt like to be severely dyslexic." (Liz Brooks, formerly Executive Director, DI)" *** My son is dyslexic, hence, he takes forever to read and write. One fine day, he comes to me with a frown etched across his forehead. "Mom, what's a ladyrint". Wow. A word that I've not heard before and he's chanced upon it?  ...

I am just done with my marketing….no, not the business kind….the wet market kind. I don’t like it but someone’s got to make the purchases. Predictably, I wasn’t in one my uppity-jumpitty moods so, I hastily made my exit while lugging three large plastic bags and five smaller ones along with me. I can feel the handle of the plastic bags dig deep into the skin of my fingers and hands. “ Blast it! I am almost near my car….a few more steps ,” I said to myself. That was when I heard someone call, “ Auntie !” I forged ahead and the voice called again, obviously this time, the greeting was directed at me. I huffily turned around to say ‘You-lah Auntie, ma fulat’ but her wide-eyed expression stopped me. It was a girl about thirteen or fourteen and she was gaping at me and pointing to the ground. I looked and saw that I dropped all the plastic bags that I was holding on one hand. “ Oh, hee hee hee….thank you ,” I said sheepishly and walked towards the bags and the girl issued me one of ...

Cooking didn’t come naturally to me, unlike others, because I learned how to peel a potato and garlic at the ripe ole age of something like twenty-four or so. My mom never gave the chance to cook….it’s her fault for pampering me. Ok, fine….it was me. But I wasn’t lazy, it’s just that I am not that good with a knife, wok, pan, spatula, spoon, fork…..OK, fine….I was just too plain lazy to get off my ass to do any form of labor….especially not in the KITCHEN . (You crazy ah?) But now that I am older and am responsible for the food that goes into my kids’ tummies, I have a different stance about the kitchen. If army people had their own fortress, the kitchen is my fortress. And yet, it’s also my spa because I find complete relaxation in cooking. No, it’s not because it can spend some time with the fellow garlics and bawangs (onions)….it’s just relaxing to try to come up with something nice to eat. I am not a finicky eater but I like to eat good food whenever I get the chance to…m...