Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

…..knowing that there are people around you who would do anything for you when you need them to. They’re like anchors of life. It’s hard to be down, I should know and life is full of those curves and bends that are meant to trip you. You fall down hard and break your nose. But then there are people around you who would do everything they can to simply come to you and lend you a helping hand. That’s really amazing. From the moment I became a mother, regretfully, I have to say that I have forgotten how important friends and family are to me as a person. I can’t take all the falls on my own although I have the tendency to do that. I have the superwoman syndrome thing going for me. But I was wrong. Thankfully, I have awoken. Everyone feels weak once in a while and during those moments, you suddenly need someone to urge you on. They don’t have to help you get up because getting up is something you’ll have to do on your own but all they have to do is holler at the top of their lung...

I, generally speaking, hate blonde jokes because not all blondes are dumb. And besides, you don't hear people making jokes about Brad Pitt do you? Or is he a brunette? But I found this totally, totally funny because I didn't see it coming and I couldn't find the answer. Maybe it was because I saw it during one of those not-too-sharp and a-little-old-blind moments. Nevertheless, I found it funny, so I am sharing it here with you. Can you spot the blonde in this picture? Done? Scroll down.... > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Sigh....only a blonde don't know her right from her left leg.

It was really bizarre to me.....for the fourth night in a row, I dreamt that either buildings were falling, roads were shaking and cracking and yesterday night, the whole house fell away and I was standing alone on a table. How crazy can THAT be, right? I live in a country where earthquake is as dangerous as a pair of fork and spoon, so, it was really funny that I kept having earthquake dreams. Then I decided to do a little research on it. What does it mean when one continues to have dreams of earthquake and this is what they say. *** *** *** Loss of control, or fear of losing control. Afraid of being negatively affected by external circumstances. Feeling like you're "on shaky ground " somehow. To dream of an earthquake , suggests that you are experiencing a major " shake -up" that is threaten ing your stability and foundation . The dream highlights you in security , fears and sense of helpless ness. Earthquake - falling apart; conflict with ...

I always thought that Spiderman's best-friend, the one who died in the recent release under the franchise was cute. I cried when he died! Boo hoo hoo....but I didn't know who he was....until I did this quiz and the result was that he's my celebrity hunk . Hahaha.....I don't know why but I just do these things, you know.....to pass time, to cure boredom, to give me minor thrills....whatever. Well, for whatever it's worth, this is what the result said: James Franco Laid back and totally easy going. Easy to joke with and fun to be around, James Franco will compliment your funny persona. He won't be afraid to mess with you and be the kind of lover who you want. Easy to be around but willing to please you in any way possible. Hhhmmm....I guess I don't mind when he looks like THIS. But on the record, I still want Robert Pattinson if given a choice . :-))) If you have a twitter account, you can do the quiz yourself . Add me to twitter if you're a twiter...

If i had it my way, this would be my perfect bathroom :-) And i want all of them top down, not bottom out. I hate it when I find missing toilet paper rolls in the bathroom when you need them....absolutely need them. When you're living with the masculine gender, that happens a lot and I am sorrily outnumbered! Sheesh!

I have to fuggin ssoooooo do this! I need to not just congratulate her but I have to kiss my sister's feet for doing this! She's just shown me....no, the world, that when there's a will, there's a bloody yellow brick road for everything. I mean, how many people can graduate from a degree....diploma....whatever it is but it was tough (I've seen the ENCYCLOPEDIAS that she had to read - it had to be PhD or something) doing it part-time . At thirty-something, she has to work, study, come home and sweep hair from the floor, sometimes cook (not very much, though), and on weekends she runs the hills....all those torturous stuff to do and still have the mind to study. I sit on my ass the whole day and complain that I am tired. When I was college, I sang, danced, partied and dated my way to a law degree. I should be ashamed of myself. In order to survive such a feat, there's only one ingredient in the cauldron....pure grit and determination. Well, two ingredi...

" A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie ." -- Tenneva Jordan For many years after chancing upon the above quote, it never quite touched me. It was, to me then, a really good quote but the significance and accuracy of the statement above never quite touched my heart until I became a mother myself. It’s true….you don’t see the sacrifices made until you have to start sacrificing yourself. A mother is someone who would truly give everything and anything that she is capable of reaching to the people whom she loves. Life as a mother is, indeed, a rough one but it is an immeasurably rewarding one. " At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent ." -- Golda Meir The above quote rings true, painfully so I believe, for moms ...

At the age of 25.....no, 28....fine 32, I enrolled myself for piano class because it's a childhood dream that I have always wanted to achieve....to be able to finally play the piano for real. I enrolled the kids too and they love it as much as I do. We tend to tinkle more with the features actually but it makes piano-playing all the more fun. Music is all about fun and enjoying playing. I've never agreed with how the conventional teachers tried to drill their students and whacking their fingers whenever they played the wrong notes. I mean...WTF? Music is fun!! When you do that, where's the element of fun? So, I enroll myself into these classes and play quite OK. In a few years, I've managed to bring myself to the final level. That's not the point. I've always thought that playing piano came naturally to me. That's not true. Singing came naturally to me. Piano-playing came naturally to this five-year-old BLIND girl. Watch it and sob your heart out. ...

you know there are days that you don't feel like capitalizing even the first alphabet of the sentence. L ike this? well, today is one of them. there's nothing you can do about it. i feel like sh-t right now and wish that someone threw me off a building and call it a suicide too . i woke up feeling dazed (no, i did not drink) and trudged on ahead from 8.20am. ran out to get clothes hangers, forgot to get milk, ran out to get milk, forgot noodles, ran out to get noodles. then came home, wrote 6 articles to state of complete exhaustion. who knew one could get so tired just from writing. oh, and i forgot i made soup and did not give it to the kids for dinner. it's still there in the stupid slow cooker. see why i hate mondays? well, here's one to end monday with.

The Malaysian haze situation is getting completely out of hand. I mean, what use is a kitchen with a view when there's nothing but smoke outside? Spent all that money to cook on top of a stupid (small) hill for nothing. I walk out and I smell burning rubbish and the scent of scorched trees. Rubbish. I hope something is done fast. Being more than a lil miffed, I tinkled with this image to express my feelings. My sons crept up behind me and went, 'Whoa, cool! How'd you make the eyes, mom?' Sigh....I show him. 'First you create this circle, then this circle, then another circle, color this one black....TADA!' 'Whoa cool! What are you gonna do with that?' 'I'm putting it online. o'er here....' I put it on my facebook. Big mistake. Son reads, 'Faaaaccceeeeebook' 'Shit' 'Huh?' 'Nothing' 'Can I have a facebook, mom?' 'Yeah. I guess.' No rules regarding kids having facebook a...

Phew, Hugh. You are one f-ckin' awesome dude! Bet you know that Kiefer Sutherland beats the shit out of the paps every time they try to take his picture or chase his coattails. He gets drunk and beats the hell out of anyone seen armed with a camera, pencil, pen, PDA, or he pokes them in the eye or sucker punches people and say, 'He asked for it!' Ryan Reynolds, apparently, likes the paps a lot too. Know what I think? They don't know their work! This is what life as a celebrity is like as rightfully pointed out by some gossip writers. I mean, I totally agree that if you want to have a successful life as a celeb, as annoying as the paps are, you can make it work positively or you can start kicking arses. The easier it is to ruffle your feathers, the better the experience is for them. They love to annoy the sheets out of you and are waiting for you to just....kill them. Or attempt to kill them. Then they have a good fuggin' story. So, Hugh Jackman is, by far, on...

I got this from my Aunt Angie in email and thought it is damn funny....too funny not to share! Have fun. Hope your Sunday's been splendid so far. *** *** *** ** Dr. Quek made a routine house call to Mr. Lim, one of his elderly patients. He asks, "And how are you doing today, Mr. Lim?" Mr. Lim replies, "I feel just fine, doc. But you know, it's the strangest thing. Every night when I get up to pang jio, the bathroom light goes on for me automatically when I open the door!" The doctor is worried that the old man is getting senile, so he phones the man's son, and the son's wife answers. The doctor tells her, "Mrs. Lim, I'm a little concerned about your father-in-law. It seems that when he gets up to urinate at night and opens the bathroom door, the light somehow goes on...." At which point, Mrs. Lim yells, "Aiyoh, Ah Seng! Ah Pa pang jio in the fridge again!" ____________________________ QUESTION: How do you k...

Writers get nerves too, you know, because when we hand something up to the client, we sit there and wait...and wonder anxiously if we delivered right or if we left typos in there. This is particularly true for new clients. So, it's very encouraging and useful for writers like me to hear words of encouragement from clients who are happy with our work. Simple words. "We like it! Keep it up!!" And this writer is over the moon. I did the right thing. I'm on the right track. This client almost gave up on me because of my email problems but he gave me another chance. Thank goodness for that. :-)))) Happiness.... p.s. On the other hand, if we are not on the right track, we would like to know where we went wrong and the kind of style they preferred too. Communication is very important

My client, Kumar, sent me sample after sample after sample, after sample after sample……and asked me to try this perfume, walk out and see what people around me say. And of course, ‘please drop a good word for me…the product when you get the chance.’ This perfume, Ageless Fantasy, when you wear it, it makes people think that you’re eight years younger. No, not eight-years-old….eight years YOUNGER. They use a blend of many different types of scents based on research on aromatherapy. Check their website out for more information . You can’t get it here in KL, actually, unless you’ve got a friend in New York or something. It’s taken me a long time to blog about this because I don’t get paid to write reviews and I don’t lie. I hate liars so, lying about a product is not my th’ng. Anyway, I am going to (finally) write about this because it’s about time and I’ve REALLY got something to tell you! :-) Ryan Augustine de Alwis ! Confirm this. OK, I went out with Ryan to this place in TTDI,...

The phone rings and the lady of the house answers, " Hello ." " Mrs. Ward, please ." " Speaking ." " Mrs. Ward, this is Doctor Jones at the Medical Testing Laboratory. When your doctor sent your husband's biopsy to the lab yesterday, a biopsy from another Mr. Ward arrived as well, and we are now uncertain which one is your husband's. Frankly, the results are either bad or terrible ." " What do you mean ?" Mrs. Ward asks nervously. " Well, one of the specimens tested positive for Alzheimer's and the other one tested positive for AIDS. We can't tell which are your husband's ." " That's dreadful! Can't you just do the test again ?" questioned Mrs. Ward. " Normally we can, but Medicare will only pay for these expensive tests one time. The people at Medicare recommend that you drop your husband off somewhere in the middle of town. If he ...

I need coffee.....my regular one. I just bought this new coffee (which shall remain unnamed) and it's not giving me the kick. I can't live without coffee because without it, it's not possible for me to feel alive. AT ALL. *&!#^%$*!()*%@&*@ Addict? You calling me a f-cking addict? Screw off! I can't write well like this....I can't. The words are not coming to me. And I have to go to my son's school to give him his lunch money because he left it on the table before heading out. It sucks. I suck. Everyone sucks. If I don't write well, then my clients will complain and I will tell them to take a number. You can tell that my week's kicking off with a flying start, can't you?

Note: Read in Jest, please. For those who have not been through it, this post might scare you a little. It's not my intention but it's just that....the reality of it....stark and dark and painful. However, for those who have been through it, then you'll be chortling. Motherhood . Giving birth and facing the biggest challenge(s) in your life....it comes in a small package, is loud and demanding , and worst of all....they don't come with instructions! It's not fair because women are so good with instructions and all that...and this, this....this THING does not come with a 300-page manual. I lodged a complaint with my maker but they chucked it out. First your body is contorted to accommodate a living being for nine whole months. Not nine hours, but nine whole months you're lugging this bowling ball in your stomach. The bowling ball loves swimming, crashing into your ribs, poking your kidney and rolling around doing gymnastics, by the way. As the months wear...

I just don't get it! Asians have been formulating magical potions since forever to make us look fairer and there they are, trying to become blacker. The world sure is a twisted place, huh? Not that I am unhappy being slightly tanned but for Lindsay Lohan, she'd better stop going for those tanning sessions or bronzing up her skin whichever way she is doing it or she'll end up looking like a piece of coal with legs. She looks totally FUGLY to me....

There's nothing awfully new to the plot but as cliche as it is, it works....AGAIN. Mike O'Donell is a strapping young man who was at the top of his game...his life, at 17, playing basketball. He had the future rolling out nicely ahead of him. And then his girlfriend tells him that she's pregnant in the middle of an important game and being a responsible person, he ditches the game and marries her. Well, not on the same day but you get the drift. Deep down inside, Mike feels that he missed out on childhood and he should have a better one. He had such a bright future and there he was, a loser. All because pregnant and he she got herself pregnant and now he had to marry her. That A-hole. All in all, it's a very interesting way to work an old plot. Being my age, we've practically seen all there is to be seen about stories like this but I watched this because there was Zac Efron and I liked the trailer. The acting Apart from some parts whereby h...

Added some articles to my website www.marshamaung.me . Here they are. The Qualities Of A Freelance Ghost Writer http://marshamaung.me/freelancewriting/qualities-freelance-ghost-writer.html How to Figure Out What You Want When You Don't Know What That Is http://marshamaung.me/life/how-to-figure-out-what-you-want-don%27t-know-what-that-is.html For those looking for a chance to experiment or practise your writing, here's what you can do: Join a contest! The WritersWeekly.com Summer 2009 24-Hour Short Story Contest is now accepting entrants! Each contest is limited to 500 entrants. Contests usually fill up (it's tons of fun!), so don't delay if you want to participate. 1st Place: $300 2nd Place: $250 3rd Place: $200 Entry fee is $5. You can see the complete list of 85 prizes and sign up here: http://www.writersweekly.com/misc/contest.html

WARNING : For kid below the age of 25, please read this with your parents. *** *** *** I went to Singapore for a travel writing project some time back and I took some really nice photos which I didn't want to share because most of the stuff I gather there should belong to the client but then, some things, like this one....I think it's fine. I went to this place called Asylum on Ann Siang Road and it's a really funky place where it sells some of the most awesome things I've seen. In fact, you can't find them here. More on the Asylum here (I assure you, this is not an ad. Asylum's Cheryl, if you're reading this, I accept kind donations.) Like these dolls here....what is this? This is called Kamasutra Dolls. Designed for the lonely and experimental, I think. They have a huge variety of them, blond, different colored unsexy checkered bathrobes, with glasses, with mustache to suit your fancy. My favorite, I think, apart from the glasses guy, is this...

Nice is such a horrible, horrible word. Nothing happens to nice. Like....they remain where they are a decade down the road. They don't change or do anything at all. Nice is a little prehistoric. I don't want to be nice. Nice people are taken advantage of. Nice people suck it up when they should just step out of their shell. Nice people cry silently in the background and nobody cares. Nice people hurt when other people hurt. Nice people suck. Comparatively, mean people are fantastic because they know what they want. They see something that they want, they won't think twice about shoving nice people out of the way. Nice people step aside and let them go ahead, anyway. No shoving is necessary but mean people shove you....just for fun, and nice people don't say anything. Fun people are also exciting to be because they're the life of a party. Fun people like nice people because nice people laugh even when fun people make lousy jokes. Fun people are enemies of mean ...

The Anonymous Lawyer is a book written by Jerry Blachman some years back and I've just picked the book randomly out of a book sale. It's a very refreshing piece of work because it's written mainly in the form of blog posts and emails. The beginning of the book, I found them amusing because the Anon Lawyer was hiding his identity and making up names for the people he encounters in his work place....most of the time exagerating the shit out of things! :-) The writer inserts reality via email exchanges with his niece and readers of his blog. Towards the middle, he softened up a little bit on the criticisms and story-making and you start to feel a little better about reading the accounts of a lawyer who taunts people about their looks, their abilities and their judgment. I actually smiled when he found some time to play with his son. And then he crumbles. Well, he got too excited about making it to the post of CHAIRMAN and it brought him down. I wished that he slept with...