Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

sidenote: I can't NOT capitalize the first letter of each word in the title. What's my problem?? Occupational hazard, I guess. *** *** Time really flies when you are not watching. This is the second post on the approaching new year. And the reason is that, maybe I am a little emo. Maybe it's the drinks. But hell, that was one helluva year. I am not the kind of person who lingers on history or the past because i believe there is so much more in the future. I want all of that and if I keep looking at the past, I can't have all of the future that I deserve. But this year, so many things happened that I can't help but reflect. 2010 is for refocusing. Realigning, retuning, rewriting some goals. 2010 is gonna be one big mama!!! Not too far off from our entry into the new year, I expect to find more pleasure in writing. More pizazz and maybe even completion of my 'hanging story'. No, it' s not really hanging because it's done. I finished the s...

It wasn't a bad year in the business sense and it wasn't a really terrible year either, personally but, somehow, I spent those 365 days learning something new. Here they are, in the nutshell. I am the most important person to me. Next, my kids. Then my family. Business is important but it has taken up the number 1 spot for the longest time. So, for 2010 rearranging my priorities I can say no. I have to trust people. One of my biggest problems, actually. Fine-tune my goals Be more 'there' with my kids Focus Every single one of my friends is a blessing. I am sorry for having neglected you guys all this while. And thank you for still being here and willing to be my friend, despite me being an ass and all Family will be there even when you are a biatch to them I am not indestructible. I am human I love me All in all, it's been, basically, a whole year of learning how to bring the focus back to what's important to me. Previously, I've been led down a road of fi...

I am massively trying to moisturize my hands because it's been one whole day of cooking and washing dishes. OK, my parents, both nearing their 60's, recently decided to open a cafe/restaurant, together a couple of my aunts. Being that age....sigh, I know how it is running a friggin' restaurant. I have experience. It's tough. FREAKING TOUGH. The work is endless. But since they have embarked on this 'adventure', I can only think of doing something to help. Washing dishes. And waitressing. I try to be there when I can and cheat my kids about swimming in the pool outside as long as they want while I do anything that I can. But here's what happened tonight. These two teenagers who came to the cafe after-hours, we accepted their f***ing order. These above-50 people spent a lot of time defrosting and cooking the chicken chop and fish n chips (I was mainly washing dishes, remember?), make them drinks and you know what they effing do? They told one of our p...

People who knows me will have you know that I am not much of a shopper. I prefer to zoom in on what I am looking for, maybe pick a little bit of this and that here and there...nothing major. I, therefore, do not understand why some people can spend the entire day spending nor do I get 'retail therapy'. It spells financial woes at the end of the day. Anyway, while I love the vibe of Christmas, the one thing that I hate the most about it is the consumerism. Did you see the crawl outside malls? Were you one of those who was caught in one of those bumper-to-bumper traffic jams around them? Good Lord! I hate consumerism but I hate traffic jams even more, so, apart from zipping in and out of the mall as quickly as I could, I managed to avoid the jams quite effortlessly. However, on the other hand, I HAD TO get caught in the consumerism because one family member is a Christian. Oh come on, let's face it, when she hands pressies to your kids, don't tell me you can just kind...

You only realize how pampered the kids are when you take their Astro channels from them. My kids are in Malacca for a quick trip and they called me on the phone telling me that they don't have the normal TV channels. No Ben 10 and all that. It's a revelation to them that there is this TV station called TV Dua and here's what my son has to say about it. Oh God, mom, the shows in Malacca are so lame. They have this show that features some people in this place called Happy Town. Everyone's, like, just smiling there. It's so lame. And we watched Spiderman. I've got sand on my leg and oh, that show....there is nothing to watch here. The show is called Little Chicken...wait, Little Chic or something. Mom, why are you chuckling for so long? I just couldn't stop laughing! You take their Astro for them and TV1, TV2 and TV3 becomes their staple diet....and the world is super lame! LOL!!

If you are a Malaysian, I don't have an accent. If you are a foreigner, I can imitate your accent pretty quickly. All I need is to spend a day or two with you, eat, sleep, play, talk, watch shows, have coffee, go for drinks...and I can imitate your accent. Anyway, today is a Sunday and I am done reading Harry Potter the last (sob sob) installation - the Deathly Hallows. I. AM. IN. NEED. OF. BOOKS. I don't know a time when I don't have an unread book with me. I always have one. ALWAYS. So, I start panicking. OK, the kids are out to watch Avatar which is, as funky as I think it is (and I love the trailer), it is not exactly for me. Sigh...when you watch movies with me, you'll know why. Here's a quick illustration. My dad's at the computer and he's going through all those brain-bending graphics which tricks your mind, right? Right. So, he calls out to me, ' Hey, Marsha. You wanna watch some human brain stuff ?' and I was like WTF for ??????!!! B...

' Writers blog, Marsha, if you don't blog, you are not really a writer, are you ?' my PR-writer-angel-sitting-on- my-shoulder told me. But I've got nothing to blog about! My writing, as it is, is giving me carpal tunnel syndrome, potentially sending me into the ER of a nearby private hospital for emergency wrist surgery, and here I am, thinking that I should blog. I write for clients, I write for myself, I write my stories, I cook, I do laundry, I play the piano....here I am thinking that I should insure my hands. They are in urgent need of some TLC. So....here I am. Blogging. About me not blogging enough on my blog so that the world knows that I am an incredibly busy writer who has no time to blog but is blogging about not blogging enough anyway. You get me yet? Here's something to cheer me up with. HEY! It's working!!

Over the years, I've heard and read that the government is trying to promote eco-friendliness in the country. The efforts are lame, to say the least, because most of it includes a politician trying to promote his or her good name, by planting a friggin' tree. One time and one time only. Lame . I think people should just start with supermarket workers. Have you seen the way they pack your things when you shop? Stuffing the purchases into multiple plastic bags that, no doubt, costs very little. On days that I forget (hey, I am human) I tell them, ' No, here got more space. Put it here ,' they look at me like, ' What?! You don't want more plastic bags ?' like plastic bags are prized possessions and I must have a few bolts loose in the head for rejecting them. They have really fancy, designer-like ones these days. Get them and stuff seven or eight of them into your car so that when you want to get something, you have those bags with you. Under the seat of ...

In college, I have to say that I didn't quite hang out with the bunch of people from my floor. I studied Law...I mean, no offense or anything, the last thing I want to do is to discuss if the guy who suffered major trauma to his groin area because of chemicals in his underwear managed to sue the company that produced it, or not? I preferred, obviously, to do what the people down there, on the American program floor, were doing. Basically loitering around, doing nothing much more than dance, sing, dance, sing, dance, sing, mingle around and cause a little bit of trouble here and there. Nothing law breaking. But right after college, life got a little chaotic. I had kids, life got even more chaotic. So, I never really got around to finding them again or, God forbid, thought that I would ever get the chance to meet with them again. But whaddya know, thanks to Facebook, we found each other again! But then again, it was a long distance relationship with some of them because some of...

John Wooden once said this, 'Failure is not fatal, but failure to change might be.' I guess if this is the case, I am destined for success, eh? :-) Kidding. Anyway, I am feeling a lot like throwing myself in front of a fast-moving truck because spent the whole day with the kids rock-climbing. No, not the real thing! You kiddin' me ! It's a man-made one that is really safe even if you fall. Maybe you'll get a fractured bone but no one ever dies from falling off the makeshift thing. Anyway, I come home after dropping the kids off at grandpas and grandmas and get right to work. I keep thinking to myself, ' This can't be it! I don't have time all the time! Where the f-ck did all my time go to ?' Everyone else has more time than me. There must be something wrong. I should be making millions and having a stress-free day out with my kids. (yeah, right. Humor me, let me kid myself for a bit, awright?) Instead, I spend it worrying about my kids fallin...