Marsha Maung: I write. I love. I live

Been doing nothing the whole day and....damn, it feels good! I mean, I've never permitted myself the 'luxury' of doing absolutely nothing without feeling guilty about it. And today, I allowed myself to do that. I continued my little story and I also managed to play some songs on my piano. I mean, this is what I love and when I did it, it felt incredible. Like having your cake and eating it too.  That's how human beings should live their lives, in my personal opinion.  I don't care and don't have to care what others think because I am not a ferrari car....as in, I could be a BMW....or a Kelisa and I don't have to let others try to mold me into something different. I don't have to let them screw around with my head, trying to make me think that I should be a ferari car when all I want to be is a Kelisa, you know what I mean. There's absolutely nothing wrong with being a Kelisa if I am built like a Kelisa.  That's the problem with Asian peopl...

I don't know if it's just me or the rest of the world, wild hair on boys are just that....totally so wild and.....I LURVE IT!! :-) OK, before you jump up, raise your hand and claim that it's all a Robert Pattinson (Edward Cullen) thing, let me just clarify a little, OK? Although I would do anything to smooch Pattinson, it's not completely true that this is a new 'fad' for me. I'll roll the credits now and you'll see why.  Let's start from when I was a teenager.  This, my friends, is Joe McIntyre. When I was a teeny-bopper, I was Marsha McIntyre (apparently, the trend of changing your surname to match the superstar of your choice is still popular amongst the teens this days. Hah! Any Eric Jolie or Kenneth Knightley over here?).  Joe McIntyre was the center of my Universe. I kept myself alive for this guy and I loved him because....(drumroll).....check out the dude's hair.  Yeah, what a mop, eh? Sexay!!!! hee hee hee..... OK, so you think it...

I’ve always thought that being a travel writer was the embodiment of what a writer’s writing career. I was right…it is, therefore, I am thankful that I got the chance to do that. Even if nobody wants to hire me to be a travel writer ever again in this lifetime, at least I can go to my grave saying, ‘Yeah, I did that and it was cool’. Sort of like when I told my kids that I used to sing rock sings…they were like….’wow, cool!’ Yup, it was cool indeed.  I don’t think writing about the places I’ve been to and discussing them here is appropriate since I am being paid to do it and it should be intellectual property belonging to my client so I shall refrain from doing that. I’ll discuss them with you in person. :-)  Or you should just get a copy of Female, Nuyou or Men's Health in a couple of months when the booklet comes out. I'm under Singapore, ok? Hee hee hee....had to point you in the right direction.  But I will blog about the experience and what I went through as a first-t...

Well, heading off to Singapore, the Land of the Lions tomorrow morning for some work and am sincerely hoping that I will find it a not-so-tiring and an enjoyable experience. I am glad that I am getting this opportunity to do something a little different, against the grain you might say, but it's for the good of my career as a whole because frankly speaking, I was beginning to find the daily grind a little hard to bear.  However, even with that said, this is something new to me and I find traveling (not with the family but) with a stranger can be quite....disconcerting. But ah well....I like rolling with the punches and roll I will. I am quite good, if things turn out bad, in pretending to be a statue, to be blind, mute, deaf....or dead...or all of the above. But I am sure things will be fine. I'm just getting a kick out of scaring myself half to death! Hehehehehehe..... The things I will miss the most here for the next few days are:- My kids!!!!!! My computer My piano My hom...

The word is perplexed .  Being in the marketing and advertising industry, I keep my eye out for almost everything commercial. I know it's a boring job, but someone's  gotta do it!! Hence, it kinda irks me to see that the government of our country is a little tight  on some front while lackadaisical on others. Quite an unfair thing if you asked me.  I mean, I have a friend who works i n a large tobacco company and he sometimes laments to me that advertising and marketing is ONE HELL OF JOB when you're working in a tobacco company in Malaysia. You're not allowed to do anything....period. Nothing. No pictures, no adverts, no online marketing...nada. Zilch. Huge big NO!! I am not condoning anything here but you see, be cause I know why tobacco companies are not allowed to be advertise here. Of course, I do....I'm not eight.I know it's because smoking kills painfully and slowly . Whilst that is true, I think we should apply a blanket rule over other industries as ...

Many friends have asked me this question before, ‘ Eh, how come you downgrade your phone ah? Everyone is upgrading their mobile phones here and there….you downgrade your phone. Why ?’  You see, whilst there is absolutely, irrefutably nothing wrong with a Blackberry per se, it’s a nuisance to me.  Oh yeah, the features are lovely.  Oh yeah, you can tweet and update your Facebook account right there and then?  Oh yeah, people can ‘chat’ with you no matter where you are.  Oh yeah, your clients can find you and clarify important matters with you regardless of time and location.  Hang on. That doesn’t REALLY sound like good news to me.  If I were to be completely honest with you, I think Blackberry will kill me . I will have no life to speak off if I had a Blackberry. I will not be able to turn off because I will be consistently online – and Lord knows I shouldn’t because I am a blasted alcoh….sorry….workaholic. I would be in bed trying to relax, meditating or reading my boo...

I am, like, sitting right here trying to write about having a fun time in Dallas and how one can really revv up the volume in a night club somewhere way yonder in Dallas….and I just can't help but say that I am having a splendid time listening to some orchestra playing around me.  Literally.....AROUND me. Isn't it a 3D experience you're getting , you're asking. Oh, INDEED ! If this is not 3D then I don't know what is....this orchestra can knock the socks off of Dolby Surround Sound System. This is LIVE, baybae and it doesn't get any better than this - I promise you.  Meet, first, the most beautiful sound you will ever hear on the planet....the trombone.  Lucky for me, the trombone plays quietly from the back but the sound of each screech, smash, pop, creak and groan can be heard loud and clear because my little 'office' is (once again, lucky me) is facing the back of my house. So, quickly, the trombone is my favorite instrument of them all.  Not losing ...

The signs are here….that he’s about to leave the nest, forget me and all the good food that I’ve ever cooked for him…and that I spend a painful number of hours ironing his clothes for him every single day, I fold his underwear, match his socks, wrap his books, bought him his favorite CDs, his Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS Lite, and tells him a thousand times over in a day that I love him. Kid No. 1 is outgrowing my mothering techniques – and I was disillusioned into thinking that I had it down pat. I can see it, smell it…sometimes, I taste it. Er…leaves a very nasty taste in my mouth, I mean. He’s starting to enjoy his own personal space more now that he’s going to be double-digit years old next year. Oh, gawrd. How they grow so fast, I am blinded by the speed of it all. During his participation in the school’s musical, I think a part of me still thinks that he’s a kindergartener….DIAPER CHANGE! But no. I flew from backstage to frontstage, backstage to front just to make sure that every...

No matter how good a person is at something that he/she does, I believe that there will come a time when that person falls on his/her arse and wonder if he/she has been heading in the right direction or not. Once in a while, this person might feel like….is what I am doing right now making me happy? As a whole? As a person? As a parent? As a business person?  Sounds like I need a shrink? Nah…well, kinda, but this is far from it.  Generally speaking, I am pretty happy with what I have and what I am doing. But there are….empty slots? Loop holes? Unopened drawers? Blunt knives? Well, you get the picture.  In walks through the door, someone who immodestly calls him/herself a mentor or a personal coach who has one mission and one mission alone. And that is to help you sift through all those tiny little cracks you may have ignored while chasing the mullah. Oh, come on! Admit it, we’ve ALL been chasing the mullah….me not excluded.  A good friend of mine is that personal coach for me ...

I don't usually post this type of things because I get a lot of crap over email. Some of them are really worth not a nano-second of my time so, I become skeptical whether something is real or not. When I receive emails about donations, sick patients, kids needing blood....I make the effort to call the number they attach to confirm the case or to see if they STILL need it because the email could have been circulating the world a million times over before reaching me.  But these few days, I've received far too many of these emails and most of them are true. So, starting from now, because i am a mother myself, I will post stuff like this. This is not an ultra-popular blog or anything but this is the least I can do for the community and human race that I am a part of.   Everyone, meet Reachelle Marie Smith. Reachelle's been missing and her parents really miss her. At the date of the email, she's still three-years-old or slightly more, but regardless, fact is, she's m...

Piano You know, in piano they have all those 'pp' for barely can hear ya and then the 'p' for 'ahhh....there's sound. Then there's 'mf' for hhmmm...music and 'f' for whoa! what's up your ass, buddy. I don't know if they have 'ff' which could mean bring the effing house down! These are called dynamics and I am have been pummeling it into my kids' heads right from the start. They ask me why and I answer, 'it gives the music expression and it helps people who are listening to the music that you're playing a lot of emotion and feeling.  Then you have..... Singing (which is some sort like dancing and acting) No emotion and it's not going to win you the soddest version of a potpourri holder. Voice and voume control for singing is of utmost importance, you don't have it and you might as well be listening to a 5 year old play the violin for the very first time. Nadah.  Acting, you wood, you pay the price of be...

Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and George Washington are on a sinking ship. As the boat sinks, George Washington heroically shouts, "Save the women!" George W. Bush hysterically hollers, "Screw the women!" Bill Clinton's asks excitedly, "Do we have time?"

I just heard the remake version of an old fave song of mine….something sung by George Michael, a classic…..Careless Whisper. This time, the song comes in rock format. I don’t know about you but whilst there is nothing wrong with the song and it’s generally quite nice, there’s something wrong about remaking an old song. Songs are like pictures, you attach memories to it. Like the first song you sung with your future husband in a karaoke. The song you danced when you went to your prom night. The song you heard on the radio while driving to your first date. The song that a secret admirer dedicated to you…..   Careless Whisper is a song that someone dedicated to me when I was in high school. Long, long, long, long time ago, we had this radio broadcasting thing going on in secondary school as a charity drive. Every song dedication, you have to pay a certain amount of money for it. And then one fine day, a senior popped into my class and said, ‘ pst pst! Take this note, FFFAASSSTTTTEE...