Author: mouseytong

Upgrading myself

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, MusingsLeave a comment
Photo taken from Pinterest

It has been a while since I have blogged. This time, things have aligned for me and also thanks to Nowrid I have rediscovered a part of me that I have put on the back burner to be a mother. Between work and motherhood, everything else was not that important. Then, Covid happened, everything came to a halt and my youngest is now in school. I find myself with more time to re-evaluate my life. Things that I couldn’t do before I could now look into.

When I said things were aligning for me, I really meant it. An Italian company approached me before to work with them 3 years back but I couldn’t as J was not even a year old and she was with me most of the day. 2 years later, J has just started kindergarten and I was getting used to the free time when they approached me again. This time, I was very interested. I was also very excited and nervous. Though I am on social media, I have never done any social media marketing of this kind (cosmetics and beauty) and my main business of exhibition design and construction didn’t need the same type of marketing. Also my main business has been in business for almost 30 years, and we have ties and experience in the business that supersedes this new company.

I was looking around. Checking out social media of similar companies. Doing online research on similar companies to figure out a way to market this company and to see where we fit in the grand scheme of things. All this researching open my eyes to the power of digital marketing. I was intrigued but I didn’t know where to start. I was also searching online for more info to learn about it. All this researching made me feel helpless.

So when my sis sent me a message and asked if I was interested in a course for Malaysians offered by BAC, and for free too, I jumped at the chance. This course, has been the best thing that has happened to me in a while. Also the best investment of my time. Nowrid‘s easy going, straight forward explanation of how digital marketing works was a godsend. He made it look easy. He was also open to answer all our questions and doubts. What was more interesting was that he taught from his experience and gave alternatives and brought in other experts of other platforms that he might be so conversant in.

He gave me hope that I may one day actually know what I am doing with digital marketing. All I have to do now is to apply all this knowledge and learn as I go along in my new venture into the world of beauty.

I am a strong believer in that everything happens for a reason and I know that things aligned in such a way that I was meant to take this course by Nowrid and will grow from this. Thank you Nowrid for opening my eyes to the world of digital marketing and a making it less scary for novices like me. Lets see where I will be in a year or so.

Till the next time, Toodeloos!

Timing is forever off

On By mouseytongIn Misc..., MusingsLeave a comment

My timing for blogging is forever off. I think of the random-est things at the most random times and it is usually when I can’t blog. It is because I am driving, putting the kids to bed then subsequently falling asleep myself or having a epiphany while I am with kids which is almost 20 hours a day.

Thanks to my babysitter (godsend) I have about 4 hours Monday to Friday excluding holidays that I can get some time for myself. Which I subsequently fill with work, physiotherapy, and all other appointments ie. hair, nails, banks, dentist, doctor and grocery shopping and cooking if I need to. In the end when I don’t need to do anything, I literally don’t. 😀 Does that make sense? I also spend some of that time to be with M. We work together cause we have businesses together. We used to travel together very often as well. Now less so. So when I don’t have the kids, I will go the the meetings and other appointments with him so that he doesn’t have to inform me of them later.

Now that I have some time, since I have to do some work urgently, I gave J her tablet. The only way get her to leave me alone and not bang on the keypad while I am working. Not even with the TV on on the kids channel does the trick. I am forcing myself to write. Forcing because I can see that my flow of thought is not there. I feel that I am incoherent and just having a verbal diarrhea. But I know that I have to try. I also get frustrated that when I do find some time, I don’t really remember anymore what I wanted to blog about. Then my mind wanders and then I find myself on Instagram, FB or Youtube, Netflix or Viki. I am going through a documentary phase. Devouring documentaries like there is no tomorrow. Mostly criminal and historical or both.

This makes me feel like when I first went back to school. After not having to write anything longer than possibly 3 sentences, I found it so difficult to even write 500 words for my first English 101 essay. I was despairing, thinking , oh no…how am I ever going to write my papers as things get harder. Thank God, all I needed was more reading and more writing. I managed to graduate so I guess I did do something right and what I wrote coherent enough for a final thesis. *peace sign*

Sigh…absolutely incoherent again. Could you get my flow of thought here? I think I want to attribute this to mommy brains. You know, the same ones as the pregnancy brains? 😛 Ok, I am just trying not to take responsibility. Just looked at the word count at the bottom and I am approaching 500. Whee!! Who would have thought this incoherent verbal diarrhea can even reach 500 words! Ah…proud mommy brains moment! 🙂

Signing off and I apologised if you came here to read about something more interesting and got this. I will try to make an effort on the next one. I update on Instagram more often. See you there!

 

A Tribute To Genoa

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, Italy, MusingsLeave a comment

This video was sent to me in a WhatsApp group. I couldn’t help but tear up when I was listening to this. *Sniff*

Genoa is genuinely crippled by this disaster. The city is literally divided in 2. So many areas are closed and so many families have been evacuated and so many businesses affected. Even giants like IKEA are feeling the pinch in just 20 days from the collapse of the bridge. You can only imagine the damage to smaller businesses.

Some big companies had to layoff or rather suspend some personnel indefinitely as well some parts of their building is right underneath the bridge so it is not safe for them to work.

Now the city is also at almost a standstill especially during peak hours as traffic that usually passes by the city via the highway has now got to go through the city and back onto the highway. Good thing is that highway is free for now. Even the Telco companies are waiving this month’s bill in solidarity to businesses within the vicinity of the bridge. Our business is one of them.

Some places are so dead…it is disconcerting and sad.

I hope we bounce back soon. I hope that the displaced families will have everything sorted before winter comes.

I ❤️ Genoa!!

Selamat Merdeka Malaysia

On By mouseytongIn Misc...Leave a comment

Malaysia is celebrating its 61st birthday today!!! Happy birthday!

The Star newspaper in Malaysia is running a campaign calling for Malaysians around the world to use this picture above and pose with it, post it on any platform and send back messages for our national day. So, I am posting it here for my part.

This year, for my birthday a few days ago, all I wanted for my birthday was a Malaysian meal. 😁 But the nearest to us was in Milan. 😅 In the end, I dragged M to watch Crazy, Rich Asians with me. Obviously, I knew he will not like the movie, he hardly watches anything, so a rom-com was pushing it. But I told him this was what I wanted for my birthday. Just him with me. He can even sleep in the cinema if he wanted to. I got my wish. 😉😆

While I was browsing through Facebook, a video from Global Malaysia Network caught my eye. This song brings me back to my school’s days. When this song first came out, we had to sing it in school and also it was a choir competition song. I have sung this song so much that the lyrics comes to mind immediately every time I hear this song. This time, while watching this video, it brought tears to my eyes.

I have posted the link here. I hope it works.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/globalmalaysian/permalink/293329541280559/

Malaysia,happy birthday! Merdeka!!

Love you!!😍

❤️💓💕💖💗💞

Been away too long….

On By mouseytongIn Misc...Leave a comment

I have been wanting to get back to blogging for such a long time that it is personally tormenting me inside.

What the real problem is this, I don’t know where to begin. So after mulling over this for forever, I have decided that is should just write this short blog post to start off and let’s see if I get my writing mojo back.

Lately, I stumbled upon a Korean documentary or talk show series (not sure if they should be called this) that features foreigners who have settled in Korea. Their lives and their concerns. Got me thinking about a few things of my experience here in Italy. Maybe I can write more about it in my next blog post. It is called “My neighbour, Charles”.

I will make a promise here now that I will post something this weekend. After all it is my birthday on Monday. 😁😉

2017 just flew by…

On By mouseytongIn Celebrations, Food for Thought, Musings, wonderings...Leave a comment

Where did 2017 go? I remember it just like it was yesterday when we were braving snowstorms that grounded our flight in Istanbul for days. I remember the havoc that the airport was in after many days of flight cancellations and delays when we finally got into Istanbul. We were lucky to be diverted to another town, Elazig, and set up at a newly opened hotel (literally opened the day before we arrived) for 3 days before we got the clearance to finally fly into Istanbul and make further arrangements for our next flight home. Finally in Istanbul we waited a whole day for our flight that kept getting delayed till it was finally cancelled and I insisted that I do not want to be on the next flight out but in 2 days time as it was after midnight and they are finally flying people out and I know from my experience, that the airline will do its best to clear its backlog and we might still be bumped off the next flight we thought we were already booked on. With children, I rather we rest well and check out the city and finally get to really fly out instead of waiting around in the airport. By this time, the airport was already out of many things. A family was stranded so long that they ran out of diapers and couldn’t find any on the airport and they couldn’t get out of the either. Luckily I had enough to pass them some. Poor family. We finally got in on the 12th of January when we left on the 6th.

It felt like it was just yesterday! Now it is already the 19th of December!! 2017 has been a beautiful year and seeing that it just flew by it must have been a good year too. Because only when you are having fun, is when time flies. Little munchkin has grown so much and is a little tornado. The hashtag that I gave her on Instagram is #TornadoJ. I can actually say she is living up to it. Little bumblebee is not so little anymore. She is only 3 but taller than most 5 year olds. She has always had a strong character and I can also say that she is also living up to the hashtag that I gave her on Instagram, #HurricaneZ. My little forces of nature. I am so lucky to have them.

So, thank you God for a wonderful 2017 and for my family and all that I have been given and for keeping everyone safe and bring on 2018!!

A very Merry Christmas to all who celebrate and a Happy New Year to all!!

adding hashtags here #feelinggrateful #feelingloved #thankfulforeverything

 

Spending time with my bumblebee..

On By mouseytongIn My Mini MeLeave a comment

Recently, I have decided to dedicate some time to my elder daughter. Not that I don’t already. Just more individual time with here. She and I alone without her sister. So far, we have done it twice. I swap with the babysitter and she takes care of J instead of Z for that day and I take Z out. I can do it now as the exhibition season is winding down and my own client’s shows are over and the others I only need to be in a supportive role. So I can take time off and roam the streets, so to speak, with my daughter.

Our first outing we went to have ice cream in the drizzling rain in Boccadasse and went unique rock/stone hunting on the pebble beach. Then we went to scale the rock wave breakers. She was really excited as it was her first time. She wanted to keep going from rock to rock, to the water’s edge and back. then out again. Even interrupting lovebirds wanting some alone time out on the rocks. Had to stop her and distract her to another rock or pathway. She kept pointing to them and saying that she wants to go to where they are. She has already figured out that since those guys could get there, it means we can too. 😀 Poor lovebirds…sorry we nearly ruined you evening. We kind of did, as we kept circling around them from rock to rock…

Finally go her back on shore and distracted her to go up on the rooftop balcony to look down on where we were. Had to leave after less than 5 minutes as there were a group of smoking teenagers and it was not pleasant breathing in second hand smoke while trying to enjoy the view. Z had her kids scooter with her and it was not easy navigating the old pebbled and cobbled streets in Boccadasse. The wheels were so small that it got caught in every nook and she fell so many times. It was more fun for her after, when we finally got back up to Corso Italia. Then we scooted our way to a bar so that mummy could have her coffee fix. Then we called it a day. Because it wasn’t the best of weathers that day.

The next “mummy and me” outing, I took her to the Natural Science Museum a place I have been wanting to visit for some time now. I couldn’t find the museum’s website in English but they have the official website the region for Culture in Liguria which will give you more info on it. Or this short overview of museums in Genoa here. Didn’t visit it before because I think Z wouldn’t have been able to appreciate even a fraction of it when she was younger. Not that she is much older now, but she could at least now, identify some of the animals and best part of it all, they are having a special Dinosaur exhibit. She loved the dinosaur exhibits more than anything else there. She also liked the primates and the birds. Also the butterflies but was petrified when she saw the bones of a whale hanging above us in one of the halls. She couldn’t get out of there fast enough.

The best adventure of the day was that I didn’t have any cash with me and after visiting a few banks, I still couldn’t get any cash. Have I told you how much I dislike Italian banks? I do! With a vengeance. Luckily I could pay with my ATM card at the museum but couldn’t buy any souvenirs cause since the dinosaur exhibit was a temporary exhibit, they had a different till for the temporary shop that doesn’t support debit cards or cashless payment. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise. I could tell Zoe that we didn’t have any cash to buy the useless toy that she wanted on top of the dinosaur books that I wanted to buy for her. I could go back another day to buy the books without her. 😛

Then we had ice cream for her and a coffee for me, courtesy of the coins that I had with me. Scraped together €4, okay…it wasn’t that bad. I had more than enough coins just not enough to buy 2 books. Then we ended the evening with a bicycle ride around the office area with a cousin. All in all, fun times.

Shall leave you with her squealing bicycle moments. 

Bak Kut Teh

On By mouseytongIn Food, Malaysia, Misc...Leave a comment

Did I tell you I made some bak kut teh the other day, and it was awesome!! Missing the real deal but this is as close to it as I can get for now. It was really good too. Managed to get all the ingredients too. All hail the Asian supermarket.
I took me close to 3 days to get all the ingredients. Apart from the laziness, it is the fact that parking would be a nightmare where I first intended to go and with a baby in tow it would have been most inconvenient having to park by the roadside bundle baby up and rush in and out and put groceries in the car as quick as possible and try not to get run over whule trying as fast as possible to un-bundle baby back into her car seat. So I tried to out it off as long as possible but the craving was strong. 

In the end, my babysitter saved the day. She told me of another new shop which I also thought would be impossible to get to, but she told me a day later when I lamented on the lack of parking that this place has its own carpark area right behind. Now I only have to look for that entryway. Which I did easily thanks to her great and way to follow instructions. 

Thanks to her my craving was satisfied. Albeit after 3 days. I don’t cook often. Just wanted to share it. 😀

Night! 

Caught between a rock and a hard place…

On By mouseytongIn Food for Thought, Musings, wonderings...Leave a comment

Of course there are a few reasons for my lack of blogging. No time. Nothing much is up. No inspiration. So on and so forth. It applies to my Instagram and Twitter posts as well. I have to admit though, the main concern for me is the fear and respect for my children.

I chose to write, photograph and post about my life but my children didn’t. Or at least, have not decided for themselves yet whether they would like to or not. Then there is this online paedophile concern that lurks in the corners every time I think I want to post a picture. I don’t want anyone to be using my child’s photo for anything. Not even a meme. But once it is out in the world wide Web it remains there forever. Even with all the security measure we put in, it can still get out. After all, we are all only connected. Just 6 degrees of separation separates us all.

Which means the moment I share a photo in Facebook even with friends only setting, it can and will be shared with others if anyone of my friends liked the picture or commented on it. It pops up on their friends’ feed telling them that their friend has just liked a photo. All this ease has put a stone in my shoe, so to speak, making me uncomfortable. Makes me think twice before posting.

Then, comes the part that maybe my children won’t like their antics to be splayed out for all to see. Especially when they hit their teens. By then, it is too late to say sorry or to retract. What is done is done. It cannot be undone.

Now cones the crux of it all. Since becoming a mother my life revolves around them. Almost every picture and thought I have, have them in it. Scroll through my phone and all I see are my two angels looking back at me. Then when I am with them, I don’t have time for anything else. My hands are full. Even if I take a photo of something else, I have no time to organise my thoughts and make a blog post even if that what the intention when I took that photo.

Or maybe I am just lazy. I still work and am lucky that my time is flexible. Household chores are done to the minimum. I get a lady in to do the heavy duty cleaning. Maintenance is key. Whatever time I have to myself now is late at night, which usually doesn’t happen as by the time I put them to bed, I would have fallen asleep too. Or the time I have the babysitter who is an angel with Z and now I have to get J used to her for an hour or so, so that I can get some gym time in, is my only “me” time. J like Z before her is with me 24/7. There is always tons of laundry to get through. So many older clothes that don’t fit “growing like weeds kids” have to be routinely sorted and stored or given away. That in itself is a chore! Then I have a threenager now who will wear only what she wants regardless of the weather outside. I think she is made for warmer weather. We are living in the wrong country! 😓😝 Just the other day, to counter this I thought it was wise to start her early on her choice of clothing for the day. We took 5 hours to end up not looking like a hobo and be adequately dressed for cold rainy spring evening. Don’t forget loads of screaming and tantrums and threats of “if you don’t get dressed, we are leaving without you!”. I just don’t have the energy after everything. Then I just procrastinate. 

I would love to blog more. I just have to find my balance which I have yet to find. Maybe until then you will hear from me sparodically. Unless I have something else to write about that doesn’t involve my children. 

On another note, it is still surreal that I am now a mother of two! Surreal even after 3 years….

Good night! 

Life in Photos – day 44

On By mouseytongIn Life in Photos, Musings, SingaporeLeave a comment

Siloso beach at Sentosa in Singapore. This was taken from the bar area of Ola. Ola just opened the week before and I saw it on Instagram. Decided to bring the family there for a day on the beach. It was beautiful. Gorgeous place though the menu is not extensive but whatever we ordered, and we ordered a lot, it was good. I especially liked their tea. I can’t remember the name of it but it was so good I, alone ordered it 3 times.

I have not been back to Siloso beach for years and now it is unrecognisable. The whole island is unrecognisable. Not too sure if it is for the better or not. Singapore does know how to keep the greenery and not totally destroy its natural beauty while at the same time it created jobs and brought in tourist which is always good for the country’s economy. 

All in all, it was a good day. Z got sunburnt on her face even with 50 protection on. Delicate skin, this girl has. J, on the other hand, didn’t quite like the water yet. Ola has a pool so we thought to let Jo go for a dip. Guess who ended up enjoying the pool more? You guessed it! my bumblebee Z!

Go visit Ola at Siloso beach on Sentosa island!