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eh, why haven't i been blogging??

wow, it's been approximately 2-weeks that i've neglected my blog..!!

i've actually been running away from an unpleasant and unresolved work issue.. i didn't want to think too much about it, hence, i went looking for other avenues to distract my mind and broaden my horizons..

i also created other things-to-do to sapp up all those negative-ions off my mind.. yeah, maybe the right time to update my contact-list?? help promote my alumni's upcoming reunion?? design new ceramic tablewares?? spring-clean my notebook files?? start my grape vineyard?? complete the will-listing?? meet up with future project-partner?? activate my facebook account??

ah yes, my blog now has my facebook-badge prominently featured on the top-right-end-corner, overshadowing all my other important business links.. and is that good or bad..?? kakteh should be able to tell me whether i've made the right move here, but i must admit that i've enjoyed facebooking the past 2-weeks.. in-between all those new things-to-do, yeah i've enjoyed facebooking a little bit too much to make me forget about blogging..

just looking back to move forward..

i've just finally finished re-writing my unpublished 2003-why-talk-about-failures-articles and linked them into my accidental business journey, PART-1.. and now obligating myself into backtracking my thoughts, memories & experiences to start building up content for PART-2..

why do i even bother doing this..?? the perfectionist in me, maybe..?? the start of another year, possibly..?? just looking back to move forward, you think..?? just making sure i'm still on the right track, most likely..?? mmm...

my journey in part-1 was written in jan-feb2003, after 10-years in my accidental-business.. i've been including & posting the 7-articles in that journey into this blog since mid-2008, most possibly because i was lost again then and trying to get back my directions.. so what has actually happened between jan-feb2003 and mid-2008, the period of approximately 5 and a half years...????

wow.. quite an amount of recollections are needed here, eh..?? so again, why do i even bother doing this...?????

i heard somebody said recently over the airwaves.. failing is not simply due to fate or bad lucks, but most likely due to bad life-choices.. and vice-versa, succeeding is also not simply due to fate or good lucks, but most likely due to good life-choices, or something to those effects.. as i understood it immediately then, you make your own life choices as you progress in life and subsequently these good & bad choices would lead you nearer to or farther from your intended destination/s..

so what life choices have i made in those 5 and a half years between jan-feb2003 and mid-2008..?? and where have those choices led me now..?? i know i've constantly made conscious efforts to keep improving my personal/family well-being and keep simplifying my business activities to suit my changing priorities, but i also know that i can be very sanguine & emotional and keep side-tracking onto other passions & ventures, regularly & temporarily forgetting my business goals & focus..

so yes, as i look forward to greater challenges in 2009 and beyond, i may need to back-track 5 and a half years to enable me to move forward more happily, comfortably and confidently into the new year..

welcome 2009..

phew, what a relief..!! the school holidays are finally over and i'm actually very glad to be back to normal routines..!! one activity after another and i never realized just how busy and hectic a year-end holidays could do to me until now.. or is it that my body is no longer able to sustain all these..??? mmm..



asked my darling hubby whether he felt glad too, and he replied, why should he? life has been normal to him, work-work-work, regardless of the times of the year, therefore school holidays or not, my darling hubby's life is always centred around his passion, that is his work & business.. i'm forever glad that he's very committed and really enjoying looking after his/our financial-priorities, therefore allowing me to be forever having free reins of the other 'non-financial' areas in his life.. ;) i'd just need to give him ample notices of our family plans and he'd re-adjust his schedules to be involved as my better-half and my children's doting-father.. simply 'perfect' huh?? ;)

yes, so welcome 2009..!!!

i already know what my new year goals and plans are, but i'd just need to rewind and snip off whatever remnants of 2008 that are still trailing behind me.. and with the school-hols plans always mixing together and jumbling up my other agendas, sorting out my head to face the new year may take a while..

some quiet time alone with my iced cappuchino in my favourite wifi-cafe.. is necessary, huh??

this blog-post is just to tell my few 'loyal-readers' that my life the past 2-weeks was not just about my many, many cats.. ;))

this is also to inform that i started the new year in full blast with fellow mama-mias, exactly on new year's day 1st january 2009.. ;))

in pursuit of it-savviness, part 2..

i've decided to pursue it-savviness since 2001/2002, but only decided to put it firmly embedded in my head as my yearly goals since the past 3years.. putting and listing everything down has always worked for me eversince i could remember, and these lists would be my guiding forces for the rest of the year/s.. being sanguine and always spurred by emotions and gut-feelings, i've repeatedly found that the lists have successfully kept me sane and in-focus despite the many turnings, off-beaten and unplanned tracks that i had taken along the way..

before it-savviness became a big part of my vocabulary, listing down my goals would always involve multi-coloured pens/highlighters, plenty of papers and some quiet corners of a cozy cafe.. the same multi-coloured pens/highlighters, plenty of papers and some quiet corners of a cozy cafe would also be the most important participants to any brainstorming sessions between me, myself, my soul and my mind..

as i regularly streamline my business over the years to reduce my headaches and body-aches, and settle down to simple needs and wants.. my multicoloured pens/highlighters are slowly replaced by only one black felt-pen.. my plenty of papers (which by the way, would sometimes include tissue-papers) would be taken over by half a cm thick notebook.. and my quiet corners of some cozy cafes have been upgraded to wi-fi providers..

such is the way to go now.. and i upgraded my mobile to 3G so that i can sms, mms and browse even when i'm gardening.. proceeded with a laptop so that i could do some 'serious' work wherever i rest my hat on.. a digicam to capture my product images and anything that i fancy to share with the world.. a gmail address instead of streamyx so that i'm less-proned to virus-attacks and better organized with my emails.. picasa web-albums instead of photo attachments.. google documents instead of bulky files..

and along the way i discovered blogging and make new web-friends..

and how does a photo of my purse and reading glasses relate to all these..??

despite the hefty financial investments on it-savviness, the outcomes have been enormous.. despite my frustrations dealing with any technical complications, overcoming them have been liberating considering 'my age'.. despite the longer-than-expected years spent researching, browsing and learning this new-age technologies, i'm now considered way above my it-peers..

and what else have i paid to be it-savvier than the rest of my peers..?? after 44 years of blissful perfect eyesights, i am now for the first time in my life.. be-spectacled.. :(

in pursuit of it-savviness, part 1..

these are all that i need most of the times these days to get me on the go and fully productive and working.. i'd transfer all these 'necessary-for-my-survival' items all over my soho to enjoy different seating/working environments, or onto my car for a short drive to clear my head at some of my favourite coffee-jaunts, or drag it along to my other destinations just in case there'd be a few hours in-between my chores/errands/appointments for some quality work to be done..

not updating was 'on purpose'.. :(

blogging takes time..
just admit it to yourself that blogging does really take a chunk off your time..

i haven't been updating my blog the past 3 months on purpose.. i wanted to focus on completing my 2 selling websites, but as it has turned out, so many other things have kept cropping up for my attention that my work-focuses have gone hay-wires all over again..!!! :(

i purposely put up the photos of my ceramic items all over the place in my last blog-post so that i would not lose focus.. i've been looking at these photos the past 3 months in-between my other chores, errands and little projects to keep me in the right frame of working-mind.. i've been brushing off my yearnings to reflect & write down my thoughts on those other issues happening in my life the past 3 months so that i could finally complete what i've started approx. one year ago: kualalumpur-gifts.com and malaysia-gifts.com

but alas, after 3 months of ogling at the photos.. yeah, you've guess it right.. both are still not finalised!!! i'm very angry at myself here, aarrrggghh... can you see & feel it..??


you see, once both websites are finalised, my commitments and fardu-kipayahs to my long-term production staff will be taken care of almost automatically without my regular operational interventions.. and haven't i reasoned this with myself before many times already......?????

once both websites are in good working conditions, i'd only need to market, promote, link, advertise and blog about them to generate traffic and sales.. work for me would be very much more blissful, eh??

blogging then shouldn't be just taking chunks off my time.. blogging then should be time very well-spent..

why do i blog??

i first started blogging in july 2007 to encourage my then 10 year old daughter melissa to read more.. a few weeks later as i re-discovered my passion for writing, i decided that i should blog for myself instead.. as i got deeper into my new passion, i discovered that i could actually make money by writing on whatever topics i like.. more researches on writing/blogging however highlighted my IT-illiteracies squarely on my face and pushed me back to what i should be doing & focusing: selling my own products..

so i started writing and blogging about my business, my then lack of IT-savviness and the technical problems i encountered in setting up my internet business.. not realizing that internet business or making money online are such strong keywords that could attract attention to my blogsite..

i started to have visitors and commentators in my blog in less than a month of passionately writing away to ease my confusions.. i was elated that some people had found my writings interesting, or maybe somewhat entertaining.. so i continued my cyber brainstorming-sessions rigorously for two months half-motivated by these commentaries..

but my main motivator for spending hours on end blogging during those earliest two months was still purely to clear my cluttered head of technical issues that had been bugging me for years.. after having established an internet presence through the setting up of my first website in 2004, and then re-directing my energy & production resources into my second website a few years later, i was still unable to pursue making sales automatically online.. and that really bugged me coz selling automatically online would definitely make my life easier & simpler..

i've blogged about why i blog a few times before, and why do i blog about it again now?? maybe i just want to go back to the basics that matter.. selling automatically online through my websites..

various hiccups and distractions have come & gone the past one year that i've been a blogger.. and that includes the 5-month hiatus immediately after the hijacks of my websites by unsavoury net-parties.. and the 3-months house-arrest that left me mentally-blocked and physically drained out to think about selling anything at all..

i must find my way back to those basics that matter now.. i must start selling automatically online.. yes!!!!

struggling to get back my focus..

i've wanted to blog as regularly as possible but somehow or rather other matters keep criss-crossing my path.. one matter in particular: catching up with my work which had been neglected recently!! eh, but isn't this blogging 'work' as well...??? with me under house-arrest and slaving away in my own castle full-time for three months, blogging during those times felt more like venting out my frustrations, however 'blissfull' i felt..



sure i luuurrrvvee working from the comforts of home.. but not being able to leave my kids behind and venture out alone to do whatever was necessary, be it work-related or otherwise, had given me some kind of 'mental block'.. a mental block that wouldn't go away until i stop and do something about it...

maybe i should get a new haircut? do some facial treatments? buy new clothes & pants? re-visit my acupuncturist? have long lunches with friends? do my 2hr body massages? attend the 'alleycats' concert?? re-start my yoga stretches? kroak my lungs out with my girl-friends??

or i can just simply spend some quite time alone sorting out my mind in some wifi-provided cafes nearby.. brainstorming with me and myself could work wonders... it has never failed before to help me get back into focus...

one iced cappucino please?? and a glass of warm water too...

random thots in my messy head..

with the school holidays over and the new maid finally stationed in my port, i'm trying to get back into ceramic-focus after nearly three months of house 'bliss'.. but hey, it's difficult these days coz daily dosage of chedet.com is a must too!! and that could go on and on the whole morning maa...

blogging for hours to increase my google ranking is 'work' hence acceptable, therefore time well spent.. browsing & reading other blogs is research & development, therefore equally permissible too.. but reading & commenting on a political blog..???

but i don't consider dr.M as just a politician.. he's been my constant source of inspiration, motivation, admiration and respect for as long as i can remember.. i miss reading articles about him in the main media..

the whole family was in cameron highlands for 4 days last week, therefore the photo above should be familiar, huh?? cameron's tea plantations are amazing shows of human strengths and always pleasing to my eyes.. i'm also trying to upload/add other green & pleasing photos of cacti and veges in this post but unsuccessful so far, mmm...

pleasing to my eyes.. get back into ceramic-focus.. eh, headache coming.. my son's making a choc-mess.. my new maid needs supervising.. my urut-lady is dropping by shortly.. will sort my mess later, later, later lorr...

the ceramic designer is back..

yes, i'm back in blogosphere after a 5 months hiatus..
so many things planned and unplanned have happened. and some never happened and materialised as they should..

but hopefully being back in this blogging world will bring new impetus, new drives and motivations. working alone for yourself can sometimes be a drag.. complacencies set in without anybody to be answerable to.. commitments only to your own goals and desires can be too self-absorbing..

blogging gave me clear directions and focus. blogging enabled me to pour out my issues, opinions, fears and confusions. blogging allowed me to have discussions with my inner self. blogging sorted out plenty of things in my cluttered mind. blogging allowed me to talk more about my products, my business and anything related to it. blogging allowed me to achieve my secret desire, that is to write and get published. blogging allowed me to add plenty more keywords for my products to enable google search engines to reach my business. blogging also allowed plenty more people to notice my business, some with good and others with not-so-good intentions..

that was 5 months ago when i actively blogged for 2 months before i hibernated..

today i'm hoping those clarities, satisfactions and promotions will happen again, here in my new blog..

hello, hello.. the ceramic designer is back..!!