Breathe in, out. In, out. I have to go slow on things. Eternal Wanderer warned me not to kill myself in the last Eh Poh Nim post. I need to slow down some things, this blog and Eh Poh Nim included, and speed up others.
I’m sorry I won’t be able to reply comments or comment on your blog frequently. I’ve disabled comments for this post.
Bye for now.
Every now and then I get emails asking about the writing course I took. I just received another one this week. I’m going to blog about this so that in future, I could just direct the questioner here.
In 1995 I enrolled in a correspondence course from The Writing School, then based in Singapore. The last I heard, it has moved its operation to Australia. It seems they’re also operating in Canada. Then I paid RM1,500 for the 20-lesson course. Today the fees has ballooned. Continue reading
Help! My own comments aren’t appearing in the comment box. How-lah? Please don’t think I’m not replying to your comments. I did but when I clicked submit, it didn’t appear. It vanished without a trace. Please bear with me while I try to figure out what happened.
Meantime, Tunku Halim is organizing a contest at his blog for his new baby, 44 Cemetry Road. Hop over to win some cool prizes.
I’d been meaning to organize another contest in conjunction with our 5oth Merdeka. Any ideas?
Mmm… what book should I write? There are many book ideas swirling around in my head. And I know there are many writers out there with a Milky Way trail of good ideas waiting to be penned.
The tricky part is to single out one, just one idea and work on it. Cast the others aside, lock them up in the attic of the mind and let them hibernate till that one book is written. Then you can unlock them and let them tumble around when you’re looking for a new book project. And that my friend, is easier said than done.
I’d been mulling on two book ideas : a humourous parenting book and a compilation of my Eh Poh Nim stories. Eric Forbes is keen on either one. I just got off the phone with him and when I sounded out yet another new idea, he laughed.
“You’re very confused,” he said.
He’s been saying that each time I sounded out yet another book idea. I know he’s keen for me to work on EPN as I’ve got a whole bunch of those articles already. I just need to write another 20 or more new articles.
That’s the reason for this entry. By blogging this, I’m committing myself to tie my hands to the keyboard and knock out those EPN pieces ASAP. Okay, ASAP is not measurable. Goals should always be specific. By mid August then. *Bites nails.* Can I do it? Well, I’ve thrown down the gauntlet. Time to put that nose to the grindstone, pen to paper, fingers to keyboard, whatever.
I have a book in my car for reading in between waits. While waiting for the kids to knock off from school. While waiting for no. 4 to gobble down her lunch before she gets into kindy. While waiting for the lights to turn green.
But never, never have I attempted to read* while driving as that is too dangerous a stunt to pull. So imagine my surprise the other day when I came across someone who did that on the Federal Highway. The van was driving on the slow lane. I noticed that it belonged to an educational book company. The driver had a Malay newspaper spread out on the steering wheel and his eyes were focused on the papers. Alamak! This was a brave man indeed. Maybe his van was equipped with cruise control, but even so didn’t he need to steer the vehicle? What if he was so engrossed he swerved into the next lane or collide with another vehicle in front?
Imagine if our roads were occupied with such drivers and they get into horrific accidents. Our transport ministry would have to come up with a “Don’t read and drive” campaign.
*Okay, confession. Only once did I read a couple of sentences while driving. Angela’s Ashes was so gripping I just had to finish the page I started while waiting for the lights to turn green. But it was just for a few seconds, honest, and my car was picking up speed from 0 to 15 kph. After that I put the book away.
This is a Yellow Post survey.
She was turning 29. She was getting a pretty nice figure on her paycheck. She was a support manager dealing with NZ clients in a ‘Fortune 500 MNC’.
Now, she’s gone. She died after 8 hours on laptop, her mother said.
No matter how high she was ‘flying’ in her career, it mattered no more.Back then, she had to work day and night just to cope with her workload. She didn’t even take a day off when she was really sick because ‘its not worth it’ as she was on a 6-month contract (whereby her MC will be on a non-paid basis).She had been feeling unwell, but she had no time to attend to her health. In her blog, she wrote, I really thought I would be able to do everything, that I can be a supergirl as well, but my health is worsening at a fast rate.
That happened to a 29-year-old woman. Now, let me ask you a few questions:
1. How many hours do you work (i.e. working on your laptop for 8 hours straight, without any breaks) each day?
2. How often do you exercise? (When was the last time you went out to get fresh air?)
3. How important is Vitamin M (Money) to you? Do you think money can buy everything?
4. Are you overstressed?
5. Do you know that over-working can kill?
6. If yes, how do you de-stress yourself/ balance your life?
7. Which would you choose: Money or Health?
The questions above are set as a guideline only, any extra comments/ opinions are most welcomed….Fyi, your answers will be published in Yellowpost, a free weekly social paper distributing within Klang Valley, if possible, together with your personal photo.
Kindly revert back asap! (by tomorrow, that is). Please forward to people you know…Really need your support to get responses!
Thanks a lot!
Sze Leng
YELLOWPOST
TM Info-Media Sdn Bhd
email: sze@yellowpages.com.my
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