Online entrepreneur

Many people are taking the advantage of becoming full time working executive-and- online entrepreneur at the same time. With many free blog hosting, who would want to miss out selling goods online. Of course there are many advantages of doing an e-business, and it's not so hard especially if you have ecommerce software like Ashop Commerce in hand. I’m thinking to start one also, but I have no idea what to sell. Should I start selling the famous Sabah pearls and crystals online? I wonder if I do start an online business, does anybody would want to buy from me?

Even though I graduated with an IT degree, that doesn’t mean I am an expert in online business. To tell you the truth, given a free hosting, I don’t even know where to start on building an online business store especially one with a shopping cart feature! Of course I know the basic html, css and other web-programming, but building one from scratch might take longer. On another note, I personally think having own domain would get wider buyers’ potential, but this would definitely means you need to have more features to accommodate online payment rather than just implementing cash-on-delivery orders. I wish there’s a shopping cart software that can solve my dilemma and accomplish my dream to be an online entrepreneur.

Money, can we ever have enough?

Me and my friend were talking the other day about how expenses nowadays have become quite high, mind you we are both single and do have any dependents. Then the topic went to how our mummies and daddies could save a lot during their days. Imagine those middle-class parents who are able to save for 5-7 children education fund, pay house loan, pay car loan, and support the whole family. We discussed how young people nowadays are difficult to save maybe because of peer pressure of wanting branded and expensive things.

Lana mentioned in her blog how young people need to think about investment and savings which include unit trust, ASB, ASW, and insurance. I read in one financial blog which mentions in order to gain financial freedom, we have to save 50% of our savings. That’s quite a big amount!

With all the impending payment, we could end up having no entertainment or fun money. Because of this, I’ve finally decided to join the big phenomenon of blogging for money. I know it’s a bit late than the others who have been earning a lot from blog advertising, but it’s better late than never right?

With so many blog advertising to choose from, I decided to choose Smorty that connects the advertisers to bloggers. All I have to do is write opinions about certain advertisers, and I can be paid just by blogging about it!

Oh I need the extra money anyway ;) So if you need it too, join me to blog for money yea?

payday and budget

I know it's payday when Giant is so full with people pushing their trolley full with 2 big packs of diapers, 3 packs of rice, 1 big bottle of cooking oil, and other miscellaneous groceries. This would be the time you see people paying hundreds of ringgit worth of groceries. Of course when it's 'bulan tua' (middle of the month), then you'll see people buy hmmmm 1 can of sardine, 1 dozen of eggs, basically little amount of food which can last for a week?

Yes it's payday already, but I have such limited fund to last until next month since I'll have my trip next month. I don't know why, the word "budget" just triggers some kind of hormones, somehow the less money you have, the more everything looks sooo inviting and temptious. Is this a Bloomwood's syndrome? Uhuh, I think so...

When I walk across shops that I've walked past by many times in which I didn't see anything interesting, somehow having no money makes you see the pretty of those items. Then walking by a pretty shoe shops (remember that women couldn't have enough shoes??), they're all scream "get me!". Even though not for myself, I always find reason that to get certain items for people in my life. Be it buying a bag full of buns at the bakery or getting a dozen of big apple donuts for the reason it's for the whole family. See.... Growing up in a big family is not bad after all, it's about sharing (is caring).

This gets tricky if you're going for a trip as you have to buy many items for other people, and sometimes in the end forgetting about yourself. Giving gifts is such a pleasure, isn't it? If one is lazy, just get the tourist-tshirt with the BIG destination name on it and everybody's getting the same thing. But for me, I'd like it to be personal. If I know someone is collecting fridge magnet/postcards/keychain, I would buy those. Plus, it makes it easier to shop for souvenirs when you have specific items in mind. But I have thought a better souvenir for people (and myself too!). It's a postcard mailed from foreign countries. Heish, I wonder why this didn't occur to me earlier. Do you know if you go to Eiffel Tower, there's a post office I think somewhere in the middle tower. You can mail a postcard, and get a special mailing chop which says Eiffel Tower!

p/s Those who are going to France, please send me an Eiffel Tower Postcard...

Gifts (babies)

Four off days definitely not enough for me, eheh... People in Sabah were lucky to get 4 days of holiday last week, Thursday for Maulidur Rasul and Friday for Good Friday, then continued to weekend.

It had been raining every day on those 4 days, mostly in the evening. So it was definitely a good time to be at home, rejuvenate and catching up on sleep ;)

Mind yea singles (including myself), this might be informative yet boring subject, baby talk. Remember my SPECIAL EDITION diaper cake project (which is still hmmm not going anywhere) ? I'm stocking up stuff to put on the cake, so far I've bought mamypoko newborn diapers (so un-Green), some pink baby tops, and last weekend I also checkout mia bambina's stuff.

Mia Bambina is a home-based store which specializes in cloth diaper. They have lots of funky diaper colors and variety of selections. Feel free to ask her questions, in my experience she's more than willing to answer any questions regarding CD eventho those who are still blur about these CD. Even for me who wanted to buy gifts, she went extra length explaining. In the end, I bought the kissaluv (kaler purple okay!) as an additional goody in my diaper cake! Also, bought this for my 3 years old niece who sure as hell loves pink (I fell in love with the polka-dots!). Those mommies out there who wants to Go Green ( I support Green!!!) can check out her website.

I'm sure when I want to give away the diaper cake, sure rasa sayang. All items in the cake are personally handpicked by me, stuff that I think if I were a baby would want to wear! Hahahhaha. I wish I could keep the diaper cake to myself!

Few birthdays are coming up soon, let's see if I can come up with exciting and interesting gift ideas.

What do you think makes a perfect gift for any occasion? I think nowadays people appreciate gift vouchers and money more than actual gifts. For example wedding gifts, who would want to have 10 sets of mismatched glasses/cups-and-saucers? Is it a bad idea to re-gift a gift that you dislike? What do you think?

Where we left off: Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl is coming to your nearest pc on April 21, be sure to mark your calendar yea?

Here are some recaps of what happened on last episode and where it would lead us next...

Serena was seen buying a pregnancy test which was meant for Blair. In the end, it turned out that Queen B wasn't pregnant after all

Little J Humphrey broke the little secret of Blair sleeping with Chuck to Nate


Nate broke his friendship with Chuck and made it clear that he won't have Chuck anywhere near his life.


Serena and Dan finally exchanged the 'L' word, "I love you". Awwww.. So schweeet..
Everybody found out that it was B's pregnancy scare, and she was shunned out of her clique, while welcoming Jenny into their popular group.

Blair decided to ran away to France, but stopped by Serena who promised she would stand by Blair, and they would fight together.
So what do you expect in the next episode? I'm expecting more fabulous clothes, more teen-drama, mushy conversation of dan-serena ;)

driving towards my wishlist

Somebody from Seattle googled my single registry! Even I forgot that I created this registry like a year ago... So.. here are what I wished for last year...
1. Makeup train case like professional
I got a good makeup bag as a birthday present last year. And it's good enough for me.
2. mac studio finish concealer
Great for panda eyes and also blemishes! I bought this during my trip to kl in august last year, and it's not even quarter-way finished. Note, you only need a little dap-dap on your face, brush some loose powder on top, and voila you almost have a perfect skin. The theory about your blemishes will clear up when you're in your 20's is such a lie.
3. Hard Disk for T40
Yes, I got a new hard disk after this incident.
4. Nikon Camera Bag
Nope, I didn't buy any. Currently I'm using dad's extra camera bag which is free...
5. Gym Membership.
Hmmm rm1688 for 12 months... Hmmm... That's 5 months of bills, and 5 times of travel with airasia and even more than my first working salary. I'll just keep that on hold first...

Of course now... I want to add one new item in my single registry for the year 2008, a 50 mm lens for my beloved camera.

***************************

I was reading RD's march, and there's this article titled "Are you driving yourself sick?" that we all could relate to...

They have road test questionnaires to see whether you're a driving yourself crazy. Do you feel like boiling over or not-at all angry when these happen :-
-In front of you is a very-very slow driver, and it's a one lane road so you can't overtake
-A driver shouts and gives you a finger
-You're stuck in an endless non-moving traffic jam

If you're all raged-up in these situations, try to relax, take a deep breath and listen to some sentimental music in your car to calm yourselves down.

People who are facing traffic congestion everyday could face serious health risk, it could make you sick (true, I've been down with a cold for two weeks already!), endanger your relationships (tired all the time and no mood to go out??) and it could possibly take a toll on your life/other people lives. Note to those dangerous driver from papar-kk, please please be responsible. I know the road is one-lane only, and there might be some "P" driver at the front who's driving 50km/h, but it doesn't mean you can overtake when there's car coming from the opposite lane. That's so dangerous.... Not only for yourself but other people as well. I've seen many.. many incidents of this while commuting from parents house to work. And another thing, you might want to enroll yourself to some anger management class, yea? Do you know that those who become angry the fastest are more likely to crash on a simulation tests (could happen in real life as well).

So... keep cool by listening to some easy music... Or for me, I'd like to have company in the car so I don't feel the toll of stress while driving.

So, happy driving home everyone!

Wedding.. baby... and what else?

Big CONGRATULATIONS to Mummy Nadiah (my ex-housemate in 2240,14th Street-eh was it 13th or 14th?) and her hubby Abus for the arrival of little baby girl Irdina :)

Yesterday, I went to have brunch/gossip session with my girlfriend. It was nice catching up after weeks not meeting each other.We didn't even feel hours have passed during the gossiping. Now, I'm using my good-persuasive-skill to use by asking her to join yoga class. Heheheh...

I had to cut our gossip session short because I wanted to catch LouisP workshop @ STAR. His pictures are beautiful, and I say that from the workshop, he knows how to make couples feel comfortable during the shoots. This is an international photographer who can charge rm8k for one day of shoot, and people still want him. FYI, his goal next year is to have his charge for 5 digits! OMG, I better save up like 1.5k per year just to have him to shoot in my wedding. It's not impossible in 10 more years, his price has gone up to 15k! Do check out his website for his extraordinary pictures.

Can you imagine if you want to have the best of wedding of all, how much would that cost? A beautiful wedding ring could easily costs minimum 3k, a louisP photography service +9k, Videographer +2k, Hotel Reception 50x500=+25k, Door Gifts, Pelamin, Wedding Dress... Gulp... I think if I'm a man, I won't get married either...

But as SJP in SATC said, it's not the wedding that counts, it's the marriage. You can have a beautiful extravagant wedding but not-so-great marriage (remember Trey?), and on the other hand have a-small-yet-disastrous wedding but a great marriage. Okay, this might be fiction only, but heck, what do I know right? I'm not even close to that department yet... Hehehe...

I'm so pissed at the little ratatouille who ate my coffee!!! I can imagine them running around so hyper-ly after getting their dosage of caffeine. Remember the chipmunks in studio from Alvin&Chipmunks? This is their second time biting my personal stuff! The first time was my nail buffer! I can tell they want to sharpen and shine their teeth... I spent my morning disinfecting my desk ... Grosssss....

Movie..

"Yeay" came out of my mouth when mel told me about the full-trailer of SATC movie! I couldn't wait to go home and watch it on youtube. I doubt that this movie will go out in Malaysian Cinema, or maybe they will change the name to "Ladies and the City", and cut a LOOOT of scenes. In that case, I might wait for the DVD Version to come out.

Check out the trailer if haven't watch it...


Come May.. come faster....

Samanta: .... wax much?

Miranda: When you're married you have a different sets of priorities..

Samantha: This one is married, but she's not growing a national forest.

Hehehehhe.....

So are you excited for some s3x and the city? LOL...

"Life doesn't always turn out to be your fantasy.That's why you need friendships that are real to go through it all..."

Thursday to-do-list

1. Watch new episode of Malaysian Dream Girl (Malaysian attempt to have their own Malaysia's Top Model show) It's basically the same concept and idea as ANTM, 12 girls living together, makeover, and photoshoot. I hope they're gonna add fresh ideas into the show to not make it as full-copycat show.

2. Watch One Tree Hill Season 5 Episode 11

3. Watch America's Next Top Model Season 10 Episode 4

Yes.. I love my tv :)

Welcoming little bundles of joy

If you watch E! Channel, you know there are many celebrities expecting their little bundles of Joy. Celebrities include Angelina, Gwen Stefani, the sexiest man alive Matt Damon, and also Halle Berry. Few friends are also pregnant and expecting this year. With many-many mom-to-be, I'm thinking about what gifts to give to these new moms. I read about modern cloth-diapers which are environmental-friendly and economical (only if planning to have more than 1 child). Oh I forgot to say they have pretty cute prints too! I think this will make a great gift to expecting moms! The only downside is cloth diaper is expensive, the average cost for each cloth diaper is ~RM50-RM60.

Creative ideas pouring when thinking about baby gifts. Besides onesies, what gifts are appreciated by moms? Some say they appreciate baby toiletries (shampoo, powder,shower gel etc) because newborn clothes can only last for a month?

...I'm thinking to do Diaper Cake! This is a good business oppportunity too... Anyone want to order from me?

Here are samples of cute baby diaper cake!!



** I just realized that previous photos were thumbnails size. I've put down new bigger size pictures of baby cake diaper :)

blessed...

Yesterday during lunch break I went out to Takaful at MUIS which is situated across my office. It was a super-freaking hot day, all I wanted to do was to get it over with and come back to my air-conditioned (a.k.a freezer) office. On my way back, I saw this blind man finding his way to the bus station. Mind you, the path to the bus station from muis is not good, there are bumps, and several missing bricks. Even people with sights could trip and fall. So, I walked fast to him, and guided him to the bus station. Of course I kept mistakenly saying "sini" and pointing, they don't know where "sini" is, distance-wise. After he was safely in the bus, I never felt so blessed with what I have now. Despite family/friends/office drama, I still have them all...

note: Checkout volunteer opportunities here Hati, Mercy, Sawo(Sabah)

*****************

After work, I went to the beach for some photo-ops. Didn't get to take as many pictures as I'd like. I felt inspired after checking out photo-blogs of expert photographer, it turns out that I am sooo lack of photography techniques (also inspirations!). Sha, would you come and help me???

Changing subject.... Don't you agree that intellectual people are such turn-ons? I guess the dorky/geeky/intellectual types are so in right now. Ehemm.. Gotta fix my glasses for awhile (<---this is the perasan dork). Come to think about it,I don't think it's about how smart someone is that makes it interesting, I think it's more about passion. I love watching/listening people talk about how passion they are about something despite how unrealistic their ideas are. When one talks about big hopes and turning dreams into reality, that's just soooo inspiring. You yearn something so much that it drives you crazy not to think about it, it just haunts you day and night.( This thought is based from recent conversation with somebody)

Blergh... I was rambling. Yes, I dream too much. I want to do so much. I want to do everything and I want to be everything. Hmmmmm, how?

Here are some shots taken at the beach. I didn't get to take proper sunset picture because it was cloudy.

Sand Texture

like flowers in my heart...

Note: It's been raining cats & dogs for the past few weeks. Surprisingly after election day (on Sunday), the sun was shining and it didn't rain for the whole day. Was there a bomoh hujan during the campaigning/election duration??? Hehehehe....

I spent my Sunday taking pictures of these flowers....

Random

I have few pet peeves... One, people who throw rubbish everywhere at public places, mind yea, rubbish including cigarette butts. I'm not a total-environmentalist- Yes, I still do tapao food using polystyrene container and I still take plastic bags for my groceries (even though I bought that Giant rm2.50 green bag), but throwing rubbish at public places is just something I can't stand.

Secondly, people who think their world revolves around them. Last minute decisions, last minute requests. What, they think other people don't have lives??? This includes some only-child/youngest children out there... What I can say is, I don't mind if someone asking me for a favor. I would be glad to do what I can. What I hate is... How can someone asks something/favor from ME and wants to follow his/her time or way ... So please be considerate, considering it's my time that you're asking for. Some people just don't have all time in the world.

I'd applied few jobs when I was still working at my previous workplace. Hypothetically speaking, if I'm being offered somewhere else, I wonder if I should take it. What needs to be considered here?

Tech - Project 2008

I have listed few personal tech ("geeky") projects for year 2008

1. Back up all digital photos to DVDs
   I have more than 10 GB of pictures in my external hard disk and laptop, mostly taken during during college. Most of them courtesy from unofficial photography Sha who takes beautiful beautiful pictures. When I grow up, I want to be like you Sha! Hehehehhe....
   
2. Burn my TV Shows to DVDs
   Hours spent collecting my tv shows, sayangnya want to delete all of them. Temporarily they are in my 250GB hard disk which I've owned for 4 years. For tech people out there, is it possible that my HD will go konk in the future?
   
3. Compile & Bind a family recipe book
   I want to compile family recipes(basically all mom's recipe), take pictures of food, print the recipes out, and bind them. This is especially important for undomestic goddess like me.
   

I think I could get goal (1) and goal (2) done before middle of the year, and goal (3) is an outgoing project.

Mind sharing what is your tech-project 2008?

Info: Do you why chili-cravers want to go for even hotter-hottest chili? There's a physiological explanation to this. When eating hot(spicy) food, our body releases endorphin (feel-good-hormones) to counter the pain brought by the chili. So in other words, we get mild-euphoria just from eating chili. So chili up everybody...

-Info from RD March 2008

materialisic world

I remember reading on Yone's blog about little material girls conversation that she overheard when she was at the pool. I couldn't link to her post directly, but it's titled as 'Kids Say the Darnest Things' in here.

Last night, I'd overheard about the same conversation...

I was waiting for my yoga class to start at Likas Sports Center, then there were two boys who just finished their badminton practice. From their conversation, they're about 10-11 years old. Boys being boys, they really do know how to make small talk... At first they were talking about where they go to school and how old they are. Then they moved to asking what does their dads do for a living, then to something else...

Boy 1: Bapa kau drive pegi sini?
Boy 2: Iya.
Boy 1: Kamu drive kereta apa?
Boy 2: Hmmmm. Wira. Kamu?
Boy 1: Kancil.
Boy 2: Ohhhh.. Berapa harga kereta kau tu?
Boy 1: Hmmmm.... *Thinking*
Boy 2: 20 puluh ribu lebih?
Boy 1: Tidaklah.. itu kancil. Wira 40 ribu lebih...
Boy 2: Kamu ada berapa kereta?
Boy 1: Dua. Kamu? (I'm sure here he was saying what is the other car, but can't recall).
Boy 2: Dua juga. Satu lagi Isuzu.
Boy 1: OOhhh Isuzu. Berapa harga Isuzu tu?

................

Then the comparison about who is richer and mightier went on for another 5 minutes before the dad finally came to pick up one of the kids....

Hmmmmm. So you think kids nowadays are soooo in their materialistic world?

Psssst: Now this material girl is asking, what car do you drive and how much does it cost? Hehehehhe.......

Why do people leave

Do you watch grey's anatomy? Well, if you do... you must know Christina Yang who looooooooves her job (of course this is fiction only-lah). She wished for ruptured aorta as emergency cases. ummmm. How to be like that? I wish that "I WISH " there's some problem with systems that needs fixing. Of course, everyday I wish for the opposite thing, please... please... let there be nothing wrong.... Especially not when the person-in-charge is not here. If you ask me, I'd be totally clueless, or worse I might give the wrong info.

My late friend used to have this passion and determination that I wish I have. Of course in high school, all of us had ambitions to be like this and that while some didn't have any idea (I used to want to be an accountant!). Some stick to their passion, some divert to something else. I've known some friends who were eager to be in the medical field, in the end they turned to engineering. If you're in M'sia, you know how it's like, with the stiff competitions in the local uni, it's hard. You requested for a certain course in your UPU, they gave you a totally different field. Does that explain why some students are flunking out of college, lack of interest?

Anyway, back to my friend, she wanted to be an architect, she was very smart and determined, I envied those very much. Not only that, she was outspoken and stood for what she believed in. Being in high school, you know how it's like with cliques, there are popular/pretty girls who kept comparing who got the most 'abang angkat'/'kakak angkat'. Supposedly if you have more 'abang/kakak angkat' than other people, that means you're pretty and popular (vomit...). I guess it's pretty obvious that I'm not in that group. Heheheh... But she wasn't trying to fit in, she was just being herself. The last time I chatted with her, I was in the middle of quarter-life crisis, I mentioned how unsure I was about my career-path. She said she was glad that she always knew what she wanted to be (in architecture) - at that time she was doing her viva in architecture. Bless her....

Here is an interesting article from the star: When good people leave

Of course with the current situation, scarce job opportunities, can we become picky?

And here's another discussion about ideal workplace. What is your ideal workplace?

i has bad (not!) day nao

Update: mood is better now after seeing beautiful flowers on the trees along Kepayan-Airport road. It looks like Spring and I bet if I close my eyes (I better not because I was driving!) I could've smelled the flowers blooming....

Read this beautiful story , oooohh i am sooo touched and humbled...

Do you have things you want to do IF ONLY I am this... and that... IF ONLY I have this... and that... IF ONLY I can this... and that... I pray I can break this barrier and be free... alas...

**********

Eghk... eghk.. grumpy... cranky... grumpy... cranky...

I came in late to the office as I had to draaaag myself out of bed this morning. I'm having monday blues... wait, but it's not monday. I guess I'm having tuesday blues, or my everyday blues. I wish there's something to look forward to in the morning, something to motivate me to get up....

Remember in high school when you were excited to go to school every single day because there was that cute guy at the corner that you can (secretly) look at every day? Or college days, when you had to drag yourself for 8.00pm-10.00 lab because the cute TA would be there (ok this happened to me!). Or when you wake up early for 8.00am Calculus class just to look at the professor's greeeeniest eye.

Let me leave you all with this picture. I'm not a fan of cats/dogs/or any pets, but I found this very cute!


there... its all good nao

I'm back....

I'm home!!! It feels so great sleeping on my own bed after sleeping on boring-white-hotel-sheets. Nothing beats the feeling sleeping on your own bed with your own sheets/pillows.

I had a great time meeting with the RPI-ans on my trip, some I haven't met since graduation even! Thanks to all who came, especially some who took leave to meet with me&con&others. We had dinner at Viccudha Restaurant, the food was good, except I found it too spicy for my taste... Afterwards, the married+baby went home early while me and the others continued to hang at Friendster Cafe. It was a bit odd that the big screen at the cafe was broadcasting CNN rather than channel E! (I wish!)... We played few rounds of UNO, sorry guys the last time I played was two years ago, I even forgot the "SKIP" sign :D We decided to went home after few rounds of UNO since most of us were tired and sleepy! Maybe if I'm financially good, we'll get to meet again on xxxx wedding :) Note to self-stop shopping.. stop shopping.. stop shopping....

Me+shops are sooo not good combinations. However I am very very satisfied with my purchase this time around :) I've got myself a pair of new wedges (can women ever have enough shoes???), MAC NC30, and my latest read, The Memory Keeper's Daughter!

When I was at MPH, I drooled at Sophie Kinsella's Remember Me. But it costs freakin' RM70, mmmm no thank you... I'll be patient and wait until the paperback is released. To all Sophie Kinsella's Shopaholic Series fan, do you know that shopaholic movie is on the way? I can't wait to finally see Becky on screen. Isla Fisher is going to be Becky, Hugh Dancy as Luke and Krysten Ritter as Becky's Best Friend, Suze. Are you excited about the movie like I am?

On another note, two months away before turning toooooot.... Note to self, please invest in a good (another word for expensive) eye-cream, be best friend with moisturizer (I love Clinique Dramatically Different Moisturizing Gel!), and another tips from the more-younger-looking-sha, take one spoonful of honey every morning :)

Home is where your heart is...